"Fear" by Jonathan Thompson

A Mother’s Day story:
Gold, Common sense and Fur,
My husband and I had been happily (most of the time) married for five years but hadn't been blessed with a baby. I decided to do some serious praying and promised God that if he would give us a child, I would be a perfect mother, love it with all my heart and raise it with his word as my
guide.

God answered my prayers and blessed us with a son. The next year God blessed us with another son. The following year, he blessed us with yet another son. The year after that, we were blessed with a daughter.

My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty. We now had four children, and the oldest was only four years old. I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it. As a minister once told me, "If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an umbrella."

I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children each day as they lay in their cribs. I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me with four children and I didn't want to disappoint him.

I tried to be patient the day the children smashed two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor searching for baby chicks. I tried to be understanding when they started a hotel for homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me nearly two hours to catch all twenty-three frogs.

When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and rolled up in a blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog, I tried to see the humor rather than the mess. In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand diapers, never eating a hot meal and never sleeping for more than thirty minutes at
a time, I still thank God daily for my children. While I couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother - I didn't even come close - I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God. I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I told my daughter we were going to church to worship God, and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along to "wash up" Jesus, too.

Something was lost in the translation when I explained that God gave us everlasting life, and my son thought it was generous of God to give us his "last wife."

My proudest moment came during the children's Christmas pageant. My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were shepherds and my youngest son was a wise man. This was their moment to shine.

My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line, "We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes." But he was nervous and said, "The baby was wrapped in wrinkled clothes." My four-year-old "Mary" said, "That's not
'wrinkled clothes,' silly. That's dirty, rotten clothes."
A wrestling match broke out between Mary and the shepherd and was stopped by an angel, who bent her halo and lost her left wing. I slouched a little lower in my seat when Mary dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus,
and it bounced down the aisle crying, "Mama-mama." Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up and held it tightly as the wise men arrived.

My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe and a paper crown, knelt at the manger and announced, "We are the three wise men, and we are bringing gifts of gold, common sense and fur." The congregation dissolved into laughter, and the pageant got a standing ovation. "I've never enjoyed a Christmas program as much as this one," laughed the pastor, wiping tears from his eyes. "For the rest of my life, I'll never hear the Christmas story without thinking of gold, common sense and fur."

"My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest blessing," I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin.

Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master. Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer. Had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered
the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today. Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves
us.
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Luke 2 :39-52
"39When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

The Boy Jesus at the Temple
 41Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."

 49"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" 50But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

 51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men."

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The Message - Fear is something not to be taken lightly. When I think of fear I think of being afraid of something. Spiders for example I am terrified of. For you younger kids it might monster under the bed or in the closet. For the older ones it might fear going into a job interview. The dark was and sometimes still is scary for me. However, this is not the type of fear I am going to talk about today. We can read the bible over and over again and somehow every time seems different. It says is the bible multiple times to fear God. This again is a different kind of fear. The fear I am going to talk about is the fear a parent, particularly mothers have, for their child or children.
I have seen in the past two years the love a mother can have for their child. I have not had the luxury of having that experience yet but I am a witness to it. And with this love also comes fear. Whether it be babies first step, babies first tooth or even babies first fall, fear for that child is almost instant he/she is born and it continues through out the child’s life.

Dolores you can probably relate to this one, dropping your kids off to camp for the week. I can remember when I went to camp up Amherst way. I’m sure mom was terrified to let me go there by myself, at least I hope she was. Letting your children grow up can not be easy. Knowing they are going to move out one day and are going to be on their own, well a whole other kind of fear sets in.
We sometimes read in the news papers or see on TV of kids who have either been kidnapped or who run away from home. Not knowing where your child is has to be the ultimate fear. This is exactly what happened to Mary and Joseph in Luke 2:44-45. The thoughts that must have ran through their minds must have been worry which in turn is fear. Fear for his safety.

It’s one thing to go to the grocery store and forget your list or misplace an item like your glasses or wallet but how it must feel to go somewhere and forget your own child. How many here have ever gone home and forgot your child at church.

A situation such as this would make parents very distraught. This is probably exactly how Mary and Joseph felt. They knew of course they had left him in Jerusalem but he was only a boy and it was a big town. Imagine leaving your child in a city such as Halifax. It would be scary but for who. Is it more scary for child or parent? Jesus knew exactly where He was but His mother and father did not. Do you suppose it was a relief to them to find Him in a temple talking with the priests? It would certainly give me comfort but between the time they realized He was missing to the time when they found Him must have been pure torture.
When we are overcome by fear we tend to make the situation seem bigger than it really is. We tend to assume the worse about things and also assume it will never get any better. Well guess what folks, it can always be worse then it is. If we strongly believe in God and the Holy Spirit then we should know God will take care of us and the situation and I can almost be sure in assuming that May and Joseph felt this. After all, he did take care of them thus far. But for even a split second fear had to have been present.

All we need to do when we are scared is pray for God to help us in what ever we fear. This is the point and the point I am making today. This is the best practice there is for getting rid of fear. As the choir sang today, we are sheltered in the arms of God. His arms are constantly around us to protect. Of course we are human and fear is a human emotion but we can overcome it just like we can overcome many other things.

There is a saying I like to use and you can apply this in many different situations, “With God, all things are possible”.

So remember mothers, your kids will grow up and move out and yes it will be scary but God is there to help you through it, all you have to do is ask. Together with God, we can tackle fear.

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A Mother's Garden
A tired young mother knelt down by her bed
at the end of a stress-filled day.
"Dear God, I need help and direction from You,
to bring up my children Your way."
She took her dusty Bible down from the shelf
and wearily started to read,
but she drifted to sleep and started to dream
of a garden, ready for seed.

She heard a sweet voice speaking loud and clear:
"My grace is sufficient for you.
Just listen to the words I am speaking;
whatever I say to you - do.
The heart of each child is a garden, and
it needs to be tended with care.
I will give you all that you require
if you water your own heart with prayer.
Warm nurture and firm admonition
are both needed to balance the soil.
Come often to Me for instruction and strength
as in their hearts' garden you toil."

The next day, she started preparing the ground;
she planned it with tender care.
She wanted only the finest of plants
to grow in her garden there.
She quickly planted some seeds of kindness
next to her rows of sweet peace;
then gentleness and goodness side-by-side,
she planted down on her knees.
Slow-growing patience, self-control and joy
were all dropped in, one-by-one.
When she added true faithfulness and love,
she thought all her hard work was done.

Suddenly weeds appeared in the garden,
just when her seeds began to sprout,
so she carefully wielded the tool of faith
and dug the harmful weeds out.
Then she nurtured and watered the seedlings
with the thirst-quenching Word of God.
She staked her young plants with hand-woven cords
as they struggled to break through the sod.
Just as her Lord had promised that night,
she never was left all alone;
He showed her the way and He guided her hand
as each tiny seed was sown.

At last it was time for the harvest;
the mother had given her best. The hearts of her children were fruitful for God,
and she was eternally blessed!

~ Connie Faust ~

Jonathan would like to thank Larry Mullen, Corey Mullen, Teddy Marr and his dad, Arthur Thompson for helping with the service.