Tuesday

Rev. 3:15-18

Another day of many blessings as we have completed our insurance coverage for the ranch property. Our agent has blessed us so much and donated a load of steel for the ranch. Also she donated some beef for meals, only God prepares that kind of stuff.

Our truck starter died on us and as I stopped into see a friend for some concrete information I mentioned about the starter he said leave it with me and lets see if we can fix it and he lent me his truck. when I returned to get my truck they had it all fixed and when I got home i seen that we have been blessed with a new starter P.T.L.

Back in the 50's there was a well known radio
host/comedian/song writer in Hollywood named
Stuart Hamblen who was noted for his drinking,
womanizing, partying, etc.

One of his bigger hits at the time was
"I won't go hunting with you Jake,
but I'll go chasing women."

One day, along came a young preacher holding
a tent revival. Hamblen had him on his radio show
presumably to poke fun at him.
In order to gather more material for his show,
Hamblen showed up at one of the revival meetings.

Early in the service the preacher announced, "There is one man in this audience who is a big fake." There were probably others who thought the same thing, but Hamblen was convinced that he was the one the preacher was talking about (some would call that conviction) but he was having none of that.

Still the words continued to haunt him until a couple of nights
later he showed up drunk at the preacher's hotel door around
2AM demanding that the preacher pray for him! But the
preacher refused, saying, "This is between you and God and
and I'm not going to get in the middle of it.."

But he did invite Stuart in and they talked until about 5 AM at which point Stuart dropped to his knees and with tears, cried out to God.

But that is not the end of the story.

Stuart quit drinking, quit chasing women, quit everything that was 'fun.' Soon he began to lose favor with the Hollywood crowd. He was ultimately fired by the radio station when
he refused to accept a beer company as a sponsor.
Hard times were upon him. He tried writing a couple
of "Christian" songs but the only one that had
much success was "This Old House",
written for his friend Rosemary Clooney.

As he continued to struggle, a long time friend named
John took him aside and told him, "All your troubles
started when you 'got religion,' was it worth it all?"
Stuart answered simply, "Yes."

Then his friend asked, "You liked your booze so much,
don't you ever miss it?" His answer was, "No."John then said, "I don't understand how you could give it up so easily.."

And Stuart's response was, "It's no big secret.
All things are possible with God." To this John said, "That's a catchy phrase. You should write a song about it."
And as they say, "The rest is history."

The song Carl Stuart Hamblen wrote was "It Is No Secret."

"It is no secret what God can do.
What He's done for others, He'll do for you.
With arms wide open, He'll welcome you.
It is no secret, what God can do...."

By the way... the friend was John Wayne.
And the young preacher who refused to pray for Stuart Hamblen?
....That was Billy Graham.

One of the realities facing missions and ministries today is the increasing need for everyone to recognize the importance of each ones involvment. Global workers who serve in restricted access nations are willing to go into scenarios that require great risk; they've been called and they've responded with a "yes". However, their yes won't amount to anything unless others gather around them and send the support needed to move the ministry ahead in building the kingdom of God. I think we can downplay the calling of being a "supporter"; it doesn't seem exciting, it seems like all we're doing is giving money and saying the occasional prayer. Friend, let me challenge you to see yourself as part of a greater TEAM; part of the kingdom initiative of reaching the lost wherever they are. When you support a global worker you DIRECTLY participate in the activity of mission around the world, but we can never forget that there is a great need here right at home also. Look around you and recognize the value of the collective; How Together Everyone Accomplishes More and the ranch that will be the first of it's kind will be completed.

Our financial and prayer partners are a blessing to us, each and every day and we wanted to be sure to let you know just how much we appreciate you. We believe that partnership goes both ways. We pray for our partners daily, and would appreciate the opportunity to agree with you in prayer for your needs more specifically. And we pray for blessing in your lives, as you follow the example of Isaac who sowed in the midst of a famine. The result for him was that he received a hundred-fold return in that same year of famine (Genesis 26:1,12). We pray that same blessing for you, that God will show His abundance to you in every area of your lives and that you will reap a great harvest in Jesus name Amen.