The Bible and the Coal Basket

The story is told of an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old worn-out Bible.

His grandson who wanted to be just like him tried to imitate him in any way he could. One day the grandson asked, “Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?”

 The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water.” The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked out before he could get back to the house.

The Grandfather laughed and said, “You will have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was “impossible to carry water in a basket,” and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You can do this. You’re just not trying hard enough,” and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

 At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got far at all. The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty.

Out of breath, he said, “See Papa, it’s useless!”

“So you think it is useless?” The old man said, “Look at the basket.” The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he realized that the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty old coal basket, it was clean.

“Son, that’s what happens when you read the Bible. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change you from the inside out.”

That is the work of God in our lives.

To change us from the inside out and to slowly transform us into the image of His son.

Take time to read a portion of God’s word each day. Pray that He will use it to turn your heart and mind to Him.

-Author Unknown

Changes

Some things don't change. Some things do.
People change. God doesn't.

The first thing to change is your heart. God does that - bringing you to life in Him.

After that, as Christians, we should be consciously striving to live holy lives. God is eternally changeless - so we look to the life of Christ to see what our lives should be like.

Are you, overall, changing to be more like Christ or more like the world? Moving towards godliness and wisdom or towards sinfulness and folly?
When you're making a choice, ask yourself "Is this changing me and the world around me for better or worse?".

We can't change everything. We shouldn't waste our energy trying to put an end to the annoying habits of family members. And we can't change things without His sustaining, keeping, guiding, strengthening hand of mercy.

Nevertheless, we must do our very best.

Change and decay in all around I see

O Thou Who changest not, abide with me. ~H.F. Lyte

Here Am I, Send Me

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with

the tongs from off the altar:  And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”

Isa 6:1-8 KJV

            On April 30, 2009, the above verse became alive in my life and forever changed me. That day started as any other normal day. I went to work at my secretarial job from 7:00am to 5:00pm. Little did I know the change that would take place before the sun set that day. After supper that night, I was just doing things around the house when my mother called me and announced a phone call for me. She announced the name of the caller and I knew immediately why he was calling. Answering the phone, the caller introduced himself and the mission he represented, asking me if I might know why he is calling. To which I answered the affirmative. The caller was contacting me on behalf of the Olive Branch Mennonite Mission. One of the single girls serving in Nicaragua was scheduled to leave the mission field in August and they contacted me to see if I was open to serving for two years. We closed the conversation with the caller asking me to pray about it and contact him as soon as I had an answer. I hung up the phone, relayed the message to my parents, before grabbing my cell phone and leaving on my bike.

Biking down the road, I first called my pastor’s wife to let them know of the call and to ask for prayers. Hanging up with her, I headed to the local park. I needed to sit down. At this point, many questions were running through my head. Why me? Is my dream coming true? Can I really do this? Will I be able to be separated from my family for so long? I want to go but… I called my best friend, telling her all that had happened, asking her for advice. After I hung up, I still felt overwhelmed, but I knew the God who called me on this journey, was also the God who was faithful and would be by my side, if I would only lay aside my humanness and trust on Him.

As I searched God’s Word and His will for me, I was guided to Isaiah 6. Yes, I had heard this passage many, many times; but on this particular night, the passage took on a new meaning. I felt as Moses did. Inadequate for the task that was before, but I was called. I felt the call of God on my heart. Would I shrink back from the task? As much as it was tempting, I wanted to be where God wanted me and He was calling me to serve in Nicaragua. He was asking the question: who will go for us?

As I near the 5-year anniversary of receiving that life-changing call, I look back in awe of what God has done in my life, not only as I served in Nicaragua but also as I continue to serve Him in my hometown. The call of “whom shall I send, and who will go for us” is not only  a call to the foreign field, but it is a daily call. As believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are daily called to serve Him and “stand in the gap” for those who are seeking. Let it not be said as was in Ezekiel’s day:

“And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” Ezekiel 22:30 KJV

Daily accept the call that is placed upon your life. Seeing the Hand of God in my life when I am truly committed to “standing in the gap” and being willing “to be sent” has humbled me. The blessing that comes from being “available” to be used of God cannot be explained. Being used in my hometown has brought just as many blessings as serving  in foreign lands. You may or may not be called to another land. Be ready and willing to go where He wants you to go and fill in the gap where He has called you.

I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go by The Kauffman Family

New Year, New People, New Schedules

God has really blessed us this last year. In so many ways He’s proven Himself faithful time and time again. With the new year racing toward us at breakneck speed, we’ve been figuring out last-minute things in changes to the blog. Since the magazine is gone, the writers will now be writing directly on here instead of publishing them in the magazine. So now, I’m pleased to introduce….
 

Our New Writers

     Bonnie (New Zealand):
Bonnie is the second eldest in a homeschooling family of nine children. She plays the violin and piano and loves dancing and singing. Among other things, some of her hobbies include playing and umpiring netball, sewing, writing, climbing trees, crocheting and knitting, drawing pictures, taking photos and playing practical jokes on people. She blogs at Bonnie’s Blessings.



     Cosette (United States):
Hi! I am a Christian homeschool girl who strives to build her relationship with her Saviour, Jesus Christ. I live in Maine and love it! The best part about my life is the music in my heart that God provides day by day. Learn more about that music at Day by Day.

   Rhoda Newton (New Zealand):
Rhoda Newton lives in the beautiful South Island of New Zealand, with her parents and four younger brothers. She was baptised into the Reformed Church of Oamaru as an infant, and joined the church as a communicant member in November 2012. She and her brothers have never been to school. She blogs at Serving With Joy, with the aim of encouraging young women to serve God whole-heartedly, never forgetting the joy of life in Christ.

 
     Andrea Groff (United States):
I’m the oldest of 8 children and a college student pursuing a degree as a Registered Nurse. I served on the mission field for two years in Nicaragua as a personal worker—teaching Bible studies and visiting the natives. Mission work is my heart’s cry. I blog at Committed To His Service.
 
 

Our New Schedule for Posting on the Blog

With the new year, we’ve come up with a weekly format for posting here:

day of the week	subject	author
Sunday	Devotional	Esther
Monday
Tuesday	Edifying Words1	Rachel
Wednesday	Recipes2	Team/You3
Thursday
Friday	Story/Article	Team/You3
Saturday

      ¹Edifying Words—little bits of what used to be put in the Encouragement Page
      ²This would be once every two weeks
      ³Team/You—this will be supplied both by the JOJ Team and by you, our readers

I would do a short devotional (well, something along those lines anyway…) on Sunday—and try to keep it to three reasonable-length paragraphs. :) I don’t think I have that many problems coming up with an article like that.

Rachel will be doing the “Edifying Words”. She was the one who gathered things together for the Encouragement Page, but since the magazine is gone she will just switch to doing that on the blog (unless, of course, she has something bigger to share—which would be fine as well!).

The recipes would also be a carry-over from the magazine. I still have one recipe from being submitted to go into the magazine left, which we can hopefully post sometime in January. I think it would be nice if we shared one recipe every other week or so. This is something that we want you, our readers, to help with—if you have a recipe to share, feel free to drop by the Submissions page where you can send it in. If we have no recipes, we won’t post any. But if we do we’ll try our level best to get it posted! :)

Friday, the “story” day, would also include articles that our team members write, or possibly guest posts if anyone wants to do that.

Hopefully, the weekly schedule can run something like this:

1st Friday of the month	Bonnie
2nd Friday of the month	Cosette
3rd Friday of the month	Rhoda
4th Friday of the month	Andrea

Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and every other Wednesday are free. This is where the best time would be for you, our readers, to do guest posting. Remember, a community like this is not only held up by those who write—it’s also made up of those that read. :)

Alright. This turned out long enough! Hopefully it’s all understandable. :)

Many blessings,
Esther
for the JOJ team

Changes (part 1)

This last week has been full of challenges, tears, and thanksgiving. Among other things, there have been some changes to the Jewels of Jesus team. On Sunday, Tiffany sent an email to Rachel and me, telling us of her decision to leave the JOJ team. For me, it is heart-wrenching to see her go. She’s been an incredible encouragement to me, as well as a faithful writer for the JOJ Magazine and an ‘old faithful’—she’s been an editor ever since the magazine was born back in July 2011!

While it is sad to see her leave, I can understand where she’s coming from and why she decided to go. We’ll miss her as an editor (although she said that she is still willing to read over our articles and check for any problems!), supporter, and also as a pillar of the group. Even though she’ll be gone from this end of things for the most part, I’m still thankful for our friendship. Over the past few years, we’ve become good friends, and although our friendship has had some rough points (at least, from my perspective!) we’re still good friends and I’m really thankful to God for bringing us together.

After I got the email from her, and talked on the phone for an hour, I spent a lot of time in prayer, trying to decide what to do and where to go from here. We basically had two choices: Keep the magazine and blog going, or drop the magazine and just keep the blog. From the stats I heard from Tiffany, not many girls we know are reading the magazine when we give it to them. That was discouraging! I began to wonder if it’s really worth all the effort that goes into writing the articles, designing the magazine, editing it, and finally printing it?

Part 2 will be in the next issue which should come out in about 3 weeks.

What are your thoughts—do you read the magazine enough to make it worth keeping going? Or do you not bother, and just read the blog itself?

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We’d like it if you could fill out the following form—reader support is very important in what we decide.

Thanks for your input!

- Esther