December 20.

35 years ago

What an influential life he led.

For us ….always.

For so many others, only after he
laid hold of the Position God had in store for him.

The years from 1968-1983 were when he truly fulfilled the Plan God had put in front of him when he was about 20 years old.

He ran from it for years….
but then he RAN TO IT
and became a Great Man.

Being the runner he was,
he simply had to change the Race he was running.

He did.

We benefited.

As have scores of other guys
who are now grown men.

Today, I celebrate the day my Father entered Heaven.

I celebrate IT because he lived a full but short life that was elevated because of his commitment and surrender.

He left us with an example large enough to grow
from and into.

He exampled for us a life given over to God.

One which grew great becaue of the Race he chose to run.

He could say to Our Lord at the end of his short life…”Even though I tarried some early on…..I ran the race you put before me to the fullest, with the ability you gifted me.”

He ran three miles to five miles many, many days. He ran three miles in the morning on the day he died.

He ran as a young man.

He then ran again later as a devoted man.

He loved running.

It fulfilled him.

Through running the race set before him, and running it well…..

he fulfilled the purpose set before him and blest many people.

Me and my two brothers first and foremost.

A race well run.

A life well lived.

Alpheus James Bethea, Junior

Daddy

Lighthouses have been in existence since about 300 BC when The Lighthouse of Alexandria was constructed in Egypt. It was the height of a 45 story building.

One of the first Lighthouses in America was built on Little Brewster Island bear Boston, in 1716. It was damaged during the Revolutionary War, rebuilt in 1783….it still stands today.

One of the most attractive Lighthouses in the world is the Lighthouse of Genoa….in Spain. Built in 1543, it still stands today, as do many of these structures.

Lighthouses are constructed on or near coasts to provide guidance and serve as a warning for sea going vessels.

One can tour Lighthouses across our country, there are about a thousand in the US. Michigan has 150 lighthouses as much of the state borders water.

Lighthouses are of various sizes, shapes and colors.

The Lighthouse of Aveiro, in Portugal looks like a barbershop pole.

The Lighthouse on Cape Hatteras, in Nort Carolina is white with a green stripe.

While most lighthouses are tall and narrow, the Burnt Island Lighthouse in Maine looks short and squatty.

It is easy to understand why Lighthouses were built and why so many still stand after centuries.

Built near shorelines they gave light and showed safe passage for ships. Being near the shore they had to be built sturdy to withstand the storms so often present on any coast.

The most important and singular reason a Lighthouse was ever built was and is to provide Light in darkness. 

The Light reveals dangerous formations of rocks which could damage and sink any vessel at sea. 

That same Light shows not merely the danger present but the safety available in the correct passages.

If one looks at most any definition of the purpose for Lighthouses, it is to provide Light.

The Light shows a way.

Not the house.

The house is the structure from which the LIGHT eminates.

That is the purpose of the structure….to eminate the LIGHT placed within it.

Without the illuminated LIGHT, the structure is just an assortment of bricks nicely arranged near a shoreline.

Secondarily, the Lighthouse can supply another service.

If fog is present so heavily the LIGHT cannot be viewed, then traditional LIGHTHOUSES had very loud “fog-horns” to provide warning.

If you finished the second grade then you understand where this is going.

You are a structure

placed in an important location

to provide illumination from a Source placed within you, 

from a LIGHT placed within you.

That Light is not you

You have been filled with that LIGHT and are supposed to allow IT to be revealed 

through the window of your life.

This LIGHT affects lives around you to the positive.

In other circumstances you are to sound an alarm
from a Source within you.

The LIGHT is to be projected out toward those vessels which float into and through your life…

IT is the physical and spiritual reflection of the Power of Christ within you. 

No sound is present.

Just a revelatory Presence.

The warning sound is the projection of your voice from the Presence of Christ always aware and awake to guide and direct.

All these words go to say that ….

YOU are a LIGHTHOUSE.

Allow the LIGHT to be revealed.

Shine it for all to see the danger and the safety present…from the Power within you.

You were built to Shine That LIGHT.

Allow the sounded warnings.

Speak when that Presence moves you to do so.

Be more than a simple structure standing by with no more value than to be glanced at in passing.

Never confine your thankfulness and gratitude to one day or even one season.

Doing so is tantamount to telling your wife you love her, only on Valentines Day.

If you love her you will tell her more than on one day a year.

If you only told her that one day, you are starving her.

An equal balance would be that she would only be intimate with you once a year…..on your birthday.

You would then be sitting in the “starving” chair.
If you were to only think about the gratitude and thankfulness you have toward God or those people in your life….

at or during the Thanksgiving holiday…

you are most likely, not thankful.
Thankfulness is a way of life.

Thankfulness is an attitude of the Heart,

an action of the Will

and a position of the Mind.

There is no sense of entitlement in a thankful heart.

There is no hesitation of the Will to express gratitude.

There is no high minded or ego-driven thought in the Mind of a thankful person.
I would venture to encourage you to list ALL of the things of and for which you are THANKFUL.

It will grow as you consider it.
When we commit wrong,

our conscience,

The Word

and The Presence of Christ

will convict us.
Conviction drives us to a decision.

We will decide to push back against it and refuse its work.

Or, we will decide to accept the conviction and participate in its work to mold us into a different person.
I hope a spirit or attitude of thankulness convicts you to be a person who is full of gratitude, full of remembrance about …..

what your gifts are or have been,

where your gifts came from,

and from whom they were given.
If Thanksgiving convicts you ….you will begin to express gratitude to people.

You will begin to express thanks to people and to God for the things done to and for you.
Begin practicing Thanksgiving.

NOW.

Doing so will create the habit

and then the habit will develop a lifestyle.

The lifestyle will cause numerous effects.
Your words will enrich,

encourage

and lift other people.
And, your heart will feel more full.

“Your car takes on a totally different look when the light shines on it.” 

A good friend made this observation as the bright sunlight reflected off of my car.

The car I drive has a hue which only appears when direct sunlight hits it.

On a cloudy day, the car has one look and when the direct sunlight hits it, another more brilliant color appears.

Color is visible when any light falls upon it. As the light becomes more brilliant, the look of most any color Increases in its brilliance as well.

Light.

It comes from the sun, so far away, bends through the atmosphere and touches the created objects in our world and gives color to our existence.

In the absence of that Light, there exists the absence of color.

The blue of the ocean becomes black.

The blue of the sky goes dark.

The green of trees goes gray and then void.

I own a suit that is a nice shade of blue. When direct light strikes it, the checks and small squares become visible and the designers intent is fully visible.

Our eyes work best with particular degrees of Light. 

In darkness, the pupils dilate, and increase in size for one reason.

That one reason that the pupils expand is in search of Light, any Light. 

Our eyes betray the fact that we are not made to exist in the absence of Light.

Today, physicians recommend proper exposure to sunlight. There is a vitamin….D…. which is called the sunshine vitamin because it supplies in tablet what Sunlight supplies on its own.

It’s healthy.

The comment my friend made about the Light changing the look and color of my car…represents a Truth about our lives and existence.

Darkness breeds many and multiple problems.

It allows us to hide.

Light uncovers us and other things.

Turn the light on outside your house and some night creatures scatter.

Light comes into our lives, not merely from the Sun, but from Its Creator.

This Light changes the hue and appearance of our lives.

This Light changes the inner life we live as well.

This Light brings warmth and comfort with peace.

The physical sunlight brings warmth and comfort…..

the spiritual light gives us direction, Joy, clarity, a guide to our future, and a peace that passes all else.

When that direct Light shines on us…..

It is so brilliant and bright…

It shines in and though us illuminating the perfect purpose we were made for.

And, I believe that a secret to Life is this….

every person knows this Light gives the things I have written…..

some receive this Light gladly, with all of its brilliance, clarity and Truth…and It reveals the Designers perfect Intent.

And some refuse it, and close their eyes to it.

And even as they defiantly close their eyelids in refusal….

the very pupils in those eyes, 

behind those closed lids…..

are expanding, 

increasing in size,

and searching for that always present and needed Light.

In these days of deliveries and packages at the door, daily for many people, it does not matter who delivered it.

What you want is inside the package.

FedEx, UPS, the US MAIL, or whatever entity gets it to you…..it really matters not.

If you even see the person after they leave the package, you may say “Thank you”… you are more concerned about opening the package and getting your order.

It’s a great service…. getting stuff delivered.

But it’s the STUFF.

Not the method or one who delivered it.
Take this same understanding to heart and mind the moment in your life when you understand , your parents, your teachers, your mentors and your pastor….

are not perfect.

Many, many people have heard great teaching, received life-long instruction, gained lasting insight from imperfect coaches, teachers,leaders, parents, presidents, and pastors.

It’s not the messenger that really matters in the long-run…

it’s the MESSAGE.

I have had good and great relationships with coaches, teachers, mentors, pastors…and my parents….

not one of them was or is infallible.

My encouragement…
cut them some slack.

For you, yourself….me, myself….

we are not infallible and most assuredly need some slack.
God, Himself led His Apostle to write these words…”for we have this treasure in EARTHEN VESSELS that the excellency of the power may be of GOD, and not of us.”

His Message through us is what impacts others and the world around us…

not the power of our personalities.

The Power of His Message.

If we can allow that message to be seen in us and through us….we can have great influence.

Most people cannot name all of their elementary school teachers, but they implanted lessons you still know and adhere to.

Our failures and imperfections are going to be involved in the transmission of that Greater Meassage….

but our fallibility will not outlast or overpower the Greater Message.

You have heard, as I have, of people being turned off from Church, or religion because of a ministers’ failing. 

Jim Baker.

Jimmy Swaggert.

There are others.

You can recall their failures.

What would the world see of your failures if you were scrutinized as these men were?

In spite of those failures, realize that hundreds and most likely thousands, came to Christ hearing the Word through these and other guys who made mistakes.

That Message mattered….not the man.

I believe this…. if someone leaves the Church or walks away from spiritual life because of a ministers’ failure…

they had not really heard or heeded or accepted, nor had they come to Christ. 

For if they had heard and received and been changed by THE MESSAGE…they would know that the minister, as we all….

are merely an earthen vessel…made of breakable clay.

It is only THE MESSAGE that is made of an unbreakable cornerstone.

It will make you or break you.

It will toughen you or lay waste to you.

It has to be overcome.
A young man who is dealing with IT at the moment said, “This is not something I am stuck in, it’s something I am going through.”

IT will come….if it has not yet.

IT may have come at you already in many ways, many shapes and forms. 

You may be in the midst and middle of IT, or you may be over IT for a while.

IT will return.

IT……..is HARD.

HARD.
Hard comes in different ways.

Hard can be a relationship.

Hard can come at you as a job.

Hard can be the year you are in school.

Life consists of HARD in several different ways.

It’s good to know that it’s coming because it IS.

As the young man mentioned above heard from his Coach,

“I don’t want to make it hard. It’s just Hard.

The Hard he was referring to was football practice, in August, in the South.

Hot.

Humid.

HARD.

The young man and his teammates heard their Leader say that it has to be hard because Hard will come at some point in the next four to five months, and he wants them to be prepared by already having faced IT down.

He said it plainly….

“You have to OVERCOME HARD.”

At various times and in a multiple of ways, Life is hard.

My family moved to six different cities before I graduated high school.

My father died in 1983. My first marriage ended in 1987. My mother died in 2006.

My brother is dealing with IT at this moment. I do not want that for him. But, HARD came and now it has to be walked out.

Moses. Joseph. David. Solomon. Paul. Jesus.

All of them faced HARD. 

All overcame IT.

In January, the young man mentioned above faced HARD. He was replaced, in what he had earlier been greatly successful at, right in the middle of it.

His replacement succeeded greatly after overcoming a bit of Hard himself.

The young man who was replaced handled the HARD he had been handed …..perfectly.

That young man is still, 

as he said, 

“going through IT”.
School was hard…..at particular times.

Your job is hard, maybe a lot of times.

Marriage is hard…for some a little, for some, a lot.

Dealing with temptation is hard.

Being a Christ-follower can be hard.

Staying in shape is hard. Weight lifting, if you mean it…..is hard. Refusing to eat until you are full, is hard.

Maintaining and developing the body gifted to you is difficult….in the midst of soft chairs, air conditioning, television, refrigerators, microwaves, Alexa, Google, Shipt and remote controls.

So many appliances and conveniences make life easier all the time.

One thing that we need to know, and it’s a gift to be taught this at a young age….

is that no matter how comfortable life may get…

HARD is going to arrive 

and hit you in the mouth at some point.

And to quote Sean Connery, in his final line from, “The Untouchables”…..

“what are you prepared to do about it?”

If you are going to have success on any level,

in any endeavor 

lessons have to be learned.

And before any other lesson. We need to know that

HARD will come.

Jack Nicholson stated  in “A Few Good Men”…..”you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall.”

This comes from one having learned.

You WANT HARD to come.

You NEED HARD to come.

If it does not come soon enough in life you will fail to learn its lessons for when you need the most.

That’s why sports and other disciplines are so good for us early in life. 

They bring us HARD.

And, if we have the best and correct instruction, we will know that HARD is something we must go through to ever be successful, valuable to others, and any good to ourselves.

Only if you have been through IT do you know.

And it is simply stated but difficultly done.

Overcome HARD.

In a world which changes so rapidly, in which the norm today was unthinkable only a few years ago… do you still get amazed at things?

We can get jaded and cynical about many things because of our previous experiences.

I would encourage you to be careful to not get jaded and “evolve” away from seeing many things as amazing.

I might say that I think it a good thing to have a low bar when it comes to your sense of amazement.

In other words,
I hope you get amazed at lots of things.

I do.

On my way to work yesterday I saw the moon, in the early morning sky, on the other side of that same sky than I saw it that previous evening.

I know about the earths rotation.
I have been on this years for several years.

But to see the moon in a different place in the same sky…. is amazing.

Sunrises are amazing on so many days.
Get up early and notice the beauty in the red, orange, fiery sky as the sun rises to bring the Day.

It’s different every day.
That’s amazing.

There have been over 23 thousand
sunrises in my life ….
none are the same.

The waves which crash on the seashore,
the flakes of snow that fall every year,
are each and every one different.

If Man made those things it would our decision to simply duplicate them because of the volume.

But they are not in any way the same.

Consider the Amazing things in your life.

Your gratitude will rise and increase.

Your thankfulness will grow and come more often.

Look around
and NOTICE the beauty
and the amazing occurrences before you which occur with regularity.

I betray my naivety when I say this,

I find flight
amazing and astounding.

I have flown countless times…
but am still amazed when the plane rises into the atmosphere.

Yes, physics and
momentum and force and speed and lift ….all cause the plane to rise even when carrying cargo and people.

But yet a small bird,
with no speed,
no momentum and no force….
can simply step off of a ledge …
and fly.

Amazing.

Maybe it’s a sense of appreciation.
Maybe it’s naïveté.

Lack of sophistication.

Maybe a maintained sense of Innocence.

I hope so.

I enjoy being amazed at large and small things.

There are a plethora of things
at which to be amazed.

My hope for you is that your sense of amazement grows.

I believe it can….

if you take notice of the Amazing
things around you every day ….

which will widen your eyes,

move your mouth into a smile,

and lift your heart.

Amazing.

 

 

 

I read this today….
“Don’t be so quick to dismiss the random thoughts that cross your mind.”

I would equate that to the words…
“Show kindnesses to all because some have entertained Angels unaware.”

What we are led to surmise here is that we should pay attention…. to things,
such as a random thought,
people we are drawn to…
because we just don’t know what good can come from the heed we pay things.

There are times I “hear a voice”,
get a sense of something, or
feel compelled to do something.

I have learned to speak these words at those times….
“Lord, if this is You,
push me in it.
I will do it.
Prosper It.

If it’s not You
and I go forward,
lead me away from it
and subtract any impact.”

 

In my adult life
I have grown to listen for
and then to
the Leading of The Lord.

I have sometimes listened to my own inner voice or other influences…. and made some good but many ill-fated decisions.

Many times I have known they were words and influences I should have turned away from.

 

Let us seek to hear,
to actively listen FOR the Leading
which comes from Scripture
or The Direct Voice of The Lord.

Then,
when we hear it….
may we then listen…. TO It.

Listening TO It can lead us to a resulting activity.

Moses saw something…
paid attention,
turned toward it….
and his world and the life of a nation was changed to the better.

It’s not enough to merely HEAR
what Scripture says,
or what might be told to us.

You can HEAR many loud and soft sounds….you might be hearing several noises at this minute… it does not mean we heed and consider all of them.

 

When you HEAR and then sense that you are being spoken to by God’s Spirit….

Pay Attention.

Ask yourself……

Does it fit and is it consistent with Scripture…??
(This is why it’s good to know Scripture or be familiar with using a Bible)

Does it glorify God and does it further His Work…???

As a reference read 2 Corinthians 10: 3-5…
these words help prioritize thoughts,
deflate disobedience
and instruct us to hold thoughts
under the realm of Right Thinking.

 

Our parents spoke to and instructed us continually when we were under their care and tutelage.

Please know….
we are constantly being spoken to
and led
and influenced
by the One whose care and tutelage
we are forever under.

Listen for it.

Pay attention.

And then,
put feet to It.

Father’s are the doorway for the Family.

If they abdicate their role….their family will suffer.

Abdication for a Father, comes from either laziness, wanting something more than their Family, or childishness.

Father’s are always influential.

Either to the good or to the negative.

A son’s progress toward manhood will be stifled and slowed when a Father fails to invest of himself into his son. If the discipline and “man lessons” are not conveyed to the boy …..he may remain a boy in a grown up body.

He, and other people, will suffer for that.

A daughter who seeks and needs her Father’s love, adoration and affirmation, many times will seek that love, adoration and affirmation from some other man, in some alternate way and many times it’s misdirected.

The culture today, in many corners, emasculates the Man. 

In the face of that, Men need to shed the worry of being labeled and do what their inner voice tells them to do.

Be a Man.

If your role model failed you….find one who will lift you.

Don’t fail the next generation.

Man up….. as so many have done, and say that the failure does not go to the next generation.

Stop the “slouch to Gomorrah”.

Step out.

Step up.

Stretch yourself.

Be the Man that those around you need you to be.

Last Sunday was PENTECOST Sunday.

Imagine 3000 people being saved and baptized after the sermon, as happened on that day when Peter and the others were FILLED and then spoke with that new Presence within them.

As when Jesus fed the five thousand… the numbered were only the men. Many, many more were there, heard, and may have come to follow Him after the meal.

There were many more than 3000 at Jerusalem during the time Peter was preaching. Most likely, many more heard and hopefully came to follow Christ in His Brand New Church.

Momentum itself will lead one to understand that many more came to Salvation on Pentecost Sunday.

The momentum present in a new believer,

and that should be present in all pursuant Christians,

would lead those converts to spread the news and the message they had been touched with and changed by.

I encourage all of us to remember that same energy and momentum ….and remember when we first felt it.

We all can spread that same excitement and Joy, if we feel it.

And know IT.

Like all great and exciting news, many cannot keep it to themselves. They HAVE to tell someone.

Have you shared the most important news in your life?

What IS the most important news in your life?

The well-known magician Penn Jillette has asked the Christian community,….

“If your Christianity is so important and vital to you, why have you not shared that important thing with me?”

One might not approach Jillette because he is a known atheist. He is a winner of a Richard Dawkins award….given to Atheists. He is well-spoken and prepared to defend his position.

We can get prepared and be confident in sharing Christ and defending His Gospel.

Many times the ones we go speak to and share with are not won and converted by the expertise with which we witness….but by the heart and compassion with which we go.

Your effort may or may not not yield immediate results…but may simply “plant the seed” that another one who witnesses will harvest.

Remember, it is not the messenger who wins the lost….it is the message which changes the Soul.

Always remember, the results are not our responsibility.

Our accountability only rests on our obeying the instruction to speak and share what has happened to, and in, us.

PENTECOST was when prepared followers of Christ were filled with Power and that Power compelled them to speak.

They had heard Jesus’ Words and had seen Him do miracles.

You have heard and read Jesus’ Words and may have seen miracles.

Do you seek the same Power they received?

Do not allow any fear of failure or being unable to speak….keep you from seeking what the Disciples  waited on and received 50 days after The Resurrection.

The ability will come if you are willing to share the Power ….share the News….share the Joy.

Some people keep great news to themselves.

Sunday was the 50th day after The Resurrection.

Is the Great Gift

present in us ….

worth sharing?

The Power promised to them came upon the disciples.

They could have kept it a secret….meditated on it.

They could have talked to each other about it inside the walls of the house they were in.

The command their Master gave them as He ascended though was….”Go ye therefore”.

The command, and the Power they received compelled them to leave the room they were in

and go outside.

That command is our instruction as well.

That same Power they received

can be received by us.

May we be compelled to go and tell as they did.’

The results can be similar ….

if our obedience is similar.