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LITTLE CHILDREN
Little children
They are so sweet!
You say you have one?…
That is so neat!
They run and play
And spend their day;
With lots of love
In their smiling way.
But someday yonder
There will be tears
When they reach
Their adult years.
Because someday yonder
They will be gone;
Wandering away…
From their first earthly home.
There’s just one thing
That you should know
Have you thought
About their soul?
©Edna L. Ingram (Written on 11/23/1015)
More about Lincoln Co, Tennessee
About Lincoln County
History and Traditions: Lincoln County was carved from territory ceded to the United States by the Cherokee and Chickasaw Indian tribes. The Elk River, called “Chewalee” by the Indians, flows through Lincoln County. Legislation established our county during their session on November 14, 1809 to become effective January 1, 1810. Lincoln County was named for Revolutionary War hero General Benjamin Lincoln. He served under General George Washington and was known for being appointed by him to accept Lord Cornwallis’ sword as a symbol of England’s surrender to the American Colonies, thereby ending the American Revolutionary War for Independance. Benjamin Lincoln was named Secretary of War and later given charge of the Port of Boston.
The Tennessee state legislature appropriated funds to purchase 100 acres of land for the county seat from Mr. Ezekiel Norris for $100.00. The name “Fayetteville” was chosen in honor of the many settlers who came here from Fayetteville, North Carolina. The first church in Fayetteville was the Presbyterian Church, known at the time as the First Church of Fayetteville. It was established in 1812.
Interesting Facts: The first item to be considered by our pioneer forefathers was a lot for the County jail, or calaboose. It was built in 1810 by Ephrahim Parham for the sum of $19.87 ½. The first circuit court was established in 1810 and the first chancery court was established in 1835.
During the War of 1812, Lincoln County furnished a company in General Andrew Jackson’s army and participated in the Battle of New Orleans. In 1846, Lincoln County also furnished a company of men for the War of Mexico. Known as the Lincoln Guards, the company distinguished itself for gallantry at the battles of Monterey, Vera Crus and Cerro Gordo. During the Civil War, Lincoln County furnished 21 companies of infantrymen for the Confederate Army.
A number of famous Americans, including Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Daniel Boone, and General Andrew Jackson, have lived in or visited Lincoln County.
Our gravity-flow water system, located at what is now known as Wells Hill Park, was the first of its kind in the United States. Engineers from as far away as New York came to see it in operation.
PRAYER IS VERY POWERFUL!
2015 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 20 trips to carry that many people.
A MODERN DAY IDOL
A MODERN DAY IDOL: By Wendell Ingram
When I was about 20 years old, living in Borger, TX and worshiping with the church there, I served as one of the bus drivers in the bus ministry. We had a fantastic work, running four buses with as many as 130 children being brought to the assembly from the community. We sang, played Bible games and had a Bible lesson for the children on the bus as we picked them up and took them home.
As you can imagine, with 30 to 40 children on each bus, discipline was quite often a problem and the teachers used many tactics to control the children. It was on one of these trips in mid December that I had an epiphany (a sudden flash of recognition and insight) concerning a character that is very popular this time of year.
In an attempt to get the kids’ attention and keep them quiet, the teacher made the statement many times during this trip: “Santa Claus is watching you!”
As I thought about the statement this teacher made and the characteristics “Santa Claus” is said to possess, it dawned on me that our society has truly created a “modern day idol”. Throughout the year we had been teaching these children about the all seeing, all knowing, all powerful God of the Bible and Jesus Christ, His Son, but now in the month of December, we were calling on the children to remember another “divine (?) being” who was watching them, “Santa Claus”.
Have you ever considered the divine characteristics that are attributed to “Santa Claus”? He is “ALL SEEING”, as the song goes. “He sees you when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake” He is ALL KNOWING, “He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake?” “He is ALL POWERFUL. Controlling time, he is able to visit every home in the world in a single night. Defying the laws of gravity, he travels around the world in a flying sleigh. He is the GIVER OF GIFTS.”
Children are encouraged to ask “Santa Claus” for what they want and we ask children, “What did Santa Claus bring you?” He is the essence of GOODNESS. He is the “spirit of Christmas”, and he lives in a place of magical wonder where everything is beautiful and good.
God spoke these words in the first of the Ten Commandments, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:2-3. Have you ever wondered what God must think when parents lead their children to believe in this fictional character that possesses a divine nature?
We are told in James 1:17, EVery good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly light… Have you ever wondered what God must think when parents encourage their children to ask “Santa Claus” for what they want, and then lead their children to believe that Santa Claus is the one who has granted their request?
Parents are to be the most trusted individuals in a child’s life. Children readily accept the word of their parents without question. Most if not all, of a young child’s belief system is based on the information they receive from their parents. When children are led to believe in “Santa Claus”, what happens when their peers begin to tease them for believing in a fictional character?
What happens when they run to their parents for reassurance in their belief, only to have their parents reveal that this character, “Santa Claus”, in which they led them to believe, does not really exist? What does this do to their belief system. What does this do to the trust they once had in the word of their parents? What does this do for the parent’s credibility and integrity in the eyes of their child? What does it do to their concept of honesty?
There is also another consideration. What effect might this have on children when later in their teen years they face challenges to their belief in God? If children have found that their parents were not truthful about “Santa Claus”, how can they be sure their parents have been truthful about God Almighty?
As Kathy and I raised our children, one thing we would not tolerate from them was dishonesty. We wanted them to always be truthful with us and we were always truthful with them.
We enjoyed playing the games of “Santa Claus” and the “Tooth Fairy” with our children, but we always impressed upon them the “truth”, that these characters were make believe and not real. We never wanted our children to believe in a fictional character. We wanted our children to grow up with an unwavering faith in the One and only true God, Who alone is GOOD, Who alone is ALL SEEING, ALL KNOWING, and ALL POWERFUL…Who alone is the “GIVER OF ALL GOOD THINGS”.
By Wendell Ingram
Thanksgiving Prayer
Dear Lord, Thank you for this Thanksgiving week and all the days that should be filled with thanks to You. Help us all that are living on this day to be thankful for the freedoms and morality that our nation of people have remaining…and help us to strengthen what little remains. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
I am driving down the road with my eyes closed. I tell my front seat passenger to instruct me in my driving, when to move a little to the right or to the left… when there’s a curve, etc. How long before I run off the road?
Silly question, isn’t it? Silly way to drive too. But that’s exactly how people live their religious lives…listening to someone else instead of studying the Bible for themselves. God gave us a conscience and also a heart and someone else’s teachings and ideas will not develop our own hearts as studying it for ourselves will. True teachings will help us but there are far too many false teachings and if we do not look into the Word ourselves, we can easily be led astray.
I’M SO THANKFUL THAT I READ THIS SCRIPTURE WAY BACK BEFORE I HAD READ “MAN’S” CURRENT EXPLANATION OF IT.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
There is a lot of controversy over this little short Scripture. Some don’t believe it means what it says and they call it a “Truism” in defense of their position. In doing so they err. Truism means a “a self evident” obvious truth.
In believing that this Scripture doesn’t mean what it says (which is very plain), they believe the first part and throw away the best part. The last part of it is the “goal” you are trying to reach in their short lives. They believe they trained their children in the way they should go…but they did depart, and so they believe this is not a true statement. They are putting their human efforts before God’s Word.
Another thing is that if young parents can’t believe this means exactly what it says…they won’t try as hard. It is a travesty to twist a Scripture to the point that it discourages efforts of a young parent. Compare it to a basket-ball team… and the team thinks they can’t win the game. They are not going to play as hard as they would if they believed they could win. God lets us know the outcome of our efforts and it helped us tremendously in our efforts to train our children in the way they should go.
I’m so thankful that I read this Scripture way back before I had read “man’s explanation” of it. Please do not use someone’s family…and how their children turned out, to malign God’s Word. Proverbs 22:6 means just what it says even if our children do not remain faithful. God’s Word does not rely on us to prove how valid (or invalid) the Scripture is. If I didn’t believe that Proverbs 22:6 meant just what it says, then how could I believe Acts 2:38 and Mark 16:16?
RECIPE
One too-busy mom
One ‘Away From Home’ dad
Teen and pre-teen kids left to themselves for periods of time.
Lack of respect shown from one mate to the other so their influence on the children is totally ruined.
Go to the church meetings only when you “feel good” or it is convenient for you and your family.
Dish up enough time for the kids to spend hours on internet or in front of TV (optional)
All the toys you can buy for them, so they don’t have to use their imagination to play.
Just a tad of discipline, but not enough to upset the kids
Yield: Any one or more can be omitted and the result will be the same.
This recipe will be enough to wipe out the values from one to a dozen kids…and bring you a lifetime of grief.
©Edna L. Ingram
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