Roses from the Lord

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>>>>> "Lynne" == Lynne A Yohnk <lyohnk@juno.com> writes:

    Lynne> Last night we went to an installation service for a new
    Lynne> pastor to take over an existing church.  There were a lot
    Lynne> of people there with lots of words and many gave flowers to
    Lynne> the new pastor and his wife (including us).

    Lynne> As I sat there I felt some pangs of hurt.  We are Home
    Lynne> Missionaries.  Home Missionaries go to a town with usually
    Lynne> nothing.  We had no building, no installation service and
    Lynne> precious little support of any type.

    Lynne> Home Missions can be very lonely, expensive ( Home
    Lynne> Missionaries usually pay for the privilege of starting a
    Lynne> new work.) and people are always wondering when you are
    Lynne> going to give up and leave.  People give little financial
    Lynne> or emotional support to Home Missionaries.

Expensive is right.  I was involved in a home missions church 10 years 
ago when I first answered the Lord's call to preach.  My wife,
daughter, and I picked up and left our home and moved to another state 
far away, to work as tentbuilders with a more experienced minister
trying to start a new work.  We were verbally told funding would
certainly come from Home Missions Dept.  That was the year
Metro-Evangelism went into effect, and we were denied finding because
we were in a city over 1 million people, so Metro was the way.  Only
trouble was Metro required deputation -- possible for a year.  We
already had a small congregation, and now the pastor was supposed to
leave for a year?

We ended up loosing all our money -- savings, mad money, etc.  We had
to rent a truck with a credit card to move our stuff out before we had 
to pay rent we could not pay.  We had to send our little congregation
to another church that was not in a good location for them to get to,
but we couldn't just abandon them.

The good news?  About 2 years later, I got a call from a drunk we had
been witnessing to, and who have been coming some to our services.  I
was 800 miles away now, but he called me wanting me to tell him where
he could go to church.  I called a minister friend of mine in the area 
and they got together that same day or the next day.  This former
drunk is now in church!

Why did we have to come home?  Because another drunk/druggie (and such 
were some of you) that I had been using to help with carpentry in my
house there was about to get in big trouble with the law.  He was
accused of multiple arson, to the tune of millions of dollars.  The
FBI and the ATF were involved, as well as the local authorities.  They 
put him in jail, awaiting trial.

He spend Thanksgiving and Christmas in jail, but my wife would always
fix him Sunday dinner, as well as the holiday meals.  I took the plate 
over to the jailhouse.  God really got ahold of him around Christmas.
I had taken him a Bible right after he was jailed.  He wrote some
powerful poems about his jailhouse experience with God, and about his
life up to that time.

He was tried late January or early February.  In a one day trial, the
jury deliberated less than 15 minutes before returning a verdict of
not guilty.

He came to church that night and got the Holy Ghost.  He was baptized
the following Sunday.  He had a few battles with his old lifestyle the 
first year, but then moved to get away from the old crowd.  He got
solid in church.  He then got involved with prison ministry.  The last 
year he was in prison ministry, he baptized about 80 men, and about 50 
received the Holy Ghost inside the prison walls!

He is now a full-time evangelist, and has been for the past year and a 
half.

Don't tell me God doesn't know what he is doing when he gives us what
we think is failure.  He is just making us move on to the next victory!

    Lynne> Feeling this way is nothing new to me as it is always with
    Lynne> me on the Missions field and is never far off.( We've been
    Lynne> here almost 4 years.)  Nobody gave us flowers when we came.

    Lynne> We were going to a restaurant last night after service and
    Lynne> as we were pulling into the restaurant I looked down on the
    Lynne> street and there were a dozen roses on the ground.  Fresh,
    Lynne> in good shape.  I picked them up and they are on my table
    Lynne> this morning.

    Lynne> Roses from the Lord.  He really does care.

Yes he does, Sis. Yohnk!  But remember, now you have to give flowers
to someone in a situation only you will be able to understand.  That
situation will surely come soon now, as God has just prepared you for
it. 

-- 
--------  "And there came a writing to him from Elijah"  [2Ch 21:12]  --------
R. J. Brown III  rj@elilabs.com http://www.elilabs.com/~rj  voice 847 543-4060
Elijah Laboratories Inc. 457 Signal Lane, Grayslake IL 60030  fax 847 543-4061
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