Category: The Pastor’s Piece

It had been a few years since my wife and I visited Branson, Missouri. When we were last there, our children were small and the town was too. Actually, we’ve been there twice before. The first time was in March and they had 14 inches of snow (which is very unusual) and most of the shows weren’t open.

My wife and I are in Branson, Missouri this week along with some friends at a Fellowship of Christian Farmers International Convention. On the way down here, St. Louis got 9 inches of rain before we traveled through. We knew it was wet, but it wasn’t until the next day we found out how much rain they got. Just west of St. Louis, we came across a semi stuck in the median, another was tipped on its side, and there was a car that spun out in the rain and went through the guardrail – but God was good to us, we motored on through without incident.

Sometimes God brings very unique people into our lives for reasons only He knows. Such was the case recently when we were introduced to a saintly elderly woman who walked into our church one Sunday a couple of years ago. She started right in telling me about her farm – and asked me to pray that God would lead her to find good help – because good help was hard to find. She told me about butchering meat, birds, and feeding her cattle.  Everytime I sent out a prayer request over email, she responded with a kind and encouraging word. I barely knew this woman, yet I felt like we were life-long friends. She fit right in with our church family. We all loved her. I don’t know where she went to church before Martintown. I don’t know her family or her farm. About the only thing I know about this friend is how much she loved Jesus. 

As cataclysmic events are taking place all over the world, and we see so much evil manifested in so many unprecedented (to us) ways, many Christians are wondering, “Is the Holy Spirit going to revive the church before Jesus returns or is this the great falling away in the last days that the Bible talks about?

Top Ten survivalist questions: 1.  Do you know how to survive a dirty bomb?  2.  Do you know how to start a fire with a glass bottle?  3.  Do you know how to preserve food?  4.  Do you have a stockpile of rice and beans and canned goods and meat?  5.  Do you own a solar powered generator or even a solar flashlight?  6.  Do you have a hard copy contact list in case our electronics crash? 

Sometimes, I’m asked what kind of advice I have to give during tough times? Well, good advice for hard times is the same thing as good advice for good times – Worship God faithfully. Tithe. Minimize debt. Save. Invest in people. And cultivate practical skills that will always be useful. 

Last Friday was a historic day as the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. I have always held to the belief that God would not bless our nation as long as the bloodshed of the unborn was on our hands collectively as a people. I am praising God today and thanking Him that President Trump kept his promise to appoint conservative judges to the Court.

My wife and I spent last weekend in Nashville, Tennessee helping our daughter and son in law move into a new house.