Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

Anna Ruth has a dependable Rollator but needs something just as strong but smaller so we purchased this handy little whatever.  She especially wants it to use around the pool.

My times are in Your hands.

As I enter my nineties, I am letting go of some things that I engaged in up to now, especially the group that is walking with the leadership, staff and students of the Mennonite Theological College of East Africa.  This is a states-side group that is helping as able and appropriate.

I mention this because this morning our group met, as usual, except I was not there.   The group is in good hands and under the leadership of Ernie Hess and a wonderful group of people, it will be there to help the College.

I tend to be a tenacious person and would have hardly believed that my letting go of this assignment would have been such a wonderful experience for me.   Today I have no such negative feelings so praise the Lord and move on.

That is the mercy of God.  He knows my need, and the needs of all, and suits his assignments accordingly.  I am amazed the calmness I feel in my soul.  Anna Ruth is one with me as I make such adjustments that affect her as well.

God knows, prepares and gives such great comfort.  They are beloved people, one and all. I love them and know that they will do what God wants them to do.

Psalm 31:14

My times are in Your hands.

Psalm 31:14

As I enter my nineties, I am letting go of some things that I engaged in up to now, especially the group that is walking with the leadership, staff and students of the Mennonite Theological College of East Africa.  This is a states-side group that is helping as able and appropriate.

I mention this because this morning our group met, as usual, except I was not there.   The group is in good hands and under the leadership of Ernie Hess and a wonderful group of people, it will be there to help the College.

The group is in good hands and under the leadership of Ernie Hess and a wonderful group of people, it will be there to help the College.

I tend to be a tenacious person and would have hardly believed that my letting go of this assignment would have been such a wonderful experience for me.   Today I have no such negative feelings so praise the Lord and move on.

That is the mercy of God.  He knows my need, and the needs of all, and suits his assignments accordingly.  I am amazed the calmness I feel in my soul.  Anna Ruth is one with me as I make such adjustments that affect her as well.

God knows, prepares and gives such great comfort.  They are beloved people, one and all. I love them and know that they will do what God wants them to do.

 A Memorable Day – October 10, 1944.

That was 74 years ago!  In my mind’s eye it is a day I shall not forget, ever.  For me it is marked with eternity!  That day a confused young man, just turned 16 years old, a High School Senior, heard the call of God to abandon all and come to Him.  I was ready!  That was about it.  I had no idea that my life was changed beyond recognition that day.  That is how I see it, from my perspective.  From God’s point of view, it was His day in my life!  In some new, holy way, I was HIS from then on!  I am still living in the glow of that reality that was in the heart of God, forever, no doubt.  That day I do believe I became his in a way that I will never forget, nor will I ever fully understand until I meet Him in glory.

I am sure there were other days in my life when I turned to God.  But this was somehow special because I do believe this was my day of decision, and God’s moment of intense inbreak into my life.  I was changed to the roots, I knew it.  God found me, and I found God!  I can hardly explain it, but it happened, not because I initiated it but because it was the amazing changing grace of God that changed something deep in me and set me on a course that I am still on this morning, here in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, age 90!  That moment when God reached out and nabbed me for himself is so indelible in my mind that it amazes me all over again.

Wish me a Happy Birthday!!  My heart gushes with praise.

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Philippians 4:19, 20

The believers in Philippi continued to support Paul when others, seemingly, held back.  I have found that it is always tempting to hold back a bit and not give all to Jesus, just in case!

Paul has none of that.  He wrote, without a moment of hesitancy, that God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.  The believers at Philippi obviously sent Paul a nice sized love offering.  The size does not matter, the love behind the sending is what rejoiced the heart of Paul.  What they sent for Paul’s needs melted his heart.  They did not send out of their abundance, but they shared what they had with Paul.  We have no idea of the size of the gift.  That is not the point.  The point is that out of their love for Christ Jesus they shared what they had with Paul.

Their gift of love set Paul’s soul to singing, To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.  Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion. 

Psalm 103:1 – 4

Once again, my soul is drawn to God’s mercies, ever new, ever blessed, ever appreciated.

Praise his holy name. Forget not all his benefits, especially forgiveness of sins and perpetual healing, as He sees fit.  He raises me from despondence and helplessness and crowns me with love and compassion.

 What grace!  What amazing love.  I rest in his everlasting arms.

Yesterday, the 12th, a Dr. appointment, scheduled a while back, showed that something must have attacked my body in October.  Not sure what.  So Dr  Adiga is recommending monthly shots to stop red cells being weakened.  I do not think that has anything to do with my weakness but will stop red cell erosion, if that is a good way to say it.

I will probably start that in a month or so.  Now, recovering from that nasty time of weakness.  Praise God for His healing, and for giving me rest in the spirit in my case.  At this age, I can expect a set back or two.

Thanks for your prayers.  I am not about to run a ten K race, but I do feel much better!  Anna Ruth, love her, looks after me as a dear and devoted wife and I try to be a truly thankful husband.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.  But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

Psalm 103:13 – 18 (Here and there)

This morning, October 12, 2018, I hope to see Dr. Adiga, cancer specialist, who will give me the results of my bone marrow tests of a week ago. I along with Anna Ruth, Jane and Glenn, will soon leave our place to have time with him. I am aware of the fact (something I knew but now understand more,) that my physical concern intersects, somehow, with my spiritual concerns.  I used to need strength, now I need compassion!

So, Ps 103 is my song, for this morning, and for my life. I do need compassion.  While I had full physical strength, for these many amazing days of walking with Jesus, I now feel somewhat humbled, as my strength declines, and as I embrace my mortality.

I am with David – I know that the Lord knows all about me, He knows my body that is, in reality, like all bodies, dust!  Or like grass and flowers are here today gone tomorrow.

This is not bad news but good.  The Psalmist speaks my line.  But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him.

So I am surrounded by His love.  Completely enfolded in it!  In that my soul is not only at rest but is praising His name forever.

I am trying to resuscitate the beautiful Seth Thomas mantel clock that Jacob Charles gave to his bride to be, Cora Risser, in 1916.  They were then married in 1917.  After some labor of love, I believe it will now run and ring out the chimes that we came to love as the clock had its place in the Charles home.  I think the writing is Anna Ruth’s.  Anna Ruth, bless her, corrected my text.