I opened the e-mail from my "Blood-brother," Norman.
As best-friends,we had deeply cut our fingers -merging our blood and making a vow to be "Life-long friends"- in the third grade.
Norman was the tallest boy in our class.
I was the shortest, and the most deaf.
I moved away from Bates, OR that summer.
The unexpected communication from Norm was rather strange - considering we had not seen nor heard from each other in over fifty years.
It seems that my friend had used Goggle to seek information on the little sawmill town that has been long since removed from all but some old-timer's fading memories.
He landed on an ezine article, "Izee - Growing Up In a Logging Camp," that I had published.
In it, I had mentioned Bates in reference to some early years incidents which took place before moving to Izee - another vanished northwest sawmill community.
Well, it didn't take but a couple of e-mails to rekindle the respect that had fadeded without contact.
My friend now had a ministry, PreciousTestimonies.
Norm included the .
com link to his website - to fill in the time gap - and thereby explain what he had been doing since we were kids.
Norm was-and is-direct.
That, plus three other things was what I had liked most about my childhood blood-brother.
He was always curious, brave, and honest.
My adult blood-brother manifests those same admirable qualities.
I used to think -maybe because Norman was so big - that he couldn't hide so good.
We were both curious.
The difference between us was that - when we got caught doing what we shouldn't have been - my best friend would take the blame.
I would hide out, try to put the blame on someone else, and avoid taking responsibility.
My blood-brother never said that wrong was right.
He still doesn't.
I thought it was only wrong if I got caught.
These same deceitful characteristics accompanied me into my adulthood also.
After reading my "Born again" brother's brave testimony, I wanted to share with him some of the many miracles that I have witnessed in my life since inviting Jesus to become my Lord - like he had - in my mid thirties.
Yet, how could I? For nearly three years, I had been wrestling with some theological issues - since my precious caregiver and wonderful friend had dared to asked me some troublesome questions.
"Russ, how can you claim to be a Christian, when you were still practicing fornication, visiting prostitutes, blind to the spititual needs of your own children, have ignored your kid's dabbing with the occult in your own house? How can you continue quoting scripture - and speaking of'Spiritual Gifts'- when you haven't lived by the precepts the Bible teaches?" I had some of the answer in 1stJohn 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
" That is one of the scriptures I loved to quote to justify my sinful ways.
But, I was still practicing sin so there was some pieces of the puzzle missing.
My caregiver had compounded my dilemma with her follow up questions.
"Russ, doesn't the Bible clearly say, in Ephesians 5:5, 'For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God?' She led me to the scripture - that indeed I had read - but had chosen to ignore.
"How," she demanded, "If you are really a Christian, could you not know these things?" Looking for answers, I found only more substantiation of the points my frank friend was making.
2 Peter 2:2-3, "Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
" Titus 2:2, "Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.
" 1 John 3:8-9, "Anyone who keeps on sinning belongs to the devil.
He has sinned from the beginning, but the Son of God came to destroy all that he has done.
God's children cannot keep on being sinful.
His life-giving power lives in them and makes them his children, so that they cannot keep on sinning.
" 1 Timothy 5:20, "But if any of the leaders should keep on sinning, they must be corrected in front of the whole group, as a warning to everyone else.
" While these were not the answers that I was looking for, they were, none-the-less, parts of God's Truth puzzle.
I had thought that I was somebody who could help others - with all of my experience and wisdom.
After all, I have laid hands upon the sick and I've seen them be healed.
I've held held a preacher's license.
I have been the recipient of many personal miracles and even hosted a weekly Bible study which included a woman who had been raised - after three days - from the dead.
To top it off, one of my minister friends was even re-translating the New Testament from the original Greek! What my new friend's words and actions taught me is - I had better learn some humility - and how to keep my mouth shut.
Titus 1:7-9, "For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.
" I now had to admit that my greed, arrogance, and devotion to selfhad facilitated the destruction of my three marriages, messed up some of my own children, and brought much undeserved pain to the undeserving women that I had married.
Another of the questions posed to me involved my declining health.
With Multiple Sclerosis, I was unable to work, stumbling in prideful attempts to walk, and it was suggested that perhaps this was God's way of letting my sins have their way with me, bringing about my physical destruction, and making me to slow down so I would and listen to Him.
"What make's you think that God will ever heal you, the way you've lived, the pain you have caused others, and with all of the destruction that you have brought about?" As I pondered once again these questions - and what to say to in my next e-mail to my blood-brother - the Spirit quickened some scriptures to me.
They would supply the keys to the answers I needed - more ofmy Lord's Truth pieces - through assorted translations of the Bible.
John 9:1-3, "And as [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man which was blind from [his] birth.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
" 2 Corinthians 4:5-9, " We are not preaching about ourselves.
Our message is that Jesus Christ is Lord.
He also sent us to be your servants.
The Scriptures say, "God commanded light to shine in the dark.
" Now God is shining in our hearts to let you know that his glory is seen in Jesus Christ.
We are like clay jars in which this treasure is stored.
The real power comes from God and not from us.
We often suffer, but we are never crushed.
Even when we don't know what to do, we never give up.
In times of trouble, God is with us, and when we are knocked down, we get up again.
" 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord isn't slow about keeping his promises, as some people think he is.
In fact, God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.
" 1 Corinthians 13:12, "Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror.
Later we will see him face to face.
We don't know everything, but then we will, just as God completely understands us.
" So, why am I telling you all of this? Because Jesus wanted you to read it.
It's not about me, or about Norman.
It's about you and God's plan for your life.
It's about how a Very Good God can get His message to you through many means - including the Internet - and the changed life actions of others that you have chance encountered on your path.
I think my blood-brother will agree.
2 Corinthians 4:13-14, "We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present [us] with you.
" Well at last, I am free to begin writing my my changed-life Jesus story.
Philipp 3:12, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
"
As best-friends,we had deeply cut our fingers -merging our blood and making a vow to be "Life-long friends"- in the third grade.
Norman was the tallest boy in our class.
I was the shortest, and the most deaf.
I moved away from Bates, OR that summer.
The unexpected communication from Norm was rather strange - considering we had not seen nor heard from each other in over fifty years.
It seems that my friend had used Goggle to seek information on the little sawmill town that has been long since removed from all but some old-timer's fading memories.
He landed on an ezine article, "Izee - Growing Up In a Logging Camp," that I had published.
In it, I had mentioned Bates in reference to some early years incidents which took place before moving to Izee - another vanished northwest sawmill community.
Well, it didn't take but a couple of e-mails to rekindle the respect that had fadeded without contact.
My friend now had a ministry, PreciousTestimonies.
Norm included the .
com link to his website - to fill in the time gap - and thereby explain what he had been doing since we were kids.
Norm was-and is-direct.
That, plus three other things was what I had liked most about my childhood blood-brother.
He was always curious, brave, and honest.
My adult blood-brother manifests those same admirable qualities.
I used to think -maybe because Norman was so big - that he couldn't hide so good.
We were both curious.
The difference between us was that - when we got caught doing what we shouldn't have been - my best friend would take the blame.
I would hide out, try to put the blame on someone else, and avoid taking responsibility.
My blood-brother never said that wrong was right.
He still doesn't.
I thought it was only wrong if I got caught.
These same deceitful characteristics accompanied me into my adulthood also.
After reading my "Born again" brother's brave testimony, I wanted to share with him some of the many miracles that I have witnessed in my life since inviting Jesus to become my Lord - like he had - in my mid thirties.
Yet, how could I? For nearly three years, I had been wrestling with some theological issues - since my precious caregiver and wonderful friend had dared to asked me some troublesome questions.
"Russ, how can you claim to be a Christian, when you were still practicing fornication, visiting prostitutes, blind to the spititual needs of your own children, have ignored your kid's dabbing with the occult in your own house? How can you continue quoting scripture - and speaking of'Spiritual Gifts'- when you haven't lived by the precepts the Bible teaches?" I had some of the answer in 1stJohn 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
" That is one of the scriptures I loved to quote to justify my sinful ways.
But, I was still practicing sin so there was some pieces of the puzzle missing.
My caregiver had compounded my dilemma with her follow up questions.
"Russ, doesn't the Bible clearly say, in Ephesians 5:5, 'For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God?' She led me to the scripture - that indeed I had read - but had chosen to ignore.
"How," she demanded, "If you are really a Christian, could you not know these things?" Looking for answers, I found only more substantiation of the points my frank friend was making.
2 Peter 2:2-3, "Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
" Titus 2:2, "Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.
" 1 John 3:8-9, "Anyone who keeps on sinning belongs to the devil.
He has sinned from the beginning, but the Son of God came to destroy all that he has done.
God's children cannot keep on being sinful.
His life-giving power lives in them and makes them his children, so that they cannot keep on sinning.
" 1 Timothy 5:20, "But if any of the leaders should keep on sinning, they must be corrected in front of the whole group, as a warning to everyone else.
" While these were not the answers that I was looking for, they were, none-the-less, parts of God's Truth puzzle.
I had thought that I was somebody who could help others - with all of my experience and wisdom.
After all, I have laid hands upon the sick and I've seen them be healed.
I've held held a preacher's license.
I have been the recipient of many personal miracles and even hosted a weekly Bible study which included a woman who had been raised - after three days - from the dead.
To top it off, one of my minister friends was even re-translating the New Testament from the original Greek! What my new friend's words and actions taught me is - I had better learn some humility - and how to keep my mouth shut.
Titus 1:7-9, "For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.
" I now had to admit that my greed, arrogance, and devotion to selfhad facilitated the destruction of my three marriages, messed up some of my own children, and brought much undeserved pain to the undeserving women that I had married.
Another of the questions posed to me involved my declining health.
With Multiple Sclerosis, I was unable to work, stumbling in prideful attempts to walk, and it was suggested that perhaps this was God's way of letting my sins have their way with me, bringing about my physical destruction, and making me to slow down so I would and listen to Him.
"What make's you think that God will ever heal you, the way you've lived, the pain you have caused others, and with all of the destruction that you have brought about?" As I pondered once again these questions - and what to say to in my next e-mail to my blood-brother - the Spirit quickened some scriptures to me.
They would supply the keys to the answers I needed - more ofmy Lord's Truth pieces - through assorted translations of the Bible.
John 9:1-3, "And as [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man which was blind from [his] birth.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
" 2 Corinthians 4:5-9, " We are not preaching about ourselves.
Our message is that Jesus Christ is Lord.
He also sent us to be your servants.
The Scriptures say, "God commanded light to shine in the dark.
" Now God is shining in our hearts to let you know that his glory is seen in Jesus Christ.
We are like clay jars in which this treasure is stored.
The real power comes from God and not from us.
We often suffer, but we are never crushed.
Even when we don't know what to do, we never give up.
In times of trouble, God is with us, and when we are knocked down, we get up again.
" 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord isn't slow about keeping his promises, as some people think he is.
In fact, God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.
" 1 Corinthians 13:12, "Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror.
Later we will see him face to face.
We don't know everything, but then we will, just as God completely understands us.
" So, why am I telling you all of this? Because Jesus wanted you to read it.
It's not about me, or about Norman.
It's about you and God's plan for your life.
It's about how a Very Good God can get His message to you through many means - including the Internet - and the changed life actions of others that you have chance encountered on your path.
I think my blood-brother will agree.
2 Corinthians 4:13-14, "We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present [us] with you.
" Well at last, I am free to begin writing my my changed-life Jesus story.
Philipp 3:12, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
"