Happy New Year!

This was sent by a dear friend to us, but it is appropriate for us to remember all through 2008! It is also appropriate, since I noticed how frail my parents are becoming when I helped them over the ice in the parking lot & up the steps into the church on Christmas Eve. for the candlelight service. Earlier, Dad tried to turn the wrong direction on our car ride to the church. When darkness falls, his sense of direction becomes confused.

Since Saturday afternoon, a dear friend & member of Beth Tephila - in his 80's like my folks - has been with us after his hospital discharge. Wally was hospitalized for a week for the flu & pneumonia. He lives alone now, as his wife lives in a nursing home up the hill from our house. So he is with us for awhile until he recovers. We help him to remember to take his variety of meds throughout the day. We push fluids & encourage him to eat, since he has no appetite. We take his temp. and have increased our thermostat setting from 65 to 72 for the house. Yesterday we also lit a fire in our fireplace. Wally became comfortable when Louis & I began to sweat at 80 degrees.

Enjoy:

Remember this old hymn?

Many years ago, while watching a little TV on Sunday, I watched a church in Atlanta letting one of its senior pastors, who had been retired many years, speak...

He was 92 at that time & I wondered why the church even bothered to ask the old gentleman to preach at that age. After a warm welcome & introduction, he rose from his high back chair & walked slowly with great effort & a sliding gait to the podium... Without a note of any kind,he placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself & quietly began to speak...

"When I was asked to come here today & talk to you, your pastor asked me to tell you what was the greatest lesson learned in my 50 odd years of preaching... I thought about it for a few days & boiled it down to just one thing that made the difference in my life & sustained me through all my trials.The one thing that I could always rely on when tears & heartbreak & pain & fear & sorrow paralyzed me... The only thing that comforted was this verse:

Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong; we are weak but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me... Yes, Jesus loves me...
Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so."

When he finished, the church was quiet. You could hear his footsteps as he shuffled back to his chair. I don't believe I will ever forget it.

Another pastor once stated, "I always noticed that it was the adults who chose the children's hymn 'Jesus Loves Me', (for the children of course), during a hymn sing, & it was the adults who sang the loudest because I could see they knew it the best."

Here is a new version just for us who have white hair,or no hair at all. For us over 40...

Senior version:

Jesus loves me, this I know, though my hair is white as snow.
Though my sight is growing dim, still He bids me trust in Him.

(CHORUS)

Though my steps are oh, so slow, with my hand in His I'll go.
On through life, let come what may, He'll be there to lead the way.

(CHORUS)

Though I am no longer young,I have much which He's begun.
Let me serve Christ with a smile; Go with others the extra mile.

(CHORUS)

When the nights are dark and long, in my heart He puts a song.
Telling me in words so clear, 'Have no fear, for I am near.'

(CHORUS)
When my work on earth is done, and life's victories are won.
He will take me home above; then I'll understand His love.

(CHORUS)
I love Jesus, does He know? Have I ever told Him so?
Jesus loves to hear me say,that I love Him every day.

My favorite Christmas greeting of 2007

The folks that manage the Lolo Community Church prayer chain sent out this Christmas e-mail to those of us on the prayer chain.

A remarkable phone call from a 12-yr old boy to Houston radio station KSBJ FM 89.3 . So profound, the station has it posted on their website. Click below to listen to it. It's short:

Showers of blessing

My nephew, Aaron & wife, Anna, have already prenamed their coming baby boy - Levi. Therefore, the baby shower this week-end had some unique "levi" aspects to it. The decorations included tiny levi pants & the cake was in the form of levis. Anna at 35 weeks is already fully effaced and starting to dilate, so she was essentially on bedrest even at the shower.
She's so petite that she seems half baby.

Thanksgiving - a time to mourn & rejoice with extended family

The two elderly folks on the left in the first photo are shirt-tail relatives through my sister's husband. At Thanksgiving we felt the emotional push pull of mourning with Ginny & Bob over the suicide of their son, Bernie, this Fall & the rejoicing of new life entering the family through Anna's baby due any day & Kylie's newborn daughter, Caimbrie. This is life in a fallen world. The promising new life & the sometimes tragic ending of those who struggle with Bi-polar disorder or something else that seems to wipe out hope. The Light of the World is the only answer in the season of Thanksgiving, Hanukkah or anytime of the year.

Santa Barbara in December

We left Montana with its foot of settling snow & frigid temperatures to enjoy balmy coastal California for four days and to help Louis's older brother, Bob, celebrate his 80th birthday. The middle photo is of the three brothers - Bob, Louis & Jerry - together for the first time in 35 years. The last two pictures show the view from our hotel room. The first two were taken outside a restaurant near Santa Barbara where Bob lives. Louis was able to talk to Bob about the Lord & plant some seed.

Happy Hannukah!

Today is the second of the eight days of Hannukah. Our joint Beth Tephila & Beth HaDerek party last night was a wonderful time of rejoicing in our Shammas (the servant candle who lights the other candles). May this holiday season be a time of rejoicing in the Light of the World for you as well.