THE SUDDEN PAINFUL BLOW OF DEATH

How Could We Comprehend the Pain that Was about to Strick

 As we struck camp that Friday morning and loaded to leave our first wonderful family vacation in the friendly country of Canada, it was with joy and gladness that we drove away hoping for another such outing in another year or two.  Not far from our campsite we merged into the long line of travelers going over the border from beautiful Canada into the Good Ole United States of America.

After we left the last gate giving us the freedom of home, we settled back to enjoy the scenery and ride through the Michigan landscape.  We were in Carlene's van.  She rode behind the front seat passenger.  I rode shotgun.  Joanna had the wheel.   The Kids were settling into their favorite spots.  After an hour outside Canada, Joanna's phone rang.  She answered, spoke a word or two then want silent for a few seconds, then pulling onto the shoulder of the road she looked at me and said with a terribly broken voice, Dad I don't know how to tell you this; but, Jeremy's no longer here.  Jeremy died this morning.  I was uncomprehending.  We all wept sourly at the awful, unbelievable report that Jeremy, our believed 46 year old son had suddenly died of a heart attack.

We were on an interstate with plenty of traffic and no proper place to pull over or get out.  In a short way along the road we came to a parking area.  There we pulled off and climbed out.  The six of us hugged and cried individually and in a circle, just what ever seemed to met our needs at the moment.  Joanna told the story as she had heard it from the police man, a boy who had been in her graduation class from High School.  Jeremy, our second son, the middle of our five children, lived in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  He had been Minister of Music at the First United Methodist Church  of Hopkinsville for several years. 

Jeremy had a degree in Forestry, but loved music just a little bit better.  He was an avid bicycle rider.  He connected well with the city bike shop and the men and women who gathered there often to ride the roads and by-ways of Christian County.  Friday was his day off and those days he and others often took longer rides.  Early every day available, before work, he / they got in a few miles.  After several years of riding, he was working his way up to 100 to 150 mile per week.  Over the years he had gained weight and saw biking as a way toward health as well an excise and good fellowship with many friends.  Gladly, over time, he had lost many pounds of weight.

Some bikers ride racing bikes and some mountain bikes.  Jeremy's were racers.  Some friends liked mountain biking.  He had fixed up a mountain bike and was excited to have his first experience on the big tires that day.  Only one friend was available that Friday.  They were prepared and ready.  Bikes were secured in the back of his pickup.  They drove west from Christian County to the Land between the Lakes, parked the pickup, unloaded and started up the trail.

After a while they saw a Welcome Center ahead.  Jeremy said to his friend, "My chest is hurting a little, I think I'll stay and rest a while.  You go on, I'll catch up."  But the friend waited around a bit, then said he'd go back and bring up the pickup.  By the time he returned, Jeremy had collapsed.  Someone immediately began CPR,  911 had been called.  By the time Pickup and Friend arrived an ambulance was on the seine.  The ambulance crew did their best and the Paducah, Kentucky hospital did their best for two hours to no avail. 

It was Jeremy's day to move from Hopkinsville to Heaven and live with God forever.  We can't tell you our pain.  We can tell you we know where he is and we can go there, too.  Not every body goes there.  But any body can go there.  The requirement is to believe Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord.  Ask His forgiveness of all your sin and let Him become King of your heart and life.

MULTI FAMILY VACATION TO NIAGRA

We Gathered from Italy, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Iowa

Sometime early this year our girls had the great idea to visit the Canadian Niagara Falls this summer.  The farther the ideas progressed the more exciting the plans became.  Finally all was in order.  I left with Lydia's family for a visit with Keith's family in eastern Pennsylvania.   They had great fun touring Brandon's place and I stayed about three nights with Keith and Annette.  I spoke briefly at Keith's Church that Sunday. Following the service they had the Christening of a sweet little boy.  Several family members of each side of his family were present.

We had lunch with Brandon's family.  That afternoon we visited some of the beautiful Cottages in the wooded hills of the Leigh High Valley where a very old Methodist Tabernacle had conducted and still conducts Camp Meetings and religious services for many years.  It seemed that in a matter of moments we pasted from the hubbub and rush of modern American life to the peace and calm of  Pioneer peoples in centuries long past.

Monday morning we loaded into the three vehicles bound northwest to meet with the van filled with luggage and wiggling, squirming life, two Mamma's and three kids filled with lots of vinegar from the corn fields of Illinois.  All aimed for a marvelous camp ground near the Niagara River.  Before nightfall, all family groups had made it over the border and found the next door camp sites where we pitched three tents and made use of one nicely supplied motel room.  Breakfasts and suppers were prepared around the campfire.  Wonderful fellowship was shared from memories long past:  stories, games, fun and laughter filled the night air.  The seven young cousins with Mamma's, Papas, Grand Mamma's, Grand Papas, and a Great Grand Papa, all from three continents, three states of the United States of America and two nations of the world were all camping in the beautiful Canadian countryside for a great four days of joy near the great unbelievably spectacular  Niagara Falls.

We walked along the cliffs of the gorge in awe and amazed wonder as tons of water fell over the two sets of falls ever second.   As night came on vary colored lights shown onto the cascading river falling into the great abyss.  Boats in the river below sold rides for the bold and the courageous.  We were each furnished with thin, sturdy rain wear with head covering.  The strong blowing mist from the mighty river drove us to cower in the shelter of our over coats.  The long exhausting walk from the boat up the great incline to the elevators was near more than I could handle.  The girls helped me to some chairs under a canopy.  Niagara attendants brought cold water and energy drinks.  With the careful care of family and strangers I soon recovered and made it to the upper street where we waited for the strong among us to bring the cars.  We saw many of the same sights over and over each day but were  also amazed at all the new views we had overlooked before.

One of the great breakfasts were the skillets full of scrambled eggs that Brandon turned out on the bon fires each morning.  "O what great flavor and taste!"   An old mother coon and one of her young made their way under our table every night to scrounge up some food we had dropped.   But their main goal seemed to be our trash bag.  We very quickly learned to dispose of all trash as soon as we could carry it away.  After a night or two I took courage in hand and started chasing them away.  It was lots of fun to keep chasing until they stayed up the tree for longer than five minutes.   Not all of us found the midnight trip to the shower house to be of any great fun.  We all had good flash lights for that purpose, but some times the light had vanished at the time of greatest need.

The last morning was a bit slow at the start.  We had to get the coals left in the ashes of last nights fire dug out and new wood lighted so breakfast could start.  But it wasn't long until motion began to pick up.  Dressing, packing, rolling bedding, folding cots, emptying the tents, dropping and folding the tents were all in process while breakfast was finishing.  Last trips to the wash house, loading the vans and storing the kids in their niche brought us out to the departure point.  All was excitement.  Kids calling out 
good byes to cousins, aunts, uncles, grams and gramps.  It might be a long time till we meet again.

Little could we know what sorrow and sadness awaited us an hour over the  border.  But all in all we'd had a remarkably wonderful and joyful four days with faraway living family here together in the gorgeous Canadian  country side.
               

ANOTHER PRAYER IN THE BIBLE

Hezekiah Is Healed
          Isaiah 38:1-8  (NASB)

38 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill.

 And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him,

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’”

 

 ² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,

 ³ and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

 

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,
 ⁵ “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David,
 “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.
⁶ I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city.”’

⁷ “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord,
 that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken:
⁸ Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway,
 which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps.”
 So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.

Do we believe God still answers prayer?

ANOTHER PRAYER FROM THE BIBLE

Daniel's Prayer for His People

Daniel 9:4-23  (NASB)

Daniel Confesses the Sin of the People

⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, ⁵ we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.

 ⁶ Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.

⁷ “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.

 ⁸ Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.

Daniel Confesses God's Compassion and Forgiveness

⁹ To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; ¹⁰ nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.

 ¹¹ Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.

 ¹² Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.

 ¹³ As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth.

 ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.

¹⁵ “And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked.

¹⁶ O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us.

Daniel asks God to hear prayer

¹⁷ So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.

 ¹⁸ O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.

¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

Maybe we also ought to pray as did Daniel and the Prophets of old

MORE PRAYERS FROM THE BIBLE

Ezra a Priest of Israel Prays a Pray of Confession

     Ezra 9:5-15

⁵ But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the Lord my God; ⁶ and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.

 ⁷ Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day.

 ⁸ But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage.

⁹ For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.


¹⁰ “Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, ¹¹ which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and with their impurity.

¹² So now do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’

¹³ After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us an escaped remnant as this, ¹⁴ shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape?

¹⁵ O Lord God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this."

[The Question in My Mind?]

Have we sinned these sins?

Are we accountable to God for such behavior?

Does the Word of God and His Commands apply to us?

Should the Churches of America be confessing the sins of America?

Ought we to pray for revival?

Is revival possible in our day?

SOME MORE PRAYERS FROM THE BIBLE

GOD'S DELIVERANCE OF HIS PEOPLE

[Habakkuk 3:1=19]

 

Habakkuk 3:1-19 (NASB)

3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.

² Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear.
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years,
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.

 

³ God comes from Teman,
And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah.
His splendor covers the heavens,
And the earth is full of His praise.

⁴ His radiance is like the sunlight;
He has rays flashing from His hand,
And there is the hiding of His power.

⁵ Before Him goes pestilence,
And plague comes after Him.

⁶ He stood and surveyed the earth;
He looked and startled the nations.
Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered,
The ancient hills collapsed.
His ways are everlasting.

⁷ I saw the tents of Cushan under distress,
The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.

 

⁸ Did the Lord rage against the rivers,
Or was Your anger against the rivers,
Or was Your wrath against the sea,
That You rode on Your horses,
On Your chariots of salvation?

⁹ Your bow was made bare,
The rods of chastisement were sworn. Selah.
You cleaved the earth with rivers.

¹⁰ The mountains saw You and quaked;
The downpour of waters swept by.
The deep uttered forth its voice,
It lifted high its hands.

¹¹ Sun and moon stood in their places;
They went away at the light of Your arrows,
At the radiance of Your gleaming spear.

¹² In indignation You marched through the earth;
In anger You trampled the nations.

¹³ You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
For the salvation of Your anointed.
You struck the head of the house of the evil
To lay him open from thigh to neck. Selah.

¹⁴ You pierced with his own spears
The head of his throngs.
They stormed in to scatter us;
Their exultation was like those
Who devour the oppressed in secret.

¹⁵ You trampled on the sea with Your horses,
On the surge of many waters.

 

¹⁶ I heard and my inward parts trembled,
At the sound my lips quivered.
Decay enters my bones,
And in my place I tremble.
Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress,
For the people to arise who will invade us.

[Habakkuk certainly saw the trouble of his own day and probably

on into our times and beyond.

These following verses have given me great hope and courage in

the confidence of God's faithfulness and promises.]
 

¹⁷ Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,

¹⁸ Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

¹⁹ The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.

 

For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.



SOME PRAYERS FROM THE BIBLE

The Lord's Prayer   [NASB]

Jesus is speaking in "The Sermon on the Mount."  This includes the Bible chapters of Matthew 5 - 7.  In the 6th chapter He answers a question about pray.

Mt. 6:7-15  "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.

8  "Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.

9   Pray, then, in this way:
          'Our Father who art in heaven,
          Hallowed be Thy name,
         
10      'Thy kingdom come
          Thy will be done,
          On earth as it is in heaven.

11      'Give us this day our daily bread.

12      'And forgive us our debts, as we 
           also have forgiven our debtors.

13      'And do not lead us into   
              temptation, but deliver
              from evil.          For Thine is the
              kingdom, and the power, and
              the glory, forever.  Amen.'


(After the Prayer, Jesus admonished that we must forgive others.)

14   For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15   But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

          [Here the word "men" refers to mankind.  This is not speaking only of "men."]



                                                                      

The Pharisee and the Publican

Lu. 18:9 ff   And He [Jesus] also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:

10   "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax gatherer

11   The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, 'God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people:  swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer.

12   I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'

13   But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'

14   I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for ever one who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted."

          How difficult it is to see ourselves as others see us. 

          And it is certainly to see ourselves as God sees us.