Year: 2012

I found Baby Jesus in a Manger. I don’t know if you remember that I had lost Him a couple of years ago right before Christmas when I was setting up my little china nativity scene, and Baby Jesus in the Manger was nowhere to be found.

I searched through all the Christmas decorations without success, looking for Baby Jesus in the Manger.  I found one little nativity scene made out of plastic all in one piece, and baby Jesus was there, but He was tiny, and melted into one piece with his manger, so you couldn’t even see His face.

 I found the wooden nativity scene, and the manger with Jesus in it cut out of wood. I always liked that wooden nativity scene, but the manger didn’t even look like it had Jesus in it at all.

Somehow we made it through Christmas without Baby Jesus in a Manger in our Nativity scene on the buffet and no one even noticed because there was the Christmas tree to look at.

I was going through an old big jewelry box looking for a particular necklace when I found Baby Jesus in the Manger. I have no idea how He ended up in the jewelry box, except I must have missed Him when I was packing the Christmas decorations away for another year, and then found Him later, my little Baby Jesus in a Manger.  I must have put Him in the jewelry box so I wouldn’t lose Him again, and promptly forgot where I put Him.

However even though I love my little Baby Jesus in a Manger from my cheap china Nativity scene, the real Jesus does not reside within that little statue.

“Who (Jesus Christ) being the brightness of His (God’s)  glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrew 1:3 NKJV.

The real Jesus can never be contained in a manger, a jewelry box, a picture, a church, or any physical place. Jesus is now seated in the heavenlies at the right hand of God Almighty, Majesty On High.

It’s Rodeo week in Vinita, Oklahoma. I hardly ever miss the rodeo parade. I always mentally compare the current rodeo parade to the one in some distant yesteryear, when there were so many more horses and riders that they began to blur together. The floats were better, the bands had more students, and there were more bands. The parade in my memory was always better in every way.

Years ago, after the parade, we always went to South Park for Old Settlers’ Reunion. The fiddlers, dressed in their best overalls and cowboy hats, poured their hearts into their music. People sat around on park benches cooling themselves with cardboard fans from the funeral home and drinking lemonade. We were hot and sweaty, but so was everyone else.

Recently the Old Settlers’ Reunion was moved into air-conditioned facilities, and the name changed to All Settlers. People still sit around and visit with old friends while the fiddlers and singers still pour their hearts into their music.

Vinita has been defined in the past to the rest of the U.S. as an Old West horse and cattle country town with the Will Rogers Rodeo, large haying operations, multi-acre farm all part of our heritage.

Now we are busy redefining ourselves as wine country, with vineyards being planted at several places in the county, with the annual Calf Fry Festival, and as a Route 66 town, with the well-known Clanton’s Café on the well-known cross-country highway.

What are you known for? Are you happy with the way you are being defined? Are you the stay-at-home mom whose kids are now grown? Are you the career woman recently retired? Are you still wearing the same hairdo you wore in the 60s?

“And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2 NKJV.

God’s Word has the ability within it to transform you into the image of Jesus. Like a mirror, the Word of God reveals us not only as we are, but as God wants us to become.

Times change, seasons change. Maybe it is time to redefine who you are. It is time to pray, “Lord, change me by Your Word. I want to be just like Jesus.”

It’s August and time for me to buy my school supplies for another year. I love to buy Crayolas, pencils, pens, paper, and notebooks.

When I was a kid, I was always excited when school started, because our family loved school. Our family life revolved around the school year, since Mom worked for the school system as the Hall Halsell school cafeteria manager. During the summer we were on vacation, so our life was on hold, like we were living a lazy dream.

When I graduated high school, I spent the summer working, and all too soon, it was time for school to start. I drove away to college at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. Another year of school began.

I have never stopped learning, never stopped going to school. I do my own research, my own learning, reading and teaching myself.

We start school, learning the basics, proceeding through the grades, building on what we had learned the year before. You don’t expect school to get easier as you get in the higher grades. Senior year is going to be harder than first grade. And with each grade you have to pass the test to go on to the next year.

“In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.” Hebrews 5:12 NIV.

You pass one test, and then you might get a Spring Break, but after that it’s back to study time. Then it’s on to the next test in the next subject.

So many people seem to think that becoming a Christian guarantees a person a perfect life from then on, that your life will always be a bed of roses after you ask Jesus to be your Savior and Lord. The Christian walk with Jesus never gets easier but it does get sweeter every day.

The school of the believer, the school of Christ, where we learn the elementary truths of God’s word, is taught by those who have been through the school themselves and by the Holy Spirit Himself.

It’s school time, so study hard this year so you can pass the test. God’s calling us all to come on up to the next grade level.

Have you ever had a dream that bugged you, seemed important, maybe life-changing, but you just couldn’t remember it? You knew when you woke up that Someone was trying to tell you something important. Sometimes God is speaking to you, trying to get through to you through your subconscious mind in a dream.

In Daniel chapter 2 in the Old Testament, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream he couldn’t remember. He called his wise men, the magicians and astrologers, to tell him the dream and then give him the interpretation. Their response was, “You got to be kidding, king. No one can tell you your dream except the gods.” The king was so mad he called the soldiers and said, “Kill them all, even the wise men who aren’t here today.”

Daniel and the three Hebrew men were in a pickle. Their lives were on the line, because of something they were not even involved in. Instead of moaning and groaning, “Why me, Lord? I didn’t do anything wrong yet the King is out to get me,” Daniel called a prayer meeting.

“Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.” Daniel 2:19. Notice he didn’t wait till the king called off the execution to praise God. He praised Him in advance.

God found a way to get the dream and interpretation to the king even though he had forgotten what he dreamed. If the dream you forgot is bugging you, just remember that God will find a way to get that information to you if it is important to your future.

When Daniel went before the king, he told Nebuchadnezzar, “The secret which the king demanded, the wise men. . .cannot declare to the king, but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets.” (Daniel 2:27-28)

God will get the right information to you at just the right time.

I have unlimited data, unlimited talk, and unlimited text messaging on my cell phone plan. I could call you to talk until my phone ran down, plug it into the wall to charge while we were talking, and keep talking a little longer.

I could send 500 texts or more a day—well, if I were 15 years old and my thumb joints were limber, I could.

I could download YouTube videos all day and all night and watch every stupid dog trick on the internet if I wanted to.

I could check Facebook, check my email, and send Tweets from sun-up till midnight.

I have unlimited data and talk on my God plan. I signed up for it when I was 6 years old down on my knees at an old-fashioned wooden altar. I asked Jesus to come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior, and promised to serve Him all the days of my life.

Though I’ve been through many struggles in my life and have wandered off on some side roads, Jesus never left me. I would fall on my knees and cry out on my spiritual cell phone, what we call prayer, and He always answered me. He never hung up on me; I was always the one who ended the conversation.

During our sweet unlimited talk times, Jesus always downloaded unlimited spiritual data to my heart and soul. Then when I studied His word, the Bible, He sent more unlimited data to build me up spiritually and help me grow up to be the person He always intended me to be. The data download always ended because I couldn’t receive anymore, not because He couldn’t send it.

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”  Jude 20-21 NKJV.

God is sending an unlimited data life-flow of love and mercy from the throne of grace to us. It’s time to get into the life-flow through prayer.

I’ve always been proud of my maiden name Hightower, a combination of the words ‘high’ and ‘tower’ so that the combined meaning refers to a high or tall tower.

When I first became aware of the meanings of words, my unusual last name stood out from the names of my classmates, who had simple names like Smith or Jones. Of course, as I learned more about the meanings of words, I found that even those names that seemed to be ordinary because there were many people with those last names might not be so common in other communities. One reason certain names were common in my hometown was that there were large families by that name living here.

I’ll never forget the first time I read my name in the Bible.

“The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” Psalm 18:22 KJV.

I was startled because it was as if God had called me by my own name. He knew my name. He knew who I was—little Lavon Hightower,  middle child born to hard-working parents in Vinita, Oklahoma, population 6000, in the 1960s. God Almighty Creator of the Universe, Maker of heaven and earth knew my name Hightower.

Of course, I realize He wasn’t talking about me personally there, but to a young child, probably ten years old, it seemed as though He was. That is just exactly how personal God is.

Names were important in Bible days. The name you were given when you were born was prophetic of your future. Joshua the leader after Moses died led the Israelites into the Promised Land and his name means savior. Jesus’ name in Hebrew is also Joshua, meaning Savior, meaning He would lead His children into the Promised Land of Eternal Life.

The Lord has been my high tower, my fortress, my deliverer. He gave me to the Hightower family and gave me that name as a reminder to run to Him always for shelter from the storms of life.