".....if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

To My Dear Children,

This morning as I read in II Samuel, a character in chapter 19 named Barzillai piqued my interest. David had been betrayed by his son Absalom who was attempting to take the kingdom from his father. Ahihophel, David’s trusted counselor, had joined Absalom in the betrayal. (Incidentally, Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bathsheba). Spurgeon mentions in The Treasury of David that Ahithophel’s betrayal may have been the basis for Psalm 55. While David was in the wilderness fleeing from his son, he was met by Barzillai, a man of means, who brought ample supplies for David and those who fled with him. After Absalom was killed and the rebellion was over Barzillai meets David at the Jordan River and David invites him to go with him back to Jerusalem. Barzillai refuses and gives as his reason something every “aged person” should consider. He said, “I am this day fourscore years old…” He said that he could no longer discern between good and evil (your mother and I are having trouble keeping up with all the changes in the church today so we have accepted, as a badge of honor, being called “old fogies”), his taste buds had lost their flavor, and his hearing was such that he could no longer appreciate good music. He would only be a burden should he accompany David back to Jerusalem. He also said that he wanted to go back to his own city and be buried next to his parents. I read all of that with great interest. Often circumstances take us places in God’s Word where we haven’t been before.

I shared this with your mother at the breakfast table and decided to pass it on to you. Too often over my years as a pastor I have met with the “aged” who would not accept the fact that they could no longer do what they did in their younger years and were becoming a problem not only to themselves but to their loved ones. Advertising has them convinced that they can still “climb that mountain,” and so they spend their savings trying to re-capture their youth.

Thank the Lord this need not be a problem in the spiritual realm. We may “grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ” until He calls us home. As I write this I am experiencing all that Barzillai found in his old age. There are so many things I can no longer do, but I am not looking back, only forward to meeting the one I have served for 57 years. I have even bought a plot for your mother and me next to that of your grandparents in the “Blough Mennonite Church Cemetery” which is located about 500 feet from the home where I grew up. I confess however, that I pray every day that the Lord will spare me from Alzheimer’s disease, which my mother went through for several years. Poor Alois Alzheimer whose claim to fame is to have a disease like that named after him! I close with some of the words from Longfellow’s poem:

God’s-Acre
Into its furrow shall we all be cast,
In the sure faith that we shall rise again
At the great harvest,…

Then shall the good stand in immortal bloom,
In the fair gardens of the second birth;…

With Thy rude ploughshare, Death, turn up the sod,
And spread the furrow for the seed we sow;
This is the field and Acre of our God,
This is the place where human harvests grow!

Till Then,
Love, DAD

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL!

Dear Children,

Recently I posted this notice on bulletin boards around town. Today when Becky asked me for a copy, your mother suggested I send it to you. I've had a number of people ask me if I'd gotten the GPS back yet. I'm praying the Lord will use it as a witness. 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I AM WONDERING WHY YOU FELT FREE TO GO INTO MY BOAT AND UNHOOK MY FURANO GP-32 AND STEAL IT? THEY SELL FOR ABOUT $475. DO YOU HAVE A DRUG PROBLEM OR SOMETHING I CAN HELP YOU WITH? WE HAVE ENJOYED LEAVING OUR BOAT UNLOCKED FOR MANY YEARS HERE IN HOONAH. I HAVE OFTEN BRAGGED OF HOW HONEST THE HOONAH PEOPLE ARE AS FAR AS BREAKING AND ENTERING AND STEALING OTHER PEOPLE'S PROPERTY GOES.

FIFTY-SIX YEARS AGO AS A 21-YEAR OLD MARINE COMING BACK TO THE STATES ON A TROOP SHIP AFTER THE KOREAN WAR THE LORD FOUND ME AND SAVED ME! I HAVE SERVED HIM AS A MISSIONARY/PASTOR FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS. I RAISED A LARGE FAMILY WITH THE LORD SUPPLYING ALL MY NEEDS. MY WIFE AND I NEVER HAD MUCH LEFT OVER EACH MONTH BUT WE HAD ENOUGH. WE RELIED ON GOD'S PROMISE IN PHILIPPIANS "MY GOD SHALL SUPPLY ALL YOUR NEEDS ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES IN GLORY." IN OUR 17 YEARS IN JAPAN AND 25 YEARS IN ALASKA NOONE HAS EVER STOLEN FROM US. YOU ARE THE FIRST ONE! YOU SEE YOU DIDN'T STEAL FROM JUST ANYONE-YOU STOLE FROM A CHILD OF GOD WHO DEPENDS ON THE LORD TO SUPPLY HIS NEEDS. YOU WILL HAVE TO ANSWER TO THE LORD! IF I WERE YOU I WOULD RETURN THE GPS IMMEDIATELY! YOU SEE ACCORDING TO GOD'S WORD "THIEVES SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD." "IT IS APPOINTED UNTO MAN ONCE TO DIE, AND AFTER THIS THE JUDGEMENT." THE NAME OF MY BOAT IS THE "EBENEZER". IT IS TAKEN FROM THE BIBLE AND IT MEANS "HITHERTO HATH THE LORD HELPED US

PASTOR RON BLOUGH

P.S. YOU CAN DROP OFF THE GPS AT THE BOAT OR THE HARBOR MASTER'S OFFICE.

"Even So Come Quickly"

DEAR CHILDREN,

Yesterday the state of New York approved a same-sex marriage law, and when I turned on my computer news sources this morning there was an article listing the so-called famous movie stars, politicians, etc., who were joyfully chortling their words of satisfaction. New York had joined six other states to approve, by law, same sex marriage.

It was sad for me to see New Hampshire as one of those states. In 1977 when we returned to the USA after 17 years in Japan, one of the reasons we moved to New Hampshire was that it was at the time the “Live Free or Die” state. The governor, Meldren Thompson, was as conservative as any governor in our country. I soon became caught up in the conservative movement that swept the state. Some of you joined me in helping get a largely unknown conservative, Gordon Humphrey, elected to the U.S. Senate.

In New Hampshire I tangled with many of the presidential candidates when they came for the "first in the nation primary." I brought the homosexual issue up every chance I got. You will remember two that I talked with who later became president, Ronald Reagan and George Bush. I must have asked at least a dozen or more candidates about the homosexual and the abortion issues. Reagan gave me the clearest answers.

When I was elected to the “Whitehouse Conference on Families” during the Carter administration, a number of us walked out in protest of the redefinition of “family” when they wanted to include homosexuality. One of our non-elected delegates from New Hampshire was a lesbian appointed by Democrat Gov. Gallen! Since then I have fought the encroachment of the abomination of sodomy in our country.

I remember reading the "Uniform Code of Military Justice" (UCMJ) in Camp Pendleton, Calif. in 1952. I didn’t even know what the word “sodomy” meant until then. At that time sodomites were given immediate dishonorable discharges! Has that been changed in the UCMJ? I fought against it when it was partially approved by the silly “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” rule. Again last year I wrote letters to many newspapers when the Obama administration gave full approval to that abominable practice in the military.

I fought with Alaska Airlines when they gave a special discount to those who went through their special homosexual site. In answer to my first protest letter I was told that Alaska Airlines was “proud of their gay site.” When I googled the name of the representative who sent the letter, I came upon web sites with the filthiest homosexual perversions imaginable with the representative’s name accompanying “Alaska Airlines.” After I sent that to the president of Alaska Airlines thinking the person would be fired, one of his underlings, many months later, wrote me and said that they had put their lawyers on it and concluded someone else had inserted that into the web sites. One supposedly Christian Alaska Airlines’ board member sent me two ticket upgrades and said that we have to be “inclusive” in our dealings with the public. I tore up my Alaska Airline Credit Card that I had used for 20 years.

Who would have ever guessed a few years ago that we would have marriage redefined and sanctioned by law that a man could be married to another man, or a woman to a woman? I know this has been long, but I believe that even evangelical Christians have been softened and are more accepting of this wicked sin that is to God an “abomination” (Lev. 20:13) and “vile" (Rom. 1:26, 27).

Revelation 7:9

Dear Children,

It has been sometime since I’ve contacted you in this way. Some of the reason is that it has been a difficult summer here in Hoonah. It is hard to write encouraging letters to your children when there is little to share with them in visible results. Visible fruit doesn’t always tell all that is happening, but when there is little it takes a toll. I often think of your brothers who fish for a living. If they fail to catch fish they would either move to a new location or look for another vocation.

Last spring we had an invitation to an expense-paid trip to Japan for three, paid for by some of our Japanese “boys” we had left there 33 years ago. Most of you were raised in Japan and remember the happy times of living there on the coast of the Japan Sea. We all share lots of good memories of those nine years of working and playing together. Finally, after 17 years of serving the Lord in Japan, your mother and I decided it was time to go home to the U.S. It was in the midst of a severe winter and we were sick and discouraged. At that time we were the only foreigners on the coast south of Wakkanai and had had lots of exposure from the news media, having been on television several times, and were written up in newspapers and magazines many times. We spoke in every high school and civic gathering for miles around, but we had seen little in way of spiritual results.

When the invitation came to revisit Japan after 33 years I was hesitant to accept it. Your mother was excited about it but I, at 77 years of age and having largely forgotten the language, didn’t want to undertake it. When we agreed to go, a check arrived to cover expenses for us and an extra person to help us with luggage, etc. We chose to take Vicky since Caleb and Abi were in BJU and Bea and Steve agreed to take Joanna for the month.

I was fearful, for the schedule they sent included me preaching 13 times in 22 days. After a day’s delay because of plane trouble in Juneau we arrived for our first meeting at 1AM on Sunday where I was scheduled to speak twice the same day and was informed there would be no interpreter! I limped my way through with the help of the audience. Some of you will remember Noriko who lived with us for 6 months in Rumoi. She had made the hour and half trip to the service, which she attends once a month. She had waited about 35 years to apologize to me in person for marrying an unbeliever.

We visited our old home in Reuke and were saddened to find so many had died. The Buddhist room with the pictures of the dead was back where it had been 42 years ago when we made them move it out before we moved in. One man I was looking forward to seeing had died the week before, and when we entered his home, there was the smell of incense and the picture that always accompanies Buddhist funerals.

It would take too long to relate here the rest of the trip, but we were greeted like royalty every place we went. One pastor who as a high school student had come to our services for two years before he was saved had a wonderful church and family. When his daughter heard that we had 33 grandchildren she shyly asked if she could be number 34.

Another, who has a large church (large for Japan) in Sapporo, every time he introduced us, recounted word for word his salvation experience in our home. Vicky and Marlene gave testimony many times. They have remembered the language very well. Many tears and gifts accompanied our visits.

Our last visit was near Nagoya when we visited and ministered in Mino Mission where I had spoken many times in their annual conferences. The pastor, a very dear friend, was bent over with Parkinson’s but could still whisper his Sunday sermons in an amplifier. We laughed and cried together. We visited the graveyard where our dear friend Betty Whewell, one of long-time missionaries, is buried.

There is so much more I’d like to tell but don’t have space here. We so appreciate Pastor Kamidate who headed up and orchestrated our itinerary and the sacrifice of the churches that made our trip possible. We would like to invest our many gifts of money into Japanese commentaries and books for the pastors. Two of them had only a set of C.H. McIntosh’s work on the Pentateuch. Upon inquiry I found there is much more available in Japanese. The dollar has fallen to 81.5 yen per dollar as opposed to 360 yen per dollar when we were missionaries, so these books are very expensive. If any of you would like to help in this endeavor we will see to it that these dear pastors get good books and commentaries.

One highlight for me was having John Himes, a grandson of John R. Rice, interpreting for me four times. One of the times was when I had the privilege of speaking at the annual Fundamental Baptist Conference for pastors and missionaries. I am sorry to have to leave so many names out that were a blessing. However, I’m glad that when “…a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindred’s, and people, and tongues…will cry with a loud voice, saying, "SALVATION TO OUR GOD WHICH SITTETH UPON THE THRONE AND UNTO THE LAMB," none will be left out! Only the Lord knows of all the prayers and tears that were involved in the salvation of these dear Japanese believers. “….and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes, “

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you,

Dad

JUSTIFICATION and THE USE OF OUR TIME

Dear Children,
I have chosen the poet/hymn writer Isaac Watts as my source in writing to you today. Several years ago I read with great profit, The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts by Soli Deo Gloria Publications. His hymns are saturated with good doctrinal content and in stark contrast to many of our modern day hymns. Speaking on our justification he writes:

Neither the acts of love, or zeal, or repentance, or fear, or worship, or any other acts of obedience, are appointed as means of our justification, because these actions carry in them an appearance of our doing something for God, our answering the demands of some law; and this would make our justification by a law of works: but faith is the act of soul whereby we renounce our own works as the ground of our acceptance; acknowledging our own unworthiness, and giving the entire honor to Divine grace. We are saved by grace, that God may have glory of all.

And Watts on a different subject:

We eat, we drink, we sleep; that is the life of nature: we buy and sell, we labor and converse; that is the civil life: we trifle, visit, tattle, flutter, and rove among a hundred impertinences, without any settled design what we live for; that is the idle life: and it is the kindest name I can bestow upon it. We learn our creed, we go to church, we say our prayers, we read chapters and sermons; these are outward forms of our religious life. Is this all? Have we no daily secret exercises of the soul in retirement and converse with God. Have we nothing to do with God alone in a whole day altogether? Surely this can never be the life of a Christian?

Please take time to read this. It would be easy to skim it as it is long and takes thinking which we all do too little of today. I know many of you are extremely busy, and it would be easy to joke about where you would get the time to do what Watts writes on this last subject. I can’t afford to neglect a meaningful time of reading, meditation, and prayer—can you?
Grace be with you, Dad

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF CHILDREN TOWARDS THEIR PARENTS - II

Dear Children,
In my last letter I began what will be a series of letters of instructions on the subject of THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF CHILDREN TOWARDS THEIR PARENTS from the book Baxter’s Practical Works by Richard Baxter. Though it was written almost 400 years ago it is still full of practical instruction for today. Your mother and I are becoming more and more agitated at some of the standards that are becoming acceptable in the Christian community. We are often accused of being old fashioned or not being able to “adjust to the times.” Some of this may be true, but when we observe immodesty in dress and hear some of the music that has become acceptable in Christian circles we are filled with dismay. Many of our evangelical churches are including what is called a “contemporary service” for those who are more up to date as to music and dress. It is difficult to separate a pastor from the standards he allows, however good the sermon may be. I realize what I have just said is different than the subject I am writing from Baxter. However, I believe there is a direct correlation to the way children treat their parents when they are young and the kind of church they choose to attend when they are older.

DIRECTION II - “Honor your parents both in your thoughts, and speeches, and behavior. Think not dishonorably or contemptuously of them in your hearts. Speak not dishonorably, rudely, irreverently, or saucily, either to them or of them. Behave not yourselves rudely and irreverently before them. Yea, though your parents be never so poor in the world, or weak of understanding, yea, though they were ungodly, you must honor them not withstanding all of this; though you cannot honor them as rich, or wise, or godly, you must honor them as your parents. Remember that the fifth commandment hath a special promise of temporal blessing; “Honor thy father and mother that thy days may be long in the land.”
“There are five sorts of sinners that God uses to overtake with vengeance even in this life.
• Perjured persons and false witnesses.
• Murderers.
• Persecutors
• Sacrilegious persons. And,
• Abusers and dishonorers of their parents.
“It is a fearful thing to see and hear how some ill-bred ungodly children will talk contemptuously and rudely to their parents, and wrangle and contend with them, and contradict them, and speak to them as if they were equals.”

Dad’s addition:
In Romans 1:24-32 we find the sin of sodomy and God giving them up to “vile affections” and “a reprobate mind.” Included in the terrible list of sins they are “filled with” is “disobedient to parents.”
I have you all in my heart,
Dad

The Blough Family Annual Caribou Hunt

Dear Children,

Today (April 2, 2010) we received in the mail, the Heritage Newsletter from Conemaugh Township Area Historical Society in Pennsylvania. The front page article was about our family caribou hunt. After hearing about our family adventures and fun, the editor asked Dad to write an article about the hunt. He likes to feature stories about hometown people.
Here is the article:

EDITOR NOTE: Ron Blough was born in Woodstown and attended Jerome Grade School and graduated from Conemaugh Twp. High School in 1951. He worked briefly at Bethlehem Steel and then entered the Marine Corps. After discharge in 1955 he went to Bob Jones University where he met his future wife, Marlene Bingham from Denver, Colorado. They both graduated from Bob Jones University in 1959. Together they have raised nine children and have traveled extensively as missionaries/pastors--17 years in Japan, 9 years in New Hampshire, and in 1986 they moved to Alaska where Ron has continued his missionary/pastor duties. They currently live in Hoonah, a quaint, little native village on the island. They are the first to say they have had a marvelous and blessed life. We would add to that--a very interesting life. THANK YOU, RON AND MARLENE,FOR SHARING THIS LATEST ADVENTURE.

Four Wheelers Lined Up Ready To Leave Camp

THE BLOUGH FAMILY ANNUAL CARIBOU HUNT

About twenty years ago three of my boys and I decided to go on a caribou hunt. Because we couldn’t afford to charter a plane to hunt places inaccessible by road, we drove about 500 miles from our home on the Kenai Peninsula. Our destination was the Taylor Highway that runs along the Alaskan side of the Yukon River in the Yukon Territory near where the Gold Rush took place in the 1890’s. We pulled a trailer with two three-wheeled ATVs on the back. The hunt always begins on August 10th and we were too late to see anything but gut piles.

Nearly every year since then we have made the trip and almost always have come back with our tags filled. After several years we graduated to four-wheeled ATVs. We always drive to the small village of Chicken named by gold miners and trappers who wanted to name it "Ptarmigan" but didn’t know how to spell it. There we unload our ATVs and drive at least twenty-five miles up into the mountains. We have driven almost twice that far when we have been unable to find caribou. Because they are nomadic and are on their way to the Yukon, we are never sure just where they will be. There are no trees, so you can see for miles.

On my first trip I woke up at 4 a.m. when I heard a shot. (When hunting in Alaska there are no time restrictions, but you are not allowed to use artificial lighting.) I stepped outside my tent and shot a nice bull at 100 yards. As I was quartering it out, I heard something behind me and there were six bulls, all bigger than the one I shot, watching me. It hasn't always been that easy! Since then I have shot several outside my tent while still in my underwear. A few years ago my kids gave me camo long johns!

For a period of time the hunt was shut down to ATVs because the herd was dwindling. Wolves and grizzly bears were killing about 90% of the newborn calves. Alaska Fish and Game began to sterilize the alpha male wolves and gave a bounty to trappers who caught them. The herd grew from about 20,000 to about 45,000 today.

There are many much larger herds but are unreachable by road. Now we are allowed to shoot two grizzly bears without a permit while hunting the Fortymile Herd, named for the Fortymile River, which flows through that area. We can shoot either bulls or cows; non-residents may shoot cows only. It is not always easy to tell the difference, because both have antlers. Hunters leaving camp must report to Fish and Game, and after 500 caribou have been harvested, a plane flies over the camps and drops a stone with a note attached saying the hunt is closed.

After the years we weren’t allowed to hunt, son Judson and I resumed the hunt. In 1995 we were packed to go when we got a call that our daughter Vicky’s husband had sustained a fatal injury when a horse kicked him. They were on a church building mission at Pinedale, Wyoming, with their three children, the youngest, 2 ½-month-old Joanna. We didn’t go that year, of course, but the next year we invited our widowed daughter to go with us--excellent idea! She is an excellent cook! Judson and I had always “made do” with ramen and our catch of grayling. We have gladly taken her with us ever since.

Soon other family members joined us, and our camp often grew to twenty or more. Vicky’s three children began to accompany us as they got older. Last year her 14-year-old Joanna got her first caribou. Grandchildren as young as eight have filled their tags. (Hunters under 16 and over 59 are exempt from buying a license.) In 2007 I talked Marlene into going. I got lots of squeezes as she rode with me over some pretty rugged trails on our 49th wedding anniversary! She shot her first caribou at 70 years of age.

We are now living on an island in Southeast Alaska, so the trip is not as simple as before. We take a ferry to Juneau, our capital, and then another ferry to the town of Haines on the mainland. From there we drive about 400 miles to Chicken.

To get Marlene to go again I bought a Honda "Big Red" side-by-side UTV. Her biggest draw was getting to meet our ten-month-old granddaughter for the first time. Five of our 9 children and 14 of our 29 grandchildren live in Alaska. Since we live 1,000 miles from some of our children in Alaska, the only time we see them is when we all get together on Chicken Ridge. On our last trip the weather was bad mixed with rain and snow, but it was worth it! Our daughter Bea shot a bear at 30 yards that was coming toward her and her four children.

Venison from our island (we are each allowed 6 blacktail deer) and caribou comprise almost all of our meat. That, with crab, salmon, halibut, and berries make up a lot of our diet.

We commit each hunting trip to the Lord and thank Him for the good times and protecting care over the years.

"O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom Thou hast made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches” Psalm 104:24.

Note from Marlene:

On the hunting grounds we are very careful not to waste any of the meat. We put the quarters into game bags immediately and hang them up to cool. If the weather is warm, one of the party will take a trip into Tok (about 80 miles away) to refrigerate the meat taken early in the week. The hunters always have backpacks to pack the quarters back to camp. Ron and I stick close to camp, and the boys help us take care of the meat. They were good troopers when Ron shot one at 412 yards in a place the ATV couldn’t go. Their hike from the valley back up to the camp with the caribou was arduous!

When we arrive home the fun and work continue as we process the meat. We make burger and sausage with the trimmings. Most of the meat we freeze, but some we can. Caribou meat can be prepared and cooked the same as venison. It makes good jerky.

Cold weather vegetables grow well in Alaska. We’ve always enjoyed having a garden. The long days make up for the short growing season. Our greenhouse comes to the rescue for tomatoes.

Truly we are blessed with the bounty from God’s hand!

Ron and Marlene with Vicky's Family

Home Sweet Home" For The Caribou Hunt

Caleb Helping Joanna Field Dress Her First Caribou

Judson and Maria's Aliya

One of The Challenging Muddy Sections of Trail

Photo credits go to Vicky Daniels. To see more go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mblough99829/NewAlbum42101043AM#

Ephesians 6:1, 2

Dear Children and Grandchildren,

In 1999 your mother/grandmother gave me a book entitled BAXTER’S PRACTICAL WORKS VOLUME I, A Christian Directory. This was written 400 years ago but much still applies today. I have been reading and studying these “practical works” for 11 years. It has 907 pages and this morning I found myself on page 454 “THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF CHILDREN TO THEIR PARENTS.” I just finished the chapter on the duties of parents to their children. I wish I would have read and put it to use 50 years ago! It has been some time since I have sent you a message, but this Richard Baxter chapter has caught my attention and I’d like to share it with you in the weeks to come. Some of this will not apply directly to you children, but I am trusting that our grandchildren will benefit since much will apply to them. It is long so I will make some personal abridgements.

Direction I.

Be sure that you dearly love your parents; delight to be in their company; be not like those unnatural children that love the company of their idle play-fellows better than their parents, and had rather be abroad about your sports than in their parents’ sight.

Remember what sorrow you have cost them, and what care they are at for your education and provision; and remember how tenderly they have loved you, and what grief it will be to their hearts if you miscarry, and how much your happiness will make them glad; they take your happiness or misery to be one of the greatest parts of the happiness or misery of their own lives.

Make not their lives miserable, by undoing yourselves. Though they chide you, and restrain you, and correct you, do not therefore abate your love to them. For this is their duty, which God requires of them, and they do it for your good. It is the sign of a wicked child that loves his parents less because they correct him, and will not let him have his own will. Yea, though your parents have many faults themselves, yet you must love them as your parents still.

Love, Dad and Grandpa

What's Your Batting Average?

Dear Children,

Today I was blessed in reading I Corinthians 16 and I want to pass on to you the reason for the blessing. After reading and meditating on the great problems found in the church at Corinth that Paul had to deal with--church splits, sexual immorality (fornication, adultery, incest and homosexuality), lawsuits among believers, marriage and divorce, meat eaters and vegetarians, how much to pay the preacher, short and long hair, the Lord’s supper, spiritual gifts, meaning of love, tongues, the resurrection and second coming)--it was a relief to read a chapter with no major problems and even see where Paul had some doubts and issues of his own.

I found that Paul didn’t always bat a thousand when determining the Lord’s will. I recently celebrated my 55th birthday as a child of God. So many times over those years I have had to make decisions that I wasn’t absolutely sure were the right ones. Even now after walking with the Lord for more than 5 decades I often find myself questioning the Lord’s will when a decision has to be made. So often I hear Christians saying, “The Lord told me.” I have never used that expression, because I feel that would put the Lord to blame should whatever He “told me” prove wrong. Of course many who use that expression always find a way to justify the outcome regardless of how it may look.

Another reason I don’t use that expression is that I don’t know that the Lord has ever “told me” anything. The Lord has often shown me things in his word and I have acted on them. Even there I keep in mind I am fallible and can make mistakes in my application. I know the Holy Spirit leads us and gives peace and assurance in knowing the will of God. However there are times I am turned off by those who seem to have a heavenly, infallible, spiritual GPS. I have made some decisions over the years that I was absolutely certain of, that I prayed over, and they turned out to be wrong. I thank the Lord for closing those doors! How often have I heard someone say after making an absolutely dumb decision, “I prayed about it” as if that justified it.

Back to I Corinthians 16. I read, “If it be fitting that I go…”(4); “It may be....I winter with you…withersoever I go” (6); “I trust (hope) to tarry a while with you if the Lord permit” (7); “Now if Timothy comes…” (10); “…I greatly desired him to come unto you…but his will was not to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time” (12). Paul didn’t bat 1,000 and neither has your dad!

“My Love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen"

Dad

"Owe no man anything except to love one another." Romans 13:8

Dear Children,

I will turn 76 this week and I know I can’t have much more time on the downhill side. I give thanks every day for your mother’s and my good health. Neither of us know anything of prescription drugs or medications. I liken myself to the poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, “The Deacon’s One-Hoss Shay.” The deacon built it so well that it never wore out or needed replacement parts until one day, suddenly it completely collapsed.

One of the things that accompany old age is concern for your children and grandchildren and what they will face when you are gone. That came home to me recently when an uncle called me to ask if I knew what our governor had in mind when she resigned. I assured him that He knew as much about that as I do. Then he reminded me of our childhood (he is 3 weeks older than I) and how we were brought up through a depression and WW II. We knew what it was to do without many things that are taken for granted today.

Jobs were created by the Roosevelt administration like the WPA-Workers Progress Administration. My dad called it “We Poke Along.” The OPA-Office of Price Administration he called “Other People’s Affairs.” It regulated prices on everything. I still have my ration book from the war years when we had to use stamps for food products like sugar and soap and other items. Gasoline and rubber products were rationed. Plastic hadn’t been invented yet, so that didn’t replace many things like it does today. You weren’t allowed to use gasoline for pleasure trips. Once while we going on a fishing trip, Dad told us that if we got stopped by a cop we were to tell him that we were going to Buzz Wagner’s funeral. He was a local flying hero who was shot down in the Pacific. I’m sure a cop would have believed that when he saw the fishing poles and how we were dressed! We never owned a car until I was 7 or 8 years old. We had to hire someone to take us to a funeral. We did a lot of walking and hitch hiking. My uncle and I talked about the difference then as compared to today.

Today you may be taking for granted things you have always had in your lifetime. If you can’t afford something you can always use a credit card. As I look at the present administration and its stimulus packages and the trillions of dollars of debt you will inherit, I tremble to think what you will have to go through after I am gone. Much that is available now you will no longer be able to afford. The temptation to borrow to buy what was a luxury yesterday and has become a necessity today will be great.

One of the many blessings your mother and I have benefited by in our 51 years together has been our mutual agreement not to go in debt. We took God at His word: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). We believed his promise that “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). We determined to not go into debt other than to buy a house, and we never took longer than 5 years to pay that off. We agreed to tell no one but the Lord what we needed. I cannot recall ever having a disagreement with your mother about finances. We had both seen too much heartache in marriages over that. I write this not to criticize any of you who may not agree with our way of doing things. We have often responded when others have made known their needs. We simply want to share with you how God has blessed our lives in this realm. We will continue to pray for you.

To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.”

Dad

THE GLORY OF MAN

Dear Children,

Your mother asked me to write you a synopsis of the message I preached yesterday, June 7.  I am preaching through I Peter, and I’m sure the blessing I’m receiving in preparation and delivery of the messages is much greater than anyone might receive in hearing them.  The text was I Peter 1:24,25: “ALL FLESH IS AS GRASS, AND ALL THE GLORY OF MAN AS THE FLOWER OF GRASS.  THE GRASS WITHERETH,  AND THE FLOWER THEREOF FALLETH AWAY: BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURETH FOR EVER.  And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”  This is in caps because it is taken from Isaiah  40:8.  Actually the text speaks for itself and my main job was to keep from messing it up with my preaching! 

I reminded everybody that all the GLORY OF MAN does not last any longer than the withering of the grass and the flower which suddenly appears and very quickly disappears, especially in Alaska.  This glory which disappears so quickly can include our physical appearance, our material possessions, or anything else we seek so fervently to aspire to in our brief stopover here.  Then I strongly emphasized the need of spending our time in THE  WORD OF GOD WHICH ENDURES FOREVER.  Not so much in the number of chapters read or even the length of time spent but in quality of the time spent.  I asked the folk if they would like to see the time they spent in the Word of God this past week written on a blackboard in front of the congregation.  One elderly gentleman,  absorbed in the message, said aloud, "NO!"

Does the Bible “live” as you read it, and do you often lay it down reluctantly when you must turn away to take other responsibilities? Does it bring real joy to your heart, or is the reading of the Word of God a burden that you take on as a salve to your conscience?  Do you read your three chapters so you can keep a schedule that gets you through the Bible in a year? Or are you sometimes “arrested” by a brief portion or perhaps even one verse that you must stop to meditate and pray over?

I concluded with “a preview of coming attractions” as they used to show in the matinee movies I attended as a boy.  I said next week I would be continuing with the first three verses of chapter 2. If there is no "life” in your reading of the Bible and you find it dull or boring, your problem could be that you are not born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God (verse 23),  or your appetite has been spoiled as stated in chapter 2:1-3.  I said that I would be preaching on the “wherefore” which begins chapter 2.  And I told them to ignore the chapter division found there as the first three verses in chapter 2 are a necessary continuation of chapter 1.

My wish for each of you is that you are finding the reading of Word of God the best part of your day as I can honestly say I do.

Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus, Amen.

DAD 

Diamonds in heaven!

Dear Children,

We have children who are in dire need at this time. When I pray for them I include children of pastors and friends of mine who have special needs. I have prayed for some of these for so long that sometimes I wonder if the Lord hears my prayers? This devotional was a blessed encouragement to me to keep crying out to the One who puts all my “tears in His bottle” implying, as here stated, “that they are caught as they flow.” I trust it will be an encouragement to you also.

The diamonds of heaven!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"Behold--he prays!" Acts 9:11
Prayers are instantly noticed in heaven. The moment Saul began to pray--the Lord heard him. Here is comfort for the distressed, but praying soul. Oftentimes a poor broken-hearted one bends his knee--but can only utter his wailing in the language of sighs and tears. Yet that groan has made all the harps of heaven thrill with music; that tear has been caught by God and treasured in the lachrymatory of heaven. "You put all my tears into Your bottle," implies that they are caught--as they flow!

The suppliant, who can only groan out his words, will be well understood by the Most High God. He may only look up with misty eye; but prayer is the falling of a tear! Tears are the diamonds of heaven! Sighs are a part of the music of Jehovah's court, and are numbered with the most sublime strains which reach the majesty on high!

Do not think that your prayer, however weak or trembling--will be unregarded. Our God not only hears prayer--but also loves to hear it. "He does not forget the cry of the humble." True, He does not regard proud looks and lofty words. He has no concern for the pomp and pageantry of kings. He does not listen not to the swell of martial music. He has no regard the triumph and pride of man. But wherever there is . . .
 a heart full with godly sorrow,
 or a lip quivering with agony,
 or a deep groan, 
 or a penitential sigh
--the heart of Jehovah is open! He marks that prayer down in the registry of His memory! He puts our prayers, like rose leaves--between the pages of His book of remembrance; and when the volume is opened at last, there shall be a precious fragrance springing up therefrom!

“I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers” Philemon 4

Love, Dad