Anointed People: "That Boy Will Never Be a Preacher!"

Growing up in the rural Southern U.S. in the 20's, 30's, and 40's, many mothers dreamed that their sons would grow to preach the gospel, much like many today dream of their son growing up to become a doctor or lawyer. During this time, there was a young man in North Carolina named Billy. He was a bit of a quirky youth, and a lot of people did not think much of him. Many people said that "that boy will never grow up to be a preacher". And they were right, in a way. That boy did not simply grow up just to become a preacher. Billy Graham grew up to become one of the most remarkable men that God has used since possibly the Apostle Peter or the Apostle Paul. So the next time that you feel the need to "limit" one of our youngsters, consider that if God wanted to, he could make anyone the next Billy Graham.

Anointed People: "The Minister is Upstairs" (3 of 5)

It's been a while since I have posted on this blog, but I thought I would share this one. I'm not even if this is a true story or not, and I could not find it anywhere on the internet, so if you know the story and it is a little embellished, my apologies.

At one time there was this widowed Christian minister who had been pastoring different country churches for over 40 years. He had had a very fruitful ministry and many people had become Christians because of him and many people were better people because of his leadership. He was now getting older, and sometimes his back would hurt him and he would have various aches and pains.

Even though he was nearing retirement, he felt led to accept one more pastorate before he retired. So he put his resume out all over the state, and the only church that responded was a smaller church of about twenty people in an inner city. He went to candidate for them, they put it to a vote, and he was called to the church, and to the surprise of many of his friends and family, he accepted the call.

He packed up his belongings and fit everything he could carry into his tiny car, and he drove out to the large city to begin his pastorate in this large city. He preached his first sermon at his new church, and many people responded for healing and to rededicate their lives.

After church, he began apartment hunting in order to find a place to live (the church was too small for a parsonage). He encountered a lot of resistance, but a couple of days later he found an apartment. Unfortunately, the only one that he could find was a walk-up directly above a bar. To make matters worse, there was no outside entrance; he would have to go through the bar to get to the stairs and to his apartment.

He told the owner of the bar, who was also his landlord, of his plight. The landlord agreed that he would remind the bar patrons to not get too loud by putting a sign on the wall that said "The Minister is upstairs", which he did that same day.

Time went by, and the church grew to about 30 members. The minister also became very well-known at the bar, and sometimes he would stop before going to his apartment and would get a Pepsi (non-alcoholic of course) and sit and listen to the jukebox before going upstairs. As time went by people at the bar got to know the minister and of his kindness. Even though it was a normal bar, the minister became very well-respected. And always, the sign "The minister is upstairs" would be tacked to the wall once he went upstairs for the night.

A couple of times, the minister would even volunteer to take people home for the night who had had too much to drink. At times, people would decide to stop coming to the bar and would join his church instead. The landlord, who had become good friends with the minister, (and even swapped war stories with him a time or two as they had both been in the service in their younger days) would joke with him that he was "taking away my business!"

One cold November month no one from the church or from the bar had heard from the minister for a couple of days. After going upstairs to investigate, they found that the minister had died in his sleep a few days prior to that.

At the funeral there was a standing-room only crowd of the many people that the minister had touched over the years, including the landlord and some of the other people from the bar.

After going back to the bar to get ready for the crowd, the landlord noticed the sign "The minister is upstairs" hanging in its normal place. He paused from wiping down the counter top to remove the sign, but he didn't have the heart to do it.

The sign "The minister is upstairs" continued to hang in the bar for well over the next twenty years, and took on a new meaning as, of course, the minister was still, in a much better and glorious way, "Upstairs."

Anointed People: Pastor Kevin Bradford and the Congregation of First Pentecostal Church in Bakersfield, CA (2 of 5)

One of the things that we as Christians have a tendency to forget from time to time is that God can and does take our lowest moments and can use them for his glory. When Pastor Kevin Bradford of Bakersfield, California received the news in December 2o10 that he had diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, he was devastated. After announcing it to the congregation, he had surgery to remove one of his lymph nodes and began chemotherapy treatments. However, he did not plan for what happened next.

As he was beginning services in January, he realized very quickly that this was going to be a different kind of service. He smiled as he saw the stream of men who came into the sanctuary all with little or no hair. They had decided to shave their heads in solidarity and support for the pastor that they had.

This is what Christianity is supposed to be.

Link: http://www.fpcwichita.org/pentecostal-pastor-diagnosed-with-cancer-has-tremendous-support.html

Anointed People: Sojourner Truth (1 of 5)

I have decided I am going to start a series about people that were used of God for a certain time and place. The first person I have decided to write about is Sojourner Truth.

Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in 1797 in Swartekill, New York. She was an individual that was mightily used of God both for the Christian faith and for the purpose of equal rights for people of color eveywhere. By the time of her passing in 1883, her many activities and accomplishments included the following:

• Received a life-changing vision at a stream that proved to her God's love for her.
• After running away and getting her freedom in 1826, she began a small ministry to city prostitutes.
• Felt the call of God to become an itinerant preacher at the age of 46, and said of the experience, "the spirit calls me and I must go."
• Recruited black soldiers to fight in the Union army during the Civil War.

Here is an excerpt from her famous "Ain't I a woman" speech in 1851:

"I could work as much and eat as much as a man---when I could get it---and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children and seen most of them sold into slavery. And when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?" Sojourner continued, saying "that little man in back there, he says women can't have as much rights as men 'cause Christ wasn't a woman. Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from?" She answered her rhetorical question and said, "From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with it!"

This just goes to show you that long before Joyce Meyer, there was Sojourner Truth.

The Big Picture

There is a popular story about blind men who are feeling an elephant and trying to describe it. One man feels the tail and says, "the elephant is like a rope". Another blind man on a ladder feels the elephants skin and says the elephant is scaly and large and flat. Another man feels the elephant's ear and says that the elephant is thin. Still another feels the trunk and says that the elephant is thick, and narrow like a snake.

Obviously, someone who can see the elephant would be able to describe it in its entirety. God himself is a lot like that, because He can see the big picture. For the Christian, we can see the "big picture" as well, because we have the closest understanding to why things are the way that they are. For example, when we notice the problem of evil in the world, we know that the world is this way because of man's sinful nature. When we see love for each other, (not just romantic love either) love for country, and caring for people because they are all created in the image of God, we can get the "big picture". When we realize that God in His Son Jesus died for people all over the world, we get the "big picture" in how we are supposed to react to others.

The Poems of Helen Steiner Rice Part 2

God, Are You There?

=============================

I'm way down HERE!

You're way up THERE!

Are you sure You can hear

My faint, faltering prayer?

For I'm so unsure

Of just how to pray----

To tell you the truth, God,

I don't know what to say....

I just know that I am lonely

And vaguely disturbed,

Bewildered and restless,

Confused and perturbed...

And they tell me that prayer

Helps to quiet the mind

And to unburden the heart

For in stillness we find

A newborn assurance

That SOMEONE DOES CARE

and SOMEONE DOES ANSWER

Each small sincere prayer!

The Poems of Helen Steiner Rice, Part #1

This Christmas Eve 2010 I'm going to take a few blog posts and devote them to the poems of Helen Steiner Rice, who was a prolific Christian writer. Here is the first one:

Someone Cares
-----------------

Someone care and always will,
The world forgets but God loves you still,
You cannot go beyond His love,
No matter what you're guilty of---
For God forgives until the end,
He is your faithful, loyal friend,
And though you try to hide your face,
There is no shelter any place
That can escape His watchful eye,
For on the earth and in the sky
HE'S EVER PRESENT and ALWAYS THERE
to take you in His tender care
and bind the wounds and mend the breaks
When all the world around forsakes. . . . . . . .
SOMEONE CARES and LOVES YOU STILL
and GOD is THE SOMEONE who always will.

So, after reader Mrs. Steiner's words, remember that God does indeed care, and you should "cast all your cares on him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

*From the book the Collected Poems of Helen Steiner Rice, 1972: Fleming H. Revell Company.

The Importance of Christmas

Have you ever stopped to wonder why Christmas is just so important and why it is so important? To some, Christmas is a good time of year for the family; to others it is the time of year that helps their retail business stay afloat and keep them in the black for the rest of the year, but for others, the real meaning of Christmas is the fact of "Immanuel" or "God with us". The reason that we as Christians celebrate Christmas is because of the seemingly inconceivable miracle of the fact that God saw our sinful condition and decided to enter time and space in the form of a baby boy named Jesus born to Mary in the Roman backwater of First-Century Palestine.

Think about it this way, with this illustration:

Many years ago, there was a middle-aged farmer with a wife and two kids. The farmer was a loyal Christian and church-goer for most of his life, but that particular year he was feeling disheartened. His church had went through a very painful split and the pastor that he had grew fond of ending up having to resign. As a result, he felt that most Christians were hypocrites, and he was beginning to doubt his faith altogether. The church had their usual Christmas-eve service, and his family went as they always did, except this time he decided not to go. His wife and kids left him alone, and now he contemplated his life. As he walked to the barn he noticed some birds huddled together on the ground, apparently having missed the migration. The birds were freezing, he knew, and would likely die if they stayed where they were. If only he could get them to the safety of the warm barn....he tried everything he could think of, but the birds were scared to death of him. He even tried shooing them into the barn, but with no luck whatsoever. He finally had an epiphany. The birds are afraid of me. If only I could become one of them, then I could guide them into the safety of the warm barn. He then realized that Immanuel, or "God with us", had done just that on that cold evening thousands of years ago in early Palestine. That, my friends, is the purpose of Christmas. To remember that God in all his majesty entered time and space to be our Savior is the most important way to view the Christmas holidays.

God Story #10

It seems some time ago there was an Iranian Christian minister that was driving through the Iranian countryside with his wife. They stopped in a small town on the way to their destination to get some water. As they went into their equivalent of a grocery store to purchase the water, the man and his wife noticed an individual standing against the wall holding a machine gun. The wife pulled her husband aside and told her that he needed to give him the Bible that they had in the car. The husband prayed about it as they continued shopping in the store but ultimately decided against it. As they went back to the car and were putting their items away, the wife asked him once again to give him the Bible. The man refused because he was afraid. They drove away and made it out of town, and the wife continued to pray, and finally the man relented. "All right," he said, "I will go back and give him the Bible. If he shoots me, then he shoots me." They drove back to the store and the man with the machine gun was still standing there. The minister walked up to him and placed the Bible into his free hand. The man with the machine gun immediately began crying. "I don't live here," he said. "I had to walk for three days in order to get to this village. But three days ago an angel appeared to me and told me to walk to this village and wait until someone had given me the Book of Life. Thank you for giving me this book."

Because of this event, the minister became a courageous witness for Christ. Eventually, along with many other co-workers in the Iranian church, he was martyred for his faith.

Will there be pets in Heaven?

This is a very interesting debate for sure. There are some that say that animals do not have souls, so cannot go to heaven. There are some to say that animals do have souls, but they do not have an accountability of sin so they will. Wherever you would fall in this issue, its an interesting debate nonetheless!

Links:

http://my.opera.com/SavedNotFried/blog/index.dml/tag/Heaven

http://gotquestions.org/pets-heaven.html

Teaching of the New Testament

The teaching of the New Testament is that now, at this very moment, there is a Man in heaven appearing in the presence of God for us. He is as certainly a man as was Adam or Moses or Paul; he is a man glorified, but his glorification did not de-humanize him. Today he is a real man, of the race of mankind, bearing our lineaments and dimensions, a visible and audible man, whom any other man would recognize instantly as one of us. But more than this, he is the heir of all things, Lord of all lords, head of the church, firstborn of the new creation. He is the way to God, the life of the believer, the hope of Israel, and the high priest of every true worshiper. He holds the keys of death and hell, and stands as advocate and surety for everyone who believes on him in truth. Salvation comes not by accepting the finished work, or deciding for Christ; it comes by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, the whole, living, victorious Lord who, as God and man, fought our fight and won it, accepted our debt as his own and paid it, took our sins and died under them, and rose again to set us free. This is the true Christ; nothing less will do. (from the pen of A. W. Tozer)

Powerful Movie

To Save a Life

----------------------

The movie To Save a Life is all about the tough subject of teen suicide, and is a powerful movie. The movie begins when the film's protagonist, star basketball player Jake Taylor, decides to reevaluate his life after the loss of his once-childhood friend, a kid named Roger, to suicide. Jake literally reevalutes everything, including his relationships, life choices, and future dreams. The movie touches on a variety of teenage issues, including self-mutilation, divorce of parents, teenage drinking, and a variety of other subjects including of course suicide. The movie is also very effective in touching on the positive influence that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can have on teenagers as well.

Have you "arrived" yet?

I was asked about a week ago by a friend of mine if I thought I had "arrived yet", because there are a lot of things in my life that are beginning to fall into place. As I reflect on his words, I really wonder about life and how we as humans always make it about a destination. If you are one of my five readers or even if you were just scrolling blogs, seriously, think about it for a minute...we humans are always looking forward to something in some stage of our lives. "Oh I can't wait until I'm in Junior High" we might say, or "Oh I can't wait until I graduate high school and can be on my own", "I can't wait until I get married!", "I can't wait until I start that new job!", "I can't wait until my baby is born!", "I can't wait until I get a promotion!", "I can't wait until I retire!", and we could go on and on for eternity if we wanted.

When we reach that seemingly impossible goal---that is usually when our human nature tells us that yes, we have arrived. We have arrived if we graduate high school. We have arrived if we get married. We have arrived if we get a promotion. We have arrived if we, after a long hard-working career, are able to retire. But....what if our arrival is only a dead end? Then what? What if our marriage, despite all of our best efforts, ends in divorce? What if that promotion places us in a position that brings too much added stress? What if our retirement is marred by a cancer diagnosis? What do we do?

While there are no simple answers, I do understand what it's like when someone's "arrival" is only a "dead end". When we arrive and find out its just a dead end, God is there! God is not just some ethereal tyrant up in the sky, some disengaged clock-maker, or just an imaginary being made up for comfort. When you have reached a dead end in your life, God is there! And for all those who call on the name of Jesus and are Christians, the final destination where one will actually truly "arrive" is Heaven, which Jesus said in his word: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:2)

Mosque at Ground Zero...

I don't usually weigh in on controversial topics, as I prefer to usually keep this blog inspirational and about love, but I have to say I am not in support of the Muslim desire to build so close to Ground Zero in New York City. Do they have a constitutional right to build it? Yes they do. Should they? I don't think so. I think the best analogy is one of the following:

Consider the following scenario. Let's say that there is an individual who moves into a given community, and one day he decides to kidnap a young child walking home from school. He does many horrible things to her, but ultimately the man is caught before he can do any fatal harm to the girl. The girl is, however, severely traumatized, as is the community. The man ultimately receives a 25-year prison sentence, but is paroled after seven. He is now considered a Sexually Violent Predator and must register as such for the rest of his life. He sincerely believes he is reformed, however, and wants to move back to the same community where this terrible offense occurred. How would you, as a hypothetical person living in this community, feel about this situation? Would you support him taking up residence in the same area where he committed his crime? I think not. There is no doubt there are peace-loving moderate Muslims, but because we were violated and lost our innocence in the destruction of the twin towers on 9/11 it is NOT a popular decision at all, much like the above hypothetical situation I mention. Have a good day everyone.

Hero Grandmother

Sharrel Blankenbaker was an ordinary everyday person. She was a grandmother, mother and wife. Last Tuesday she became an extraordinary person when she was shot and killed saving the life of her granddaughter Cassidy from a kidnapper at a Love's convenience store near Amarillo, Texas. She also was a strong Christian, who for 12 years was involved in the Kiros prison ministry. Says Cassidy: "She would do anything for anyone.. She prayed with us when we were going thru something hard...she was so great." Yes, Mrs. Blankenbaker exemplifies John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Or, in this case, granddaughters.

Quote of the Week

"If Jesus can change Duch, he can change anyone." ---Christopher LaPel

The reason that the pastor above would say this would be because of the following:

Are some acts of evil simply too heinous to be forgiven? Not according to Cambodian-born pastor Christopher LaPel. Three years ago, he baptized a man he believed to be a teacher in the muddy waters of the River Sangke in western Cambodia's Battambang province. After more than 20 years of hiding the truth, that same man recently revealed his true identity: Kang Khek Ieu, better known by his revolutionary name Duch, head of the Khmer Rouge's secret police. The man also confessed responsibility for the deaths of at least 12,000 people. "I was shocked when I found out who he really was, because what he did was so evil," says LaPel, whose parents, brother and sister died during the Khmer Rouge reign of terror from 1975 to '79, along with nearly 2 million others. "Then I reflected: it's amazing; it's a miracle. Christianity changes people's lives. If Jesus can change Duch, he can change anyone." Few other Cambodians are likely to share this view or forgive the man who presided over the Khmer Rouge's security network. Many have reacted to news of his conversion to Christianity with skepticism. Duch, who was arrested by Cambodian authorities in May following his confession, is awaiting trial at a military detention center just a few blocks from S-21 (or Tuol Sleng), the top security prison he once commanded. Thousands of men, women and children were interrogated and tortured there before being executed. Clad in a baseball cap, T shirt and flipflops, LaPel is an unlikely looking pastor. Though he makes his home in Los Angeles, he returned to Cambodia last week to conduct baptisms and training sessions so Cambodians can carry out missionary work in their communities. LaPel first met Duch (pronounced dook) in late 1995. Calling himself Hang Pin, Duch arrived with a colleague to take part in a two-week Christian leadership training course in the village of Chamkar Samrong in Battambang province, a former resettlement area for Cambodian refugees. According to LaPel, Duch initially was quiet and withdrawn. He said he was not a believer but had come at the urging of his friend. After listening to LaPel's sermons and teachings, however, Duch asked to be baptized. "He changed totally after receiving Christ--180 degrees," says LaPel with a smile. "He turned from hatred to love. He said he had never felt love in his childhood or when he grew up. So when he turned to Christ, love filled his heart." LaPel says Duch's transformation took on physical dimensions. The gaunt, withdrawn man began to appear more relaxed, teasing his fellow students. He even began dressing better, tucking his shirt tails into his long pants. A group photograph taken in 1995 shows a smartly dressed Duch in a pressed white shirt and dark trousers. He is standing next to Pastor Christopher, whose hand rests protectively on Duch's shoulder. LaPel remembers Duch well. Then 54, Duch was older than the others but also one of the brightest. After his baptism, he began sitting in the front row of the sessions, taking meticulous notes and asking questions. Duch, the pastor recalls, was full of enthusiasm and said he couldn't wait to return to his village in Svay Chek district to start a church. He later went on to establish a "house church" with 14 families. In retrospect, LaPel says there were signs pointing to Duch's real identity. "Before he received Christ," LaPel recalls, "he said he did a lot of bad things in his life. He said: 'Pastor Christopher, I don't know if my brothers and sisters can forgive the sins I've committed against the people.' He said he felt remorse for what he had done to innocent people, adding: 'Thank God that the Lord forgives me.'" LaPel did not probe further. When he leads people to Christ, he says, he doesn't inquire deeply into their past; instead he focuses on their present beliefs. "If they are willing to repent and accept Jesus as their Lord and saviour, I will lead them to the Lord, no matter what they've done wrong in the past." LaPel still wasn't aware of the notorious Khmer Rouge security chief's true identity when they met a year later, during a second Christian leadership course. But if he had looked closely at a photograph that's now displayed in Tuol Sleng prison, he would have known straight away. LaPel has visited the jail several times: a close cousin, a former science professor, was tortured there and later killed; her photograph also hangs on the wall. Still LaPel says he doesn't feel personal hatred for the only member of the Khmer Rouge to have confessed a role in the movement's killing machine. He sees Duch's willingness to admit his guilt, stand trial and testify against others as positive--and proof that his conversion to Christianity is genuine. As LaPel wades into the murky waters of a small village in Banteay Meanchey province to baptize more than 100 people, he is convinced that Duch's conversion can only help the cause of Christianity in Cambodia, a predominantly Buddhist country where Christians make up less than 0.5% of the population. "This is a story of hope for the Cambodian people. They've been going through darkness for years. Accepting Jesus Christ brings light to their lives. It's time for Cambodians to turn from hatred to love."


*Originally written by Caroline Gluck for TIMEasia.com.

We Could Learn a Lot From...

Kristen Jane Anderson
------------------------------------------------------

Kristen Jan Anderson has an infectious smile, and she has an inspiring story to tell. Behind that inspiring smile lies a past where she battled severe depression because of personal issues in her life. Because she had a rough home life, and because she was the victim of a sexual assault by an individual she thought was her friend, she decided at the age of seventeen to try to commit suicide. She decided to lay down in front of the train tracks when the train passed by, and she was looking forward to a release from her pain. However, God had other plans. She did not die as she had expected, but the train ran over her legs. She was able to dial 911 and the doctors saved her life before she bled to death.

As someone who realizes how depressed someone can get, today she is a public speaker who has written a book about her personal life story. In this book, entitled Life, in Spite of Me, she chronicles how she arrived at the drastic and terrible point of attempting suicide and how to minister to someone who is suicidal. I would recommend this book to anyone, and she has an awesome testimony. She is someone we could truly learn a lot from.

Petals off of a rose

Your life is like petals being taken from a rose. Consider this analogy:

There is a person named Sam, and he is a preacher's kid. He first hears the gospel at the age of six when he and his father are on a camping trip. Although he fully understood, he told he dad he would think about it and maybe do it later. There is one petal off the rose. At 15 years old he is still unsaved, but goes to a Bible camp. He hears a message that stirs his heart and he feels led to get saved, but he thinks, "oh, I'm young, I've got plenty of time to make a commitment." He loses another petal off the rose.

Later on, he goes to college and gets involved in sororities and dorm life. He goes to a lot of parties, sometimes has a little bit too much to drink, and generally has a good "worldly" time, but every now and then the tug on his heart about what he needs to do with Jesus is still there. He loses another petal off of the rose.

Sam graduates college and goes to law school. He is now not a partier, but a hard-working student. He works long hours day and night. He sometimes listens to a television evangelist and the pull on his heart is still there, but between his classes and studying for the Bar Exam he does not have the time to consider the claims of Christ. Another petal falls of his rose.

Sam graduates law school and immediately lands a position at a lucrative law firm. He once again works long hours, but finds a girlfriend and eventually gets married. He settles down, they buy a two story Colonial, and start a family. His wife is a Christian, and every now and then tells him he needs to get right with God. He tells her he is too busy. He loses another petal off his rose.

Years go by, and Sam continues to work hard at the law firm and he eventually makes partner. They sell the old colonial and buy an even bigger house, and things are going well. Then one day his wife is killed in a car accident. Instead of drawing closer to God, he grows bitter. He loses another petal off of his rose.

Years go by, and his son eventually moves away and starts a family of his own. Sam retires and decides to go live by his son and grandchildren. His son is also a Christian and takes his family to church, and Sam agrees to go as well. As he listens to the preacher, he felts that old tug on his heart again, but he still puts it off. After a while, he goes to the doctor, and finds out the terrible news....Cancer! He starts treatment, but his heart grows bitter again toward God. He loses another petal off his rose, and only has one solitary petal left.

After several months, his condition worsens, and he is left in the hospital bed hanging by a thread. The time is drawing short, and his life is almost over. The tug on his heart is still there, and the rose petal is hanging by a thread....he calls his son's pastor and finally gets saved on his deathbed. He is overjoyed and finally has peace for the first time. But he wondered, what would his life have been like if he would have responded to God when he was the child?

"And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?" ---Mark 8:36

We Could Learn a Lot From...

"Major Candy"

Major Ron Brooks was stationed overseas with the U.S. Army during a recent war in the 20th century, he would often visit the villages near his base. Being a fervent Christian, he wished to share the gospel with the children he would come across, looking at them and thinking I wish I could tell you about Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, that was impossible because he did not speak their language and they did not speak his. After prayerfully considering some way to do this, he decided to start sharing some of the candy that his wife would give him with the children of the villagers. It wasn't long before every time he went to the village the children would crowd around him, stick out their hands, and cry "Candy!" The major would give them the candy, and try with all his effort to share with them the gospel by drawing pictures of a cross and Jesus in the dirt. Unfortunately, there was too much of a language barrier for this to occur effectively. After writing home to his wife, his sons, Ronnie and Jeffrey, told the school about their father's activities and desire to share the Christian gospel, and the teacher told the principal (and although nowadays there would be an ACLU lawsuit) and the principal, a Christian himself, donated several boxes full of candy for Major Ron to share with the children. Major Ron then suggested that his wife helped him find some Gospel Tracts for these people in their own language. With the aid of a pastor, his wife was able to send him two boxes of equipment, gospel recordings, Bibles, and preaching of the word. The next time Ron gave out the candy, he began playing some of the songs. The eager school children began singing along with the recordings. After putting on the gospel recording in their language, he was thrilled to see that several individuals (three adults and one child) bowed their heads to receive Christ as Savior. "Major Candy" referred them to local pastors for discipleship. Many many more decisions followed, and many seeds were planted. There were so many seeds planted, that a church was even started in the area. Only the God of the Bible could use something so seemingly insignificant as pieces of Candy to bring people to Himself!

Quote of the Week...

"Your Life is a Sermon!"

I read this some time ago in a book that was given to me by my mother:

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day,

I'd rather one should walk with me than merely show the way.

The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear;

Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear;

and the best of all the preachers are men who live by their creeds,

For to see the good in action is what everybody needs.

I can soon learn how to do it if you'll let me see it done.

I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.

And lectures you deliver may be very wise and true;

But I'd rather get my lesson by observing what you do.

For I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give,

but there's no misunderstanding how you live.

---Edgar Guest