Tight Fisted Treasurer

 

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Philippians 4:6 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

⁶ Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks.

We had worked as missionaries in Africa for 12 years. The Lord had richly blessed us. We had hundreds of friends. Many of our students were already making their mark on the world. Now the Lord had told us that He wanted us to return to the U.S.

Then we got a letter from the mission board. It stated coldly that we had only worked in Africa for three years. They had no responsibility to return us to the U.S. They had decided to fly us to the nearest airport in the U.S. and drop us. It was up to us to make our way from there. The same mission board had consistently garnished our wages upwards of 50% for “the Lord’s work.”

We were stunned. We had spent all our savings just surviving in Africa. This is a part of mission work that the home churches never see. I requested that they do the very minimum and drop us back in Detroit where we had originally left from. We prayed to the Lord fervently. We literally didn’t have enough money left to get from Boston, where they chose to drop us, to Detroit near family. We praised the Lord that He had blessed us in spite of the tightfisted man who controlled our funds.

When we arrived in the States, at my dad’s urging—he had been a missionary to Africa for 42 years—I wrote headquarters and explained our plight. The treasurer there thundered back, “They can’t do that to you!” He went on to say that he was the one who had originally hired us to go to Africa 12 years earlier. Then for the next six months we received check after check of bonuses that we were entitled to but had no knowledge of. This amounted to thousands and thousands of dollars.

Since that time, the Lord has abundantly blessed us, even beyond our dreams or expectations. We had never wanted to be rich, and we still aren’t. But we are comfortable. Indeed, praise the Lord!

We are grateful, Lord, that You look after Your own so well. We rest our future in Your marvelous nail-pierced hands!

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[1] https://slideplayer.com/slide/13596288/

Please Make Me Wise

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1 Kings 3:9 Contemporary English Version (CEV)

⁹ Please make me wise and teach me the difference between right and wrong. Then I will know how to rule your people. If you don’t, there is no way I could rule this great nation of yours.

 

A promise I have relied on over and over again is the promise in James 1:5 stating that if anyone lack wisdom he should ask God for it and it will be given him.

The La Sierra University president encouraged us to have prayer every day in class. I had never had this habit and felt that it was merely a formality. I have always been a firm believer in the value of prayer. However, I felt that in order for prayer to be meaningful, it should be prayed by someone who felt the need. One year, however, I decided to try reading a verse and praying at the beginning of every class period.

Jonathan[2] was one of those troublesome students. He expected everyone to bow to his wishes. He complained to my department chair that I was taking 20 minutes for roll call and devotions. My chair was quite upset with me and let me know that in no uncertain terms. She was on the verge of demanding that I quit having devotions at the beginning of class.

Breathing a prayer for wisdom, I reminded her that the president had requested that we start class with prayer. She backed off the demand that I not do it, of course. She didn’t tell me who the troublemaker was, but she gave me enough details so that it was obvious Jonathan was behind it. I also told her that I knew who had complained and that he was one to exaggerate freely and quoted a couple examples from some interchanges I had already had with him.

For the next couple days, I kept track of exactly how long devotions and roll call took, and it was certainly less than 5 minutes. But I concentrated on Jonathan in both prayer and attention. While always quick to criticize and complain, he soon became my strongest supporter. Although he had failed this class the quarter before, this time he ended up with a strong B in the class.

Thank you, Lord, for Your quick response whenever we need wisdom!

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[1] https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/dealing-with-employees-who-complain/

[2] Name changed to protect the student’s identity 

Fourscore Years

 

[1]

Psalm 90:10, 12 American Standard Version

¹⁰ The days of our years are threescore years and ten,
Or even by reason of strength fourscore years;
Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow;
For it is soon gone, and we fly away.
¹² So teach us to number our days,
That we may get us a heart of wisdom.

 

The other day we held a reunion of friends who grew up or served in Southern Africa. About twenty of us showed up. This had dwindled over the pandemic, when we would often have forty in attendance. I estimate that the average age was about fourscore years; in one sense or another we must all have “strength.” From the conversation it appears that all of them had been vaccinated and “boosted.” In spite of all the sophistry and circumlocution that goes around, it is only wise to accept with rejoicing what the Lord has graciously given this generation.

Some of us were missionaries in Africa: some of us were born there. All of us are well educated, enjoy the outdoors, appreciate the arts, and revel in the love of God. All are doing something, even at this advanced age, to help our fellow humans. All of us have attained to a fair amount of wisdom.

We should be labeled sophomores in its classical sense. In case your classical knowledge is a bit rusty, sophomore is the concatenation of the two Greek words, “Sophos”—clever or wise—and “moros”—foolish, i.e., wise fools.

A rather outspoken friend of mine, not at our reunion, cajoles us rather frequently that the only way to achieve immortality is to author and publish books. He foresees his grandchildren reading the novels he is writing and sees them rediscovering him. He writes well into the wee hours of the morning every day. Is that a form of numbering our days?

The other morning a fire-engine and an ambulance, lights flashing, parked in front of the house across the street. I waved at Peggy as she lay on a stretcher inside the ambulance, and she smiled wanly and waved weakly back. As we see our friends and contemporaries check out of this state of “labor and sorrow,” it reminds us that our names are perilously close to the top of the list. Peggy is back home now, and her daughter tells me her pervasive pain has been brought under control. For the time being, she has beaten the grim reaper.

Thank You, Lord, for reminding us of the tenuous nature of our present existence and the eternity you have prepared for us.

 

 

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[1] Eighty-and-Eighteen by John William Godward

Sufficient unto the Day is the Evil Thereof

 

[1]

Matthew 6:33-34 American Standard Version

³³ But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ³⁴ Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

 

Ours has often been a life where we had enough of life’s necessities to get through each day but no cushion for emergencies. Of course, emergencies arose—they always do. When my cancer recurred, I went to an oncologist whose office was on the 10^th floor of magnificent medical building in Century City on the upscale side of Beverly Hills.

He showed me how he owns his own blood lab equipment and luxury patient treatment facilities. He spent several hours talking to me about my situation. It dawned more and more on me how much all of this must cost.

“I’m really impressed at what you will do for me. How am I going to pay for all this?” I queried.

He said simply, “You have Medicare, don’t you?”

He employs a full-time pharmacist who has gotten me a number of grants to help cover the expenses of outrageously expensive drugs I’ve needed. Some medical places around here have a policy that if you are over 15 minutes late to an appointment, you pay for the appointment, but they won’t see you or do anything to help you. Of course, insurance doesn’t pay if you miss an appointment.

With big city traffic, it’s very easy to be delayed much more than 15 minutes! My oncologist’s office is all the way across Los Angeles. It’s easy to get delayed an hour or more in the traffic. They have the same policy, but they tell me, “Just call us and let us know what’s happening.” They’ve never penalized me for being late.

As a retiree, I sometimes worry that my money will run out before both Sylvia and I have passed on. Then my thoughts return to the last sixty years and the fact that although at times we have been very short of funds, we have never gone hungry, nor have we ever been without a roof over our heads.

God will always take care of us!

Thank You, Lord, for Your constant care over us, in spite of some of the scrapes we get ourselves into!

 

__________________

[1] https://ccmpla.com/about/ 

 

Jupiter and Venus

 

Look low in the sky, towards the east about one hour before sunrise on Saturday morning April 30, 2022. If the sky is clear, you will see the brightest two “stars” in the sky very, very close to each other. They are Venus, the brightest, and Jupiter, second brightest. Astronomers say they are in conjunction, which means they appear closer together on their respective orbits than they will be at any other time this year. Much farther away towards the west, about a hand’s width, you can see Mars and even farther west, Saturn. They are also much fainter; both are slightly reddish.

You can see Jupiter ad Venus even a half an hour before sunrise, but by that time the sky is too bright to see the redder planets. If you get out too early, the sky will be darker, but they will still be below the horizon. These are four of the commonly seen naked-eye planets. The only other naked eye planet, Mercury, is on the opposite side of the sun, and if you are lucky you can see it in the evening, about an hour after sunset in the west, very low down in the sky.

In the next few mornings, you will see a similar sight as the two planets appear to separate. This is true even in the city lights, because J & V are so bright. Happy viewing. It is worth getting up early to see it. Go out in your night clothes, and then climb back in bed and catch another 40 winks.

The heavens declare the glory of God;

      and the firmament shows his handywork.

Day unto day utters speech,

      and night unto night shows knowledge.

There is no speech nor language,

      where their voice is not heard.

Their line is gone out through all the earth,

      and their words to the end of the world.

In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,

      Psalm 19

 

Happy sky watching!

Animals as Thieves

 

[1]

Genesis 1:21 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

²¹ So God created the large sea-creatures^[a] and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

 

A favorite tourist spot of mine on earth is the Ngorongoro Crater on the edge of the Great Rift Valley of Africa. I have only visited there about three times, stretched over 35 years, and I wish I could visit it far more often. The most recent visit was in 2003 when we attended the celebration of 100 years of Adventism in Tanzania.

We stopped at the Visitor Center on the ridge of the crater and picked up a guide to accompany us down into the crater. He spoke excellent English and was very knowledgeable. At one point this giant volcano was probably the highest point in Africa. Then in a mighty heave, the volcano blew the entire top of the mountain off leaving a crater about 2000 feet (600 m) deep and 14 miles (22 km) in diameter. Over the years since the explosion, Many of the African plains animals have made the tortuous decent into the crater. They have apparently decided that things were better in the crater than on the outside so they set up housekeeping there. The usual predators and prey keep the crater population at equilibrium. To the visitor this presents a veritable zoo spread over 400,000 acres (150 000 ha).

Because all of the animals are wild the visitor is required to remain in the vehicle, except for particular spots in the crater where picnic and other conveniences are provided. At one point where we stopped, our guide urged us to make sure to not let monkeys into the car when we got out. If they do get in your car, they immediately claim possession of it and will fight to keep you out of it. Black-faced vervet monkeys were all over the place. One jumped up onto our car and did its best to tear off the windshield wipers. Since we were much bigger than they were, they didn’t try to attack us as we walked to the restrooms.

Another spot, devoid of trees and monkeys, had picnic tables. We got out to stretch our legs. A young Swiss couple walked ahead of us towards the picnic tables. Suddenly Sylvia and I felt a light brushing of feathers in our hair as a great hawk skimmed at high speed our heads. It continued its power dive down in front of us. As we watched in shock the hawk turned sideways, wings outstretched and shot directly between the lovers ahead of us. The woman was carrying a sack lunch in her hand between them. It grabbed the lunch in its talons as it zipped between them and back into the sky. The poor woman was shocked almost to the point of a heart attack. Of course, she had sensed nothing of the bird’s attack until it was over. Neither one of the people had been injured, but they left the crater still hungry. There are no snack shops in the crater. Where else on earth can you drive among wild elephants, lions, monkeys and giraffes, and survive an avian-Mafia attack, all in one afternoon?

In the promised Earth-Made-New could a similar event occur? By God’s grace, I intend to find out! Will you join me?

 

 

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[1] https://www.beautyofbirds.com/africanhawkeagles.html

Getting Away From It All

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Mark 6:31 King James Version

³¹ And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

 

It’s been a week and month of busyness. A friend came over to have me help her with taxes. There’s been the usual Spanish and writing classes. I’ve battled a stubborn cough and cold, and at one point was coughing so badly I went down and got myself tested for Covid. The test turned out negative: after all I have been vaccinated and boosted and have some natural immunity from having the annoying disease last July. We’ve installed a new gas range and dishwasher. The sprinkler system sprung a leak that turned out to be more complicated than usual, so I had to dig it up and repair it and then repair the repair.

Julia and David came over one day, and we went out to Joshua Tree and took a test drive in our Ford F-150 4x4 down Berdoo Canyon in Joshua Tree National Park. It is a canyon running down from the 4,000-foot heights of Hidden Valley to the below sea level in the Coachella Valley. Drivers with four-wheel drive vehicles like to go up and down the bed of the canyon because it is really challenging. One driver described it as squirrely, possibly meaning “only a squirrel can possibly make it through there unscathed.” Travel was slow. We often got out of the pickup and walked out in front of it to lay out plans to make it through all the rocks without destroying the undercarriage or getting hopelessly hung up on some rocks.

Joshua Tree National Park has been one of those places where we can get away from it all. Often the climbs and hikes get me to the point where I forget all of the worries and despair of everyday life and think only of how to stay alive. In late winter and early spring, the plants often turn green and sport beautiful blossoms, defying the drought and extremes of temperature so common in the desert. At night the heavens are aglow with the myriads of stars that are always there but never visible in the wash of city lights. I cannot but remind myself of the grace of Jesus Christ in this inhospitably complex world we find ourselves in.

Do I succeed in actually getting away from it all? Did Christ and His disciples succeed in getting away from it all after they got in the boat and went to the desert place? Read the subsequent verses in Mark 6. The blessings are there in spite of it all.

Grant us, Lord, the desperately needed rest and grace we seek.

 

[1] https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/joshua-tree-berdoo-canyon-old-dale-brooklyn-mine-trip-report.150738/

[2] https://www.google.com/search?q=berdoo+canyon&rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS880US880&sxsrf=APq-WBuXUlW6VFDi2jh2a4Fi3xAQjMHyKQ:1649171223926&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjt_ebHmf32AhXVKEQIHe3hBXAQ_AUoAnoECAIQBA&biw=916&bih=639&dpr=1.25#imgrc=AHBM-kAzwzvOgM