Category: Spiritual

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Hot Off the Press

The time is Friday 3:17 AM as I am compelled to write as I awakened an hour ago with my mind still contemplating the day’s events as I relive them. Yesterday we left our chicken coop on the PG Dunn farmstead at 10 AM headed for a weekend just a mile or two into Washinton DC from Maryland off Wisconsin Ave. We’re here to celebrate two events: our grandson’s Robin’s third birthday on Sunday ( Paul & Helin’s) as well as Paul’s completing his PhD requirements this past Wednesday by successfully defending his thesis after an extensive time investment at the University of Massachusettes – Amherst.

          Earlier in our marriage having lived in VA. five years we’d navigated Rt 250, I-77, I-70, I-79, I-48, etc. quite often so it was memorable replaying and remembering past family trips. Prior we got off I-48 on the west side of Cumberland at Rt 220 S to get refueled before we began the winding trek thru the “hog trough”(source of that name is wholly unknown by me!) that I first learned of from Steve & Joy Yoder who preferred it over staying on I-48 all the way to I-81 saving time, miles and offering delightful 2 lane manuevering right into VA just before Broadway and EMC. Later we moved Stuarts Draft and then I-64 was completed, so the trough lost its appeal.

          Today, more reminiscent of our ages, it was for coffee and a bathroom break for all three of us, as Angel was not to be left behind! Sitting on a rail with Angel, I observed a man in his 30’s slowly and very deliberately navigate his walker into McDonalds under the watchful eye of an older gentleman. I was intrigued because this journey for him was no small task. It appeared to be a major expenditure of effort, even risk, although completely on his own steam.

          Thinking no more about it, I waited for Loretta to come out with her coffee to watch Angel so I could go in. Entering I immediately encountered this charming gentleman with the walker with his beaming countenance, which I couldn’t notice earlier form 150 feet. His left leg was so strange looking, and I didn’t want to gawk, but I do remember instead of a foot with a shoe, it was the size and shape of a 8” round soup bowl upside down and somehow attached to his leg that was covered. My attention was immediately drawn to his right leg inserted with bandages and gauze into a splint like frame unlike anything I’d ever seen. I instantly saw why my observations earlier across the parking lot had struck a chord with me. This fellow was most unique, and his beaming countenance up close sealed my earlier attraction.

          Truthfully, I’ve been experiencing my whole day in the shadow of the prior post; Mark Gregston’s clip on our mission field of family being all around us. But when suddenly confronted with an opportunity of a lifetime to make a new very unique acquaintance, I totally blew it. Rather than going invitational into a reporter mode of interviewing, questioning, seeking the vital information about his possibly genetic propensity for a cancerous condition that is slowly consuming his limbs, I just went into my ballistically proclamational mode! If I understood him correctly, he is requiring repeated amputations. Evidently his right leg had recently been surgically shortened and would in the next months be fitted with prosthetic devices such as he already had installed on his left leg.

          So how did I blow it? I left him without any way of ever contacting me again. What was I thinking? I’d left on this trip without a single copy of either of Tom Rath’s two books in the car that I frequently give to such interesting persons; Eat-Move-Sleep, and Are You Fully Charged? I’ve mentioned Tom Rath and his books frequently prior. Nor did I even give him my card!

          Instead, I just went into my proclamation mode of telling this unique soul of what I thought he needed to know about Tom Rath, his similar but drastically less severe health condition, and the titles of his two books. I didn’t even write them on a napkin with my name and email, or even give him my favorite Billy Graham tract “Steps to Peace With God.”

What was I thinking? Was not Jesus somehow always appropriately invitational, before he taught? You know, I got a hunch this guy was a trifle amused at this older white guy’s antics who’s posture clearly indicated he needed a new spine, and especially so since I’m now reflecting at 5:47AM, he already knows Jesus, otherwise, where did he ever garner that “beaming countenance”?

Wake up Merlin! Sorta like RR crossings! Stop-Look-Listen! You know, while you WAIT(there’s that word again!) for life to happen, or for sure, to pass you by! Blessings.

NEXT UP: Again, no idea! Remember, Washington DC is where Myron Augsburger, after retiring from the President’s office at EMC in the mid ’70’s, took to the streets meeting people being “invitational” by inviting them to the fellowship community he was attempting to facilitate, (presume today it is the Washington Community Fellowship at 907 Maryland Ave NE) explaining our feeble attempts as sinful people to reach a Holy God, by such as good works, religion, philosophy, morality, etc. that only continually fail, for only the Cross of Jesus Christ and our choice to accept His cross will bridge the chasm, separating we as People of Sin, Rebellion & Separation from Holy God, with His Peace, Forgiveness, Abundant Life, & even, Eternal Life.

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The Mission Field of Family All Around You…

Words by Mark Gregston of parentingtodaysteens.org sent me June 3 by Marlin Miller of Plain Values Magazine. Lengthy (1276 words 7 min. read time) but certainly worthy as we consider our summer FAMILY mission options….

I’ve had wonderful opportunities to visit some amazing countries and spend time on the mission field helping those in need, mainly targeting kids who have been living in orphanages and waiting for adoption. I most recently was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where I was able to spend a few days with a group of 200 young girls at an orphanage. No doubt they loved having an older white guy with grey hair hang out with them for a few days. It was the mission trip of a lifetime.

I think I helped a little. Maybe. As I was there, I thought about the cost of the trip—the housing, travel, and meals—and wrestled a bit with the vast amount of dollars it took to get there… just to be on the mission field. Nonetheless, it was a great trip. An eye-opening one. To see the need of these young girls encouraged me to want to help more. In reality, I knew there was very little that got accomplished. Traveling all that way and spending all that money that produced very little (in my eyes) was a bit disheartening. And that trip didn’t prepare me for what situation and mindful conflict I would come home to.

I live with 60 struggling teens who come from all over the country to live in our residential counseling program called Heartlight. This beautiful place is a haven of peace, a respite of hope, and a mission to parents and their struggling teens. But something happened not 400 yards from our place of hope that still puts a lump in my throat to this day.

A 14-year-old young lady named Kim, who lived near our property in East Texas… only 400 yards from a “respite of hope,” had a bad day while I was in Ethiopia spending time with 200 young girls at the Ketchanie Orphanage. She was so overwhelmed in the midst of her bad day, that she picked up her two little dogs, put them under her arms, and walked out to the railroad tracks and stood there until an oncoming train took her life. Just 400 yards from where I live. Four. Hundred. Yards.

Here I thought that I had to go thousands of miles away to find a mission project, and I missed the very one that lived just a short distance away. I felt I had missed a chance to help a neighbor.

Last weekend, Jan (my wife) and I drove to Tulsa, Oklahoma to visit her recently widowed Dad. We spent a couple of days cleaning up his yard, trimming trees, cutting branches, scrubbing out gutters, and caught up on yard work of his once-pristine home landscape. He had focused his efforts for the last five years on taking care of my ill mother-in-law (an absolute jewel!) and neglected to take care of everything else around him. He’s 94, worn out, sad, lonely, and feels a little lost in fulfilling his purpose of taking care of his bride of 73 years.

Shearing bushes, cutting and tearing down trees, bagging leaves, and chain-sawing remnants of trees that had passed years ago became an act of love for a man who feels much like his yard… neglected, ignored, dying, and in need of some revitalization. This two-day excursion to Tulsa to help my father-in-law is one of the most important mission projects I have ever worked on and been a part of. And it was right there in my family; not a foreign mission that I needed to travel thousands of miles to “help.”

I wonder if we all sometimes miss the mission projects right in our own backyard (our family) because we feel that to be “in missions,” it’s got to be somewhere far away and more exciting.

I wonder if we miss the very “mission” that God has placed in our family, the opportunity to help those who have played a significant part in our lives.

Now don’t hear me saying that mission projects should all be at home. Or that we should never travel to help others. What I am saying is that there may be so many people in need right around us, that we don’t have to go far to extend them the hand of Christ. The apostle Paul said, “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” (Romans 12:13)

Your mission field may be right outside your back door. Maybe just 400 yards away. Or someone in your family who desperately needs hope that is wrapped up in a little help.

Would you consider taking on a mission project? It could be someone in your family. Or a neighbor who is within a stone’s throw of your porch. Or someone in your church that is too proud to ask for help but needs it more than anyone will ever know. Here are some ideas.

  • Go take care of someone’s yard. When you mow yours, go ahead and mow theirs. When you trim bushes, trim theirs. When you rake leaves, rake theirs. And don’t just do it once. Make it a habit to help take care of something that might just mean the world to them.
  • Commit to helping a family that has a child with special needs. And don’t just do it once. Commit to giving them a “break” by saying that you’ll be over at their home every Tuesday afternoon for the next 4 years to give them a respite and some time to refresh.
  • Look around you and find a person that looks about as neglected as their home and take on a small project to make life just a little easier for them. Fix a faucet, help paint a fence, get rid of their garbage. You’d be surprised how small things mean a lot to those who can barely take care of themselves, much less a house, a barn, their property, or anything that once meant the world to them.
  • Instead of keeping your kids from hanging around those “bad” kids, take those kids on as a mission project. God may have placed those tough kids around you so that you can help change their lives. I’ve found that these “bad” kids really aren’t bad, they’re just lost. And helping someone find their way when they’re lost is one of the greatest things anyone can do for another.

There are people around you who are just like the young lady, Kim, who had lost all hope. There are fathers-in-law just like mine all around you who need help but are much too proud to ask for it. Just do it anyway. And there are those who are within a stone’s throw from your home who are praying for someone just like you to come lend a helping hand.

What I thought was going to be a purposeless, horrible, two-day time of sweating and getting worn out, ended up being my mission project of the year—right in my own family. I’ve never been thanked so many times as we sat and talked about his wife, getting older, the future, yet-to-be-made decisions about a retirement home, and what to do about a dog that is seeing her last days. God had other plans for my time during those days than what I had thought.

And I was the one that drove home with a sense of fulfillment that my efforts had truly made a difference in the life of one man… right there in my own family.

NEXT UP: Honestly, no idea. Yet!

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If you’ve not read Part I from yesterday, I suggest when you have time you read that first…

Today’s Part II continues on and concludes what we began yesterday. Tomorrow we will continue in the vein the author of “Go Now,” Wendell Martin so vividly described for us as “waiting on the Lord” in his chapter 40 titled “Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death” wherein Daisy and Wendell and their family discovered God’s incredible love for them in new ways and deeper levels that they would have never understood without going through the events (new normals?) they did since Daisy’s stroke four years ago.

Looking back, they clearly saw God’s loving kindness erupting about them in the darkest hours of their lives. Rather than dwelling on the consuming chaos, they chose instead to “wait on the Lord” seeing God’s love and kindness overflowing into their lives, and did not dwell on those aspects of life that were temporarily lost.

Continuing on from Part I:

As I entered the room, the Bible verses the pastor had given me came rushing back to my memory. The Holy Spirit came powerfully, bringing them to life in a way that confirmed in my heart that God was with us, in complete control, and that we were caught up in a mystery of His unfolding destiny for our lives. With what might have been divine inspiration, I told the children to stand at each corner of her bed, I began to tell the story from Mark 2, emphasizing about how hard it had been for the paralyzed man and his friends to get to Jesus.

          “That’s how I feel right now,” I explained to my children. “I know Jesus can heal your mother, but I feel so far and void of faith for her healing right now. So, let’s just imagine that we are people in the Bible story, struggling to get to Jesus. Imagine that we are on top of the roof of the house.” I paused to give time for the picture to be formed in their minds. “Now, imagine that we are tearing off the roof.”

Next, I had them imagine that each of us had a rope to which was tied a corner of the bed. “I see Jesus down through the hole down there. Let’s lower Daisy down to Him. Can you see Him?” We actually made the motions of lowering the bed with the ropes. “Good. She is down there now in front of Jesus.”

          I felt like I was in a dream, caught between an imaginary world and reality. OK. Now, on the count of three, we’re going to let go of the ropes.”

          At that instance, the moment of letting go of the rope, something shifted in my heart. The weight of all I was carrying seemed to slide completely out of my hands, and like letting go of a rope, it fell into a tangled pile at the feet of Jesus. There was no way to get Daisy back. The release of the situation was complete, completely in Jesus’ hands.

          A wave of relief rolled off me. It came from complete surrender of what I loved and cared about the most into whatever purposes God had for our lives. Honestly, I didn’t have faith that she would be healed. But I did have faith that Daisy was in the presence of the greatest love imaginable. In fact, I was completely confident that no matter what came in the coming days, no matter if Daisy lived, died, or remained in a vegetative state for the rest of her life, which was the absolute best scenario the doctors offered me, it would come out of the depths of God’s best expression of love for us. My faith was in God’s love, and in that I found very solid footing for the days ahead.

          Needless to say from that time on, Daisy began such remarkable improvements that it kept the doctors scratching their heads in amazement. She was in intensive care for nine days before being moved to a regular hospital room. One day three weeks later, the neurologist who had first told me Daisy would die, stopped by Daisy’s room for a visit.

          “I just came by because I wanted to tell you that you are a real miracle!” By now Daisy was able to sit up up on her own, talk, eat, and had even taken a few steps.

          The next day, the same neurologist came by Daisy’s room again. “I just want to make sure you that you really understand what I told you yesterday. You are a genuine miracle! You really need to understand this!”

          While this journey has been long and extremely challenging, Daisy’s recovery has been nothing less than miraculous. Though it required three months of hospitalization and ongoing therapy, today, she gets around on her own using a rolling walker because of ongoing dizziness and limited sensation on her left side. At the same time, she  has reached her goal of playing ping pong again with her friends at the local community center. She is not in a vegetative condition as science predicted, but she cooks vegetables on the stove at our home and then eats them.

          Through all this, we have discovered God’s incredible love for us in new ways and at deeper levels that we would have never understood without going through the things we encountered during the past four years.

          Looking back, we clearly see God’s loving kindness spilling into the darkest hours of our lives. We choose to see what we want to see. We choose to see the gain of God’s love and kindness overflowing into our lives, not those things that have been temporarily lost. Some days are harder than others. That is the reality. However, never have we witnessed God’s strength in our times of weakness as we have over these past four years.

          With grateful hearts, we say with certainty and full conviction, “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them” (Romans 8:28 NLT).

NEXT UP: “While You ARE Waiting….”

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This past Wednesday evening in the intimacy of a small group…

…around the conference table in our church library, I witnessed Wendell Martin re-telling this experience, titled “Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death,” from his book Go Now: From the Innermost Parts of the Heart to the Uttermost Parts of the World 2023 Westbow Press. Pg. 417-422. Even though my three sons somewhat concurrently attended a private school with Wendell & Daisy’s three children, Lee, Jonnie & Emily, I, not surprisingly because of my “selfish drivenness” back nearly 25 years ago, was quite clueless about the eternal impact of Wendell & Daisy’s lives and ministry, both here in Wayne Co. and in Asia. Hence, I’m compelled now to share Wendell’s account of simply “waiting on the Lord”….

2019: While visiting our daughter and family in Kauai, Hawaii…

“This is the most severe case of a brain stem hemorrhage we’ve ever seen at this hospital,” the neurologist at Wilcox Hospital in Kauai, Hawaii told me. Together we stared at an image of Daisy’s brain on the computer screen. “I must tell you straight up, Mr. Martin…” And with a pause for emphasis, he said, “Your wife is going to die! In a day or two, the pontine portion of her brainstem will begin to swell, and that, in turn, will shut down the auto nervous system that controls her heartbeat and breathing, among other things. There is nothing we can do to help her. If you have family, you need to call them right away. There are some rare cases when a person has survived a stroke like this, but at best, they were in a vegetative condition the rest of their life. So, what do you want us to do? Try to keep her alive on artificial life support or …?”

          My life seemed to end with those words, pieces of it slipping through my fingers faster than I could hold on to them. Everything went gray, numb, and disconnected. It was all coming at me too fast to process.

          “Just give me a few minutes.” I said, walking away without waiting for any reply while desperately trying to stifle the wails of grief that threatened to roar up from depths of my heart.

          What was real? What was important? My world was being ravaged by a tsunami of emotions, overwhelming in a way I had never experienced before. What was real? At the moment, nothing seemed believable. I had to find that answer. The only thing I could think of was that Jesus is real, at least I hoped so. And if He is real, then now is the time, more than ever, that I needed to hang on to Him.

          While several doctors had given me the same prognosis for Daisy, I decided to regard Jesus as one of the doctors in the hospital who had not yet given me his prognosis. In that I had a feeble flicker of hope that, in Him, some other outcome could, just perhaps, apply to Daisy. Or, was that just some kind of wild irrationality?

          I never returned to answer the question the neurologist had asked. I could not be the one to decide Daisy’s future. If she lived, died, or survived as an invalid, it had to be in God’s hands completely.

          As soon as word began spreading that Daisy was in the hospital with a life-threatening stroke, I began receiving calls from quite a few people offering concern, prayers, Bible verses, and advice, lots of advice. Much of what was recommended could be considered home remedies.

          While I greatly appreciated all the genuine concern, I was numb and had no interest in experimenting on Daisy. Others spoke prophetically, and again, I just didn’t have the energy to process all the great things people were saying that “God says …” I just wanted Daisy to be healed. I wanted God to simply show up and make everything better.

          I received a call from a pastor I not had contact with for many years. I was so exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually that when he spoke so confidently in my ear over the phone, “Daisy is going to be just fine,” I just wanted to reject it. What I really wanted was someone to share my inner agony.

          “Don’t worry, Wendell. God is showing me that she will recover from this. Just believe!” He went on and on, and the more he talked, the more I wanted to hang up the phone. I had no faith for anything. At least that is how it felt.

          “Hallelujah! Glory! God has this Brother!” he tried to reassure me over the phone. “Wendell, God gave me some Bible verses to give you from Mark 2:1-12. This is God’s Word to you. You got to read it as soon as you get the opportunity.”

          I didn’t want to read anything at that time. However, after processing what the pastor said, I felt that maybe I shouldn’t be too hasty in writing off whatever, however, and by whomever God might be wanting to work. So later in the day, while eating lunch alone in the hospital cafeteria, I read the verses.

When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that He was back home. Soon the house where He was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While He was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above Jesus. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in from of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”

          But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, “What is He saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”

           Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so He asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man “Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, ”Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”

          And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!” (Mark 2:1 -12 NLT)

          Initially, when I read the verses, my reaction was dismissive, that these were just feel-good verses. They may have made the pastor feel good, but for me, I just felt more helpless and discouraged.

          Forgetting about the phone call, I made preparations to head to the airport to pick up Lee and Jonnie, our two sons, who had taken the first flight possible to rush to their dying mother’s side.

          It was evening when I arrived back at the hospital with our sons. Ellie, our daughter who lived Kauai, met us at the hospital. Together, we went into the room where we found Daisy in a semiconscious condition, unaware that the whole family was at her side.

To be continued tomorrow…

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Good Morning My Friends:

The magnitude of the tasks ahead of us since we returned to OH May 22 made me realize posting for the next two months would definitely be off limits. Seldom during our seven months in Boquete Panama have I shared much of my personal journey. This blog is not about me; it’s all about Him and His plans and desires for us in these last days. I am only to point to Him and encourage you by whatever means He provides me as I seek to be faithful. Actually tonight, I had gotten into bed, and after reflecting 3-4 minutes, I decided to rise and write. It is my favorite hobby. Today I’d risen at 5 am to read, study & pray, as I needed to run by Schlabach Engine before going to the Aultman Gym on Crown Hill at 7 am for my 90 minute routine. I did accomplish much today (wait a minute, He did, not me) as He continually provided me the insights all day right up until chasing me out of bed 2 hours ago. And, believe me, I am so very thankful He was there for me.

          Earlier this evening, I was feeling really guilty when I reflected on how I just shut down with no explanations. So here goes my attempt to bring you up to speed. FYI, the following is a note I sent earlier in the week to friends in Panama that explains our trip home.

Greetings Dear Boquete Friends:

We made the Orlando flight barely because of the short time and long distance thru the terminal. Fortunately, Loretta ordered a wheel chair for me (I was really quite appalled, first time ever I recall having an airport w. chair) and then that person after 10 minutes of guiding two electric chairs wisely intercepted one of those 4 seater golf carts and we were on that for I think 10 min careening thru traffic. I didn’t think the PC airport was that big! And then before boarding, Loretta got pulled out by TSA  and the final call went out twice. They literally went thru every nook & crannie of her carry-on etc . We figured she got pulled because of her 26 trips to Honduras made her the person of interest on that flight.

          We had a wonderful 36 hour reunion in Sarasota with our dogs and her brother and family. Hence the picture, and the night before we left their sons and families all joined us for dinner and goodbyes as they had all gotten rather attached to Riley and Angel the past 7 months. The next day after lunch we gave the dogs their prescriptions for the 20 hr bus ride on the Pioneer private coach that runs Amish between Sarasota and OH-IN. We stopped at the Georgia Welcome station 3 + hrs later, and when I opened up the door to Riley’s kennel to walk & water them, Riley had passed. What a shock! Not sure what happened. Not blaming anyone. Circumstance. At least we had 36 hrs to enjoy him and we figure he’s in heaven now cavorting with Loretta’s mom, who always said Riley was her dog anyway! At least we have our little King Charles, Angel and she is glad to be back home in OH, with us.

          There was more trauma in the apt when we returned as they are now building another apt next door in what was formerly the original PGDunn factory, now a warehouse. Our apt was formerly the office portion of the business. Somehow the drain plumbing under the kitchen sink got disconnected perhaps a month or two ago, such that the water from the dehumidifier over the sink simply ran onto the kitchen floor and beyond; none of which was discovered until 6 hrs before our arrival home! What a mess!

          Other than that, we’re all good. I’m back in my gym in Orrville 3 days a week attempting to safeguard and continue the progress that Ms. Amy started in me. We do have an unreal agenda while here basically reducing our storage footprint. We’re headed to WDC on the 8th of June for Robin’s 3rd birthday for several days. We’d like to get to MN also to visit family, if possible, but appears quite unlikely. We’re looking forward to our return to rejoin you in Boquete before Aug 1, but regardless, whether we’re stuck here longer in OH, for whatever reason or situation that comes down during these interesting climatic and historical times as prophesied, whether here or there, we’re in good hands and have prepared the best we can for such situations. God bless you all in all your plans and endeavors the next months.

Love to All,

Merlin, Loretta, & Angel

The note I’ve been sending our Christian comrades goes something like this:

“We are still seeking God’s direction for our lives for our remaining years. We have a never-ending supply of lost or deceived souls making our acquaintance whether we’re in Dalton OH or Boquete in the Republic of Panama. Satan’s Strong Delusion is being unleashed amongst the church and sadly too many are so clueless. We must RUN & FINISH our race, not merely existing as members near the track, but we ourselves, must insure first we’ve been forgiven, then, are being transformed and empowered while discipling & promptly obeying the Holy Spirit’s biddings NOW! 

Not later, not someday I’ll…, BUT NOW! There is absolutely no time to procrastinate during these last days… Just focus on Jesus! Everything else about us, my dear friends, and especially in our case, our junk in storage, are quite similar to all the trivial nonsensical destructive pursuits of those yet in their work-a-day worlds.”

Now, for the more fun stuff. A year ago I read Wendell Martin’s book “Go Now! From the Innermost Parts of the Heart to the Uttermost Parts of the World” and literally came unglued spiritually in a good way and shortly thereafter moved to Panama. Jon F informed me he was leading a group thru the book two Wed nights each month at KMC but it wasn’t until this past Wed (May 28) I could personally attend.

Wendell was there and he shared from the books last chapter of the forty miracles titled “Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death,” the story of his wife, Daisy’s catastrophic brain-stem hemorrhage, from which science predicted death in several days; and possibly a vegetative state at the very best. Over the weekend, I’ll prepare the Mon & Tues posts of that very phenomenal chapter, as I am compelled to get that testimonial out to as many people as possible. Text or email if you want a word doc of this chapter 40, or if you want your own book, contact Wendell directly at www.goforthinjesus.name as it is not on Amazon. I’m sure it’s in many local Christian bookstores, as well as in Choice Book racks, or surely should be, I’d think. More on Mon & Tues.

Have a Blessed Weekend clearing out the clutter so you can focus on Jesus’ plan for you today!!!

Picture of Loretta with Angel and Sir O Riley, being reunited 10 pm Mon May 19 after they stayed in Sarasota 7 months with Larry & Debbie while we were in Panama before we left 3 PM Wed May 21 for Wooster.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipP988gW_1vUera_UKm7Df_1mVrz9Rp4_ql3mt4H

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A Man of Integrity

From Great Days with the Great Lives, by Chuck Swindoll, Pg 107

Read I Samuel 16:1-11

God knew David had the quality on integrity. Today, we live in a world that says in many ways, “If you make a good impression, that’s all really all that matters.” But you will never be a man or woman of God if that’s your philosophy. Never. You cannot fake it with the Almighty. He is not impressed with externals. He always focuses on the inward qualities, those things that take time and discipline to cultivate. God trained David for a leadership role with four disciplines, and FYI, we’re not told any of them were reading, writing, arithmetic or even science.

          It is interesting that God first trained David in SOLITUDE. That for sure is a lost art today and found nowhere amongst all our device screens. David needed to learn life’s major disciplines all alone before he could be trusted with responsibilities and rewards before the public. Solitude has nurturing qualities all its own. If you can’t stand to be alone with yourself, you have deep, unresolved issues in your inner life. Solitude does have a way of bringing those issues to the surface.

Merlin Monday morning quarterbacking now 20 years later after Chuck wrote this book: Did Chuck actually state counter-culturally that anyone who must have superficial sounds to survive their self-inflicted chaos today lacks depth? Consider the manifestation hugeness of this addiction for our culture at all levels since we witnessed such events as Sony introducing the Walkman in July 1979? Adding insult to injury, I really wonder what Chuck would say about all the prescriptions being written today for too many kids, parents, grandparents & beyond, for whoever to simply survive the stressors of their lives?

          Moving on, second, David grew up in OBSCURITY. That’s another way God trains His best personnel – in obscurity. Men and women of God, servant-leaders in the making, are first unknown, unseen, unappreciated, and for sure, not applauded. It is in the quiet context of obscurity character is built. Strange as it may seem, those who first accept the silence of obscurity are best qualified to handle the applause of popularity.

          Which leads us to the third training ground, MONOTONY. That’s being faithful in the menial, insignificant, routine, unexciting, uneventful, daily tasks of life. Life without a break … without the wine and roses. Just dull plain L-I-F-E. Just constant, unchanging, hours of tired monotony as you learn to be a man or woman of God … with nobody else around, when nobody else notices, when nobody else even cares. That’s how we learn to “king it.”

          That brings us to the fourth discipline: REALITY. Up until now you might have the feeling that despite the solitude, obscurity, and monotony, David was just sitting out on some hilltop in a mystic haze, composing a great piece of music, or relaxing in the pastures of Judea and having a great time training those sheep to sit on their hind legs. Simply not true!

Merlin again: This daily devotional with these four words of discipline : solitude, obscurity, monotony, and reality, have really struck a cord with me. I personally have witnessed this shift from relative “peace & QUIET” to “deafening & numbing NOISE” in predominately an agrarian religious sub-culture over the past seven decades, fraught with its own litany of revelations. I have also experienced reconciling this shift’s ever growing influence first and foremost, in my personal growing and maturing into His desired spiritual Righteousness for me, which was, is, and is continuing to be, no small task. Understand however, this shift is actually incalculably minute, considering all the other fronts Satan is now employing against servants in Christ’s vineyard in these approaching days. There are numerous relevant scriptures that both encourage and warn us. Here are a few verses from my reading today.

1 Corinthians 1:25-30 (MSG)

25.) Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness.”
26. Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families.
27.) Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses,
28.) chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”?
29.) That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God.
30.) Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.
NEXT UP: Inner Qualities

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Nobodies Becoming His Somebodies Pg 105

From Great Days with the Great Lives, by Chuck Swindoll, Pg 105

Read I Samuel 16:1-11

Paul’s whole thrust in his first letter to the believers at Corinth was, “I’m not coming to you with brilliance or human wisdom, and I’m certainly not coming to you with any kind of impressive physique or profoundly philosophy. Instead, I come in the power of God. And there’s good reason for that.” Note carefully how Paul put it:

          For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and despised, God has chosen the things thar are not, that He might nullify the things that are , that no man shall boast before God. (I Corinthians 1:26-29)

          Paul says, “Look around, Corinthians. You won’t find many impressive people here.” Why? So that no can boast before God. That’s a principle we tend to forget, because many of us are still a lot like the Greeks. When we look for people to admire as we choose our role models, our heroes, we are often swayed or impressed by things that are cause for boasting. We want the beautiful people, the brilliant people, the “successful” people. We want the best and the brightest. We are terribly enamored of the surface. The superficial still impresses us – much more than we like to admit. We even elect presidents by their appearance on our screens. But God says, “That’s not the way I make my choices. I choose “nobodies” whose hearts are completely Mine, and turn them into My “somebodies.”

          And that, in a nutshell, is the story of how David was chosen to become a king.

NEXT UP: A Man of Integrity

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People Panic … God Provides.

From Great Days with the Great Lives, by Chuck Swindoll, Pg 103

Read I Samuel  13:1-19

The tragic story of King Saul is that he never fully repented of his sin. Saul’s greatest concern was his image, how he looked before the people. Even after Samuel gave him a break, Saul took advantage of it and continued in that same vein until the day he took his own life. How sad is that?

            Samuel has reached the end of his rope. The people elected Saul king, but he’s no longer qualified. What are they to do? Israel is

urrounded by enemies, and they need someone to carry the scepter. But who? Samuel didn’t know and couldn’t imagine. The people didn’t know and had no suggestions. No one knew … except God.

            What Samuel didn’t realize – what we often don’t realize – is that behind the scenes, before he ever flung the stars in space, God had today in mind. And He knew exactly what He was going to do. God is never at a loss to know what He’s going to do in our situations. He knows perfectly well what is best for us. Our problem is, we don’t know. And we say to Him, “Lord, if you just tell me, then I’ll be in great shape. Just reveal it to me. Explain Your plan to me, and I’ll count on You.” But that’s not faith. Faith is counting on Him when we do not know what tomorrow holds. (Anyone relate?)

            When a man or a woman of God fails, nothing of God fails. When a man or woman changes, nothing of God changes. When someone dies, nothing of God dies. When our lives are altered by the unexpected, nothing of God is altered or unexpected. It was the prophet Isaiah who wrote: “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear” (Isiaah 65:24).

            “Before you even utter a word,” God promises, “I’m involved in answering. In fact, while you’re speaking, I’m involved in bringing to pass the very thing I have planned from the get go.”

            God knows exactly what He’s going to do, and nothing can restrain His bringing it to pass.

NEXT UP: We “Nobodies” Becoming His “Somebodies”

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How’s Your Heart?

From Great Days with the Great Lives, by Chuck Swindoll. Pg 102

Read I Samuel 13:1-14

When God scans the earth for potential leaders, He’s not on a search for angels in the flesh. He is certainly not looking for perfect people, since there are none. He is searching for men and women like you and me, mere people made up of flesh, bone, and blood. But He is also looking for certain qualities in these people, like the qualities He found in David.

          The first quality God saw in David was a heart for God. “The Lord has sought out a man after His own heart” (I Samuel 13:13). What does it mean to be a person after God’s own heart? Seems to me, it means that you are a person whose life is in harmony with the Lord. What is important to Him is what is important to you. What burdens Him burdens you. When He says, “Go to the right,” you go to the right. When He says, “Stop that in your life,” you stop it. When He says, “This is something I want you to change,” you come to terms with it because you have a heart for God. That most definitely is Bottom Line Christianity.

          When you are deeply spiritual, you have a heart that is sensitive to the things of God. A parallel verse in II Chronicles confirms this: “ For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.”(16:9, emphasis added).

BOTTOM LINE NOW:

God is looking for men and women whose hearts are completely His – again, the word is completely, no wiggle room!

That means there are no locked closets. Nothing’s been swept under the rugs.

That means when you do wrong, you admit immediately and come to terms with it. You’ve grieved over your wrong.

You’re concerned about those things that displease your heavenly Father.

You long to please Him in your actions.

You care about the motives behind your actions.

The above statements are indicators you have a heart for God, and that’s the first quality David had. Are you open to even considering if you have a heart for God? Is that question offensive to you? Can you explain the who – what – when -where & why if it is offensive? I was prompted to close with the verses below from 1 Corinthians 4:6-9 (MSG)

6.) All I’m doing right now, friends, is showing how these things pertain to Apollos and me so that you will learn restraint and not rush into making judgments without knowing all the facts. It’s important to look at things from God’s point of view. I would rather not see you inflating or deflating reputations based on mere hearsay.
7.) For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing?
8.) You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle. Without bringing either Apollos or me into it, you’re sitting on top of the world—at least God’s world—and we’re right there, sitting alongside you!
9.) It seems to me that God has put us who bear his Message on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket. We’re something everyone stands around and stares at, like an accident in the street.

NEXT UP: People Panic … God Provides.

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You Ever Realize How Surrounded & Protected We Are?

MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU. MAY THE LORD SMILE ON YOU AND BE GRACIOUS TO YOU. May THE LORD SHOW HIS FAVOR AND GIVE YOU HIS PEACE. NUMBERS 6: 24-26.

As I type this early Friday AM, I am reminded of the My Utmost For His Highest readings earlier this week on May 14 & 15, titled ”The Habit of Enjoying Adversity,” & “The Habit of Arising to the Occasion.” Both are priceless in their under-girding of we more fully understanding and appreciating being Blessed by the Most High on so many fronts.(MLE)

Nancy Guthrie: On the card we sent out to let people know we were expecting Gabe, we wrote: ”We are convinced this child is meant to be a blessing. But we have not known until now if this blessing will come in the form of a healthy child, like Matt, or a child with Zellweger Syndrome, like Hope.” The most amazing response we received to our card came from David Van Biema, the religion writer for Time magazine, whom I had worked with on a couple of stories. He was moved and mystified by our response to the news we received and, along with his personal remarks, asked if he could do a story on us for Time.

            During the four days David spent with us in Nashville, David listened to us and understood us. And even though he does not share our faith, he shared our sorrow. A couple of months later, on the day Gabriel was born, his story appeared in the Time, entitled, “When God Hides His Face: Can Faith Survive When Hope Has Died? The Guthries Think So.” We loved the story and were amazed and pleased with how David handled the complexity of the issues and conveyed our thoughts and feelings. The story was sensitive and intelligent and provocative.

            But I must admit I never loved the title of the story. It’s not the notion of God hiding his face is not biblical. In Job 34, Job’s friend Elihu asks about God, Yes, He hears the cries of the needy. But when He hides His face, who can find Him?” (verses 28-29). The truth is, I have never felt that God has hidden His face from me in my suffering. In fact, the opposite is true. This is where I’ve seen Him more clearly than ever. In the intensity of my questions and the desperation of my needs, God has revealed himself to me like never before. This is what it means to be blessed – not that God never allows anything hard to happen, but that He reveals Himself in it, He shows you His favor, He gives you His peace.

            Have you ever felt that God has hidden His face from you in the darkness of your suffering? He’s not hiding. In fact, He wants to reveal aspects of his character and compassion to you in this dark place as He never has before. He wants to make His face shine on you. Will you look up and see His face? He wants to bless you and be gracious to you.

PRAYER: Bless me, Lord, and protect me. Smile on me and give me your grace. Show me your favor and give me your peace.  

DIGGING DEEPER: Read Genesis 32: 30; Judges 6:13-24; Matthew 17:2; I Peter 3:12; I John 4: 17; and Revelation 22:4. Note how God turned His face toward people in trouble in these passages.

NEXT UP: How’s Your Heart. Back to Chuck Swindoll tomorrow. From Great Days with the Great Lives. Pg 102.

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