Funerals

I am dressed and waiting to go do another funeral. I have never kept count of the the numbers, maybe because I never felt people should be treated as a number.
I was thinking of the first funeral service I officiated. 
I had no training on how to do a funeral. I had attended several, but I had been in the barber chair many time, but being the barber, was a completely different vantage point.
I prayed, and ask God to lead my thoughts, and allow me the freedom to respond to his spirit.
I have now been doing funerals for over 36 years, I have had two in one day, 5 in one week, they have been both, young, old, Christian, and non-Christian. Sudden deaths, and long suffering deaths.
This is what I learned.
I pray and ask God to lead my thoughts, and allow me the freedom to respond to his spirit. The same as I did the first funeral I officiated.
I have often thought, maybe I have never done a funeral the way folks think I should, but I will continue to do them the way I always have, and pray that the people hear Gods voice and not mine

The fight for your Life, my morning thoughts.

The Church is in a battle, around the world, there is only one way to win this battle, and that is for every Christian to win the battle personally. Your personal battle, your personal struggle, your personal priority.

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Can we win this struggle, can we be victors, the Bible says yes we can.

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

He has overcome the world, and we can too, if we abide in him.

There is noting that should be able to come between the joy we have in Christ.

No circumstance, no person, no event, nothing.

Psalm 3:3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.

Psalm 13:5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

Psalm 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,

Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

When we slip from Gods grace, we find our joy eroded, because we have allowed something, someone, some circumstance, other than God to bring us his peace, joy, and rest.  

Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Jeremiah 31:25 I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint."

There is no rest, no peace, no rest, no help, outside of him, and he does not request 100% he demands 100%, the only way this works, is your commitment to him, and it must be total, nothing less will work.

Joshua 24:15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Col 1:24-29 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

Old Glory

When I look upon old glory

I feel her heart and remember her story

I see more than the red, white, and blue

I see the faces come shining through

The men and women who gave it all

so we can have freedom in the assembly hall

Freedom to worship as we please

freedom to work and live at ease

Their faces are always showing there

Asking me if I really care

I remove my hat, and lay my hand on my heart

but that is not all it is only the start

I owe it to them for the life they gave

to vote, worship, and respect their grave

All gave some, and some gave all

The least I can do is respect their fall

I will stand in respect as she passes by

with a heavy heart and a tear in my eye

I am thankful for all they have given me

The home of the brave the land of the free

The next time you see old glory pass by

give her your heart, not just your eye.

R.L. Fry 4July 2011