“I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone.” ~ Robin Williams
Sometimes the impact of LIFE hits hard. I spent the last two days in Catania, Sicily with The Sweetheart. The sweet missionaries we are staying with encouraged us to take a short trip to Sicily, it is so close to Malta, flights are cheap and it only takes 40 minutes to get there. We had hoped to meet up with some national pastors but their schedule didn’t work out this time. But we prayed we would be able to do more than just sight-see and God made a way for us to witness for His name (I’ll share that story soon!)andintercede in a desperate situation. This is a plea to the desperate.
Catania sits at the bottom of Mt. Etna and right on the Iconian Sea. The beauty is unsurpassed friends, it is breathtaking.
We made a trek up to Mt. Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe. In the late 1600’s, the city of Catania was nearly wiped out by a volcanic eruption that took 16,000 of the 20,000 living in the city! We took a tour bus to the top, about 1 ½ hours straight up. I will write about that in a day or two…pictures are AH-MAZ-ING!
Back on the ground the next morning we witnessed something entirely opposite.
Heading down Via Etnea, the main thoroughfare through Catania, we came upon a large gathering of people all looking upward and we were trying hard to focus on what had grabbed their attention.
Then we saw him.
Dangling on a pedestal on top of a roof, four stories high, was a young, teenage boy about to take his own life. (You can see him at the very top, on the middle limestone pedestal with his leg hanging over the side.)
We could see he was desperate, he kept motioning for those that were trying to talk him down to get back or he would jump.
I have never witnessed anything of this nature and The Sweetheart kept saying, “Let’s go, let’s just go, you don’t want this scene in your mind the rest of your life.” He was a nervous wreck but yet we knew we had to pray. Someone had to pray!!
We began to intercede for this young man, praying in the Holy Ghost and asking God to intervene on His behalf. There was no net, no fire department to help as of yet. Friends, it was intense.
What makes a soul so desperate to leave this earthly life?
This is the way of the lost soul. The soul without Jesus Christ. There is desperation, there is extreme anxiety and frustration. To them, there is nothing that will make it better; nothing you can do or say that will ease their hurt and anger. You can make no promise that they will believe.
The world is in turmoil. There is fear on every hand; threats of war, famine, unemployment, hunger, drought, and of course ISIS. It is real around the world, not just in places like Italy, Malta, South African and Libya. This danger is global and getting worse.
No wonder people who have no hope are intimidated by the enemy into thinking that suicide is their only recourse! The devil wants to put desperation and fear into every heart that will listen and then he stands there, ready to push them over the edge where we know, and he knows, is everlasting darkness.
We must rescue, we must intercede!
Watching this scene unfold before us, and praying as hard as we have ever prayed in our lives, a policeman and another unidentified man had crept up to the floor just below the young man. He could not see them since he was perched on this pedestal on his stomach with his legs dangling.
The man you see in the blue t-shirt then jumped up to the ledge, risking his life for sure, and with all of his strength shoved the young man as hard as he could to the safety of the balcony.
And the crowd roars.
Are you feeling that desperation in your life at this moment? Have pressures from just trying to get by weighed you down so much that you see no way out? Friend, there is HOPE.
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. “ 1 Peter 5:7.
Jesus Christ gave HIS LIFE so you wouldn’t ever have to take your own. When He died on Calvary’s cross, He did away with the need for sacrifice, He paid the price, the ultimate price for YOUR salvation and mine. Look at this promise He left with us:
“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” Isaiah 65:24.
There is nothing in this life worth taking matters into your own hands in desperation. Jesus truly offers a way out; He is the way! He promises to never leave or forsake us even though times are difficult; they may prove discouraging, frustrating and just plain hard at times. Yet He promises to walk with us through EVERYTHING, bringing Hope, Peace and Comfort in our most challenging circumstances.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11.
Not only is there hope in this life but He offers eternal salvation and hope for eternity! Yes, things will get better even if it is not in this life. There is no peace that compares with the peace of God. It can carry you through ANYTHING!
“The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17.
He will quiet you with His love; bringing the security that you are desperately seeking. And then…Hope for today and the promise of living with our Savior in perfect peace for all eternity.
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:4. NLT
If you are desperate today, please feel welcome to email me if you need guidance to a Bible-believing church or need prayer. Reach out to family, friends or a pastor; someone who will help you find Hope in Jesus Christ. He loves you more than you can imagine and desires to set you free and give joy unspeakable in the midst of your trouble.
If you are struggling with believing you are forgiven, or feel as if you cannot come back to God, please read my post If God has Forgiven me, why can’t I Forgive Myselfhere.
Yes, this is a Message for My Three Sons on Mother’s Day, it is addressed to my boys, who are no longer boys but grown men. I would love for you to peek over my shoulder…and share your own thoughts and memories!
I have missed a few birthdays down through the years. It seemed every time our church organization’s General Conference would roll around it would land on my middle son’s once-a-year celebration. He wasn’t particularly happy about spending it with a babysitter, or grandparents, but it didn’t seem to leave any lasting scars.
I have been out of the country for my own birthday twice in the last four years. I wasn’t so crazy about that and got a little experience of how he must have felt. He only had his two brothers, I only had The Sweetheart. Family seems to make every holiday just that much better.
This year I am celebrating Mother’s Day, my 34th Mother’s Day, out of the country with none of My Three Sons (or my sweet DIL) around the table.
I am melancholy.
So, since I cannot be with them in person, see their smiles, hear their jokes, and feel their presence, I thought I would write them a note. (Chances are pretty good I will not receive a Mother’s Day card in Malta…not that they aren’t thoughtful, there just wasn’t time.)To my eldest, Kyle Douglas: You were the firstborn. You had to endure my inexperience at being a mother; my youthful approach to life was a plus in many areas and a detriment in others. As far as your parents were concerned, you could do no wrong. Everything you would attempt or achieve was exciting to us as first-time parents and you went at it with reckless abandon.
Your wife-for-life, Rachel, (the little girl I never had), says you must have had the most wonderful childhood of anyone on Planet Earth because you want to relive it all the time. That makes me happy and yet I know it wasn’t perfect because I wasn’t perfect. What I did try to give you was a home that you could bring your friends to and not be embarrassed, a place to be safe and to be yourself, to know someone was rooting for you and that you were loved beyond measure.
We did a lot of cool things together for a couple of young folks. We saw Batman and Robin, a.k.a., Burt Ward and Adam West in person, got the autograph, attended Tom Browning’s perfect game and even met Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott and her dog Schottzie, spending a few minutes in her penthouse with her privately after a game. Hey, we even starred in the movie Hoosiersfor crying out loud! (Okay, we didn’t star in it but we were there. Final Scene. Screaming like crazy…like crazy…Hoosiers.)
Who says Mom wasn’t fun??
Many special memories stand out but there isn’t room for them all. One that still makes me smile, and cringe all at the same time, was when you were about 12 and playing basketball in the front driveway with all of your neighborhood friends. I am sure I was in the kitchen making chocolate chip cookies and mixing healthy strawberry powder with water in your favorite Mr. Kool-Aid pitcher when I heard at least seven or eight blood-curdling screams of terror. I ran to the garage door to see who had broken a bone or needed stitches when you met me face to face with eyes as big as dinner plates.
“MOM! There’s a giant snake under the window!”
All the neighborhood boys were gathered around the biggest snake I had ever seen in person, without a cage and not under glass. He was busy though, very busy choking down a humongous frog for his lunch. He could not go anywhere and we were about to catch ourselves a big one.
The boys all wanted to “KILL IT!”themselves so I handed them a garden hoe. They couldn’t get within five feet.
“You do it, Mom. My mom does this all the time, don’t ya Mom?”
Right. All the time. Usually they are four or five inches long not five feet. (I also was a little uneasy that it might be a copperhead. They were popular in that wooded area where we lived. I knew I had to do something, I just wished Dad was home this time to be the hero.)
With the Sandlot gang cheering me on and My Three Sons waiting for me to save the day, I heaved that garden hoe over my head and swung down as hard as I could to chop off the head of that menacing creature. THUMP!
I missed.
Completely.
The second try was a little better and, well, I will spare you the gory details. Nevertheless, Mom was a hero. And we all know Kyle loves superheroes.
But snakes aren’t school problems, girlfriends, grades, bullies, student loans, water bills, mortgages and car payments. I couldn’t be there for everything that came along but tried to instill a love for God, His Word, the Church and others in you that would help you survive in an ever-changing world. You have made me proud of the man you are today, sacrificing what some would see as opportunities to instead bless the Kingdom and others. I hope you remember me (when I am old and senile) as that hero with a garden hoe that would do anything to save the day for you.
I have taken in and loved your Rachel as my own, enjoying every minute of having another girl in the house that would side with me and give me another vote in a home laden with testosterone. Thank you, Rachel, for being a friend and a confidante. Thank you for always loving Kyle’s brothers; they were six and twelve when you entered the picture and the three of you have only grown closer through the years. So much so, that they were ready to disown their Big Brother when he moved their best friend and chef back to Tennesee. You always make our family pictures look better!
To my middle son, Kristopher Ryan: Who always thought his name was Kristopher Kristopher Elkins because we couldn’t say his name just once to get his attention. He was elated to learn he had a real middle name!
Ever the impetuous and impulsive child, you have brought even more life into our little family and kept us forever on our toes. I could listen to you talk all day long with your little-bit-of-a-lisp and love for “r’s” with a Boston accent. (I should mention you outgrew that by first grade.) You were all boy and seemed to have to get up every day and remind the world that you had arrived and were here to stay.
Never one to be ignored, I will never forget the time you wanted so badly to talk to our pastor and tugged and tugged on his jacket only to be told to wait by the other adults surrounding him. That wasn’t enough for a four year old so you innocently wound your fist and threw it for all it was worth…unfortunately your aim was perfect and this calm and proper man had to excuse himself to catch his breath and regain his composure.
Everything you did was with gusto.
Climbing on top of refrigerators
Climbing INTO refrigerators and closing the door
Setting things on fire that were not meant to burn
Setting yourself on fire with curling irons and having to explain to the hospital that it was an accident
Yanking your own arm out of socket just by throwing a fit to see Chuck E Cheese
Calling policemen to our house in the middle of the night with just a light switch and a garage door opener
Getting beat up on the last day of school
Using duct tape to stick your baby brother to the wall…two feet off the ground
Breaking your arm while roller-blading through a golf course
Letting your best friend run over your leg with a golf cart so you could spend the summer in a walking boot
Hanging suspended on cliffs in South America
Trespassing, literally, on the famous St. Andrews golf course in Scotland
Singing Chris Tomlin songs in a pub in Ireland
And jumping out of perfectly good airplanes all have brought life and laughter to our family for the last 28 years.
I’ve seen your frustration make you stronger, even when at the moment you wanted to tear the enemy apart with your bare hands. Thankfully, you knew how to pray.
One of my fondest memories of you making a difficult situation more lighthearted was our first summer after we started pastoring our first church. Our new home had a swimming pool and you were in charge of keeping it crystal clean and clear. You learned it quickly until someone at the church suggested you could make your hair more blonde by adding even MORE chemicals, or better yet, just pour it straight on your hair.
You did.
It didn’t.
Make it blonde that is.
It turned it bright orange. Just in time for your grandfather’s funeral the same week.
I have always had a tendency to stick up for you boys when I probably should have let Dad have his way…so to speak. I couldn’t help it; it was just too funny showing up at the funeral home, and at church, with carrot top hair.
You make every day a little brighter with your phone calls. When Mrs. Perfect comes along someday, I know we will not get as many of those but I will cherish them for now. Your, “What’s up?” is still a highlight of my day.
I know with your nursing degree you will be the one expected to take care of your parents in their old age. I apologize for that in advance but whatever happens to me, even if I am cranky, hateful and cannot control my faculties, I want you to remember one thing:
Remember the Nightingale Pledge you took as an RN…especially this part, “and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug.” I will sleep much better at night.
To the Baby, Korey Ross: I apologize up front for calling you The Baby…again. But to me you will always be the last but not the least. Everyone knows we didn’t plan for a #3 but it sure has been nice to have cute nicknames for the blog! (Whoever heard of My Two Sons??) We would not have been complete as a family without you.
You entered our world quietly and have lived your life that way, unassuming, unpretentious, and never making a scene. As a baby, you were adored even by your brothers. Who knew? Possibly spreading apart your arrivals had something to do with that but you have made such an impression on each of them that even with one, six years your senior and another one eleven, you have managed to be someone they both call not just a brother but a best friend.
You have been through much for your 23 years and have always made us proud of the way you handled adversity and conflict. As a pastor’s son we NEVER worried about you sharing things that were told in confidence, NEVER worried about you eavesdropping or whispering secrets to others. And to your credit, others knew they didn’t have to worry about you breaking that confidence. You have always been trustworthy.
I always appreciated the way you put up with being #3. With the first baby, parents are ever-so-cautious about every little thing. With the second they let up a little on the “He’ll choke on that!!” but seem to lay down more rules and guidelines. By the time #3 comes along…well…we all have seen the T-shirts by now.
#1 made the rules
#2 was the reason we had rules
#3 the rules don’t apply to me
I remember one time when I was cutting your hair, I was clipping along pretty good. I had cut your older brother’s hair through the Doogie Howser era and had given him a trademark with those flying scissors. You, though, had never trusted me with an electric trimmer. I was almost finished, cleaning up the neck area when I saw a place that I had missed just to the left of your ear. Without thinking, (I do that a lot), I just went ahead and cleaned it up. The only problem was that I didn’t change the guard on the trimmer and it was still set short for neck trimming not hair cutting.
Oops.
I wish we had owned iPhone’s then to have recorded your teenage reaction to an amateur barber’s faux pas. Priceless. (This picture was taken years before, obviously, but still appropriate. Notice your brother trying to get attention as always.)
I didn’t make mistakes too often but when I did…they were noteworthy.
My reminder that “it grows back” was little comfort at that moment.
You are blessed with a talent sent from above when you pick up that guitar; a great musician and worship leader, talented in so many areas and a blessing to any church, I thank God for that every day. I pray you will remember me for my desire to see you used in the Kingdom and introducing you to the literary world: showing you that a nap and a Louis L’Amour book could revive even the worst day. (Throw in a John Wayne movie and chips and salsa and it’s a comeback!)
That you can achieve whatever you set your mind to but should always seek the will of God in all things. I pray you remember that money cannot buy happiness and it is only necessary for the necessities in life. People that can be bought are not worth your money and definitely not your time. And most of all, your job in my golden years will be to sit beside me, whenever possible, and take your turn to read to me. Berenstein Bears will be just fine by then. We have plenty of those.
It’s true. Family is the best and we all feel as if we have the best. I miss my FOUR kids terribly when I am gone for long stretches of time but I also know they are adults and have their own lives to enjoy. I am thankful to be a part of that whenever time and distance allow, you all are the joys of my life.
Thank you for making my Mother’s Day special just by being the great kids you are and loving me whether I am young or old, skinny or fat, a brunette or white-haired senior citizen. If you aren’t kind to Momma? God will get ya for that!
And if you aren’t familiar with the popular 60’s sitcom, My Three Sons, here is a snippet of the theme song!
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We are still on the island of Malta so I thought it fitting that we look a little more closely at the Apostle Paul’s time here. We have talked about his shipwreck and how he came to arrive on the island of Melita, as it was called in the New Testament. You can read that first post here and the second here! Today, let us look at the “barbarians” who received them.
When I would read this passage years and years ago, I took it to mean that they were uncivilized savages! I pictured cannibals, native bush-people like we would have seen on National Geographic back-in-the-day. Yes, I know, I had a vivid imagination and not too much Biblical training. Bear with me.
Reading it in several different versions and digging deeper I see something entirely different. Let’s read:
“After we were brought safely through,we then learned thatthe island was called Malta.The native peopleshowed us unusualkindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold.” Acts 28:1, 2 ESV.
The King James Version calls the native people barbarians. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, explains: “They are called barbarous people, because they did not, in language and customs, conform either to the Greeks or Romans, who looked (superciliously enough) upon all but themselves as barbarians, though otherwise civilized enough, and perhaps in some cases more civil than they. These barbarous people, however they were called so, were full of humanity: They showed us no little kindness.”
They didn’t carry voodoo dolls, didn’t eat people and were not crazy and inhuman. As Matthew Henry says, they were probably more civil than the cold, wet prisoners and crew who had washed up on their shore! They were full of humanity. The KJV says, “They showed us no little kindness.” In other words, they didn’t hold back, they gave of all they had to show mercy to complete strangers. And remember, most of them were criminals!
They had weathered the storm, Paul had convinced them they would ALL survive if they stayed in the ship. He had promised, “…for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” Acts 27:34. Paul and his cohorts needed safety, a place to rest, a place to dry out and a place to get warm.
And he was right. Everyone of them made it safely to shore by following the man of God who had heard the voice of God. They received all of these things at the hands of the Maltese people and much, much more. In return for their kindness and selflessness they received healing by the hand of Almighty God through Paul and salvation for their souls!
I am trying my best to listen with intent spiritual ears while here in Malta. This island and those surrounding it are being inundated with refugees from neighboring countries. They are making very risky, life-threatening trips to escape the danger of ISIS in the place that they call home. As you may have seen on the news, many hundreds have perished so far in the Mediterranean waters. We have seen lines of the migrants waiting to get aid and whatever paperwork they need to either stay here or move on to more permanent dwelling places.
But in our prayer group last night, I heard the Maltese people request prayer for the refugees. Their hearts were broken for those that they did not know, those who were born in other parts of the world. Souls that they have never met, and probably will never have opportunity to meet, but they realized the hurt, the frustration, the separation and tremendous sacrifice they were making to hopefully find a peaceable place to call home.
This is a very, very crowded island. It is approximately 17 miles in length and 8 1/2 miles wide, 196 square miles. It’s less than half the size of Monroe County, Indiana (I give that example because I can relate to that!) but the population is almost 500,000! It isn’t as if they have tons of countryside to house thousands and thousands that need refuge. Yet, they wouldn’t turn them away. These barbarians, these island natives, are still showing mercy today.
Unusual kindness.
Hospitality: “The quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.” In the New Testament, the Greek word translated hospitalityliterally means love of strangers. This word for unusual kindness is even commanded throughout the Word of God. In the Old Testament specifically, “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt.” (Leviticus 19:33-34, emphasis added).
Jesus and His disciples depended on the kindness of strangers in their travels and we are encouraged to be hospitable in several areas of scripture throughout the New Testament. (Titus 1:8, 1 Timothy 3:2, Hebrews 13:2, Ephesians 2:10.)
Are we prepared to show kindness, extend MERCY to strangers? Would we go out of our way for a complete stranger in need? Could we stop and pause today and realize that it could be you or me that is desperate for even a morsel of bread, a drink of clean water or a change of clothes? Yes, friends, it could be us.
I pray I will be willing to show Unusual Kindness to another. To bless others as I have been blessed and not to be stingy with what God has given me. I might just meet another Apostle Paul along the way…
Enjoy some pictures from Malta and the nearby island of Gozo which we visited this week. The Lord thought this small island paradise important enough to send the most famous preacher in Christianity here to bless this people. Let us learn from their Unusual Kindness today!
The man you see in the blue t-shirt then jumped up to the ledge, risking his life for sure, and with all of his strength shoved the young man as hard as he could to the safety of the balcony.
