Destination? DO You Know Where you Are Going? Part Two

“Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.  Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (II Cor. 9:6-7).

Hey gang:  And now as Paul Harvey would say: "Time, for the rest of the story”.  The Scripture of the morning, when tie bared with Luke’s words, “Give, and it shall be given to you.  They will pour into your lap a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over.  For by your standard of measure it will be measures to you in return” (Luke 6:38) is the base line of Jesus words, in Mathew 25:40: “Truly I say to you, to the extent you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me”.

On the day Teddy gave Mrs. Thompson the give of a broken bracelet and a half bottle of perfume that smelled like lilac blooms, she quit teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic and began to teach children.  Teddy became very special to her mind- but more so to her heart.  As she worked with him his mind came alive.  The more she encouraged him and faster he grew.  By the end of the school year he was among he top students in her class attitude and academically. 
 

A year later she received a note under her door from Teddy: “You are still the best teacher I ever had.".  Six years later she received another note telling her he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Four years after that she received another letter saying that, although it had been a rough four years, he would soon graduate from college with highest honors and she was still the best teacher he had ever had.

Then, four years later, another letter came telling her he had gone even further in his education - and she was still the best teacher in the world! It was signed Dr. Theodore Stoddard. MD!

The story does not end there.  You see, there was yet another letter that spring.  Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married.  He explained that his father had died a couple year ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in he placed that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom.

Eagerly, she said, “Yes”.  She made sure she was wearing he perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, “Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me.  Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.”

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back,  Teddy, you have it all wrong.  You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference.  I didn’t know how to teach until I met you."

We will soon celebrate fifty years, since two very young and inexperienced people received the first five boys who fit the description of Teddy into our camping program .  At the time we did not know how very fortunate we were  not to have much in the physical areas to work with.  Our dependence was totally on being spoon fed from the Throne Room of Heaven. 

As I have written this story, there has been a steady parade of faces who have passed through my memory.  I wish I could say they all turned out like Dr. Stoddard  -but such is not the case.  But we have also learned that some had to go through some additional tough times before their hearts were opened to the seeds planted in our Chapel Services and the love that was poured into them through our staff.

We will celebrate our fiftieth anniversary on June 23,2018.  Please set that date aside and plan on coming to join Eagle Village in celebrating 50 years of helping kids and families.  For information     

contact Barb at 231 832 7249 or bfrahm@eaglevillage.org.

Blessings,

Gramps

 

Destination? Do You Know Where you Are Going?

“Do not fear!  Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.  The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent” (Exodus 14:13-14).

Hey Gang:  I call them the ‘empty-eye-syndrome’ generation.  When I look into their eyes I see no vision, no joy, no hope.  Rabbi Cahn, in his monthly letter to his spiritual family wrote the following:

“Imagine you’re on a plane that’s about to leave and someone sits down next to you and you get to talking with them and they ask you where you’re going, and you tell them.  And then you ask them where they are going, and they answer, “I’m here to go anywhere.  I have no destination.  I’m just here to leave the airport.”  Would that not be ridiculous.  Virtually no one gets on a plane just to leave somewhere; they get on a plane to go somewhere."

His name was Teddy Stoddard, and this was his first day in Mrs. Thompson’s fifth grade class.  She started her first day of this new class in the same way she started every year by telling the class she loved each one of them and her heart’s desire was that all would do well and grow up to be very successful people.

But this year she made her speech with tongue in check, for she had a boy named Teddy that she had watched the year before and noticed he did not play with the other children, that his cloths were messy, and he constantly needed a bath.  Add to this, Teddy could be very unpleasant.

Teddy lived up to his reputation and soon settled into his norm of unpredictable, usually negative behavior, to the point where Mrs. Thompson enjoyed placing “F’s” on his failed papers.

Then one day, she had reached her wits end and knew she could not endure this young lads behavior one more day, but, before expelling him from her class she went to the office and spent several hours going through Teddy’s record. 

She discovered in first grade the teacher wrote: “Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh, does his work well and has good manners.”  In second grade she read, “Teddy is an excellent student, well-liked by his classmates, but troubled because his mother has terminal cancer”.  In third grade, it stuck out in very bold print:  “His mother’s death has been very hard on him and his father does not seem to take much interest in him”.  His fourth grade teacher wrote, “Teddy, is with-drawn and doesn’t show much interest in school, has few friends and often sleeps through class.

After reading the record Mrs. Thompson heart was filled with shame and felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas gifts wrapped in beautiful paper ; Teddy brought a bracelet with missing stones and a half filled bottle of perfume in a brown paper bag.  The children laughed but Mrs. Thompson stood and put the broken bracelet on and a dab of the perfume on and thanked Teddy for his kindness.   After class Teddy went up and said to her, she smelled just like his mom.  She said she cried for an hour after Teddy had gone home.

The story of Teddy Stoddard is one that is very special to me, for I have seen this story repeated a thousand or more times in my years of providing a shirttail for the ‘Teddy’s’ to grab hold of.   I do not want to leave the story end here, because the rest of the story is a perfect example of God’s promise that, if we are willing to take up our cross daily and reach out to a hurting person, God will richly bless our efforts.

I pray you will tune into the next Gramps blog and see a real live miracle take place in the life of a young lad who was like the guy on the airplane – he just did not know where he was going.

Blessings,

Gramps

Be Prepared For- Here Comes Another One!

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:4).

Hey Gang:  Neal and Jamie, founders and pastors of Jewish Jewels, a ministry to a born again congregation of Jewish believers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, began his monthly newsletter as follows: “Storms are the focus of this month’s letter.  The Lord impressed us with the pervasive, abundant, frequent, and great variety of storms that are coming on the earth; Natural storms called hurricanes! Natural floods of evil! Political storms! Storms of violence!  Firestorms!  Even God-ordained storms!

When in service of our Country, I was authorized to wear several ribbons that I had earned through the services I provided.  I wonder, if the time has come for those who have gone through one of more of the catastrophic events of the past several years, to wear ribbons of recognition that ‘I was there’.

All can say, “Been there, done that and I do not want to do it again”.  I believe we could all agree that storms are as much a part of our lives as breathing.  Take a minute or two and think back, when was the last time you enjoyed a nice non- violent rain storm that made the posies grow? 

Today, April 13, 2018, the weather forecasters are warning heavy rains with icing and flooding, heavy wind with trees and power lines down, tornadoes in several states, dangers of fire in drought plagued Oklahoma and a foot or more of snow in Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The question- “Why Lord?” has become a common question.  Is God trying to wake up His family?  It is a sad day for the Hainley family for it was on his date that we lost our son David to a head on auto accident and the day we buried our grandson who lost his battle to cancer.    

This we know! There is no immunity from storms!  BUT we, as believers, know from the Word that as we near the end of the Age of the Gentiles and the coming of the Lord for His children there will be increasing birth pangs. But -in the midst of these stormy conditions- God is moving to fulfill His purpose in the earth. 

Paul tells us, “For we know that the whole creation suffers the pangs of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body? (Rom. 8:22-23).

So, good buddies in Christ, Paul also tells us that our defense against the woes and wilderness experiences is “…to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand from against the schemes of the devil” (Read Eph. 6:10 – 18).

Blessings, 

Gramps

From Burnout to Restoration - A Place called Ir Ovot

“Behold, I will do something new, now I will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it?  I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19).

Hey Gang:  We were totally consumed with the development of the ministry that God called us into and did not have a clue what was happening in the outside world.  After several years, we discovered that we were experiencing what many, who are in full time ministry and totally consumed with that ministry experience –call “burnout”.    

Now, if you asked Dr. Dewayne Coxon, if he was a real live miracle the day he visited our campus and told me of a project he was developing in the Arabah, he would deny it.  My question?  What is, and where is the Arabah?    The attention getting answer? "A wilderness in Israel, South of the Dead Sea, four miles for Jordan. Our project-a place called Ir Ovot."

The purpose of the trip – to prepare a very worn and beaten down Kibbitz, that pad gone through some very hard times and badly in need of some tender loving care.   In simple terms - our task was to restore and prepare habitation for work crews that would follow.  But the real purpose of our traveling half way around the world in 1984 to a place in the middle of miles and miles of nothing by miles of sand -was restoration of two very tired and burned out servants.

There are far too many wonderful experiences to share here, and that is not really the purpose of this epistle. But one short story will give you some idea of the primitive setting which our group of about 50 wilderness troopers encountered when we arrived at Ir Ovot.     

Thursday night Dewayne had a special surprise for the troops. He had located a meat market (Now that is a separate story) and bought out what was probably their full supply of chicken. Then he announced a banquet night to the volunteers.  Problem! After searching the premises, we found nothing on which to barbeque the chicken!  Problem solved! With torch in hand an Egyptian tank, a victim of war, provided a very nice grill from its bottom.

While Exalted Ruler of the Village, we returned to Ir Ovot several times and had the privilege of getting our hands dirty blessing Israel.  It was discovered that this was an ancient tel – living areas built one on top of the other - and the Israeli Archeologists soon became involved. After years of digging with professional and volunteer labor, the name is now called Biblical Tamar Park, the Jewel of the Desert. (Check it out www.biblicaltamarpark.org).

 











We have learned many lessons and have become very good at building sand-bag walls.  We have been truly blessed on each of our ten tips to see the ‘blossoming of the desert’ (Isaiah 35:1).  Our first trip we drove for miles before seeing even one orchard; today there a many beautiful villages (moshavs), large areas of small farms, and fruits, vegetables and flowers are abundant!  

Now I confess, in my first several trips, I enjoyed getting my hands dirty in manual labor.  We had a saying that it was neat to take two pieces of junk and make one piece of junk that worked.  But my attitude about the desert, being just so much sand andwasted space, was abruptly changed one day when a guy, who happened to be an entomologist, showed up to visit then Tel Tamar.

In one short walk into the desert, he showed me the desert was not just arid as people believed-  thousands of different plants thrive here.  He also showed me that what characterizes them is their great adaptability, without which they would soon perish under the harsh conditions.  I not only learned about trap-door spiders that day but saw them in action!

Well, I could go on for days about the Arabah, Tel Tamar, and my love for Israel but that will have to wait for another day.  What is the message I pray you will see in this epistle? Sometimes we can get so focused on the ministry, we believe God has lead us into, and forget to feed our body and soul and dry rot is permitted to set in.  Thus, we need a trip into the wilderness. 

Lesson two:  When we arrived at Ir Iovot, it was nothing but waste land, destruction and miles of Constantinou wire -so a wrong move could make your body look like it as run through a meat grinder.  But, in that the week, we learned that God truly does “…supply for our every need” (Philippians 4:19).  Today, Tel Tamar, now Biblical Tamar Park, is a very well know place in Israel and visited by all middle school students and many others since it is half way between Jerusalem and Elat.

Blessings,

Gramps  

It Is Always Best to Step Aside and "Let him Do It!"

"Therefore, Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?" (John 6:5).

Hey Gang:  Philip and the apostles didn't have just a bread problem. They had a bakery problem, a distribution problem, a transportation problem, and a time problem!  Five thousand men and not a Mc Donald's in sight! No porta potties! No artesian wells for drinking water!  What they did have was 5000 men (besides women and children (Matt. 14:21) who were hungry, thirsty and had full bladders and not a clue as to how to provide for their needs.   

Now tucked away in this passage of Scripture we find ten words that we need to tuck away deep into our hearts:  "For He Himself knew what He was going to do".   Did that pop a light bulb in your gizzard this morning?  Are you fixen’ to deal with some alligators this day?  Not sure where you are going to get enough bread to feed the problems. Sh....,SH....,  quiet, listen to His words again:  "I know what I am going to do".   SH....,SH...., quiet! The psalmist wrote "Be still and know that I am God".  (Psa 46:10).

I have a confession to make to you this morning:  If I would have had a clue as to the problems that I would face in developing the Village, I would have run screaming into the wilderness and become Kermit the Hermit.”?

When I told my friends what I was going to do their response was "Ya, sure, and “High diddle diddle and the cat and the fiddle, and the cow jumped over the moon”.  From the moment that we turned our lives over to God and said, "Send us" the roadways looked more like alligator alley than the smooth road many think would have been our path after we surrendered to Christ.  Sorry, Charlie, it just does not work that way!    BUT, in every trial, every conflict, every frustrating experience - "He Himself knew what He was going to do". 

Problems? Yes!  But in each step of the way there was also God's provision.  Paul gave us the good news that "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus"  (Phil. 4:19).  

Be advised all you who are heavy laden this morning, God is still the God of miracles!  He is still the God who "Knows what He is going to do" in each and every circumstance you come up against. And it is through His strength that we "Can do all things!"  (Phil 3:13).  Our task?  Step aside and “Let Him do it!   So, my friends, “Step aside and let Him do it”.

Blessings, 

Gramps

Your Choice - "Life or Death"

“Give and it will be given to you.  They will pour into your lap a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over. FOR BY YOUR STANDARD OF MEASURE IT WILL BE MEASURED TO YOU IN RETURN” (my emphasis) (Luke 6:38).

Hey Gang:  For those of you who have been with Gramps, for any period of time, know by bride and I are lovers of Israel and look forward to one-day taking up residence in the New Jerusalem for all eternity.  And, we invite you, one and all, to join us. Jesus already paid the price for entry!

One of our very favorite places is by the Kinneret, better known as the Sea of Galilee.  On one trip our room in the King David Hotel overlooked the area where the fishermen dock and prepare their boats and nets for the day’s catch.  It was my extreme privilege to be awakened very early in the morning, just as the sun was beginning to appear from behind the mountains, and the fisherman were diligently preparing to leave. 

What an awesome picture! One that I had seen many times on the walls of churches.  It was an experience etched in my mind forever. 

In our morning devotionals we are doing a repeat through Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s, The Book of Mysteries.  If you have not made connections with the Rabbi, I suggest you do, immediately.  His books, The Harbinger, The Mystery of Shemitah, The Paradigm, along with The Book of Mysteries are books filled with vast resources of hidden pearls that we so often just read over. 

In this morning devotional, which he titled Two Waters”, he used the fresh water attributes of the Kinneret Sea and compared it to the Dead Sea- the dead waters.  The Sea of Galilee receives its water from the Head Waters of the Jordan River- as does the Dead Sea; but one, the Kinneret, is filled with life and the Dead Sea has no life. Essentially, they contain the same waters. 

In one short sentence Jonathan gives us not only the reason why, but includes a lesson for the difference between life and death in our Christian walk.  In Proverbs 11 Solomon gives us a clear picture of what Jonathan is teaching us here: “There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more.  And there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want” (vs. 24). 

Essentially, the difference between -life that is found in the Sea of Galilee and the death - found in the Dead Sea is that one allows the water to pass through and does not hoard it, the other has no such outlet.  Once the fresh water hits the Dead Sea it is held captive and dies.

The Scripture of the morning contains the foundation pillars of all that we have accomplished at the Village.   I especially capitalized the last phrase, in this most important verse, because I want you to stop and ponder just what Luke is telling us: It is by “YOUR STANDARD OF MEASURE IT WILL BE MEASURED TO YOU IN RETURN” (Luke 6:38).  Is he saying we have control of the harvest?  Before you answer, turn with me to II Corinthians 9 and read verses 6 through 11.

One last place I want you to go, before I close this epistle.  That portion of Scripture found in Matthew 25:31-42.  It is subtitled “The Judgment” in my NASB Bible.  Notice Jesus’ criteria for entrance into His kingdom and the final verdict, after He evaluates whether you were a Sea of Galilee or a Dead Sea-type person: “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”(vs. 40).

Yes, I do believe that we have control of the harvest.  That it will be determined by OUR STANDARD OF MEASURE”.   The wonderful part of this story is, if we are a Dead Sea-type people, we do not have to dig out the pick and shovel, but rather just surrender to the One who controls the waters and commit to Jesus’ final command on earth: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Mat. 28:19a).  Even your next door neighbor!!  

Blessings,

Gramps

Did You Notice...?

“Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden” (Matt. 21:5).  “Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus?”  They all said, “crucify him!” 

Hey Gang:  Just arrive home from several weeks in sunny Florida thinking our arrival home would be to spring-like weather with buds on the trees and greening of the grass.  Yuk! You know the old saying: ‘In like a lion, out like a lamb- or in like a lamb and out like a lion’.   

During this pre-Easter Season, I committed to search out as many Scriptures that in any way pointed to Calvary and the tremendous gift the Father gave to us: “For God so lived the world, that gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have ever lasting life” (John 3:16).  

In my research I found more than seven-five Scriptures that directly referred, in some way to the crucifixion.  There were many others that one might term ‘asides’, so, focusing on the crucifixion and all the ramifications of the crucifixion would include hundreds of others.  I have also found this to be true in my studies of prophecy.  I have found that over one-third of the Bible consist of prophecy-related Scriptures.  I tend to lean towards what God said about what is going to happen; however, one can find prophecy in most the Bible.

We left London, Kentucky on our final leg home on Easter Morning- about the same time that those churches which hold to the tradition of Sunrise Services, would have begun.  The London stop brought back memories of another time when I, along with my son and one of our workers, visited London to pick up three boys who had truanted and stolen a car.   Special memories for both Michael, my son and Dan, the worker, both have moved on to a far better place.

As we traversed the final 534 miles home, I did some very serious research.  Do you know how many churches there are between London, Kentucky and Big Rapids, Michigan?  I don’t know the exact number but counted more than one hundred.  My interest was not in the number of churches but in what their parking lots looked like.   I can share with you this morning, if all who arrived in the parking lots of the churches along Route 75 in Ohio are truly living for Jesus born again believers, the body of Christ is alive and doing very well in Ohio 

   

When we hit the Michigan line most lots were empty, so my parking lot research ended.  But before ending this epistle I want to share a thought that suddenly popped into my mind.   It pertained to the Scriptures of the day.  Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey to the worship and praise of the people who respected Him and loved Him. We know the rest of the story - that shortly thereafter, the mob screamed. “Crucify Him”.

The question that entered my mind: “Is this not similar to what is happening to our President today?”  We have a very clear and distinct differences of opinion in our nation – on one side we hear the voices of those who believe he was chosen and placed in the oval office by God, and, on the other side, we hear, “Impeach him” and, if that does not work, “Crucify him”.

We recently celebrated the home going of Billy Graham.  In one of his letters he wrote{ “It is the hope of the Second Coming of Christ that thrills me every day of my life,” I know that He is coming again, and I know that He going to see a kingdom of which there will  be no end.  In Titus 2, it says, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ”.

Jesus spoke to them saying, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Read Matt; 28:18-20),

Blessings,

Gramps  

Ponder This...

"Thus, I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.  Therefore, I will make the heavens tremble and the earth will be shaken from its place in the day of His burning anger."  (Isaiah 13:11, 13)

"From the Lord of Hosts: you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, With whirlwind and tempest and the flames of a consuming fire. (Isaiah 29:6). 

Hey Gang:  They say 2017 were the worse fires in the history of the nation. They say the winds in this storm have been the worse in recorded history in our country.  They say it has been the worse tornado season ever.  They say there are activities in the heavenlies like they have never seen before.  

Joel Rosenberg, in his book Implosion, wrote: "Yes, I believe something has gone terribly wrong with the American experiment. Our families are imploding. Our national debt is exploding. Experts on the left and the right warn we are on an unsustainable trajectory and urgently need to change course. Yet, too many in Washington, academia, the media and even the church are in a "business as usual" mode. As result, millions of Americans fear the ice is cracking under our feet". 

William Bennett, the Republican former Education Secretary and Drug Czar in the Reagan and Bush administrations, notes: "Since 1960, even taking into account recent improvements, we have seen a 467 percent increase in violent crime; …a 461 percent increase in out-of-wedlock births;… more than a 200 percent increase in the percentage of children living in single-parent homes;… more than a doubling of the teen suicide rate;…a doubling of the divorce rate."...53 million creations of God have been sacrificed on the altar of Molech.

The question was put to Joel:  "Is it too late to turn it around?”  His response: “No, God gives us the key to restoration in the following passage: "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive your sin and will heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14).

Question? Have you humbled yourself before the Lord of lords and Kings of kings this morning?  Have you prayed diligently for the healing of our land? Have you examined your heart and placed all those things that grieve the Holy Spirit at His feet for cleansing?   Keep in mind that Jesus said, "I come quickly!" 

Blessings,

Gramps