Pilgrims' Pathway Newsletter
September/October 1999
Contents:
The Bridge Builder
The Pilgrim Way
Meet A Member of the Family
Share What the Lord Has Done for You!
Giving
Recipes
Book Review
Parting Verses
Creation Nugget
Welcome to the first issue of
the Pilgrim’s Pathway newsletter! I sincerely hope and pray that
this newsletter will be an encouragement to you in your walk with the Lord
Jesus.
The Bridge Builder
An old man traveling a lone highway,
Came at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream held no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side,
And builded a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” cried a fellow pilgrim near,
“You’re wasting your time in building here.
Your journey will end with the closing day;
You never again will pass this way.
You have crossed the chasm deep and wide,
Why build you this bridge at even-tide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head:
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This stream which has been as naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim-
Good friend, I am building this bridge for
him.”
- Will Allen Dromgoole
____________________________________________________________________________________
Meet a Members
of the Family
(this column was later discontinued)
This column is here so
that you can write in and tell us about yourself
I will begin it by telling
you about myself, the publisher of Pilgrim’s Pathways. My name is Atlanta
Dawn Stace, and I am a 16 year old Christian home-schooler. My parents
names are Sand and Michelle, and I have one brother, Teak, who is 18.
A you can see, we like unique names. My dad works for
Seaswirl Boats, my mom is a homemaker, and Teak goes to the local college
during the school year and works at a produce store during the summer.
My goal in life is to serve and glorify God in all that I do. How good
He is! My activities include cooking, sewing, learning sign language,
practicing piano and guitar, taking care of my animals (two German Shepherd
dogs & one Pigmy goat), and more. My family’s “temporary residence”
(let us not forget that we are but pilgrims on earth J) is about 4
miles out of a little central Oregon town called Terrebonne.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Giving
How loving Jesus is to give His life for our
salvation! Should we not seek to give our lives wholly over to Him
in every area? And should we not be willing to share with others the
love that He has so bountifully supplied
us with? How good He is! “He who
did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He
not with Him also freely give us all things?” Romans
8:32
His Gift and Mine
Over against the treasury, He sits who gave
Himself for me.
He sees the coppers that I give, who gave
His life that I might live.
He sees the silver I withhold, who left for
me His throne of gold,
Who found a manger for His bed, Who had nowhere
to lay His head;
He sees the gold I clasp so tight, and I am
debtor in His sight.
-Edith B. Gurley
“Love...does not seek its own...”
1 Cor. 13:5
How To Give
Give as you would if an angel, awaited your
gift at the door.
Give as you would if tomorrow, found you where
giving is o’er.
Give as you would to the Master, if you met
His loving look.
Give as you would of your substance, if His
hand the offering took.
-Anonymous
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Book Review
One book that I
strongly recommend is the well-know fiction Pilgrim’s Progress by
John Bunyan. This is an excellent book that applies so well to the
Christian life. You can follow right along with Christian and Christina
and learn the lessons that they learn. The book starts out when Christian
leaves the City of Destruction, and it follows his adventures all
the way to the Celestial City. Afterwards, Christian’s wife, Christina,
decides to join her husband in the Celestial City and the book describes
all her adventures as well. The copy of Pilgrim’s Progress that I
have is called Pilgrim’s Progress In Today’s English, and is retold by James
H. Thomas. This is a great book and it has been a benefit to me! The book
can be purchased for from the following address:
Christian Book Distributors
P.O. Box 7000
Peabody, MA 01961-7000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever pondered over God’s
creation? As I study it in my school science book, I am amazed again
and again at our God. His creation brings Him so much glory!
As we read in Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and
the firmament shows His handiwork.” And not only the heavens, but
this earth that we live on. How does God’s creation give Him glory?
Any honest scientist can tell you that this world is quite marvelous.
For a marvelous creation there must be a still more marvelous Creator.
Now , creation does more than glorify God--it gives us evidence that there
is a God. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the
world His invisible attributes are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” The deeper you dig into
science, the more you will realize what an incredible, glorious God we
serve. That is why I gave chosen to have a “Creation Nugget(s)” column!
-Atlanta Stace
Creation Nugget
The arctic wolf
shows wonderful creative design! It is a snow-white wolf covered
in a thick coat to withstand the sub-zero Arctic temperatures. A
difficulty in design occurs in the extremities ( legs), however, as those
parts loose heat faster. But God gave it a special difference not
found in other wolves. We call it countercurrent heat exchange.
The arteries (which carry warm blood from the heart) and the veins (which
carry cool blood to the heart) lay close together in the wolf’s legs.
Since the arteries and veins are near, the heat from the arteries passes
into the blood in the veins, thus warming them. This keeps the internal
organs at a steady temperature as well. Another unique thing about the
arctic wolf is that it has special fats in its feet that keep them flexible
and useful. Our Creator is so ingenious!
-Atlanta Stace; Information taken from Biology: God’s
Living Creation, page 429. Copyright 1986 A Beka Book Publications
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
The Pilgrim Way
Allow me to quote some of my favorite
verses. There is a strong message in them. The Lord has opened
my eyes to see the importance of these verses. Application of these verses
seems to be
sadly neglected in the lives of so many Christians,
including my own, I must admit.
1 Chronicles 29:15
“For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, as were all our fathers; our
days on earth are as a shadow, and without hope.”
Leviticus 25:23
“’”The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you
are strangers and sojourners with Me.”’”
Psalm 39:12 “’Hear my
prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for
I am a stranger with you, a sojourner, as all my fathers were.’”
Psalm 84:5 “Blessed
is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.”
Philippians 3:20 “For
our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ...”
Colossians 3:1-3 “If
then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above,
not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with
Christ in God.”
Hebrews 11:13-16 “These
all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them
afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things
declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to
mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity
to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared
a city for them.”
As Christians, we are called to a
radical difference from that of the world--a difference in attitude, focus,
direction and character. We go from the broad and flat road to
the straight and narrow. We go from a road that offers short pleasures,
many sorrows, and destruction, to a road that offers lasting joys, easy burdens,
and an eternity of peace. This, indeed, is quite a change. But how
many of you think of yourself as a pilgrim and stranger? I had a hard
time feeling like one as I thought I
should. The fact is, you can not truly be
a pilgrim and stranger on earth until you have your mind set on something
other than the world around you. As Christians, that something should
be God. Duet. 6:5 says, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.’” Someone
who loves God like this will be a truly dedicated pilgrim and will have
his heart set on God and His kingdom. God is not only to be first
in our lives, He is to be in the center of everything we do. According
to the commandment, we are to love God with all that we are, basically.
Obviously it does not mean to love God only during a morning quiet-time
or a mealtime prayer, but all the time. You are not to be a pilgrim
focused on God one hour, and a
“resident” the next hour focused on earthly things.
Allow me to quote Deut. 6:7. “’You shall teach them (God’s commandments)
diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your
house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.’”
God demands our dedication, our whole life. Jesus sacrificed His life
for us; let it be our goal to give our all to God! And don’t forget--God
is just, and He has a wonderful reward waiting for us: “joy for the
journey” and an eternity of joy with Him in the heavenly home that we seek!
-Atlanta Stace
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Share What the Lord Has Done for
You!
My brother, Teak, was on the search for
his first job. He had just got his driver’s license and had looked
around for a job, but with no success.
One morning, he told
us how he had dreamed that he was working at a local produce store called
Top Banana. My mother jumped on the idea. We knew that the store
was ran by a Christian couple, and it would be a good place to work.
Also, Teak happened to love fruit J. So Teak filled out an application,
but was told by the store owners that they would probably not need him.
Now, we don’t
believe that dreams always
mean something, but God works in mysterious ways, and I’ve no doubt that
He can work in our dreams if He so chooses! We merely looked into
it because working at Top Banana was a good idea.
Anyway, a short while
after Teak had given them his application, he received a call from the store
owner! He asked if Teak might work for him on Saturdays! But
there was a problem. We observe the Saturday Sabbath, so Teak had to
turn him down. Teak tried finding work at several other places, but
nothing opened up.
About a month later,
the store owner called again and asked Teak if he could work on Tuesdays
and Thursdays! Teak, of course, said yes and started immediately.
The Lord worked wonderfully
in this situation. By doing what he knew to be right, and by waiting
on the Lord, Teak was provided with a great job that he has enjoyed
and has now been at for two years (sometimes full, sometimes part-time).
The Lord can do so much in our lives if we are only willing to wait on Him,
and wait for His perfect timing!
-A.D.S.
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,
Recipes
Fruit Smoothies
3/4 to 1 cup yogurt
2 medium bananas-peeled
1/2 cup apple or orange juice
10 oz. crushed pineapple
Place all in blender and
blend until smooth. Fills two large glasses. This is really good!
Zucchini Chocolate Cake
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup grated zucchini
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa or carob powder (carob
has a flavor all its own but is a good, healthy substitute)
1/2 cup sour milk
Beat together honey, maple
syrup, oil, and eggs until smooth. Mix in zucchini. Sift cocoa
and mix it with dry ingredients. Gradually add dry ingredients to zucchini
mixture. Mix in sour milk. Pour into greased 9 by 9 inch pan
and bake in 350 degree oven (preheated) for about 25 minutes or until toothpick
comes out clean when inserted.
To make sour milk, pour
1 Tbl.. vinegar in a half cup measure and fill the rest with milk.
Let sit for 2 hours or so until the milk has separated from the vinegar.
Note: If you don’t have
maple syrup, increase honey to 2/3 cup in this recipe. This cake recipe
can be doubled to fit a 9 by 13 inch pan. I chose this zucchini recipe because
the zucchini makes the cake moist, and if you have a garden, you may have
zucchini running out your ears! We do!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Parting
Verses
“But let all those rejoice
who put their trust in You; let
them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let
those also who love Your name be joyful
in You. For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;
with favor You will surround him as with
a shield.” Psalm 5:11,12
Back to Pilgrims'
Pathway Homepage
Back to Vessels of Mercy
Homepage