To the Editor
Sickened by bad behavior

TO THE EDITOR

On Wednesday, December 5, I attended one of the saddest funerals I have ever witnessed. It was that of Michael Hendrickson of Evans...a personal friend of ours and a member of the River of Life family. You may have read about him in the papers. Shortly after arriving home, I heard of another dear friend of our family's who is waiting to hear whether or not she is facing brain cancer.

As I reflected on these events and then thought of the "behind the scenes" fiasco that was our Holiday Parade. I felt truly sickened. You see, behind the lights and decor there was a battle over who would lead our Christmas parade. A simple task, one that is normally carried out by our elected sheriff. But, it seems, there were some who decided to speak for the "whole" county and have the sheriff removed from the lead. And so, the chaos began.

Life is so fragile and so short. Just ask the Hendrickson family or the family of our other close friend. Yet, so many times we waste our days quarreling over things that are so trivia. My husband often relates to things by classifying them as flammable or eternal. He chooses not to worry over things that "will burn." Folks, there is going to be a lot of things that we have obsessed over, labored over, worried over that will burn up before our eyes on that Judgment Day.

In the book entitled "The Purpose Driven Life," the first line states very plainly that life is "not about you." The older I get and the more I grow in the Lord, I find that to be more and more true. Life is a gift - a gift from God to be used for God. Everything in our life should be worship to Him, bringing Him praise, bringing Him glory. Oh, how it grieves His heart to see us so mixed up in sin and focused on things that blaspheme Him. I wonder how many involved in the drama over the Christmas parade brought Him glory, offered Him praise through their actions? Forgive us Lord when we sin.

The Psalmist wrote, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, oh Lord, my Redeemer." Did the words uttered over that parade and the media- tions behind the words please our Redeemer? Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourself. Have we loved our neighbors as ourselves or have we sought to bring glory to ourselves while destroying our neighbor?

A day is coming when we will have to answer for every idle word we speak and, I believe, every idle deed. If we are not bowing down to the Lord in every area of our lives now, a day is coming...when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. A silly parade which really goes back to a silly election. It will burn up before us along with everything in between! Jesus commanded that we seek Him first and all His righteousness and everything else will be added to us. Have we sought Him first? Not just those involved in the parade. Everybody. This entire community. Everyone who might call themselves a child of God. Have we sought the Lord first...have we sought Him at all? God calls people that are called by His name..the godly, not the ungodly...to humble themselves and seek His face. Then He promises to forgive our sins and heal our land...our dry, parched, drought-stricken land. Could it be that we have become so mired down in the pit of our sin that we cannot even recognize the sin anymore? Could it be that Yahweh Yireh, the Lord will provide, has withheld His provision of rain from our county because He cannot bless our sin? Forgive us Lord, for we know not what we do!

We must seek Him first. We must love Him most. We must love our neighbor more. We must humble ourselves and seek His face above all else. At Micheal's funeral, his parents rose from their pew in worship to a song that should be the theme of our lives... "When the music fades, and all is stripped away, and I simply come. Longing just to bring, something that's of worth, that will bless Your heart. I'll bring you more than a song, for a song in itself is not what you have required. You search much deeper within, through the way things appear. You're looking into my heart." May He be pleased with what He finds!

LEIGH BEGGS

Acting like children

TO THE EDITOR

The CCLC would like to thank the citizens of Lincolnton and surrounding area for their time and effort to make the Christmas Festival a big success.

It takes the cooperation between people to accomplish this feat. The parade was enjoyed by all adults and children who lined the streets and sidewalks, of which there were many.

The controversy that ensued the day before as to who would be leading the parade was the most asinine that we have ever heard about. The sheriff decided not to be in the parade because of the controversy of his leading the parade. Does this stem from the alleged vendetta that started about two years ago between departments within the Lincoln County government?

If so, this has got to stop! It's going from the inane to the ridiculous. The apparent power play between the government and local officials is ludicrous. Maybe they should stop and reflect on how stupid some of these arguments are. You expect children to act like this, certainly not adults.

BARBARA SUBLET