Often I have been sitting on

an airplane and someone would sit down beside me and we would eventually

engage in normal conversation. We would talk about any and everything.

The conversation would be going

very well and even friendly. Eventually the other party would ask me what

I did for a living and the answer would be that I am a pastor.

In many cases if the individual

was not a "follower of Christ," it appeared that a wall would

fall and the conversations would become an attempt to impress me with

their Biblical knowledge.

I have heard things like "doesn't

the Bible say a penny saved is a penny earned," or doesn't the Bible

say "cleanliness is next to Godliness." or "the hand that

rocks the cradle rules the world." I would say I think those are

from Benjamin Franklin.

Mother's Day 2001 can you believe

it? My earliest memories were of a Godly mother and a Christian father.

The memories were first of

my mother because since I was born D-Day minus 4 (which was the second

of June, 1944), Dad was heavily involved in the European Theater of World

War II. In those days, a soldier went to war and didn't come home until

it was over. Many fathers didn't see their newly born children until they

were 2-4 years old.

My parents were church people

and there was, and is today, a deep and rich culture that was and is centered

around the church. I was told that when I was born I was in time for Sunday

School. One need not go any further to figure out my birth hour because

in those days and often today, Sunday School starts at around 10 a.m.

Actually I was "branded"

we have been horrified to hear about recently in the media. I'm talking

about a little five-year-old boy in the First Baptist Church in Social

Circle during the winter who, after church, was running down the asile

and tripped and fell on one of the floor furnace metal grates. For years

when I would fill out official documents, I was asked if I had any identifying

scars or marks. I would state the very identifiable "church grate

brand" on my right leg.

This church culture was for

me a wonderful background. I remember in the Baptist churches in those

days we had on Sunday evening what they called "training union."

This was like Sunday School before the evening service.

In that meeting we would fill

out a little report that would ask if you were attending the evening service,

reading your bible on a daily basis, brought your Bible to church, giving

of your tithe, etc. There was a percentage attached to each one of those

categories. I remember I could never get above about 80 percent.

In this church culture in which

I was reared, I remembered the love and security I always felt at church.

In fact I know there are people who have come to Christ because of the

fear of Hell and for some that might be what it takes, but for me it was

the total love I felt on a weekly basis.

As to the moms out there who

are fighting the fight and keeping the faith, press on. You are today

forming the "good old days" of your children's futures.

They will remember many things

about their childhood but introducing them to the security of a loving

God through Jesus Christ is the best gift you can give them. They may

smile and laugh at Mickey Mouse, but a lifelong relationship with God

will last forever.

The Rev. Dr. Knox Herndon is

the pastor of His House Community Church (SBC)and a former Army chaplain.

The church has moved to its new location just below Senoia on Ga. Highway

85. Going south on Hwy. 85, cross Ga. Highway 16 and the church is a mile

ahead on the right, just below the fire station. The church invites visitors.

Church office and prayer line number is 770-719-2365. The e-mail address

is [email protected] .

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