Memories are precious things for all of us. Some memories are great and some are not so great. I remember great times in my childhood when a special family memory would just never leave my mind and I still access it today as a point of joy. My first race car set has a permanent place in my memory bank. I remember wishing for a race car set and then waking up on Christmas morning and "there it was!" I almost wore the set out the first day as I raced over 200 races against myself, and I won them all. lol. Another great memory for me was when my family would go to our lot on Spring River, about a mile out of Mammoth Springs, Arkansas. My Brother in Law had a camper and we would go down there and swim in that super cold river. Fishing was a blast, and we couldn't get enough of it. Waking on that first morning on the river to the fragrance of eggs, potatoes, and onions all mixed up into some breakfast meal that my brother in law cooked up. I also remember going under the falls on the river and using my dive mask to find things that had been dropped in the river when novice canoers turned over on the falls. Memories are precious as a child, and as an adult. I remember our Student Renewal Conference in my home church in West Plains, Missouri and the vision God gave me to begin it. We started out with over 200 youth the first year and Matthew Ward was our guest singer and He "knocked it out of the park" . Literally. We had the event outdoors in the West Plains City Park. The next year we have over 800 in attendance and rented the convention center. The last year we had over 1200 and over 300 decisions for Christ, after our guest preacher, Dawson McAllister brought "the Word."
So what do we do with those memories? We cherish them and let them drive us to new adventures to make more memories. For a while in my life I immersed myself so much in the ministry I forgot to keep in touch with those people that mean so much to me. I got a text from my best friend from high school, Roger Wray, and we rekindled our friendship and it was like we had never been away from each other for all those years. I had the pleasure to go to my High School reunion (many years) and realized how much I had missed my friends and made a commitment to never let that happen again. To get so busy that I almost forget who I am and who I was in life.
The following scripture speaks about the time of birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and I listed it here. Luke 2:1 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.3 And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city.4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. Now that is what I call a precious memory that was penned by Luke, the Apostle. Luke shares the circumstances of this memory and the details of what mostly happened. I always wondered if maybe some of the early followers of Jesus might look back on the memory of the Life of Jesus on this earth and remember good and bad times. It was moment in "history" and that moment lives on today. When brothers and sisters in Christ greet each other it is like the times of Jesus was just yesterday, which further explains God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Bible calls this "eternity." No time restrictions on the memory of the birth of Jesus and we must never forget what happened in "those days" so we can live a better life in this day. Eternity holds our faith and our memories together for that day when Jesus comes and takes us home, so treat the memory of "those days" with care and thus let the God of yesterday, today, and forever imprint on our hearts the memories of conversion, the memory of our family, the memory of a first Christmas, and the memory of the birth of Jesus. Jesus is working in the present; in these days. Let His light shine through as only He can and keep your faith current.
The Pilgrimage Continues.....
David Warren
Comments