In Our Place

We have a wonderful opportunity in a couple of days to show our loyalty to our Lord and to His church - we can be in our place of service on this Sunday, the Lord's Day.

In our services, we will sing of our Lord's love for us and our need to love others in His name. We will be blessed by the ministry of Dr. Jon Appleton, former pastor of First Baptist Church, Athens, GA who served previously as the Interim Pastor of First Baptist Church, Jefferson.

We also have the opportunity to be involved in the final preparations for Vacation Bible School: Outrigger Island - Living God's Unshakeable Truth ("Know the Truth, Speak the Truth, Live the Truth") which will be each evening Monday - Friday, June 9 - 13, 5:30-8:00 p.m.

And if that is not enough, there will be a Church-wide Swim Party in the afternoon and a variety of other meetings. (See the church website, www.fbcjefferson.org, for more information.)

This is no time to rest - to sit on our laurels. There is work to be done, ministry and service to be performed. The Lord's church needs to move forward and it needs each one of us to be ...

In Our Place!

Blessings,
Richard

A Skunk, a Retractable Leash, and God

Now if that title gets your interest, you will need to wander on over to my other blog Richard's Ramblings. At the very least, you will see a picture of my "baby."

Blessings,
Richard

God Has Not!

Well the deed is done. Dr. Cary Hilliard, having resigned a few weeks ago, has preached his last sermon as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Jefferson, Georgia.

Today was his last Sunday. The service was good. He had requested a celebrative service based on the theme of Baptism: A New Beginning so we sang several favorite gospel hymns and the choir presented a favorite by Mary McDonald "I Must Tell Jesus with Blessed Assurance."

There were, of course, the tears, the goodbyes, the hugs, the well wishes, and the fellowship meal in his honor. (That did remind me of Christmas, as all the eating began without the guest of honor being present.)

However, throughout the sermon there was the admonition to look ahead, to look forward, to rely on God's presence and His Spirit to continue moving ahead.

I was present in one of our Sunday School classes as they spoke of this event. I took the opportunity to mention that my desire was for the church to move forward - to grow if possible - at least to not sit down. I used the thoughts of President John Kennedy to challenge the class to "ask not what our church can do for me, but what can I do for my church."

Then the statement was made: "Pastor Cary has resigned, but God has not!"

Let us remember that our Leader is still seeking to lead and still seeking followers. May we be true and faithful to our calling.

Blessings,
Richard

In Memoriam - Dottie Rambo

My first exposure to Dottie Rambo was actually at a Andrae Crouch Concert in Atlanta when I was much younger.

Dottie Rambo died early Sunday morning, May 11 in a bus accident. If the links are still good, you can read the story from the New York Times or Yahoo! News.

Through the years, I haven't followed her career, or life, very closely, but some of the songs she has written have impacted me as a musician. One that has been very special to me was within arm's reach as I read of her passing just a few minutes ago. She co-wrote with Jimmie Davis "Sheltered in the Arms of God."





May God bless and strengthen her family in the days, as well as touch the lives of those who were injured in the accident.

Richard

Reason to Visit

New every day!

I realize that visiting DicksonHome.net every day could be boring as it was basically the same thing all the time.

Change has come. I have added links to top news stories and a "Today in History" section. I am looking for other ways to make it interesting as well.

Mother's Day

For my mother: I love you! I appreciate you so much, not only for what you did for me as a child and youth, but your continued prayers, love, and support through my adulthood.

For my mother-in-law: Though departed, I love you for bringing my wife into this world and seeking to raise her to be the fine lady that she is today.

Mother's Day IS a day to honor our mothers (not the mothers among us, but our own personal mothers).

Far too often it appears that Mother's Day is about mothers: I am a mother, you are not a mother. By doing so, I fear we miss the point of the day. For me, it's not about whether or not you are a mother, but that I have a mother ... and you have a mother.

When the day degenerates into a celebration of motherhood, then pain results for those who have not been able to be mothers, or for those who have lost their children either in childbirth, childhood, youth, or even later in life.

I can celebrate and you can celebrate because we all have a mother. Be grateful for her and bless her!

* * * * * * *

This Sunday, our stated theme at First Baptist Church of Jefferson is "The Faith of a Mother."

We will give praise to God for the beauty and greatness of all His creation, especially parent (mother) and child - family. We will also sing of the wonderful legacy of those who have or have had a mother of faith.

We also recognize that mothers, like all of us, need for our Lord to deal in and work through each of our lives, especially as the choir sings "Lord Jesus, Think on Me," a simple but wonderful prayer anthem.

Together, we wil acknowledge our need for faith and the importance it plays in our lives.

So, as we gather, each in our respective house of worship, may we seek to grow in our faith and our walk with our Lord. May we honor the Lord who has been good and given each of us a mother.

- If you are a mother, be all you can be in the Lord!

- If you are not a mother, be all you can be in the Lord!

Thank You, Lord, for my mother!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Blessings,
Richard

A Basic Christian Library

What are some of the books that one might find in a basic Christian library?

I have posted some recommendations with links for your consideration.

There are Bibles, reference books, and devotional books. I also included a link to "The Chronicles of Narnia" since there is much interest in the movie "Prince Caspian" that is coming out in theatres.

It is a long page with a lot of information, but I hope it will prove helpful.

You can find my recommendations on my website, Dickson Home, by clicking here or on the link on the sidebar and then clicking on the menu link to "Recommended Reading."

Blessings,
Richard

Vacation Bible School Pictures

If you are working in Vacation Bible School this year (2008) and using LifeWay's Outrigger Island literature, you may be interested in the pictures that I have posted on my website.

There are pictures from the Georgia Baptist VBS Training at Toccoa, GA and the Tugalo Associational Clinic at Martin Baptist Church.

To view the pictures click here or on the link in the sidebar to Dickson Home and then click on the menu item labeled VBS Pictures.

Blessings,
Richard

Embrace Eternity

The way to life is straight and the gate is narrow. The way to destruction is broad and many are on that path.

One of the difficulties that we face as we travel this life is to keep eternity in sight. It is so difficult to see past the health issues, the financial issues, the job issues, the family issues, and whatever your particular issues are.

It is necessary though to realize that this life is lived in the context of an eternity and that each of us will either find eternity in heaven or hell. Therefore, it is in our own best interest to live our life with eternity in view.

This Sunday the choir will sing the wonderful anthem Untitled Hymn. It seems a strange title (similar to Vaughan Williams tune SINE NOMINE - without name). However, as I thought about the text - we are weak and wounded, we fall down, we cry, we hurt, we die, and yet God is there calling us to Himself and offering to us His strength, His protection, His love, and His eternity - it seemed that the love and blessings of God are beyond our ability to label/to title, so how appropriate that this anthem of God's goodness in our weakness should have this title. Yet it is appended with the call of Christ Himself who said, "Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" - Come to Jesus.

Blessings,
Richard

VBS Pictures

Just a brief note to let my readers know that pictures from the Georgia Baptist State VBS Training Conference in Toccoa, GA are posted on my website at DicksonHome.net. There is a link is in the sidebar.

Give Forgiveness

What we all need, what we all want, what we need to give, and what we usually don't want to give - forgiveness.

Luke 19:1-10 tells the story of Zacchaeus, the publican of Jericho, who was so short that he had to climb a tree to see Jesus who invited Himself over for a meal (how many remember the song: Zacchaeus was a wee little man ... [everybody sing]?).

Well, short story long, Zacchaeus' life was changed - radically - and he made some changes in his lifestyle because of it. It was so radical that Jesus declared that salvation had come to that house. Zacchaeus had received forgiveness from God.

Matthew 6:14-15 does bring us up short if we see what it says, if we forgive, we will be forgiven by God, but if we don't forgive, we will not be forgiven by God. Ouch!

Romans 14:13 tells us not to judge one another, but to judge ourselves as to whether we are causing our brothers and sisters to stumble in the way.

It is clear that we are to give forgiveness.

*******

This is the sermon topic for this Sunday (April 20, 2008) in our Live Like You Were Dying Theme. In our music, we emphasize this by offering ourselves to be God's vessel in Sanctuary and noting that we ourselves are debtors to God's grace in Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

We recognize that we need to freely give forgiveness as we have freely received forgiveness from God by singing Freely, Freely and that we have a call to live the Christ life in We Are Called to Be God's People.

The Adult Choir challenges us to live this out by sharing the anthem Lift Your Light by Mary McDonald.

Then we sing a wonderful text by Gloria Gaither entitled I Then Shall Live with the line "as one who's been forgiven." After a testimony in the 10:50 a.m. service and the sermon, we offer the response invitation Living for Jesus.

Forgiveness - we definitely need and want it.

Forgiveness - we definitely need to give it.

Blessings,
Richard