The Epic Truth

Long before I knew my name, Jesus loved me.

Long before I committed a sin, Jesus forgave me.
Long
Long before it all, Jesus had a plan just for me.

Thank you Jesus!

Jesus Knew, Jesus foresaw, my destiny and hope were secured.  My life and my future was secured in a very unselfish act. 

He Loved Me

We Christians sometimes forget what Jesus dying on the cross was all about. We sometimes see  the cross just a ceremonial or spiritual act, but we were the object of God's love, his unselfish act on the cross. Because he loved every single man and woman that would be born into this world. By his death, he would save us from the Devil's plan of our destruction and eternal damnation. Jesus came to secure our health, our welfare, our prosperity, our faith, and to establish us in him. Oh what love.

He Forgave Me

One of the greatest acts of love is to forgive. By his death on the cross Jesus dealt with every one of our sins.

Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain, but he washed it white as snow.

The effect of sin is to stain our relationship with God. It places us out of relationship with him. It is a charted destiny to eternal damnation. Jesus chose to redeem me (pay the price) for my sins.  He forgave me. Oh what love.

It Was His Plan From The Beginning

Long before the world begin, God thought about me. There was a 'love provision' in his plan. He would not let anything happen to me to destroy me. I was the apple of his eye. He would think of me just me. Where the bible  says in the beginning God created... a plan was already set in place. It would contain everything about me from life's start to life's end here on this earth, but reach all the way to an endless eternity. It would include a provision for my every up and down. It would include all things that pertain to life and godliness. Satan would try to blind me to the fact that I have access to the stores of heaven but it's in God's plan and provision. There would be times that I would have to speak it and let all heaven and earth  know that its in the provision, the love provision established before the world began. There also would also be a time that I would have to declare it to hell and its minions to let them know they have no legal right to try and block it. God would protect his investment by the word of his power. It is all in the 'love provision' of his plan. He, in his infinite wisdom saw all
the things I would need in this world to thrive.

Long before I knew my name, Jesus loved me.

Long before I committed a sin, Jesus forgave me.

Long before it all, Jesus had a plan just for me.

Thank you Jesus!

In Your Hand

I look to you alone to  keep me
I look to you to supply my every need
In your hand there is no want or lack
You alone are my keeper indeed
I look for you hands to guide me
To lead me in the places I am to go
You will refresh and sustain me
You are the caretaker of my soul
In the time of distressful trouble
I see your hand and I do not fear
You alone are my keeper
Your protection ever surrounds me near
Your hand is seen by the enemy
He knows that you are my protection
Even he envies how you love me
As he sees my overflowing blessings
In your hand is goodness and mercy
In your hand there is never anything less
Your hand will always guide me
In your presence I'm forever blessed


Based on the 23rd 
Psalm

Good night, Go to Sleep, I Will See You in the Morning...

In February 28, 1980, my father passed away, leaving my mother, my brother, and me by ourselves. We were used to Dad taking care of of everything for us. In essence, he was our total provider. All that we knew, loved, and respected was now gone, but we didn't lose a beat because of all the things he put in place just in case he was not there with us. The provisions he made for us would last many years to come. In fact, thirty- four years has come and gone and the provisions he made for us are still going strong to this day.

On the night of his death, that evening he came home from the doctor's office, he was quiet and not really saying too much of anything. He came home helping my mother with the things she needed to complete. No one really thought about it too much back then, because it was his normal way of doing things. Reflecting back on it now, he must have been consumed by the thought of not making through the night. For the doctor wanted to admit him into the hospital and put a pacemaker in his chest right away. My dad did not want anything to do with that. He just wanted to come home and spend time with his wife and two boys. He did not mention it because he did not want to upset us. He wanted to  be with his family. His family meant the world to him.

He made choices that brought him to this place, and brought him to this expected time, the end of life. In my mother he found the perfect mate, a life long friend, not just a partner. He made the choice to move from the larger city to the smaller town because he did not want his sons to deal with the snares of city life. He made the choice to build his own house. He felt that he could leave his wife and sons his legacy in the form of a brick home. He also made the choice to get into the church. He made many if those choices with his wife, my mother. The choices that he made would encompass his family. He made those choices for his family.

He sat at the dining room table counting loose change. Suddenly his hands went to his chest, his eyes rolled back in his head. He went straight to the floor. My mother screamed out, "Not now Lord." I ran to him to resuscitate him as I had learned in school. My brother ran down the street to my relatives home. Chest compressions, I began to count off... I breathed in to his mouth and covering his nose. Within minutes my Uncle Wilbert and cousin Billy arrived and took over. Minutes later the paramedics arrived and was carting my father to the hospital, my mother riding along with them. My brother stayed home. A police officer took me in his squad car. I kept saying to the police officer, I tried to revive him, but I couldn't. I kept apologizing for my tears. As I arrived at the hospital, I was taken to a small room where my mother was sitting  talking to one of the nurses. The nurse was bantering about. She finally said to my mother, sorry we were not able to save him.  My mother, only in the way she knew, begin speaking in tongues. The essence of what she was saying was, I'll see you again. We all wept bitter tears.

The next few days were spent making preparations for the home going services for my dad. I must tell you, we were as backwards as could be. We didn't know up from down or in from out. We were blessed that we had our family and the funeral director to fill in the gaps. They helped with everything from clothes to go on the body, finances. We were not prepared for this time at all.

The night of the funeral was on this wise. Momma was not taking it very well although he had smile on her face. It was only there for my brother and I and the rest of the family. I realize now we all fell into a pattern of sadness. We arrived at the front door of the church. Lining up we we ushered into the church edifice to the front row. Many of our neighbors were there, as was friends of the family, our family from both sides.  Leon Amos one of the neighborhood children begin playing softly. The program called for many songs. I even sung a song that I had written, that my dad liked, called "Destiny". There were so many spoken remarks and condolences. For me it just seemed like the routine eulogy, by my dad's friend Bishop Leonard Rimpson. I never remember saying goodbye to my father.

Today after 35 years I would like to say to my dad,

Goodnight Dad, sleep well, I will see you in the morning...

You did well and you kept the race to the end...

You were gone too soon...

Forever are you in my heart and actions...

I pray that you are proud of your two sons...

Thank you!

Affairs of the Heart

In our lifetime, we may fall in love with someone special. Sometimes they have the same feelings for us, sometimes they do not. We reach out to them as one reaching of darkness to the light. Sometimes they may reach back. Sometimes they may shut their light off. Our hearts break in the process. They don't always feel what we feel. Over and over again we go through the same thing. After a while, our heartbeat breaks cadence and our flow of life stops.
We must protect our hearts.
We have to give our hearts to God in prayer.
No one blames you for falling in love, that's a good thing.
God gives us love.
In fact, God is love.
Don't ever think we know more about loving than God.
God will give you the best mate in His timing. I encourage draw nigh unto the Lord. He will give you your best mate.

Strong Hands

Today I am remembering and honoring my father, McKinley Crisler.  


When I think about my father, I immediately think about his hands. My father had very large strong hands. His hands were like the hands of a giant. In pictures, his hands are most prominent. His hands showed the full spectrum of emotions, anger, passion, love, happiness or joy etc... His hands usually reflected what he was feeling at any given moment. They were also precise and given to deliberate, best course of action. Like the hands on a clock, he knew one decision of action would impact the next. This moment is the building block of what will come in the future.


He was also a builder. The home in which we grew up in, was built by my father. It was great because the only thing he built before that was a chicken coop. Nothing in the world could stop him once he put his mind to doing something. It was an undertaking he could not afford at the time, but he did it step by step. It was one of his greatest undertakings. There were times on the weekend when he would take his two sons to be his little helpers. Every once and a while we would take a break and walk to the corner store for his favorite snack, a Pepsi and a bag of peanuts. He was determined that he would not raise his sons in the fast life of a large city, but in the environment of a small town. Always thinking ahead of what was best for his wife and family, he built our home. He was also a builder of relationships. Oh boy could he build relationships. My father's hands told the story of who he was in this life time. He had calloused hands because over the years he worked very hard with his hands. He told me he never wanted my hands to ever become callous like his hand had become. He told me I was made to be more than he was. I think back on that and wonder, how can I be more? I have a great legacy.


My father played and wrestled with us so much when my brother and I were children, even all the neighborhood took notice. There wasn't anything that he wouldn't do for his boys. He was a hands on father. As much as he was a loving man, he was also a disciplinarian. The neighbors saw the playfulness of my father as well as the strictness as my brother and I getting spanked. Yes we had our share of public spankings. He said he did it because he loved us. It was very hard to see that type of loving when you are young and growing up. I know now it was his approach to steering my brother and I in the right direction. We were his sons and we knew we were his sons. He made sure we had food on the table and clothes on our back. He considered it his job to not only to provide the materialistic things of the household, but it was his job to provide the love and guidance. And with his hands, he would guide us.

I remember when I was about ten or twelve years old, my father had to change a flat tire for my Aunt Jean. It was freezing outside. His hands became stiff and almost frozen. He kept going and would not stop until the job was complete. He didn't think it made sense to stop in the middle of a job. That was another mantra he kept.

As a pastor, he would use his hand to lay hands on the sick and infirmed. I would see healing after healing and miracle after miracle. He was given to counsel. I remember many would search him out for his counsel.  

My father, he did what his hands found to do, he did. He completed his course in life. He completed it with the gift God gave him in life, strong hands.

Golden Voices 3

I looked her directly in her face. She was sure of who she was in God. The character lines on her face say that she has seen much and she understands much more than the average churchgoer.  And she was not full of pride, but she was very humble.
Then when the pastor
said  what he said, it clinched it.
"When she began to pray I felt the Spirit of God enter into the building."
Suffice to say, she brought the Spirit in with her.
I suppose at ninety years old, you either know how to pray or you do not. She is an old soldier. She is an experience warrior. She knows how to get in contact with God. She reminds me of my mother. She did not come to church just to be seen or heard, she came to have church. She was not there for a form or fashion, she was there to lift of the name of Jesus, and that she did. She danced and shouted unto the Lord. She sang with her whole being. I enjoy seeing  this great woman in the service of the Lord. She was a testimony against all young people that came as spectators. She is a living testimony of God's amazing power to keep his own. God knows how to preserve his own.

Lady Wisdom

Lady Wisdom
She is different from all that I have ever met.

She thinks before responding.
She will not answer if she is not sure.

She never speaks out of turn. She never speaks out of anger, but waits until the proper time to strike a blow to ignorance.

She learns by listening rather than speaking.

Her words wins her favor with all men.

She speaks with the tongue of the learned.

The elders come to her for counsel.

She is praised for the weight of her words, for they are worth more than gold.

She gathers in the early morning before the sun has had a chance to warm the earth. She prepares long before all things happen because time is to her a tool to be used with understanding it will never come again. When all others are sleeping she is still planning the day ahead.

She is Lady Wisdom.