Special speaker, looking ahead

Last night at church we had a man present his work and testimony. His name is Sam Ward. He is in Croatia helping a veteran missionary. He has been there for four years but the most remarkable part of the presentation of the work he gave was the way the Lord got him there. Since childhood he had suffered from a rare form of multiple sclerosis. It went for years undiagnosed; worsening as he got into his late thirties.

He testified that even in his broken body he had a desperate desire to win souls. For years he could not reconcile the two until one day as he was on his way to a day of witnessing at a prison with people from his church he met the missionary he now works with. As the two of them talked, he asked who was in Croatia with the missionary and the answer broke his heart; no one.

For nine years he had labored alone. Without thinking Sam volunteered, “I need to come soul winning with you.” The next day he talked to a friend at work about the “chance” encounter. Two days later that friend gave him a check to cover the plane ticket to Croatia. He knew then that God was in it. He spent his first vacation over there in 2008. He went back in 2009.

Later in 2009 his boss, who was selling the company, offered to give him two years of support money if he wanted to go fulltime to Croatia; this from an unsaved man who saw that the restructured company would more than likely not find a place for an invalid worker. Since that time God has gotten him the medical help he needs to the point that it is now difficult to tell he was ever in a wheelchair. It was a great service and for the first time in many weeks Victoria was able to go.

Tonight will be our first night above freezing in about two weeks. Although the east coast is getting slammed with the remnants of the winter storm that hit us early this week, we will be warm and dry for the next ten days or so. As bad as it can get here there is always the expectation that it will not last long – at least for cold weather.

I am starting to wonder what the summer might be like this year. According to the Farmer’s Almanac it will be a repeat of last year with only slightly more moisture. I was planning on replanting a few fruit and nut trees this year but I have not decided for sure. I suppose it is one of those things that you just go ahead and do and hope for the best. I can always follow by brother-in-law Fabian’s recipe for successful planting.

His formula: Buy a fifty dollar tree, dig a hundred dollar hole and put a thousand dollars’ worth of water on it. That should get you started – no guarantees.