I was reminded when I received a birthday card the other day that I’m going to be a few years older than Caleb was, when he at 85 years old, attacked the hilltop giants in the territory Moses promised him forty-five years earlier!! (Joshua 14). I’m not quite as strong as Caleb was when he conquered his promised territory, but I’m still “trucking for the Lord!” Thanks to your prayers.
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I did a celebration of life service here at Countryside Village for the woman I mentioned in the last Update. There were 50+ people present. What a blessing to share that she is with Jesus now. She was ready to meet Him! Please pray for her husband and family.
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It was a year ago that I started doing a Vesper service (Hymn singing, prayer and a devotional) once a month. Attendance has ranged from 10 to 20. The next service will be this Sunday, the 15th.
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I meet individually for breakfast with a number of men outside of my village for fellowship and mutual encouragement.
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I will be speaking at the staff chapel at Bible Broadcast Network in Charlotte on the 17th.
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I’m looking forward to going to Wheaton for a week to be with Jeff’s family, and hopefully see some of Greg’s family as well.
So, again I thank you ahead of time for praying for me regularly in all I do, and especially for the radio and book outreach.
I thought you might be interested in the interview I did recently over Heartfelt radio with Mark Zimmerman. We talked about my journey over the last two years since Mur went home to be with Jesus. Just click on the link below:
Here is another Serendipitous Encounter
One day in late spring, 2022, we had a brief hailstorm. Mur and I watched the ice pellets, about ½ to ¾ inches in diameter, bounce off our deck. It only lasted a few minutes. We didn’t think much about it and went on with what we were doing. A few days later I was working in the yard when a car pulled into our driveway. A young man got out of his car and came up to me and asked, “Did you have a hailstorm recently?” I responded, “Yes. A couple of weeks ago.” He asked if there was any damage to the roof. I said, “I never looked or thought of it.” He asked, “Would you mind if I looked.” I responded, “Sure, if you want to.”
He got an extending ladder from his trunk and climbed up onto our roof. A short time later he came down and said, “There is enough damage that you should call your insurance company and ask them to send an estimator out and get it checked.”
Normally I would not follow-up on the advice of a total stranger, but for some reason I gave my insurance company a call and asked them to send someone out to check the damage. When they did, the young man who suggested it came out and met this examiner/estimator. When he was done, he indicated he would recommend to his company that the roof should be replaced.
Over the next few weeks there were negotiations, and I had a few conversations with Matt, the young man who initiated this process. One day I sensed an openness in him, so I directed the conversation to spiritual things. When he was open to continue the conversation, I presented the Gospel to him. When I asked if he would like to commit his life to Jesus Christ and ask Him to take over in his life he said, “Yes.” We prayed and I gave him a copy of my book, “A Call to Responsible Freedom.”
The project went forward and when completed we met as I gave him the closing payment. As mentioned earlier, this was not something I initiated. I believe God wanted us to have a new roof and used a total stranger to make it happen! The total cost to us was the deductible in our policy. And that was only half a year before I sold the house.
Matt had brought a friend of his who worked with the same roofing company. I wanted to follow up on Matt’s decision but didn’t know quite how to introduce the subject. Finally, I asked him if he had read the book I gave him. He admitted that he had not. That was disappointing, but it opened the door for me to explain to his buddy the decision he had made. His buddy chimed in, sharing his own testimony of coming back to the Lord recently, and said he had been talking to Matt about the Lord.
Being lifelong friends, it was easy to encourage them to maybe start reading my book and share with each other what they are learning. So, I gave him a copy as well and encouraged him to invite his friend to his church.