14. May 2012 by James.

We all know that certain individuals influence us more than others, our mothers being at the top of the list.  That should be obvious for the following reasons: they incubated us in the womb for nine months, they nursed us, changed us, played with us, and taught us everything we needed for at least the first year of our life.  We got to know mother’s face before any other, and when perceived trouble was there, it was mother we wanted for comfort or safety.  In the first months or years of our life, mother was the center of our universe.

Unfortunately, the above scenario isn’t true for all.  My dear wife was not well received by her birth mother, and passed from relative to relative (though some of them loved her very much) until she was taken by the state and placed in an orphanage, later to be adopted at the age of two and a half. Her adoptive parents loved her and her brother (who was adopted with her) and they made up for the lack of that loving motherhood of the first 30 months.

But other children, then and now, never truly receive this all-important mothering, and their life starts out without the all-caring cocoon of love, and comfort and safety that a loving mother should provide, leaving the child with an unexplainable loss.  That unexplainable loss often leads to destructive behavior, behavior that leads to prison, or that is recognized by an outsider who steps in to try to fill in for that loss.  These “surrogate parents” can often turn the tide of a life and point them in a successful direction.

The power of mother is incalculable.  When a mother fully fulfills her role in the life of a child that child has the foundation for a rich and prosperous life (and that is not measured by bank account).  Then each child will either build on that foundation, or try to destroy it through stubborn selfish living (a natural characteristic of mankind).  But what is still interesting, the power of a faithful mother’s teaching often breaks through the stubborn mind of the child of selfish living, and her love and teaching begins to take hold in that mind and alters the future path of that child.  That’s the power of MOTHER.

My mother, Charlene, has been one of those faithful mothers, as was her mother, Lillie Dixon.  This faithful work as my mother interrupted my stubbornness in my youthful days and helped redirect my steps.  And her mother set this pattern for mothering, although my grandmother’s mother died when my grandmother was four.  Yet in that short four years the faithfulness of my grandmother’s mother, Julia Kaiser, mixed with the unfaithfulness of her step-mother, enabled my grandmother to live out superbly the role of mother to her four children, and extend that influence to all her grandchildren.

My wife, Kathryn, though starting life without a true mother figure, learned mothering from her adoptive mother, Mavis Pack, and then lived the role of mother to hundreds of children in the school class room, to over forty foster children, and to hundreds more in the class rooms of many churches.  So many children come through the doors of the school classroom, the church classroom, or at your front door who do not know what it’s like to have a mother, that they are “hungry” for the love of a mother.

I thank the Lord for all these mothers I have mentioned: Charlene,

Lillie,

Julia, Mavis,

and Kathy;

for each one of them “became mother” to children who were not their children, but they loved them and showed care for them when no other woman would do so, or at least they did not continue to be “mother” to them.  How many children have been set on the right path because of their “power to mother” children will not be known in this life, but it will be known in the life to come.  May God bless all mothers who have shown the love of a mother to the children God sent to them.  God bless each of these mothers.

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4. May 2012 by James.

The next generation is inheriting a world much worse than the one many of us inherited.  So many of our leaders seem not to want to see the effects of their often selfish decisions, the effects which will have the greatest impact on those children who are growing up in the world so-called leaders have created.  That’s why it is so important to implant in these children the skills and knowledge necessary to cope and succeed in the world they have been given.  The Awana program helps accomplish that goal.

MBC has the Awana program and Wednesday night awards were given out to many for the success they achieved.  Their smiles and joyful singing showed the effects these successes were having on their lives.  But enough of the telling about it, just take a look at the pictures.  Thanks.

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24. April 2012 by James.

Many of you who have followed this blog will be familiar with Lila’s name, or know her personally (link to more about Lila).  Lila passed from this life to her eternal life on April 17, 2012.  She will be missed by all who knew her.

Lila, and her husband Ralph, have accomplished something that is rare in this twenty-first century.  They are loved by people across all age spans.  And that is because they love everyone and showed that love in multiple ways.  Not only did they show love to seniors, they equally demonstrated love to young people, teens, and children.  Because they loved others, others loved them back.

Lila served in our camp, a camp for small churches across the Missouri and Arkansas line, serving as nurse to the children.  I often saw children running up to give her a hug, or just wanting to sit beside her, or on her lap.  Not every nurse is so well received by children.  That’s because Lila loved the children and the children knew that she loved them.  There were times when a health treatment could have been scary to a child, but Lila’s loving relationship with children, put the child at ease and whatever had to be done was “OK”.

In her later years she spent a large amount of time gathering new coats, clothes, shoes, etc. to be given out to the children of our area who, for some reason or another, were without those necessities.  It can not be ascertained the value of these provisions over the last few years.  Even if you could account for the dollar figure of these items, the value to those receiving them are beyond calculation.  I have seen young girls who received a new coat for the first time, wear that coat even when a coat wasn’t necessary.   And sometimes it was the “extras” the children received that meant the most.  A hair ribbon (for one who had never received a hair ribbon before), a new toy truck (for the child who previously had only received hand-me-downs), a new hair brush, blankets, and more items than can be remembered going into the hands of those who may never have had such items before.

Lila lived out the meaning of this Bible passage:  What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?  If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (James 3:14-16).  Lila didn’t say - she did, and so the one departing, departed warmed and peaceful.  May we all follow her example.

Jesus himself states what value He considers Lila’s life to be:  “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’  “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  ‘When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’” (Matthew 25:34-40).

Thank you, Lila, for setting the example.

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16. April 2012 by James.

Sunday was the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  In early 1912 it had received a lot of press declaring the longest ship in the world “unsinkable” – though not directly from the White Star Line.  Officially, the White Star office had said it was “practically unsinkable” but comments from others took the headlines.  Note the following article from the Washington Times on April 16, 1912 (that is 1912 – one hundred years ago today):

Captain Smith Believed Titanic To Be Unsinkable

Washington Times

Tuesday 16 April 1912

That Captain Smith believed the Titanic and the Olympic to be absolutely unsinkable is recalled by a man who had a conversation with the veteran commander on a recent voyage of the Olympic.

The talk was concerning the accident in which the British warship Hawke rammed the Olympic.

“The commander of the Hawke was entirely to blame,” commented a young officer who was in the group. “He was ’showing off’ his warship before a throng of passengers and made a miscalculation.”

Captain Smith smiled enigmatically at the theory advanced by his subordinate, but made no comment as to this view of the mishap.

“Anyhow,” declared Captain Smith, “the Olympic is unsinkable, and the Titanic will be the same when she is put in commission.” “Why,” he continued, “either of these vessels could be cut in halves and each half would remain afloat indefinitely. The non-sinkable vessel has been reached in these two wonderful craft.”

“I venture to add,” concluded Captain Smith, “that even if the engines and boilers of these vessels were to fall through their bottoms the vessels would remain afloat.”

The Captain Smith being quoted here is the same Captain Edward Smith who was later made the captain of the Titanic.  If, as captain of a vessel, you ignore the standard practices of ship safety because you believe it to be unsinkable, then you are part of the cause of the sad result the Titanic and it passengers suffered.  Part of the “standard practices” in 1912 was to slow the ship’s speed through known ice fields, and to have scheduled lifeboat drills, but in the morning of April the 14, Captain Smith canceled a scheduled lifeboat drill.  And during the inquiry, after the sinking, one of the passengers reported overhearing the Captain talking to Ismay, one of the principles of the company, and Ismay was urging the Captain to maintain full speed in order to arrive early in the New York harbor.

Recently, director James Cameron made the following comment in Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron on the National Geographic Channel:

“Part of the Titanic parable is of arrogance, of hubris, of the sense that we’re too big to fail. Well, where have we heard that one before?

“There was this big machine, this human system, that was pushing forward with so much momentum that it couldn’t turn, it couldn’t stop in time to avert a disaster. And that’s what we have right now.”

Arrogance is often the cause of mankind’s failure.  However, in the midst of our “great accomplishment” we fail to recognize we are being arrogant. Some have even stated, “I’m just stating the truth.”  Arrogance is only clearly seen for the ugly falsehood that it is, in the last moments before the unstoppable disaster.  The Titanic was 882 feet long with a rudder that was inadequate for its length.  Arrogantly traveling at full speed in a known ice field, made it impossible for the helm to turn away from the disaster upon them.  Therefore, over 1500 lives were lost, because of the arrogance of a few.

God’s Word reveals several arrogant moments in human history that had profound impact on the future of mankind.  There was, of course, that famous decision to ignore the warning of God, and choose to eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  That arrogant decision brought death to everyone.  Then there was that decision to outsmart God and build a tower to the heavens.  Mankind has been divided ever since.  And then there was the decision of Abraham and Sarah to assist God and make a baby through a surrogate mother.  Soon thereafter, the conflict began in the hills of Canaan, and there has been war in the Middle East from that moment until now.  Yes, our individual moments of arrogance, has profound effects on the rest of mankind.

Each of us can add to the arrogant momentum in our world system today, or we can remember our history of failure, and stop, bend our knee, and seek the wisdom for success that only God can provide.  Note this great statement of wisdom: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).

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11. April 2012 by James.

Modern US Christians live with different expectations than many of the Christians around the world.  As a result, the average US Christian doesn’t expect God to intervene miraculously in their lives.  Often we US Christians expect God to guide us through our own thought processes to achieve something that we say “God guided me” but in reality we are happy to take credit for.  “After all.  God used my mind, my hands, my work, to accomplish this task!”   A lot of “my”s in that statement.

I have been guilty of that periodically. I grew up in a family capable of doing much, and who had a strong work ethic.  So when there was a problem we would put our minds and our hands and backs to it, and bring about a solution.  It is easy to fall into the trap of “God helps those who helps themselves” and not recognize that God IS the solution, not the Helper of those who work out their own solution.   Basically, we are saying that God comes along and examines our proposed solution and “stamps His approval” as if He is saying, “Good idea. I never thought of that!”  Yes, we all do love to help God out.

But sometimes God allows situations to appear in our lives that, for some reason or another, we can provide no solution.  That’s when God steps in and reminds us that He is the One who provides for ALL needs.

Last year our small country church had our sanctuary air-conditioner quit.  Now, the problem was not the need for more coolant, or for a hole in a line to be fixed, or some simple problem to be fixed.  The compressor in this main air-conditioner locked up, metal locked to metal.  The only way to fix it was to remove the unit and replace it.  That required more money than our church could come up with.  Oh, we could have stopped sending our committed amount of money to our missionaries, stopped investing in the lives of children we gathered to our doors, and stopped other ministry expenditures to create a financial solution for the air-conditioner problem, but we knew that was not the answer.  So we waited.

I must admit that I kept hoping God would provide me with the extra money to solve the problem, but He never did.  And as I saw our very warm spring and the potential for a hot summer approaching I had been wrestling in prayer for the need.  Finally one night last week, God wouldn’t let me go to sleep until He and I talked this over.  I came to see that I needed to turn lose of the air-conditioner and surrender to His solution for the problem.  When I finally did release it into His hands, I fell instantly to sleep.

Then came Sunday morning.  I had asked our associate pastor, Corey Sears, to preach our Easter morning message, his first time to preach the Resurrection truth, the heart of the Gospel.  God had indeed spoken to him and the Holy Spirit was clearly evident in our service.  As I was listening to the truth of the Resurrection from Corey’s fresh perspective, I noticed that the sanctuary was cool and comfortable.  My senses became tuned to the sanctuary environment and I realized the air-conditioning was running.  I tried to look around at our congregation without attracting attention, and saw that everyone was comfortable and not noticing the unusualness of that comfort.  How do you stay quiet when you just witnessed a miracle, but God held my tongue.

At the end of the service, after I had made some closing comments, I stepped over to the air-system control on the wall, to see what the settings were, and saw clearly that the air-conditioning unit was running.  Now, I had been gone for a week, so I asked if anyone had completed any repairs to the unit.  No one had, and I checked to make sure that no one had appeared on the property to work on the unit.  As far as mankind was concerned, the air unit had remained untouched.  But it had been touched.  It had been touched by God.  In Biblical Language, it was a miracle.

There are those who will not accept that answer, even among Christians.  But God does work miracles, outside of the hands of man.  When serving on short-term missions in places like Iraq, I have seen little boys with eyes severely crossed, and very bad eyesight, have their eyes straightened while we watched, and the children not need the thick glasses anymore.  I have seen people so sick they could not eat or drink, and had to be carried into our presence, very near death’s door, stand up strong, after they yielded to the pray of faith for them, and sit at a table and eat for the first time in weeks.  Miracles immediately from God’s hand, without man’s hands doing anything.

The problem for many Christians in the US is that we expect God to do things through our hands, capable like we are, and thus never leave room for God to carry out His solutions for life’s problems.  So we act out a solution of our own making, and it often fails.  As I was again reminded, we must turn lose of the need and release it into the hands of the ONE who has the only fail-safe solution.  What blessings are then poured out upon us when we do!

“Father, pry my solutionless fingers off my need, and take that need, and do with it as you will.  Amen”   To God be the Glory, great things He has done!!!

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20. March 2012 by James.

In 2006 I received a phone call, a call that had begun in Israel.  Chuck Todd, of World Missions Alliance, was in Israel at the time and during his prayer time had felt led to call his wife, Helen, and ask her to call me.  She agreed and dialed my number.

I was in my office when my wife, Kathy, came in and told me Helen was on the line.  That wasn’t unusual.  We had been involved with their mission organization for several years, helping in one capacity or another.  My heart has always been involved in missions and when we met Chuck and Helen Todd and discovered their commitment to go to the difficult and dangerous hot spots of the world, Kathy and I were immediately committed to assist them whenever we could.  So, to receive a phone call from them wasn’t unusual.

What I heard on the phone that day wasn’t just unusual, it was shocking.  “James, Chuck feels that you are to go with him on his next trip to Iraq!”   “Iraq?  But there is a war going on in Iraq,”  was my thought, but not my voiced answer.  She explained more of the need to me and told me she needed an answer within a couple of days.  I promised that I would pray about my decision and get back to her in a few hours.  I was a little numb when I walked into the kitchen of our home to talk to my wife.

The next shock came a few minutes later.  I told Kathy what Helen had asked and firmly expected her to at least be taken aback.  “Yes, you are to go!  God has been telling me you are going soon!”  Have you ever heard the statement, “You could have hit me with a ton of bricks!”?  Well, on that day I knew what that feels like.  But as I looked at my wife’s face and listened to her explain more of her heart on it all, I knew it was true God had been speaking to her.  But I hadn’t heard Him say anything to me about Iraq.

It was time for prayer.  I went back to my office and settled into my chair.  How do you talk to God when you are in shock?  “What’s going on, God?  I haven’t heard from You at all about going to Iraq!”  But God was not surprised by my shocked countenance, or my questions that I fired off to Him.  He let me warm up the heavenly phone line for a while with these endless questions and then he asked a few questions Himself.  “Haven’t you committed yourself to help others find Me, or grow in their relationship to Me?”   These were questions that stopped my questions, and as my wife, Kathy, reminds everyone,  were words to ponder.  (see Kathy’s Ponderings )

It just so happened (”just so happened”?) that I was wearing that day, a T-shirt many men had received when preparing to travel to the Promise Keepers Million Man March at Washington DC.  As I was continuing my conversation with Father God, I casually looked down and noticed the words on the shirt.  The words shouted at me: “Standing in the Gap!”  In that instant I knew that God wanted me to Stand in the Gap for the people of Iraq.  Before two hours had passed from receiving the call from Helen, I called to say I was committed to go.

I went to Iraq twice that year, and later my wife and I went with them to Beijing, China.  A few years later, my nephew and I went to the Republic of Georgia with another team from World Missions Alliance (see Missionary ).  Today I eagerly wait for God to call me up and tell me to go - wherever!   I have the privilege of having friends in Iraq, China, Republic of Georgia, Ukraine, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Jordan, Turkey, as well as other places.

Next week we have the great joy of seeing some of these friends as we meet in Branson, Missouri, for the World Missions Alliance Annual Conference, Breakthrough.  There will be speakers there from around the world and we will have the privilege of having live video calls from many places around the globe.  And there is one thing I have learned through all the previous conferences, God will be there, and He will surprise many by tapping them on the shoulder and saying, “I want you to go to ——-!”

Have you ever wanted to see God in action?  Join us in Branson, MO, March 28 - 30, at the Tri-Lakes Center.  You may go to World Missions Alliance for more details.   You know, God may just tap you on your shoulder.  Don’t worry.  You’ll never regret it!

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7. March 2012 by James.

Exodus 33:13  “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”    Moses’ prayer echoes what should be our prayer this day. 

So often our prayer is for God to empower us in OUR path, to strengthen OUR arm in the battle, to enable US to defeat OUR enemy.   But Moses prayed, “…show me Your way…”  And God’s way may be only to reveal HIS glory.  When we examine His Word we often find that the battle was won in the night (during the time the battle wasn’t engaged by men) by God working solo — His might and arm of deliverance acted and the enemy fled.   All that was left for the army was to clean up.  God got all the glory.

“But God only did that in the Old Testament!”  Really?  A missionary knew God was leading him to go to a remote area in dense jungle – no other way than by foot.  He finally convinced some others to join him and they trekked many days through difficult terrain, only to arrive at a swollen river.  The only way across this deep ravine was a swinging foot bridge, not visible because of the flood waters.  The missionary’s companions all decided they must return home.  The missionary, remembering the mighty power of God He demonstrated in Old Testament stopped and bowed his head.  He asked God to make a way across the river.  His companions, anxious to return home, but respectful, watched as he remained in prayer.  As the missionary continued to pray the waters suddenly begin to recede, until the swinging bridge was completely out of the water.  His companions shouted for joy and realized that God was in this journey.  Today a strong church exists at their journey’s end.  If we pray for God to be revealed, His glory will be seen!!

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1. March 2012 by James.

Please be courageous and read these verses BEFORE reading the comments!!

1. De 31:6  “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
   
2. Jos 1:9  “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
3. 1Ch 19:13  “Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the LORD do what is good in His sight.”
4. Ps 27:14  Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
5. Ps 31:24  Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the LORD.

Courage is often substituted with something else.  Instead of courage, we judge someone else (lacking courage ourselves we judge those who are acting in courage).  Instead of courage we complain (”Our leaders are trying to lead us into difficult situations”).  Instead of courage we blame others for not witnessing to those to whom God has called us to witness.  Instead of courage we go in the opposite direction from that in which God is leading (remember Jonah).  And the list could go on, for when we lack courage to do anything that God is leading us to do, we can quickly substitute anything that appears to give us an excuse to not do as God is commanding (Satan holds out to us the excuse and we readily receive it).

The Christian men and women who have become, and are becoming today, giants in the Walk of Christ, are men and women who willingly received from God the courage to act in complete obedience to His commands.  Not selective obedience, but complete obedience.  O, we may say, “I don’t act selectively regarding God’s commands”.  But the truth is: Most of the church of Christ acts extremely selective when it comes to Christ’s commands.  We often lack the courage needed to act, and we don’t want God to give it to us.  God says, “I want you to abandon your present life style and do only want I tell you to do.”  We say, “But God, I have to feed my family and if I do what you say, they will starve” (and other variations of “if I do what you say“)   We don’t trust God.  We don’t have courage to walk into the unknown and follow Christ exclusively. 

To have courage we must remember these words and remember Who said them: ” Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”  (It is also helpful to remember those who acted in courage. Read Remembering Why.)

An example of those who are courageous is found in the lives of those mentioned in the post A Step Up and Forward, and in the post just below this. Please continue reading.

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29. February 2012 by James.

Some of you have read my blog entry, Warriors Up, that spoke of Ralph and Lila Watkins.  Lila has been sick lately and felt that the cancer that has taken so many of her family was working on her.  After visiting doctors, Lila had surgery last week (Wednesday) because the tumors in her stomach had doubled in size in the last few days.  When the doctor got inside he found that the cancer had spread to her intestines, pancreas, her body cavity, as well as many other places.  He took out the tumors because of the immediate need but could do nothing about the rest of the cancer because it had spread to so many locations.  Any further work by the doctor, he told them, could take her life.  Her life is in God’s hands.

Ralph has been recovering from his illness but the past two days has taken a lot out of him.  Kathy and I visited them Thursday and Friday and found these two servants of the Lord fully trusting in their Savior and Lord.  God has mightily used Ralph and Lila as instruments in the spread of the Gospel, both home and foreign fields, and God is continuing to be with them during this time.

They have become intimate friends with many in this Ozark region.  Their contact with some of the Christian schools around us enabled them to develop close relationships with many of the teachers in these schools.  That is how my wife, Kathy, and I met them.  And that is how they came to know Marjorie Barnhart and Virgina Boucher, otherwise known as the Bible Ladies.  For nearly 50 years these two ladies went to the old one/or two room school houses and unfolded the Bible in song and flannel-graph story boards.  Virginia was a master at revealing Biblical truth through these characters in flannel.  Two of their students in these Bible sessions were Dawn and Lynnette Bohl.

The two Bohl girls both grew up to be teachers.  They got to know Ralph and Lila, as well, and shared their desire to see the Bible’s truth made available for children and adults.  As the years passed Dawn and Lynnette realized the influence the Bible Ladies, Marjorie and Virginia, had on their lives.  They began a collaboration to write the story of the two young women who planted themselves in the Ozarks to share God’s Good News. That work has progressed through interviews, hours and hours of pouring over pictures and paper records.  I felt that this work, or at least a portion of it, would comfort Lila as she was suffering in the hospital bed.  I emailed Dawn and asked if she could send a couple of chapters.  Dawn called her sister Lynnette who immediately sent the opening chapter, and a few random chapters.  The effect of reading that first chapter, The Master’s Story-teller, in that hospital room was amazing.  My wife, Kathy, a very effective reader, held the printed pages and stood beside Lila’s bed as she read it to Lila and Ralph, and others who came in.

Lila was in real pain that day and had been restless, but as Kathy began to read the story, Lila quieted down and everyone else became still in the room.  It seemed that the troubles of that day disappeared as they were transported to a better time, and peace settled into the room.  Lila and Ralph would smile at certain parts and even laugh out loud – as much as Lila’s surgery would allow.  The reading of that story had a healing effect.

I came to realize, as I stood there watching the scene unfold, that this book being written could be an instrument of care and comfort when it is taken to hospitals and nursing homes, and read to people who can remember such a time the book reflects on.  But its effect is not just on those who are older, for it also captured the minds of the young, for many of them stopped to listen, as was also true this past Sunday as Kathy read it during Children’s Time at our church.

This book has a bigger scope than just those who knew Marjorie and Virginia, or Ralph and Lila.  And since it is being written by two young girls who grew up under the teaching of these Bible Ladies, two girls who were so greatly affected by their ministry, there is a heart connection woven throughout the book.  It is a book that could touch the world.

Pray for Ralph and Lila, pray for Miss Virginia (Marjorie now sits with Jesus), and pray for Dawn and Lynnette as they complete this heart-touching book.  If you would like to make a comment about this work, or want to know more about this project, contact me and I will pass the information on to Dawn and Lynnette.

I am always reflecting on the amazing work of God through His people.

James 

 P.S.  Picture of Marjorie and Virginia, above, was taken by Fonda Laughlin (Facebook link). If you would like to read more about Ralph and Lila go to post Heroes Of The Past  or Branson with a Smile .  The second link also has pictures of the effects of the Feb. 29 Branson Tornado.

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28. February 2012 by James.

Welcome. Please forgive the lack of information here.  Our web-site provider had a malfunction and we lost the entire site.  We will be working to restore it but it may take some time.  Thanks for your patience.

Following remarks added on Mar. 3:  We have nearly completed the restoration, although there is more to come.  We took this opportunity to reorganize the blog so that it is more accessible, by putting links to earlier blogs inside the latest blogs that continue a theme or are related to the subject of an earlier blog.  We hope these changes help your reading experience while at our Blog.  The math question has been removed to ease the issue of leaving a comment, so feel free to add YOUR OWN comments.

Thanks

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