And to think, He did that just for me............

When I was a young boy, my family and I would often drive to a wooded section of Grady County, to the very spot my Dad had called home in his formative years.  At that time, my Uncle Enos and Aunt Kathleen were living in the "old home place" and raising their family.  Those are happy times in my memory - to this very day.  My Aunt Kathleen could prepare the MOST DELICIOUS fried chicken on the planet (she still does) and my Uncle Enos was a genius when it came to preparing butter and syrup, in which he would sop one of my aunt's home-cooked biscuits (after supper, as a fitting dessert to down-home eating).  This fond journey, however, into culinary heaven is a digression to my original purpose for writing.  I'll just privately savor those wonderful meals for a few more moments and then, get back on track.

Now, where were we?  That's right, we were discussing Friday night trips to my kinfolks' home in Cairo.  It seems as if our leaving their home was always done rather late in the evening.  When we'd finally call it a night and start our trip towards home, the brightness of the moon (nestled in a blanket of stars) would literally bathe every surface with its pure luminescence - as can only be enjoyed when gazing into a "country sky."  And make no mistake, Moon Over Manhattan or Moon Over Miami ain't got NOTHIN' over Moon Over Centennial.  If you've never seen the night sky from country central, you've never really SEEN the night sky.  Concentrated civilization (city life) produces maximum light pollution (porch lights, street lamps, car lights, etc.) which hinders one's ability to view the night sky as God created it.

Well, at any rate, in those long-ago nights the moon played front and center in my upward gaze.  I'd track its "movements" carefully as my Dad would start the car up the lane that led to the main road.  I was always amazed that the moon had a sense of the direction and speed our car was traveling and would follow us (quite well) all the way back to Thomasville.  My parents would tell us that the Moon did in fact follow us, and wanted nothing more than to shine over our house, and shed its light for our pleasure.  I just knew, as a child, that people from everywhere and all walks of life must have had a real ax to grind with the Butlers for hogging the splendor of the Moon.  Well, it did shine on our neighbor's houses too - once we got back into town.  Surely the neighbors were grateful that we had the mindset to share our moon.

In the movie It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey tells Mary Hatch - with whom he is caught in the splendid moonlight - that he would like to lasso the moon and offer it to her as a gift.  He speaks those lines with the authority (or audacity) that the Moon is his to give.  But, in fairness to George, that movie was filmed and produced LONG before the Butlers assumed ownership of the Moon.  I just mention that fact so as to divide Hollywood fantasy from reality.

You might think that I've lived long enough - at this point - to have somehow outgrown that mentality.  But you'd be entirely wrong, for I've had other experiences involving "the heavens and the Earth" that have incited or goaded such perceptions.  After all, is it really that outlandish to think that our MIGHTY and MAGNIFICENT GOD would create and produce such absolute and regal splendor for an audience of one?  I don't think so, and let me tell you why.

I've driven my car to work EARLY in the morning, almost unable to stay on course, because of the magnificence of the morning sky.  So often, I will get out of my car on such mornings and just stand there with my eyes thrust heavenward and my mouth ajar with disbelief.  And when the constraints of time bring me back into the realization that I have to sign in by 7:40, I close up my car and head towards the front door.  It's then that I notice other people scurrying towards the school entrance.  The most striking difference I see in myself and my counterparts (more times than not) is that they haven't even looked upward (in their hurry) to see the very thing over which I have just marveled.  NO KIDDING - they haven't noticed AT ALL!  So, in that case, I am compelled to believe that God has created that moment and that panoramic splendor for an audience of one.......ME!

And that's the same way in which He offers the gift of His salvation.  He doesn't wave his hand over an entire nation of people and declare YOU ARE MINE.  It's more intimate than that.  He doesn't wave His hand over an entire church body and declare YOU ARE MINE.  It's more intimate still.  He doesn't wave His hand over a family of believers and declare YOU ARE MINE.  You're almost there, but think about even deeper intamacy.  He does, in fact, wave His hand over the wayward drifting life of ONE soul, and declare YOU ARE MINE, FOR YOU HAVE BELIEVED IN YOUR HEART THAT JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOUR SINS AND THAT HIS BLOOD - POURING DOWNWARD TO THE FOOT OF THE CROSS - HAS CLEANSED YOUR LIFE AND GIVEN YOU A HOPE ETERNAL!!!!!  And yes, my friends, that comes about, in all its glory, for an audience of one.  And just like you have to claim the wonder of the moon or morning light, you have to (in that audience of one) claim the entrance of Christ into your heart through an invitation of belief.  Jesus says, "Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20).  And for a Southern boy, that shared meal just might be fried chicken and home-cooked biscuits sopped in butter and syrup.

So, you see believer, God's only begotten Son, is ours for the claiming.  Who am I that God should be mindful of me?  He's my Father, my Abba, my Eternal King.  I am His, and He is mine!

Loved with everlasting love, led by grace that love to know;
Gracious Spirit from above, Thou hast taught me it is so!
O this full and perfect peace! O this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.

Heav’n above is softer blue, Earth around is sweeter green!
Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen;
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow, flowers with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.
Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.

Things that once were wild alarms cannot now disturb my rest;
Closed in everlasting arms, pillowed on the loving breast.
O to lie forever here, doubt and care and self resign,
While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.
While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.

His forever, only His; Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart!
Heav’n and earth may fade and flee, firstborn light in gloom decline;
But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.
But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.

Hey EVERYBODY, go out and enjoy my moon!


Selah (סֶלָה )

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