Friday, September 5, 2014

Some from every tribe and nation....

Last Friday night my new friend Gideon and his dear Navajo wife Alta from Arizona,  Kate, a friend of mine and I sat around my deck fireplace and sang old hymns together: "Blessed Assurance",  "Trust and Obey",  'What a Friend We Have in Jesus",  and many others that would bless the hearts of many who miss those old hymns written by the saints who await us in Heaven.  Gideon and Alta sang one of their favored hymns for us in their native language. What joy unspeakable!  Each told our story to one another. ...the story of how Jesus found us and has never left us.  Gideon and Alta, now married eight years love each other dearly. Their faith in their mutual Savior is the glue that bonds them, transcending cultural differences.  Gideon still speaks with a thick Israeli accent,  Alta speaks perfect English.  She suffered the loss of both kidneys many years ago and by a miracle of the Lord lives with a young New Yorker's kidney sustaining her life. She is a nurse to kidney-challenged patients in an Arizona hospital. I felt so lonely after they all left.  Kate, my precious new friend who shops for groceries for me now and comes once a week to cook nutritious food has a cute little rescued pooch she sometimes brings with her. Name: Lucy Lou.  Lucy wears a yellow vest around her round little belly. It seemed to Kate and me that that vest needed to be gussied up so I found in my stash of accumulated sewing scraps a hand-crocheted bit of lace that my dear friend Euphanel and I had purchased in a craft shop somewhere on a Texas backroad over thirty years ago.  The night of the Fireside Singalong Lucy Lou snuggled up under my lap blanket in her ruffled vest, went to sleep and snored as we worshipped under the stars.  Gideon's work as an electrical contractor takes him far away from home for months at a time. Would you pray, if God leads you to, that the Lord will give him work closer to the reservation in Arizona so that he and his lovely wife can be together?

Friday night's singing together reminded me of a night in Dalat, Viet Nam. In the living room of  missionaries Dr. and Mrs. Bernie Ericcson  Ted and I stood in a circle with those two,  Dr. Ray Benson and his wife from Billings, Montana,  Sai, Chief of the Su Tong Tribe,  Sao's two sons who had renamed themselves "Jimmy and Johnny",  and the two of us.  We were singing in English and attempting to follow Sao's lead in singing in their tribal language. I felt a similar chill on Friday night, as Kate and I sang with a Messianic Hebrew and a Navajo Indian, thinking about how we will be singing with Jesus' family from every tribe and nation at the Throne. ...in the same language. When I quote this oft-repeated statement of Ted's I always weep, and right now the tears are trickling down my cheeks: "When the last one accepts Christ,  He will say: 'That's it. I'm wrappin' it up! Come on HOME !' "  Come, Lord Jesus.  Some days I indeed "groan" to be with You.

Several years ago an organizer of summer musicals-in-the-park asked if I would entertain with a Gospel Singlong but "Please don't mention the Name of'  'Jesus' for that would be offensive to some people." As much as I love to entertain, I knew I needed to pass on this one.  There are piano players watching the obituaries hoping to find my name there so they can take my place at the Apple Shed.  I won't quit until the back pain cannot be stanched by medication.  How else would I have met Gideon and his lovely wife?  Some caring friend called my daughter Dee and asked her if she knew her mother had brought a single man home from the Apple Shed.  Her answer: "Of course she did".  Does God protect me?  He always has and I assume that He always will. ...and what's that scripture about "entertaining angels unawares"?  ...and then came another unexpected overnight guest: Maria. ...a musician friend from years ago.  She has moved north to Lone Pine where she teaches high school students. I needed a bass player to round out a band to lead a Gospel Singalong Gayel Pitchford has asked me to lead for the upcoming Old Time Fiddler's gathering on Friday night, September 19.  I traced down Maria, not really thinking she would make the trip down here to play with us, but praying that she would.  She came,  joined Frank, Gayel and me and the Lord lovingly let me recapture the joy I feel when I play with His hand-picked musicians to sing His praises.  Michele will join us to sing, and probably some of the Old Time Fiddlers will come up on the stage and join us too. .After rehearsal Maria came on out to the house to stay the night and we had such a lovely time together.  I can't entertain the 5,000 any more, but His selections of the ones and twos?  Oh, yes!

I have experienced a nagging "heaviness"  for several weeks. This morning I read in Isaiah 61:  "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me..........to appoint unto those who mourn in Zion......the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness...".  He has lifted that heaviness, replacing it with praise.


                                            OLD HYMN: BLESSED BE THE NAME

All praise to Him who reigns above in majesty supreme
Who gave His Son for man to die that He might man redeem

BLESSED BE THE NAME; BLESSED BE THE NAME;
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!
BLESSED BE THE NAME, BLESSED BE THE NAME
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!

His Name shall be the Counsellor, the mighty Prince of Peace
Of all earth's kingdoms Conqueror whose reign shall never cease
CHORUS

Love, Jo

I have just looked up on Google under "Homer Dowdy//Su Tong Tribe/ Viet Nam" and to my amazement found under "Family Life Resources" something I have written about this tribe. You will be blessed...especially about the "white army". The book: "The Bamboo Cross".    J.



ARCHIVE