If you are reading this (or having it read to you), then you and I have something in common - we are aging. For the young, this means getting stronger, gaining new abilities, and learning new things. For the old, this means getting weaker, losing abilities, and forgetting things. Many have observed that "getting old sucks" and that it is not for the faint of heart. I have always been inspired by the adage: "You can cannot always control what happens to you, but you can always control how you respond". This has never been more evident to me than when I read the writings of Horace LaFavor.
When I was in middle school, Coach LaFavor was the PE teacher. I was never much of an athlete in my middle school years, so he did not really "coach" me in anything, but we all called him Coach. My mother worked at the school so I saw him slightly more than I would otherwise. He and I were not all that close, but I always liked him well enough.
Since retiring some years back he and his trusty sidekick have become fishers of men as well as fishers of carp (he would be upset if I reversed the two). In addition to loving God, his wife, his hound, and fishing, he also loves to write (which is how I know about his first loves). He has probably served more as Coach to me through his writing than he ever did in a middle school gym.
The other day, one of his pieces drew my attention more than others. He and his family have faced many struggles and he has always shared them with a "peace that passeth all understanding", This most recent struggle was comparatively insignificant, but for some reason to me every bit as powerful. I hope that as I get older, I am able to look at life with the same long view and have the same positive and spiritual perspective as Coach. With his permission and without further ado, here is the piece that got my eye:
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Wednesday Thoughts- 1/20/16
It is 4:00 AM and I cannot sleep. When I cannot sleep it is usually caused by the anticipation of an upcoming event or eating too much Pizza or Mexican food the night before. When this situation occurs I often get up and write. I know it isn’t Sunday but with your permission, I’d love to share with you some “Wednesday Thoughts”……………………….
I have reached yet another milestone in my life. After being “encouraged” by my family and close friends to have my hearing tested I recently broke down and went in to see what they could do for me. There were several tests administered but the first one was the clincher for me. Ramona was asked to come (as a familiar voice) and she was given a list of 25 very simple one syllable words to read out loud to me. My task from approximately 15 feet away was to repeat each word back to her. As I approached the sixth or seventh word and saw the tears coming down my precious wife’s face I made the brilliant deduction that I wasn’t doing very well on this test. Bottom line is that I couldn’t clearly hear the voice of my precious wife of over 42 years. In fact, I only identified 10 out of 25 words correctly.
This coming Sunday morning I have been invited to speak to the Men’s Breakfast group at Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Hiram, Ga. We will be talking about voices. We will begin with voices such as Willie Nelson, Nat King Cole, Merle Haggard and Elvis but soon and very soon we will settle and stay on the topic …”The Voice of Jesus.”
Jesus has been speaking to many of us for years from just a few feet away but for some reason we have not heard or at least not properly responded to His voice. Maybe time has caused our ear drums to become hard and calloused but more likely than not, sin has blocked our ear canal like so much nasty ear wax.
This past week the administrator of my hearing test put some hearing aids in my ears and for the first time in years I could actually hear!!! It was a freedom that I didn’t realize I was missing. It was wonderful but to obtain this new found freedom a very high price had to be paid.
Perhaps Jesus is speaking to you this morning. He can clean your ears and make your hearing better than ever! He can show you a freedom and peace that you didn’t even know you were missing! This freedom however is eternally expensive but dear friends I am here to tell you that Jesus has already paid the price! Listen to the voice of Jesus this morning. It will be clear as crystal and He will never lead you wrong. And the price is right. The price was paid with His blood on the cross…....paid in full.
