THE SPIRITUAL BATTLE CONTINUES

Calling all prayer warriors to prayer.  A spiritual battle in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth has been raging from the beginning.  We had a 200 year history of living in a God fearing country.  Now America has forgotten God.  We know who wins in the end.  Greater is He who is in the Christian than he who is in the world.  We only have to ask and God will do His perfect will in us and in our world.  Pray without ceasing you Saints! The above You Tube tells it like it is.

SURPRISING DISCOVERIES

My brother, Jay, lettered in band at Groveton High School

My cousin, Mark, said that he liked the blogs I wrote about the family very much.  So instead of writing about “The Benedict Option” by Rod Dreher, or how God has been kicked out of America, or the terror attack in London, or The President hosting 68 countries in Washington D.C. for a summit on defeating ISIS, I will write about the unexpected findings about my brother, Jay, and a few cousins, as I’ve sorted through all the boxes that my mom has saved over the years.

Jay 1941

First of all, Jay was a very cute little boy.  He was born in Spokane, WA in November of 1940.  He was named Jay Leroy after my dad, David Jay, and my grandfather on my mother’s side, Leroy.

Jay, me, Mom. I was probably unhappy because I had to wear a dress

From there we moved to Santa Monica, CA. where I was born in 1943.  Jay was very sweet to me.  I admired him and wore all his hand me down clothes because I wanted to be a boy like he was.  After our move to Burbank, where our sister, Evy, was born in 1947, we moved to Fairbanks, Alaska.  In California we attended Edison School where Jay was on the Safety Committee.

In Fairbanks Jay was involved in Scouts and had a paper route for the Fairbanks newspaper, which was owned by a Snedden cousin.  Jay saved his money and bought himself a 22 rifle and a bicycle.  I used to borrow his bicycle or my mom’s bicycle.  Our next to the youngest brother, Davy, was born in Fairbanks in 1952.  Shortly after, we moved to Virginia. 

Below I have attached an e-mail I received years ago about CW.

In 1953 we had our picture taken with Santa.

In 1954, Jay, finished 7^th grade at Mt. Eagle elementary.  We lived in Jefferson Manor and attended Calvary Presbyterian Church.  He was apparently popular in his class and a nice write up about what he would be doing in 10 year included a rocket! 

 Jay participated in the confirmation class at church and became a member.

It was the summer of 1956 when our youngest bother, Wayne, was born.  That summer Jay was given an opportunity through our Aunt Emily and Uncle Ernie to travel to Mexico and live with a family there.  (I’ll attach a letter he wrote home telling of his experiences at the end of the blog. At the same time I took off for Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to visit with cousins Kit and Rinda, and Aunt Emily and Uncle Ernie.  I rode along with them to Spokane and spent the summer on my grandparent’s farm.

In front Davy, Smokey, Bob, Wayne.  Second row Grandma, Grandpa.  Third row Roberta, Rinda, Evy, Janet.  Back row Richard, Kit, Jay.

I believe it was the following summer that we visited Disney Land.  Jay was kind enough to drive me on one of the rides, as I was too frightened to drive alone.  (I was intimidated by driving until I was 23. Chris insisted that I get my driver’s license then.)

Jay enjoyed attending youth group and Youth for Christ. He lettered in the Groveton High School  band.  My high regard for Jay remained with me until I turned 14.  Then I didn’t claim him as my brother again until I attended college at EWU and was unable to balance my checkbook.  He was very kind to help me. During college he worked at various jobs.  I'll add more about that when I find the info.

After being graduated from Groveton High School in 1959 he attended Eastern Washington University and received a Bachelors in 1963.  Taking our grandfather on our father’s side advice, he joined the Army.  After being stationed in Taipei, Taiwan, (where he learned Chinese and could speak it 30 years later) he returned home and began attending Miami Bible College.  He was hired as a radio engineer for Billy Graham and through his broadcasting job met and married Martha.  They were married for 30 years.  She passed away in 2004 and he followed in 2005.

This picture was photoshopped before it was possible.  I hope to find a better picture as I continue to sort!

Front row-Davy, Chris, Wayne. Middle row Roberta, Heather, Martha.  Back row Evy, Jay, Dad, Mom

Below is the letter Jay wrote home from Mexico.  We were very fortunate to have an intact family through the years and I thank God for all He has done.

POINTS OF INTEREST

Photo by Chris Brown-- bacon zombies

You may or may not be interested to know that Chris and I are selling digital pictures on line through Shutterstock.  So far they have accepted 35 pictures for sale.  Click here to see our digital pictures that we have for sale on Shutterstock.  We hope to have more soon. 

Here are some stories on subjects of interest to me this week.  

Seattle is out of control because of the homeless. It looks like many other cities are also in trouble because they are allowing drug addicts to live on the streets.  It should be a crime to be publicly on drugs or drunk!  Below are two stories about people who are speaking out about getting these people into treatment.  Many drug addicts live on the street so they can spend their money on drugs. Click here for the story.

There is a move in Seattle to speak out to get the homeless off the street and into rehab or detox.  Speak out Seattle is a new grass roots organization.  Click here to see the story.

How does the GOP bill combat addiction?  See the You Tube below:

Silent Partner Marketing gives a snowflake test to job applicants.  They do not want any snowflakes working for them.  See the You Tube below:

I WANTED TO LIVE IN A SHACK

My great aunt and great uncle's shacks.  Photo by Chris Brown.

When I was a kid I loved to visit Grandma and Grandpa on their 15 acre wheat farm.  They raised alfalfa and kept an acre vegetable garden too.  Up the hill from the farm house my great uncle and great aunt lived in their one room houses.  I always thought that I would like to have a place like that--it required no painting, remodeling, or any maintenance work as far as I could tell.  Unfortunately, I realized, after living on a boat, that I liked indoor plumbing and electricity.  My great aunt and uncle had neither.  

Speaking of shacks-- a movie based on the book "The Shack" is in the theaters.  I read the book and was struck by the new -agey feel.  Apparently the author does not understand that God is a Spirit.  He does not have a body.  He came to earth in a human body--that is Jesus.  So only Jesus has a human body. Also, the author puts Mack on the throne instead of God. If you are interested Here is a blog with multiple reviews by pastors and bloggers that I read. 
Here is a link to our son's pastor's review of the book. 
  

THE WAY IS NARROW THAT LEADS TO LIFE

Photo by Chris Brown

An elderly Christian man was asked if life becomes easier as you age.  He replied, "No, because the devil is out to get you before you die and he doesn't have much time left."  I read this poem by a blogger today and thought of this verse in Matthew 7:14 ^"For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."  Praying today that Christians will share the good new about Jesus before it is too late for many.

YOU CANNOT REASON WITH BULLIES

The video above was brought to my attention today.  It was filmed in 2014.  My Aunt Evelyn taught my brother, Jay, that you cannot reason with bullies.  If you are kind, ignore them, or try to cause them to quite bullying in some other way, and they continue to bully, sometimes you just need to use force to cause them to stop.  Those of us who are not trained in military combat can fight through prayer.  It is a spiritual battle.  Others, who are trained to combat bullies by force, will be called up once again to fight evil.  May God have mercy on us all!

DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES MADE DIFFICULT

Difficult circumstances--it rains the day your relatives have a garage sale in your driveway

You know you are having a hard time when:

·            The washing machine breaks and then when you go to your parent’s house to wash your clothes their washing machine breaks.  

·      Your 3 year old wets his pants and your 9 month old poops just as you are going out the door to church.  

          

·      You look at your calendar and believe your granddaughter has a concert and force your husband to drive an hour through the rain and you are a week early.

·                   You fall into a ditch and break your foot and then you have to go to court because your 11 year old son got a ticket for not yielding to a car when he was crossing a busy street on his bicycle and he was hit by a car.

·                    Your daughter has to go to emergency at 1 year old when she slips on a wet shower room floor at the Y and knock herself out.

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        Over the years I've had a bad habit of feeling sorry for myself. When I was thirteen my aunt accused me of reading comic books.  Instead of telling her that I hadn’t been reading comic books until my two cousins had been reading them for a long time, I pouted. (I have never enjoyed comic books.) Then when I was 15  I wrote what I would call a "Letter to God" complaining about my lack of self-control regarding my tongue and my study habits.  It never dawned on me that I should ask God to help me with these things.  The following blog was helpful to me.  Click here to read.