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posted by Mom on 02/14/07

I appreciate the genuine love Don expressed in this poem he wrote me on Valentine’s Day 2004.

 

♥ Companions ♥

Companions are those who “break bread”
Who share their lives from day to day
Who know the faults within their head
But love each other anyway.

Companions make a midnight ride
To take a trailer to the city
Even though it’s cold outside
To keep each other company.

Companions shop and shop and shop
To seek the perfect gift indeed
Even though they’re ’bout to drop
To help each other with their need.

Companionship is something real
It’s more than I can understand.
Companionship is when I feel
My life partner is my best friend.

As we meditate on God’s Word
Our spirit will become stronger
Then we’ll grow closer to the Lord
And our spirits to each other.

In heaven – marriage is no more
But companions will surely be
If I may choose a companion sure
My first and finest choice is thee. ♥

4 Comments » | posted in Family News

posted by Esther on 02/13/07

Sunday we celebrated my birthday with cake, ice cream, balloons and presents. I am so grateful to have had the privilege to be part of this incredible family for 21 years.

But God has more in mind for everyone than to only be born once. Jesus says in John 3:3 that “ye must be born again.” Why? Because we must be born out of our sin (all that we’ve done wrong according to God’s perfect law) that destroys the purpose for which we were born the first time: to be in fellowship with the God who made us. 1 John 1:1-4 and Rev 4:11.? Sin keeps us from being part of God’s family. I remember asking Dad about this on Oct. 24, 1991 and him showing me through verses like Rom. 3:23, 6:23, 5:8 and 10:13 that my sin made it impossible for God to communicate with me on earth or allow me into His heaven after death.

I was so grateful to hear that God wanted fellowship with me and all other people so bad that He offers to make our sins pardonable by paying for them with the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. Heb. 9:22-28 That night I prayed and accepted God’s awesome forgiveness and committed my life to Him. This was my second birth. This time into the incredible family of all who trust Him for salvation from sin. Yes, Sunday we celebrated not just the breath God has given me but the joy of His presence in that life. Have you seen your need for the Savior and purposed to live in fellowship with Him?

5 Comments » | posted in Family News

posted by Esther on 02/11/07

This cake is much more than fluff and icing; there is really something to it! I liked the dense texture and  ginger bread taste of the molasses. Mom and David put it together for Michael’s 26th birthday which was on the 7th of February and it turned out really good. They used the apple butter in between the layers and Donald decorated the top with a very appropriate winter design.

1cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
3 eggs 
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
Applesauce or apple butter (Note: If using store-bought applesauce or apple butter, you might want to add a little cinnamon and nutmeg and a little sugar, and cook it down a little.)

Cream together butter and sugar till light. Stir in molasses; add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating after each addition. Cut wax paper rounds to fit 8-inch cake pans. Grease and flour (we use Pam instead). Pour 1 1/3 cups batter into each pan. (Refrigerate remaining batter.) You can put the batter in the pans, sprinkle with flour, and flour your hands and just pat it to the edges. Bake at 350° until done, about 15 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on rack.

Wash pans (we actually didn’t), replace wax paper, grease and flour. Repeat with remaining batter. You should get 5 layers.  Stack cakes with applesauce or apple butter.

From Keaton Mills Family Cookbook

This cake was a great complement to a great birthday.

7 Comments » | posted in Recipes

posted by Donald on 02/8/07

The strength of a nation in its future depends upon the strength of the father-son relationships within that nation. Through a message that the Wilkes family told us about from Doug Phillips, I saw this illustrated once again. It is an impressive lesson from history and I would like to share it with you.

Of all the Native American people groups, the Maya (MAH-yah) are some of the most well known. With the Aztecs and Toltecs, they settled Central America far before the time of Christ but the climax of their civilization was not until about 800 A.D. At that time their achievements included a mature written language, pyramids similar to those of the Egyptians, a precise calendar and the establishment of ninety cities.

At this point however there was a revolution. Evidently the peasants wiped out their own leadership, dispersed to their individual farms and let the cities, along with much of their culture and accumulation of knowledge, all but disappear into the overgrowth of the neotropic jungle. Wow. Add to that the fact that so much of the population disappeared that it is only recently recovering¹, and you have a very interesting mystery indeed.

This is generally described in the Encyclopedia Britannica: “From A.D. 800 to 950, one after another of the centres of this civilization were abandoned and fell into ruin. Then the central Maya seem to have reverted to a pattern of peasant communities. There are only scanty archaeological data for the following period.”²This does create a mystery and prompts us to ask ‘Why?’

First some background: Before Christ came, Malachi predicted: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6).

This was the message of John the Baptist who was greatly used to awaken the nation of Israel to the coming of One Who would fulfill the laws and the prophecies of the preceding generations. Simultaneously, those who believed Christ would have their hearts emboldened to transfer the news of the Messiah to their succeeding generations. Under Adam, every person in every nation bears the curse of sin and, except the message of Christ be carried from generation to generation (in other words, unless the generational bonds be strengthened), there is no hope of families or nations escaping the curse of their own sin.

Even the mystery of the Mayas can become both exciting and easy to understand when viewed from this perspective. For the Maya, there was peace and incredible academic progress in math, linguistics and agriculture that ended in an abrupt downfall when the people as a whole chose to oppose the Creator. What could convey more dishonor to God than the dishonor of human life? The priests were entrusted with most of the formal education and they used their power and scientific knowledge to manipulate the common people, persuading them to give up their own sons and daughters for human sacrifice. While the people at first participated willingly they eventually realized that their culture was bound for self-destruction and overthrew those who misled them.

How fearful to see an advanced people group devolve to the point of giving up their own children. But the trend brought out by this message in the World History Conference is obvious: cultures turn from truth to fable; from fable to fantasy and entertainment; from fantasy and entertainment to athletics; from athletics then to ungodly violence; from violence to preoccupation with death (abortion, suicide, euthanasia, etc.); and from a preoccupation with death to blood sport.

Now, reversing the trend is not a matter of back-tracking the way that we came, but rather a clean re-emphasis of the duty of fathers and sons to understand and teach the truth of the Word of God at their point in history. Teachings abound, but our responsibility to do and teach what Christ has commanded alone guarantees our lasting stability. There cannot be too great a revival of the bond between fathers and their sons! As His ambassadors, the world awaits our witness that Christ is the only begotten son of God, that His blood sacrifice is all-sufficient, and that He offers life to those who choose to follow Him.

” My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” (Hosea 4:6).

“And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3).

In conjunction with this article I would also recommend not only The History of the World Mega-Conference 2006 DVD Collection by Vision Forum but a book on discipleship by Dr. Bill Gothard that has meant a lot to me: How to Fulfill Seven Basic Needs.

¹JSTOR: Demography: Vol. 11, No. 1 (Feb., 1974), pp. 105-117

²Encyclopedia Britannica (1957), Vol. II, pp.259Za

4 Comments » | posted in Historical Glimpses

posted by James on 02/7/07

We learned an interesting lesson. It has to do about the biological structure of a banana in relation to its environment. We almost didn’t post this but then decided we should because we didn’t want anyone else to make the same mistake! It’s very applicable at this time of year too. So here is our advice:

Don’t leave green bananas in the trunk of your car overnight in freezing weather; you probably won’t want to eat them.

12 Comments » | posted in The Bright Side, Tidbits