Good King; Bad King

Mr. President: I liked your speech.  Some didn’t.  You might want to hire a cup bearer, just to be on the safe side.

Nehemiah, in the Bible had been a cup bearer in Persia for Queen Esther’s husband, King Artie something.  He took a break from that job to build a wall around Jerusalem...to fortify it.  Many people thought he was nuts. You two have that in common.  This man trusted God with his whole heart while satan let fly every trick he had up his sleeve.   BUT, the wall went up! ...in record time.

Since you are a speed writer on Twitter you may be a speed reader too, so,  between meetings with today’s world leaders, you might get some pointers about how to do your job by reading the bio of long-ago King Hezekiah.  He undertook his assignment with humility...confessing that he had no clue about how to do anything but bear cups. That gave God a huge advantage...but his wife secretly worshipped a fertility goddess...and so their son filled up with alligators the very swamp his daddy had drained. That part of the story isn't so good, but it doesn't cancel out Hezekiah's rewards for obedience.  

 Good King. Bad King.  If we read the record of the kings in one fell swoop our emotions fly right off the rails. Best to take them in chunks.

I am ninety years old and my thoughts are still not always His, nor are my ways His either.   Mr. President. Donald: Do not, for a minute “lean unto your own understanding”.  But of course, being human, you will.

Out here in wacko California, not all of us have bowed the knee to Baal.  May that give you hope for the country.

Love, 

Jo

Good king; Bad king

Mr. President: I liked your speech.  Some didn’t.  You might want to hire a cup -bearer, just to be on the safe side.

Nehemiah, in the Bible had been a cup-bearer in Persia for Queen Esther’s husband, King Artie something.  He took a break from that job to build a wall...far to the north...around Jerusalem.  Many people thought he was nuts. You two have that in common.  This man trusted God with his whole heart while satan let fly every trick he had up his sleeve.   BUT, the wall went up! ...in record time.

Since you are a speed writer on Twitter you may be a speed reader too...so,  between meetings with today’s world leaders, you could be encouraged by reading the bio of long-ago King Hezekiah.  He started his assignment with humility...confessing that he had no clue about how to do the job. That gave God a huge advantage...but his wife secretly worshipped a fertility goddess...and so their son filled up with alligators the very swamp his daddy had drained. That part of the story isn't so good, but it doesn't cancel out Hezekiah's rewards for obedience.  

 Good King. Bad King.  If we read the record of the kings in one fell swoop our emotions fly right off the track.  Best to take them in chunks.

I am ninety years old and my thoughts are still not always His, nor are my ways His either.   Mr. President. Donald: Do not, for a minute “lean unto your own understanding”.  But of course, being human, you will.

Out here in wacko California, not all of us have bowed the knee to Baal.  May that give you hope for the country.

Love, 

Jo

Good King; Bed King

Mr. President: I liked your speech.  Some didn’t.  You might want to hire a cup bearer, just to be on the safe side.

Nehemiah, in the Bible had been a cup-bearer in Persia for Queen Esther’s husband, King Artie something.  He took a break from that job to build a wall ...a thousand miles to the north...in Jerusalem.  Most people thought he was nuts. You two have that in common.  This man trusted God with his whole heart while satan let fly every trick he had up his sleeve.   BUT, the wall went up! ...in record time.

  

Since you are a speed writer on Twitter you may be a speed reader too...so , between meetings with today’s world leaders, you would do yourself a favor by reading the bio of long-ago King Hezekiah.  He started out humble...admittedly not knowing his right foot from his left. That gave God a huge advantage...but his wife secretly worshiped a fertility goddess...and so their son filled with alligators the very swamp his daddy had drained.

 Good King. Bad King.  If we read the record of the kings in one fell swoop our emotions fly right off the track.  Best to take it in chunks.

I am ninety years old and my thoughts are still not His, nor are my ways His either.   Mr. President. Donald: Do not, for a minute “lean unto your own understanding”.  But of course, being human, you will.

Out here in wacko California, not all of us have bowed the knee to Baal.  May that give you hope for the country.

Your friend,

Jo Stone

Love and Truth

Ted and I met her when we spoke at an event.  She came to us and asked to come for counseling. In one session we knew this lady deserved the best we could give her.  She came into our home and lived with us for several months. 

Let’s call her “Roselle”. She would like that. Her favorite color was rose. 

Sexual abuse is horrible.  Spiritual abuse is worse.  Many times this precious one had gone to the altar in her church for healing.  The ulcers on her legs remained and worsened; body weight increased. She was told she did not have enough faith to be healed.  Lies weigh so much.

Now she was fifty years old...exhausted from years of satan’s accusations,  the loss of four babies that died in her womb,  sacrificial  ministry, the mothering of nine foster children and adoption of three.  All the while she guarded the secret of her uncle’s sexual assaults from even her own conscious mind...but her soul knew; her body knew. Her spirit was wounded to near collapse.  If the lies remained hidden from her mind there would be no healing.  Little girl cries came from deep within her...many in the night. I held her, Ted held me and the Lord held all three of us.

The evil one resisted releasing some of the memories. As the lies were supplanted by God’s Truth, gradually the fears subsided and the cries ceased. There was no hurrying the work of the Holy Spirit. In His time Roselle went to her home,  then resumed ministry until the Lord took her Home... last week. She had called a month or so ago; we made a tentative date to play pinochle. “You saved my life.”  No, we didn’t.  His Love and Truth set her free. 

Did Ted and I have the “gift of healing”?  Of course not.  We had His gift of love, laced with His powerful Word.  Nothing else is needed.

Love, Jo

Afterthoughts:  
Tinnitus report: The crickets still cricket and the truck still revs its motor...but not quite as loud.  Now,  who is going to come and play pinochle with me?    J

Dress Rehearsal

Paul did not know how long he would be here when he wrote Philippians.  It didn’t matter. To live?  Christ;  to die?  Gain.  How long did it take him to figure that out?  ...most of his lifetime. 

I was eleven years old when the second World War broke out. ...on two fronts.  One of my brothers fought for our country in the Air Force in the South Pacific.  He was gone for three years.  We hovered at our mail box,  hoping to hear from him. ...tuning into radio for any news from that theater.   The other brother and his wife moved to our farm to help my dad.  My grandmother was dying, leg amputated from diabetes.  Young German soldiers from a nearby prison camp worked for us at harvest time.  Few American homes were unaffected,  drastically, by the hell of war.    

There was little time or energy for my parents to think about my future after high school. There were no scholarships available.  I so much wanted to go to college. My boyfriend, Ted left for the Navy;  the Shepherd/Collie puppy he had given me was killed in the road. I walked that country road in despair.  My farmer dad who worked so hard for every penny paid two hundred dollars for a year in business college.  That degree opened a door for a job on a college campus. In that college town I was invited to a little church where the "real-deal Christians" loved me to Christ.  A very young Billy Graham came to speak on a Sunday morning.  In a few months I would meet him again in Chicago at Moody Bible Institute's Flounder's Week where he would be the featured speaker.  (You knew I would drop his name. ...once more.  ...couldn't help myself.)  He invited me to his Christian school in Minneapolis.  Finally I was a student in college. Ted mustered out of the Navy, came to Christ and came to college, on to Dallas Seminary and into ministry. Many of you who read this blog are part of the rest of the story.  There would be no story worth telling without you.

For sixty years we served the Lord together.  My darling has been in Heaven for nine years.  I didn't think I could make it for nine DAYS without him, but the Lord, my family, my mission board and a host of supporters have come right along beside me to help me to the end.  When will that come?  I have no idea.  My body is shutting down but the "eyes of my understanding" seem to be opening wider. Again, I "walk a country road".  ...not in Kansas, but in Bear Valley Springs, California.  ...with my cats.  I am not in "despair" as once I was, at seventeen.  Now I am ninety years old.  Mine has been a rich, fulfilling life.  Apparently, it is not over. ... not quite.   I continue to feed a few sheep at a time.  Precious ones like you are scattered around the world, feeding more sheep.  Rarely a day goes by that I do not hear from some of you.  Keep telling me how He is using the Word of God through you.  I will pray for you. Never, ever compare your ministry to others. He is using you in a unique way with just the people He chooses to send to you.  

This last chapter of my life is much quieter, but it is very precious.  When it is time for a NEW BEGINNING,   He will come to fetch me and usher me into the "crowd of witnesses"  that is already there.  Will I see Ted and my son immediately?   I don't know.  It doesn't matter.  Many things do not "matter" as once they did. You know, don't you that this life is but a dress rehearsal?  The BEST is yet to come!

Count your blessings;  name them, one by one.

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done. 

Love,  Jo