I’ve noticed the older I get the more sentimental I become on Mothers Day. This morning I plan on doing a little reminiscing and hope no one will mind. It wasn’t always so, but for the past several years on Mothers Day my first thoughts turn to God. To think that back in eternity past our Creator chose to bless me greatly through a woman He planned to have one day appear on the scene of human history, grow up, fall in love and marry my dad, and then, at a precise moment in time which He alone had determined, became my mom, is absolutely awesome. I’m still grateful for that good woman’s unconditional sacrificial love of me and my younger brother and sister. And then, whenever I once again meditate on the fact that before He spoke His world into existence He also planned and ordained to bless me through a young woman who was to become the mother of our four children, a woman destined to surpass my mother’s wonderful loving characteristics; all I can think of saying is: Oh Lord my God how great Thou art!

It wasn’t until God called me into the ministry however, that I’ve been able to have a better understanding of and a deeper appreciation for the multitude of daily obstacles these two women had to overcome in order to take care of their children properly. For instance, just in the area of feeding them, each of those women did their very best to provide their children with tasty nutritious meals; meals they knew were essential in order to develop strong healthy bodies. Today I’m also reminded of an incident which took place in the early morning hours a long time ago. It occurred after the resurrection of Jesus when some of His disciples were out fishing in the Sea of Tiberas. They weren’t doing very well and then Jesus suddenly appeared on the shore and told them exactly where to cast their net. Sure enough they caught a lot of fish. Jesus made a charcoal fire and then cooked what I’m sure was the best breakfast they ever had. Picking up from there we read:

John 21:15-17 (ESV) ¹⁵ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶ He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” ¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

Although Jesus likened Peter to a shepherd, He wasn’t telling him to feed all those folks He had entrusted into Peter’s pastoral care the same kind of well balanced meals He expects mothers to do for their children. On the contrary, Peter and all those men who would follow in his footsteps as Christian pastors are expected to provide spiritual nourishment, and do so to the best of their ability. In other words, they are to do their utmost with what He gives them to work with just as my mom and my children’s mom did with the meager funds they all too often had available. It saddens me whenever I think of occasions, when, through no fault of their own, these two women sometimes went to bed at night feeling awful because they weren’t able to do a better job of feeding their children. And I’m sure I’m not the first, nor will I be the last pastor who has had similar thoughts on a Sunday night after having a week of unexpected distractions which took away from the time normally devoted to crafting their sermon.

When I was a boy we children occasionally complained because my mom mixed oatmeal in with the ground beef in order to make the meat stretch whenever she made meat balls. I can also remember when one of our own children moaned and groaned or silently sulked if my wife’s meal didn’t quite measure up to his or her expectation. Of course when they were very young they didn’t have a clue what she was up against with our limited finances. And to this day I still feel awful whenever I remember how saddened my wife was during those times when her most childish critic was the one our Sovereign Lord had planned on allowing her to fall in love with and marry. I’m especially reminded of these unpleasant memories whenever I wasn’t able to serve up the best spiritual meal I know I’m capable of on a Sunday because I wasn’t feeling up to par and was really dragging myself during the week.

There are also occasions when for legitimate reasons, a child isn’t able to be home for dinner with the rest of the family. That’s when my mom and wife would carefully set aside a meal for him or her in which the principal ingredient was love, a sacrificial love for her own flesh and blood, and then going to bed while she was still hungry only to find her child’s meal uneaten in the morning. Instead my wife could see evidence the child had eaten a bowl of cereal or a jelly sandwich when he or she returned home. Many a pastor can relate to those kinds of experiences whenever they put together a spiritual meal they’re convinced God wants to turn into a special blessing for His adopted children; a blessing which will enhance their spiritual growth and strengthen their faith: a spiritual feast the pastor makes available on a CD or else posts it on the internet for those who can’t attend the worship service with their church family and hear it preached. He does so hoping and praying the folks Jesus has commanded him to feed will listen or read and savor and digest his labor of love and not pig out on watching TV, a ball game or some other distraction Satan often uses to entice him or her away from God’s Word.

It’s hard to understand why God would allow my mom and wife and other faithful mothers to have such heartbreaking experiences. But then I’m reminded of the truth of what the Scriptures proclaim. Who can know the mind of God? His ways are not our ways. His ways are perfect and past finding out. The Sovereign One in whom we all live move and have our very being; the One apart for whom you and I and every creature can do nothing; had planned and ordained back in eternity past, these good mom’s, each of whom wanted nothing but the best for their children, women who would give their life to save their child from harm, would one day be subjected to such disappointment by their own son or daughter.

It goes without saying, each of us are different. We have been created that way by God. That means its ok, and we shouldn’t attempt to try to change one another so everyone becomes just like us. People ought to be their own unique selves with their likes and dislikes. And that includes the kind of food and meals they prefer to eat. This is often an area in which mothers have some of their greatest challenges; what to serve everyone so they will eat it and be pleased and become well nourished. However, a loving mom won’t give her children everything the child prefers. I hate to think what I would look like today if my mom fed me everything I wanted. I probably would have been dead and buried a long time ago. Could you imagine anyone living on a dinner of only ice cream, cake and pie with candy or pudding for desert rather than real food? And today that’s why my wife won’t let me feel sorry for myself because I can’t eat those things anymore. She reminds me and anyone else who happens to be present; I ate enough of that stuff to last a couple of lifetimes. She sounds just like my mom and I don’t like listening to her reminders, but it’s the truth.

Occasionally mothers have to be real creative in order to see to it that their sick son or daughter takes their medicine which tastes yucky. They hide it amongst something the child really enjoys such as juice or applesauce. There may be a particular sin someone has rationalized in their own mind as being ok in spite of what the Bible says. The person insists the verse can’t mean what it appears to be saying. Following a wise mothers lead, and as Nathan did with King David, (2 Samuel 12) the pastor may subtly imbed the fact in a fictitious story and help the wayward Christian get back on track.

For the most part though these methods usually work both at home and, I’m happy to say at our church. Every once in a while though; you may run across a child who is quite different when it comes to eating preferences. I mean very different. Do you moms know the kind of son or daughter I’m alluding to? Can anyone guess where I’m headed? I have a feeling you do. Recently I asked my wife how she would describe a picky eater. Her immediate response was: “a pain in the butt.” Her answer wasn’t exactly what I expected but I can see her point. And unless I’m greatly mistaken, so can each of you.

The picky eater poses a real challenge to moms. Her child may insist they don’t like parts of the meal she prepared for the family and stubbornly refuse to eat any of it. In other words, if the mother doesn’t serve something exactly the way the child wants, the boy or girl is willing to go to bed hungry rather than compromise. Of course none of you mothers have had such an experience, have you? It’s sad when you think of how children sometimes willingly deprive themselves of desperately needed nourishment God wanted them to have. The objective of a pastor is to get as much spiritual nutrients into those folks the Lord wants the man to love and feed as He instructed Peter a long time ago, but it isn’t always easy. For instance, each of you folks has personal preferences as to how a sermon ought to be preached. I like that! I enjoy the challenge and prayerfully try my best to craft my sermon in such a way that there is something in it for everyone. However, I don’t have a chance with a spiritually picky eater. For instance, I can remember the time about a dozen years ago a man told me he didn’t like my stories. It didn’t matter to him that I had saturated with them with Scripture which many of his brothers and sisters in Christ found to be very helpful in communicating spiritual truth to them. It wasn’t that he didn’t like stories, but they weren’t true. To him there was no place for any untruth in a worship service. The man admitted he just tuned me out and thought about other things whenever I told a story.

You folks probably remember I sometimes share an email in order to drive home a spiritual truth. And then before I conclude the sermon I admit I made it up. In other words, I told a story which every one bought into for a while and I enjoy seeing the smiles on your faces when I break the truth. However, from my perspective, the most important thing is whether or not the Holy Spirit spoke to your heart and mind through my fabrication. Allow me to share some feedback on my recent series concerning a letter from a young man named Douglas.

Commenting on my sermon in which I asked: Did you see what I saw, allow me to share some of the responses. “Mike I enjoyed this sermon. I stopped to wipe tears from my eyes several times. Scripture gets me every time. It convicts me to the core. It reminds me of who we are supposed to be living for, of who we say we serve, of what we should be feeling, of how we should be thinking. I took the scriptures you chose this week to apply to other areas of my life, tough situations I am currently dealing with, as well as my reactions to what the now infamous Jeremiah Wright has been saying. They confirm for me that no matter how difficult it may be, choosing love and forgiveness is the right course.  Thanks for those scriptures Mike. They fed my soul and helped immensely with other things. But isn’t that the beauty of scripture?” “I’m so glad God reaches out to us, Mike. I am eternally grateful that he called me to Him. And so happy He really loves me, warts and all, as they say. Yes, Mike, I saw what you saw in that “Letter to Douglas”.

“Mike, I did and it caused me to think back to my rebirth, and to think back at the situations and events leading up to that time as the Father was drawing me. Oh the joy of my salvation. Thanks Mike.”

“I really admire and respect this young man who has been able to overcome his painful childhood and instead of being angry and bitter he has moved on and channeled his energies into reading and exploring God’s Word; and even plans on starting to go to church to get God’s message live and not on the radio.”

“Hi Mike, I took time to read the sermon about Douglas. I do not know if Douglas was your invention or if he was real but after reading the whole thing it made sense. Whatever it is…God has given you the grace to express.”

““Just read your sermon. If Douglas isn’t a real person, you’re a very good storyteller.”

“The letter from Douglas rings untrue to my ears and, forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’ve known you a long time and it sounds like something you wrote yourself. The author knows his Bible and has a good spell checker on his computer. The man whom I believe wrote the letter was never a very good speller and it is difficult for me to accept that the humble, continually putting himself down Douglas with serious self-esteem issues could spell better than my father, a man with decent computer skills and no apparent self-esteem issues whatsoever.

The third sermon concerned me, because if there isn’t a real live Douglas and, worse yet, if you are Douglas, then I think you’re skating on dangerous ice. You mentioned a few times how Douglas’ letter caused you to think of or remember some Biblical truth, but if you are Douglas, then the Biblical truth would have been on your mind while fabricating his story. You quoted some of the praises from your congregation from people who are likely praying for Douglas’ soul and who are apparently hoping to hear from him again. If there is no Douglas (saying we were ALL DOUGLAS once is cheating!) then his letter did not bring certain truths to mind for you, and the trust your congregation places in your integrity could become an issue.

Hopefully, Douglas is real and nothing was made up. If he isn’t though, and if it was made up, and if I was part of your congregation and was praising God and praying for Douglas, then I believe that I’d feel like a fool when I learned the truth and would have serious issues with you and with trusting you again. There you have it. You should never ask for my honest opinion or thoughts unless you really want them. I love you lots Dad, forever and always. Hope to see you soon. Your Daughter.”

And the Sovereign Lord, the One who holds the kings and everyone elses’ hearts in the palm of His hand and who directs it like you and I would a garden hose (Proverbs 21:1) could have influenced those folks who so graciously provided honest feedback, to respond in such a way that I would not be faced with this dilemma. But that was not what He had planned and ordained before He created His world. In other words, what I am experiencing is something He is working out in perfect conformity with the purpose of His unchanging will (Ephesians 1:11).

What would you moms do if you were in my shoes? Do any of you believe it’s ok to make up a fictitious letter in order to impart much needed spiritual truth which you would have asked God to use to bless His children such as you may have done when you laced food or drink with medicine? In God’s eyes do you think He views such tactics as being dishonest? Is it wrong for a pastor to fabricate a story which he knows will be eagerly devoured, and does so in an attempt to influence folks who may be having some difficulty staying on the straight and narrow, someone the pastor knows the Lord wants him to love and feed spiritual truth to? I did think about writing the answer as to whether or not Douglas is a figment of my imagination and putting it in a sealed envelope with instructions on the outside it’s not to be opened until after the Lord brings me home. I’m absolutely certain of one thing though and that is He wants me to do my very best to glorify Him in this divinely ordained challenge. There’s so much more I could say but it’s Mothers Day and time is running out

Before I close though, I would like you folks to hear the following. “Hey Pastor Mike. It’s me Douglas, again. That was real cool the way you worked my letter into your sermon. Chloe thinks it was awesome. I’m still reading my Bible and other good stuff besides. I have a question. Why did God tell Moses to write something that God had to know wasn’t true? Why did God have Moses come up with such a whopper that made Christians look like fools?” Douglas goes on to explain and closes with, “Your friend, Douglas. PS: In case you’re wondering, Chloe’ my girl. She’s the cute kid I was telling you about who invited me to church a couple of weeks ago.”

Lord willing, next week…