A TRUST Lesson from "Movers"

We are giving our chapel building to some "movers". Movers who move houses and buildings and who will take our no longer needed building away...saving us the work and cost of disposing of it ourselves. These movers are an answer to prayer. These movers are a father and his two sons. On Saturday they were at the chapel. They measured, they looked under ceiling tile, they inquired where the bearing walls were, they asked what the baptismal tank was (!), and they planned together....the father and his two sons. (If you would like to see the progress on our new building you can see it here.)

Myron was talking with them about the building and the move. They talked about the very high rate of insurance for their moving company. They said there was only 1 company in the United States that insured movers. Their job is a dangerous job, indeed. I listened to one of the sons as he spoke, "its very hard for us to hire anybody outside the family. We can't really TRUST anyone else but our dad and our brothers. Our lives are in each other's hands and our lives depend on each other doing exactly the right thing. If a house falls on you - you die!"

These words, "We can't really TRUST anyone else .....", have been going through my mind. How helpless and lost I would feel without the LORD Jesus to trust. I am SO thankful that I can TRUST Him with the biggest and the smallest details of my life. Not the least of which is my ETERNAL destiny...i.e. where I will spend the ETERNITY, all the rest of the days of my life forever, and ever and ever! But I want to TRUST Him more and more and more....... TRUST comes from adversity, TRUST comes from not knowing what the future holds, and TRUSTING anyway, TRUST comes from knowing and believing with all my heart that He is the Sovereign One and there is nothing that happens....NOTHING that He is not totally in control of. And yes, TRUST comes from TRUSTING. The more I TRUST the more I want to TRUST!

Are you trusting Him today? Do you long for your trust to be more and more? I do.

"TRUST in the LORD forever,

for the LORD God is an everlasting rock."

Isaiah 26:4

Reminds me of the song Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus.

~~Louisa Stead

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just to take Him at His word,

Just to rest upon His promise;

Just to know, Thus saith the Lord.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

How I love to trust in Jesus,

Just to trust His cleansing blood.

Just in simple faith to plunge me

'Neath the healing cleansing flood!

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

Yes, I've learned to trust in Jesus,

And from sin and self to cease,

Now from Jesus simply taking

Life and rest and joy and peace.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

I'm so glad I learned to trust Him,

Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend,

And I know that He is with me,

He'll be with me to the end...

Sobering Numbers

• Population of Haiti: 10,000,000
• Hurricane Katrina death toll: 1836
• 9/11 death toll: 2974
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki death toll: 200,000
• Military death toll of U. S. Civil War: 620,000
• Military death toll of World War II: 25,000,000
• U.S. abortion death toll since Roe v. Wade was passed on this day in 1973: 52,000,000

Shocking. Evil.

I recently read a most insightful book called "Won by Love". The author of the book is Norma McCorvey, who is actually the "Roe" in the famous court case that legalized abortion, Roe v Wade. She was a pawn in the hands of powerful and evil lawyers. To my surprise, she never had an abortion, never even wanted an abortion! You can read about the book here. It is a shocking, powerful and encouraging story. I very often think of the fact that Norma's eventual salvation came, in part, from the friendship and love of a little girl. A little girls whose mother worked at Operation Rescue, which moved in next door to the abortion facility Norma was working at. This mother's trust in her God to protect her child was as encouraging to me as was the salvation of Norma, the poster child for abortion. Read it for yourself and see and pass it on for others to be encouraged! PS. I saw some copies of the book for only $ .99 on Amazon.

550 Tacos ? ? ?

This girl recently informed me that she has eaten approximately 550 tacos in her short 15 years of life. Most every Tuesday we go to my mom's house for what we call "Taco Tuesday". It began, years ago, when Taco John's started offering a special price for tacos on Tuesdays. They were cheap. So thru the years my girls and I and my sisters and whoever else can make it go to grandmas for tacos. We have lots of fun! We have good fellowship! The funny thing about it is that not a one of us likes tacos......at least we don't like them anymore. But we DO like the yummy Special K Bars or hot Chocolate Chip Cookies that my mom makes each Tuesday. Hmmmm I wonder how many Special K bars this girl has eaten?!?!?

13 + G'ma & G'pa = tons of fun

Here is Myron and I with our 13 grandchildren. I have special stories I could tell about each one. I love the way Grandpa and Elly are making the same face in this picture! We went to lots of work to make a "construction area" backdrop for the pic! We all feel right at home in a construction site!

Just in case you wanna know Cody, Alyssa, Chloe, Carly, Sydney and Lydia are in the back row left to right. Then in front there is Samuel, Briann, Lindsey, Eddy, me, Anna, Nolan, Myron and Elly.

Who Imitates You? Who do You Imitate?

Philippians was written to the Christians in Phillippi. This city is located in Europe and until this time most of the places mentioned in the Bible like Jerusalem, Antioch, Damascus, Iconium etc, were in Asia. Philippi is in Europe. But how did this "Gospel" get way over to Asia? Acts chapter 16 tells us how Paul ended up in Europe.

When I look at the maps of missionary journeys I am awestruck by what was accomplished. My children sometimes do not want to walk next door to the neighbors to get something. How often do I drive around a parking lot looking for a spot a little closer to the door! How often do I complain about the little aches and pains that come across my path of life? Too often. Paul was indeed "devoted" to the One who had called him. Look at the distance Paul traveled. No airplane, no helicopter, no cruise ship, not even a car!! Yet we never hear Paul complain of .... sore blistered feet, lazy camels, long days of travel, no where to lodge. In defending his apostleship in 2 Corinthians 11 he tells of beatings, sleepless nights, thirst and hunger and dangers at sea plus other things. But never in a complaining way. What a man he was.

Paul can say in 1 Cor 4:16, " ...be imitators of me." and 1 Cor. 11:1 "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." Here is a challenging article about "being imitators". Of course we should all daily imitate our LORD Jesus Christ and we know we can also imitate Paul because he imitated Christ.....but today....can I say "imitate me"? to my children, to my friends....to anyone???

Ponderings In Philippians

Enjoying the book of Philippians. A small but mighty letter to some very dear friends of the apostle Paul. Philippians talks much about devotedness. We don't hear that word too much any more. The dictionary defines if as "consecrated to a purpose; strongly attached; zealous; devout." That would be Paul's desire for the Philippian saints....and the LORD'S desire for me and for each and every saint! It also talks alot about practical Christian living......or what the day to day walk of a "Christ follower" should be like. As I compare myself to what Philippians says...I fall far short. But in chapter 3 verse 14, we are enncouraged to "press on toward the goal".

As I journey Philippians I hope my heart is stirred to be more consecrated, more strongly attached, more zealous toward my LORD Jesus Christ.