Memory Lane

By Tommy Dennard

While on this journey called life, we encounter both good and bad things. And while on the various paths we take, we accumulate memories that we deem worth keeping and not worth holding onto. The same standard is applied when it comes to God and His word. Put on comfortable shoes and prepare for a trip down memory lane, where fresh insight into the value of our memory waits to be revealed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798889430902

Book preview

cover.jpg

Memory Lane

Tommy Dennard

ISBN 979-8-88943-091-9 (hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-88943-090-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Tommy Dennard

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

To my parents, Tommy Dennard and Paulette Beckett.

Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

—Exodus 20:12

The Foreword

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

About the Author

To my parents, Tommy Dennard and Paulette Beckett.

Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

—Exodus 20:12

The Foreword

So often, whether it be challenges from without or challenges from within, we are prone too often to lose the power of the influence of our experiences with the awesome tender loving care and grace of God.

This book reminds us in vivid detail that despite the fact that, at times, we seem to spiritually, emotionally, and mentally forget what God does for us, He never forgets what He promised, neither does He give up on what He intends to, in, for, and through us.

This book brings us face-to-face with not only performing a maintenance check of our faith but also being aware how we are handling God's never-ceasing nurturing of us when challenges arise. Circumstances and situations attempt to present and promote lies against God's faithfulness and the inevitability of His involvement in the lives of a trusting and obedient people, bound and determined to make it to the end.

His ironclad, rock-steady vows stand strong despite any dilemma that raises its unholy head. Throughout this book, we witness the benefit of remembering and committing time-honored, time-tested verses to memory. We are also admonished of the imminent harm that stepping away from the safety of God's love, through nonchalant handling and neglect, leads to unnecessary fear and doubt, creating a foothold the enemy of our souls to use to create chaos and confusion in our lives.

I found myself, in reading this book, having to evaluate and reevaluate my relationship with God based on personal experiences and making sure that no matter what was happening, I was giving praise and credit to the fact that God emphatically and enthusiastically cares about me! His care and concern do not take breaks, do not run out, and do not quit!

I truly believe that the message God intends to relay through this book is on point. And if we would listen intently and intensely to the heartbeat of God, as we read, our focus would sharpen, and our connection with God would strengthen, thus forming a better covenant and relationship with Him.

—Apostle A. T. Flowers

Part 1

This is a lengthy but worthwhile journey that lies ahead of us. This particular topic will cover many areas while hopefully serving to educate, enlighten, and offer new and interesting insight into the core of the conversation. Like the widespread branches of a fully grown tree, there are many subtopics that deserve examination. And they will be.

But for analogy's sake, the preferred model to illustrate the matter at hand is a road—a simple, common, modest, unpretentious road named memory lane.

Depending on the circumstances or environment you and I may find ourselves in, with the right stimulus, we are at any time faced with flashbacks from the past. And depending on whether or not they were pleasant or unpleasant, our minds go back in time, reliving events in our lives that cause us to smile or frown. A trip down memory lane was taken.

People, places, and things that we fondly remember, as well as those that we bitterly and sadly want to forget.

The memory and the capacity for it that our Creator gave us is a formidable tool, enabling us to learn and increase our overall intelligence. For our good, we remember to do right and reap the benefits and to our detriment, if we choose to abstain from wisdom and indulge in folly because of forgetting.

As far as man goes, let's compare his memory to those of the animal kingdom, just so you get the picture. By then we'll get to the big one, God's.

The shortest memory span that scientists have determined belongs to dogs, believe it or not. Man's best friend has a record of a meager two minutes to account for without training or rehearsal, as opposed to dolphins, whose memory prowess can span up to twenty years.

This statistic flies in the face of the long-held notion and saying that the elephant never forgets. One tried-and-true fact of earth's largest land mammal is that one can recognize and track as many as thirty different others and remember other friendly ones after a brief period of time. They also commit to memory vast landscapes of territory where reliable water sources are.

Well, that's animals. Now its man's turn under our microscope. Ever since man, with God's permission (phooey on evolution), first started walking the earth, he was blessed with great knowledge and skill. So much so at the moment he was created, he was the earthly representation of God here on earth.

Strong, dignified, stately, and noble looking, keenly aware of all that was around him—everything about man in the beginning was thorough. Complete. Whole and perfect. David marveled at how much painstaking effort and carefulness God took in making him. But before His comments, see what God said Himself about man in Genesis.

And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness…

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him. (Gen. 1:26–27)

God blessed man's mental faculties as well, equipping him with a mind sharp enough to handle the administrative duties of managing the earth. I'm going somewhere, trust me. You'll get the picture.

No one sensible gives duties and responsibilities to a person without having due confidence that they are up to the task and recall at a moment's notice what they are expected to do.

God gave Adam a job. Yes, God gave the man a job before He gave him Eve. Catch the hint, men?

And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it. (Gen. 2:15)

Imagine the memory Adam had to have had to properly and correctly care for all the diverse plants and trees, fruit and vegetable growth that require their own special specific care. A lesser mind would have caved under the daily pressure, trying to remember what, when, why, and how to do.

But the complexity goes deeper, with more required from Adam.

And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field. And every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field. (Gen. 2:19–20)

Here was a remarkable mind at work, not only naming each and every single creature on the planet but demonstrating the sharpness of mind as of yet unpolluted by sin.

This brings us back to what David wondered about in psalms.

What is man, that thou art