Well, I guess we know who was the sweetest, even if it was because I think it was the blouse with flowers printed on it that attracted her ‘flock.’

We were up in Appleton (WA) a couple of days ago, with Teresa, looking at a couple of things on her property.  Yellow jackets abounded on the piece.

I noticed one hovering around Teresa and let her know that it was right under her arm.  Teresa said look at Mom, who had several flying around her creating a hazardous situation for her.  She was actually stung by one of them.  We got home and she put a baking powder paste on the wound and that helped.

Me? they didn’t seem to care whether I was there or not.....

Mathew 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

As I read this this morning, I thought about Ron and Shirley Keyser, former Pastors here.  They had a vision for missions and even though they were ‘too old’ to go into the mission field their passion and devotion convinced the organization to allow them to proceed.

Family was important to them.  They had four children and I remember thinking that they would be gone for five years with little or no contact with their children, or their children’s families during that time.

While I cannot remember exactly what Shirley said when I asked her how she was going to handle that, she made it clear that they were following the path Christ had laid out for them.

They went into a violent nation and they, themselves, experienced robberies in their own home and the threat of violence, with guns being pointed at them and actually being tied up on at least one occasion.  THAT can be a bit disconcerting.  They lost many church members who were killed for their Christian activities.

We often forget the sacrifices missionaries make to serve our Lord and tell others about the love of Christ.

Thanks to the Keysers and the thousands of men and women like them, we will have many brothers and sisters joining us as we celebrate our relationship with Christ, forever.

Later, Art :-)