I Have A Problem

Monday, September 28, 2015

 “They had said. “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel be remembered no more.”   For they have conspired together with one mind; against You they make a covenant” (Psalm 83:4-5).

 Hey Gang: In my eighty-two year -tenure on this earth I have heard mucho messages based on Ezekiel’s prophecy of the dry bones.  I confess in my early years I did not have a clue what the significance of that story was all about.  And then a profound thing happened on May 15, 1948, Israel became a nation AGAIN.  Now, I emphasize “AGAIN”. 

 I also confess that for the next seventeen years I did not pay much attention to Israel and the Middle East.  As a matter of fact,  did not pay much attention to anything that was spiritual.  You might say “I had a form of Godliness but denied the power”.  But one cannot be married to the bride-of-my-youth and her witness without feeling the conviction fires snapping at your heels. 

 I will not bore you with the process that took place in my life and changed my attitude from a powerless believer to a warrior-type person for Christ.    I will share -growth in Christ is not an easy process.  At least it was not easy for me.  My flesh fought it all the way and continues to send its barbs frequently today.

 When God called us from California to open what we thought was to be a foster home for four boys which turned into the miracle that the Eagle Village is today, there was a two- year period that was the most frustrating time in my life.  For two years I was the only ‘unemployed director of a non-existent home for boys with problems.’ This was one of the first of that new bred called the ‘stay at home dad’. (Jean was an elementary Teacher.)

 I thought it was a total waste of time but learned, in the years that followed, I could not have handled the constant pressures of building a program, raising the needed monies, and caring for the growing number of boys that God sent our way.  I found, in those early years, that the scar tissue earned during the two-year hiatus of waiting for God to say “Hey, now is the time, let’s go for it” was the glue that gave me the sustaining power to deal with what was to come.

 During the two years of waiting we had a neighbor; she was actually our landlady.  She was not very big physically, did not come up to my shoulders, but her spiritual height was far higher.  We spent many hours together discussing the many questions that kept surfacing in my mind  as I got more involved with God’s Word.    As I look back over that two-year period that I thought was frustration-ville, I  learned very quickly was a time of preparation and the foundation for what was  to come.

 Well, back to the topic of this epistle “I have a problem”.  In that two years I learned to love prophecy.  That is just the way I am, I want to know where I am, where I am going, and how I am going to get there.    It was during the time that Israel began to fulfill Zechariah’s prophecy found in Zechariah 12:2-3.  It was also during that time that I gained a great respect and love for Israel.

  During that time tI learned, as a believer in Yeshua, I had been grafted into His vine and one day, as a graftee, I would spend eternity with Yeshua and all the saints who have gone before me, for all eternity in the New Jerusalem. 

 Soooo, friends and family, I did it again.  I started out with a clear path of where I was heading -but lost my focus and ended up down a different path.  I will try again and give you the whys and wherefores of Why I Have a Problem in the next Gramps Morning Message.    

 Blessings  Gramps

 P.S.  During the two year hiatus referred to above, we were blessed to be able to  provide mentorship for a wonderful group of young people who wanted to learned about Christ and become effective witnesses for Him.   It was our sincere belief that without a proper foundation we cannot become effective witnesses for Christ; without knowledge of how to lead others to Christ, we are limited in our effectiveness as witnesses.  So, we developed a curriculum that we have taught many times since was published on August 23, 2015 on grampswhatshappeningman.blogspot.com for your review