Worth sharing

I got this in an email and thought it was well worth sharing here. Feel free to do so, yourself, if so inclined.

THIS WILL TRULY LIFT YOU UP SPIRITUALLY. ENJOY & BELIEVE.
Isaiah 65:24

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but
in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny,
premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have
difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no
electricity to run an incubator) nor any special feeding facilities.
Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with
treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for
such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.
Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She
came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle,
it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates).
‘And it is our last hot water bottle!’ she exclaimed. As in the
West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa
it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles.
They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest
pathways.
‘All right,’ I said, ‘put the baby as near the fire as you safely
can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from
drafts Your job is to keep the baby warm.

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with
any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave
the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told
them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the
baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby
could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the
two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

During prayer time, one ten -year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the
usual blunt conciseness of our African children. ‘Please, God’ she
prayed, ‘Send us a hot water bottle today It’ll be no good tomorrow,
God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.’
While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added,
‘And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the
little girl so she’ll know You really love her?’

As often with children’s prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I
honestly say ‘ Amen? I just did not believe that God could do this.
Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. But
there are limits, aren’t there? The only way God could answer this
particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland.
I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had
never, ever, received a parcel from home.

Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water
bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses’
training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front
door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the
veranda was a large 22-pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes.
I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage
children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each
knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly.
Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were
focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out
brightly-colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out.
Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and
the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins
and sultanas – that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.
Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the…..could it really be?
I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water
bottle. I cried.

I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He
could.

Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward,
crying out, ‘If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the
dolly, too!’

Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small,
beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!
Looking up at me, she asked, ‘Can I go over with you and give this
dolly to that little girl, so she’ll know that Jesus really loves
her?’

‘Of course,’ I replied!

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by
my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed
God’s prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator.
And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child – five
months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old
to bring it ‘that afternoon.’

‘Before they call, I will answer.’
(Isaiah 65:24)

When you receive this, say the prayer. That’s all I ask. No strings
attached. Just send it on to whomever you want – but_ do_ send it
on.

Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive. There is no cost,
but a lot of rewards. Let’s continue praying for one another.
This awesome prayer takes less than a minute.

Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless my friends reading this. I ask
You to minister to their spirit. Where there is pain, give them Your
peace and mercy. Where there is self doubting, release a renewed
confidence to work through them. Where there is tiredness or
exhaustion, I ask You to give them understanding, guidance, and
strength. Where there is fear, reveal our love and release to them
Your courage. Bless their finances, give them greater vision, and
raise up leaders and friends to support and encourage them. I ask
You to do these things in Jesus ‘ name. Amen

Kuchen

Cindy made several. Basically German pies I guess. Good stuff. Probably not fattening at all! πŸ˜‰

Worked on the saddle today. Was cool this morning but then it got cloudy, the wind came up and this afternoon, it was cold! Jim Hale stopped in and visited for a few minutes. Cindy was just taking the kuchen out of the oven and she twisted his arm and made him eat a tiny bit. But he said the little woman was waiting at home so he had to go. Bet she’s gonn’a wish she was with him so she got to eat some fresh hot kuchen! πŸ™‚

Cutting and wrestling

I got up and went to town with Cindy at 4:30 yesterday morning. Dropped her off then I went to Rapid, ate a leisurely breakfast and then off to watch the cattle cutting. Saw some people I knew and had fun watching them moves by them cutting horses. Wow! When I win the lottery, I will have one to play with! πŸ™‚

I ran over to Tandy’s to get some saddle soap, but they didn’t have what I wanted, but did have a pretty good sale on some elk skins, so I got a big hide to make Chance a new pair of chaps. He doesn’t need them right away, but is still wearing the chinks I made for him almost 10 years ago. So I think it’s time.

Then I drove back to Sturgis, picked up Cindy and off to Lead to watch Gabe and Lige wrestle. 500 kids there wrestling, they said. Sure were lots of them. Not sure how they ended up, but Gabe had one at least one by a pin and had a bye and then had an opponent leave, so he had some points. His last match he got pinned. Lige lost all his. He is just not real aggressive. More of a surfer dude. “Totally rad and gnarly, dude!”

I took some pictures but they didn’t turn out very well.

We came back to Sturgis, had a burger, got some groceries and came home. Cindy is fighting a cold and I have about got mine whipped. Going to be another beautiful day. Looks like it might cool off a bit this week, but still not bad. Interesting to me that there is a huge snow storm south of us, and it is this nice here.

Cooler

More like normal weather for the first part of February.Β  Cindy got my c0ld, so she is feeling miserable.

Brad come down this morning and helped me re-hang some doors the calves had pushed off. Cindy rode with me this afternoon and I took bean to the cows and calves. She said Buck was a goober! Can you believe it? A good cowdog like him and she calls him a goober! She just don’t appreciate good cow dogs!

Broncs and bronc riders

That’s what we went in to see and we saw them. great show at Rapid City last night. I rode down with several other guys and then we met up with Cindy who drove down from Sturgis. We ate a bite and headed over to the event. Got good seats and then had a friend and a couple of his friends show up looking for seats. We let them sit with us, but we probably shouldn’t of. Teach them suckers to come in late! But it was fun to catch up on stuff with Will, who lives up north on the Grand River.

Of course they had to have an announcer who screamed and tried to get us all to shout and scream, but them guys forget they are setting in the middle of bronc riding country. We all showed the proper appreciation for the good rides and understood the poorer rides. And poorer probably isn’t the best word. Just that some guys bronc’s didn’t buck as hard or bucked harder and some rode better than others. All in all, a great time. Sure hope they keep these going around the country!

Cindy and I drove home and she had today off, as she knew it would be a late night. I couldn’t sleep when we got home and was awake until after 4 am. Sure was hard to drag out of bed this morning.

I went over to Casey’s this afternoon and helped him with a buggy harness he had bought for one of his horses. all nylon and they can keep that stuff as far as I am concerned. I have never put that sort of harness on before and we finally got it figured out, but it’s maybe a bit small for the horse he wants to use it on, tho’ with some fixing we could make it work probably.

I stopped and picked up some salt for mix with the bean and some molasses flakes to try and put some weight on an older, thin mare and Woody. Kept them in and hauled them some hay and fed hay for the calves, tho’ they really shouldn’t get it ’til tomorrow, but they don’t care.

Now I think an early bedtime!

Sure was another beautiful day!

Stockshow

Cindy and I went in this morning and met up with some friends from east and north of here. Watched part of the Ranch Rodeo preliminaries. Then walked across the street to the Mexican restaurant and had lunch with Padre Tyler.

Another nice day, but a little wind, but I ain’t complaining! Supposed to be nice tomorrow too. After we ate, we walked back over to the Civic Center and found our friends and then walked and looked and visited with lots of people we know from all over. Left, went to Sturgis, bought some groceries and came home. Now, if I could just get this head ache to leave life would be peachy!

50’s!!!

I January!

 

In South Dakota!

 

Whew! Don’t you just love Glowbull Warming???? πŸ˜‰

Yup, was real nice. Not even a lot of wind but it didn’t matter as I worked in the leather shop most of the day after I did my chores. One thing about it, sure don’t have to worry about chopping ice!

Sooo…. if we are warmer than normal now, does that mean we will be cooler than normal later? Like in July? Highs in the 70’s? Wow! Suppose we could even stand that???? πŸ™‚

Cold

No, not the weather, me. I have one. Again. I have been eating echinasia and L Lysine. Sort of making it manageable. But it’s still there.

The lady in front of me at Mass was somewhat offended that I wouldn’t shake hands with her. Finally made her understand that I had a cold and didn’t want to spread it around. I guess some people don’t understand that you spread colds with skin to skin touch, much more than airborn.

Had friends stop over after words and we had nice visit. I had fixed a belt of Brents and he had dropped it off a month ago or so.

I have been working on some new songs. got two down and recorded on here, but they are poor recordings. Sound pretty good on Garageband, but not on Itunes, when I make then into an Mp4 or whatever they are called, so I can send them off for people to listen to. One is a fast, upbeat one and another is a ballad about a guy who was hung at Sturgis, years ago. He killed a couple of guys, just a mile or two from here. Last legal hanging in Meade County.

 

Yeah, real happy, upbeat stuff! πŸ˜‰

Supposed to be up in the 40’s to 50 all this week for highs. January thaw time!