Keep it Together

I just read Jason's blog. It's been a long time, if ever, that we've been through that much hassle because of being in Africa. It's wonderful to have adventure, but it gets tiring when you can't eat, or when all they give you to eat is green slime and goat meat. Hey, the kid wanted to be a missionary. . . we are glad for it. Hope he survives.

When I have a camera, I don't use it. When I don't have one, I wish I could take pictures. That's how it was on the weekend. I did a wedding in Moab, Utah. Moab has to be the most awe-inspiring land I've ever visited. When there, I always wish I could capture the magesty?? of it all.

The wedding, as most weddings do, make me real nervous. First of all, there is no pulpit. SoI have to hold my big-ole' Bible all the while, with my notes in it. Then the couple stand practically on your toes. (I tend to spit when I speak. Only half kidding.) I have to juggle all of that and remember what I am suppose to say, then I have to keep track of events because I'm suppose to be directing traffic. Anyway, the wedding went off more smoothly than most, and I was complemented because of being so practical in my advice to the young couple. If the Lord hadn't blessed, I would have made a mess.

My car's AC didn't work. It was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Mavis, Beverly and I went to the wedding. We nearly cooked.

Right now, I'm sitting at the airport again, on my way to the GC. I will be there one full day, and I have three meetings to attend. This afternoon at four we have a Search Committee meeting for the OCI presidency. The initial letter we sent out revealed a very interesting fact. (I'll tell you about it some day.) Tomorrow at 9:00 A.M., we have an OCI board meeting. Then, I have to meet with Markus, I think it is over the Country Haven sale. I guess I'll find out.

I need to talk to the new President of DayStar also. He is making changes and his future staff are very worried over those changes.

It's flattering when people think very highly of you, but there is a danger. They might just put you in a position beyond your ken. There is more to contend with than meets the eye. Pride, once awakened, clamors for recognition. It's a job to hold one's pride at bay and to keep your well meaning friends from doing you a disfavor.

So says the Preacher to his tribe.

Happy Summer Days

For a week now, the days have been sunny and hot. The evenings cool and my walks through the forested mountains are always surreal. The temperature couldn't be more perfect, the breeze is caressing, the company, heavenly--seeing I go up there to pray. Yes, every night and yes, I pray for you.

Nothing out of the ordinary is happening. My lifestyle guests asked for the series on the Prodigal Son on CD. I always give them away. For the first time in my experience, three or four of the guests turned around and gave me $105. I'm touched. Almost as touched by that gesture as by Angie's tribute to her dad last Sunday on her blog. I nearly cried, nearly. (At Angie's words.)

A Korean lady from Denver came to meet another Korean lady visiting from Korea. The lady from Denver brought food to feed me. Kim-shi, the main dish. It was all good, except the kapenta (little fish), which I skirted. We use to buy kapenta to feed our dogs in Zambia. Maybe if I was mixed in mealy-meal I would be more tempted. (Just kidding.)

I'm putting together our next Faith Ventures magazine. I hope to have it gone to the Graphic Designer within the week.

Tonight is graduation night for our lifestyle guests. They've been a great bunch. I'll miss these guys.

I'm listening to Walter Veight's series called The Genesis Conflict. (Creation vs. Evolution.) It is more than excellent. I recommend it highly. At the same time, I am reading J.A. Wylie's massive History of Protestantism. It just thrills my soul. In the Dark Ages, people committed their lives to Jesus unto death. And death was the end for at least 50 million of them. I wonder if our commitment is anything like that? It might be profitable to find out now, rather than when it is too late. Don't you think?

So says the Preacher to his tribe

Hodge-podge

Ho-hum, same old. I talked with my wife today. She was doing a puzzle with Twalisa and Deniece. She has a bunch of fundis working and is trying to keep up with their needs. She and Antionette and the kids sleep in the church. Deniece sleeps in the bathroom, and others are scattered wherever there is a place. I called because I need an article for my Faith Ventures mag. I have been so busy that I skipped one whole issue. I'm determined to produce over the next week. Lord help me.

We had an Executive Committee today. Usually, it takes forever, but we got through in record time. It's really hot around here, today.

For those of you who know Brenda Eskelson, she and her husband of five years, was visiting me since yesterday. It was a blast to get reacquainted. She married a macon?? --bricklayer. They are on their way to Canada to visit family.

Lori Mundall is engaged to be married, and Verlin has a girlfriend.

One more day and our present lifestyle session is over. It was a good one. Praise God.

Dying with a Mouth Full of Praise

People are not Christian because they say they are. Many, I’m afraid, will think to enter in, but shall not be able. Today, I met one of God’s children. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure I am surrounded with God’s children, but the evidence is not always conclusive. Today, it was.)

I officiated in the communion service, this morning. After church, a woman asked that I bring communion to her dying mother. The lady is not so old, perhaps in her mid seventies, but she is very sick with cancer. When I got to her, she would not, or could not so much as open her eyes for weakness. I went through the communion ceremony, abbreviated, and then asked what she thought of the way God led in her life.

With her eyes closed, no teeth in her mouth, an accent from the islands (Bahamas, I think) she began to recite the words of a familiar hymn. A hymn of praise. Then she expressed nothing by gratitude. God has been so good to her, she said. She thanked Him, over and over and over again. Do you see the picture? Here is a woman who came to EVI for treatment. Her hope was of recovery. She isn’t so old. She came with expectations, like everyone else, her mouth filled with prayer. But instead of realizing her hopes, she appears to be sinking. Is she disappointed? Discouraged, perhaps? I don’t know, because all she can say is thank you, thank you, thank you Jesus.

The greatest evidence of faith, that I can think of, is gratitude. Out of the heart the mouth speaks. I met someone today who knows Jesus. I can tell. She speaks the language of heaven.

Criticism, complaining, murnmuring, pessimism, discouragement, and all the negatives in the dictionary, when expressed, reveal only one thing. We haven’t come close enough to Jesus to experience the eternal reality He’s created for us. The temporal reality still occupies too much of our hearts. Dear ones, live by faith, not by sight.

So says the Preacher to his Tribe.

Get some, that you Might have Some to Give

It's been a full week at Eden Valley. No let-up in the work and Satan took a few shots at some of us. I don't usually worry when people accuse me of sin or fault or flaw, (it is always so nearly true) but I must say that I did fret for a few hours this week when someone said that another vowed to take me down. It occurred to me that if anyone wanted to take someone down badly enough, it would be a matter of inventing the worse and getting another to back him up. In the end, I had a meeting with the individual and as usual, it wasn't anywhere as grave as at first thought. Praise God. I don't need to be dragged down by another. I do well enough on that count "all by myself."

The farm crew put a whole new roof on the grow and exercise rooms. It was a big job on very hot days.

I rec'd visitors from Singapore (The Lion Port.) I met these people in S'pore 12 years ago. They had taken me around to see some sights. We had a delightful time together. We ate at a Thai restaurant and I treated them to a hyperbaric chamber session. They left this morning with tears.

Tomorrow, Sabbath, I preach on forgiveness. Do you know that "pardon and justification are one and the same thing"? That means that when Jesus forgives, He saves, period. But do you know, that He forgives as we forgive. That unless we enter into this act of giving salvation/justification, we ourselves are not saved. We are saved in proportion to the salvation/forgiveness we proffer to others. So, my dear loved ones, is there anyone you can't forgive? You had better seek forgiveness from God that you may have some to give to them.

So says the Preacher to his Tribe.

God's in Control

Yesterday, Sunday, I got up at 5:00 A.M. and did the juicing for the lifestyle guests. That took an hour and a half. I then served them breakfast. Dale Zumwalt came and we replaced a breaker box in the Annex with a bigger one. That took five hours. After I took Dale to lunch, because it was 3:00 P.M. and there was no food around, I determined to stain a new cabinet that is in the church. I was half way through when Svitlana and her boyfriend offered to finish the job for me. Hurray, maybe I can work on a sermon for Wednesday. Fraid' not! As I stepped outside, I was met by a car with two people who had hosted me in Singapore twelve years ago. Wonderful couple. We had a great time, but it consumed the rest of the day. Oh, by the way, that was my day off.

Life unfolds like that for me daily and guess what? I love it. If running my tail off is good for me, then run I will.

Today, Monday, it is much the same. I decided this morning, after doing the devotional for the lifestyle guests and feeding my visitors, that I would write two very important letters. I did, by the way, but not until after I had to run to town, rent a U-haul, go get a load of donated furniture, load it and unload it by myself. (Not a complaint. There wasn't anything I couldn't lift by myself.) Besides that I got to talk to the fellow who lambasted me on Sabbath because my sermon made him want to throw up. He apologized, not for the principle of the conversation, but for the spirit in which it was conducted. Forgiven. Hey, why not? Life is too short. People are too hurt and should a hand never be laid on me? Do I think I do nothing wrong? For all I know, he was probably right. He's got me thinking, anyway.

Wonder what tomorrow holds? (I still haven't worked on a sermon for Wednesday Assembly.)

The Preacher may have nothing to say to his tribe.

One Sermon, great and rotten

Happy Sabbath. I preached in Copper Mountain this morning. One fellow that I've known for quite some time said it was the best sermon I ever preached. Well, I don't think so. It turns out, as far as I can tell, it was a sermon that brought him under deep conviction. It left him really questioning whether he had faith or not. It's a blessing to see God work.

The same thing doesn't happen to everyone. Another fellow, which I've known for even longer, lambasted me thoroughly for not preaching strait enough to suit him. He accused me of preaching smooth things, of being chicken, of being a coward and on and on and on . . . That kinda rattles my cage a little. Not as much as it would have in the past. He especially didn't like that through the lambasting I never lost my smile. I think that is aggravating to people who are trying to be ultra serious with me. In any case, I'll be asking the Lord about my preaching. Should I preach a straighter message? Am I being cowardly? Or, is this friend a little off his rocker? Lord guide me. Truly, I want to do right. Preaching there next month will be an event. Yuk!

Yesterday, I lent my car to the lady who lost her daughter, till Monday. One day, a decision like that will cost me. Hey, I'm going to help if I can. I gave her a hundred dollars so she could put gas in it.

On to the Next Thing

I'm blessed. No matter how hectic the situation, I always get through it with God's help. Funerals need organizational skills that I may or may not have. My problem is, my wife is perfectly endowed with said skills. Whenever I need something organized, she is there to do it for me. Not so this time. I took it on, however, and all went well. (I worked all day long every day for five days. I would never believe anyone else who told me it took that much organization to pull off a funeral.)

Many people attended. I believe the Holy Spirit gave me a strong sermon. I spent half the sermon comforting the bereaved and half the sermon teaching the many non-SDA about the state of the dead. My little secretary bought the casket. It was amazingly good looking. All metal, white, with gold handles. I had told the funeral people that Brittany's mother was very poor and that she couldn't afford any frills. We paid $450 for the casket and another $457 for everything else they did for us. (I hope I am not repeating myself.)

In any case, the Pastor and I shared the service. I did the church service. He did the graveside address. All went well.

Tomorrow I preach in Copper Mountain. Brent Waggoner is coming with me.

Relieved for the Moment

Things are coming together, a little. This morning's prayer time was heartfelt and agonizing. Today is Monday, and by Thursday morning I am to build a coffin, prepare a funeral sermon, weed-eat our cemetery, have the hole dug and organize the program. All or any of that is pretty manageable, but the idea that I had so little time to build a decent casket was terribly nerve wracking. For prayer, I usually go thru' my list and whatever it is I am reading, plus talk to the Lord about the things that are on my heart. Today, my heart was so troubled with this coffin project that I couldn't rest. I could just plead with the Lord for help and wisdom.

Well, guess what? My little secretary has a huge burden for her own granddaughter who was a friend of our Brittany who drowned. The little lady has no spiritual interests at all. She is coming to the funeral and Frances, my secretary, sees it as an opportunity to teach her about death and where the dead go when they die. So Frances volunteered to buy a casket out of her own pocket. Pastor Eagan and I will share the service. I'll do the short sermon in the church. He'll do the talk at the cemetery. I am perfectly relieved. Praise God, I feel like I have time to accomplish what is before me now.

We have beautiful hay and the Lord has been keeping the rain off of it. Yesterday, we started baling it. So it poured torrential rains on it. It looks like we've lost most of our first crop. Ah well, it's the Lord's hay. He can do as He pleases with it.

Till next time. Got to go prepare a sermon.

So says the Preacher to his tribe.

Tragedy at Eden Valley

I've cancelled my 3ABN assignment. I have yet to call them to let them know.

I was preaching at the Estes Park Church today. The Lord blessed in a mighty way. After potluck, I rec'd a phone call. Bill told me that Brittany Schult and Sylvia were walking their dogs on the canal road after lunch. Brit's dog jumped into the full canal. She tried to help the dog out of the canal and fell in. The dog got out of the canal easily, but Brittany couldn't get out. She told Sylvia to put the leach on the dog and throw the dog back in. I think she was hoping that the dog could help pull her out. Sylvia did as she was told but, the dog just came back out.

Sylvia ran to Brit's mother's house and told her mother. I assume the mother called Bill and he rushed over to the canal, but couldn't find any trace of her. They called 911, and the police, EMTs and divers worked all afternoon trying to find her. The divers couldn't do anything in the canal because the current is too strong. They resorted to closing the flow in the canal to reduce the current.

I arrived late in the afternoon. Cindy was pretty sure her daughter was gone, but she held up pretty well. When they found Brittany, five miles down the canal, they said she had a big bump on her head, but she was dead. That's when it was apparent that Cindy had been hanging on to hope. She broke down fully.

At the moment, Cindy, Sylvia, Leasa, and Shari are gone to the morgue to identify the body. Nearly everyone at EVI spent the whole afternoon with Cindy and the emergency people. There were ladies among the police and medics sent especially to comfort Cindy. They expressed that they were surprised at the support Cindy rec'd from her community, and the spiritual impact it had on their hearts. One of the ladies, the one that appeared to be in charge broke down and said she will be forever changed because of what she witnessed today.

Who knows? God's ways are mysterious, but predictably good. I believe it with all my heart.

So says the Preacher to his Tribe.

Doing all I Can

It's Friday morning and I'm still on course. I managed to send 3ABN the information they wanted, I taught two classes yesterday and three this morning. For tonight, I see my way clear to present a message at the graduation ceremony. (I still have to determine what I will share. I still have to decide what I'll preach in Estes Park tomorrow, but the Lord doesn't let me down.)

All our hay is cut, but there is such heavy dew that it is soaked every morning. We just have to wait for God to dry it.

I leave for 3ABN on Sunday morning. I will have all day, Monday, to fill my head with the topics I am suppose to present. I'm more relaxed about it now. If it fails, I will have tried. If it doesn't fail, then someone will gain a blessing. I've long established that I can't succeed if I don't try. So, here goes.

I have a young couple coming in tonight and staying two nights. My house accommodates visitors on a regular basis. After they leave, two lifestyle guests should be moving in. Probably on Sunday.

I'm doing all I can do for as many people as I can do it for. Let me know if I can do anything for you.

Says the Preacher to his Tribe.

Relaxed

Are you relaxed? I am, I'm totally at peace. It isn't because everything is going my way, however. It's because I know that when I am pressed to the limit, the Lord will pile it on to teach me that He can get me through anything.

I'll be taping at 3ABN on Tuesday the 8th of June. I haven't even seen the TV program I am suppose to participate on. Dee Hildebrand (of 3ABN) called me yesterday and wanted to make sure I was ready. She said I needed to have sent 10 questions per program for the host. I had never heard anything of the kind. There is suppose to be some forms that she sent in my packet. (Attachments on my internet packet.) I suppose its there. I will look soon.

Soon should have been last week. In any case, I was going to work on that today, but things didn't work out. I taught a class (preached a sermon) to my staff and to the students this morning. Someone suggested we have a work-bee today. Work-bees don't work unless the president participates. Tomorrow, I need to teach two classes. Friday, I need to teach three classes and prepare a sermon / challenge for the graduation Friday night. On Sabbath, I get to preach in Estes Park and take the students to the Rockie Mountain Park in the afternoon. Jack Long showed up. He had made an appointment to meet with me today. Something about fixing the road to the cemetery. So we went up to the cemetery and examined the road. Leasa asked me to call Quest telephone company and arrange to have our telephone system changed. I got Laural to do that for me because she's the expert. But, I needed to spend two hours chopping veggies for her so she could do my job. Then, dear Leasa was to buy me a flight on-line. She was working on it, but she had to go teach a class.

"So," she said, "you finish it."

It took me one and one half hours to get that done. Then, guess what? It is 6 P.M. and I haven't even looked at my 3ABN assignment.

Do you think I am frustrated? No, I am not! Do you know why? It is because this is what I can expect of God, every time. Then, He turns around and rescues me (He'd better rescue me. He's always done it that way in the past) and I praise His name. Isn't that great? I count on Him and He never fails me. If I didn't have God, I go crazy.

So says the Preacher to his tribe. . .

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Learn your Lessons

I just came back from DayStar Academy. We had a board meeting yesterday. Steve Grabiner and I rode over there and back again together. On our way, we were not very optimistic about the prospects for DayStar. It seemed, at the moment, that their financial woes would be too much to overcome. On the way back, we were thrilled to be encouraged. There are certainly financial troubles, but somehow the people are full of faith and even if they've had no stipend for a long time, they believe the Lord will turn things around for them. Oh, I need to find someone with means to help these lovely people.

Joy Grabiner (five foot two, cute as a button and only 26) has been a missionary in Honduras for the last two years. A couple of days ago, she and a visiting friend, Alissa, needed to go a few blocks away from Joy's house. Joy asked Alissa what she was carrying. (Joy lives in a bad neighborhood.) The girl had her camera and some money. Joy was worried, but it's just two blocks, "we should be alright," she thought. On the way, two men came around on bicycles, stopped right in their faces and pulled a gun.

"We want all you have," they said.

Joy stepped between Alissa and the would be robbers and accosted them in Spanish with, "That's not nice." (Or its equivalent.) She proceeded to chastise them for what they intended to do. Well, she took so much time that, in their urgency, they decided to grab her cell phone and high tail out of there.

Was the gun they were brandishing real ? I don't know, but poor old Steven wishes his daughter wouldn't be quite so bold in such circumstances. Anyway, all's well that ends well, and Joy is a heroine for a day.

We are doing our first cutting of hay for this year at EVI. The weather doesn't look too promising, but we are going ahead anyway. We are praying for no rain. With that, we are selling tiny tomatoes and cucs to Whole Foods, Inc. and sunflowers to someone else. Everything on the farm looks great. May the Lord keep the blankedy blank devil at bay this year.

I have eight or nine classes (sermons) to do this week in the L.I.G.H.T. program and in Estes Park on Sabbath. Then I go to 3ABN. (That is so nerve wracking.)

We had our first Search Committee to find the next president for OCI. My logic and heart leans heavily toward Steve Grabiner for President. On the other hand, my prayer is that God's will be done. It will be interesting to see how things develop. I'm glad we are finally on our way with this responsibility.

I was asked, by another search committee, if I would accept to be the president of another OCI institution. The answer is no, no more if I can help it. I hope that my institutional leadership days are over. I'll be happy to support my wife in her work and to teach at Kibi, RFI, and any other African school on a relaxed basis. The Lord knows the freedom I experience from knowing my incompetence in these matters. Let the young men/women pick up the heavy loads and by God's mercies avoid the mistakes I've made.

RH Dec. 16, 1902:9 "There are some lessons that are never learned only through failure." Supposing now, your life has been an on-going success. You've learned every lesson you can possibly learn through life thus far and all that remains is to learn the lessons that can never be learned except through failure, would you be willing to learn those lessons too?

Doesn't that place failure in its proper perspective? The quotation goes on to say that "Peter was a better man after his fall." He lost his self-sufficient confidence. Listen, dear ones, the sooner the better. Try, unlike me, to learn on small projects instead of big ones.

So says the Preacher to his Tribe.