“REED” This

Connected?

Labor Day weekends are notoriously known for people working out in the yard or around the house. I wanted to do my part, so this past weekend I decided to pressure wash the back deck and steps that had needed cleaned for quite some time. They had become slippery when wet, and with all the rain we’ve had lately, were an accident waiting to happen. I began at the top deck where the back door is and worked my way down. Pressure washing is a lot like mowing a yard. There is an immediate change and instant gratification. I think that’s why I enjoy doing both. As I was spraying the deck, I realized I probably should have done this months ago. The change from the amount of dirt and discoloration coming off the boards was quite drastic. Of course, the railings also needed cleaned. After a few hours, I looked back over what I (really the machine) had accomplished. It’s amazing the change that takes place when doing this. The wood looked clean and newer. And most importantly, the steps and decks weren’t slippery. I then looked where the lower deck leads onto a concrete pad. As I was cleaning the edge of the wood, the edge of the concrete was cleaned and there was a major difference with the rest. It was obvious the entire pad needed cleaned as well. The pressure washer was still running, so I proceeded to move it off the pad area to being cleaning it. All of a sudden, my feet were being sprayed with water. I looked down and there was water spray coming out from where the water hose was connected to the pressure washer. As I reached down and grabbed the end of the hose, it came loose. I turned the machine off and crimped the hose. Then I looked at the end of the hose and realized the nozzle had broken in half. The metal had split and most of the end was still screwed into the pressure washer. The hose was still able to carry water through it, but it could not be connected to the machine. I checked my spare hose and it was broken in the same way.

A water hose is a great tool. It carries water with the same pressure from a spicket to a place that is 25, 50, or even 100 feet away. And the connecters on the end allow you to add other hoses to carry that water even farther and have a constant supply of water in another location. But, if the connecters are broken or not there, the additional length cannot be reached. And they cannot be attached to a machine. The normal pressure coming through a water hose isn’t near powerful enough to do the cleaning a gas-powered pressure washer can do.

We have power and influence on our own. But our power is nothing compared to God’s power. We can accomplish so much more and have a much greater influence on others if we have God’s power. The thing is, we have to be connected. We can have His power, but we must be connected with Him in order for His power to move through us. Jesus says in John 15:4-5, “Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in Me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” We must remain in Jesus and stay connected to Him to have His power working through us to accomplish the will of the Father. When we do, we will see lives changed and great things all around us.

I guess I need to go buy a new water hose. Maybe one with a better connecter. What about you? How’s your connection with Jesus?

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

“REED” This

Last

This is the last day of August 2021. It is hard to believe that eight months of this year have already come and gone. If you think about it, there are a lot of “lasts” in life. Someone always gets the last piece of bacon. Someone always eats the last doughnut. Someone always takes the last banana. Someone always drinks the last of the milk. There’s the last time you use a toothbrush before getting a new one. There’s the last bit of toothpaste that will come out of a tube. Who used the last of the toilet paper and didn’t put out another roll? This is the last time I can wear these socks. This is the last time these pants will fit. This is the last day of school.  This is the last day on this job. This is the last day before retirement. There’s a last time you see a loved one before they pass. There’s a last breath that we all will take. There is a last child that will be born to you and he/she will be the baby of the family. There is a last time you walk out of a house because you’re moving. There is a last house you might buy. There’s a last vehicle you will buy. There’s the last day you drive a vehicle. There’s the last time you drive. There’s the last time you ski, bike, or sail. There’s the last time you eat at a restaurant that closes. There’s the last time you eat at a restaurant because the food is bad. There’s the last time you take a walk. There’s the last time you see a friend. There’s the last time you see your hometown. There will be a last time you talk with a friend. There will be a last for everything. Or will there be?

Things on this earth will pass and there definitely will be a last here. But, there’s another meaning for the word “last”. Last can mean the end, or last can mean endure. “Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13). And this love of God is what makes us last forever. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). Eternal life through Jesus is how we can live, how we can last forever. This earth will pass away and there will be a last day for it. But, we can continue living if we place our faith and trust in Jesus and receive Him as our Savior. Because of Jesus and what He has done for us, we can experience both lasts. The last breath we take on this earth brings the first breath we take in heaven, where we will last forever with Jesus. The last time we see our loved one is only on this earth. We will see them again in heaven. The last time we see our friend is only on this earth. We will see them again in heaven. But remember, for this to happen, we and all our family and friends must know Jesus. He is the only way to heaven, so one must have Him to live forever. Without Jesus, life will end on this earth for that person, and only death with last.

When was the last time you talked to your family member or friend about Jesus? What are you waiting for? This is the last day of August 2021.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

“REED” This

Watching Over

When I was growing up, we used to take Saturday or Sunday afternoon drives. My father enjoyed loading all of us up in the car and just driving out into the country. We usually wound up parking the car alongside a small dirt road and would start walking down it just to see what we could see. Many times we would go up around the small rivers that ran north of town. We could walk across the low-water bridges so we could explore both sides. I remember gathering little sticks with my brother and we would throw one in on one side and watch it be sucked down into one of the pipes that ran underneath the road, then run over to the other side to see when it came out and watch it continue to float down the river. Those trips were a lot of fun. We never knew just where we would go or what we would see, but it was good to just be together. Dad was always telling us how to know what kind of tree this was or what kind of plant that was. And we usually would go home with a sack full of poke salad leaves that he wanted to cook up and eat later. We would take these drives all throughout the year. One time, it had snowed quite a lot and we wanted to see how everything looked in snow. We headed out north ninth street several miles and came upon a new subdivision that was being built. These were five or more acre lots out in the woods. My father knew someone that was building a house out there and decided to see how it was coming along. I remember getting to the drive that led up to the house. It was pretty steep going up the side of the hill and was probably fifty yards long. Now, you need to know, all these roads were just dirt and gravel. Nothing was paved out there then, and I don’t think it is even now. Anyway, my mother and us kids weren’t too sure about driving up to that house. There was at least six inches of snow on the ground, and we were just in an old station wagon. The drive was solid white and you could only tell where it was by how the ground sloped down to the brush and trees on either side. There were no completed houses around and we were a long way from anyone else. But dad thought we could make it, so we headed up the drive. We all were pretty nervous and it took some time, but we finally made it up the hill and were next to the house. I guess it looked okay, I don’t remember. All I remember was what happened next. As we sat there, we soon realized there was nowhere for us to turn the car around. We were going to have to back down that long drive going downhill in the snow. It was scary enough driving up it, let alone having to back down it. Dad moved the gear shift and we slowly crept back down. He didn’t need to hold the brakes too hard or we would begin to slide. But, we didn’t want to go too fast or we could lose control and slide off one side or not be able to stop at the bottom and go across the main road into the ditch on the other side. It was a precarious situation. Finally, we were all able to breathe again when we eventually made it down. It was then that my father began laughing. We didn’t know why, but then he explained. Because of the snowy conditions and going uphill, my father had shifted down to “Low 1” to go up to the house. When he shifted to go back down, he moved the gear shift up two notches thinking he was shifting to “Reverse”, which would have been normal after driving forward. However, he forgot he was in “Low 1” and had simply shifted back to “Drive”. Turns out, we had backed down that hill with the transmission in “Drive”, not “Reverse”, and yet had made it down safely.

We all make mistakes that could have made things a lot worse had God not been watching over us. I’m sure there are so many harmful things He has kept from happening or kept us from because His eye was upon us and He shielded us from danger. Even when it’s not simple mistakes, but times we have deliberately put ourselves in harm’s way, His grace still covers us. Why does He do that? Why does He show us such mercy and grace? It’s certainly not because we deserve it. It can only be because He loves us so much. Psalm 121 is an encouraging chapter that reminds us that God is watching over us and protecting us.

“I look up to the mountains – does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, He who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The Lord Himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.”

Psalm 121 NLT

We have and serve a loving God. Thank Him for always watching over you with His great love and protection.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

“REED” This

Black-eye Summer

I loved playing baseball when I was young. I think I’ve mentioned before that I played on the DeQueen Lions team from age eight to twelve. We practiced on one end of the elementary school playground. It was a pretty good spot, but the ground wasn’t always level. The water drained to that end, so the infield area where there wasn’t much grass usually had ruts where the water had washed the dirt out. This became a problem at times when trying to field a ground ball. You never knew just where the ball might go. Bad hops were always expected, but hard to guess when and where they might occur. It was early in the season, maybe before our first game, when I was playing second base during one of those practices. A ground ball was hit my way and I got my glove down and squared up to it so that I was ready to field it and throw it to first base. It was a hard hit ball, so it was coming at me pretty fast. Just before it got to my glove it took one of those bad hops. I tried to raise my glove when, bam! I felt a sharp pain. My reaction wasn’t fast enough to keep that ball from bouncing up and hitting my left eye. Bringing my hand up to my face I could immediately feel that it was swollen around my eye. Everything stopped as my coaches came over to look at me and it was determined that one of them needed to take me on home so my parents could tend to it. The next morning, it was a nice deep shade of purple. I had a black eye. Over the next few days, the swelling went down, leaving me with just the discoloration that seemed to linger for several weeks. I played almost that entire season with a black eye until the last game when it was finally back to normal. We usually played in a tournament down in Texarkana a few weeks later. So, we were practicing for that the week after our regular season. I was playing shortstop and a high pop-flyball was hit. I ran back a bit looking up as I tracked it and just as it was almost down the sun got in my eyes and I flinched. Bam! I threw my glove down and said, “Dad-gum-it! The same eye!” Sure enough, that ball hit my left eye and it swelled right back up and the next morning it looked just as it did after the first time. I couldn’t believe I had another black eye in the same eye.

Why do bad things keep happening? We go through one difficulty and finally struggle to get through it when, bam, we are hit again. At times it seems we can never catch a break. The difficulties and struggles of life are relentless. They keep coming and hitting us. Our world is in constant stress with this: there seems to be peace and then terrorists take over; it’s a pleasant day and then an earthquake hits; we relax when things are calming down with the pandemic and then the numbers spike up again. And we all are facing other difficulties in our individual lives this summer on top of these things. It is a difficult time, but our God is bigger than all of it. We must continue to have faith in our God. In Joshua 1:9, when Joshua was beginning to lead the people of Israel after Moses died, God told him to “Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Our faith must be strong like Joshua’s. He didn’t know what he would face when he crossed over the Jordan river into the promised land, but he knew God would be with him and give him the strength he needed. We serve the same God. His promises for us are the same. Jesus says in Matthew 28:20b, “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” We don’t know what we will face or what we will have to go through, but we know our God is with us and will see us through. And we can find great comfort and encouragement from 1 Peter 1:6-7, “There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – though your faith is far more precious that mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

When the world keeps giving you black eyes, remember to keep your faith in God. He is always with you and will give you the strength to endure. “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

“REED” This

Forty-Eleven

My father was a chiropractor and my mother was a school teacher. Just like most moms, she was busy working around the clock. Taking care of five children and a husband, preparing all the meals, doing the laundry, and cleaning the house were all part of her job at home after she spent the day teaching her third-grade class. Now, dad and all us kids helped out with cleaning and keeping the house in order, but I am certain that none of us came close to the amount she did. With no school on Saturdays, you’d think that would be an easier day for her, but you would be wrong. Saturdays were when all the beds were stripped, the sheets were washed, and then the beds were all remade. Plus, all the bathrooms were thoroughly cleaned, and all the floors vacuumed, or swept and mopped, along with catching up on whatever couldn’t be done the week before. It was a busy day for all of us. Sundays were the only days I ever remember my mother sitting down other than at mealtime or when she was grading papers. Sunday afternoon naps were the only time I remember her resting during the day. And that was after she had gotten all of us ready for church that morning, taught a Sunday School class, sang in the choir, and then cooked a big, wonderful Sunday lunch, and cleaned the kitchen afterward. There were numerous times I remember my mother saying, “I’ve got forty-eleven things to do today!” Now, as a child who loved math, I always wondered why she didn’t just say fifty-one. Forty-eleven really didn’t make sense, but forty-eleven sounds like a lot more than fifty-one. I soon realized, of course, that was just her way of saying she had a lot to do.

I was thinking about that saying, “forty-eleven”, this morning. I’ve never heard anyone else say it, other than one of my siblings referring to mom saying it. I don’t know if she came up with it on her own or if she had heard it from someone else. Knowing my mother and her strong faith, I thought maybe it was a scripture reference. I searched the Bible for a book that contained a chapter forty and verse eleven. Out of the 66 books in the Bible, only seven contain a 40:11, and all of them are in the Old Testament. Yet, none of them are referring to being busy or having too much to do. However, there were two that spoke to me as I read them. Psalm 40:11 says, “Lord, don’t hold back Your tender mercies from me. Let Your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me.” My mother loved me. Even though she was busy, she always made time for me and extended a lot of mercy to me when I was a boy. The other passage was Isaiah 40:11, “He will feed His flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.” This, of course, is speaking of our wonderful Savior and the comfort that He brings. As I thought of it in reference to my mother, she did this for me and my siblings. She fed us, cared for us, and protected us. As little ones, she would carry us in her arms. She would hold us close to her heart as she rocked us to sleep. And the greatest thing, she allowed Jesus to lead her in teaching us about Him.

I didn’t know where “forty-eleven” was going to go when I started writing this. It brought back a lot of wonderful memories of my mother. But the search for the passage was quite fun. I was going to tell you the names of the seven books that contain a 40:11, but I think I’ll let you look for them yourself. You may have forty-eleven things to do today, but you always have time to look in God’s Word.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

“REED” This

Ow!

This past weekend I was working in my wood shop. I don’t have air conditioning in the shop, so my shirt was basically soaked because of the heat. I was done and needed to bring some things back into the house. As I walked up the stairs to the back door, I noticed a sizable wasp nest tucked up in the corner of the eave a few feet from the door. I also noticed there were several wasps flying around that nest, so I was trying to get in before they saw me. Unfortunately, the door was locked, both my hands were full, and my key was in my pocket. Thankfully, Debbie saw me and came to open the door for me. Just as she was opening the door, I felt a sharp pain on my back quickly followed by a strong stinging pain. “Ow! Ow! Ow!”, I said as I jumped through the door to set things down out of my hands and reached back to try and swat the wasp that was stinging me, but I was too late. She had already flown off the back of my shoulder, but the stinging venom she left in me was still doing its work. (Yes, it was a female wasp. The males don’t have stingers.) A good ten to fifteen minutes went by before that sting died down. But I was left with a quarter-sized, hot to the touch, red, swelled up spot on my back that throughout the rest of the day would remind me, a little painfully at times, I had been stung. I got to thinking about that wasp stinging me. The first thing I felt was its stinger pricking me. My skin being stabbed was the first pain. Then, I felt the stinging burn of the venom being pumped into me. That was much worse than the stinger prick and was the reason for me crying out, “Ow!” Just like a shot at the doctor, the needle is not bad, it’s the stuff they pump into you that hurts. The difference being the doctor is giving you something to help, not venom.

That was the first time I had seen that nest. I usually will leave a wasp nest alone, as long as no one gets hurt by them. But if one stings me or another member of my family, then I will kill them and destroy the nest. Some of you might say, “But what about the ‘“Vengeance is mine”, says the Lord, “I will repay.”’ verse?” I don’t believe that applies to wasps. I can’t figure out why that wasp felt threatened by me. I was at least six feet away from the nest. Maybe she didn’t like the color of my blueish gray shirt or the fact that it was wet with sweat. I’m sure I will never know.

For the past year or more, it seems that a lot of people are like that wasp. They quickly feel threatened or are offended by the smallest things and are ready to light into someone with stinging words and actions. Maybe we are all tired of dealing with this pandemic and have had too much time to just sit and stew about something. Aggravation with masks and restrictions, racial tensions, and political bickering have been so annoying and unsettling. Whatever has put everyone on edge, no one has the right to lash out at someone else in anger or be rude. As Christians, we need to be like Jesus and only respond in love, keeping control of our emotions, and not letting anger lead to sin. Here are a few scriptures we all need to help remind us how God wants us to be.

“Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper – it only leads to harm.” Psalm 37:8

“People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.” Proverbs 14:29

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:31-32

“And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” Colossians 3:15

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14

Remember, no one likes to be stung by a wasp. Let’s not be a stinging wasp to someone else with our words and actions. Let’s be the love of Christ.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

“REED” This

Family Heritage

Many of you know, and I guess many of you may not know, I am the youngest child in my family. I have three older sisters and one older brother. Celia is the oldest followed by Becky, who is five years younger. Ruthie was born two years after Becky, followed by John, who was born another two years later, and then I was born two years after him. So, my oldest sister, Celia, is eleven years older than me. I truly enjoyed growing up with so many siblings. We had 15 first cousins on our mother’s side of the family. She was the oldest of four girls born to my grandparents. So, I’m one of 20 grandchildren on the McClure side. On my father’s side, we had nine first cousins between his older brother and younger brother, making me one of 14 grandchildren on the Reed side. Dad had three half-brothers and one half-sister that I remember, but I don’t remember their children as we didn’t see them much. We saw our first cousins quite a lot as they all lived in Oklahoma, except for one of my mother’s sisters and her family living in the Dallas, Texas area and our family living in Arkansas just six miles from the Oklahoma state line. It was only a three-hour drive to Madill, Oklahoma where both sets of my grandparents lived, which was in the south-central part of the state just above Lake Texoma on the Oklahoma and Texas border. Whenever we went to visit one side, we always were able to visit the other side. They were even members of the same church, which, incidentally, was the first place my mother saw my father, therefore we all worshiped together when we were there on a Sunday. The family names were Reed, McClure, Ard, Jacks, Williams, and my great aunt and her son’s family name, Broderick. All these names, which included 51 people, were raised in the church, and were taught to know and love Jesus. That’s three generations of my family. The first of those generations were taught by the previous generations. That teaching carried on into the other two and has been and is being passed down into two more generations.

As my uncle, Darrell Ard, has done a lot of research into our ancestry and I have done a little, I find it interesting that I was the first ordained minister in our family tree. That means that all this strong Christian heritage has been passed down through many generations not by preachers, but simply by lay-people that love Jesus and shared Him with their children. That so encourages me! What an awesome blessing from God! I know that not everyone can say all of this about their family. Someone else may not be able to say any of their ancestors knew the Lord, and that is sad and may be very difficult for that person. But that person can be the first generation that is a believer in Jesus and starts what an ancestor many generations later can say, “That’s when our family began following Jesus.” That’s why I’m writing this. Not to brag about me, but to acknowledge how the Lord has blessed me and to encourage all of us to keep sharing Jesus with our families, and to all the people we can so that their family trees will be full of believers. We have the awesome opportunity and responsibility to share Jesus with our children, our siblings, cousins, and maybe even our aunts and uncles and grandparents. Long ago, God instructed the Israelites to tell their children and generations after them of Him and His ways. That still applies to us today.

“The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  Deuteronomy 6:4-7  CSB

I love my family, and I am grateful I can continue to love them as we spend eternity together in heaven. I pray you can say the same about yours. Whether anyone listens or accepts, in love we must continue sharing Jesus. Prayerfully, our family heritage will all be eternal life with Him.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, July 27, 2021