The Blessing of the Washing Machine

  

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all” (Phil. 1:3-4).  “You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered” (I Peter 3:7).

Hey Gang:  For you ‘regular morning message readers’, you know that the author of these messages loves to visit Shipshawanna, Indiana, which also happens to be Amish/ Mennonite country. People think we are a wee-bit weird when we tell them we are going to Shippshy in the morning for breakfast.  Yes, it happens to be 145 miles, which may seem strange, but the truth of the matter is we go there for a far different reason.

I am also a Pennsylvania Hillbilly, I had the privilege of working in Lancaster, PA, which is a very large Amish community. Over 60 years ago I was privileged to work at a Dairy that sent trucks into the countryside to pick up cans of milk from the farmers.  My route happened to consist of 53 Amish farmers, whom I learned to love and respect in a very special way. 

I love to go there because it brings back wonderful memories of my days in Lancaster and seeing and learning about the Amish culture first-hand and, we hear the clippity- clop and see the horses. We made our most recent trip on a Monday, which also happens to be wash day.  Keep in mind Amish families tend to be large and, therefore, Monday’s wash tends to be very large.  Also keep in mind these are farm families and live very close to the ground.  Every member of the family from three and up get their hands and clothes dirty each and every day, except the Sabbath.

As you probably know, the Amish are called the ‘Plain People’ because they do not get into the bangles and beads of the modern conveniences.  As we drove into town, we passed many farms.  Two ways to tell it is an Amish farm:  it ha sno electricity lines into the house and second, the clotheslines would be filled with freshly washed clothes hanging to dry natures way.

Until several years ago such conveniences as washing machines were taboo, so washing was a little more involved than throwing the clothes in the washing machine and returning an hour later to move them to the dryer.  Wash day began very early by building a fire, heating the many gallons of water and preparing for the washing process, which was contingent on one’s knowledge of a ‘scrub board’.    

There is the story of the day the Elders of the Church decided a washing machine might be one of ‘God’s inventions’ to make life easier for the woman folk. They passed a mandate that washing machines were now legal.  When Brother Yoder announced to his wife that he was going to purchase a washing machine for her, she let it be known there would be no washing machine in her wash shed.  Notice her reason: “As I wash those clothes, “she said, “I use that time to pray for each one of my children.  That’s not time I want cut in half”. 

Soooo, is there not a lesson in that story that we all need to heed?   I wonder what would happen in our country, if every parent threw the washing machine out and adopted the Amish way? Or just spent the washing-time praying for our children? Or prayed regularly and diligently for our children?  Ah com’on, Gramps, you got to be kidding!

Blessings,

Gramps

THe Light Doth Shineth Through the Clouds

“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise.  And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued” (Dan. 12:1).

Hey Gang:  I love the Book of Daniel.  I believe it is a book for this moment, along with Zechariah, the major prophets, minor prophets, Revelation and a whole bunch of other ones.  In other words, I am saying the Bible is a book for this very hour - as it has been since it was first penned. 

The Bible is filled with the words and actions of very anointed saints of God. Each designed to be an encouragement to those who, with contrite hearts, step up to His altar and say, “Father, forgive me for I have sinned.  Daniel first got my undivided attention when the cards were all stacked against him but stood firmly on the God whom he had learned to love and trust before becoming a captive in the king’s court in Babylon.

In Daniel 1:8 we learn how deep was his resolve to place his very life in the hands of his God.  We read, “Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or wine”.    Be advised the Babylonians were not known for their hospitality but rather for there attitude of ‘My way or no way’.  Since an attitude in the young whipper snapper, who was consider a slave within the nation, would have been viewed as an act bordering on refusal or rebellion and a trip to the ‘separator of the heads’ department.  

For me, it was a message one should sit up and listen, for this was a very special envoy from the throne room of heaven.  On graduation from indoctrination school, the whole beauracratic maize of the headship was in a dither.  One might call it a life or death dither, for the king was in a rage.  He had a dream, and the wise-heads could not interpret what it meant.  

   

Now, one might say they were given a raw sort of assignment, for he did not tell them what the dream was.  His assumption: if they were so wise and smart they would know what the dream was.  Obviously, he had experience with their dream interpreting skills and was not about to let them off the hook this time.  The dither in the court, he attached an asterisk to his demand- if you don’t produce, you and your family will “be torn from limb from limb and your houses made rubbish” (Dan. 2:5b). 

It was a definitely “woe is me” time in the Babylonia court.  But God had placed a young Hebrew kid in the court for that very reason.  Did you know that God does that?  Did he know about the dream?  You bet your sweet bippy!  He placed it in the king’s head.  God’s intent?  Elevate a young Hebrew kid to second in command in the kingdom. 

Now, one would tend to believe that the head-folks in the court would be forever beholding to Daniel.  He did save their jobs, their influence, but far more their very lives and that of their families.   But, as we will soon learn, what it really did was build a head of stream in the head- folks to get rid of this young twerp who, in their eyes, had usurped their influence with the king.  Do you see a correlation with a later story in the Bible involving a young Hebrew man who bought the wrath of the religious leaders down upon Himself because He claimed to be the Son of God? And proved that He was indeed the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world.  

Well, my friends, I did not get to the point where I felt God was taking me so will close this for today and pick it up in later Gramps Morning Message.  I close with a challenge to you.  If you have not availed yourself to the wondrous messages hidden in the words of Daniel, I challenge you to do so.  It is truly, another of those books that is coming more alive with each passing day.

Blessings,

Gramps 

Living Waters

“Jesus said, ‘If a man is thirsty let him come to Me and drink; Whoever believes in me, streams of living water will flow within him ”(John 4:13-14).

Hey Gang: I was out cutting up a tree that did not survive the latest wind storm, probably not a good idea for someone as old as dirt to be doing that when the temperature was hovering in the mid-nineties, but patience is not one of my greatest attributes. As I have grown older, I find it necessary to take more and longer breaks to recharge my burners – like work fifteen minutes and take a half hour break.

As I was sitting under a tree drinking ‘cool clear water,’ my thoughts once again returned to those very happy days when I was getting my hands dirty digging in the sands at Tel Tamar in the desert of the Wilderness of Zin, Israel.

There are three basic sources of water in the desert: cisterns, wells and springs. The cistern system consisting of aqueducts to funnel water into basins for storage and is ingenious. Masada had cisterns capable of holding millions of gallons of water. At best this is a temporary way of storing water. Most water is obtained from wells.

To the Bedouin finding water is a simple thing. It is said that the desert sand to the Bedouin is like the morning newspaper to the Englishman, only with fewer misprints. He knows how to track and where to find water.

Again, we see the analogies between our physical walk through the wilderness and our spiritual lives. A sign of our entrance into the Promised Land is adequate spiritual nourishment that comes with our covenant relationship to God through Christ Jesus; but to secure this we must dig a well deep enough to assure adequate water.

Surface water is dangerous and folly. We cannot live on intermittent blessings. We need a much deeper source brought on by showers of blessings; a source to be drawn upon when there is no rain for long periods of time.

David wrote about the spiritual man who “… was like a tree planted by streams of water, which yield its fruits in season” (Psa. 1:3). Jeremiah warned: “The people have committed two sins, they have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and they have dug cisterns that cannot hold water.” (2:13)

So, my young friends, "Jesus said, “If a man is thirsty let him come to Me and drink; Whoever believes in Me, streams of living water will flow within him.” (John 7:37) How’s your water supply this morning. Are you relying on a cistern? or a spring? or have you sunk your well into the living waters, Jesus as your Lord.

Blessings,  

Gramps

An On-Going Saga That Daily Picks Up Steam!

“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.  Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.  On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against here, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations.  All who try to move will injure themselves” (Zechariah 12:2-3)

Hey Gang, Remember Jesus words, when the world looks like it is in a blender and being torn from the east to the west, it is not time to be discouraged, (Gramps Rendition). Jesus made it abundantly clear that His children are not to become despondent but “…look up because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). 

Never before have we been closer to this point in history, where all the nations of the world have the seeds within them to turn against the Apple of God’s eye. If there were a Doom’s Day Clock mounted on ‘Times Square’, it would read within seconds of tolling its final doom for this earth as we know it.

Never before, in the history of mankind have we had the mass weapons that can annihilate every living soul on planet earth many times over.  And, not only do we have such weapons for mass killing, but we are not satisfied; nations are in a frantic race to build even bigger and more sadistic killing devices!

And, as the news continues to tell us daily, there are heartless, sadistic-minded people in our world who are itching to press the triggers of these killing devices.  In Matthew 24:22 we read the tragic warning from the lips of Jesus: “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short”.

Satan is in a final battle and he knows it.  As we read above, he is already mortally wounded and at the mercy of God, as to when the word will go out for the angel of Revelation 20 - with chain in hand - to roll and put the scoundrel of all time in the pit where he belongs.   I believe there will be rejoicing in the heavenlies as the choir sings a chorus of Hallelujah’s to Our Lord and King, on that day.

 The enemy knows the Scriptures very well and knows he lives under the fulfillment of a death sentence!   He knows there is a place already prepared for him and his minions- the Lake of Fire - which burns with fire and brimstone.  In a sense he is battling not only to prevent his death sentence from be carried out, but also that his quest to replace God as God will have gone up in fire and brimstone.

Paul, in his letter to his adopted spiritual son, Timothy, said: “Realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come”.  (2 Tim 1:1).   My dear friends and family, we can change Paul’s words now to “Difficult times are here”.  If there was ever a time when we need to be locked into Jesus as Lord and Savior, it is now,  Again, returning to the words of Jesus: “To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it” (Rev. 2:17).

So, my young friends, are you locked and loaded with Jesus as Lord of your life?   Jesus warned: that “When I come, I will come quickly.”  No press releases. No news headlines. in the twinkling of the eye, it will be finished.    Again, I ask, are you lock and loaded with Jesus as Lord of your life?

Blessings,

Gramps

It's There, But Sometimes We Really Have to Look For It!

"For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret but that it will come to light" (Mark 4:22).

Hey Gang:  I have said it before and I say it again, the most beautiful place in the world, where you can feel the magnificence of God's creation, is to stand at the foot of the great Teton Mountains.  Wow, they are so very awesome beyond description! 

One day, as we were hiking on one of the many trails, we came across a place where someone had defiled the beauty of the land by dumping their garbage.  It was an eye-sore beyond description but, the closer we got to this disgusting eye- sore, I noticed there were beautiful flowers growing up through the trash.  Not just a few, but the entire area was a radiant blue and red mixed with purple.

 As I stood there and looked at that, I wondered if God was sending me a message:   "God's glory is always there, but we sometimes have to dig it out" - out of the garbage that is continually fed into our hearts, minds and souls.

Let me put some legs in what I am saying here. He was a mess, by world standards.  Everything he touched seemed to turn to agony and pain for all those around him.  My first contact with him was a soul-searching event - for I was not sure I wanted to accept the challenge of trying to find the red meat that surely lurked deep in this child's inner most being.

It did not take him long to live up to his reputation and I began to question the wisdom of accepting the challenge of this twelve-year-old, seventy-pound piece of dynamite who had many similar traits to a Tasmanian Devil.   And then, one day God gave me a miracle!  Have you ever thought how magnificent and powerful a tear is?  I remember my sainted grandmother saying to me one day, “If you can cry, God can fallow your heart and make you a blessing to someone.” 

On one of those especially bad days, I took him in my arms and just held him until I felt the muscles in his body begin to relax and I noticed something I had never seen before in him, a tear was running down his cheek.  At that moment I knew in my heart I was holding a "pearl of great price" in my heavenly Daddy’s eyes and He was going to do a miracle in this child's life!

So, my young friends, keep in mind that even in the midst of garbage, God can create beautiful flowers and, even in the hardest of hearts, God can release a beautiful ‘pearl of great price’;  but sometimes we just have to dig a little deeper to find the red meat.

Blessings,

 Gramps

Are You Ready For Some New Threads?

   

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will not all sleep, but will be changed” (I Corinthians 15:52).

Hey Gang: Did you ever play “Hide and Seek”? As a child of a coalminer in the mountains of Pennsylvania, we did not have the means to purchase the neat things we have available for our kids today, so we had to use our imagination and ingenuity to come up with things to occupy our time.

Our first line of activities centered on the river that ran through our three-family community, but we also had a repertoire of games that filled the empty hours with fun activities. My favorite, even though as the youngest and less experienced in such activities I always seemed to be “IT”, was “Hide and Seek”. I loved to hear the "Ready or Not" here I come.

But there is a far more important “Ready or Not” just over the horizon that is not a game! Jesus said, “Be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming…for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will” (Matthew 24:36/44).

Jesus, in the Olivet Discourse gave us a warning that all should take very seriously. He said, “Therefore “Be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.” (Matthew 24:42-43).

“For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes” (Matthew 24:42-46).

What if Jesus cried out today “Ready or Not Here I AM” are you anchored securely in Christ? Is your name written on the palm of His hand? I pray when “The Roll is Called Up Yonder” we will all sit down together at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.

Blessings,

Gramps

Food For Thought! What Do You Have to Give?

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).  Stop. Read that again.  “We are His workmanship, created for good work”.  Wow, Is that not awesome?

Hey Gang:  Have you ever run into a person that you literally drooled over with envy?  I did.  It was in my high school years, when confidence was something that I struggled with.   He (Larry) was the lead musician in the band, an outstanding football player, the number two scorer on the basketball team and one of the most popular dudes in the school.

But, with all these things going for him, he lacked one thing – he did not have a driving zeal to use his multi talents to succeed at anything.   When I finished my tenure at Altoona High School and, by mutual agreement they would give me a diploma and I would fade into the sunset, I lost contact with Larry. 

Years later I ran into a friend from my former years, and, in our reminiscing about the “bad old days”, Larry’s name came up.  I had visions that Larry was probably the president of some prestigious company and had a beautiful house on knob hill, but was in for the shock of my life when I learned he was working in a factory putting the right front tire on cars on an assembly line.

Have you ever tucked yourself away in an isolated place and considered your talents and gifts?  Have you ever considered the one thing you do better than others?  This can give you a clue to your God given purpose.

The gifts God gives us are like the little seeds planted inside us, BUT, for them to be anything but seeds, we have to use them.  Larry was blessed with mucho seeds but lacked the drive inside to share them with others.

Peter put it this way, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (I Peter 4:10).

So, my friends, let me share a neat piece of advice for these very tough times.  I ran into a past staff member who shared a wonderful story about a very dark time in her life.  God had worked it out that she and I arrived early for a meeting and, in the interim waiting for the others to arrive, I shared some very tough times I had experienced in my life and how I learned that God is the supplier of good and perfect gifts.    

My challenge to her that day was “Decisions are acts of our will.”  We choose whom we will serve. We choose whether we will be filled with the joy of the Lord - or allow Satan to take us down the “Prime –Rose –Path.  She choose the road least traveled.

Blessings,

Gramps

Satan's Garage Sale

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper time., casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you, be of sober spirit, be on the alert, your adversary, the devil; prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (I Peter 5:6-7).

Hey Gang: It was advertised that the devil was going to have a garage sale and sell all his devices of evil. On the day of the sale, the devices were placed for public inspection, each marked with its sale price. There was a whole barn full of evil devices - hatred, envy, jealousy, lying, doubt, to name a few. But there was one special tool that was laying by itself that was priced very high.

"What is the name of that tool and why is so costly?" one of the purchasers asked. “O, this is discouragement, my most effective tool”. It is more useful than all the others put together. With it I can pry open a person’s heart and lead them down the Prim-Rose Path.

The devil’s price for discouragement was so high it never sold. It’s still his major tool, and uses it on God’s people today. How about you? Discouraged? I have learned in my tenure on this earth that discouragement is key; like me getting up grumpy in the morning, I have a choice to make, remain grumpy and miserable or I can choose to tell Satan take a hike”.

The Psalmist wrote “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.  Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me”.  (Psalm 23).   Jesus' promise to us this morning “I will never leave you or forsake you”. And that, my brothers and sisters in Christ, you can take to the bank!

Blessings,

Gramps

Looking For God's Blessings in the Midst of the Wilderness!

We were blessed by our Church Family!

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange things were happening to you;  but to the degree that you share the suffering  of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation”  (I Peter 4:12-13).

Hey Gang, As most of you know, I have been going through a rather deep and wide wilderness experience for the past several months.   On June 4, when I could not even get water down my esophagus, a whole new world opened before my very eyes. When they told me I had a tumor that was blocking passage to the stomach and would need placement of a feeding tube immediately, it rang my bell as it was never rung before! 

   

Within hours, I was transported to Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids and the process began.  It just so happened that the person who transported me was the son of one of our early employees at the Village.  

About a month before my ambulance ride a melody had invaded my head that repeated itself from the time I got up until I went to bed.   It continued during the week I was in the hospital and when I returned home.

 

The melody, from a CD the Bride-of-my-Youth had been playing. Tragedy struck in our lives in the death of a young man (60 years young) who we have known for years and loved dearly suddenly dropped dead.  He and his family, ‘The Chosen Ones’, were a gospel singing group that had shared the Word of God with multitudes of people for most of their lives. 

The following are the words that God planted in my heart for a month before my world came tumbling down: “In the presence of Jehovah, God Almighty, Prince of Peace, troubles vanish, hearts are mended in the presence of the King”.  That has been the focus of my life for the past months.

God also prepared us for the coming wilderness experience by backlogging enough blogs to take us through the time lapse.    I have learned the truth of a lesson my grandmother taught me as a small child, when she was going through very tough times in her life.  She said, “Always stay up to date in your prayer life and study of the Word for there will be times in your life when you just cannot.”    I had heard reference made to the phase “Chemo brain” but had no understanding until the five chemo treatments and twenty-eight radiation treatments were completed and suddenly my powers of concentration were not functioning.

So, again, I asked, “Lord, is it time to put Gramps to bed?”  I cannot say, if His answer is aye or nay; but several days ago, as I was going through some of the more than thirteen hundred blogs that we have shared in the past eight years, I had a strong urge to share some of the very early ones over again, until my brain begins to work again. 

Folks, I would never try and convince you that we have not been down a difficult road and we still have a way to go, but God is faithful and assures us daily that He will never leave us or forsake us.  We have truly been blessed through this experience in so many ways – personally to us and others who have come into our lives who needed ministry.

Blessings,

Gramps