No, I Do Not Dye My Hair!!

This is my Mother. This is my Mother with a goat. Does the fact that my mother had her picture taken with a goat surprise me? Not a bit. You just have to know my mother. I guess the only thing surprising is that there is only a goat and not a goat, a giraffe and a pig. Again, you just have to know my mother. Now, before you say anything I need to warn you that I am a mama's boy. And there is one thing you do not do around a mama's boy and that is.....to talk about his mama. My mother is probably one of my best friends as well as my mother. She helped raise me in the Lord and encouraged my love for music so that now I have made one album and play keyboard for one of the larger churches in metropolitan Atlanta. She has been my comfort in dark days and the first to call when things are going great. To put it simply, my mother is a woman of God. There is a verse in Proverbs which puts it plain and simple.

"Gray hair is a crown of Glory; it is gained by living a righteous life." (Proverbs 16:31 NLT)

Thinking back over my life, most of what I have learned has come from people with gray hair; those who have lived a life for more years than I and have learned how to walk closely with God. They have been my encouragers, my supporters, my prayer warriors, and (when necessary) my rear-end kickers. So many times, our society and churches tend to overlook the value of the gray-haired people and, even sadder, often they overlook their own value, too. You have heard it said, "I've been doing that for years, it's time for somebody younger to do it." "Oh, honey, I'm just too old to keep the nursery or preschoolers now." "My goodness, those children don't want an old person like me teaching them. Get somebody younger who they will like."

Hogwash!! The last I knew, God did not give out pink slips or early retirement options. Children, teenagers and adults NEED to have older people around to help guide and mentor them. Who else can help you through the difficulties of marriage when it is going sour? Who else can encourage you through the traumas of raising children either with or without a spouse? Who else understands the loss of a spouse to death? The gray-headed people can, that's who. They've lived it. They know that God can bring you through world wars, through depressions (both financial and emotional), through rocky relationships, through the days when you want to toss your children out the back window and through days when your faith is low and your world is dark. They know and they can help.

My hair is turning gray. Usually it is cut short so that the gray mixed in with the brown is more visible, but as it grows out the darker hair begins to cover the gray. There are a couple teenagers at church who will start teasing/harrassing/annoying me with hollering across the most crowded restaurants - "Look! Mr. Jimmy is dying his hair again! Where'd all that gray hair go? C'mon, Mr. Jimmy, admit it!". Of course, the more I protest and deny, the louder they get (all in fun and love I keep telling myself).

But, I do not dye my hair. I am proud to be turning into a gray-head, because it means that I have been through life experiences and God is weaving me a crown of glory. As I have written before, I am proud to be one of the adults that the teenagers come to when they have problems or concerns and need some advice. They know they can trust me to be straight with them and keep their confidences. They know I'll be honest with them, even when they don't like the honesty. And the cool thing is that they come to this gray-head on their own.

So, I do not dye my hair and never will. I am proud to be a Gray-Head for God. In fact, maybe I'll do T-shirts and ballcaps.....and those little tote bags you hang on your walkers and wheelchairs.... and a whole line of shuffleboard and bocci ball equipment....and probably some rollerblades just for good measure 8-).

And so for today my friends, this is the gospel according to Jimmy.

Be God's!