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Hello Friends,
Weather wise, it’s been a great Spring here at SHA. With the exception of a couple of warm days pushing 90, it’s actually been cool, with a good balance of sun and rain. Everything is green.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Beth and I are so blessed to have a multitude of friends and ministry partners praying for us, for SHA, and for all that this season of life has brought us and even taken from us. I’m not being at all cliche when I say that we definitely sense those prayers. Beth has her good and not so good days; but, she seems to be getting stronger everyday. June won’t get here soon enough. That’s when we find out exactly where she stands. So, it’s still NOT a time to relax our prayers for her—or our family. With Spring in full bloom at SHA, our hands also remain full of activity and a whole lot of tough decisions. So we covet your prayers for faith and wisdom about this also!
SPEAKING OF SPRING GROWTH
Our SHA Spring Parent Conference was another success. Parents and their kids interacted in therapeutic activities and engaged in workshops that helped families reunite under God through Jesus Christ. Building from the spiritual foundations/principles of Scripture, parents got a front-row seat and hands-on experience in seeing God work in supernatural ways—as usual. And, not the least of these were consummated at the Sunday service at our church in Maysville, GA. For health reasons, Beth nor I, could physically attend this service—neither could we participate in this year’s SHA conference. In fact, we haven’t been able to physically attend church in about 3 months! More on that later.
For some time now, our pastor had been promoting a particular message that he would be speaking at our church on the same Sunday of SHA’s Spring Parent Conference. Beth and I were looking forward to attending the service remotely from our home. As we sipped coffee by our computer screen, our pastor announced to the congregation that God had impressed upon him, late on Friday, to speak an entirely different message. It was as if God had tailored it to our SHA families—a Divine bow on the gift that our families had received at SHA throughout the weekend! It was a basic confirmation of Who God is, and His expectations for loving and effective parenting.
Fifty years ago—and at SHA still today—this message would be considered mere common sense. But, in today’s “cross-wired” and “cross-dressed” world, it was cutting edge! It was so powerful and obviously Divinely-inspired, that a SHA parent and child approached him after the service to thank him for such wise and affirming words! Pastor Appling had no idea that this particular Sunday coincided with our parent conference weekend. I don’t think he ever does. What’s interesting is that this kind of thing happens almost routinely! As Oswald Chambers once said: “We do our best ministry when we’re not aware of it.” Amen!
IT’S BEGINNING TO HAPPEN
As I’ve said before, the GenZ generation (ages 11-26ish) are starting to get it—and not just SHA kids. There’s been a growing number of prominent folks in the secular world— many of whom would’ve been considered antithetical to anything Christian not so long ago—who, arguably, are now having a greater impact on our society, for the sake of the Gospel, than many in the clergy—or so it is said. But, I’m actually seeing it more and more. I was told that kids at the University of Georgia were recently performing baptisms in the back of pickup trucks! Come Lord Jesus!
ENCOURAGING AFFIRMATION
This past month, I’ve been amazed at the number of people in the radio industry—station managers and the like—who have contacted me to mourn the fact our radio program is no longer on their airwaves. And, it’s not like they were trolling for business; because hundreds of stations aired our broadcast at no charge, just because they appreciated the content. Who could’ve thunk? Many claimed to like the unique no-none-sense Christ-centered content that has been so grossly compromised these days. One station manager, out of Peoria, Illinois, said that L2P was his favorite of all the programs they aired—bar none! I know it sounds like I’m blowing smoke; but, many other people have also contacted me in an attempt to get us to revive the broadcast—particularly in podcast form. Though L2P is still broadcasting radio/podcast re-runs on our website, we can’t produce any new content until we can get some things sorted out around here—not the least of which are Beth’s health issues. In the meantime, we would appreciate your prayers about when, how, or if, to move forward on this. Even in a podcast form, it will take some creative means to fulfill production costs; but, if the Lord is in it, He will make it happen.
WHAT?
So, I was working with a couple of my grandkids to fix the front porch deck on Alexa’s and Jeremiah’s home (Beth and I occupied it for over 20 years) when my son, Andrew, walked up. His son, Ezra, and Alexa’s daughter, Rylie, and I, were diligently deck-mending and having a ball at the time. We had only been working an hour or two when Andrew arrived to tell me that he, and some of the SHA kids, had just tested positive for Covid. So, in light of Beth’s situation, the project came to an abrupt end. You would have thought the kids’ teeth were being pulled with no novocain! Bottom Line: I didn’t get covid; the grandkids didn’t get it; and—praise God—Beth didn’t get it either. Isn’t Covid kind of like a cold now anyway? To say “I didn’t get the jab, and I’m not going to get the jab,” would have gotten me ostracized by most people a couple of years ago. Today, those of us who were on to it from the beginning now look like Nostradamus! I kid.
POTPOURRI
As we continue to minister to hurting families through SHA’s unique outdoor therapeutic and educational approach, please know that we need your prayers and support more now than at any other time in our history. Over the years, I’ve often talked about the spiritual warfare that has plagued us from the beginning; but, it’s never been worse than it is today! All you have to do is look at all the illogical, unscientific, immoral, and unholy spiritual activity that’s now normalized by today’s society.
Did you ever see the day when American cities and Ivy League institutions would play host to Hitlers’s Kristallnacht with virtual impunity? How about drag queens who are welcomed to shake their booties in the faces of our 6 year-olds—on our tax dollars, no less? And, we are the bad guys for even suggesting that this is dangerous kiddie-grooming perversion? While we at SHA have had to deal with all this, and more, we’ve made so much progress in opening eyes—both inside and outside the gates of SHA via diligent and delicate conversations and interactions. At a time when even liberals are now conceding that America is systemically mentally ill, many are open to it actually being a deeper systemic spiritual problem—and they’re right! And, it’s infected America’s churches too!
So, now that I have a wee-bit more time on my hands these days, I’d love to be invited to your church, civic-group, school, or social gathering to share our story and what we understand about preserving your family’s spiritual health and sanity in these insane times. Take it from someone who’s family and ministry are still being attacked regularly—there’s victory to be had in the midst of it! So, contact our office to make it happen. Because, there’s a new generation of youth coming up who are ripe for rolling up their sleeves to “Make Jesus great again!” So, let’s better understand our times—and know what to do! Amen.