Life Seedlings

Ruth Dueker, my mother in law, taught me many lessons. One of them was to seed your lawn with new seed each year. She lived near Pasadena, CA and so she seeded the lawn in winter there.

Here in Idaho, we have a rainy day so I have gone out and seeded my lawn in some bare spots. I think of America and the importance of seeding truth in children the lawn for them is filled with large places for planting truth. Biblical knowledge is very low. Confusion is high.

Ruth understood the importance of mission work. She prayed for and supported the Fuller Seminary students. I saw their pictures on her refrigerator. She and husband, Ken, listened to Christian radio stations and teachers, when they couldn't attend church.

Ruth was a quiet mentor and a good mentor. She listened to me at the beginning of Project Lost Sheep. The first out of town meeting was held in her house with her care giver and one of her best friends who became a faithful intercessor for us. Another friend, the church secretary also laid foundations in prayer for LA.

Ruth prayed for me and all of her children. Her faith got acted out in casseroles for the sick, being faithful in prayer. She was on the prayer team and got a letter each week from her church. She put Project Lost Sheep on the list and for years we got help.

"I take this work seriously" she told me as she opened the weekly letter filled with requests.

From Ruth I learned that prayer was important in an ongoing way. I needed prayer. People needed to be lifted up. Being loving involved knowing needs and being faithful in interceding.

One time I had a real trouble getting from San Francisco down to visit Ruth. Instead of an easy flight to Burbank, I had to wait hours to get a flight to LAX. When I finally arrived my luggage was not there. Tired and hungry, without luggage I got on a shuttle across town arriving around bedtime.

Ruth had home made split pea soup and was waiting. I ate and relaxed. We chatted. The luggage was supposed to arrive sometime in the middle of night.

"Do you want me to wait up for it " ? She asked. I laughed and said the luggage would be fine on the front porch.

That was Ruth. She put herself in my place. She planted so many seeds in me that I keep realising that her seeds have grown into a lawn in my life. Who has planted good seed in your life? Can you be an example for a little one in faith and charity?

Prayers are Miracles

Prayer is serious. 

We are communicating not with another person but with the God of the universe. Jesus told a story about a persistent person who needed bread from a neighbor. It was late but the neighbor continued to pound on the door and finally got what was needed.

Do we try prayer once and give up? Or do we persist? One difficulty in prayer may be that we are vague about a request. The more specific the better. If you need bread, ask for it.

There is w true story of a child of missionary couple. This couple frequently did not have enough money for meat. He wanted a nice big hamburger. The child prayed. Dear Lord please send us 3 pounds of hamburger meat.

Not long after, there a knock on the door and a woman appeared with a grocery bag. You guessed. She told the family she had been led to buy 3 pounds of hamburger meat. How precise is our prayer on the need we present to God? Are we serious enough to persist in praying through until the answer comes?

If we want to experience God in our nitty gritty lives, we need to get back to real, heartfelt prayer.

What A Friend Is

Audrey Hostetler was part of the founding days of Project Lost Sheep. She lived in a small house off Fair Oaks, a few minutes from where I lived. She and I met at Menlo Park Presbyterian church. Her strong interest in missions brought us together. When I told her about forming a non profit for children, she immediately volunteered to pray for us. She was as good as her word.

Those first meetings at her house always involved some dessert, sharing and prayer. Out of these slender beginnings, she really started to pray while she groomed her client's dog in a shed behind her house.

She had a wonderful gift of hospitality. One rain filled, dreary, February day, I arrived at her house to find a bowl of warm stew and a cozy warm ambience. She was my extreme encourager. We referred to prayer as HOME BASE whenever there was a set back. These happened a lot and we just went back to praying. Margaret Zip joined us and eventually we moved prayer and meetings to the First Baptist Church.

Audrey was thin but strong. I remember her smile of encouragement and her joy of life. She once told me that she finished her hard work day with a good bubble bath and a chapter of a light hearted book. She was a balanced person who knew what it took in missions. She herself had spent a few years in Africa on the mission field.

Her husband had died in his 40ties. She had a long life ahead. She made friends, worked and kept involved. When her brother who lived in Saratoga died suddenly, Audrey decided that it was time for her to move to a retirement community in the Modesto area. I was sorrowful as to how we would go on.

Of course there were phone calls and Christmas presents exchanged, but with her departure, phase one of Project Lost Sheep was over. Audrey was an unforgettable friend. Her memory will last in those who knew her and perhaps inspire others to pray big prayers for children.

Let us thank God for Audrey Hostetler who dug a very deep and real foundation in prayer for us. She served her Lord well here on earth and now is experiencing nothing but everlasting joy.

Back Up Your Belief

When Project Lost Sheep was getting started, I had a chance to be the speaker at a senior citizens group. There were about 80 people present in a recreation hall.

After lunch there was a business meeting and I was last on the agenda. People looked sleepy and I was getting more nervous. Up to this point I had only talked to the small group that started with me
And some other known Christian. We had small checks and dollars in the bank. That was it.

So I spoke about the needs of children in the Bay Area. I told them we were a group who intended to make a difference for the children. Now many present were grandparents or beyond so I caught a few nods. And there were a few falling asleep in their chairs. I cut my talk short–always a good idea if you put them to sleep. After that, people thanked me for coming. I had printed information with our P.O. box on it, a box that had been mainly empty of correspondence.

Things changed after I spoke: there was a flurry of checks in the mail. Each letter was a shot of encouragement for us. In a few months, correspondence dwindled down to one from the talk, a woman called Dorothy. I looked forward to it like a thirsty person for a bottle of cold water.

I began to notice a pattern. The check arrived the first week of every month, it was a small check but it could have been a giant one for the encouragement it gave me.

One day I called and we met. Dorothy was pressing 80 hard. She lived in a very humble apartment in Menlo Park. Only a rich engineer would be able to pay the rent now. Anyway we had tea and chatted.

"I really appreciate your monthly support, I said.

"Thank you, dear," she said. "When I get my check every month, "I sit down and write out 20 checks to the groups I believe in."

I got a big lump in my throat as I left. I felt so honored that she believed in our work. I guessed that all her generosity came out of her small social security check.

Dorothy taught me a lesson – Back what you believe in and never be ashamed that your gift is small.

It is not the amount that matters. It is the message it contains.Her monthly gift said to me. "KEEP GOING. I BELIEVE IN YOUR WORK".

Onnuri After School program

The Onnuri After School Program currently has 27 Mexican kids and has only 13 tutors. Looking for more tutors to volunteer their time for this incredible mission to help kids in their schooling. Our mission is to invest our time in our children as we know that our children are our future.

Testimonial from Glenn Inn

We had our church bazaar today to raise funds for our short term missions.

Guess who came to visit … none other that Francisco, the young boy who started with our La Vida Ninos program and had such severe ADD that he couldn't sit still for more than 30 seconds. 

After the first 12 week session, Francisco was able to sit and focus on homework for 15 minutes. He dropped out of the program not because he wanted to, but because his sister didn't like coming to do homework. I haven't seen Francisco for 1.5 years. I am so proud of him he's growing up well, thriving after the 1.5 yrs of time with our program.

~ Glenn Inn

Glenn Inn and Francisco at Church Bazaaar.

Beethoven. Listening to Greatness

Many of us may have learned about the famous Fifth Symphony. I am in the process of listening to Ludwigs complete works via amazon music on my ipad. This may take some time as there are at least 372 works!

I put my head back and listen. This is indeed restful as music bypasses all the chatter that we hear. Instead we hear cadences, cords, and I must say soul. Because when I want an infusion of inspiration I find that listening to greatness helps. It is like seeing the Olympics. People do the most amazing feats in what appears to be effortless grace.

And so it is with great music that is perfected by those who have laboured to get it right. We don't see the hours of putting down the notes with a quill pen, or the years of practice of the performers before the greatness of the music is translated down to us.

WHAT WE HEAR IS EFFORTLESS GREATNESS. I find myself waving a baton in the air. I want to enter into this in some way. So it is with greatness in any area. We recognize it when we see it or hear it. Greatness lifts us. It takes is out of the ordinary to another place where we can sore.

We all have a few moments of inspiration in life when we touch what we are supposed to be or do. Never forget that these are divine moments and take time to reignite what you heard or saw in that place.

 Get still and let inspiration lead you where you must go!

Thanksgiving Blog

It really is a good thing to give thanks to God. Thanksgiving focuses us on what we have been given. We thank God for shelter, food in our homes, cars, friends, special moments we have had during the past year.

Thanksgiving is not just individual but Thanksgiving Day is a chance for us to give thanks to God for living in America. We have been showered with opportunities to learn, to move ahead. We have had values instilled in us by our churches, families and mentors. We have a large grand land with mountains, plains, lakes and oceans.

As we sit down at our Thanksgiving Dinner we think of all the food blessings. This Thanksgiving I have been particularly thankful for the heritage of sharing food via local food banks and other non profits who provide help for those who struggle with hunger. As we get a heart of real Thanksgiving we want to reach out and share, not because it is expected, but because we want to express our love to God and what has been given to us by expressing our feelings in action. Some of you may go down and serve a meal for the homeless. That is a good thing to do.

If we can keep our head and our heart on being thankful, we will experience joy in the midst of all the business this season brings.

Thanksgiving isn't just a national holiday it is a very real remedy to get us in tune with the God who so richly provides all things for us!

LET US GIVE THANKS WITH OUR WHOLE HEARTS!