Jeremiah 17: 9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
"Mrs. Miniver" a 1942 movie-- see video above-- answers some of the questions that we may have in this season of pandemic, wars, floods, fires, earthquakes, and loss. I recommend this movie as I found it helpful for inspiration to keep doing what is right. I recalled Elizabeth Elliot's advice to do the next thing when going through a tough time. Below is the poem that inspired her.
Do it immediately;
Do it with prayer; Do it reliantly, casting all care; Do it with reverence, Tracing His Hand, Who placed it before thee with Earnest command. Stayed on Omnipotence, Safe ‘neath His wing, Leave all resultings, DO THE NEXT THING.
(an old Saxon poem)
I am comforted because we know that in the end we will see God's glory:
I Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
I've been a lukewarm Christian. I made plans and pushed on with my life without consulting God. It was when my two year old sent me to my knees that I finally surrendered my life to Jesus. Today Pastor Steve Walker of Canyon Hills Community church in Bothell, WA started a study on the book of Jude. We are warned about a lukewarm Christian life. First, we learn how much God loves us, and then we are tasked with preserving purity both in ourselves and in the church.
Many churches have studied Romans this year. I noticed echos of Romans in Jude. In Romans 1 we are told to avoid every kind of sexual sin:
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, mencommitting shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Then next, because of the sexual sin, God gave them over to even more sin:
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
In like manner Jude calls Christians to persevere in these last days. The last verse of Jude is sung in the You Tube below:
I love singing the last verse of Jude as a doxology. It gives glory to God for keeping us from falling.
I enjoy second place. It makes for less pressure and stress. Unfortunately I've been forced to replace the person who was first place several times.
In 1964 I was EWU ROTC Sponsor Corps vice commander. Sadly for me the commander quit school and got married. I had to take over. I had no idea what I was doing. Somehow I muddled through with help from some of the Sponsor Corps members and some of the R.O.T.C. cadets.
In 1966 when the Spokane School district was desperate for teachers the Dean of EWU Women talked me into teaching at an elementary school in Spokane. She happened to be the substitute teacher who needed replacing!
One time in 1970 I showed up for work at the library in Spokane. I was told that I had to replace a librarian in a movie that was being shot that day.
I believe that my mom was competitive but my dad was not. I don't know if that is true. But if it is true I tend to take after my dad.
I am awestruck every time I see the Olympic athletes put everything they have into their sport. Maybe if I had been more competitive I would have achieved more with my life. But then again God will give us the desires of our hearts if we are obedient and follow Him. My desire was to be second place and spend more time having fun!
I particularly liked this article about the Olympics by John Stonestreet. Click here to read.
Olympic Stories More Lovely Than Silver and More Costly Than Gold
Left to right Uncle Ernest, Uncle Hollis, Grandma Isabel, my dad David --1977 --photo by Chris
The first story my mom related about Uncle Ernest, (5 November 1916 to 15 January 1980), was that she was on the North Central High School journalism staff with him. One day he took her books from her and threw them down the school hallway. She was stunned. Then he went and picked up her books and gave them to her. He asked her out on a date. When she went home and told her family that she had been invited out, her older sister Evelyn, insisted that my mom get dates for her and their friend so that they could go as a group. When my mom told Ernest that her sister and their friend wanted to be included, Ernest brought his two brothers, Hollis (25 May 1912 to 10 November 1985), and David (22 June 1914 to 11 March 2003), along with him. From then on my mom and dad were a couple. Uncle Ernest met is wife Emily when he attended the Pilgrims Club at the Congregational/ United Church of Christ. Both couples were married in 1939-- Ernest and Emily in September and Dave and Grace in November. Hollis and Jeanne were married in March of 1940.
The second story my mom told happened when I was two years old in 1945. We were enjoying a day at a beach. My mom loved to swim so she asked my Uncle Ernest if he would watch me. Ernest assumed that I would be like my brother, Jay, and cousin Kit, and play in the sand. No such luck. I took off after my mom and jumped off the dock into the deep water. Ernest had all of his shoes and clothes on but jumped in after me and brought me to shore. He assumed I wouldn't do that again. Unfortunately I took off again and jumped in and he had to rescue me again.
When I was a senior in high school Uncle Ernest advised me to develop a passion about something, and to choose that as a major in college. I developed a passion for boys and dated as many as I could!
When I was in college Uncle Hollie gave me a whole bag of candy bars. I was very popular in the dorm as long as they lasted. When our daughter, Heather, was born, he built a rocking horse for her. She still has it and used it with her children.
Hollis photo by Chris
Rocking horse by Hollis
I'm thankful that Uncle Ernest out lived his mother, Isabel,(26 March 1887 to 3 September 1979), by a year. It is too difficult for a parent to loose a child to death.
My dad chose II Corinthians 12:9 as his life verse for the grave markers below -- "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
The lives of my grandparents, both sets of which settled in Spokane, seemed to be well ordered. One grandfather was born in New York State and one grandmother was born in Wisconsin. The other grandmother and grandfather were born in Iowa. Both my parents and my older brother were born in Spokane. The Inland Empire, so it was called, seemed to be the ideal place to dwell. But then WW II happened. Families were displaced as a result.
Spokane Falls photo by Chris
My family ended up in California. We adjusted to the mild weather and wonderful growing conditions for orchards and vegetable gardens. We were thrilled when we had snow one day. We didn't need to change out of our summer clothes to enjoy the snow as it was all melted within hours.
Me with Evy photo by Grace
Then, due to a career change for my dad, we moved to Alaska. That was culture shock for sure. We wore heavy clothes almost all year round. It was dark all day during the winter and daylight all day and night in the summer. My dad did shed down to a short sleeved shirt when the temp hit 0 degrees.
Dick, Dorothy, Evy, Jay, me, neighbors. Photo by Grace
Two years later we were transferred to Washington D.C. We lived in Virginia and Dad commuted. What a shock to the system. We were expected to wear more formal clothes, say "sir" and "ma'am,"use "white" fountains and rest rooms, attend "white" schools, etc.,etc. I felt restricted-- hemmed in. The humidity was heavy and oppressive in the summer. We had hurricanes and other heavy weather. The drivers were not prepared to drive in the snow.
But then I met some very nice people. At church I felt loved-- especially because of Reverend Mac and his family, and other kind people. When I attended Madison College in Harrisonburg, VA I had a roommate from southern Virginia. Her accent was so deep we had difficulty understanding her. When we were assigned to read "Uncle Remus" in our children's lit course she read it to us flawlessly. I then appreciated people from different cultures.
I thought of all of this culture shock I had experienced in the past after reading two novels recently. The first book was "Frontier Lady-- Lone Star Legacy," by Judith Pella. It involves a woman being rescued by a tribe of Indians and marrying one of the chiefs. I enjoyed learning about the different thinking of the various tribes. But it was a shock to me to see that they had no knowledge of Jesus or about His love and sacrifice for them. There were some who did know in their hearts that there is a God. Because of that they chose to do what was right.
Then I read-- "Their Eyes Were Watching God," by Zara Neale Hurston. It is written in that deep southern dialect which makes it hard to read. I wished I had my old roommate to read it to me. Through the whole book all I could think about was that these are little sheep who have no Good Shepherd. They were running hither and thither living but not knowing the care of Jesus. If they had only known about God and how good His laws are they wouldn't have been so lost. But there were some in this story who knew instinctively that there is a God and that they are accountable in the end.
And now we have culture shock in America. Some are so lost and have no idea that they have a Good Shepherd to watch. God has revealed Himself through creation and through His Word. No one has an excuse. I pray that all will turn to God before it is too late.
How about you? Have you ever struggled with culture shock?
Amir Tsarfati spoke last Sunday in Bothell, WA. He is a messianic Jew and is an Israeli. You can find out more about him on his website https://beholdisrael.org/ His sermon, sprinkled with humor, was thorough. He covered the appearance of Jesus to the disciples after the resurrection, and then the prophecies in the Old Testament. If you would like to know more about end times he gives scripture references. Click on the You Tube above to hear his 45 minute discourse.
My dad did some writing about family in his later years. He wrote this about Evy several years after she had passed away.
A SHY SUCCESS by DAVE STOWELL
I'm not very good at remembering names, but some stick with me for various reasons. Out of hundreds of men in my medium tank battalion, I can recall only 2 names. Captain Kidd was so easy, but for a beautiful name it was Peter Rigoletto Spinabella. Difficult names I find are forgettable. My neurologist spells his last name K-O-O-I-K- E-R (pronounced Quaker). Trying to pronounce it over the telephone gave me fits. Some names I try to identify from national origin, others with personality.
Evelyn was a shy personality -- a wall flower. She had an older sister who tended to dominate, and a younger brother who got lots of attention. When Evelyn learned to read, books were her best friends. She read History, Biography, Art Music, Languages, Economics, Political Science, the Encyclopedia and lots more.
Often artistic objects would appear around her; a large painting, a small painting, an afghan, a tool box When asked about them she would shrug it off with "Oh I did that in my spare time." She played Guitar, Clarinet and Saxophone.
When selling Girl Scout Cookies in a big office, she found that while she could not speak to the whole crowd at once, she was comfortable with one-on-one contacts. Her shyness drew sympathy and customers found themselves buying more cookies than they had expected. The Girl Scout leaders were puzzled by her far above average sales. That sort of surprise at her success was happening more and more often.
When a statewide band or orchestra was being formed, she decided to take her clarinet and try out in an over packed field. Aggressive candidates urged the conductor to choose them. Evelyn as usual stood next to the wall. Finally the conductor decided to put on a blindfold and listen to each one without peeking. He was astounded to find that he had put Evelyn in first chair when he had not even noticed her before.
Evelyn attended a couple of institutions of higher learning including University of Washington. She graduated from U. C. Santa Barbara with a degree in Mathematics and Computers. She went to work at Ampex, the company that Invented taped TV shows for broadcast. For sports they introduced Instant Replay. Their customers were TV stations and networks. The company kept finding more useful chores that Evelyn could handle. She earned a graduate degree in International Finance by staying hours after work to listen to professors who were successful business men throughout Silicon Valley. These professors urged Evelyn to consult with them by computer and TV screen; that introduced her to key figures in that technical business. She gained many important and useful contacts.
Evelyn wound up moving up from Ampex to Ampex International. Each morning she checked the Wall Street Journal on Financial Money Markets. Salesmen and representatives of Ampex called her from far parts of the globe. She was not chief of anything but they needed to know "Should we require cash for the sale or would it be safe to extend credit?" With several phones on her desk she was able to answer questions or help people make connections. A truck driver might come to the loading dock to pick up crated equipment and find nothing ready. Instead of working upward through responsible lines of control, taking much time, the driver could go to Evelyn to explain his problem. She would make a phone call and the driver's problem was solved.
Her experience with credit made her invaluable to the credit union. When a borrower decided to buy a car she found there was no stopping it even when poor deals were set up. She did her best to make sure her credit union got the best deals.
Evelyn was taller than average, so what little dating she did was with men who were taller than she was. One (Jay Richwood) was especially smitten by her personality and she finally married him. She made sure he completed a degree in Pharmacology. He got a job representing a drug research and sales company.
Then it all came apart. She was struck down with Lymphoma cancer and died at the age of 49. Many of those in the large group of Ampex mourners were heard to say "What will we do without Evelyn?"
( Yes, the whole family was lost without her. She was the support of all of us.)
