Month: November 2018

Raising a family always gave me reasons to thank God: the sounds of laughter amongst the kids, my wife teaching each little one to cook or bake cake. Watching the kids want to lick the chocolate frosting or batter that was left over from the cakes they just helped bake, listening to the pitter-patter of little feet shuffling along the floors letting us know they were up, and just having a family to spend time with.

Trials were ever-present, and still are.  I think they’ve graduated to a higher level of difficulty!  They’re pretty much like my timers when I’m cooking and doing the laundry: the microwave beeps signifying something’s ready, the stove timer goes off when set and food is ready, and our washer ‘sings’ letting me know the wash is done.  Sometimes before one trial is over, another one is at its heels.  We sometimes manage around those timers and need to do the same with trials.

I read the news almost every day.  Tragic news is everywhere; but if you’re alive, you’ve got reasons to be thankful for.  If no one’s reading about you having lost your life, then you’re alive.  It’s best to learn to take the good with the bad and ask God for direction on the road ahead.  Many people have lost their homes and cars in recent fires, others have lost their jobs, still others may have lost friends and dear loved ones confirming to the world that sin is all around us.

If we keep our sight on the Author and Finisher of our lives, with each bit of bad we get a better view of what lies ahead in the New Jerusalem, the New Heavens, and in our eternal abode with the One who holds the key to our lives and our hearts: Jesus.

Lord, we’re grateful for all you’ve done for us; for sacrificing your sinless life for our guilty ones and declaring us free of sin.  Thank you for preparing a place for us in your home, your heart, and in the Father’s presence.  Amen

As our son grew our growing daughter didn’t want to stay behind.  My parents bought them a set of bunk beds.  Our son slept on top so we took the crib apart and used the side rails to close in the sides of the bottom bunk for our daughter since sleeping in the crib was out of the question for her.  She managed to get out all the time.  She’d also climb halfway up the bed ladder and then cry for help.  We’d toss her back in bed and she’d do it over and over. We even sealed the entire bed like a small child prison and placed her on a mat.  Next morning, she was still on her mat but she had slid under one of the ladder rungs and landed intact on the floor!  Would she grow up to be an escape artist?  Only God knew.  For now we were glad to know they were both growing and she’d soon be out of her prison.

Jesus came to set captives at liberty; to give them deliverance.  Are you free today?  If you haven’t rendered or surrendered your life to Him, you’re not free.  Complete freedom comes with giving our very selves to Him.  All prison chains fall off.  What types of chains, you ask?  Chains of blame; of blaming others for all that’s wrong in your life or all that’s befallen you.  There are chains of anger, chains of hate, chains of indifference to others or to their needs.  Maybe you have chains of irresponsibility.  We all need to take credit for what we’ve done, or haven’t done.  Once set free, we become escape artists (from Satan’s grip).  We can then climb the ladder of spiritual growth that leads to the Father.  Leave your prison today!  Bask in the comfort and promises of God’s words of hope.  Read the words of Isaiah, chapter 61, verses 1-3: “The Spirit (Ruach) of the Lord is upon me: because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound: To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD (Yaweh), and the day of vengeance of our God (Elohim); to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD (Yaweh), that he might be glorified.”

We were living at our Bushwick Ave. apartment for three years before applying for housing.  Although my wife had taken a photograph of a huge dead rat that had died in our one-and-only half bath, and our son had been playing with it, we believed God to be in control of everything; even the rat.  Would you like to see the picture??  I’m dying to post it!!!  Wife won’t let me 🙁 We referred to our bathroom as a half bath because one half was on one side of the kitchen holding the tub and vanity, and right across the room was a small closet housing the toilet…strange!

We were interested in new housing units being built near our place. At a meeting for new potential homeowners, we were told we ‘might’ get in to the system.   We were also informed that there were at least a thousand families ahead of us.  However, we knew God could work through that list & move us ahead.  Immediately, faith kicked in: since I worked at a warehouse, I began taking home unwanted, empty boxes and began packing for our journey to the promised land.  As we awaited our exodus, we continued our plight.

It was freezing in our unit!  My next-door neighbor and best friend, Ray, thought it strange that we would call the heating hotline number to report the landlord.  After all, we were Christians.  I told him, “Then the landlord should be behaving like one.”  Ray believed we needed to be good Christians and endure the pain, suffering, and the freezing.   We didn’t share those beliefs.                   We really needed a ticket out of there. Part of that ticket would be God’s answer to prayer; the other part was on its way in the form of another child!     Life goes on…another lesson in patience.  Psalm 40:1 reads: “I waited patiently for the LORD (Yaweh); and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” Amen!

At my old job, the workers kidded that we were hidden in the basement; kept away from the public.  Above us was a showroom of highly expensive decorating fabrics where customers went and requested samples or clippings of fabrics that ‘tickled their fancy.’  Sometimes they placed their orders on the spot.  Meanwhile, we had to climb on ladders or go up shelving that were over ten feet high to fulfill orders.  It was a lot of work, especially when other workers would hide so as not to do their share.  When large orders arrived of 3-5 pages long, some workers decided it was time for their 15 min. break, leaving the load on others.

We always felt the manager was one with a whip chasing us up & down the aisles and shelves to hurry up and get our work done.  There was definitely no preferential treatment there.  We’d hope some ‘big shot’ in the showroom would come down and see who really did all the dirty work.   Never happened

We had a guy, Pete, who memorized almost every single piece of fabric we housed. Each piece had a five-digit number.  If we’d say, I need number 12395, he’d be able to tell you how many were in the same line, what colors they came in, their price, and how many inches before the pattern repeated itself again, etc.  What’s more amazing is that a few years down the line, a larger company merged their line with ours, bringing in 10,000 to 15,000 new fabrics and within weeks, Pete was memorizing them all!

Being out of the spotlight also meant getting paid as if living in the dark.  After paying our tithes and our bills, I’d stay with $2.00 for the next two weeks.  Having to get along with three kids and a wife wasn’t easy with two bucks.  To save (!), I’d ride my bike about 12 miles to work from Brooklyn to Manhattan.  I’d cross the Pulaski Bridge and then the 59^th St. bridge-even in frigid weather.  For lunch, since Pete only had a sip of his soda and threw out the rest, I’d ask for some before he drank.  I’d pour some into a cup and have it with some snack.  I felt as if I had a hole in both pockets.  But Jehovah Jireh, our provider, always came through.  I remember we had had a grand total of $157.00 stashed in our bank account for years.  I believe it went down to about $8.00 and we never looked at it cause we knew it couldn’t help us pay for anything basic.  I’m thankful to God I had a happy and understanding wife and three young kids for whom riches meant dad coming home, and that’s all that mattered.  I’d enter the door and one would grab me on the left leg, the other on my right leg, and the youngest I’d pick up.  I’d walk like Frankenstein pulling along two twerps and carrying a munchkin.

Where are your riches?  Although ‘Money answers all things’ (Eccl. 10:19), true treasures are to be established in heaven so that when this world is over, or we go to Him, we’ll have treasures to ‘bank’ on (Matt. 6:20).  Our prayers are deposited in heaven, our good deeds (because of our salvation), will be acknowledged by God.  Together, they form our bank accounts.

As the apostle Paul said, “I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound in all things; I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” (Philippians 4:12).  Not having money meant no need to worry on overspending when shopping since we simply didn’t shop except for groceries.  The one thing there was always an abundance of was laughter in our home. If you have the chance someday, read the great poem Laughter In the  Walls by Bob Benson.  It has definitely enriched our lives and has shown a truth relative to happy lives within happy walls.