Taken Home on the Wings of Angels

             For I am ready to be poured out as a drink offering out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is as hand. I  have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 

2 Timothy 4: 6-7

             A dear friend and long time member of Fincastle Baptist Church received his promotion to heaven after 91 years of dwelling among us. I remember the first time I ever met Charles Judy was a couple years ago when the entire church went Christmas caroling and I ended up with the group who went to visit the senior shut ins of the church. Our last stop was Mr. Judy's house and I remember how his face lit up that night. After we sang a few carols for him he started talking with me. I don't recall the topics mentioned in our conversation but I remember his spirit. A man who still was focused on keeping on keeping on. I learned a lesson in faithfulness from this man. A man in his 90's who rarely missed a church service or choir rehearsal despite his ailments. I noticed when our church went to two Sunday morning services Mr. Judy would come to the early service when a lot of people around my age couldn't get there if we tried.There was times I would sit next to him in choir rehearsal and this little 100 pound man would sing with everything he had on every song. To me in my heart he was the anchor of the Fincastle Baptist Choir bass line. I learned more just last night that shows who his heart belonged to and about his faithfulness. He out lived his wife by several years. The last six years of her life she was extremely ill. He took care of his wife every minute never leaving her side those six years. He never even left there home. He had one last great victory. The youth started having an annual car show to support the youth program and the ministries it was involved in. Mr. Judy decided to enter his 1964 Ford Mustang. He hadn't done anything to it. It was all original. It was a stock mustang straight from Ford Motor Company. It was in showroom condition. He won First Place at the car show last year. That's one time I wish I could have been present to see the smile on his face. I can't wait until I see him in heaven with that huge smile on his face with his wife at his side. I know he's in heaven anchoring the bass line in Heavens choir. I just hope I remember the legacy Mr. Judy left with us. Always be faithful in serving the Lord in my church. Be a faithful husband to my wife until she takes her last breath. Just by doing these two things made him an inspiration to us all. Mr. Judy I just hope you know you are very much loved and greatly missed. 

Mr. Charles Judy March 23, 2012 

Safely Home 

It's Good to Have A One Track Mind

Psalm 1:2
But they delighted in the Law of the Lord meditating on it day and night. (NLT)

        I sit here and just think about meditating on God's Word. Our world is so busy I'm convinced that we put God in a box. We compartmentalize everything already. We try to fit everything in by giving it a time slot. I'm convinced we give God a two hour time slot in our lives on Sunday morning and think I've got my weekly dose of God for the week. We act like we've done Him a favor by sitting in Sunday School and Morning Worship. Then we hear on the news how much this nation has declined from a moral standpoint.We ask questions why is the divorce rate so high? Why is homosexuality and abortion considered to be okay? Why is a man and woman living and sleeping together outside the confines of marriage is just the norm in today's society? I could make a list of questions a mile long asking God why our nation is experiencing such moral decline but that's not what I'm being lead to focus on here.

        I learned that there's only one solution to the escalating moral decline in America; we Christians get right and get real about Jesus. Lastly after we get right and get real; you have got to get radical. If we (myself included here) people who call ourselves Christians would get as radical about serving Jesus as the lost world is about serving satan God through wouldn't just make hell backup. We would put the fires of hell out. The question is how do we get the kind of faith and courage to charge the gates of hell with a water pistol in one hand and a Bible in the other? I am convinced there is only one way possible to do so and that is to have a set daily quiet time. It's a MUST! There is no other way to walk purely in the eyes of the Lord. As Charles Stanley said do you honestly think you can go out and face the world, the flesh, and the devil without preparing yourself? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!! I remember a Methodist minister told me this while we were having dinner at two tables adjacent to each other and his word of advice to this young whipper snapper was keep your eyes up and your knees down. I can not post this without referencing Joshua 1:8-9 which says, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do all that is written in it. For then you will make your prosperous and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid , nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."(NKJV) Right here is God's formula for true success. Here's how to have victory. Here's how you can overcome addictions. There is NO OTHER WAY!!!! How can we sin if our minds are set upon God? This is how we rip the gates of hell down people. Here's the promise that comes with abiding in Him in Psalm 1:3, "They are like trees planted on the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never whither and they prosper in all they do."(NLT) My friends let this  be a reminder to us to call upon His holy Name daily and have fellowship with Him.

This post was inspired by my dear friend Uncle Skip. I may have only spent just spent few hours with you but you will forever be my friend. You are such an inspiration to me because you are a man after God's own heart. Meeting you has forever changed my life. You will always be one of my hero's of the faith because I haven't met any man up until now that loves our Savior like you. If I never get to see you again on earth I will long for the day we can have fellowship in throne room of God with Him together.

May God Bless you all. Goodnight.