Friday 5/6/16 Mothers

Dear Father in Heaven: I love You. Please forgive me of my sins. Father, I want to thank You for my dear mamma. Although I did not have her very long, I know she was a wonderful lady who loved You so very, very much. She tried to teach me to love You with all my heart, but Lord, I slipped so many times after You called her home. As I get older, Lord, I look back at her short life and am thankful to You for giving her to me. I loved my earthly father also, Lord, but my mamma was top shelf. Please help me now with a message and please help me to get it dispatched. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: Today I want to talk to you about your parents, and most of all your mother. God made parents to love and raise us. However, He also gave us a commandment on how we should treat our parents.  Let me get started.

Friday: May 6, 2016: Mothers

Exodus 20:12 - Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. (NIV) (The Fifth Commandment)

Proverbs 1:8 - Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. (NIV)

We have been blessed to have two fathers, Our Father in Heaven and our earthly father. But we were also blessed with an earthly mother. I called my mother mamma and I called my earthly father pop.

We all know or should know that our Lord Jesus had an earthly mother, and her name was Mary. But you need to understand this, she was never the mother of God. Mary was chosen to give birth to Jesus so He could grow up on earth and then be put to death on the cross to save us from our sins.  In other words, Jesus was "born to die, so we might live." The Blessed Virgin Mary, as she is well known, was just one of many fine ladies who God found favor in here on earth. It started with Eve and also included the wives of Noah and their sons. So there we can see six very special ladies who were chosen by God to be mothers. Well, this lady named Sarah Margaret Kimmel and then Sarah Margaret Lehman was chosen by God to have me. Your mother was chosen by God to have you, and praise God your mother was like my mamma, pro-life.

When I look back on my life, I was raised pretty much by my mamma. Dad was a school teacher and for a long time taught in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, because he was a democrat and back in those days if you did not belong to the "Harvey Taylor" machine you could not get a job in the city. My mamma was a wonderful lady and a lady she was. In her last years of life she taught second grade in the Summit Street School in East Pennsboro School District. It might have been called the Enola School District back then, I forget. One day in the life of my mamma that I will never forget was a day in January back when I was in high school that I drove mamma to the green stamp store. Or at least we started out to go. Just before the entrance to the Mulberry Street Bridge and right on the last corner before crossing that bridge, which is in the news right now, while I was driving we were hit very hard, head-on by one very drunk driver. My mother died later that year from a tumor on her brain, caused by her hitting the windshield of the car.

Back in those days, my mamma was more than likely a lot like your mothers and they really taught us the things we needed to know. They trained us to go to the potty, they took us to Sunday School and Church, and they also made a lot of our clothes. And they taught us words we could say and those we'd better not say. And if you broke the rules  on what not to say, you had a dinner of soap. Mamma made soap back in those days and it was called lye soap. I thought it was lie soap used on me when I lied. Mamma would work really hard, all week she taught school and she also took in washing and ironing to help pay the bills. She afforded herself only one small thing. Each week she had this wonderful lady, Mary Fields, who would come and help her clean the house. Mary was a real lady and she and mamma would sing and sing as they cleaned. They would sing old hymns of the church and some negro Spirituals. Oh, how these two beautiful ladies loved Jesus and loved each other. Mary was like one of the family to me. On the evening of my mamma's viewing, Mary came to the funeral home. She put her arms around me and hugged my neck and in her voice broken and crying, she told me she was the best lady she ever knew. To this day I miss my mamma.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus is special to us, and He should be above all others in our lives. But mammas are special also, and if you are still blessed to have yours, please remember all the good things she taught you, and please, if she messed up, forgive her for that and just love her. If you are like me and your mamma is home with Jesus, hang onto the memories and keep on honoring her. Please note in the Commandment that tells us to "honor our father and mother," it does not say to stop honoring them if they pass on to Jesus. This Sunday is Mothers' Day and if you are blessed to have your mother, call her, talk to her. Take her out to dinner. If like me, your mamma is with Jesus, take time to reflect back and remember she helped to make you what you are today. I love Jesus, and I still to this day love my mamma.

Dear Father in Heaven: I miss my mamma and someday we will be united again. Please help me to keep on honoring her and also my pop by living a life pleasing to You, Father. For if I live to please You, my mamma would be pleased also. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Now go forth sharing Jesus and also honoring your mother and remembering what she taught you. Love ya.

Pastor Dan

Lord, I Want to Be a Christian (Spiritual)

Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart, in my heart.
Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart, in my heart;
In my heart, in my heart;
Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart, in my heart.

Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart, in my heart.
Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart, in my heart;
In my heart, in my heart;
Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart, in my heart.

Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart.
Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart;
In my heart, in my heart;
Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart.