Lost Swimmer

July 29

 I ‘m 17 and the waterfront director at a Boy Scout camp. The counselors had left the water for lunch. My assistant reports there is still a name tag on the board.I begin a lost swimmers search.

On my fourth dive I see the body several feet below me. I gasp, lose my air and resurface. My heart is pounding. 

I take a deep breadth and dive straight down, arms extended. As I near the bottom I see that the body is a towel draped over some rocks. When I surface my assistant is walking on the dock and tells me our missing person is at the dinning hall. My reaction is how heaven feels about a new believer.

"Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost." (Luke 15:6)

Martha's Vineyard Tragedy

July 28

 A small plane plunges into the dark ocean off Martha's Vineyard claiming the lives of the pilot, John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife, Carolyn and her sister, Lauren Bessette.

 JFK Jr. left for the island that night despite predictions of poor visibility. A  reporter who is also a pilot concludes JFK Jr. fell victim the young pilot's disease  he called, "gotta-get-there-itis."

 I ask God, what am I supposed to learn from all this? "The reply comes quickly.

"Without counsel plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established."(Proverbs 22:1)

Joy on a beach

July 27

“Grampy, want to go for a walk on the beach?” 

  

What I don’t realize is what a four-year-old means by a walk on the beach. To him it means racing down the beach looking back, smiling and off again. This goes on for several minutes. Finally he stops and starts running back towards me, arms extended. I throw my arms up and run towards him. As he draws near I crouch and he leaps into my waiting arms, squealing with delight. What joy.

“ These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15: 11)

One Way Bridge

July 23

When I was 19 years old I lived in Tracy, California. One night I was out with some friends in Stockton, about 20 miles away. I was driving home alone about 2 am on old Highway 50. The highway splits into two high narrow bridges over the San Joaquin River, one for north bound and one for south bound traffic. The bridges are steep so that you can’t see the other side.

There was no traffic on the road at that hour and I was traveling the speed limit. I was in the left hand lane going up the south-bound bridge when, for some unexplained reason, I steered into the right hand lane. A moment later I was in the middle of the bridge when out of nowhere, a car came speeding the wrong way in the lane I had just left.

If I hadn’t changed lanes there would have been a head on collision in the middle of that high narrow bridge. There was nowhere to go except over the edge into the river below. I know that I would not have survived the crash or the river.

Decades later I still shiver at the thought of what could have happened that night. There was no reason for me to change lanes. I was saved by an angel that night, I’m absolutely sure.

Mary (Kiser) Bartlein

Panther Ridge, Manatee Fl.

Perfect Growth

July 18

Panama Canal Zone has ideal weather for plant growth. Where I was stationed

the Army would cut the wild grass and plants along the railroad tracks about every six weeks. The day it was cut I could see the rails as I drove beside the tracks. Just before the next cutting, the plants were as high as the train. It is true!

When the right ingredients are present growth can be remarkable.

“But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty." (Matthew 13:23)

Fear of Frogs

July 17

My wife has a fear of frogs. It is called Batchatraphobia. So what does her loving husband do? He buys a cottage on a cove where there are lots of bullfrogs. I net the amphibians and transfer them across the lake. .Joy read that scientist say that many deformed frogs found around the globe may be an early warning of a deteriorating environment. I can assure the world that the bullfrogs on Cedar Lake in Sturbridge Ma.are healthy.

Joy now tolerates frogs and is dealing with her phobia in a proper way.

"Give all your worries to God for He cares what happens to you." (1 Peter 5:7)

Violent Storm

July 16




I am preoccupied with fishing when a crack of thunder startles me.I look up. There is a threatening thunderhead behind me. I prepare to leave, but my motor won’t start. The sky is black. Here is a college kid in an open skiff, no radio, no flares, not even a horn.

A boat approaches. It is a commercial fisherman. All he says is, "need a tow?"

He throws me a rope tied to his boat. The storm breaks.

Soaked and shivering with lightening all about is frightening. There is nothing I can do but leave it in God’s hands.

“After rebuking the wind and waves Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful?

How is it you have no faith?” (Mark 4:40)