Recently I posted on Facebook my response to the memorial service of a friend’s sister.

Yesterday I went to a memorial service of another sister in Jesus who relocated to heaven last week. I wept as I listened to the profound impact of her life. I have never seen such a crowd. I watched men around me weeping as they listened to the testimony of this woman’s passionate life for the King! Oh that we all would live in such reckless abandon to Jesus that people will leave our funeral wanting to make a difference for our Incomparable King! I shout with Jesus, WELL DONE; Maryanne S. Puglisi.

A dear friend reading my post on Facebook shared it with her husband and he sent me the closing remarks on the sermon he would preach the next morning.

“Most of us have heard of The Nobel Peace Prize; named after Alfred Nobel. It’s awarded annually to the person ‘who has had the greatest impact for the promotion of peace in humanity’. What you may not know is this: When Alfred Nobel’s brother died, a French newspaper published a long obituary believing that it was Alfred who had passed away. He had an opportunity very few people will ever have; to read his obituary while still alive. What he read humiliated him. The newspaper described him as a man who had made it possible to kill more people and more quickly than anyone else who had ever lived. It read: ‘The merchant of death is dead’. Nobel mad a fortune by producing explosives. His most famous invention was dynamite. After reading that obituary, Nobel realized two things: 1. This was how he was going to be remembered, and 2. This was not how he wanted to be remembered. Months later, he established the award. Today, everyone is familiar with the Nobel Peace Prize, while few people know how he made his fortune.

Are You thinking about how your obituary is going to read? May this motivate you to rethink how you are spending your life”.  – Pastor Tim Cash

I think Maryanne was a Nobel Prize Winner in God’s Kingdom and may you and I also be recipients of such honor in God’s Kingdom someday!

Love from His Servants,

Ken & Jackie

“Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double”. – Zechariah 9:12

“Instead of your shame there shall be a double a portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion, they shall have everlasting joy”.

If I typed Thank You in every known language, it would not express the depth of Ken’s and my gratitude for the sacrificial giving to our ministry account at the end of 2013. For months Ken and I have been praying and discussing the serious need in our ministry account. We were so busy serving this fall, that we honestly didn’t have the time to call everyone of our support team and tell them of our very specific need. We just kept praying and serving and refusing to be prisoners of doubt. We were counting on God’s holy nudge in the hearts of people who would choose to send funds to the ministry at the end of the year. Major THANKS for those who listened to the holy nudge.

It is absolutely natural to “watch out for and care for” those you love: family and friends. But recently while studying a very familiar verse I discovered an assignment that ALL of us have been given.

            “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” (Heb. 12:15)

The first four words, look after each other, are an assignment for each believer. We are instructed to “give attention and take care” of each other. This assignment can also be described as “shepherding” one another. Why do we need to look out for one another? Each of us has times in our life when we are vulnerable to bitterness; when our faith is outrun by our suffering. Suffering without encouragement is soul soil that a poisonous root can begin to burrow into our heart.

It has always felt like and oxymoron to use the terms “bitter” and “Christian in the same sentence. But as I thought about some of the bitter Christians I know, I began to consider the possible neglect that resulted in their bitter condition. I have wondered where were the Christians who neglected their assignment to “look after each other.” We as Christians are to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:1-2). Another aspect of this assignment is that my neglect of watching out for my Christian siblings, not only harms my sibling but also will harm me inevitably, bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” How ironic, when I am too busy to “look after each other,” this neglect of my spiritual siblings is actually self-harming. Our spiritual life is not only our responsibility but also the responsibility of our big forever family. In this New Year, “Don’t forget to ‘look after each other’ because; we are family!”

Recently I read little book with a BIG MESSAGE. It was so encouraging that I wish I had lots of money and I could buy copies for everyone I know and love that is married. The book is very little, not complex but the message is so profound. Just one quote from the book is worth the purchase. Here is that quote:

“One choice changes the construction of a life. You’ll NEVER experience the joy and tenderness of a LIFELONG LOVE unless you FIGHT FOR IT.”

           The title of this Christmas gift for your marriage is: A Marriage Carol by Chris Fabry and Gary Chapman. Why not consider giving this little book to the one you love this Christmas? On my birthday last year, a young pastor’s wife gave me a THANK YOU birthday card, thanking me for cheering her on as she “fights for her marriage.” This little book made me think of her remark.

            Ken and I have been fighting for our marriage as of this month, for 37 years! We are in a season of such joy and love that I feel so spoiled! I believe that too many marriages never experience the joy of a lifelong love because they QUIT on their Marriages before they get to the BEST PART! Our children are now BOTH MARRIED and Ken and I pray that they will have the courage and faith to fight for their marriages rather than “faith-less-ly” run away from marital struggles.

We are all familiar with the passage of scripture that instructs us to give thanks in all things. I have spent years trying to grasp the depth of this verse. My precious mentor Bettye often jokes about wanting to remove one verse from the Bible and it is I Thess. 5:18

“give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

I have practiced giving thanks in all types of trying situations and this faith filled thanksgiving ultimately leads to joy. Ironically, when storms arrive thanksgiving isn’t the first response. Too often our first response to an emotional storm is a vain grasping to gain control of an often untamable situation. Ironically, the more one tries to control the chaos of the storm, one ends up destroying one’s joy. How could one have joy in life’s storms? A person forfeits this joy when they refuse to apply I Thess. 5:18.

Giving thanks in every situation is not only an act of faith but also a bridge that allows one to walk boldly into surrender. This faith-filled surrender allows the one giving thanks to experience joy in a storm. Such joy flows from the reality of the emptying of our will. This is the secret of joy’s flame, humble surrender. Jesus experienced this joy going to the cross. The joy set before Jesus (Heb. 12:2) allowed Him to surrender to the cross; emptied of His will and surrendering to the Father’s will. Jesus walked out of the storm of Gethsemane with joy set before Him because of the joyful, “not my will but Thine be done!”

As I have read and re-read the preceding paragraph, I have decided that we need to edit the way we end our prayers. Instead of tacking on the common phrase: “in Jesus” name, I think a more perfect ending to our prayers should be: “Not my will but Thine be done.” (Matt.26:39) Such a closing to one’s prayer is a demonstration of not only my surrender but a confident thanksgiving; even in a storm.

           Recently another dear friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer. I was sharing this information with someone who didn’t know yet about our friend’s cancer and her immediate reply was, “O Sweet Jesus.” I smiled when my friend said; “O Sweet Jesus” and I began to think about the most common reply to bad news: O. M. G. As I pondered the reply to bad news, I began to wonder about lamenting and complaining when suffering knocks on the door of our lives. Lament or complain what is the difference between these two responses to suffering? Is one more biblical? Is lamenting Biblical? Here is a great explanation I read in the best seller, “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp

            “Lamenting is the cry of belief in a good God, a God who has His ear to our hearts, a God who transfigures the ugly into beauty. Complaining is the bitter howl of unbelief in any benevolent God in this moment, a distrust in the love-beat of the Father’s heart. True lament is the bold faith that trusts Perfect Love enough to feel and cry authentic.”

My precious friend who just learned about her cancer said, “I am choosing HOPE (based on Ps.62:5) rather than fear.” This precious friend is refusing the enemies’ lie that God is not good. Instead she is declaring boldly to others that NOTHING CAN SEPARATE HER from the love of God, not even cancer! She is making her cancer a megaphone to proclaim the ultimate goodness of God. She also shared with me that as she awaited the results of her biopsy she knew in her heart that she had cancer and she heard the Lord whisper, “a gift is coming.” Our theories and theology are ‘stillborn, if they don’t take on flesh. I am in awe! Talk about making Jesus look stunning!

   We had a guest this summer that was such a blessing that her visit was just too short. During hours of sharing heart to heart, I was sharing a new message that I was developing titled “Glory Robbers.” I shared how I felt that we were created to bring God glory but we are constantly robbing Him of the glory He is due. I shared how too many Christians have made their life so “Me-Centric” that they are daily glory robbers.

    “I was thinking more about being a “glory-robber” and I remembered an illustration that happened to me back in May, and maybe you could use it in your material. Being a glory-robber is like being a bridesmaid who is more worried about making herself look good rather than making sure the bride and groom look good and have all they need. I was a bridesmaid back in May, I just kept thinking that as I watched all of the other bridesmaids getting ready and worrying about how THEY looked and such. I just kept thinking, “No one is even going to be looking at us, we are delusional if at any point in this wedding we think it is about US as bridesmaids.”   And then it ticked me right off when some of this girl’s (close childhood friends) who were bridesmaids, were really only conveniently around when the photographers or videographers were around but they were nowhere to be seen when it was time to take down the reception hall or unload trucks back at home.  Glory robbers often serve the bride of Christ and the Groom, when it is convenient for them or publicity is involved.  These were just some thoughts, take it or leave it, just thought I would share”. C. V.

After our wonderful guest left, she was pondering the “Glory Robber” theme and she sent the following:

“everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my Glory” (Isaiah 43:7)

Let’s not be like the delusional, me-centric bridesmaids in the story above. May we resist the temptation of being an “ovation-aholic” and strive to be a true servant of the King. Such a servant is comfortable with esteeming others more important than themselves (Phil. 2:3).