Click here to watch a video of Ray Boltz singing "Thank You" to Billy & Ruth Graham on YouTube.com.

Some of Pastor Howard's favorites.

Harvest

Summer is over. Fall is upon us.  In many areas of the world "...the harvest is past" and people have prepared the soil for the next crop, whatever it is, and have settled in for a long winter. Here in Kansas the corn and milo have been harvested, and the pheasants have taken shelter, as hunters invade their habitat. Me?  I‘m not a hunter or a fisherman or a golfer; probably best describe me as a "retired" couch potato!

At our home church we’re busy with our annual "Missions Festival" and there will be a number of missionaries from around the world coming to share their burdens and experiences of their field of labor.

Of course you know that my mind immediately goes to the great northern mission field of Alaska. Recently we received wonderful news from our missionary friends, Terry & Danean Hull (www.voicetothevillage.net) and Austin &Jennifer Jones, who are resident missionaries in Emmonak. Late in August Pastor Jones invited an evangelist to come and minister, using the city auditorium for the services. During the 4 days and nights of revival, many good things happened. Pastor "AJ" reported that a third of the village attended and there were 83 people who came forward for salvation!  PTL!  And... Wow! Wow!  Wow!

Emmonak is primarily a Catholic community where many locals are fearful of even going into the Assembly of God Church. The walls are coming down, and God is doing what no man has been able to do. Our hearts rejoice with Pastor Jones, his family, and the church family there.

Daniel vs the Lions

I’ve been reading in the Chronological Study Bible about the man called Daniel and the den of lions. The king had his helpers who plotted against Daniel to find fault in him. But finding none they proceeded to devise a plan in which they would "trap" him. During these events Daniel did what he was accustomed to doing, praying daily. He knew that King Darius had signed the decree. He went home, opened his windows in his upper room, knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed, giving thanks before His God ...remember... as was his custom.

In reading through these verses, one particular verse stood out to me. “Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously. Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.” Daniel 6:10-11 (NASB) The King James tells us “...they found him praying.”  In our day and age I wonder what they would have found us doing?

Our pastor encouraged people in our church to be in prayer during the week prior to the beginning of the Missions Festival. His goal was to have people praying throughout each 24-hour period by signing up. I didn’t sign up but find myself in an attitude of prayer through the day, during the early morning hours and prior to going to bed.

Now back to Daniel and the den of lions. You know the story. King Darius couldn’t sleep after having Daniel placed with the lions. He went out early the next morning and called out to Daniel and, hoping above all hope, telling Daniel that “...Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you. Yet the King wanted Daniel to answer him when he called. Daniel responded to his call by declaring “...My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths.”

For you and me, let’s simply declare our trust in God, knowing that come what may, He will send His angels to open or close doors on our behalf and “close the mouths of lions,” as it were, to provide for us.

Marge and I both graduated from Lyons High School in Lyons, Kansas. Our school mascot was of course a “lion.” Our nearest challengers were the Sterling “bears.” It didn’t matter what the sport, football, basketball, track, tennis, band, the Lyons Lions were always the greatest, at least this is what we thought!

For best results, team efforts are always better than individual effort, but it takes the individual efforts to produce team results!  15-Oct_09

Where has time gone?

I have just spent a little time “reviewing” some of the old comments I had written while in SE Alaska and the last one I did earlier this year. It does not seem possible that summer of 2009 is passing so quickly. School will be starting in a few weeks, swimming pools will be closing, and we all will be counting the days left before Thanksgiving and/or Christmas.

While serving as Children’s Pastor at Northland Cathedral back in the late 80s, one Sunday I asked the children “Does time go fast or slow to you?” and the majority of them lifted their hands indicating it going fast. I would suspect that 20 years later they may feel the about same, with the exception, we are told, many spend as many as 4 to 5 hours a day playing video games. (I think that is what they are called?)

With my family it seems we are controlled by the clock for doctors' appointments and our pets. One of the 3 of us will have an appointment once a week, and we try and go to the “Y” at least 3 times a week, I do volunteer work for Gracious Promise Foundation once a week, church schedules, so as you can see “time” is still of essence to the Marshall household. The pets? Buddy our dog and Molly ‘our’ cat both think they own us.

Many people are concerned, and should be, about what is happening world-wide and within this good “ole” U.S. of A. God’s Word tells us to be on the “alert,” “stand guard,” “be ready,” to “occupy” and to “watch” and when we see things coming to pass as have been prophesied in the Bible and spoken to us by Jesus, Himself … "Do you not say, `There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages, and is gathering fruit for life eternal; that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, `One sows, and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." John 4:35-38 (NASB)

Look at the “time” element in these verses. Four months until harvest; reaping produces wages and fruit for “eternal” life. With the political issues at hand, world conditions as they are, wars being fought, threats made by nations of the world, money problems from governmental decisions, moral issues, threats to “faith” based ministries... “Times” are unsettling and makes us wonder just how close is the “time” for Jesus to catch up His Church.

It is up to each one of us to determine how we are going to spend our “time.” Me? I still long to go back to Alaska but that’s out of the question, but I still am accountable as to have I spend my time. How about you?  25-JUL-09

“…There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven!”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NASB)

I have been pretty silent for some time now and thought perhaps IF I would just take a moment and do a little thinking just possibly something might surface.  In January of this year I put together the "makings" of "On the Road with the Marshalls" newsletter but for some reason or another, that is as far as it got.  With a new year just around the corner just maybe, just maybe it will happen... oh, by the way, we hope you had a "Merry Christmas"! 

            The Bible tells us that from the mouth of babes...or something close to that, the prophet Isaiah penned in 59:21 "And as for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring," says the LORD, "from now and forever" (Isaiah 59:21 NASB).  The reason I bring this up is when our family gathered at our granddaughter Jami's home for our Post Thanksgiving dinner and before eating, we each one shared what we were thankful for.  Starting with our oldest great-granddaughter, Jacey, and 16 "thank yous" later, our youngest great-grandson, Landen, who is 2-and-a-half, was the most profound, when he said without any prompting "...I am thankful for my Mom!"  We all applauded him for what he had shared.  Wow!  Awesome, huh?

            This Christmas was my 77th one and I do rejoice in all that Jesus, God's One and Only Son, has been to me and to my family.  One by one they are coming to know the Lord and my goal is for every one of them to KNOW Jesus in a very personal way.  There are many Christmas memories dating back almost too far to remember.  Like I remember when all my sisters got was an orange in a stocking and not a pretty red one.  Or the year the folks got me a football and then the year a family who were going to be gone for Christmas gave us their Christmas tree.  Their son suggested they give it to the Marshalls.  My sister, Marcille, worked for them doing housework and it is possible she was asked about us having a tree... I don't know how it all happened but we had been to McPherson, Kansas to attend a Church of the Nazarene youth rally.  When we got home and the driver turned into the driveway, the car lights shown on sparkling "things" in the window.  This was the first Christmas tree we had ever had.  This happened a few years before I joined the U.S. Navy. 

            It is difficult to even "imagine" sharing something new when it comes to Christmas, but new songs are being composed every year to honor the birth of our newborn King!  Sermons preached by our Pastors, children's programs, special choir musical productions and just recently the Christmas special in Washington, D.C. and Christmas celebrations for our men and women in the military serving our country, away from their families, making that ultimate sacrifice for US.  Then we have the ACLU fighting for a very small percentage of the people in our country trying to "snuff" out anything relating to Christmas... folks, without Christ, there is NO Christmas!

            “...And when eight days were completed before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb (Luke 2:21 NASB).   He has a name that is above any name, and...He IS the only way to the Father...and no one will come to the Father without the Holy Spirit's calling.  So, I bring this to a close and trust you do KNOW Him!  As the old chorus goes:

"JESUS, JESUS, JESUS, SWEETEST NAME I KNOW"
26-Dec-08