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Born Free

 Good morning friends, I woke up last week, Easter morning, to a beautiful sunrise and in my head I was singing“Up from the grave He arose!” And then just as naturally, came from my deep psyche, the rest of the song,“With a mighty crashing to His toes!” I didn’t post this last week, because you need to experience Easter without my childhood memories crashing in. But it’s true.  For those of us that were absolutely born into Christian families, and I’m guessing there are many of you reading this blog, the awe of the faith may not be there for many years.  Instead, you may have found yourself sitting on the back pew making funny words to important Hymns.   You may be able to give me examples.  I think Tony grew up wondering who “Gladly,the Cross-eyed Bear” was. But I’m happy to say that even though my mother told me “Of course you’re a Christian, you prayed to receive Jesus when you were TWO!” My faith became REAL to me when, at 15,  I heard a sermon being preached using the verse in Mat
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Happy Easter!

 Happy Easter to All! I hope you’re all having a great Resurrection Day, I know we’ve been blessed with a big crowd at church, several baptisms and the all time Australian treat of Hot Cross Buns.  My grandchildren are all playing together as we speak, and that always makes us count our blessings.   I am reminded today of something that happened years and years ago, 1979, in fact, when we were in Japanese language school in Tokyo. For some unknown reason, our mission leaders decided that we would be “Guinea Pigs” and sent to the Catholic language school.  There were several schools around, but each one had its own “issues”, so they thought they’d give the Catholics a chance.  After a bit of culture shock, we were delighted. The classes were challenging but not impossible, and while we didn’t emerge exactly “bilingual”, everyone agreed the two-year experience was worth it.  Every day we were surrounded by nuns and priests, most of whom did not speak English, having come mostly from Euro
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Life's Little Miracles

We’ve been doing something with the grandboys that’s beginning to pay off.  Every Wednesday evening, I try to cook a meal for them, which gives us an excuse to sit together around the table.  As we’re finishing up, Gigi (Tony’s grandpa name) tells them a story about our past.  I know it’s egotistical, but we all enjoy remembering and getting some mileage out of our adventures and mistakes.  Any of you out there that remember Tony's dad, "Uncle Buddy" will know that Tony comes from a line of storytellers. It reminds me of a verse I just read in the Old Testament, one of God’s instructions to the Israelites: “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” ( Deuteronomy 6: 6-8 KJV) So last night, they had a friend at dinner and all three boys were saying
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Hop Hop Bang

 We’ve lived in Australia for over 20 years and this last week our family had a first: Nathan hit a kangaroo. Now you may think that’s like hitting a dog or a deer, but let me explain. Kangaroos, when on the move, don’t seem to be looking left and right, or thinking what a speeding vehicle could do to them. Many say they lack the intuitive skills to work out things like this.  I prefer to think that they just love the rhythm of the hop and are gleefully enjoying themselves. And for proof, it looks like they’re always in pairs, thus the old Australian adage, “If once you see a kangaroo, best watch out for number two.” If you travel very far into the Outback, you can count hundreds of carcasses beside the road, victims of the road trains with their invincible “Roo Bars” attached to the front.   In Nathan’s case, very fortunately, the kangaroo wasn’t at his highest in his bounce, because then he would have come thru the windshield.  That can be fatal to the passengers.  No, this one, just
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Farewell to a Friend

Good morning,   Many of you know that we have a place in our house where we hang pictures of selected men and women. We call it our ‘Wall of Witnesses”, and it’s based on Paul’s mention of his Cloud of Witnesses in Hebrews 12:1, those who have gone before us and encourage us to run the race with perseverance.  We started our wall many years ago and now have 9 couples who we believe to have helped make us who we are. Of course you’ll see our parents there, a loving and Godly grandmother, but the other people we’ve picked up along the way, all greatly impacting our lives. Unfortunately for us, only a few of these people remain with us today, and it certainly hurt (selfishly) to hear this morning that yet another one has gone to be with the Lord.  But the good news is that he was ready. In his 90’s, now free of pain and rejoicing with his wife…… only having been separated from her for two years. His name was Howard Kroese, but he preferred to be called by his grandkids and younger asso
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In His Time

Thank you for all your kind comments on last weekend's blog.  Today I'd like to focus on the 'Rest of the Story' as Paul Harvey used to say.  The part I mentioned in Psalms 30:11 about the 'mourning into dancing'. But first a cute story. It seems that an Amish boy and his father were visiting a mall.  They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and back together again. The boy asked his father, "What is that, Father?"  The father, (never having seen an elevator ) responded, "Son, I don't know what it is!"   While the boy and his father were watching wide-eyed, an elderly lady in a wheel chair was pushed up to the moving walls and with some assistance, was able to press a button.  The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room.  The walls closed and the boy and his father watched small circles of lights with numbers above the walls light up.  Then they
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A Time and a Place

 It was 32 years ago this week that our son, Trevor, died. We don’t dwell on the date much anymore, but it does give us a chance to “check systems” and discover to our delight that God is still there and still bringing that comfort and assurance. I can’t help but recall Romans 8:28 during this time and realize anew that things really ARE “working together for good”. In the first year after his passing, a church sprang up, built on shared grief; for awhile, it was the fastest growing evangelical church in Japan, and 32 years later it’s still going strong.  Not a ministry tool I would have chosen, but I have the assurance that this will be only one of many “good things” to have come about through this deepest valley. But I have to look back and remember the day when a well-meaning church member reminded us of that verse, and unfortunately the timing was just not right. We were in Alaska, driving up from California on a family camping/exploring trip, on our way back to another exciting fo
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