Week of September 25
...being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus- Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
Some people think I'm a stodgy, cranky, Yankee. Well, they are right-but that's how God restored me. I wasn't always so conservative.
I spent the sixties and seventies searching through drugs, radical politics, rebellion and anger. I spent my adolescence as a ski-bum, working on a
riverboat and looking for extremes. I rode motorcycles and did every reckless thing to excess. I believed that life was just an existential malaise of meaningless, random events and if there was no reason to life, I thought I would at least make it
exciting. I fought the system, institutions and all the things my generation rejected. I joined the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and I was tear gassed more than once. I tried a lot of things to fill that God-shaped vacuum at my center, but nothing fit. Atheism was my religion. Nothing meant anything in light of death.
Then things I couldn't explain began to happen. I bought a Bible and actually began reading it. God was laying the groundwork.
When I decided to get married, I chose the church to which my family had belonged for centuries- First Church of Christ, Wethersfield. In order to be
married there my fiancée and I had to join. The church preaches the Word of God in the Spirit.
My fiancée's relatives, who are from a long line of Christian evangelists in China, were praying for me. So were the faithful at First Church. I believe all these prayers prompted God to save me.
The Holy Spirit began to move. It was as though the Bible had been written solely for me. Every time I opened it, the passage I read spoke directly to my needs. Every church bulletin, letter or post card from church seemed to minister to me as though I was the only person for whom it had been written. Sermons seemed prepared just for me as did the worship. And I saw the Holy Spirit in people's faces at every church event. Jesus was everywhere.
One night I even had a dream that one of the pastors at the church told me "you will receive a message from your shoe." My cat awakened me, I got up, and went about dressing quietly. I remembered the dream and looked down at my shoes but there was
no message. I did notice my suit was wrinkled and changed into another, which was a different color than the first one. Now I had to change my shoe to match my suit.
As I was leaving the house I noticed a sticky note stuck to the heel of my shoe. On the sticky note was a Bible verse. "I am the Vine, you are the branches, abide with me."
I've been to the peaks and struggled with valleys. I've had doubts and downs and faith and ups. God is slowly and I must say, painfully at times, remaking me in His Son’s image.
I know God is at work in me, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. He is crucifying my fleshly ways, as I learn to be led by the Spirit.
I am confident of this, "that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6 NIV)
Jesus Christ saved me from myself. Praise God.
Leigh Standish
Wethersfield, Connecticut
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Masters Quartet
Week of September 18
We were on our way back to Fayetteville NC from Augusta, Georgia where we sang to about 700 people in the First Baptist Church when our old bus broke down along I-95 somewhere in South Carolina. We thought at first we had blown a tire but then we realized the engine was still running but it wouldn’t go in gear.
Our piano player Earl Britt said,” the only thing I know to do is to start praying.”
We are on our knees when there is a knock on the side of the bus. I get up and go to the door and here is an elderly gentleman with a straw hat, white shirt and bib overalls and a sports jacket. He says you boys a quartet? Now we’ve got letters on the side of the bus that are three feet high that say Masters Quartet. I chuckled and said Yes Sir. He says would you boys be able to sing tonight? I was just getting ready to tell him no, when my younger brother Tommy jerked me out of the way and says. “Yes sir we will but we can’t go, our bus broke down.”
He says, “That’s no problem, I can be back in about 15 minutes. with some trucks to take you and your equipment to my house. In about twenty minutes he came back with two Ford Stake trucks a station wagon and a wrecker.
I told the wrecker driver that we didn’t have any money and to leave the bus be. The love offering we received from the Baptist church was only $50 and between us we didn’t have $200.
We all pile in the trucks and station wagon and go to the preacher’s house which is out n the country about 30 miles from the interstate. When we arrive his wife has dinner ready for us. The food was set up on two long tables. We finish eating and watch a little TV. What we didn’t know was that this preacher, his wife and two children all had separate telephone lines and were calling people and telling them to be at the church at 6:30.
We learn that Pastor Reed had been a preacher for an Assembly of God church in Indiana. When his parents died he had come to South Carolina to live on their farm. When the pastor of the local Presbyterian church died he was asked if he would fill in. He’s been filling in for several years now.
When we get to this old wooden church in the middle of a tobacco field it is packed. After singing about five songs the preacher tells us to go back to where the refreshments are as he is going to take up a love offering for us. After what happened at the First Baptist church I’m kind of leery and I stand by the door.
When the ushers come forward with the plates he looks over the podium and says ,“that ain’t goner work…these boys sang at a big Baptist church in Augusta and they got $50…that ain’t happenin here. Now I’m gonna send these ushers back out and when they come back if these plates aren’t full I’m gonna tell what I know and who I know it on.”
They finish the collection and call us back out and we sing a little more and the last song we did was Sinner Saved by Grace. We use that at our altar call.
As the preacher is praying this little blonde haired girl comes running down the aisle to ask God to save her. She had run away from home and had been gone for sometime and had returned home and asked her mommy and daddy to forgive her and they said if God has forgiven you we will. And that is why she was running to the altar to ask God to forgive her and become her Savior.
After all was said and done our piano player says to me, “Is that our bus I hear running outside?” I look out the door and there is the wrecker driver standing by our bus in greasy overalls with his hat in his hand.
I say, “you fixed it.”
He says, “Yep.”
“How much do we owe you?”
“You owe us nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
He says, “that little girl who just went to the altar is my daughter. She wouldn’t have come if y’all hadn’t been here tonight.”
I asked him what was wrong with our bus and he says all the bolts on the fly wheel had fallen out and were laying in the dust pan.
“ Wait a minute. I’m mechanic enough to know that bolts don’t fall out of a flywheel, especially on a bus. They have locking caps on them and they don’t fall out, you have to drill them out.”
He says, “Every one of them was laying in the pan and not a thread on anyone of them was torn off. God backed the bolts out of that flywheel so you would be here so my daughter would hear the singing and your testimony that you brought here tonight.”
As we drove home I opened the envelope containing our love offering. We counted out coins and small bills totaling $ 1200. .
About four months later we got a phone call from Preacher Reed who said they were trying to raise money to build a new church. He wanted a gospel sing and would we help. We got three and four other groups we knew and we drove to South Carolina to sing in the middle of a football field standing on a flatbed trailer. That night they raised over $100,000.
They built the church and invited us back to sing at their first service. When we pulled up in front of the church there was a big piece of marble block on the Northeast corner of the building. Inscribed on that block was Masters Quartet and they listed all ten names in our group, the four singers, the five musicians, and our bus driver.
We kept in touch over the years and we went back and sang at Preacher Reed’s funeral. He had filled in for 15 years.
Lee Bissette
Sarasota Fl.
We were on our way back to Fayetteville NC from Augusta, Georgia where we sang to about 700 people in the First Baptist Church when our old bus broke down along I-95 somewhere in South Carolina. We thought at first we had blown a tire but then we realized the engine was still running but it wouldn’t go in gear.
Our piano player Earl Britt said,” the only thing I know to do is to start praying.”
We are on our knees when there is a knock on the side of the bus. I get up and go to the door and here is an elderly gentleman with a straw hat, white shirt and bib overalls and a sports jacket. He says you boys a quartet? Now we’ve got letters on the side of the bus that are three feet high that say Masters Quartet. I chuckled and said Yes Sir. He says would you boys be able to sing tonight? I was just getting ready to tell him no, when my younger brother Tommy jerked me out of the way and says. “Yes sir we will but we can’t go, our bus broke down.”
He says, “That’s no problem, I can be back in about 15 minutes. with some trucks to take you and your equipment to my house. In about twenty minutes he came back with two Ford Stake trucks a station wagon and a wrecker.
I told the wrecker driver that we didn’t have any money and to leave the bus be. The love offering we received from the Baptist church was only $50 and between us we didn’t have $200.
We all pile in the trucks and station wagon and go to the preacher’s house which is out n the country about 30 miles from the interstate. When we arrive his wife has dinner ready for us. The food was set up on two long tables. We finish eating and watch a little TV. What we didn’t know was that this preacher, his wife and two children all had separate telephone lines and were calling people and telling them to be at the church at 6:30.
We learn that Pastor Reed had been a preacher for an Assembly of God church in Indiana. When his parents died he had come to South Carolina to live on their farm. When the pastor of the local Presbyterian church died he was asked if he would fill in. He’s been filling in for several years now.
When we get to this old wooden church in the middle of a tobacco field it is packed. After singing about five songs the preacher tells us to go back to where the refreshments are as he is going to take up a love offering for us. After what happened at the First Baptist church I’m kind of leery and I stand by the door.
When the ushers come forward with the plates he looks over the podium and says ,“that ain’t goner work…these boys sang at a big Baptist church in Augusta and they got $50…that ain’t happenin here. Now I’m gonna send these ushers back out and when they come back if these plates aren’t full I’m gonna tell what I know and who I know it on.”
They finish the collection and call us back out and we sing a little more and the last song we did was Sinner Saved by Grace. We use that at our altar call.
As the preacher is praying this little blonde haired girl comes running down the aisle to ask God to save her. She had run away from home and had been gone for sometime and had returned home and asked her mommy and daddy to forgive her and they said if God has forgiven you we will. And that is why she was running to the altar to ask God to forgive her and become her Savior.
After all was said and done our piano player says to me, “Is that our bus I hear running outside?” I look out the door and there is the wrecker driver standing by our bus in greasy overalls with his hat in his hand.
I say, “you fixed it.”
He says, “Yep.”
“How much do we owe you?”
“You owe us nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
He says, “that little girl who just went to the altar is my daughter. She wouldn’t have come if y’all hadn’t been here tonight.”
I asked him what was wrong with our bus and he says all the bolts on the fly wheel had fallen out and were laying in the dust pan.
“ Wait a minute. I’m mechanic enough to know that bolts don’t fall out of a flywheel, especially on a bus. They have locking caps on them and they don’t fall out, you have to drill them out.”
He says, “Every one of them was laying in the pan and not a thread on anyone of them was torn off. God backed the bolts out of that flywheel so you would be here so my daughter would hear the singing and your testimony that you brought here tonight.”
As we drove home I opened the envelope containing our love offering. We counted out coins and small bills totaling $ 1200. .
About four months later we got a phone call from Preacher Reed who said they were trying to raise money to build a new church. He wanted a gospel sing and would we help. We got three and four other groups we knew and we drove to South Carolina to sing in the middle of a football field standing on a flatbed trailer. That night they raised over $100,000.
They built the church and invited us back to sing at their first service. When we pulled up in front of the church there was a big piece of marble block on the Northeast corner of the building. Inscribed on that block was Masters Quartet and they listed all ten names in our group, the four singers, the five musicians, and our bus driver.
We kept in touch over the years and we went back and sang at Preacher Reed’s funeral. He had filled in for 15 years.
Lee Bissette
Sarasota Fl.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
America Under Attack
Week of September 11
This is the day there was a deliberate attack on America. We were all shocked. We are outraged. We are angry.
That evening, ten year ago, I join others in church. The first prayer isn’t for the victims or their families (although that would come later) it is for repentance.This catches me off guard.
The officiating pastor asks Is this a wake up call for America to stop worshipping idols such as our affluence and our military might?
I wondered about all the people killed? That night when I returned home I read what Jesus said in Luke.
“Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem. I tell you, no: but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:4-5)
Now its ten years later and I'm glad our nation is reflecting on 9/11 again. What has really changed in this nation since then.
Are we "one nation under God?"
Have we repented?
Are we still worshiping Idols?
We are facing an enemy far worse than terrorist.
The enemy is ourselves.
Mal Salter 9/11/11
This is the day there was a deliberate attack on America. We were all shocked. We are outraged. We are angry.
That evening, ten year ago, I join others in church. The first prayer isn’t for the victims or their families (although that would come later) it is for repentance.This catches me off guard.
The officiating pastor asks Is this a wake up call for America to stop worshipping idols such as our affluence and our military might?
I wondered about all the people killed? That night when I returned home I read what Jesus said in Luke.
“Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem. I tell you, no: but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:4-5)
Now its ten years later and I'm glad our nation is reflecting on 9/11 again. What has really changed in this nation since then.
Are we "one nation under God?"
Have we repented?
Are we still worshiping Idols?
We are facing an enemy far worse than terrorist.
The enemy is ourselves.
Mal Salter 9/11/11
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Facing the Past
Week of September 4
THE APPROACH OF THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF MY SON STEVEN'S DEATH , I HAD BOOKED A TRIP TO TAHITI WITH A FELLOW CO-WORKER. I WANTED TO BE FAR AWAY FROM EVERYTHING . THE MORNING OF THE DATE 09/01, I LET MY FRIEND KNOW THAT I NEEDED TO BE ALONE FOR A WHILE AND DECIDED TO GO DOWN TO THE BEACH. AS AN AFTER-THOUGHT I REACHED FOR MY CAMERA.
AS I SAT VERY PEACEFUL LOOKING OUT TOWARD THE WATER,OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY EYE I SAW A FIGURE ON HORSEBACK,IN THE WATER, AS THE HORSE DREW NEARER, THERE WAS A YOUNG MAN,BARE TO THE WAIST, WITH LONGISH BLOND HAIR. I FELT MY SELF SUDDENLY ALERT AND AS HE WAS JUST IN FRONT OF ME HE TURNED HIS HEAD AND SMILED, NODDING HIS HEAD...I THOUGHT MY MIND WAS PLAYING TRICKS ON ME AS HE WAS THE IMAGE OF STEVEN. I SLOWLY REACHED FOR MY CAMERA AND TOOK A PICTURE...THE CALMNESS THAT CAME OVER ME WAS BEAUTIFUL.. I REMEMBER THINKING , NO MATTER HOW FAR YOU TRY TO AVOID THE REALITY, IT WILL FOLLOW YOU.
WHEN I WENT BACK TO THE HUT,MY FRIEND ASKED IF I WAS OK AND I REMEMBER TELLING WHAT OCCURED AND STATING THAT I WAS FINE AND COMFORTED, BUT IF WHEN I WENT BACK HOME AND DEVELOPED THE PHOTO AND THERE WAS NOTHING THERE...I WOULD REALLY FREAK OUT.
THE PICTURE WAS REAL AND ANYONE I SHOWED IT TO SAID , "THAT'S STEVEN"
A FEW YEARS AFTER THAT EPISODE, I FELT IT WAS TIME FOR ME TO GO TO VERMONT WHERE STEVEN DIED. I ONLY KNEW THE NAME OF THE TOWN AND THE NAME TERRIBLE MT. A FRIEND INSISTED THEY DRIVE ME THERE. WE APPROACHED THE TOWN AND AS WE CAME AROUND A CURVE IN THE ROAD, I ASKED MY FRIEND TO STOP AND ASK A MAN RAKING LEAVES IF HE KNEW WHERE THIS PLACE WAS. HE POINTED TO THE ROAD WE WERE JUST PARKED BY AND WE WENT.
I WALKED AROUND THE PLACE WHERE THE HOUSE BURNED BY MYSELF AND LOOKED AT THE MAGNIFICENT VIEW MY SON HAD SEEN AND FELT AT PEACE. AS I GOT BACK IN THE CAR, I ASKED MY FRIEND TO PLEASE TURN ON THE RADIO AS WE DROVE DOWN THE MOUNTAIN.
tHE FIRST SONG WAS THE BEATLES "LET IT BE" AND THE VERY NEXT THE GRATEFUL DEADS, "RIPPLES IN STILL WATERS". BOTH OF THESE SONGS WE SUNG AT MY SON'S FUNERAL....AGAIN A SENSE OF CONTACT THAT HAS NEVER BEEN BROKEN WITH STEVEN HAS HELPED ME FACE MANY OF LIFES STRUGGLES. I AM TRULY GRATEFUL TO HAVE EXPERIENCED THESE MIRACLES IN MY LIFE.
MARGARET SALTER
AVON COMMECTICUT
THE APPROACH OF THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF MY SON STEVEN'S DEATH , I HAD BOOKED A TRIP TO TAHITI WITH A FELLOW CO-WORKER. I WANTED TO BE FAR AWAY FROM EVERYTHING . THE MORNING OF THE DATE 09/01, I LET MY FRIEND KNOW THAT I NEEDED TO BE ALONE FOR A WHILE AND DECIDED TO GO DOWN TO THE BEACH. AS AN AFTER-THOUGHT I REACHED FOR MY CAMERA.
AS I SAT VERY PEACEFUL LOOKING OUT TOWARD THE WATER,OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY EYE I SAW A FIGURE ON HORSEBACK,IN THE WATER, AS THE HORSE DREW NEARER, THERE WAS A YOUNG MAN,BARE TO THE WAIST, WITH LONGISH BLOND HAIR. I FELT MY SELF SUDDENLY ALERT AND AS HE WAS JUST IN FRONT OF ME HE TURNED HIS HEAD AND SMILED, NODDING HIS HEAD...I THOUGHT MY MIND WAS PLAYING TRICKS ON ME AS HE WAS THE IMAGE OF STEVEN. I SLOWLY REACHED FOR MY CAMERA AND TOOK A PICTURE...THE CALMNESS THAT CAME OVER ME WAS BEAUTIFUL.. I REMEMBER THINKING , NO MATTER HOW FAR YOU TRY TO AVOID THE REALITY, IT WILL FOLLOW YOU.
WHEN I WENT BACK TO THE HUT,MY FRIEND ASKED IF I WAS OK AND I REMEMBER TELLING WHAT OCCURED AND STATING THAT I WAS FINE AND COMFORTED, BUT IF WHEN I WENT BACK HOME AND DEVELOPED THE PHOTO AND THERE WAS NOTHING THERE...I WOULD REALLY FREAK OUT.
THE PICTURE WAS REAL AND ANYONE I SHOWED IT TO SAID , "THAT'S STEVEN"
A FEW YEARS AFTER THAT EPISODE, I FELT IT WAS TIME FOR ME TO GO TO VERMONT WHERE STEVEN DIED. I ONLY KNEW THE NAME OF THE TOWN AND THE NAME TERRIBLE MT. A FRIEND INSISTED THEY DRIVE ME THERE. WE APPROACHED THE TOWN AND AS WE CAME AROUND A CURVE IN THE ROAD, I ASKED MY FRIEND TO STOP AND ASK A MAN RAKING LEAVES IF HE KNEW WHERE THIS PLACE WAS. HE POINTED TO THE ROAD WE WERE JUST PARKED BY AND WE WENT.
I WALKED AROUND THE PLACE WHERE THE HOUSE BURNED BY MYSELF AND LOOKED AT THE MAGNIFICENT VIEW MY SON HAD SEEN AND FELT AT PEACE. AS I GOT BACK IN THE CAR, I ASKED MY FRIEND TO PLEASE TURN ON THE RADIO AS WE DROVE DOWN THE MOUNTAIN.
tHE FIRST SONG WAS THE BEATLES "LET IT BE" AND THE VERY NEXT THE GRATEFUL DEADS, "RIPPLES IN STILL WATERS". BOTH OF THESE SONGS WE SUNG AT MY SON'S FUNERAL....AGAIN A SENSE OF CONTACT THAT HAS NEVER BEEN BROKEN WITH STEVEN HAS HELPED ME FACE MANY OF LIFES STRUGGLES. I AM TRULY GRATEFUL TO HAVE EXPERIENCED THESE MIRACLES IN MY LIFE.
MARGARET SALTER
AVON COMMECTICUT
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