Scared!!

Well, the IT guy and his wife arrived from Texas. He took one good look at our system and he said it scared him. Fortunately for us, we didn't have enough sense to be scared before, but now we are. He said our system is in really scary shape. We knew it was bad, but we didn't know how bad till yesterday. Please pray. This is a serious situation and needs to be fixed before we lose our publishing resources. Pray that this man has enough time and we are able to get the parts and components we need to get this system safe and functioning the way it is supposed to. Also please pray that he is able to get my laptop fixed, because it has all the financial records on it. I have everything backed up, so hopefully it will just be a matter of re-installing windows and getting the virus software upgraded. Keeping these computers up and running is a major job. We still need a full-time IT guy. It won't be long before we are going to need a bigger office. On Friday, 9 people were in there working on all the computers.

Tuesday is Pookie's birthday. When anybody has a birthday over here, they get to pick where they want to eat their birthday meal. Pookie has chosen the Oishi Buffet. Lots of raw fish. She and Psalm used to eat so much sushi that I had to sit at the other end of the table. I don't eat raw stuff and sometimes I have trouble even smelling raw fish and watching other people eat it. Fortunately for us, they also have lots of cooked food and also you can pick your own stuff and they will cook it for you and bring it to your table. Pookie turns the big 21.

Today We Bought New Chairs

A couple of days ago, we were all at the office with a loud SNAP was heard and then a crash. When we all looked around Tom was lying on the floor, still in the chair in a sitting position except he was lying on his back. One of the rolling legs of his office chair broke and he bit the dirt, as we say in Texas. So today he found 4 new office chairs to replace some of the ones that are becoming dangerously crummy.

A BIG answer to prayer: We have an IT guy and his wife who are ON THE WAY!!! Thanks to Bro. Mike Lewis and the Faith Baptist Church in Temple, Texas. This will be a very big help to us as our computers are glitching all over the place and we are just hanging on trying not to lose anything until somebody gets here who can get the computers and servers stabilized and doing what they were meant to do.

Myra Noel made it here safely from Texas. Safe, but very tired. Pray that she will get over the jet lag quickly, because she has a big job ahead of her. Please pray for Carolyn. She got a bone scan a few weeks ago, and she has osteoporosis with a high risk of fracture. They put her on Boneva, but one pill costs $60. She takes one pill per month for 6 months, and then goes back to the doctor for another scan. Pray that her bone density improves greatly.

The rest of us are all doing well, I think. At least we are still up and running. We are praying for another 2 workers, whether we hire them or they are volunteers. Tom would like a Thai man to travel with him to the neighboring countries.

Thank you for your prayers on our behalf. We can always tell when people are praying and we can also tell when they are not. Keep on keeping on. It will mean the difference in whether the job gets done over here or not. The battle is won or lost in the prayer closet, not on the battle field.

Busy Month Ahead

Noah arrives today and Myra Noel arrives at midnight on Tuesday. They will be putting in long hours on the proofreading and typesetting of the Judson Bible in Burmese. This is going to be something that needs to be saturated in prayer. Those of you who know about this project, and have been praying, we want to say "Thank You" and please keep on praying. We are hoping to finish this project up in 1 month, but that may be wishful thinking on our part. Things usually take longer than hoped and planned for. At the moment, we are having computer problems with more than one of the systems and we are in desperate need of an IT person (translated "geek") to come over and help us keep these tricky computers and servers doing their job. We also need another full-time worker to help us with the "Good and Evil" project. Pookie is over-worked and underpaid. She is doubling as overseer of the G&E as well as Tom's almost full-time assistant. It is way too much for one person, so please pray about us being able to acquire another dependable worker to take the burden off of her.

The Judson picture tract is still having art work retouched. It is taking longer than expected also, but when it is finished, it is going to be a great tool for Burmese people. People have asked us if we plan to translate it into Thai. The answer is NO. It is a tract that is only culturally relevant to Burmese people. This is the reason it is important to train folks in these other countries to write their own materials: so that they will be culturally sensitive to the needs of that particular culture. There are many tribes and ethnic groups in Burma as there are in China, Thailand and other countries in this region. They need their own people producing literature for their own particular group and they need to be taught how to do it. Please pray for the funding of these regional training facilities, and more importantly for personnel to help us run them.

The Hmong are all headed back to Laos very soon. Please pray for their safety as they face a very uncertain future in their homeland. The church leaders have vowed to spread the Gospel message thru Laos. Pray that God would give them everything they need to do just that. We love these folks. They have become personal friends and fellow labourers for the Lord. Pray that the country of Laos will reap the benefits of their testimony and evangelization efforts. They may well pay a very high price for serving the Lord in that hostile country.

Midnight Run

Night before last at precisely 10:00 PM, I am shutting down the computer when I hear Anne calling me across the kitchen wall. "My eye, it really hurts." It looked pretty bad, and because an eye is too serious a thing to mess around with, I told her we needed to go to Bumrungrad. No, it's not another city. It is the international hospital that all who work here with us go to for medical attention. It is quite a distance from our house, but since it was the middle of the night, we got there in a taxi pretty fast. We went to the emergency room, but there was not an eye specialist there, so she had to see just a regular doctor. He shined a flashlight in her eye and said there was no foreign object but he wanted her to come back and see an eye specialist. He did however, giver her drops for pain to put into her eye. We were back home by midnight. We were very glad that Pook was still up and able to go with us. She wanted a Starbucks as payment for her services, but I absolutely refused. Coffee at midnight and she would have been bouncing off the walls till morning. We never, never, under any circumstances allow Pookie to drink coffee at night. We went back to Bumrungrad today. Anne has a scratched cornea, and will have to keep one eye closed for 12 hours a day. Sleeping at night counts, but the daytime 4 hours we haven't figured out how she is going to do that yet. We talked about an eye patch--"Anne the pirate." The doctor said that she was probably sleeping with her eye partially opened, and it was getting dried out. Why would she sleep with one eye opened? Does she have trust issues? Watching for lizards jumping on the bed? What? Anyway the visit to the ER cost her all of her money that she had set aside for February. But then Gary Karle, from my church, who has been supporting her since she got here, sent her money, and now she is back in the black. Oh, yes, and by the way, my doctor told me that I could resume taking showers. Ten weeks of sponge baths has been quite a challenge and I am glad that is over. Veeeeeerrrrry glad!

Tom returned from the left country yesterday and it was a very good and profitable trip. There were divine appointments and that is about all I can say because of where and who, etc. God is still in control, no matter who doesn't like it. Nanner, nanner, nanner.

Several of the computers are offline or in some way not operating properly. We need a geek to come over here for a few weeks and get us situated again. I say again, because maintenance of the computers is an ongoing thing and we are having a hard time keeping things going smoothly with no one here to maintain them full time. Please pray that God would send us someone to help us in this very important area.

Catch-Up

A lot of things have happened since January 10th, which was the last time I posted something on this blog. On January 12, Alex Coats left us and believe me, he is greatly missed. He was a great help and a blessing to us while he was here. The very next day, Our pastor and wife, Larry and LaRue Atkisson arrived. That was a great time of fellowship and catching up on how our church is doing. We did a little sightseeing the first few days they were here, then we left for the Hmong refugee camp in Petchaboon. We were able to introduce the new believers to our pastor and we were there for a Sunday service. Many of the believers have gone back to Laos in the last several months. Some voluntary, some not, but the men in the church are all vowing to stand firm and spread the Gospel message with they get back to Laos. They will all go back sooner or later. Please pray for them that the Lao government will leave them alone and not go back to the massacres that caused them to flee in the first place. Those whom we have heard from in Laos, say that so far things are OK, and none of them has been shot or mistreated that they have heard about.

After leaving the Hmong camp, we journeyed to the Burmese border and spent a couple of days with the Believers there. We were taken to a garbage dump, where many refugees are living, while they pick through the stuff for things that can be recycled. Many children, some just infants live in these horrid conditions. The ground is literally crawling with flies. Dysentery and other diseases threaten their lives every day, and yet they would rather live here than in Burma. Freedom comes with an unbelievable price for these folks. They would rather be free to live in total poverty and squalor than to live in the country of Burma. Many of these people are ethnic tribespeople. The Karen people are being hunted and murdered with impunity in southern Burma every day. The military regime that controls the country offer them no protection, but rather they are the ones who are doing the killing. Americans have no idea what these countries are like. None of these statistics ever hit the news media. You have to be here and see it for yourself.

After leaving the border, we traveled to Chiang Mai for a few days, to meet with translators and printers. We did all this traveling in our van. There were 7 of us in all. Pook, Anne, and Carolyn all accompanied us, but by the time we got ready to leave Chiang Mai, the 5 of us "old folks" had had all we could take. We hired a driver and let the 2 young ladies, Pook and Anne, bring the van home to Bangkok. Like I have said many times, "getting old is not for sissies." We came home on Friday or Saturday, and Sunday morning and evening, Bro. Larry preached at the church They really liked his preaching style, although it was different from their own. Once he shouted and everybody jumped about a foot, then everybody laughed. Nobody knows but me how much I miss Larry's preaching. It was so good to have them here for almost 2 weeks.

Larry and LaRue left on Monday night and Tuesday morning, Tom and I flew back up to Chiang Mai for a missions conference sponsored by one of the missionaries up there. It was a very excellent conference and we met a lot of real nice folks. We came home Saturday the 31st, and went back to work on Monday, Feb 2nd. I had to begin sorting out the finances that I hadn't touched in almost 3 weeks. On Thursday, our daughter, Lisa Johnson, gave birth to our 4th grandbaby, Levi Taylor Johnson. Both of them are doing well. Our daughter and her husband, Brian Johnson, are missionaries in the country of Lithuania. They have been there 11 years.

Oh, yeah, I missed something in here. On the 1st of February, 2 young men from Lehigh Valley BC came. They will be with us for a few days, then they move on to Indonesia, and then back to us for a few more days next month. Tom and these guys left Sunday morning for a trip out of the country to a place that shall remain anonymous. This brings me up to date. Today is Monday, February 4th. Pook, Anne, Carolyn, and I are all taking the day off. Last week was very busy and stressful and today we crash. At the moment, I think they went to the bowling alley. Me? I'm blogging.

A great Article by Ron Graham

That None Should Perish
By Ron Graham

“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” Ezekiel 18:23. Are you wondering why Jesus is tarrying and not retuning right now for His Church? The answer is stated above by God Himself. God takes no pleasure in knowing the wicked perish.

God knows who will come to a saving relationship with His Son Jesus and who won’t. Each day that passes is another day that someone becomes a new creation in Christ and will join the rest of us in the Rapture. You and I can’t see all those who are being saved on a daily basis, but know this, not one day passes that there isn’t rejoicing in Heaven because someone has accepted Christ as their savior.

Think back, if you will, to the day you were saved, I’m sure most of us who are born again can remember that exact day. Now go back one more day, what if the Lord would have come for His Church on that day? Where would you be right now? I’ve often asked myself that same question whenever I sit and ponder why He tarries. It’s humbling to come to the correct conclusion of just why Jesus hasn’t returned yet. There are still those who will be saved, and thank God for that.

I have many family members and friends, as I’m sure many reading this commentary have who still need to come to the truth of the Gospel of Christ. My prayer is that all of those I’ve mentioned would be saved before it’s too late, but I know there’s a time coming in the very near future when God will not allow any more time to pass. That’s a sad thing to contemplate when we know so many aren’t ready. We rejoice in the fact that the Rapture of the Church can happen at any moment, but what about all those who have continued to reject Christ to that point?

“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Romans 11:25. Although we don’t know how long it will take for this complete fullness to occur, all the signs point to it happening very soon now. God alone knows who those individuals are who will make a profession of faith in Christ before it’s too late. Perhaps the next person you approach with the Gospel of Christ will be that last person God is waiting for. We should all appreciate the fact that there is an exact number of people who will be saved before Jesus Christ pulls His Church out of harm’s way, and only God knows that number.

“Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water,” 1Peter 3:20. God waited 120 years after telling Noah to build the Ark for that evil generation of people to repent. We know, historically, God sent the flood to destroy them. Why? His patience had run out. Only eight people were spared the calamity that befell earth.

God gave the Assyrians four-hundred years to repent; He stayed His mighty hand and allowed Israel to become slaves under Egyptian rule. Alas no repentance from the Assyrians was forth coming so God finally freed the Israelites and instructed them to take the land of the Assyrians and put them to death. Israel, by disobeying God and not wiping out the Assyrians, were given a “thorn in the flesh” as the Assyrians continually harassed and warred against them.

God sent Jonah to Nineveh to warn them of the coming wrath of God. They repented and God stayed His mighty hand. In time Nineveh returned to the evil it once embraced and God finally followed through with His promise and wiped out that once great city.

We know that the Israelites were time and again disobedient to God, and God chastised them for their disobedience. They would return to fellowship with God for a while but only to fall back into their old wicked ways and down would come the hammer again. “The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked,” Nahum 1:3. The Israelites are Gods chosen people, the apple of His eye, but they too are running out of time.

Through all this rebellion it’s obvious God is longsuffering, and patient. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.

Old Testament or New our God is always the same, and He’s patently waiting to accept His Children into His Kingdom. But one day that patience will run out, and then the Church will be raptured. Left behind will be all those who tried God’s patience to the furthest extreme, basically pushing the envelope just a mite too far.

Life doesn’t need to end that way for anyone. But there needs to be a change in people’s hearts, a change of mind and of direction for those who are perishing. Today we see coldness in the hearts of many in our society. The uncaring, unfeeling people with one intent in mind–it’s the pursuit for that gold cup of wealth and prosperity to the exclusion of all else. Why is it so very important to obtain so much wealth that we can’t begin to spend it, just to leave it behind when we die? God on the other hand is waiting for us to lose interest in earthly riches and pursue the riches that can only be spent in Heaven. Where is your treasure?

Jesus is waiting for everyone who is procrastinating to come to that point where they turn from the love of self, riches, and fame, and turn to the love of God. How long will He wait? Those who have made it their purpose in life to disparage God’s word, or to completely disregard the warnings of their pending destruction are increasingly playing with fire, the Lake of Fire that is. People have turned their backs on God to live a life of debauchery, fornication, homosexuality, greed, hate, malice, you name it. If it isn’t something God’s word promotes as righteousness then it is an abomination to God. Yet He’s patient to wait for those who seem to be stuck in these lifestyles to come out and begin a new life in Christ.

It’s a scary thought to think of anyone going to Hell. Family members who have come to the erroneous conclusion that there is no God, or that they have been basically good all their lives and so God won’t send them to Hell, heard this lie perpetuated by those who follow Satan himself, and they’ve fallen for it. I know many in my family are living under that same delusion. What a burden this places on the hearts of believers. God’s waiting because He doesn’t wish that any should perish. But how long will He wait?

God is patient and longsuffering, we understand that, but at some point we must also realize He will have had enough. He’s shown us many times through His favored nation, Israel, as well as the other nations that I mentioned previously, that He can and will run out of patience. What will that mean to those who haven’t put their faith and trust in His only begotten Son? For the majority of those individuals left on planet earth to cope, there will be utter destruction as a finale. A few will come to repentance and believe, but most certainly Satan will get the lion’s share.

When we read that God wants none to perish we must realize that it’s not His decision to send anyone to Hell. That decision lies in the laps of each individual on the face of this planet. So many have cursed God because they believe He’s at fault, that He damns people to Hell, that He is unloving and unfeeling. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. That scripture verse doesn’t sound unloving or unfeeling to me, but full of love, God’s love which transcends all love.

God loves everyone in the world, not just those who are already saved. We humans are at fault for our disobedience to God and consequently at risk of eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire. The world blames God for every little stubbed toe, not realizing that it’s God who holds the universe in the palm of His hand. The world portrays God in an erroneous way, and people must come to understand that the world’s view is not correct, and the sooner the better. The sooner the change of mind (repentance) happens, the result will be everlasting. After all tomorrow may be too late.

I know many have a very difficult time believing in a God who has created a place like Hell, but God didn’t create Hell for human kind. God created Hell for Satan and all the fallen angels that rebelled against God. They have no choice where they will spend eternity, but we have. God makes it clear that we must make the correct choice. It takes a little thought, it takes a little understanding, and it takes a heart changed for God. All one must do to be saved is “that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” John 6:29.

The Greek word pisteuo, which is translated “believe” in English, is used in the Gospel of John ninety-nine times. Believing in the One God sent is the only prerequisite for salvation. People have had access to the English Bible for some four-hundred years now. There is no reason except for unbelief and disobedience, that anyone still living should reject the truth of the scriptures. “And He marveled because of their unbelief,” Mark 6:6. Unbelief is a difficult thing to comprehend, even so, quite prevalent in all societies today.

Where do you stand? If you’re a born again believer in Christ that’s wonderful, praise God! But wait just a minute, where do your family members and your friends stand? God won’t wait forever.

God bless you all,

Ron Graham

Happy New Year

Sorry I did not post anything in December. I was compelled to take the month off for health and other more pressing reasons. Thanksgiving day a dear friend was taken to the hospital and within just days was diagnosed with liver cancer and died a couple of days after Christmas. It was so sudden and unexpected that we all are still reeling from the shock of it. It was a wake-up call, though. Life is fragile and can end at any moment. We never expect when we say "see you later," that it may be the last time we ever say it on this earth. I was not able to go home to the U.S. because I had just gotten out of the hospital from yet another major surgery and was unable to travel. I have been trekking back and forth to the hospital every other day for the last month and it will be another week before I am released. I was able to go to church on Sunday for the first time in a month. I went grocery shopping a few days ago also. I am definitely on the mend. The ladies did the cooking for us for a couple of weeks and Tom and I appreciated that very much.

Our pastor and wife will be here on January 13th for 10 days and we are looking forward to seeing them. Alex Coats will be leaving us on the 12th and we so are sorry for that. He has been a real help and blessing to us here in Thailand for the last 3 months. Anne, Carolyn and Pookie are all doing well and working hard. They are a real blessing to us.

I want to thank all of you who have prayed for us and for the many Christmas cards and letters of encouragement that we received. We miss you all very much. Speaking of Christmas. We had a very non-traditional holiday. We didn't exchange any gifts and for Christmas dinner we had hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans and other picnic foods. It sounds really weird, but it was a wonderful, stress-free time and all of us enjoyed it very much. It was so different from the hassle that Christmastime usually is. I liked it so much I may do it again next year. Last year Tom and I had Christmas in November, while our daughter and 2 of our grandkids were here. Christmas has never been "traditional" in the American sense of the word for Tom and our family anyway. We have it when we are together, whenever that happens to be. One year it was in January. That was a great time to buy gifts because everything was on major sale.

Now that I am feeling better, I will try to keep everyone posted on what is happening in my world. Do pray for us. Getting old is not for sissies.