HUMILITY

Dear Children,

 Do you remember Mr. Farquhar? 

Norman Farquhar entered my life in September 1979 when he attended our morning church service at Littleton Baptist Church in Littleton, New Hampshire.  I was glad to have an older man in the service and in the months to come he became a regular attender. I soon realized he was a believer who loved the Lord. He was retired and I asked him if he would join me during the week at a noonday prayer time. That continued for years.  We often discussed theology before or after we prayed. Norman was of a Plymouth Brethren background. We differed in how many pastor/elders should lead the church and in our views on the rapture and Lord’s return, but we enjoyed fellowship as brothers in Christ. When I started our Christian school, he backed me up and would help when we needed some teaching on different subjects.

In January 1986, we moved to Alaska and lost track of each other. When he died and I read his obituary,  I was absolutely shocked to find that he was a graduate of MIT and had taken part in the atomic bomb Manhattan Project during WWII! All those years I had been praying and fellowshipping with this man and had no idea who he was! Truly Norman followed Colossians 3:12, 13: "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."

Here is an excerpt from his obituary:

"When Norman was twelve years old he made the important decision to follow Jesus Christ, around whom the rest of his life revolved. He was an elder, Sunday school superintendent, teacher, Bible study leader and mentor in many churches in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Vermont. He loved people and loved encouraging them to study God's word and to follow Him. Prior to his death he was attending the Union Baptist Church. 

"In 1944, he married the love of his life, Esther Grace Briggs. They met in NYC during the war where she was stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and he was working on the Manhattan Project. Even just months before his death he would look at a picture of his wife in her Navy uniform and say, "I love that girl." He loved his family and spent his retirement years visiting their children and grandchildren. 

"Norman worked for National Aniline and Chemical Company in Buffalo and later at McGraw Hill in NYC, N.Y., during the war and was involved in the development of the nuclear bomb in the Manhattan Project stationed at Columbia University, N.Y., the Chrysler plant in Detroit and later in Oak Ridge, Tenn. He went on to work for Plymouth Cordage in Plymouth, Mass., Air Reduction Corporation in Stanford, Conn., Foster Wheeler in NYC and finally working in cryogenic systems for Westinghouse Electric including design for a nuclear rocket, design vehicles to travel on the surface of the moon and various systems for nuclear reactors."

Note: Others in our ministry there have told us in response to this that they also were unaware of Norman’s background. One response came back, "I, like you, did not realize his background, which, in retrospect, makes him all the more special.  Truly a man after God's heart and he and his wife both lived it every hour of every day."

SOAPED UP—NO WATER!

Note: As I am trying to put together a book about the Lord’s dealings in our lives I am posting some ahead of time that may be of special interest. 

  SOAPED UP—NO WATER!

Soon after Marlene and I were married in 1958, we read together the book George Muller of Bristol by A.T. Pierson.  On pages 75 and 76, we read that the conviction he and his wife held was "that a life of trust forbids laying up treasures against unforeseen needs, since with God no emergency is unforeseen and no want unprovided for: and He may be as implicitly trusted for extraordinary needs as for our common daily bread."

Pierson continues, "Yet another law kindred to this and thoroughly wrought into Mr. Muller’s habit of life was never to contract debt, whether for personal purposes or the Lord’s work…. He and his wife determined if need be to suffer starvation rather than to buy anything without paying for it when bought." 

Together we decided we would like to follow that course and only let the Lord know of our needs. Just recently we have begun to reread the same book and are thanking the Lord for the influence it had upon us. We have found that during 60 years of marriage the Lord has blessed us and our nine children as we followed the Mullers' example. We have seen His answers to prayer in many, many unusual ways during our nearly 17 years in Japan, 9 years in New Hampshire, and 30 years in Alaska, as well as in our periods of transition and retirement. Truly the Lord’s provision and care have been sufficient.

I am going through my diary and trying to record many of the ways in which the Lord has provided our needs. I happen to be in 1979 this week—the period two years after leaving Japan. After we returned to the States, we bought an unfinished house on 25 acres in Littleton, New Hampshire. We could relate many wonderful ways in which the Lord provided for us during those years, but I will just relate one here.

Our entire family pitched in and finished building the house. I had taken the pastorate of a church of 13 members and they were of great help in many ways. Our big need was water, so I hired a farmer with a backhoe to dig a hole to find some. Before beginning to dig he took a twig from an apple tree and “water-witched” until the twig bent down of its own accord. He dug six holes before finding water near the barn. We put a pipe to the house, hooked it up, and got water. For the next two years It would run out countless times. We’d have to wait a long time before enough water would accumulate in the hole. It was frustrating to say the least.

 At the end of August 1979 (I don’t have the date in my diary), I was taking a shower when, all soaped up, the water ran out. I looked up and asked the Lord to look at me. I said, “I’m just asking for water, the staff of life. Would you help me?" 

On September 4 I had a phone call from the treasurer of Rocky Mountain Lake Baptist Church in Denver. He said, “We just received a check for you from an engineer in Oklahoma who heard you preach at our church 15 years ago. He asked me to send it to you if we knew where you were.” I had never heard of the man. Before I could hang up he asked if I wanted to know the amount. I was thinking in the $50 range, but he said $3,000! The wheels were turning—a van, a garage, a well?  But I knew the answer. It was for water. 

When the check arrived I called the well drillers. They drilled all day until 8 PM—no water! I found out the drillers must be paid by the foot whether they hit water or not! I engaged them for another day, but I didn’t sleep well that night. They returned and drilled most of the day before finally hitting water at 310 feet—the length of a football field! Two and a half gallons a minute was sufficient.             

The bill was $2300. A man from my church installed the pump down in the well and hooked the pipe into the house. His discounted bill came to $675. Total $2975. We had $25 left over! Once again we found "that God may be as implicitly trusted for extraordinary needs as for our common daily bread."

A LONELY BURIAL

 One morning a call came from the local mortician.

He said he had received a body from a physician.

Would I conduct a burial service for a lady no one knew?

Her body would be in a wooden coffin nailed shut from view.

He would have it carried to the cemetery and placed by the grave.

She had died alone with no one to save.

She was homeless without a name, just a body with no one to care.

She died penniless so there would be no fare.

“Of course, I will do it” I said to the man, 

I will give her a burial the best way I can.”

I took my 3 daughters with me who sang,

            “Rock of Ages Cleft for Me, 

            Let Me Hide Myself in Thee.” 

I read from my Bible John 11:25 

And said that this woman may still be alive! 

When we took our leave, 

—there was no one to grieve, 

But I heard a sound

—a man had had been watching near the mound. 

A husband? A friend? We will never know 

While we are still living here below.

Ron Blough/a true experience

HENRY THE HAWK

         One summer one of our calves disappeared so our boys and I set out in the “boonies” to hunt for it. When we found it after hunting for a couple hours we noticed a hawk’s nest in a tree and one of the boys climbed up and found two baby hawks in the nest. They wanted to take them home but I said “no." They coaxed and I gave in and allowed them to bring one home and leave the other one with its mother. Little did I realize he would become an intimate part of our family for years. 

         The boys fed it strips of meat and other things it liked and he grew rapidly. During the day they would take him outside and tie him by the leg so he couldn’t fly away. Every day his mother and the one we left in the nest would fly over and circle above him for a visit. Finally, I said that we’d have to let him go so he could be with his mother and brother. The kids were sad and took last pictures, but “Henry”—the name we gave him—wouldn’t leave. 

          Our house became Henry's home. He would land on the window sill when he wanted to come into the house for food or just a visit, and I can still see him pecking at the window when he wanted to come in. He’d come right into the kitchen and survey how things were going. He had a wing spread much longer than my arms so it was quite a sight when we opened the window for his visits. 

         We had bought a Franklin Stove in the States, had it shipped here, and it kept our large kitchen super warm. When Henry got wet he’d come in, perch on the wood box next to the Franklin Flreplace, and spread those long wings out to get them dry. We have pictures of that. 

         When we played ball in the yard he’d sit on the clothesline post and turn his head 180 degrees when he wanted to watch the action. He was mischievous and would snatch Valerie’s hat and drop it in a place where the snow was deepest. In my mind I can see her now angrily scrambling through deep snow to get her hat. 

         Once when Vicky was waiting for the bus to go for her piano lesson he landed on her shoulder. A car going by stopped and the driver came running to help her, thinking she was being attacked. She waved him off and told the man that Henry was her friend. Another time Henry's loving sweep near my head injured my eye sending me to the doctor for treatment. 

         One day when a lady newspaper reporter was interviewing us in the living room, Henry flew into our wide entryway, thence into the house swishing right past her. Her look was one of disbelief, but she kept her composure.

         Henry had a special place where he would sleep in any kind of weather. The kids would go to that place to check on him knowing right where he would be after dark.

         In February 1977 we decided to leave Japan after having lived there 17 years. (Valerie, our oldest of nine was nine months when we arrived in 1960 and was going on 17 when we left.) We were wishing we could take Henry with us. But it was not to be. 

         One night a cattle buyer came to buy our cow and other animals we had on our farm. (Farm animals listed in October diary:10 calves (I heifer) and a milk cow, a pony, steer, 2 pigs, 40 laying hens, 6 ducks, 1 falcon, 1 hawk, 1 blue heron, 1 monkey, 2 cats, I dog, 12 rabbits, 2 bandies and 3 goats.) He had heard about Henry and asked us if we would sell him. At first I said we wouldn’t but since he belonged to the boys they chose to sell him for $50. They went out to get him like they often did at night but he was gone! DID HENRY KNOW WHEN HE SAW US PACKING TO MOVE THAT WE WERE LEAVING?

IT NEVER ENTERED HIS MIND

Dear Children,

This morning as I was reading my Bible I came across something that the Lord said was an abomination committed by both Judah and Israel. “Something that never came into His mind.” Our Omniscient Father is speaking of an abomination that had never entered His mind! Since my IQ and my age hover around the same number it is hard for me to understand our Lord having an infinite understanding and still having something that has never entered His mind. Now I’m beginning to panic. It must be the fault of the translators—something in the translation I’m using? I began looking through my shelf full of translations. They all said the same thing so I got out my old 1611 KJV edition which I find difficult to read and it was verbatim like the others. Some words were spelled a bit differently, but the meaning was clearly the same. At last I thought of the ESV that is being used by most fundamental ministers according to a recent survey and it was the same—“nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination.” Now my kids will find this hard to believe, but I remembered a word from my college days at BJU— “anthropomorphic.” I think that means that our own Infinite Lord sometimes uses words about Himself in our own finite way so we could understand Him better. Since there are some besides my children on my mailing list, please, if you have a better interpretation, just smile. My children I’m not worried about. 

Now finally I get to why I’m writing this. We had two calls from our grandchildren last week. Both happily shared the good news that they were expecting babies in the fall. These will be numbers 4 and 5 greats to be added to the 38 non-greats. 

I knew Israel and Judah both had provoked the Lord to anger, but I had forgotten until I read Jeremiah 32:30-35 that they had set their abominations in the house called by God’s name and defiled it by casting their sons and daughters into the fire unto “Molech.” It never entered God’s mind they would do this abomination. What about the abomination of abortion where they cut healthy children up while they are still alive and breathing in order to sacrifice them to their own “Molech” to cover up their sin? Democrats and Republicans, like Judah and Israel, both pay dearly for this abomination. Regardless what you may have heard, the recent budget passed by the Republicans and Democrats this year and signed by the President of United States still contained 500 million dollars for the abortion machine called Planned Parenthood. Day after day thousands more are murdered while still in the womb in the United States of America. 

Blessing on all who are in Christ,

Great Grandpa