Marsha's Blog

 Dear Friends, Welcome back!  As usual, your comments always greatly encourage us, and it was so nice of so many to appreciate my blog last week about Lottie Moon.  She was an amazing missionary for sure.  During our time on the field, I would often wonder how I might have responded to the kinds of things she encountered.  And I wasn’t alone in my musings. Tony went through his share of “what iffings”, especially when thinking about those times when we came so close to situations of deadly possibilities. (more so in our first years in Africa than later in Japan). It would sometimes drive him to distraction, wondering if he would step up and place his life between me and whatever was trying to get to me … or if he would say something like, “Hey, you take care; I’ll be right back.” My response was to remind him that God did NOT put him in those situations he was imagining, and if He did, God would have certainly given him what he needed, when he needed it. And I g...

 Good Morning Friends,   Hope all is going well for you. Many years ago, we found ourselves in Southern California. For the life of me, I can’t remember now why we were there, but at this age, that sorta comes with the territory. Anyway, we had been driving all day and needed a place to rest.  We were looking for a reasonable place to stay, and back in those days, there were little "tourist magazines" tossed around gas stations and fast food chains.  In one of those, I had found a coupon that suggested that if I showed it to this particular motel chain, they'd reduce the cost of the room by 30%. That, as usual, was attractive to me.  I carefully tore out the coupon and handed it to Tony and my daughter while they started off for the office. A few minutes later, Nicki came out and said, "I think Daddy's going to need your help" She knew that Tony's a lover, not a fighter, but I couldn't imagine what the problem was as I hurried in.  There stood Tony w...

 Good Morning All, Well, I promised you another blurb from our upcoming book. I want to share the following story, but sadly it may not make it into publication.  "Why?" you ask.  Because it’s a story that has already been told many times, in many ways. But it’s a great account about a wonderful lady, so let me share a few details here. A tip of the hat and a big “Thanks” to my friend Tim, who did a lot of researching and put together what you’re about to read. If you are a Baptist, then you'll recognize the name "Lottie Moon". For many years now, she has been the “poster child” for our annual missions offering always happening around Christmas.  The story of her life is certainly an inspirational one. Even a cursory search will turn up several books about her life (and death). The one that has provided the most information for this blog is called, Lottie Moon: Giving Her All for China, from YWAM Publishing (2001). Lottie was born in 1840 in Virginia and was app...

 Good morning friends, I got several comments about my blog “Truth Hurts” and I thought I’d send you one from my cousin in Brazil.  Hope you enjoy it, Here it is> Sunday night found me, a tired but grateful missionary, sitting in my rocking chair, relaxing… to read Marsha’s blog. “Truth Hurts”  It left me feeling o.k? maybe a bit empty?  Really?  I pondered the idea during my waking hours of the night.  I woke up this morning still thinking.about it.  Is this slogan true? My mother-in-law was born in the United States of Danish immigrant parents.  She grew up in a very Danish community in Portland, OR.  Danes are known for being blunt.  They tell it like it is, as they see it!  My mother-in-law told a story about her mother and her aunt.  It seems that Tante Greta had her picture taken by a professional photographer.  She was not pleased with the results!  She complained as she showed the proofs to sister Minnie....

 Good Morning Everyone, As many of you know, when you're getting older, the day may come when you decide to get out there in the garage and start sorting things out.  Looking at the mountains of “treasure/trash” in every corner, I couldn’t help but recall the words I heard on this last trip, "There are no U-Haul trailers behind hearses".  Now there’s something to think about.  Anyway, as I was traveling down memory lane looking thru boxes, I had a little moment when I came across a box filled with mementoes from the days when our kids were living at home. With the scent of mothballs making my eyes water, I lifted out my son Nathan’s senior year sweatshirt. It was supposed to have been a bonding experience for the students, and they were given permission to have a personalised slogan printed on the back. I remember his friends were putting stuff like “Cool Dude" or "Successful"........  slogans to live by that would carry them on into graduation and beyond. ...

 Hello Friends! As promised, here are a couple of chapters of the upcoming book, “Stories in Time”. We’re trying to write about people who have experienced identifiable meetings with God in their last moments.  I hope you will be encouraged by these, and by the way, if you know any similar stores, please share them with us. We’ll write up a sample chapter based on your story, and with your permission will include it in the book.  Here’s the Preface, to give you an idea:   “Cars eased to the left and the right of the road ahead, as their drivers noticed either the red flashing lights or heard the whoop! whoop! of the siren. Glancing in the rear-view mirror, I saw a car hugging our back bumper. My partner, Steve, said, “Gonna have to dob that one in. Ambulance chasers are a menace to traffic.” “Will do,” I answered, reaching for the radio’s hand-held mic. I called the dispatcher, who in turn called the local police. That poor fellow was about the have a bad day. Coming...