The Breastplate of Aaron the High Priest

A few weeks ago I felt the Lord laid on my heart that we were to begin praying regularly for all of the servicemen and women who have been through our home over the past eight years. We have prayed for many as they've come to our mind, but not very regularly, and not for everyone, I'm afraid. So I've taken our guestbook, which pretty much everyone fills out the first time they come over, and started using it as a prayer list. That includes about two hundred and fifty people. My plan is to pray for every person, by name, on a rotational basis. I've actually gone through the whole list once already and am on my second time around.

I noticed that after a few days of praying like this, when I went to the commissary or other places and saw someone who reminded me of one of the people who have been in our home, I would say a short prayer for them, right there (and no, I didn't get down on my knees).

A few days ago, as I was praying, the thought occurred to me that I was actually beginning to carry the people I was praying for in my heart. The image of the ephod of the high priest in Exodus 28:15-29 came to my mind:

"Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions — the work of a skilled craftsman. Make it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen...Then mount four rows of precious stones on it...Mount them in gold filigree settings. There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes...Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord." NIV

I felt the Lord was applying this to us. That just as the high priest carried the names of the sons of Israel over his heart as a memorial before the Lord when he entered into the Holy Place, so we are carrying the names of the servicemen and women who have been in our home into the Most Holy Place as a continuing memorial before the Lord.

On another day I was driving to Office Depot and heard a song on the radio entitled: Throw Out The Lifeline by Edwin Ufford:

Throw out the Life-Line across the dark wave,
There is a brother whom someone should save;
Some-body's brother! oh, who, then will dare
To throw out the Life-Line, his peril to share?

Throw out the Life-Line with hand quick and strong;
Why do you tarry, why linger so long?
See! he is sinking oh, hasten today
And out with the Life-Boat! away, then, away!

Throw out the Life-Line to danger-fraught men,
Sinking in anguish where you've never been;
Winds of temptation and billows of woe
Will soon hurl them out where the dark waters flow.

Soon will the season of rescue be o'er,
Soon will they drift to eternity's shore;
Haste then, my brother, no time for delay,
But, throw out the Life-Line and save them today.

The majority of men and women who have been through our home are no longer in contact with us. So we have no idea what is actually going on in their lives, for good or bad; we may never hear from them again. But, whatever they are experiencing in their lives, I will trust that our prayers will be one "Life-Line" thrown out for them.

The Final Fairwell...

Sunday afternoon the Fragata Greenhalgh was scheduled to leave about 3:00pm. Yvonne and I went to the pier at 2:00pm to see the ship off. Rubem, Daniel, Camillo, Tiago, Italo, and Renato, came off the ship to see us.

Italo and Renato had come to the house once. Renato's wife had a baby last month while they were underway. So he's really excited about getting home to see his new son! We visited for a while, hugged, and took pictures. Camillo presented Yvonne and me with "mission t-shirts" as souvenirs.

We stayed on the pier and watched as the cables and lines were all detached from the ship. Paulo and Edivaldo couldn't come off the ship because they were working to get the vessel underway. But while we waited Paulo came up on deck and waved to us.

While we watched the crew preparing the ship to get underway we were so intent on the activities on deck we didn't even notice that one of the crew members had walked up to us with plastic cups and a pitcher of ice water. Camillo motioned that he had sent him down. That was so thoughtful (and refreshing too)!


Finally it was time for the ship to back away from the pier.



We went all the way to the end of the pier and watched until the ship was under away.


I'll say it one more time, this was a great group of men! I know they ministered to us as much as we ministered to them.

Our Last Saturday Night Together

The last weekend of the visit of our new "sons" from Brazil finally arrived. It was time for Rubem, Tiago, Camillo, Daniel, Paulo, and Edivaldo to head back home to their families in Rio de Janeiro. We've all became really close in a very short period of time!

As is to be expected in the military, schedules change. They had been out to sea for the past montt, and we thought they would be here through the whole weekend. However, Saturday we found out because of a weather system approaching the Carribean, their ship would leave early - Sunday afternoon.

So when they were given liberty on Saturday I went to the base and picked them up early Saturday afternoon (2:00 pm) and spent the day together at the house. We had a bar-b-que in their honor - grilled rib-eye steaks, baked potatoes, and salad for dinner; and home-made ice cream sundaes for dessert. Paulo did most of the grilling for us!





Since we were not going to be together at the house on Sunday, we spent the evening singing and worshipping. We had a great time! They even pulled me into some of the Portuguese worship choruses - with motions. We all laughed a lot! It was fun.

Then they asked if they could pray for Yvonne and me. So the two of us knelt in the living room and the guys all gathered around us and took turns praying for us. That was powerful!

I shared two passages of Scripture with them that were on my heart:

1 Thessalonians 2:7-8

"...we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." NIV

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12

"For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory." NIV

By that time it was about 1:00 AM Sunday morning! So I drove them back to the ship. Before we left the house Yvonne hugged them all and said goodbye. I did my hugging and saying goodbye when we got out of the car on the pier.

Mrs. Carolina Wren and the Flowerpot

This story starts with a white plastic flowerpot stored on my back porch. It had really just been tossed into another pot to get it out of the way, and was sort of lying on its side.

This spring a pair of Carolina Wrens decided it would be a good place to set up housekeeping. So, Mr. and Mrs. Wren built a nest in the pot.

When my curiosity got the better of me, I went out to take a look. At first I couldn't see anything. The nest was built with the opening on the side so it was hard to peek into it.

So I bent down and got closer...and closer...and...

Suddenly this tiny little bird streaks past my face and flies away! It startled me like you wouldn't believe! I decided I wouldn't bother her any more. But, as time went on I wondered if she had abandoned the nest or if she had her young. Because I didn't see them any more.

One morning while sitting at my desk I heard a noise, as if something hit the screen on the window next to me. I turned to look and there was a Carolina Wren clinging to the screen! As I pulled back the sheer curtains it few away. But, on the ground outside the window was a second Wren - feeding two babies! It was adorable!

I watched for a few minutes, and when I looked up, there was the original Wren that had been clinging to the screen, sitting on a limb of the tree, right at my eye level.

It seemed as if she was watching me watch her mate feed her young. She would turn her head and look toward her young on the ground, and then look back at me. After a few minutes she flew down to the ground and started feeding the babies too.

It was as if Mrs. Carolina Wren had knocked on the screen to show me her new babies, and to say "Thanks for the use of the flowerpot!"