We Plan--He Determines

 

[1]

Proverbs 16:9 Christian Standard Bible

⁹ A person’s heart plans his way,
but the Lord determines his steps.

 

Sylvia’s family holds a family reunion biannually. This year we had plans to leave home on July 1 and visit family and friends up in the northwest. Then we would drive across the northern states to Wisconsin and Michigan—hoping to avoid some of the summer heat. From there we planned to drive down to North Carolina for the reunion and then home.

Sylvia came down with a fever of over 102º F (39º C) June 28. Nothing we did would bring her fever down, and on July 2 she was admitted to hospital. They diagnosed her with pneumonia and kept her there three days. They tested her twice for COVID-19 and declared that she was not part of the pandemic. Dad told me several times that pneumonia is an old man’s friend because it usually takes him and removes him from all of his problems. Fortunately, this didn’t happen for Sylvia.

We debated about what we should do as far as the reunion trip was concerned. A week went by, and Sylvia continued to regain her strength. She indicated that we should give it a try. There was no way we could pursue our original plans on account of the time we had available. So, we decided to skip the Northwest part of our trip. We left home on the 12^th of July and had a great trip. We made it home on the 24^th of August—the day we had originally planned to get home.

At times I wonder if God stepped in and didn’t want us to leave when we had planned to. That is highly unlikely, of course. It was definitely providential that when Sylvia took ill, we were at home and not on the road in some strange place. This way we could get treatment at familiar places. It has taken her time to recover her strength, but she is fine now.

Thank You, Lord, for overruling our lives for our own best good!

 

                                                    

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[1] Camping in Ottumwa, Iowa

Divorce for Religious Differences

 

[1]

1 Corinthians 7:13,16 New International Version

¹³ And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. ...  ¹⁶ How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? …

 

In the 1940s and 50s we spent many years at Helderberg College of Higher Education where Dad was teaching. I remember a Mrs. Bower attending the Helderberg SDA Church every Sabbath. My parents became good friends with her. She and her husband lived in the Strand, a seaside village about 6 miles (10 km) from the college. On the rare occasions when we would go to the beach, we often stopped in to see her. She served us tea while she and my parents had a good visit.

Mrs. Bower had a great desire to see an Adventist church in her town—the Strand. She conducted many bake sales and other money raising events to help raise the money to build that church. My parents admired her for her almost single-handed efforts towards her goal.

Mr. Bower was not a believer, but he tolerated his wife’s devotion to Adventism—to an extent. Of course, he also criticized her publicly for her Sabbath keeping and singleness of purpose to build the church.

Years went by, and in 1954 our family moved to Solusi in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where Dad converted a 10-grade school into a 4-year university. We heard, through the “Adventist grapevine," that in 1955 Mrs. Bower finally achieved her goal, and a church was built in the Strand. A few years later she passed away.

[2]

 

In 1960 I returned to Helderberg as a college student. On one Sabbath at Helderberg Church, they held a baptismal service. To my surprise, Mr. Bower was one of the people who was baptized. After his baptism he gave a tearful testimony. He spoke of his devoted wife and how much he had laughed at and hindered her zeal for the Lord and a church in the Strand. He only wished he could do those years over again. He also wished he had taken his stand for Christ while she was still alive to rejoice with him. Every time I read First Corinthians, Chapter 7, I am reminded of the Bowers.

 

Lord, thank You for encouraging us to keep the salvation of our families in mind throughout our lives

 

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[1] A picture of the Strand SDA Church from Google Maps

[2] A close-up of the church’s 50^th anniversary celebration, from the previous picture. This memoir comes strictly from my childhood memories and may have gotten some details wrong, for which I apologize.

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A Merry Heart Doeth Good Like A Medicine

[1]

Proverbs 17:22 The Message Bible

²² A cheerful disposition is good for your health;
    gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.

 

It was 6:30 in the morning. Chantal walked down the hallway chanting “Devotions—De-vo-tions.

Last summer Sylvia and I spent 17 days in The Lifestyle Center at Uchee Pines Institute in Alabama. My purpose for being there was to explore an alternate method to bring my cancer under control. Every morning Chantal would walk up and down the hallway at 6:30 a.m. chanting “Devotions—Devotions” with strong emphasis on the last syllable while ringing a handbell. She taught us to sing a cappella the King James inspired version of this song:

 

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine

      Like a medicine is a merry heart

But a broken spirit drieth the bones

      A merry heart doeth good,

Doeth good like a medicine.[2]

 

 

A piano sat in the worship room, but there seemed to be no one to play it. So, Sylvia went up to the keyboard and was soon playing that chorus purely by ear. It added fullness to the song.

Every morning Chantal brought us a message of faith and hope in our pursuit of health. Then we would sing this chorus, to Sylvia’s accompaniment, and go out for the day’s activities and our treatments.

I was somewhat surprised and greatly gratified that when we left Uchee Pines, my PSA had been cut in half, and I had lost close to 30 pounds. PSA is an indication of how much prostate cancer I have in my body. Since that time, I have maintained both improvements to the date of this writing.

Much of life at U.P. is one of discipline: “vitals” at 5:50 a.m., “devotions” at 6:30, three meals that are strictly vegan with practically no sugar and very little fat, lectures on avoiding the excesses of modern American life, nauseating herbal teas, and decidedly uncomfortable hydrotherapy treatments. The “Merry Heart” catchy tune, the gentle walks amongst the pines and other trees after meals, and prayers for each other allowed the healing to become a reality. Our group formed a camaraderie that has continued since that time.

We are grateful to You, Lord, for using the simple things to improve our lives.

 

 

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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPXhFQvEuso

[2]For the tune, see  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLfFQl6zKD0

Driving Through a Tropical Storm

 

[

[1]

 

Psalm 37:5 American Standard Version—margin

⁵ Roll thy way upon Jehovah;
Trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass.

 

Three weeks ago, Nancy[2] phoned us distraught. “Hospice told me that Linda will die today!” We were threading our way through the mountains and canyons of southeastern Utah. She had caught us in a spot where we actually had phone coverage. We all knew that this day was coming. Nancy’s little sister had not been eating or drinking for over a week. She wasn’t responding to anybody.

“We’re so sorry,” I said. “Please let us know when you plan a memorial service. We’ll be there,” I promised. Later the date was set for September 10.

As the date approached, I kept an eye on a Pacific hurricane called Kay. Unlike almost all of the Pacific hurricanes that tend to pass safely out to sea in the Pacific Ocean, Kay had turned and started going north. On Friday, September 9, Kay had slowed down enough to become a tropical storm but still carried strong winds and lots of rain. Since Nancy’s home is in Yuma Arizona, about 250 miles from us, we left home about noon on Friday. By this time the storm was starting to splatter our car as we drove east on I-10. It was enough to slow traffic leaving for the weekend, and for about an hour we endured the stop and go.

As we turned south to go along the coast of the Salton Sea, the sky became downright menacing. We had rolled our way upon the LORD when we started. We trusted that He would protect us we entered a terrific downpour. Suddenly my phone barked into life. “This is an alert. This region is in a severe storm area. It is in danger of flooding. You should not be driving unless you are evacuating or fleeing the flood. Take cover immediately.”  Then about five or ten miles down the road. We got another such amber alert. And later another, and another.

The rain was not as bad as when we drove through tropical storm Elsa, but it was a lot worse than we normally see in southern California. We pulled off at a truck stop about half way down the massive Coachella Valley. We had to ford a swiftly flowing river of muddy water to get into the stop. We rested about a half-an-hour there and ate a cinnamon roll. Then cautiously we drove back through this tan river and onto the highway.

We reassured ourselves in the knowledge that we were in the Lord’s hands, and we drove on carefully. So far Kay was no match to tropical storm Elsa, that we had driven through in northern Florida on July 7, 2021. The trip took us a little over 5 hours. Nancy was extremely relieved to see us. She had three friends coming from the San Diego area. They had phoned and said that Kay had washed out a stretch along I-8, and a boulder had run into a car driving along there, so they had turned around and gone back home.

Thank You, Lord, that we can trust You when the going gets dicey.

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[1] https://watchers.news/2022/09/09/tropical-storm-kay-considerable-flooding-possible-in-the-southwest-u-s/  Yuma Arizona is just a little southeast of the “o” in “San Diego” on the satellite image that was taken on the same day, September 9, 2022. We were driving through Coachella Valley to get there.

[2] As per request names have been changed, but the events are true.

"I AM"-- God's Name or Dog Food?

 

[1]

 

1 Chronicles 29:11

Good News Translation

¹¹ You are great and powerful, glorious, splendid, and majestic. Everything in heaven and earth is yours, and you are king, supreme ruler over all.

 

I was walking down the dog food aisle in Walmart when I felt the hair on the back of  my neck suddenly stand up at the blasphemy directly in front of me. Immediately John 8 58-59 flashed across my mind: “I am telling you the truth,” Jesus replied. “Before Abraham was born, ‘I Am’.”  Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple. Here was dog food blasphemously bearing the very name of Almighty God. It is so sacred that people were willing to stone Jesus for simply saying it.

When David prayed to God, he used the most descriptive words he knew to describe God. Now, in American English these words have had their very guts torn out of them. Consider:

Great[2]     

 

Powerful[3]   

 

 Glorious[4]

 

Splendid[5]

 

Majestic[6]

 

King

 

Supreme[7]

 Now drop all these trivializations and think of God as He is. He created not only you and me, but also the earth we live on and the Sun that warms us and creates hurricanes on pleasant ocean currents. He created the vast universe that we see all about us. He defeated the arch-enemy, Satan, who aims to destroy all we see about us and that we delight in. He is infinitely more than we can possibly imagine.

Thank you Lord that You are vastly greater than we can possibly comprehend, and yet You love us are personally interested in our success and salvation.

 

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[1] Iams http://walmart.com/ip/IAMS-High-Protein-with-Real-Chicken-Dry-Dog-Food-for-Large-Breed-Adult-Dog-30-lb-Bag/23370273

[2] Great https://reallyintothis.com/small-great-things-jodi-picoult/

[3] Power https://pristine-sales.com/products/power-seasons-1-2-dvd

[4] Glorious https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9248740/

 [5]Splendid  https://prettybirdkitchen.com/honest-splendid-spoon-review/

 [6] Majestic https://www.facebook.com/MajesticTheatreDallas/

 [7] https://shop.supremenutritionproducts.com/endo-supreme/

 

Christ and a Military Base

[1]

Romans 8:28 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

  ²⁸We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God—those whom he has called according to his plan.

 

When I was 12 I was sent off to boarding school. Up until that time I had led a very sheltered life. I attended a preparatory school connected with a college where Dad was a much respected teacher. Over the next six years I picked up my “street smarts.” Originally I found it expedient to stand up for the opinions of the authorities. I regarded their rules, their opinions, and their decisions as sacrosanct.

This submersion in boarding school was like taking large helpings of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Being a somewhat normal if nerdy teenager, I tried lots of forbidden things just for the kicks. I tried alcohol and tobacco, shoplifting, and other obvious sins. Worse, I learned subterfuge, deceit, and general distrust of the establishment.

The establishment had taught me the legal aspects of Christianity. They taught me to read inspiration their way. Their way supported church authority at all costs. Therefore I read the Bible with their interpretation. I read the Spirit of Prophecy with their interpretation. Everything I read showed me how evil I had become. Indeed I quickly recognized that I was damned. Furthermore, there was no way I could change that status.  This led me deeper and deeper into a sinful, lawless life. My fellow students were quick to urge me on in my descent towards hell.

But God had decided to defeat the seeming triumph of Satan and evil over my life. He led me to Germany. I went there to learn German−at another boarding school. This time my fellow students were all German. Knowing no German initially, I felt cut off from my fellow humans. Because of this, I attended a Sunday church on the American army base and joined its choir, merely for companionship. They spoke English, so we could understand each other.

These new friends came from all walks of life and all religious persuasions. Some came to church for exactly the same reason as I had, for companionship. They had as much Christianity as I did. Others came because they loved Jesus and wanted fellowship with other Christians. One of these made it his mission to introduce Jesus to me.

Yes, I knew Jesus. He carried around a big black book with all of my misdeeds in it underlined in red. He was seeking to punish me for all of my evil deeds. This new Jesus, according to this young Christian, was a savior. At first I didn’t really know what that word meant. But with long patience this missionary taught me. He had a very simplistic understanding of Jesus, even childlike. But that’s exactly what Jesus had declared as essential to being a Christian. Finally I accepted this new concept of Jesus. I then spent many years unlearning what my early training had so successfully drummed into every facet of my psyche.

Now I was learning from and about a Jesus who loves me unconditionally—all the time!

Thank you, Lord, for working out circumstances for my good. Help me to communicate Your love to those You bring to me.

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[1] U.S. Army Military Base at Darmstadt am Main Germany https://www.pinterest.com/pin/565061084476668082/

School Amongst the Hillbillies of Oklahoma

[1]

Psalm 48:14 Good News Translation

¹⁴     “This God is our God forever and ever;
    he will lead us for all time to come.”

 

Grampa lived with us during his last six years. For much of his life he successfully ran his own feather-duster factory in Buchanan, Michigan. Around the year 1900 he became a Seventh-day Adventist. Always insistent on doing everything with his might, he sat his son and daughter down and read E.G. White books to them by the hour.

Margaret, his wife, was blest with good practical wisdom. She took him to task: “Now Papa, you’re going to drive them away from Christ if you keep this up!” He heeded her warning, and the two kids grew up to be his strong supporters.

My mother came as a surprise to the family in 1907. The whole family doted over her and spoiled her. “I never received a spanking,” she would tell me while she wielded the wooden spoon on my backside. I needed it.

When Grampa turned 55, he decided that he had had enough of the entrepreneurial world. He sold his factory and packed the whole family out to the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in Oklahoma. Here, about ten miles outside of the tiny hamlet of Hulbert, the hillbilly children were growing up without any education. When he and Gramma started Ozark Mountain School, they had first graders as old as 21. He raised all of the funds necessary to operate this school from donations, mainly from businessmen in Chicago. Gramma ran the school, functioning as principal, teacher, disciplinarian, dean, and matron.

The sign on the gate read as follows:

Children who Can’t pay
      are welcome Here
Children who Can pay
      are welcome Elsewhere

When my mother, Esther, turned fourteen, they roped her into teaching in the school. In the mid-1920s she went off to college and earned a bachelor’s degree. In 1932 she married Fred Clarke, and in 1936 they arrived in Africa as Seventh-day Adventist missionaries. I was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1942.

Gramma passed away in early 1946, and Grampa joined us in South Africa in 1948. He was fiercely independent, and even at 78, he started selling Christian books door to door to support himself. At 85 years of age, he suffered a stroke that caused a steady decline in his health. He passed into a coma that lasted several days. Finally on May 7, 1954, he awoke from his coma. He was very lucid and chatted with a number of people in the house. When he specifically asked to see me, aged 12, they ushered me into his room and left me alone with him. He told me that he was dying and urged me to promise that I would see him in Heaven when all the righteous dead are raised to eternal life. Although I was not as yet a baptized Christian, I made a solemn promise that I would be there. Not many minutes later he passed to his rest.

“Grampa and Gramma” JW and Margaret Barnhurst

 

I have never forgotten that promise, and by the grace of Jesus Christ, I will indeed keep that promise. I trust that God, our God, will lead me for all time to come to that reunion.

 

Thank You, Lord, that I can trust You to lead me until the end.

 

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[1] https://documents.adventistarchives.org/ScholarlyJournals/AH/AH19911001-V14-02.pdf