"Realize this was told to her in her 1^st trimester.  But she wanted her child to LIVE even in the 1^st trimester.  She carried the baby to term, with her tumor, hoping that if she died the baby would live.  My Mother lived her faith.  Abortion was not an option.  Even when it would have been so easy…  She had Jon and had the open heart surgery a few months later.  She is in the AMA journal as the first person to survive from this type surgery… Remember this was Open Heart in 1972.  I am convinced that God ALMIGHTY allowed her to live as she allowed my brother to live. 

 I can’t begin to tell you hard that was on me at the age of 8-9.  My Mother, the love of my life, was going into a type of surgery in which no one had ever lived.  What does a Mother say to a son before she goes to sleep?  Knowing that the possibility is 99.5 % that you are not going to wake up...  It was Yesterday for me.   That is between us…

The end of the Story, Mom was fortunate to have Woman Friends in the Marine Corps from all over the World.  Marines Deploy all over the world and she had friends from Italy, Spain, Japan, Morocco, and New Orleans to name a few, … You get the picture. 

What the women did back then, as they do now, was cook and spend time together while their husbands were deployed.  They were at a different house every night.  Eating from the table of a German, Italian, Spanish, or Cajun cook…  You get the picture.  I have the best recipes in the world, from Toulon France to Haifa Israel,  in my head, taught to me by my Mother.  These were taught to her from the women that lived in these countries prior to meeting and marrying Marine Corps Pilots.

I love to cook because of my mother.  She was so patient and KIND with me.  My father had rubbed off on her by this time.  It is amazing to me how a marriage works...  By writing this I understand the verse even better now… and the two shall become one."

They were perfect together. 

In HIS Grip!

Scott Jacks
SAP Logistics Analyst

Phillips 66  420 Keeler Ave. - PB 764-03
Bartlesville, Ok  74003-6670
(w) 918-977-5040
(c)  918-815-0934
(f)   918-977-6035
k.scott.jacks@P66.com

I was going through my emails and I found this message that my son Scott wrote to his friends back in February of 2014.  (It is pretty wonderful when one of your children brags on you! ) I had written a blog about how I couldn't cook when I got married.  One of Scott's friends read it and commented on it and Scott answered her with the following: 

"Now, my Mother is a Fantastic cook.  She taught me as a child to cook...she had a Tumor in her right Atrium in 1972...the Tumor was the size of a Racquetball...was malleable enough to allow blood to JUST get by.  She couldn’t stand or walk because she would tire out so quickly.  But, she could sit and talk with me. 

So, from the age of 8 to 9 years old, I stood at the stove and my Mom would tell me what to put into the pot and how to cook it.  I had to cook because I was the only one home from school by 5:00 and my mother would not DREAM of eating out.  My older sisters were in Jr High and High School.  They had their extracurricular activities and would be home at 6:00 PM along with my Dad.  Dinner had to be on the Table at 6:15 every night. 

  

I cooked for our family for 18 months.  Start to finish -> to the table -> Table Set -> to the Dishwasher.  Her health was that bad.  She had open heart surgery in September of 1972.  She had my brother Jonathan Matthew that April of 72.

The Doctors told her that if she had the child, her heart would not be able to handle it. They said…  “It WILL FAIL and JANIE, you are going to DIE.  Abortion is your only option here. God will understand!  You have to abort this baby.”

Continued tomorrow...  (The capital letters are Scott's words--he is quite a story teller!!) 

Loved the movie, Scully.  It was heavily about the NSTB--which I happened to know something about.  (They put Scully through the wringer trying to prove pilot error.)  When Ken and I were at Quantico, he worked with the NSTB and the FBI on an interesting case.

A pilot and plane were lost over the Atlantic shore.  It took months to uncover all the evidence.  Seems the pilot bailed out over a predetermined spot, made it to shore, stuffed his flight suit under driftwood in a desolate place and walked out.  As I remember he made it to Baltimore.  In the meantime, his wife had collected on a huge insurance policy.  They were caught.  He was prosecuted for destruction of government property among other things. The investigation was really interesting.

I could sympathize with what Scully went through.  Almost every crash is attributed to pilot error unless positively proved otherwise.  They all--pilots in the USMC at least--make every effort to get back to base with a crippled aircraft.  Nobody wants to go through a crash review.

I remember Ken telling about getting planes back to base--in Korean combat missions--that were so damaged from ground fire that they ended up being pushed into the dump or over the side of the carrier after he landed them.  "Didn't want to explain what went wrong if I lost an airplane and survived it."

In Viet Nam he took a 50 millimeter through the cockpit.  Missed his head by a fraction of an inch and took out the back of his seat.  "I didn't know if it damaged the ejection seat or not and wasn't about to fire it and find out it didn't work."  He landed it.  He only lost one airplane, and that was nose strut failure on takeoff.  Fire burned the plane up.  But he got out.   Those are the kind of accidents that are visible to everyone and hence can't be chalked up to pilot error.  The problem is right there on the runway--a collapsed nose strut and ruptured fuel tanks.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you an expected end." Jeremiah 29:11  I'm glad God's expected end for Ken wasn't that day.


   

I am going to go see the movie "Scully" on Wednesday.  Everyone I know who has seen it says it is really good.  And my friend Carolyn added, "I could watch Tom Hanks read a phone book."  I have to agree with her.  I always believe that the character he plays in a movie is who he really is.  Until he releases a new movie.  Then he becomes a new character.

I hope that the people who know me know that the character that I am is always, "What you see is what you get."   Carolyn tells me that no one will ever blackmail me because I have told everyone every fault that I have.   I guess I have taken that scripture to heart that says, "Confess your faults one to another.  The effectual fervent  prayer of a righteous person avails much."

I just figure that if they know the real me, that they can see what God can do with a person who has so many faults.  I don't like fake people in my everyday life.  I like real.  I figure everyone else likes "real" as well.

In my favor, I am honest, dependable, trustworthy, and faithful.  And I will always be on time.  On the other hand, I am unreasonably frugal.  I make snap judgments.  I procrastinate--which I have learned to use to my advantage by staying busy while I avoid doing the thing I don't want to do.  And I have a hard time listening.  I have to work at it--especially when someone is telling me something that I find boring.

Do you know your character?  Your good characteristics and your bad ones.  Or do you deny or ignore your faults.  I think it is a good thing to look closely at yourself and determine what you can improve.  Sunday in my class, someone said, "I can't help it.  That's just the way I am."  I don't buy that because it denies the fact that you can do something about the way you are.  God expects you to get better.  Develop a better character over time.  As Christians, we should all be better people as time goes by.  The book of Proverbs is full of advice on building character.

The apostle Paul said, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Philippians 2:12
Salvation is free.  Character building isn't.  It's work.

The class that I teach on Sunday mornings had a cook out at the park last night.   Since I still don't know them very well, I asked each one of them to tell something good, or something funny about themselves that none of the rest of us knew.

What a hoot.  It was so much fun that they kept on telling things on themselves.  And when they ran out of  things to say, they started telling stupid things they had done.

One of them lived in a commune in California for a few months.  One is a closet poet and has written poetry for years.  One of them can roller skate backwards and do loops.  It went on and on.  These are interesting people.

They have one thing in common.  They have become Christians.  They are on a new journey.

There is a place of beginning again.  And it is never too late to go there.  You can put your past behind you.  You can bury it in the forgiveness of God's mercy and love.  Jesus made it possible by paying for everything you ever did wrong.  With his life.

"Father forgive them for they know not what they do," were His words as he was dying.   And God does just that.   Not because we deserve it, but because Jesus asked him to forgive us.  He took our sin upon himself.

"For while we were still helpless...Christ died for the ungodly.  For rarely will someone die for a just person, although perhaps someone might dare to die for a good person...but Christ died for us while we were yet sinners."  Romans 5:6-8

You will never find a better deal.  And it's free for the taking.

There are two critical questions for a person to answer before they explore Christianity:  1.  Was Christ God.  2.  Did he rise from the dead.  Everything depends on the answer to those questions.

If you answer 1. Yes,  and  2. Yes, then it will change your life, because you will start your journey towards finding out what God expects on your part.

Remember, Satan himself answers "Yes" to both of those questions, but is not saved from eternal death.  There is more involved.  Satan knows God exists.  He knows Jesus was God.  He knows that Jesus rose from the dead.

James 2:19  "You believe that there is one God; you do well: the devils also believe, and tremble."

So what is it then?

Repentance.  And surrender.   Mark 2:17  "Jesus...said unto them, They that are whole have no need of a  physician, but they that are sick:  I came not to call the righteous,  but sinners unto repentance."

Some people are part of a religious body that confesses their sins,  but keep doing the same thing over and over again.  Confession is not repentance.  Repentance means you change your behavior permanently.

Surrender means you give your life--all of it--to God, to do his will.  When that happens, God, the Holy Spirit, comes to live within you and changes you into a new person.  The Bible calls it being "born again."  It is a new life--very different from the old life.

"I am crucified with Christ:  nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  Galations 2:20.

Don't confuse surrender with some "feeling."  It is an act of the mind and heart.  Feelings come and go.  You can't depend on your feelings.

You can't make someone love you.  They have to make a choice to love you.  And I am blessed by the people in my life who have made that choice--the choice to love me.  Becky Bacon came back yesterday and will be here until tomorrow.   Becky loves me.  I love her.

And lo and behold, Carolyn came today as well.  First time she has been here.  Carolyn loves me.  I love Carolyn.  I had Becky and Carolyn here with me at the same time.  Heaven.  Becky went with me to the Bible Study that Amy Montgomery is teaching and Amy said, "Oh, I know you, and the Yellow Rose of Texas.  I read about you in Janie's blog."  Small world.  I didn't even know Amy was reading my blog.

And when the mail came, I had a letter from Amy Smith (who writes to me almost every week) telling me that she loves me, that I am precious to her.  Mercy.  Precious!!!  I think I am being loved to death today.  It is a wonderful thing.  Love.

Day before yesterday, Sally called from Hattisburg to tell me how much she loves me.  And I love her with all my heart.  And she knows that.  She knows absolutely that I love her.

I am blessed beyond measure.  I no longer have Ken with me, to tell me that he loves me, but I have friends.  I have family.

But most of all,  God loves me.   If no one else ever did,  his love would be enough.

Friends and family are the greatest treasure of our lives.  They are  a love gift from God Himself.

"For God so loved the world, He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."  John 3:16

Love is a choice.  God has chosen to love us.  We don't deserve it.

The Bible and science can not ever contradict each other.  God invented--created--it all.  So, if you are finding that you have a conflict between science and the Bible, one of two things is true.  You either don't know enough science, or you don't know enough Bible.

You and I are in a state of discovery for our entire lives.  The scientific world is always making new discoveries.  And also, every time I read God's word, I learn something new.  But because my background is in science--Zoology in particular--there are facts that I know, (not theories) that I must reconcile with the Biblical account.   That is not a problem, because I know that the Bible is true from cover to cover.  I have never run across anything that troubles me that science has discovered.

However, there is one thing that you must remember:  God doesn't tell us everything.  And when He leaves something out, that blank in the Biblical record doesn't mean that nothing happened in that interval.   Sometimes, science fills it in.  But only when science has discovered one of God's infallible truths.  The Bible is not a theory.  It is not a proposition about where we came from.  It is concrete.  It is without error.  God did it.  He is without error, and His truth is always true.  You can count on it.

I have been amazed through the last 55 years since I have been studying this subject how many times the scientific world has had to change their mind about things they previously declared true.   I have never had to change anything that I have read in God's word, because of the fact that it is always the truth, and you can't make the truth any better than it already is.

There are those who say the world is only 6000 years old.  And they believe it.  But through the knowledge we have about the "half-life" of carbon, we can date scientifically that it is much older.  Decay is always occurring.  It is consistent.  God invented it.   God invented it all.  Every process.  Every animal.  Every destruction of animal life.  Every replenishing of the earth.   Whatever He wants to do, He does.  He is God.

Because Rome never went to war with Israel, and because of the treaty that they had made with the Jews, Rome didn't practice torturing Jews at the Coliseum.  That fate was reserved for Christians who were proclaiming Jesus as King.  The Jews didn't recognize Jesus as their King.   Christians did.  Christians refused to acknowledge Caesar as God and--as a result--were committing treason.

In their  treaty with Rome, they--the Jews--were excused from recognizing Caesar as God.  The treaty between Rome and Israel saved Rome the expense of a war, and the Jews were left alone to practice their religion as they saw fit.  However, it allowed Rome to come and go across Israel as they expanded their territory.  In many ways it was a win/win situation.  Israel was protected from her enemies, and Rome incorporated the territory peacefully.  And the Jews kept their God.

But along came Jesus.  Telling the people that God had a plan to establish a kingdom.  He even told people to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done....for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever..."

Jesus proclaimed the very kingdom which the Jews had recorded in their history:  1 Chronicles 29:11 "Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, (Jesus) and you are exalted as head above all."  I doubt if the Romans had read that.

Now we, you and I who profess Christ as the Messiah, are citizens of that kingdom.  The Bible calls us heirs--joint heirs with Christ.  I'm sure you've heard the old song that says: "This world is not my home, I'm just a'passin through.  My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue.  The angels beckon me, through heaven's open door.  And I can't feel at home in this world anymore."

We are aliens in a world that increasingly hates authority.  We, on the other hand, are striving to come under the Kingship of a righteous God.  We are trying to keep his laws and practice love for God and others.  As a result, we come under condemnation from those who don't believe in God, much less agree that he has the authority to set boundaries on our behavior.

Squig is afraid of thunder.  I understand that--it is loud and unexpected.  He trembles all over and hides between the sofa and the wall, or gets in my closet under my dresses and won't come out.  But in addition to that, he is afraid of the rain.  Which I don't understand.  Even when the rain is soft and there is no thunder, Squig shakes like a leaf.   Which makes it difficult when he needs to go outside.  I have to pick him up and take him outside and literally throw him into the grass.  (If I set him down, he won't move.  He will just stand at my feet and shiver.)  I have to stand there getting soaked with rain until he goes.  But, we have worked out an agreement:  he isn't getting back in the house until he's done.  He doesn't like it, but he has figured out what he has to do to get back in out of the rain.

I feel sorry for him.  I thought that after awhile he would get over it.  It's just water.  But no.  If it is water coming out of the sky, he is terrified.  Have you ever been afraid of something that mentally you knew was not rational.  I have.  I am sure that we all have.  Usually our rational side overcomes our emotional side because we deal with the problem in our minds and move forward--rationally.  And the more we face our fears, the quicker they subside.

When Jesus died on the cross, the disciples were fearful.  The Jewish people had believed that when the Messiah came, he would set up an earthly kingdom and overthrow the Roman government's hold on Israel--which in fact was a treaty.  Israel had agreed--in order to avoid war, and for protection--to allow Rome to control the government as long as it did not interfere with the laws and religion of the Jews.  Rome even allowed the Jews to collect taxes for the Romans--remember Matthew who was a Jew.   Jesus was looked on by the Romans as a possible leader of insurrrection.

Two of the disciples even got into a spat about who was going to sit on Jesus's right and left side when he formed his kingdom--even those close to him didn't get it.  So when Jesus died, the disciples vanished--they went back to fishing.  They had no leader.  But something changed them.  They saw Jesus alive again.  He ate with them, talked with them, touched them.  And they were never the same.  They didn't remain as a group, but individually went from there to spread the gospel and to die for that message--alone.  They were no longer afraid of death.  They now knew the truth.  Jesus had conquered death to give us eternal life.  That is a message worth dying for.

In three and one half pages, John uses the word "know" over and over again.  My favorite verses in this short letter are 1 John 5:11-13:

"And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He that has the Son has life; and he that does not have the Son of God doesn't have life.  These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God."  You can know.

I have written about these verses before.  Eternal life.  That is what we all want.  We don't want this life to be everything that there is.  We want more.  We don't want death to be the end.

And in those verses is a promise from a man who walked and talked with Jesus for three years.  Every day.  And saw him die.  And saw him a number of times after death--alive.  Eating, talking, touching the disciples.   John wants us to know--without a doubt--that Jesus will save us from death.  That we can spend eternity with Him.  It seems impossible!!  But John was an eye witness to everything that he tells us.  John is full of joy and wants us to experience that joy.  Christ is alive.

He emphasizes what he is saying by using the words "I am writing" 13 times.  And tells us over and over again that what he is writing is the "record," the truth, the true word.  He realizes that the rest of the disciples are dying, being killed, beheaded, crucified--and John wants to be sure the message isn't lost.  That others will hear his first hand account and believe.

Believing, we are rescued from death.  Believing, we are given life.  Believing, we are filled with the Spirit of God.  Believing, we are born again.  We become different.

Yesterday, I asked:  How do you know something for sure since most of our information is not first hand knowledge.  Well, here is something we can absolutely know for sure.  John is a first hand witness to Jesus.  His life, his death, and his resurrection.  The Bible is full of stories of first hand experiences with Jesus.  Read it.  It can change your life.  Here.  And hereafter.

How do you know what you know?  Did someone you trust tell you something that they said was true?  Did you see the thing that happened--so you know it is true?   Did you have an experience that caused you to know something?

Most of what we know is not first hand information.  As a result, sometimes what we think we know isn't true at all.  And sometimes we act on false information--which can get you into a world of hurt.

I went through the letter of 1John 1:1-10 with you last week.   In chapter two, John (the disciple) talks about "knowing."

Verse 2 says this:  "...hereby do we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He that says, I know him, and doesn't keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."  That's pretty clear.

From time to time I hear someone say something like this:  "Well, he (she) made a profession of faith and was baptized so they are saved."  Not so.  Walking down an aisle or quoting some creed or getting sprinkled or dipped in water doesn't save you.  Walking the aisle and being baptized is just a way of informing people of your decision.

The thing is, it all happens inside you where people can't see. You give yourself up to God.  You beg for forgiveness.  You accept the price Jesus paid for your sins.  And then an interesting thing occurs.  You change.  You stop doing things you used to do.  You start doing things you never did before--for other people.  Little by little you become a new person.

Jesus said, "You must be born again."  That is a good description--you become a new person.  Your "want-to" changes.  You want to do different than you used to do.  It is a matter of the heart.

Paul (the disciple) put it this way in Philippians 2:12:  "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."  Works don't save you.  But God's salvation changes your works.  Check yourself.  Have you become a different person?

I am sure everyone has heard the phrase, "All things work for good..."  However, that is not a true statement.  All things do not work for good.  It's sweet.  It's emotional.  It may even be comforting.  But when you quote something from the Bible, you can't take five words off the front end of a sentence and make a new rule.  You have to take the entire sentence.  The entire verse.  Which is:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose."  Romans 8:28

People tend to leave out is the word "together."  Which implies something more is involved.  And something more is involved.  Two particular things.

The first is:  If you want things to work together for good, you must be a person who truly loves God.  Otherwise, you are wasting your time.   The verse says that,  "All things work together for good to them that love God.   You have to be a member of His family to claim that verse.

And the second condition for things to work together for good is:  You must be called according to His purpose.  Which means that what you want may not be what He wants.  The Bible session on Sunday was about Purpose.  God has a purpose for your life.  He created you for a reason, and has a plan for you.

His plan for me was to be a teacher of the Bible.  There has never been any doubt in my mind about that.  Along the way, I got to do a lot of other wonderful, joyful things--marry Ken, have children, teach mathematics, play the piano and marimba, and garden.  But I never confused those things with my main purpose.  Which is to be prepared to share what the Bible has to say to us.

 I have memorized the verse in 1 Peter 3:15 which says:  "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."

In 1947, when Ken graduated from high school, he had a full ride to Tulsa University.  Tuition, books, room, food--the whole shebang.  He said that he went there to play football and have a good time.  Which I guess he did, because at the end of the first semester, he had four F's and a D.  Needless to say, he had to come up with another plan, so he enlisted in the Marine Corps.

Twenty three years later, 1970, after retiring from the USMC, he enrolled at Oklahoma State, finished a degree there with a four-point average and headed back to Tulsa University to get a Master's degree.  During those years, everyone had started upgrading past records to the computer.

So, when he checked into the TU Registrar's office, she looked at his OSU transcript, looked at him, and said, "We had a Ken Jacks enrolled here in 1947 for one semester, but with these grades from OSU, I can't believe that you are him."

"It's me." Ken told her.

"What in the world happened?  These grade point averages are exact opposites.  How is it that you went from all F's to all A's," she asked him.

"The Marine Corps.  They take kids and turn them into men."

He enlisted as a Private, and retired as a Lt. Col. with wings.  Pretty amazing.

I didn't know him in 1947.  I was in the third grade at the time.  It's hard for me to imagine him making an F in anything he did.  He was always at the top of his game.  He was always a man among men.  In everything he attempted, he excelled.

Maybe we should send all our unmotivated young men to the Marines??

"Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might..."  Ecclesiastes 9:10

It's official.  The earthquake last week is the largest on record for Oklahoma.  It was a 5.8...and shook us all up.  I was sitting in my recliner reading the paper when it hit.  The noise was huge.  I thought there had been an explosion somewhere.

I had experienced an explosion once in Pryor when one of the plants in the Industrial Plant blew up.  It looked like a hydrogen bomb.  I just happened to be looking out the back window when it exploded.  There was complete silence and a huge red fireball.  The speed of light was so much faster than the speed of sound.  But when the sound came, it sounded like the earthquake last week.

So my first reaction was to think that the earthquake was an explosion.  The whole house shook.  The windows rattled--no breaks however.  And the chandeliers swayed back and forth.  That's when I knew it was an earthquake.  So I got up to go outside in case something collapsed.  But nothing was damaged at all.

I'm not used to noisy earthquakes.  The ones I experienced in California were quiet.  And they rolled. The ones here jerk and make loud noises.  Very different.  Oklahoma is now the earthquake center of the USA.  Thousands of them in the last few years.  But it's like tornados, you get used to it.  You step outside until the shaking stops--just in case something falls.  With tornados, you watch TV until the siren blows and then you go underground.  We Okies aren't wimps.  We also aren't stupid.

I used to be fearful.  But I'm not afraid anymore.  Just cautious.  I figure that if God wants me, He can have me anytime he wants me--whether it is an earthquake, tornado, or whatever.  My life is good.  I'm happy.  I just count my blessings and praise God for the life he has given me.

I have four children, ten grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.  And by some miracle, they all love me.  What more could I ask for?   "And now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love"  1 Corinthians 13:13.

But it is best to have all three.

I don't get mad very easily.  As a matter of fact, I don't remember the last time I got angry.  If someone disses me, I figure that they are just having a bad day.  The Bible says: "Be...angry, and sin not: don't let the sun go down upon your wrath."  Ephesians 4:26

Anger takes too much energy.  And the only person it hurts is yourself.  The person you are mad at doesn't give a big whoop, so being angry is usually a big waste of time.

Now hurt feelings, that's another thing altogether.  You do have the power to hurt my feelings.  But that is just because of a streak of pride in my nature--which I know, in some cases is a sin.  I want you to like me.  I like having people like me!!  I'm sure you do, too.

The Bible tells us that there are three categories of sin:  "For all that is in the world, (1) the lust of the flesh, and (2) the lust of the eyes, and (3)  the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world."
1 John:16.

If you work hard, or have accomplished something, or have overcome something difficult, it is natural to be proud of yourself.  It gives you a sense of satisfaction.  I don't think that is what John was talking about in that verse.  I think he was talking about the kind of pride that makes you think you are better than someone else.  The kind of pride that causes you to think that you have the right to look down on others.  Self-righteous pride.  Puffed up pride.  I'm better than you pride.

The other two categories of sin are self explanatory.  Sexual sin, and greedy sin--I want more, more, more.  I want more than you have.  I want better stuff, newer stuff, than you have.

We are to have a generous spirit.  The more you make, the more you should give away.  There are people out there in need.  Real need.  We can help.  You don't need more stuff.  Neither do I.

Becky and Joe have a real life romance story.  She was married before, and her husband told her that since she was such a romantic, that she should have married a guy he heard about in Viet Nam.  He said that this man flew C-47's and every time he was waiting on the runway for clearance, he played "The Yellow Rose of Texas," and raised the Texas flag through the hatch before he took off.  "Never met the guy, but he was a romantic like you," Becky's husband said.  Becky said that obviously her marriage wasn't going to last, so she prayed that if it dissolved that God would send her the Texan who played "The Yellow Rose of Texas.

Years later, while living in St. Louis, Becky was  visiting a single's class at her church and a new man offered to get her a cup of coffee.  "I don't drink coffee," she told him.  "I drink tea."  He brought her tea.  With milk and sugar--exactly right--and called her the next day.  And the next.

"I didn't have time for that," Becky said.  "I was a nurse going to school trying to finish another degree, and trying to raise a son.  But this guy was persistent, so I said yes, and on our third date, I asked him to tell me more about himself.  His name was Joe."

"He told me  that he had been adopted by the Agricultural Ambassador to India, where he was raised and went to school with the Maharaja.  And Joe was Cherokee.  So he became an Indian-Indian.  He proceeded to tell me about his entire life.  He was a B-52 pilot who had volunteered to go to Viet Nam, flying C-47's and said that while he was there, when he had a mission, that he flew the Texas flag and played the Yellow Rose of Texas every time he sat on the runway.

"I thought my heart was going to burst.  I could hardly believe what he was telling me.  This was definitely a God thing.  But I didn't tell him my story about praying for God to send him to me for three years--until after we were married."

When God decides to put two people together, He will find a way.  They've been married almost thirty years.  A match made in heaven.

My friend Becky Bacon came from Pryor to stay with me for three days.  Heaven.  I have so many wonderful friends, but only two or three that I don't have to clean the kitchen or pick up around the house for.  She comes in, takes her stuff to the guest bedroom--she knows where that is--and off we go.  To somewhere.  Whatever.  Wherever.  It is so much fun.

Her husband Joe was also good friends with Ken.  They were both pilots in Viet Nam.  Joe was flying the C-47 (DC-3) dropping leaflets over North Viet Nam assuring the people of "Safe Passage."  Ken was flying A-4's and F-8's dropping a different type of "message."  

Joe is the greatest romantic in the world.  Ken was the opposite--a stoic kind of guy.  They got along famously, telling stories into the night while Becky and I listened.  They didn't meet until 27 years after Viet Nam when Joe and Becky moved to Pryor (another story that is fascinating) and Becky and I became friends.

Joe is the official Wiley Post every year, white eye patch (white--really) and all.  He flies into the grass strip on the ranch where Will Rogers was born--for a public history event.  Wiley was Will Roger's pilot who came up with the idea of a G-suit so that he could fly higher on less oxygen.  Joe is a natural born Wiley.  And a natural born ham as well.

I'm going to Guthrie, Oklahoma with them when Guthrie has their annual celebration of the Land Rush (89ers day).  Guthrie used to be the capital of Oklahoma until someone stole the State Seal, and took it to Oklahoma City--which has been the capital ever since.  Guthrie wasn't happy, but it was the Wild West back then.  You could steal about anything you wanted and get away with it.  Maybe I will dress up like and be Belle Starr (a famous female outlaw.)  Everyone dresses up and pretends they were in the Oklahoma Land Rush.  It happens in April so it won't be too hot.

Anyway, it has been a fun few days with Becky here.  Joe grew up in India, and Becky naturally had to learn to like India's foods.  So yesterday she and I went into the city and had India cuisine at a buffet.  I had never done that before, so it was interesting.  I tried it all.  Some of it I liked.  Some of it I didn't.  But the company was excellent!

Pat had me for dinner last evening.  Squig had a wonderful time chasing the chickens.  But oddly enough, he ignored the horses, even when they came up in the yard and were eating peppermints out of my hand.  Maybe because the chickens were small and the horses were large.

I gave Amy her Bible-verse booklet that I have been writing for the last four months.  Her birthday is this week.  I think she was pleased.  I hope she reads it.  I'm sure she will.  She asked why I did this for her and not for anyone else.  I told her,  "Because I love you."

When my grandson Steven was six or seven, he told me that he had finally figured out who my favorite grandchild was.  "It's the one who is sitting on your lap."  That's probably true.

Special things we choose to give to people mean a lot.  I never subscribed to the notion of treating every one alike.  I think it is better to do a unique thing for each person you love.  I also never liked giving Christmas presents very much.  I know, I know, that makes me a Scrooge.  But I prefer to give a gift when I find it.  When I find something special for someone--whatever day that happens to be.  At a time when it isn't expected or required.

The greatest gift that was ever given was God's only Son. "Hereby we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us..." 1 John 3:16

And likewise,  in John 15:13,  "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Our military are willing to do this every day.  They sign up knowing that it may cost them their life.

The draft is random, and we haven't had a draft since Viet Nam.  But the people in our military right now have chosen to serve.  And risk their lives.

Interesting thing happened in my Bible class on Sunday.  There were 13 or 14 people there.  The subject was on the Creator and His creation.  I had the lesson prepared and began by reading a statement that our pastor had written--which I was in total agreement with.  (Our pastor wrote the material that we, along with 14 other states, are using.)

He said, "We live in a world that is increasingly reliant on science and the scientific method.  Don't let that scare you.  The more science reveals to us about creation, the more we will learn about our wondrous Creator..."  He added, "Many people have come to the conclusion that these (science and the Bible)... are in opposition to each other--that we must embrace one and reject the other.  The truth is that...they should be viewed as partners."  I like that.

I thought that was interesting because I have never heard a minister say anything like that--or even be interested in science.  I was rather excited about the subject, since science is my area of expertise and the creation story and how the dinosauric ages fit into the Biblical story is a subject I have spent fifty years researching.

But even though I have a fairly good grasp on that subject, I must have done a poor job of presenting it because only two people got what I was trying to say.  This class is knowledgable about spiritual truths, but no one in the class is a scientist and most aren't interested (at all) in how the Bible is supported by scientific truths.  Which fascinates me.

Needless to say, it didn't go well.  The reason being, is that I was teaching the lesson from a perspective that they had never heard before and weren't ready to receive.  It was foreign to them.  They aren't ready to fill in the blanks concerning things the Bible doesn't explain but science does.

So I learned something.  Even though I am interested in something doesn't mean that some people are ready to think outside their comfort zone.  It was rather humbling.  Maybe I needed a little humbling.  I guess I'm going to have to rethink how I teach them.  Which will be hard for me.  

John ends the first chapter with these five verses that are very different from the first five.  John makes observations that are "if/then" statements.  He makes it very clear that you can know absolutely whether you are a Christian or not.  And so can everyone else.

Verse 6.  "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and (then) walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth."

Verse 7.  "But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, (then) we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. "

Verse 8.  "If we say that we have no sin, (then) we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

Verse 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to (then) forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Verse 10.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and (then )his word is not in us."

You may know all the scripture and all the right words, but live your life doing evil.  John says you are a liar.  Point by point he identifies what a hypocrite looks like.  A hypocrite is a person who says one thing and does another.

A Christian says what is right and true, and then does what is right and true.  One follows the other.  You either give your life to Jesus, or you don't.  You can't have it both ways.

What you say is not what identifies who you are.  It is what you do.

The church does not save you.  A preacher or a priest can't forgive you.  In Verse 9 it says: He forgives you.  Jesus.  God himself.  Jesus blood, in Verse 7, cleanses us from sin.  He died for us.  The Bible gives us the truth about salvation.  Trust Him.

Let me finish this first chapter of 1 John.  There are only ten verses.  The first five concern John verifying that everything he is telling us is true.  The next five I will finish tomorrow.  Next week I'll write about something different.  I always hear from you when I write stories about Ken.

Verse 5: "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

I have always wondered about the verses that talk about God being light.  What does that mean?  What was John talking about?  Could it be that God's spiritual form actually is light?  He led the Israelites in the desert with a pillar of light.  He appeared to Moses as fire in a burning bush.  Is it an allegory?   I have no idea.

No one has seen God.  But what I do know is that God reveals truth.  When you are in total darkness, you can't see anything.  But when the sun comes up, you see the world.  You see color.  You see things as they really are because of the light.  Light reveals truth.

I went to Carlsbad Caverns once, and when we were deep into the depths of the cave, they turned the lights off.  That is the blackest black I have ever experienced.  You couldn't see anything.  You couldn't see your hand in front of your face.  It was a total absence of light.  Total darkness.  I have no desire to ever experience that again.

Maybe John was trying to explain something about Jesus that all of us can understand.  Light is clean.    It allows us to define things.  When we are in the light, things are clear.  Maybe he was saying that God is the light that allows us to see things clear.

The opposite is darkness.  God says that those who do not repent will be cast into utter darkness. We get a choice.  Light, or darkness.  I choose light.  I hope you do, too.