“Who are the persons of influence in your life?” asks the Rev G. Needham in the column called “Perceptions of faith.” (Northern Advocate, Saturday, January 23, 2016)

She says also: “You will become (and have become) the average of the five people you spent the most time with, at various life-stages.”

Gladly I will tell you about some persons of influence in my life, all with the Lord now.

AT BIBLE SCHOOL I SPENT TIME WITH ERNEST KLASSEN:

He was a teacher and the business manager at the Bible school in Germany I attended for three years.

While visiting us in Kaikohe many many years later, where we worked as missionaries (United Maori Mission – UMM), I took him sightseeing with a stopover for a cup of coffee at the Waitangi resort. I was looking forward to drink my coffee, but uncle Ernie, as we called him, was telling the waitress what the Lord Jesus Christ has done and is doing in his life using his special cards.

A subject at the Bible school was called PERSONAL EVANGELISM. Uncle Ernie did not teach the subject, but he practiced it.

Heather H. Ewald, his daughter wrote a book about her father called: MEIN VATER ERNIE KLASSEN (German).

And I have here before me two slender volumes, one written by uncle Ernie and one compiled by him. In one of them you find at the beginning the verse Proverbs 11:25, where it says: “He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”

“MEIN VATER ERNIE KLASSEN”

WHEN I PREPARED TO GO TO THE MISSION FIELD I SPENT TIME WITH DAVID BATCHELOR:

David Batchelor was the Home Director of a Missionary Society near Frankfurt in Germany.

He visited the Bible school I attended so far as I remember as a visiting speaker, and that was enough for me to apply to the Missionary Society he represented. He and his wife were the instruments the Lord used to guide me as a missionary to Thailand, where I worked for 13 year in two provinces near the Burmese border.

David Batchelor was from Scotland, but his German was so to speak flawless.

I can only praise the Lord for couples like that.

WHILE ON THE MISSION FIELD I SPENT TIME WITH WILF OVERGAARD:

Wilf Overgaard was field leader in Thailand, when I arrived there as a young missionary.

He was like a father to me. That’s actually all I need to say. That is the summary and it says everything.

The Thai field did not have any problems under his leadership. Even the General Director of the Mission commented on that when he came to visit the field as a guest speaker at one of our yearly field conferences.

Wilf Overgaard was a very wise leader. Do you know what he said once? He said: “If we put enough pressure on each other, we all go home eventually.” I have never forgotten that.

There are more people of course. There is of course my mother, although I have not mentioned her in particular.

BUT MOST OF ALL SINCE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST CAME INTO MY HEART I SPENT TIME WITH HIM. (God is not a power like electricity. He is not an unseen force. He is not an influence. God is a person.)

Please note also that the three persons of influence in my life mentioned and my mother also spent time with the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was not only a surprise, but also a great joy to find the following verse from the Bible in one of our local papers:

“A shoot will come up  from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

STUMP

Isaiah 11:1-3

Intr.:

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him –

a.  the Spirit of WISDOM and of

b.  UNDERSTANDING,

c.  the Spirit of COUNSEL and of

d.  POWER, the

e.  Spirit of KNOWLEDGE and of

f.  the FEAR OF THE LORD –

End:

and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.” 

You can find the verse in the NORTHERN NEWS, January 20, 2016, on page 18, and in the Bible in the book Isaiah 11:1-3. That is in the Old Testament.

Flowers at Lake Taupo

“HE REPLIED, ‘EVERY PLANT THAT MY HEAVENLY FATHER HAS NOT PLANTED WILL BE PULLED UP BY THE ROOTS.'” – Matthew 15:13

“If you have not already done so, you need to set some targets and plan for what you want to achieve over the next year. The targets should be challenging, but achievable,” I am told in our local paper, The Northland Age, Thursday, January 21, 2016, on page two.

I am asking myself now:

A.  WHAT ARE MY TARGETS? (2016)

a. Reading the Bible from cover to cover, beginning with Genesis to Revelation, every word.

TARGET

b. Reading from a devotional book every morning.

c. Telling people about what the Lord has done in my life, when the Lord leads me to do so.

d. Exercise.

e. Reading as many good books as I am able to.

B.  WHAT HAVE I PLANNED FOR WHAT I WANT TO ACHIEVE DURING 2016?

a. I have planned to read at least one chapter every morning. (A/a)

b. I have several devotional treasuries. (A/b)

c. Walking a certain amount of km every day. (A/d)

C.  ARE THE TARGETS CHALLENGING?

The goals are certainly challenging.

D.  ARE THEY ACHIEVABLE?

But they are achievable.

Yes, I have set already some targets, but I am now encouraged to set more.

THE CROSS

“Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,

Psalm 113:5-9

Intr.:

who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?

a.  He raises the poor from the dust and

b.  lifts the needy from the ash heap;

c.  he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.

d.  He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children.

End:

Praise the LORD.”

When reading “Protected by First Security,” protected by the Lord Jesus Christ came to my mind.

Who are those watched over by the LORD? (Psalm 121:5)

“the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, …” (Psalm 1:6)

WHO ARE THE RIGHTEOUS?

“First Security”

The righteous are those people, who in Jesus, the righteous, have been accepted by God.

“The LORD watches over all who love him, …” (Psalm 145:20)

WHO ARE THOSE WHO LOVE THE LORD?

Obeying the teaching and obeying the commands of the LORD, shows that we love him. (John 14:21 and 23)

In order to do that it is obvious that we must read the Bible.

The wicked he will destroy and the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1:6 and Psalm 145:20)

And let us remember that the BIble says in Psalm 127:1:

“Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.”

Seeing “SOJOURNIES” written on the camper van reminded me that all of us are sojourners.

In his book Licht vom unerschoepften Lichte Pastor Wilhelm Busch is categorising the sojourners into four groups:

SOJOURN MEANS A TEMPORARY STAY

Group ONE

There are those who march cheerful and are happy.

They don’t know yet about the hot roads in the middle of the day. They don’t know yet about the dark nights of sorrow.

Group TWO

There are others who are defiant and are determined.

They have decided no matter what happens to go “their” way.

Group THREE

And there are those who are tired and are dragging themselves along.

Group FOUR

And then there are those who don’t think very much.

That is the majority. They are going the same path everybody else goes. And you run into them everywhere.

No, I am not going to ask you to which group you belong.

But …

Do you know that you are on your journey to ETERNITY?

Do you know that you are a sojourner? To sojourn means to stay temporarily at a place.

Please read more posts on this blog.

A beautiful Flower

“Die Hauptsache ist, dass die Hauptsache die Hauptsache bleibt,” hat Peter Lord gesagt, und so fing das email an, das ich vor nicht langer Zeit erhielt.

Was ist denn nun eigentlich die Hauptsache?

Es is mir eine Freude zu schreiben, was fuer mich die Hauptsache ist.

Ist WEISHEIT  die Hauptsache?

DER PREDIGER SALOMO, ein Buch in der Bibel, sagt, dass Weisheit bedeutungslos ist.

Ist VERGNUEGEN die Hauptsache?

Lies bitte nach, was DER PREDIGER SALOMO sagt.

Ist ARBEIT die Hauptsache?

Ist MACHT die Hauptsache?

Ist es REICHTUM?

Ist RELIGION die Hauptsache?

DIE HAUPTSACHE IST GOTT ZU FUERCHTEN UND SEINE GEBOTE ZU HALTEN.

Weisheit, Vergnuegen, Arbeit, Macht, Reichtum und Religion, sind wertvoll, aber all das hat nur Ewigkeitswert, wenn der Herr der Mittelpunkt ist.