Brothers

Good Morning!!!

Today is my brother Bruce’s 63rd birthday. In the past I have told you about how proud I am of my brother – a Vietnam veteran with 2 purple hearts; a successful insurance agent who just retired at the end of 2009. You may have read in Tuesday’s Good Morning that Bruce is now involved in raising money to build a library and a playground next to the kindergarten their unit of Marines raised in Vietnam. It makes me almost want to bust my buttons….

Speaking of brothers, Miss N and I had the joy of going to dinner with three of her four brothers and her two sisters. The occasion was her youngest brother, John, coming through Atlanta on his way back to Texas. Norma had a great time both Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon visiting with John. John and his wife, Gerri, serve the Lord in “From the Heart Ministry”. From what I can gather, they do some construction work as well as are house parents to some older folks. I remarked to Gerri that I could see a lot of Mr. Pennington in his boys. Mr. P was adept at doing so many things – and he taught his boys well. What a legacy he left behind when he went to be with the Lord!

I ran into Jeanie Gunnin at the Links yesterday. She is fully recovered from her ordeal and thanked us all for praying for her during this trying time. I am so proud of the Prayer Warriors in this group – you are so faithful which is why our list seems to continue to grow day by day.

Well, here’s a Scripture that has been on my mind for a few days:

1 Corinthians 13 (English Standard Version)
The Way of Love
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Corinthians 13:3 Some manuscripts deliver up my body [to death] that I may boast
b. 1 Corinthians 13:5 Greek irritable and does not count up wrongdoing

I know you have heard this Scripture before – usually at a wedding. Love really is the focal point of the Christian lifestyle. God gave us the responsibility of loving people – not condemning them. The truth is that condemnation doesn’t come from without but from within. We condemn ourselves when we refuse the precious gift of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Those of us who have accepted Jesus as Lord should spend our energy on showing God’s love to those around us. Sometimes that does mean pointing out sin – but most of the time it just means caring about the little things that people need – a quick hug; an “I love you”; a compliment; and so on.

So our task today is to show God’s love to those around us. I betcha it makes your day!

Agape’

Mr. Jim