Roots

While in Tennessee for Thanksgiving with family, I made a trip to Evergreen Cemetery. I have several relatives buried there, but the graves of my grandparents were my mission. I don't know, maybe working in a cemetery during the past couple of years or maybe turning 39 years old, or maybe just following a path of remembering - I just felt a need to return and remember these important people in my life. I took pictures to have in our family archives (note to self: create family archives). I'll share a couple of these people with you today and maybe more in the days to come.

First, my paternal grandparents, William Robert and Louise Redmon Bragg.


My Grandfather, for whom I was named, died at the age of 45 - when my Dad was a young teenager. My Grandmother, Louise, was a strong lady who who always took care of her family, made the most succulent pot roast I have ever eaten, the best old-fashioned coconut cake, taught me how to play the piano, and was responsible for getting me to church and was there the day I accepted Jesus Christ as my salvation.

Alongside William and Louise are two other very special burials. My Great-Grandmother, Etta White O'Brien - known to me as "Big Mamma" (she was over six feet tall...yes, I know...too bad that didn't get passed to me!) Also, my brother James is buried there. He never took a breath of air before leaving and although I never met him, I mourn him greatly. His is the "James" that goes with my middle son, Ethan James.




I will share more in the coming days...

A Birthday

As of 5:45 this evening, I am officially 39 years old. That age of almost. An age often followed by "and holding". But I'm there now. The day came much like any other Friday: breakfast with a friend, work (good day), email wishes from friends, pizza with the family. Then they surprised me. Mommy had gotten a cake and soon came the melody from the kitchen. And what comes after a birthday cake? A wish and a present. Funny...mine were both the same and I have a picture to prove it! Thank you, Papa!

Chambers...Worth Repeating...

Today's My Utmost for His Highest":

AUTHORITY AND INDEPENDENCE


"If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments." John 14:15 (R.V.)

Our Lord never insists upon obedience; He tells us very emphatically what we ought to do, but He never takes means to make us do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit. That is why whenever Our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an IF - you do not need to unless you like. "If any man will be My disciple, let him deny himself," let him give up his right to himself to Me. Our Lord is not talking of eternal positions, but of being of value to Himself in this order of things, that is why He sounds so stern (cf. Luke 14:26). Never interpret these words apart from the One Who uttered them.

The Lord does not give me rules, He makes His standard very clear, and if my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without any hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love some one else in competition with Him, viz., myself. Jesus Christ will not help me to obey Him, I must obey Him; and when I do obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small petty incidents, altogether unnoticeable and mean; but if I obey Jesus Christ in the haphazard circumstances, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God, and when I stand face to face with God I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When once God's Redemption comes to the point of obedience in a human soul, it always creates. If I obey Jesus Christ, the Redemption of God will rush through me to other lives, because behind the deed of obedience is the Reality of Almighty God.