I recently got a call from my brother out West. Since I live in the East, we seldom see each other. However, since we are both retired, and both of our mates have gone ahead to Glory, we can talk into the wee hours, which we always do.

Usually, we start off catching up on the family news, go on to share what God is doing in our lives, then since we are Bible students, we move into any new revelations we've had on the Word. Finally, we take our usual stroll down memory lane.

One good thing about having a sibling close to your own age, you have a lot of the same memories...the three younger ones don't always know what we are talking about.

One example is: I started out listening to the music from the war years, that my mother listened to on the old, floor model Zenith radio, that took up the whole corner.

Theresa Brewer belted out, "Put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon, all I want is loving you, and music, music, music", and moved on to "The Singing Rage, Miss Patti Page".

We had the first black and white TV in the Hollow, so we pushed on through Snookie Lanson and the Hit Parade (we lived with the grandparents at that time). A few years later, Ed Sullivan had a new singer on his show by the name of Elvis Presley. Of course, it was all rock and roll after that. Brother and I share all those memories.

In the 1960's, he went off to do two tours of duty in Viet Nam, and I went to Texas to Bible School. So much has happened in our lifetimes, that it is a comforting time to sit and share memories of those care-free days, when life was a lot simpler. It is also great to  have a family, who has known us all our lives, and love us anyway!

The U.S. Post Office has all but been replaced by Computer Emails. Nowadays, I get "letters" from people I don't even know, called Forwards. Like everybody else, I get a ton of these things in my email, and some are worth passing on to special friends in my addy book. I have a church friend by the name of Linda, who is my age. I'll forward her something every once in awhile to brighten her day.

Last week I sent her one called "Dirt Roads". It was a series of pictures of old unpaved roads, of which we were both familiar, from our childhood years.

She wrote back..."Thanks for the email...I couldn't bring up the pix of the 'Dirt Roads' but I have plodded along many in my time. There used to be one in front of my Grandfather's farm, where the High School now stands.

My brother and sisters and I used to walk, kick up the dust,  pick up stones with our toes, and try to throw them further down the road. If we walked to the bottom of the hill, went toward the river and turned right on the hard-topped road, then cut across the railroad tracks, there on the left was our other grandparents farm. We loved that they both lived so close.

When our cousins came for a visit, we would swim under the railroad bridge. When we walked passed Grandma's house to the main road, we could go straight across to my Uncle's gas station/grocery store and for a few cents, we could buy a popsicle, penny candy, licorice, or a 5 cent box of pretzels.

Then we'd walk back again, jumping the hedges into Grandma's yard and sit on her wrap-around porch to enjoy our feast! Such happy memories!

Sometimes, we'd walk down the main road, and through the bubbly, sticky tar, and squash the bubbles with our toes. Sometimes, it would stick and burn, and we'd run to the river and jump off the bank and wash the tar off our feet. I had such a blessed childhood...with both sets of Grandparents living so close together. All of our loved ones were in one place...such unconditional love! Some of my aunts still live there".

I think we all like to reminisce about our 'happy days', regardless of our age. When this life is over I don't think it will be much different in Heaven. There is an old hymn written around 1936 called, "I'll Meet You in the Morning". The Chorus goes...

"I'll meet you in the morning, with a "How do you do" and we'll sit down by the river and with rapture old acquaintance renew.  You'll know me in the morning by the smiles that I wear.
I'll meet you in the morning, in that city that is built four-square".

I think when the shock wears off that we are ACTUALLY IN GLORY, and we meet our precious Lord Jesus, and eventually meet those Saints we only read about, we will finally see old familiar faces, from our days upon the earth. Imagine seeing Mother and Daddy again, and the siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, neighbors, our church family...and that one who led us to Jesus! My, what a time that will be!

However, I must tell you there is only one way that can happen. The first thing we all have to realize is, that all the "good works" you've managed to do in this lifetime, will not save you. The "law" (good works) could not save Israel...that is why Jesus had to come and pay that wretched price. The Bible (God's own Words), plainly says:

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us..." (Titus 3:5).

The first thing you must understand is that all have been born in sin, after Adam and Eve blew it in the Garden.
"For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Next, you need to confess your sins to Jesus, nobody else, then ask Him to forgive you. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all  unrighteousness". (1 John 1:9). Of course, you have to mean it with your whole heart. They call it "repentance" which literally means to "stop, turn around, and walk the opposite direction"...which is a daily decision. The good thing is, Jesus is there to help us make that turn-around...we cannot do it alone...and it gets easier the longer we walk with Him!

End you prayer by asking Him to come into your heart and life, and live your life THROUGH you. Acknowledge Him as the King of kings, and Lord of lords because He IS! We all sin daily, because it is now human nature, since the Garden thing. That is why we pray daily and ask God to forgive and strengthen us. The verse in 1 John 1:9 applies to Christians (God's Kids) as well as to those who are meeting Him for the first time!

When we have asked Jesus to come into our hearts, we think differently. He now lives inside us, and speaks to us when we sin, in our "heart-ear". It is called conviction. Just like the most loving Father, when we run to Him and say "Papa, I have sinned again", He says, "What did you do"? And we hang our head and say..."the same thing I did yesterday", He replies, "What did you do yesterday"?

The reason He says that is because His Word tells us that He forgives us when we sincerely ask Him to, and "casts our sins as far from us as the East is from the West, NEVER TO BE REMEMBERED ANYMORE"! Yes, incredibly, our God causes Himself to FORGET our confessed sins!
(Psalm 103, Hebrews 8). Some preachers refer to it as "throwing our sins into His sea of forgetfulness".

Not everyone has "good old days" memories. Many have had difficult childhoods and lived lives of sin and heartbreak.  I can tell you God said He has a plan and future for you that is good and not evil in Jeremiah 29:11.
When you pray the "sinners prayer" (above), that will be the day you begin making those "happy days" memories...amen!

If you have prayed this prayer, please email me at:

thehomeplacemission@gmail.com and I will email you in return!

God Bless You All,

Pastor Moser
February, 2008

W. O. W.

"I stand between the years. The Light of My Presence is flung across the year to come...the radiance of the Son of Righteousness. Backward over the past year, is My Shadow thrown, hiding trouble, sorrow, and disappointment."
( a quote from Jesus found in "God Calling", A. J. Russell, 1945)