Deacon's Diary

Deacon's Diary is a weekly feature that appears on the back side of the bulletin at the First Baptist Church of Avalon, Texas.

Peaceful sleep.

When I sat down at the computer this morning and turned the monitor on there was a notice waiting for me on the screen. It was not a new kind of notice. I've seen it before. As a matter of fact I see that same notice on a fairly regular basis. I usually think nothing of it. But today it made me think.

The notice that I'm talking about was from the Norton program we have installed in the computer. You know Norton, the anti-virus soft ware. The notice said that it completed its scheduled scan and that everything is good.  It said that 283,654 items were examined and any problems that were discovered were either fixed or eliminated. My computer remains safe.

All this scaning took place while I slept. Norton was on patrol looking for problems that I didn't even know I had. Quietly and without any action on my part, that program went about its work to keep the computer running smooth.  Confronting any and all things that might seek to disrupt the computers operation. Ready, willing, and able to do what is necessary to stop them.

Like I said, I usually don't think much about that notice from Norton. If the truth be told, sometimes I even consider the whole thing somewhat of a nuisance. I just press 'ok' and soon forget all about it. Like it never happened. But this morning, while the notice was still up on screen, I gave a salute to Norton, and thanked him for his work and for keeping me safe while I slept.

One might think my behavior is a little odd. Saluting to the computer at six o'clock Sunday morning. Sounds kind of strange, I know. But it wasn't Norton that I was really saluting. It was what the notice from Norton reminded me of.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. The day we have set aside to honor those who have died to keep us safe. Those brave men and women that sacrificed all confronting any and all adversaries that might seek to disrupt the smooth operation of our nation. Those who went into battle ready, willing, and able to do what ever was necessary to stop any threats from doing us harm, and they have done exactly that. Threats that we may or may not have even known about. Many times while we here at home slept is peace. We salute all you good soldiers. Thanks for keeping us safe. May you now sleep in peace.

Deacon's Diary is a weekly feature that appears on the back side of the bulletin at the First Baptist Church of Avalon, Texas.

The Mother of all Bulletins

We've all seen it a million times. The athlete that finally gets to put his face in front of the camera for a few seconds. They could say anything. They could give a shout out to anyone in the world. But when that moment arrives it almost always results in the same response no matter who it is. "Hi Mom!"

If you do a google search using the three words 'mother of all', you'll get about 33,300,000 different results. On the first page of the many millions of pages, it advertises four different books that actually use 'mother of all' in their titles. "The Mother of all Trades", "The Mother of all Crimes", "The Mother of all Churches", and finally,  "The Mother of all Pregnancy Books".

Writers of all kinds use the term 'mother of all' to make the point that what ever it is that they are talking about is big. Perhaps the biggest. Or the best. Or the most significant. They use the term to describe an object or an event that, as of the present time anyway, tops anything that has come before it.

Let us also note the many other ways that the word 'mother' is used to signify greatness. Mother nature comes to my mind. There is nothing in this world more powerful, and displays more force before our eyes than mother nature.

The same happens in the world of fiction, too. Look at our wonderful collection of nursery rhymes from Mother Goose. And we all know that there has never been a science fiction movie about an invasion from outer space worth its salt that didn't feature the 'Mother Ship'.  It just wouldn't be the same without it.

I could go on and on, but you get the point. We can learn a lot about what people think of certain words by observing how it is used in the language. When it comes to describing the biggest, the best, the most significant, or the most influential things around us, then I guess that 'mother' would have to be the 'mother of all words'. That's because Mother is really special to all of us.

My mom has been gone for a long time. She went to be with the Lord some 16 years ago. I don't really believe that there are televisions in heaven. At least I hope not. But if I ever get the opportunity to have one those moments in front of a camera I know what I'll do. I'll just smile and say, "Hi Mom!"  Just in case.

Deacon's Diary is a weekly feature that appears on the back side of the bulletin at the First Baptist of Avalon, Texas.

Needing weeding.

My wife Kay has been laughing at me lately. She laughs every time I go on one of my 'weed hunts'. That's when I take a walk around the front yard looking for weeds to pull up. Thistles. Clover. Anything that does not look like grass.   When I find them I try and get rid of them. Sometimes they come up root and all, and sometimes they break off at the surface. The ones that break of at the surface usually grow back, so later on, I'll have to pull them out again.

But that is not why Kay finds my weed hunting so amusing. She laughs because of the changes I've made since moving to Arlington from out there in the country where I am from. I didn't used to care much about all the weeds. I used to just mow right over them. "Weeds are green too," I used to say. When I lived out there I had a whole acre to keep up with.  I would have killed my myself trying to pull all the weeds out of that yard. But the yard here in Arlington is not that big.  It is of a manageable size and easier to keep up with. So, I stay on the hunt.

There's another thing that I do here in this smaller yard that I never used to try with the bigger one. I water the thin spots so that the good grass has incentive to grow more stronger there. That, too, is something that would have been right near impossible to pull off when dealing with an entire acre.

Though it's a stretch, yesterday I was thinking how my attitude towards my yard keeping changed with a simple change of scenery and how it compares to my life before and after I started coming to church. I thought of how sin is much like the weeds in the yard. Before I met all the good people at my church, I didn't think much of them. And no matter how many times I tried to just mow them over, they were still there. Those sins, like weeds in the yard, stole away the nutrients from the ground and prevented the good stuff from growing. Before church I never worried much about watering the thin spots either. The thin spots representing the places in my life that were lacking. And the water, of course, is Jesus!

Finding the church and finding Jesus Christ didn't make my sins just go away. I still got 'em. I still got weeds. But with His grace and forgiveness, they have become much more manageable. Some of which are easier to pull out than others. Some of them just break off at the surface. But with His help, and His grace, I'll keep on hunting.

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