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| Home in Historic Distric...notice the brick sidewalks |
"Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgement." Jude 1:23
"Go quickly into the street and alleys of the city...go out into the country lanes and out behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come..." Luke 14:21-23
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Your prayers are such a dear blessing to us and we thank GOD for all that HE is enabling us to do and be and experience during this campaign journey HE has led us to take for at least these some eight weeks. We are at about the half way point this weekend, with the primary being March 13. GOD has blessed us beyond measure by empowering us to do what we cannot...health wise, financial, or other wise. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers, and please continue to do so...we need them.
This past Friday night, we had the blessing of going to our church's Valentine's banquet together. One of the blessings of the campaign is being able to go to more things together like this. My husband's brother and mother and sis and law are working in Johnny's place so he can take off to campaign, and we appreciate their help so very much. It's very much a family effort and without their help, and the help of so many of our friends and family that GOD is using to help us, we could do nothing.
The theme of the Valentine's banquet was "Share His Love." I didn't know what to expect since we've never been to one at our church, but it was a really, really nice affair. First of all, the tables were all decorated pretty for Valentines, with little heart shaped tarts on the table, and candle's in globes burning on each table. There was a large crowd , and as you looked out over the Family Life Center it was a sea of red and white. Most of the ladies wore red for Valentine's and several of the men had on red sweaters. We got there a few minutes late, so as we arrived, we looked over the room for a seat and there right beside my friend Wanda and her husband Greg, were seats at a table. So although we weren't at the same table, we were able to talk, and laugh back and forth...that was a special blessing from the LORD.
The theme of the Valentine's banquet was "Share His Love." I didn't know what to expect since we've never been to one at our church, but it was a really, really nice affair. First of all, the tables were all decorated pretty for Valentines, with little heart shaped tarts on the table, and candle's in globes burning on each table. There was a large crowd , and as you looked out over the Family Life Center it was a sea of red and white. Most of the ladies wore red for Valentine's and several of the men had on red sweaters. We got there a few minutes late, so as we arrived, we looked over the room for a seat and there right beside my friend Wanda and her husband Greg, were seats at a table. So although we weren't at the same table, we were able to talk, and laugh back and forth...that was a special blessing from the LORD.
It wasn't long after we sat down that the youth girls came and asked us what we wanted to drink, and then our table was called to come and serve our plate in the buffet line. Our pastor was among those serving the meal...he and his wife, Joan, are always setting an example for the rest of us to humble ourselves and be servants for CHRIST. The food was delicious, especially the roast beef and chicken. The red cabbage was also tasty... I didn't get a piece of the cakes they were serving but they looked awesome...i noticed a piece of chocolate cake and carrot cake on our table...and they looked yummy.
As we ate, one of our former choir members sang love songs He has a beautiful and soothing voice. In a little while the program started, and Tee Jackson, the former principle at Athens High School got up and shared about the theme "Share His Love." He challenged us to share the love of CHRIST wherever we go, "In the Highways, By-Ways and Hedges." As he talked a lady in the church playing like "Minnie Pearl," would come up and interrupt him, and we all laughed. Intermingled with Tee's (who was also the girls basketball coach at Athens High School when i play basketball for Tanner and they always beat us) serious comments about spreading the love of CHRIST JESUS, were several "singers," folks from our church, who would come up and "sing," traveling songs from folks like, Johnny Cash, Carrie Underwood, Ricky Nelson, and the group Alabama. All of them were so funny...but the message came across and was serious...GOD has called HIS children to be HIS witnesses while we are here and to "Share HIS Love," where ever the LORD leads us each day.
The message was so very timely for where the LORD has my husband and i as he is running for a political office and we are all over the place meeting people, and being reacquainted with so many old friends...all who need for us to "Share HIS Love." There are hurting people behind every door we knock on. So many are sharing HIS love with us as we go along....as i shared this week, every person who has donated finacially, put up a yard sign, gone out on a limb to endorse my husband, told someone about my husband, given their property to let us put up a sign, gone door to door in your neighborhood, and a thousand other things, has "Shared the Love" of CHRIST with us.
One of the ways someone "Shared His Love," with me this week, really touched me to the core of my soul. I was on my bicycle in one of the neighborhood's going door to door, and a young boy, was out shooting basketball in the goal in his driveway. I asked him if he would give one of our campaign fliers to his Mom, and he said, "Yes Ma'am. " When I left, he told me, "It was nice to meet you," and that really got my attention. I rode on down a couple of houses, being careful to skip the yards that looked like that had been sprayed, (and it still got to me), and in a couple of minutes the young lad came running down to me, and said, "I'm sorry, I forgot to ask you if you would like some water?" Right then and there, i said, young man, you are like someone out of the Bible, and I told him the story of Isaac's servant who went to find a wife for Isaac. When Rebekkah came out and offered to water the camel's for Isaac's servant, he knew then and there, that she was the wife for Isaac, because of her servant's heart. This little fourth grade boy, "Shared HIS Love," with me, in a very dramatic fashion by his willingness to serve me, and go above and beyond what was necessary. I didn't take him up on the offer, though i wish i had of, and met his dear Mom and thanked her for her diligent training in her young son's life...but i won't forget the impact his offer for water made upon my heart this past week. It doesn't have to be big acts of kindness that we do to "Share HIS Love,"... even something as simple as a cup of cold water shared will be rewarded says JESUS in the Scriptures Mark 9:41:
One of the ways someone "Shared His Love," with me this week, really touched me to the core of my soul. I was on my bicycle in one of the neighborhood's going door to door, and a young boy, was out shooting basketball in the goal in his driveway. I asked him if he would give one of our campaign fliers to his Mom, and he said, "Yes Ma'am. " When I left, he told me, "It was nice to meet you," and that really got my attention. I rode on down a couple of houses, being careful to skip the yards that looked like that had been sprayed, (and it still got to me), and in a couple of minutes the young lad came running down to me, and said, "I'm sorry, I forgot to ask you if you would like some water?" Right then and there, i said, young man, you are like someone out of the Bible, and I told him the story of Isaac's servant who went to find a wife for Isaac. When Rebekkah came out and offered to water the camel's for Isaac's servant, he knew then and there, that she was the wife for Isaac, because of her servant's heart. This little fourth grade boy, "Shared HIS Love," with me, in a very dramatic fashion by his willingness to serve me, and go above and beyond what was necessary. I didn't take him up on the offer, though i wish i had of, and met his dear Mom and thanked her for her diligent training in her young son's life...but i won't forget the impact his offer for water made upon my heart this past week. It doesn't have to be big acts of kindness that we do to "Share HIS Love,"... even something as simple as a cup of cold water shared will be rewarded says JESUS in the Scriptures Mark 9:41:
"For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in MY name, because you belong to CHRIST, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward." Mark 9:41.
The really neat thing about being one of GOD's children, is that we don't have to be successful when we "Share HIS Love," to be rewarded. What a mean by that is often our acts of love are rejected, either, nicely, or not so nicely. I said "No thank you," to the young boy about the water, but the offer of love was still there, whether it was his dear Mother's, or his thoughtful heart. Many times we do try to "Share GOD's love," with those who don't want to receive it...but GOD wants us to be obedient just like the little boy was if his Mom sent him to ask me about the water. GOD wants us to be obedient and "Share HIS love," to those who will receive it and those who reject HIS love through us.
We've had so many blessings along this campaign journey and I am trying to write down each morning in my "Thank You," journal what those blessings are so i don't forget them. One was meeting an old family friend of my husband's family. I have known of them forever it seems, but didn't know them. As i went door to door in the same neighborhood as the little boy lived in, i saw an "Evans" sign in one of the yards, and I wanted to be sure and thank whoever it was for putting our sign out. I saw the name on the mailbox, and recognized it right off. When i knocked on the door of the beautiful front porch, an attractive white haired elderly lady came out. She and i started talking, and it was something about the way she talked and smiled that i was attracted to...i still didn't know much about her, but as we talked on, i told her i wanted to be like her when i got older. She smiled, and told me she had been crying most of the day, because her little dog had died a couple of weeks before. She asked me if i knew who Elisabeth Elliot was and i said, I named my daughter after her! Elisabeth Elliot has been such a mentor to me in her walk with CHRIST through her books and radio shows. You can read more about her at www.elisabethelliot.org. She brought her up because Elisabeth had done a radio show a long time ago about Pets dying and whether or not we would see them in heaven. I remember that show...and we both agreed we sure hoped she was right, and that we would see our beloved pets again in heaven. After that i asked her where she went to church, and I was embarrassed when she said, "First Baptist," the same church that i go to! It's a pretty big church, so i guess i just must have missed her, as i sit up front with the choir and the orchestra, and she sits in the middle. But what a sweet time of fellowship she and I had in the LORD JESUS, and i knew then what I was seeing in her that made me want to be like her...it was the love and light of JESUS shining forth through her, even in the midst of her sorrow over her beloved pet. I didn't know anything about this lady...but after being in her presence for a short time, she made me thirsty for what she had... a countenance and spirit that reflected the love of CHRIST JESUS. It was getting dark, and cold and i was on my bicycle, but my heart sure was warmed by the love of JESUS that came from inside her...
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| Campaigning by the light of the moon |
I do want to be like this dear saint i met....even if the name of JESUS is never mentioned before hand, i want others to be able to tell there is something different about me, and that something is SOMEONE, CHRIST in me, the Hope of Glory.
I've met so many people this week carrying burdens inside such as the lady whose husband had a stroke, and she told me she never expected to be taking care of an invalid at this point in her life. When i walked up to her door and knocked on it because of the sled beside the door, and the ice skate decorating the table, i never thought i'd meet someone inside who just needed to share her burdens with a listening, caring ear. Many times since we've begun this campaign, i've thought, you never know what people are going through inside those nice big houses. The campaign has taken us to the nicest of homes, to the not so nice homes, to homes that were built before the Civil War, to a tunnel that was built during the Civil War but everywhere you go, people are hurting and need to know how very much JESUS loves them and HE wants to show them HIS love through us.
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| Home in the historic distric of our town-this home served as a hospital during the Civil War, i think. |
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| Home in the historic district This is soon to be our next door neighbor's new home. |
As i campaigned in the North part of our county on Friday,going round to different restaurants and stores...i came across many people, and some didn't look as polished and cleaned up as you find in the town part of our county. After i had gone in a smoky restaurant, and met some folks, and a doctor's office, and a place called "Donna's Barn and Cafe," (something about those two names just don't go together....only in Alabama:), i eventually made my way to the end of the stores.
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| Cafe i went in campaigning...they have auctions and bluegrass music and dances on the weekend |
At the end of the little strip was a place called the Pine Tree. It was a pretty yellow building, and had a sign pointing towards it like it was a restaurant. I missed the door the first time i tried to go in, and then went back to it. After i opened it and went down a short hallway, i was a sign on the door and realized i was in a massage parlor! I didn't go any further, but promptly turned around and got out of there. My husband got a big laugh when i called and told him what i had done, and later we learned this place had been in the newspapers and had been raided by the police! I hope no one captured me on camera coming out of there...it was all legitimate I promise.... Later as I thought back about it, i thought, well, that would have been the perfect place to "Share HIS Love," but i didn't think about it, all i thought about was getting out of there as fast as I could.
You know, whether we live in a big fancy house like many we have been to this week, or a shady massage parlor...we all have the same thing in common that JESUS CHRIST was sent into the world for...we all are sick from our sins, and are headed for a burning hell to pay for our sins, unless we repent of them, and accept JESUS CHRIST as our LORD and SAVIOR. It doesn't matter, if you are the President, a plumber, a doctor, a restaurant worker, a preacher, or a teacher....or a prostitute, without JESUS's blood covering our sins, we are lost without HIM. I would not be "Sharing HIS Love," if i did not tell you the Truth, and the Truth is:
"For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only SON that whosoever believeth in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.
I read a part of a sermon from J.C. Ryle, a pastor in the late 1800's, that i want to share with you, because i love you. Some of you reading this have never repented of your sins, choosing to go your own way, thinking you can do enough good deeds to work your way to heaven. As i told you last week, Isaiah tells us that our righteousness is as filthy rags...menstrual rags, is how it's literally translated." Some of you reading this, just plain may have never thought much about receiving the LORD JESUS as your LORD and SAVIOR...and others, may just think that the whole thing about hell is just a made up fairy tale, that a loving GOD would never send people to hell. JESUS talks about hell over and over and IT IS the reason that HE came to earth to save us...to rescue us from hell and eternal damnation. Please take time to read these words from JC Ryle, and if you've never asked JESUS to forgive you for your sins, and truly repented, you can do it right now. HE loves you so much and it is not HIS desire that anyone should perish.
(J.C. Ryle, "Holiness, Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots" 1879)
I believe that the time has come, when it is a positive duty to speak plainly about the reality and eternity of Hell. A flood of false doctrinehas lately broken in upon us. Men are beginning to tell us that God is too loving and merciful to punish souls forever; and that all mankind, however wicked and ungodly some of them may be--will sooner or later be saved. We are invited to leave the old paths of apostolic Christianity. We are told that the views of our fathers about Hell, and the devil, and punishment--are obsolete and old-fashioned. We are to embrace what is called a "kinder theology"--and treat Hell as a pagan fable, or a bugbear to frighten children and fools!
Against such false teaching I desire, for one, to protest. I, for one, am resolved to maintain the old position, and to assert the realityand eternity of Hell.
It is a question which lies at the very foundation of the whole gospel. The moral attributes of God--His justice, His holiness, His purity--are all involved in it. Once let the old doctrine about Hell be overthrown--and the whole system of Christianity is unsettled, unscrewed, unpinned and thrown into disorder!
The Scripture has spoken plainly and fully on the subject of Hell.
If words mean anything--then there is such a place as Hell.
If texts are to be interpreted fairly--then there are those who will be cast into Hell.
If language has any sense belonging to it--then Hell is forever.
The drowning of the old world by the flood,
the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah,
the overthrow of Pharaoh and all his host in the Red Sea,
the judgment on Korah, Dathan and Abiram,
the utter destruction of the seven nations of Canaan--
all teach the same solemn truth. They are all given to us as beaconsand signs and warnin
Settle it firmly in your mind, that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has spoken most plainly about the reality and eternity of Hell. No lips have used so many words to express the dreadfulness of Hell, as the lips of Jesus.
Hell,
Hell-fire,
the damnation of Hell,
eternal damnation,
the resurrection of damnation,
everlasting fire,
the place of torment,
outer darkness,
the worm that never dies,
the fire that is never quenched,
the place of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth,
everlasting punishment--
these, these are the words which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself employs! Away with the miserable nonsense which people talk in this day, who tell us that the ministers of the gospel should never speak of Hell!
He is the kindest friend--who tells me the whole extent of my danger!
The watchman who keeps silence when he sees a fire--is guilty of gross neglect!
The doctor who tells us we are getting well when we are dying--is a false friend!
The minister who keeps back Hell from his people--is a wicked and cruel man!
What is the use of hiding eternal punishment from the impenitent and the ungodly? Surely, it is helping the devil!
I want to be the kindest friend who tells the whole extent of the danger that we all lie in apart from the salvation that is found in the LORD JESUS CHRIST....i don't want to be like a doctor who is telling a patient they are getting well, when they are dying, but i'm afraid sometimes i am because i am fearful of man or else i don't truly believe in hell. So today, i share this with you my friends and family and pray the LORD will use it to speak to your heart to convict you and bring you to a saving relationship with our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
I want to close with a story i read about John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist Church. When he was a young boy, his family's house caught on fire. He awoke to flames in his bedroom, but everyone was gone. His father wanted to go in and rescue him, but he was unable to due to the flames so he prayed for little John. Somehow, GOD helped little John Wesley make it to a windowsill and some of the neighbor men were able to make a human ladder, and "snatch him from the flames of fire." GOD used that fire to burn in John Wesley's heart and mind. Later when CHRIST saved him from the burning flames of hell when John Wesley accepted CHRIST, he was compelled to tell others how GOD sent JESUS to save us from the burning flames of hell.
My desire today has been to "Share His Love" with you, by encouraging you that even the smallest of deeds we do in HIS name we will be rewarded for and can be a blessing in others lives for beyond all we ask or think. I also wanted to encourage you, like myself to be bold, and "Share HIS Love," by sharing the great salvation that is found in the blood of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST.
When we were members at Travis Avenue Baptist in Ft. Worth, when my husband was in seminary, we used to sing a beautiful song called "People Need the LORD," by Steve Greene http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uZcGaixMhg. It really sums up what i have shared with you today. "The chorus says, "People Need the LORD, People Need the LORD, at the end of broken dreams He's the open door, People Need the LORD, People Need the LORD, when will we realize we must give our lives, for People Need the LORD."
I love you, and thank you so much for your prayers and for spending this time with me today....I pray the LORD will use this email to encourage you and me to "Share HIS Love in the Highways, By-Ways, and Hedges..."so that My House will be full." JESUS has the biggest and best Valentine's banquet awaiting all those who put their faith and trust in HIM called the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb. " Rev. 19:7-10. Until then, He delights to pour out HIS love over HIS children and bring us into the banquet of an intimate relationship with HIM. May we all feast deeply on HIS banquet of love that we may "Share HIS love" with those around us. Happy Valentine's Day to you all !
With all HIS love,
mitzi
