Gratitude

This morning as I awoke, I was reminded that this would have been Carol’s 77^th birthday today.  I greatly miss her but am so thankful for the nearly 49 years we did have together!  Then as I read Psalm 103 I joined David in gratitude to our amazing God who; “…forgives all my sins, heals all my diseases, redeems me from death, crowns me with love and tender mercy and fills my life with good things, renewing my youth like the eagle’s.”  (Verses 3-5)

Yesterday morning while attending a coffee/goodie time with a large group of our residents, I was asked by our head nurse if I would be available to go to the hospital.   A resident was taken by ambulance to the hospital earlier in the day with severe chest pains.  One of our nurses accompanied the resident to the hospital but was needing to return and join our other nurse staff to deal with health issues in the village.  It was one of those busy days for the nursing staff, but a tremendous blessing for me to spend five hours with this dear resident reflecting upon God’s mercy and goodness.  We were thrilled that no major problem was found and I was able to bring the resident back with me to their home here.   I have been so impressed with the loving care from our staff and residents.  It is truly a blessing to be a part of this wonderful community!

Tomorrow daughter Lisa is scheduled to return from a month long vacation in India.  Her access to the internet and phone system has been rather spotty as she traveled about the country.  It will be good to hear all about the trip when she returns.  She has been flying and connecting to flights since Tuesday so I have been praying for safe and pleasant travel.

I will be staying here for the Memorial Day holiday because a long-time friend will be arriving here tomorrow to spend a week.

I trust that you are all doing well and a blessed weekend!

Chuck

The Influence of Women

This morning as I was reminded that it is Mother’s Day, I thought about how many women have had a profound influence upon my life.  From the early beginning of memory, my mother and grandmother, than my predominately female teachers in elementary and high school, my greatly missed wife, three wonderful daughters and numerous other wonderful women along life’s way.  My grandparents had a profound influence upon my coming to the Lord at an early age and my wife was a tremendous encouragement and example to me in my walk with Him.  What a heritage and blessing to have such experiences from the women in my life!

As I thought about that this morning, I was reminded that to my memory, in every case that wisdom is mentioned in the Bible, giving it a gender, it is a female!  Thinking about that I recall numerous occasions when the wise council of a woman prevented me from making a serious error.  Our loving Father certainly knew what He was doing when He provided women for us men that can become rather hard-headed on occasion.  I wish that I could say that was only seldom for me, but that would not be true.  Women have been an extremely positive influence in my life, which is true in the case of every successful man I am certain, if he is honest.

In Proverbs 31 we are reminded from the words of King Lemuel about the tremendous blessing it is to have the wife chosen by the Lord for us.  He points out what a treasure she is (vs. 10-19), her compassionate spirit (vs. 20), the loving devotion to her husband and family (vs. 21-29) and her full dedication to the Lord (vs. 30-31).  I confess that I was choked up with tears of gratitude recalling the nearly 49 years with the wife of His choosing and I look forward to seeing her again on that day when I also pass through that final curtain of death! 

I trust that each of us will remember the tremendous blessing of women in our lives on this Mother’s day, and where possible, thank them and our gracious Lord!

Love to all,

Chuck

Remember, Pray and Trust!

Sorry to let so much extra time lapse since sending the last blog.  I cannot believe how busy I can get just handling personal matters, entertaining a bit and responding to invitations here in the village.  Today I am taking time to touch base with you before anything else is started.

I have continued to read the Psalms this week, and after reading Psalm 85 reportedly written by the sons of Korah, I liked their plan of attack to an apparent national setback.  It seems like the appropriate plan both for a nation and for us individually when we face setbacks.

They recommend; (1) REVIEWING WHAT GOD HAS DONE in the past, (2) SHARING THE PROBLEMS AND CONCERNS WITH HIM, and (3) TRUSTING HIM for deliverance in the future.   I suspect that we could condense the entire thirteen verses of Psalm into three words; REMEMBER, PRAY and TRUST.  It sure sounds simple enough but from experience I find that it takes determination to fully put that plan into action.

I then wondered; who are the sons of Korah that are worthy of a listening?  After some digging I found that their father, Korah, was one of the three that incited rebellion against Moses and Aaron in Numbers 16:1-50.  Korah, his two friends, their families, 250 other leaders and everything they owned dramatically were “removed” when the earth literally swallowed them alive!  Interestingly, later in Numbers 26:11 we read “However, the sons of Korah did not die that day.”  We also read that the very next morning over 14,000 ended up dying for muttering against Moses and Aaron.  So the sons of Korah are writing from the first-hand experience of their father and likely many friends and acquaintances facing very untimely deaths at the hand of God for rebelling against God’s commands relayed through Moses and Aaron.

I find it is so easy to read Scripture without stopping to ask myself the 5 important questions; who, what, when, where and why.  It takes a bit of extra time, but it then gives the account real credibility as in reading this short chapter.  That has been one of the great blessings of having some extra time to really think (meditate) about what I read!

I trust that your week has gone well and that you have a blessed weekend!

Love,

Chuck