I asked prayer concerning our donkey, Easter, who has what appears to be a degenerative hip condition. She hasn't been able to get to her feet all day yesterday and I was preparing for the worst this morning when I asked our E. O. Outreach Bible study to pray. Well what a surprise! I found Easter up on all fours and eager to get out of her pen and into the paddock to eat grass. She still favors one back leg but she's moving better than I've seen in weeks. I believe the most amazing thing is that we think this is an amazing thing. God delights to answer our prayers and intervene on behalf of His children. Prayer is powerful, effective, and should be our immediate "go to" when we have a need. Prayer doesn't always go the way we intend but it always draws us closer to God's perfect will. Humbled and ashamed that I don't pray more often..... BP Devo.

Here's a link to online music by Dale & Cheryl Golden. Dale has been stricken with a major stroke that has him unable to travel, sing, or present the gospel through song. Their life has been devoted to the gospel ministry and right now their medical costs are massive and income halted. Here's the link - https://www.youtube.com/@dalegolden2063 If you are lead to send them a card or help with medical costs, email me and I'll give you their mailing address. BulletproofPastor@gmail.com We will have a big box of Dale and Cheryl's CD's as a fund raiser. We'll let you know more soon.

Life is never simple and even for believers, we often don't understand the path God leads us down. My wife, Terry, has battled clinical depression for most of her life. It's not something easy to understand unless you have suffered it and if you have, I'm truly sorry. It cannot be overturned with 'positive thinking' and all your faith in God doesn't turn it off. Terry's faith is very strong and she is confident in her salvation but our bodies still suffer the results of a fallen nature and physical challenges. We have learned that excessive stress requires rest for her to recover and moving our home nearly 500 miles last May was just such an event. After settling into our new farm/home, Terry was feeling good and we set about to visit some local churches. Our second church visit landed us in what has proven to be a huge blessing and a family of believers who love God and allow that love to overflow for everyone they meet. We are blessed with a wonderful pastor and his wife who we quickly grew very close to. Then the bottom fell out. The medicine that has helped for nearly 30 years, suddenly quit working. Fortunately, the Lord led us to a helpful clinic that was able to switch her to a new medicine even more suited to her needs and was genetically aligned with her DNA. It's working but has taken nearly a month and a half to make recovery. During that time, our church family, who we barely got to know, has faithfully prayed, called, texted, emailed, and our pastor has visited. This week is the first full week of services we have been able to attend since Terry's med change and it has been such a blessing. Generally, it takes nearly a year for a new family to become embedded into a new church family but it appears God has done that for us in just a few months. We will likely never understand the path we travel on this earth but God will explain it all when we are in heaven.

It was Friday and my last day at The Firs Bible camp. It was a week of missions and evangelistic preaching to encourage believers. I wasn't a believer when I arrived Monday morning but was invited as a guest of a missionary family I had met. It took me 4 hours to drive there from my home and without knowing it, the missionary family saw me pull into the parking lot and rushed to pay my registration. That night they met with several other missionary families and prayed for my salvation. Tuesday morning following the morning worship service I received Christ as my savior. The rest of the week was an amazing new experience for me. Now it's Friday and at the last service before leaving the next day. I was moved by the call to missions and though I was committed to enlistment into the USAF in just 6 weeks, I could at least give toward their support. I emptied my wallet, not thinking that I would need some gas money to get home. I know we aren't to tempt God foolishly and perhaps to "give all I had" might qualify, I hadn't done it purposefully to test God. Without saying anything about my predicament I was approached by one of the camp leaders asking me if I might offer a ride to a camper who was stranded without a way home, he offered to pay the gas. God sometimes leads us into situations where His deliverance is already provided, and He has repeated that lesson to me on many other occasions.

Terry and I are moving. This will be our 7th move in the 47 years we've been married and we've been at our current house twenty years. Hopefully this move will be our last until Jesus takes us home but packing-up only emphasizes our belief that we are way too old for this. We found it helpful to post assumptions and commitments and put them where our eyes will see them on a regular basis. Assumptions: 1. Moving will be difficult. 2. We will feel overwhelmed at times. 3. Progress will seem "too slow." 4. At times, we will regret moving. Commitments: 1. We will support each other. 2. We will practice kindness. 3. Blame doesn't help. 4. We will track accomplishments. 5. Watching our pennies will take care of the dollars. 6. We will take "escape" breaks. We have a LOT of work ahead of us but the new property has amazing potential. It's a 1940's farm house with 1940's features. At least it has a barn for the animals but our first week will be spent putting up fences to contain our herds. Our livestock will follow once fences are up and the new owners here are willing to let them stay where they are for the week while friends visit twice a day to feed and care for them. Moving is a powerful stressor but a focus on our purpose in Christ provides strength to endure. I can already hear us in the new house... "Honey! Where is ???" "I'm not sure. It's in a box somewhere."

September 1974, I arrived at my new duty assignment at Anderson AFB, Guam. My career field was declared 300% overmanned but my request for early release from my enlistment under a new USAF provision (for the convenience of the Air Force), was denied. Word of my potential early discharge had reached my squadron on Guam and they were not expecting me. Upon arrival, there was no one to meet me and the squadron orderly had no idea what to do. The barracks chief came and managed to scrounge up some extra linen for me to stay in a vacant room for the weekend but I would probably be assigned different quarters on Monday. Did I mention my stowed baggage didn't make the plane? It was shipped as cargo on a surface ship and would take TEN DAYS to reach me. Here I was, alone, in a strange land, in a strange climate, with nothing except the uniform I was wearing, and what was packed in my briefcase. On the veranda outside my room I leaned on the railing and began to pray. Looking at the sky I was stunned. Being very familiar with a star filled sky from a long history of outdoor activity, there was not a single constellation I could recognize. Right in the middle of the sky was an unmistakable Southern Cross where I had expected to see a Big Dipper. Words fell from my lips, "God, are YOU still there?" It was one of the few times I have audibly heard the voice of God speaking. So vivid that I turned to see who had just spoken... "I am here, and you are here for a purpose." I will never forget God's promise to never leave me nor forsake me.