Friday, April 25, 2014
Dear readers, I chose this because Daniel was a favorite of
Gramps and has been the focus of my teaching & study for several months. Next month is the last class. I have
been blessed by intense study and class interaction.
“But
Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s
choice food or with the wine which he drank; so, he sought permission from the
commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. Now God
granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the
officials.” (Dan. 1:8-9).
Hey
gang: Notice the last line of this passage of Scripture: “Now God
granted Daniel favor”. Wow, you mean, if we are obedient, God
will give us favor?” In the past two months our lives have been
lives of contrast. We spent five weeks in Bartlesville, Oklahoma as
volunteers working in the mail room of Voice of Martyrs and presently we are volunteering
at the African Missionary Retirement Home in Clermont, Florida.
Our
main purpose for being at VOM was pure sweat and toil as we prepared hundreds
of thousands of pieces of mail to go across this world telling all who are
interested in learning more about the persecuted church. Now get the
picture: I am eighty years of age and my bride is seventy six. Manuel
labor is not unusual for us, but not always 8 hours a day. But how many
know that God will supply for all our needs, if we put our faith and trust in
Him and are obedient to His call.
My
prayer, prior to arriving at VOM was, ‘Lord you have called me to this ministry
to help, I pray now you will fill my body with the energy and stamina to stay
the course and complete the race.’ That has been my prayer in each of the
past six years as we prepared to leave for Bartlesville, from our comfy home in
Michigan. And He has honored that prayer magnificently. We always
return with more strength and stamina than we had when we left home.
As I
mentioned above, our lives have been one of contrast. Have you
noticed that the weather has been horrendous across the nation for the
past several years? Do you think God may be giving His children a wakeup
call?
So, we
did as Daniel did and “Made up our mind” that we would retreat to
the sunny south for a time of rest and recuperation from Bartlesville, a place
that was not all white but still very frigid.
We
returned to an oasis from our past, the Christian Retreat Center at Bradenton,
Florida, a place that was filled with many wonderful memories of the
past. It is a place we crawled into when we were exhausted during our
years at Eagle Village. Our Board president recognized the need for us
to have an opportunity to just rest and be spiritually fed! It was my
privilege on one of those trips to baptize my Board President, his wife,
Marjorie and David. One of the very high points of my life.
It was
here sitting under the teachings of many wonderful and powerful teachers of God
that I gained an understanding of Daniel’s commitment to not defile himself
with the things of the world. If I could challenge to every daddy who
reads this message, it would be to set aside a week when they would take their
family out of the business of the world and spend a week renewing their
commitment to Christ as a family. (Grace Adventures and other Christian
Camps offer such an opportunity).
Soooo
my friends, when was the last time you got alone with God for more than
two or three minutes between appointments? I mean really get alone with
Him. A lesson that was very hard for me to learn, and I am still
struggling with is prayer - a two-way conversation! Unless we give God an
opportunity to speak to our hearts, we will never come to know the Lord in a
personal way. Once again, I would challenge you to get up fifteen minutes
early and spend that time alone with the Lord. Your day will go much
better, I promise.
Blessings,
Gramps
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