Marsha's Blog

 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

 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

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

 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

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

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

 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

 As a lot of you know, Baptist Celebrity (if there's such a thing) Henry Blackaby died this last Sunday.  He was 88.  We didn't know if he was sick, the obituary just said he 'died peacefully'. We had just read his morning devotional in his famous book "Experiencing God Day by Day" when we noticed the news. I won't say we were friends, but we knew him.  We'd even shared a private conversation or two. I don't think we in any way changed his life, but he certainly influenced ours.  The devotional on the day he died, was from 2nd Corinthians 1:20. “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” Henry talked about when we walk in intimate fellowship with Christ, we have the assurance that every PROMISE God has made in Scripture is available to us, within God’s wisdom and timing. I don’t know about you, but I find this Corinthians Scripture comforting.  I have this bad habit sometimes, when we interact with

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog ‘confessing’ that we had been breaking some of the rules.  After I wrote it, we thought, much like teenagers, that we better not post it because our ‘guardians’ might read it and then we’d be in real trouble! Now I can’t find what I wrote, we did such a good job hiding our deceit, but in the ensuing time, we’ve confessed and got the resulting raised eyebrows from our kids. We’ve promised to take more heed of the things they try to do to protect us. So regarding these rules, it involves ladders and other dangerous things.  Some of you will relate. Since we arrived home in November, we’ve been trying to get our ladder back from where it’s been over the last couple of years at the kids’ garage. Finally the kids came clean about the delays, and said, “You don’t need to be on a ladder at your age!” We were offended, of course, and may have thought, a bit disrespectively “What do they know?” Then a neighbour walked by as I was weeding the front yard.  He was wa

 Good Morning Followers,  It’s Sunday morning where you are.  I’m a little sad and a little bit relieved, to say Tony’s still in the hospital.  Everyone here wonders with awe how American hospitals can throw you to the curb after something like a Total Knee Replacement in just a couple of days, but elsewhere in the world, that’s not the case. Some say that it’s probably more‘progressive’ to make you fend for yourselves quicker, rather than being pampered “In Hospital”, as they say here, for 5+ days.  I remember Tony had a shoulder replacement in Thailand 10 or so years ago and that was 7days!  We’re a bit spoiled.   I can’t say I’m sorry to still be commuting back and forth from home because until he gets more independent, I’m afraid that he’d end up in a heap with me underneath him! Every day it gets better, but as everyone has told us, it’s just hard work for a while. Which makes me think about life.    I recently mentioned a friend who's going through a hard time, a song that wa

 We used to listen to a pod cast called “Tales from Lake Woebegone” with Garrison Keillor.  Maybe you’re familiar with it. He always started his program with the greeting, “Well, It’s been a quiet week in Lake Woebegone”. That’s kind of how I feel this week, but it hasn’t exactly been ‘quiet’, just pretty noneventful.  As we get older, that’s sort of a good thing. So I thought I’d share a cute story I just read.  I don’t suppose it’s very sound theologically, but it tickles me to see that there are a lot of different perspectives in our lives that aren’t quite wrong. Bear with me.  Next week I’ll be back with profound thoughts and more importantly, news of Tony’s surgery and beginning recovery. So here’s how it goes.  Again, pardon me if you’ve seen it before. When Forest Gump died, he stood in front of the Pearly Gates.  St Peter said, “Welcome Forest.  We’ve heard a lot about you”.  He continued, “Unfortunately, it’s getting pretty crowded up here and we find that we now have to give

 Good Morning All,  Things are going well around here.  It's hot and it rains a lot, but that’s just “season appropriate”. On the plus side, we’re grateful that we don’t have bring in the winter insulation over the windows, check the antifreeze in the car, stock up on ice melt for the sidewalk and dig out the snow shovels.   On top of that, we’re making progress in moving back into our house after nearly two years away, and Tony’s counting the days until his knee replacement, surgery, now scheduled for January 31st, the day after his 76th birthday.  In keeping with that milestone, he went to the doctor yesterday and got his “driver certification”, required by law in Australia for everyone over 75. I think it's so special, as many of our fellow retired Baptist missionaries can appreciate, to still be included in our mission’s  “Missionary Prayer Calendar”, and to know that there are still many who read it and will remember to pray for Tony on his birthday.  Ann Lovell is one of

 Happy New Year, again This morning I was filling my Webster packs and had a thought I'd like to share. Now for you who aren't from Australia, you may be wondering what a "Webster Pack" is.  It's something I'm going to guess most of you have and deal with weekly. If you haven't guessed what I'm talking about, I'll tell you.  It's the 7-day pill dispenser that we all use.  I have two, because I'm lazy and like to load em up and leave it.  I use them because with three daily pills, I just can't remember if I’ve taken the day's dose or not.  But apparently this wonder is Australian-born (who knew?), invented by a pharmacist here, (who ironically isn't named Webster) back in the early 1970s. His motive was to help seniors like me to be able to use their waning intellect for other things rather than 'Did I take my pills today?' My point here, (wait for it) was the other day I realized that my life is just flying by, evidenced

 Well friends, now that we’re one week into 2024, how are you all doing on your New Year’s resolutions? Of course, our resolution never changes. Next to “Lose weight”, we just scratch off the old year and write in the new one. It probably won’t change as long as we love to eat like we do. This year, we’ve added “Don’t get Covid”, prompted by the fact that at least two of the family members we’ve loved on over the holidays have now tested positive. No worries, though; they’re both on the mend. But as always, my number one ‘Resolution’ is to read more of my Bible.  Like the Living Book it is, it never fails to show me new understandings, even though often it’s a passage that I’ve read many times. This morning, I got two “Thoughts”. I wouldn’t be so brazen as to call them “inspirations” because I’m no prophet. For that matter, I make no claims to authority other than that which the Bible gives me as a simple follower of Christ (and a woman to boot). You’ll have to take this all with a gra