Thank you, Jim, for this picture of me taken when you visited over Thanksgiving.
Am I praising God or asking to go to the bathroom? :)
God is Good.
When His disciples called Jesus 'good' Jesus told them, "No, only the Father in Heaven is good." Good, meaning perfect. His disciples, and we, allow His modesty, but since we learned from Him that He was and is God we kind of figured it out. But when I say 'God is Good." I mean Mona and I have learned this over and over again from personal experience.
Take our decision to get married. I was 18 and earning the minimum wage of .75 cents an hour at a wholesale warehouse in Harrisburg. Mona was 20 and earning slightly more as a beautician but she also owned a car (Plymouth Valiant V8!). Yet God spoke to our parents and they said YES. Mona more than I spoke to God and He said yes to her. And here we are 44 years later more in love than the day we wed. God is Good!
Almost every time we had big decisions to make in our lives my fervency and Mona's calm brought us into sincere conversations with God that have really have blessed us so much each time we have allowed Him to be our guide in them. God is Good!
Yes, jobs, positions offered, positions taken or declined. All involved God's guiding. We went to A large discounter once in the late 80's because they sought me out to possibly lead their nationwide craft departments. Prayer, despite the promises of the company, kept us at SKH. A short time later I was offered a directorship on the SKH board, and a couple of years later, Ames stores went bankrupt. God is Good.
Going into full time ministry in 1997. Who saw that coming?? Laverne Buckwalter did. So had my grandmother 30 years before. So had my pastor when I was 18. So had Mona. So did God. God is Good!
Now we move toward full time retirement. The store has sold. We go to pick up our new home, a 2006 Alpine Limited Motor Coach next week. Our house goes on the market February 1 and an auctioneer comes to visit January 24 to value all of our remaining possessions for auction when we are ready to sell out, before my June 8th final sermon. God is Good!
I could write of His blessings in our lives for pages, but I'll end here by simply saying that we have learned way beyond Scripture that God is good. We have learned by daring to put His will above our own, and certainly above my impetuous own, most of the time. And we have been well blessed when we have acted within His will.
It's Christmas 2013. I am writing my last Christmas Eve sermons for Hope Church. And this is God's will.
God has a marvelous plan for a new pastor at Hope, and for new ministries in retirement for Mona and I. And maybe even for some ways we may supplement our preacher's pension. God is GOOD!!!
Merry Christmas to all!!!
-Ken
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