Culture

 All around our Kansas farm were immigrant settlers from European countries: Sweden, Germany, Russia, Holland, each with their own ethnicity. My Irish dad would flail his arms in the air and say things like: 'You can always tell a Swede, but you can't tell him much!" ...or "That's a stubborn German for you!" There were Mennonite farmers scattered about in our county. "Those people are hard workers and very clannish." Years later when Ted and I were in pastorates, I found out that my dad who was blind to his own "Irish-ness" wasn't so far off- base about others. In our first ministry out of Dallas Seminary, there was one German board member. The Board of Directors never made a decision unless there was unanimity. This one business man was sometimes the hold-out.  The others went to their knees and waited. If the German didn't change his mind,  whatever was on the agenda was put aside. ....'way to go, Ed. Some of your descendants read this blog. You know who you are.

Ted headed up a high school retreat at a Mennonite campground during our next ministry. Those kids were in a Mennonite school during the winter and in the summer were expected to go to the Mennonite retreat. They figured they would have the same ol' meetings in the morning, meetings in the afternoon and meetings at night.  We felt their resistance as soon as they showed up. Ted had imported some of our Young Life buddies to be counsellors who knew that kids need to be kids. Jim Rayburn, a Dallas Seminary grad started that organization. His mantra: "Never, ever bore a kid with the Gospel!" ...back to the camp: We had one meeting at night. All of the "work" was relational. ,,, lovingly carried out by the counsellors who hiked, swam, played volleyball and just hung out with the kids. Over half of the campers came to Christ. ...but we were in big trouble with the Mennonites.  On the last night Ted had a mop on his head in a skit we put on with the counsellors. The kids howled with laughter, but the old Mennonite cook came out of the kitchen and headed straight for the phone on the wall and called the pastor of the Mennonite church back in our little city. That pastor called Ted as soon as we were back in town. "Ted, thank you! I've been trying to break through to these kids ever since I took this pastorate. You're not in trouble with me, but I doubt if the Mennonites will ever invite you to speak at their camp again." ...and they didn't. ...but we had letters from those kids who had come to Christ for years to come. ...so what really matters? Sometimes we lose sight of the goal when the leadership is mad at us. Many of you are in ministry around this world. Take heart. Do your best to figure out the culture and its peculiarities, face your own and HANG ON! There are crazy-making cultural blockades wherever we go. Paul had 'em.  All the Apostles and disciples had 'em. Dear Ted was caught off guard more than once. You see,  he didn't have an Irish dad who was pretty good at figuring out what makes people "tick".

Well, here's the song that contributed to our national mess: The Statue-of-Liberty ditty:

Give us your tired, and your poor. 
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Trump wants to shut out all Muslims.  Good luck on that, Donald. That's tantamount to closing the barn door after the horses have kicked down the door and are running free. I read back there in Genesis: "He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and every one's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."  No wonder Jesus is personally, mercifully showing up to many Muslims. Did God love Ishmael and does He love his descendants? Of COURSE!

...back in college where Billy Graham had planted me (Boy Howdy! Do I ever get a lot of mileage out his name!) he brought in speakers from around the world...old ones and a few current "stars". One of the "old ones" was Dr. Harry Ironside who was nearly blind. We expected a deep theological message, We got one. "I pastored Moody Bible Church for many years in Chicago. My children couldn't play outside because our winters were bitter cold so we played 'Hide and Seek' in our three story house. One time when my little girl was 'It' I hid in the attic. She looked all over the house for me and finally crept upstairs to the attic but was afraid to open the door to see if I was in there. I realized that and slowly opened the door and gathered her in my arms. She cried out: 'Oh, Daddy. You're not a big bear at all!  You are my own dear Daddy!' "  He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. 

Here is Paula L's (from California City) choice of an old song: "The Love of God"

The love of God is greater far then tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair bowed down with care; God gave His Son to win.
His erring child He reconciled and pardoned from his sin.

Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade.
To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky..

OH LOVE OF GOD, HOW RICH AND PURE! HOW MEASURELESS AND STRONG
IT WILL FOREVERMORE ENDURE THE SAINTS' AND ANGELS' SONG.

What hymn do you want me to print?

Love,  Jo

He's a comin' and we're a goin'

Life looks a whole lot different when you are on the tail-end of it.  Better or worse?  Oh, better! ...can't imagine how people face tomorrow who do not know where they are goin' when they leave here. I still grieve at times for my absent loved ones, but there has been a shift. Now I am looking forward to seeing them. ...along with all the other men and women I read about in scripture. I am so ready to say "Howdy!" to people whose names I can't even pronounce. I wonder if they'll wear name tags with their old name/new name printed on them? ...and the LIGHT? Oh, the LIGHT that will no longer be dimmed by sin. I think I see Him coming toward me....way out there ... but not as far away as He used to be.

 I just came home from our community swimming pool where for an hour and fifteen minutes, fifty or more women and men jumped around together, stretching every muscle to its max as Marti led us in senior aerobics. I don't let myself even glance at the skinny lifeguards, lest they be smirking. There is no better marketing place in Bear Valley than that pool....makes me think of the watering holes of old, when women went early in the morning with empty jars on their heads,  ready to be filled at the community well. ....then that thought morphs into John 4 and the infamous Woman at the Well who did not show up  until the other women were long gone. ...smart woman....but after Jesus told her about the Living Water, she ran into town to tell the men. Of course! The women would have spit in her face.  Jesus always knew exactly what He was doing. This woman was His chosen one who would  open the door for the Gospel in Samaria. Here's an old joke from 'way back:: "What are our sure-fire ways of  getting the news spread around?"  Telegraph, telephone and tell-a-woman! It's still true about women, even though today we are up to our eyeballs in all kinds of ways to communicate. I suspect that too much information is propelling us at the speed of sound toward the wrap-up.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes, at the swimming pool. Marti gives time for introductions and announcements. This morning one woman needed a baby crib for a visiting grand kid, another needed a wheelchair which I have from Ted's many surgeries,  then others needed this and that, and then there was an announcement about a drumming class on the side of the mountain (!)...and I thought about our days in Africa where drums are a means of communication and the major instrument behind the most beautiful singing I have ever heard in my life...  the men humming a bone-chilling bass note as the women and children harmonize in parts.  I have goose bumps just thinking about it. Now, where was I? OK. ...back at the pool: Several somebodies announced musical concerts coming up here and there around our community. I don't play a "concert" when I entertain ourside on the second and fourth Friday night at the Golf Shop.  Singalong books with the words to hundreds of songs invite everyone to participate.  Boy howdy, did both the political candidates have everybody but the family dog "participate" in their run for the White House.  Well, back for a minute to the pool: One of the things I enjoy about hopping around in the water with other older people is that they let it all "hang out"...literally. One woman confessed this morning that she is 92, ...and I thought I was the oldest! Water aerobics are easing the pain that zings through my agng body.  Message: If you have access to a pool or a lake somewhere around you,  go jump in it!

 I just took a break to listen to Rabbi Daniel Lapin and his wife Susan on TCT with their daily program: "Ancient Jewish Wisdom".  Excellent! ...today,  about Rebekah's engagement to Isaac. Why did she so readily accept the ring and agree to marry a man she had never met?  ...because of shared spiritual values, buried deep in their souls. Ted and I were not madly in love when we married. We shared eternal values, and that was enough. Our love grew as we grew in Christ. Not "romantic", you say? Oh, yes. ..,.the best kind of "romantic". "Love" is more than an emotion. Emotions are fickle... like the weather. ...and by the way, I owe you an apology.  I bragged in my last blog about our weather, and then ZAP, a heat wave hit us, and I have spent days holed up in my only air-conditioned room in the house. It's been great, though.  I have listened for hours to excellent messages on my handy dandy cell phone, then switched to scripture and listened some more. That phone goes with me everywhere, and so does God's Word! It's easier to find my cell phone than my glasses.  I call it on my land phone when I lose it and it makes funny noises. ...now where was I?  O.K., moving on:  It's time to hibernate and flip on the TV and look for somebody with scars on them to listen to.  I bypass the young ones.  ...a Ted'ism: "Until a man fails at something, he isn't worth anything. Watch how he handles losing, and you will assess the character of the man."

That's it. ...no deep, philosophical lessons this time.  Well, maybe. ...depends on what you call "deep"...or "philosophical".

A couple of years ago a second cousin (Elin)  that I didn't even know I had found me on the web. She is a beautiful Christian, actually has been a pastor in Western Kansas for many years. ...now retired. Here is her requested song,  sung by Mahalia Jackson and others on the tube.  ... but Mahalia's the best!

I asked the Lord  to comfort me when things weren't going my way.
He said to me, "I will comfort you. Now, dry your tears away." 
I asked the Lord to walk with me when darkness was all that I knew
He said to me, "Never be afraid for I will see you through."
I did not ask for riches; he gave me wealth untold. 
The sun, the moon, the stars that shine and He gave me eyes to behold.
I thank the Lord for everything and I count my blessings each day.
He'll come to you if you ask him to; He 's only a prayer away.

Send me your hymn request, dear ones.

Love,  Jo

Is He REALLY a GOOD GOD?

Most of you who read this blog are rooted in biblical Truth, given us by the Spirit of God. From that foundation we form our worldview. We know that until our Lord takes up His Throne and every knee bows to Him all efforts to bring peace on this earth will fail. Only then will we be exonerated from any form of human government . Because man's heart in the natural is "desperately wicked" all earthly governments fold in on themselves.

I have never been very good at ignoring an elephant in the room. Last week was the "Elephant Convention"  This week is "The Donkey Convention". This very well may be my last presidential election and I am not sitting this one out....so what am I "listening" for during these hours and hours of speeches? ...the not-so-well hidden personal agendas, based upon the way a man or woman is programmed to think.  "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he". Because Michelle's speech is freshest in my mind I will comment on just one of her statements:  "The house my family has lived in for eight years was built by slaves". ...very telling.  The wound is still there, and determines how she thinks.

If you are a student of the Word you know where this world is headed. How long do we have before we actually lay down our very lives for the Gospel, as are many around the world today? Only God knows the answer to that. I am not sleeping very well these days. If you are, well, good for you! I will be outta here before long, but my family and your family had better buckle up, no matter who is our next President. One would have to actually go to a poverty-stricken country to believe what it looks and smells like. In Kenya we saw hundreds of thousands of  street children whose parents have died of Aids. We shared meals at a convent with a Catholic woman doctor from Paris who was assigned to Nairobi's slums to pluck the orphans from the garbage heaps where they had been tossed to die.  Christians are sacrificing everything they are and have to bring water, food, shelter and the Gospel to millions of Africans. Lord, give courage and love to Phil, Deb and Greg. In Cairo, surrounded by teeming masses of starving people, we could not step out of our hotel without having mothers throw their babies in front of us, forcing us to step on them unless we gave them money. I could not bear it and  holed up in our hotel room, falling on my knees, crying out to God: "Where ARE You, God? ...my collection of Sovereignty-of- God scriptures not working well for me.  Lord, give courage to Phil as he lays down his life for these people.  In Indonesia, with its quarter of the Muslim population crowding the streets, the men falling on their faces five times a day toward Mecca to pray to an impersonal god,   are sacrificial Christians giving everything to convince these poverty-stricken people that "God is a GOOD God".  Lord, give strength and courage to Denyse and Greg....and there are ever so many other countries whose deplorable living conditions are imprinted on my mind

 I wouldn't fault you a bit if you are thinking:   "Jo Stone, you live in a lovely home in the mountains in a relatively good climate, year 'round, you drive a truck that is still sturdy after wheeling it around your mountains for seven years; your refrigerators and freezers are stuffed with food enough for weeks ahead.". Am I grateful?   I cannot even mention His Name without weeping. He showed me a long time ago that I own nothing. ......not my home, not my husband, not my children, and not my grandchildren. Nothing. ...not even myself.

He that will lose His life for My sake, will FIND it.  "...for you are not your own; you have been bought with a price.    ....for "It is the kindness of God that brings us to repentance." God has been so"kind" to America. ...but a good Father is also One who disciplines.  "To whom much is given, much is required." "We reap what we sow". You know those verses given us straight from the Mouth of God.   We ALL do who "...bow in humble adoration and there proclaim: 'My God,  how GREAT THOU ART!"

...comes a Gospel song request from dear Steve P. in Sugarland, Texas:

THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME...
I'm just a passin' through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

'Way over in Glory land we'll live eternally
The saints on every hand are shouting "Victory!"
Their songs of sweetest praise drift back from Heaven's shore
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore

Oh, Lord, you know I have no friend like You.
If Heaven's not my home, then Lord,  what will I do?
The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

It is true that we are not "at home". ...but we have an assignment, as long as we have breath: to love broken people, pointing them to the Cross...to a GOOD God Who gave His Son to die, that they might have LIFE.

  Love,  Jo

Dramas and Traumas

The last three blogs have been about drama and trauma in my personal life:  a TIA, a too-close-for-comfort forest fire and the choice to end her life by the youngest  daughter of my dearest-in-the-faith niece in Kansas. Her daughter's four children range in age from eleven to eighteen.

Just reading my Bible affords me plenty of both drama and trauma. The next drama....the one where we are whisked up in the twinkling of an eye...will be the Granddaddy of them  all. My soul is "groaning"...more some days than others. ...depending upon the level of the pain in my back. Yesterday I created a heck of a lot of pain in my back. That is trauma, and I did it to myself. I went grocery shopping for a few items and came back with a truckload. This morning I finished carrying them all in. ... and now my back is screaming and I am actually chuckling as I grimace. Some predispositions in our DNA never go away. My mother and my grandmother canned their bodies into their graves, lining up row upon row of jars of vegetables and fruits in the cellar cave. ...for all eventualities: guests, tornadoes, blizzards, dust storms, torrential rains or no rain. Many guests were drawn to my mother's table, as they are to mine.  It feels SO good to have more than enough food at all times. Am I thankful?  Of course! Ted and I have been in many countries where people by the millions are hungry.

Is there a famine coming? Possibly. In my lifetime? Possibly.  Is Jesus coming? Yes.  In my lifetime? Possibly. What does He tell me to do? ...Work!  All six of my grandchildren are either working hard to complete their educations or are working at their jobs.  I am proud of all of them, for they understand the biblical principle: "If you don't work,  you don't eat!"  

I lay on my deck bed as the sun came up this morning and watched a silvery plane skim across the sky high above my head, and wondered:  "Where are they going?" "What is the drama or trauma in the lives of the passengers that is taking them lickety split from somewhere to somewhere?" 

Well, on to water aerobics to work out the pain in  my back that I could have prevented, but didn't. ...then to come home, flip on the TV,  listen a bit to the Convention, then begin to think on Friday night's Singalong outside at the golf shop. The last one drew a mix of people who have found the Bread and some who haven't. As night settled over us, the six who came up the mountain from Bakersfield began to sing hymns in harmony.  I quit playing and the rest of us listened.  The God-hush brought us peacefully to the end of another week of personal dramas and traumas.  

...and now, a requested hymn from Mike S.: BLESSED ASSURANCE.

Blessed Assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.

Heir of salvation; purchase of God. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Perfect submission, perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;

Angels descending, bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest. I in my Saviour am happy and blest;

Watching and waiting, looking above. Filled with His goodness; lost in His love.

THIS IS MY STORY; THIS IS MY SONG. PRAISING MY SAVIOUR ALL THE DAY LONG

THIS IS MY STORY, THIS IS MY SONG, PRAISING MY SAVIOUR ALL THE DAY LONG.

What's your favorite? 

Love,  Jo

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and ask God for help.  I Timothy 5:5.  This "widow" is my niece by marriage. She has been my family soul mate for many decades. She walks with God. During the night on Wednesday of this week her youngest daughter, mother of four took her own life.  I ask that you pray for these chiildren who have akready been split in two by their parent's divorce, and for this faithful woman of God as she bears her own grief and comforts her remaining family. She has given them all His Word all of their lives. Her work is not finished.

In a past blog I invited you to tell me what hymn you want me to include.  My computer ate up your responses.  Would you be so kind as to send them again? I believe that one of you requested "It is Well with my Soul".  Here it is:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way; when sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
IT IS WELL; IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.

Though satan should buffet, tho' trials should come; let this blest assurance control.
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, 
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin--oh, the bliss of this glorious thought; my sin,  not in part but the whole 
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll.
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend.
Even so--IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.

IT IS WELL  (It is well) WITH MY SOUL (with my soul); 
IT IS WELL,   IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.

Love,  Jo