A New Way

Followers of the Way–“and [Saul who became Paul] asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem,” (Acts 9:2)

I believe a re-introduction is in order here. I am sure you’ve noticed a bit of a change in decoration and content and that’s pretty much what’s happened with me also. The old content and the old me, deleted. Like Paul in Philippians 3:8-10, everything I was, counts for naught. I think GOD had decided, probably some time back before the Earth was formed, that when we moved back home to Minnesota, it was time for me to quit fooling around like I was in control of my life, Hah! In Kansas, living out on the prairie and not too close to anything, we had to do for ourselves.

Back in Aug 2015, I quit my job with the School District my wife and I worked for and went to work fixing up our 1878 stone house, It had not been well taken care of since around the end of the 1930’s, and when we got it, windows and doors were falling apart, plumbing was piecemeal and slow and the electrical, which was from 1950 when it was put in, was down right dangerous. I have always been able to learn from books, video or just plain watching somebody. In fact, I was quite proud of that “self learned” approach. I was able to watch Youtube and learned how to plumb, wire, weld and build furniture, anything really. And the house and property needed every bit of it.

Spiritually, I was a wasteland of self deception, denial and rebellion. I grew up a Lutheran, going to Sunday School, Confirmation and Church every Sunday. I’d have to say it didn’t stick to me. I did not go to College but continued learning on my own and was very interested in Science and History. And I would have to say that is where doubt really entered my mind. Satan just has to knock you off course a degree or 2, a whisper here, a nudge there and the next thing you know, you’re on the wide path to Damnation, along with all your neighbors. There were hints here and there that GOD was still interested in me. The fact that I am still alive after doing so many stupid things, says we have a most merciful GOD indeed.

It took 2 years to get everything done, and I’d say that in the last 6 months of that hectic time, I had noticed something was wrong. I have always been strong, able to do whatever I needed to do, and now my feet were not acting right. I did not seem to be able to control my ankles, so my feet were kinda slapping the ground when I walked. And my right hand was feeling just a little weak. But I was so busy getting the house ready to sell, I didn’t have time to worry about being a little tired in spots.

The house and property did for us what we needed it to do. We ended up selling it the first day, for cash, Grace again, and then it was a rush to get packed up and out of there. We ended up in Minnesota, where my wife and I grew up, around the end of September 2017. My wife’s Mother, Sister and her husband lived in the small town of Grove City. We were graciously invited to bunk up at her Sister’s place until we found a place of our own. My Sister in law and Husband are the salt of the earth people and good solid Christians to boot. In fact, my wife’s entire large family would be characterized the same way. Good solid Christians.

It was about this time, GOD started applying a bit more persuasion to me, placing me in a home with these two Baptists. Sure, we went to Church with them and all that, but I was not done being my honorary stiff necked Jew quite yet.

We ended up buying a house, from my wife’s nephew, about a block and a half from her Mother’s and her Sister’s places. The whole town is about 4 or 5 blocks square, so that’s not saying much.
I went to the Dr and complained that my feet and hands were not working right. He poo pooed me and sent me home. I went back a few months later, and was a quite a bit more insistent. He scheduled me to see a Neurologist in Willmar, a town about 19 miles to our West. The catch with the Neurologist was it would take 3 months to get in to see him. Busy man apparently. This is where GOD’s Grace drops into the scene like it’s all a big happy coincidence, and the amazing thing is I was not done rebelling yet. The cool thing I have learned about GOD is, if HE wants you, you’er gonna get got.

The receptionist from the Neurologist called again and said she had an opening, for the next day, bright and early. We then spent the next 3 days with the Dr. probing, spinal tapping which is my all time favorite, MRI’ing and his prognosis was CMT, which is 3 Doctors names (that I can never remember) for a disease that weakens the extremities in older people. He wasn’t ruling out anything more serious without some more testing. The Dr. called the next week and told me that he found protein in my spinal column which should not be there and that’s not good news. By this time I had come to the conclusion that it was ALS. How did I know that? Well, my Mom died from it and her Father died from it. I am pretty good at seeing the handwriting on the wall and that’s what I came up with. And it hit me like a ton of bricks. Everything from I’m too young to die, wah!, to I have many more things I want to do and this is not fair. Of course not, it was only Spring, ya whiner. Everybody know the fair comes at the end of summer. The whole while GOD has got his hand out, offering it to me. But the scales were still on my eyes.

The Neurologist offered me a plan to reverse the CMT with infusions of Hemoglobin which has to be done 2 days in a row, every 2 weeks. The process takes up to 7 hours to complete, with you sitting there, sitting there watching it drip, drip, drip slowly into your arm. And you feel miserable after you get home. It has to do with it being millions of bits of other people coming into your body and sometimes producing hives and labored breathing. I did 3 sessions of that, and got to watch other people coming in to get their chemo treatments. And see the pity in their eyes cast at me, thinking I was getting chemo too. That was a very educational experience. He called off the treatment by the end of June as no improvement was noted. I was starting to come around to the idea of accepting GOD and maybe the earth was created 6752 years ago, on a Tuesday.

It’s now late July 2018 and one night my wife woke me up because she was having a very bad seizure. She’s never had a seizure before and I was pretty dang sure I could not handle this on my own. Ended up with about 20 people in the house trying to get her in the ambulance. I called my Brother in law and shakily asked to come over and he did. My next door neighbor Pete, walked over at the same time. Pete was the Pastor of the Baptist Church we had been going to and an all around great guy. Pete, my Brother in Law and I went to the Hospital and I am not sure if it was then or exactly when, but I had totally bought into GOD’s program, hook, line and sinker. We got my wife home, went back to sleep and she promptly had another seizure, not as bad. So she ends up going to the same Neurologist I am seeing. Next, they find a brain tumor in her head when she got an MRI because of the seizures. By this time I am ready to grow a beard, get some cardboard and go down to the Highway, waving the REPENT SINNER, THE END IS NIGH sign at all who drive by.

Turns out this long story has a happy ending. I finally grasped GOD’s outstretched hand, just in time, too. I found out I do have ALS and it really does not matter to me anymore. What does matter is that I did accept Christ as my Savior, I read the Bible for the first time and now I am leading Wednesday Bible Study, which Pastor Pete used to lead but he was called to Northern Minnesota to minister up there. Pastor Delroy was then our Shepard and has since decided to take the summer off and I got the nod. Funny thing, Pastor Delroy still comes to Bible Study, I guess he meant he didn’t want to work this summer, and is now making noises like maybe I should just keep doing it. I guess it’s a good thing I like to learn and love history.

There are many lessons to be drawn from this. You are never so lost that GOD cannot find you. Our GOD is a patient, loving GOD. Our sins have been forgiven when you accept Christ, however, you need to do some forgiving too.
Matt 6:14-15
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,

15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

And this is important, not for your Salvation, but to receive GOD’s Blessings like Faith, Discernment and just about any other thing that GOD wants to give you. And you will be disciplined as a Father always disciplines a child of HIS when they err, but that’s a whole lot better than eternal darkness and torment in a lake of fire, without the love of Christ.

My wife accepted Christ back in ’84 and had been patiently tapping her fingers, waiting for me. Now, as of last week, we have been baptized and joined the Baptist Church. I also have been blessed to speak boldly for the Lord in Bible Study, which is a very big surprise to me. My ALS is proceeding in that I can’t do much with my hands and walking is difficult. My breathing and swallowing are not affected. And once again, I will let Paul speak for me. This is from 2 Corinthians 12 and it will start out mid verse 7.

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Blessed again, to use my mouth for the Lord. It will be a bit of a challenge to walk down to the Highway with my REPENT SINNERS sign, but if GOD wants me to do it, I will get there. Be sure to wave if you see a wild eyed man waving a cardboard sign on the corner of 2nd street and Highway 12, Grove City.

Psalm 23:6

Of late there is a saying floating around “Are you tired of winning yet?”, with GOD it’s “Are you tired of his Blessings yet?” GOD will provide, you just have to ask. I leave you with this from Charles Spurgeon:

Our heavenly Banker delights to cash his own notes. Never let the promise rust. Draw the word of promise out of its sheath and use it with holy violence. Think not that God will be troubled by your importunately reminding him of his promises. He loves to hear the loud outcries of needy souls. It is his delight to bestow favors. He is more ready to hear than you are to ask. The sun is not weary of shining, nor the fountain of flowing. It is God’s nature to keep his promises; therefore go at once to the throne with, “Do as you have said.”