Grace and Peace Tour – Part 2

Last week we shared the first part of our tour to visit those in Christ whom we have never before met. We started out from Atlanta, and we went to Albany, New York, to Chicago, to Ottawa, Canada, to Saskatoon, to Edmonton, to Vancouver, and today we will continue our tour with our flight from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Portland, Oregon, where we arrived on Tuesday the 15th of March and we were there until Thursday the 17th. We were met at the airport by our dear brothers, Doug Alfred and Chick Wistock. Doug drove us down to Dallas, Oregon where we would be staying and meeting. The next day we got to meet with Doug, Chick, Doug’s cousin Terry Cox and his wife, and a friend of Doug’s named Dave. Our discussions covered many subjects including the message I shared at every stop concerning the fact that we are living in the time just preceding the overthrowing of the kingdoms of this world, and the giving of the powers of those kingdoms to Christ and His elect who will rule this world with a rod of iron for a figurative “thousand years”.

If, as the scriptures teach, the ends of the ages came upon the people of Paul’s time, 2,000 years ago, and if the apostle Peter told the people of his day to live as if they were living in the last days, how much truer are those Biblical admonitions 2,000 years later when we now have a worldwide banking system which is on the brink of imploding under the weight of its own greed; when we for the first time in history, have an interdependent, worldwide economy, which is in the process of contracting on an international scale; when, for the first time in the history of mankind western nations are inviting the very people who, in the name of their religion, slaughtered and beheaded whole cities full of people for over 700 years in over 500 major battles; and when, for the first time in history, almost every nation on earth is financially bankrupt and in debt to a small but very powerful cabal of international bankers? The return of Christ to rule the nations of this world may not be next month or even next year, but if you do not see that ‘it is near, even at the door’, then you simply do not have the mind of Christ who said just that 2,000 years ago:

Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [Greek: aion – age] are come.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Php 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

While it is true ‘the Lord has been at hand’ in every generation since Christ, and while it is true the ends of the ages are come upon every generation since Christ’s death and resurrection, none of the things I have just listed have ever before been in place as they now are. Being of a vigilant mindset is very Biblical and should serve to encourage us all to live a life pleasing to our heavenly Father.

2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
2Pe 3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

The good news of the kingdom of God is first within us (Luk 17:20-21). If we are granted repentance unto salvation in this age and if we suffer with our Lord in this age and if we fill up in our bodies what is behind of His afflictions to the end, then we will be granted to enter into His kingdom ahead of all the rulers of this age, both religious and secular:

Mat 21:31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

After enjoying the fellowship of Doug, Chick, Terry, and Dave there in Dallas, Oregon, Sandi and I were off to San Diego to visit with our brother, Abe Ramos. We had no idea what was waiting there for us. I was aware that Derrick had visited Abe and his lovely wife Dolores, and I knew that Wendy Davison and Sandra Montez had been there just a short while back. So when Abe met us at the airport I commented to him that he must be feeling that his home was Grand Central Station. That was when Sandi and I learned that Mitch Kuhn and James Bernini were already at Abe’s home awaiting our arrival, and Sue Price would be arriving later that night! What a pleasant shock to see so many familiar faces at one time!

We arrived at Abe’s home on Thursday, and we left for Los Angeles on Sunday, and in that time Abe and Dolores gave us a tour of the Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma, which is a peninsula which juts way out into the Pacific Ocean forming a bay. It is named for the Portuguese explorer who made a trip up the California coast in 1542. It is the best place to watch for gray whales, and while we did not see any whales, we did go from Point Loma to the Bali Hai Polynesian Restaurant where we not only enjoyed exquisite food and service but we got to watch the seals swimming in the harbor.

Mitch and James had to leave for a conference somewhere north of San Diego, but we had a wonderful time of fellowship while they were with us. We sat around Abe’s beautiful home in the evenings sharing the mind of Christ. Sunday came all too soon, and we had to leave Abe and Dolores behind to go to Los Angeles to meet a brother named Norm Cochran, and our dear sister Sandra Montes, neither of whom we had ever met.

We took the train to L. A., which was an enjoyable way to see the southern California coastal area. That evening we visited Sandra’s home for a wonderful Mexican dinner which Sandra prepared for us. We had only that one evening with Sandra as her son was unexpectedly scheduled for a pending medical procedure the following day. The next day we spent at the hotel with a brother whose name is Norm Cochran and who has been reading the website for ten years. It was a blessing to meet Norm and to share the mind of Christ with him all that morning and into the afternoon. Sandi and I are grateful to have had the privilege to meet and fellowship with one more part of the body of Christ.

Sue, who had driven up from San Diego, spent that day with Sandra at the hospital where Gio was having surgery. The next day Sue was so kind as to take Sandi and I all around Pasadena where Sandi went to college and where I met her, and where I had worked for four years. The Lord arranged it that when we arrived, the main complex centered around the huge cast egrets, was being used as the setting for a TV series. The so-called ‘House For God’ was in the process of being labeled temporarily as a Museum of Japanese Artifacts for the series. The Lord arranged it that we witnessed a huge excavator with a hydraulic jack hammer breaking up the footings of the Administration Building of the former campus of the college. The entire World Wide Church of God had been so proud of those very elaborately appointed buildings on what, at that time, was a state of the art college campus.

That which forty years ago had seemed so prosperous and so permanent was being uprooted down to the very foundations, and not one stone was left upon the other of that edifice of men. The same thing will happen to all the other religious colleges and universities who have turned their backs on the doctrine of Christ. It is just a matter of a few more years. I take no pleasure in seeing what I saw or in saying what I must. My old man sees all of this and says:

Rev 18:10 (B) …Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:19 (B) …Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

Babylon is Babylon because it was at Babylon that all men and all religions of the earth first rebelled against the dominion and commandments of God and went their own rebellious ways. Nevertheless, God is not mocked, and Babylon’s judgment is as sure as the rising of the sun. It has already begun as the Lord continues to cause every man’s hand to be against the hand of his brother and his neighbor:

Gen 16:12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

“His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him” has historically been the heritage of the physical seed of Abraham; both the physical seed of Isaac and the physical seed of Ishmael and Esau. Abraham’s spiritual seed. Those who are “in Christ” (Gal 3:29) refuse to be against anyone. But at the time of the end, the same affliction will take hold of all the physical seed of Noah, and look who we are told will be the instrument of God’s anger against the hypocrites in Zion:

Isa 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Isa 10:6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Isa 19:2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians:  and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

Zec 8:9 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.
Zec 8:10 For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.

“These days” are the days in which “[we] hear” the voice of the True Shepherd. “Before these days” we all lived lives of spiritual torment. But prophecy has both an inward and an outward application, both a spiritual and a dispensational application, and we are living to see outwardly “the beginning of sorrows”, upon the “hypocritical nations” of this earth via the literal, physical “Assyrian… dwelling in the presence of his brothers” (Gen 16:12).

I am old enough to remember when many believed that ‘Assyria’ in Isaiah 10:5-6 referred to nationalistic Germany invading its European neighbors and supposedly threatening to invade the United States. No one at that time could even begin to imagine how the erstwhile nations of Iraq or Syria could ever, under any circumstance, invade both Europe and the United States. However, at the appointed moment when God’s predestined time arrives and “the iniquity of [the nations of the west] has become full”, then God alone can cause those very nations to invite and welcome and facilitate the invasion of the ‘Assyrians, the rod of His…indignation’ and He can even make the United States to bring in the Assyrians by C-130 cargo planes full, and establish the Assyrians, the rod of His… indignation’ in communities all across the hypocritical ‘nations of His wrath’. He alone can, and He is, establishing the rod of His anger within the very midst of “an hypocritical nation… the nation of His wrath”.

Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites [the hypocritical, morally bankrupt, western Christian nations] is not yet full.

If Christ lives within us, we will repeat these, His words, as His watchmen. It is by simply repeating His words, and witnessing against the hypocrisy of this morally bankrupt world that we are His battle axe and His weapons of war in this time of the end of the ages:

Jer 51:20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

We will not break strong nations afar with physical swords. We will simply speak the words, and it will be done, just as Christ dealt with legions of devils while he was on this earth:

Mar 5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

Christ and His Christ simply say the word, and it is done, as the Roman centurion reveals to us:

Mat 8:8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
Mat 8:9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
Mat 8:10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Mat 8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 8:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 8:13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

When God gives power to His elect they will “but speak the word only”, and the whole world will be as afraid as “the legion”, and His will will be done for good at that time even as it is being done in “the basest of men” now at this very time (Dan 4:17; 23-25).

This is what our Lord Himself tells us to do as we see these things coming to pass within and without:

Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Then through the pen of the apostle Paul we are again told:

Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Php 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Php 4:6 Be careful [Greek: mer-im-nah’-o – anxious, worry] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

I cannot over emphasize the necessity of bringing to God “the sacrifice of thanksgiving… with rejoicing”, especially for our trials, as Psalms 107 makes so very clear:

Psa 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

That is the message the Lord gave me to share as we traveled around the world. That is the message of “grace and peace”, and as Christ’s anointed, we must preach the same gospel He preached and be His watchmen and His battle axe and His weapons of war, by being faithful to His every fiery word.

Getting back to our tour, I want to thank Sue Price for being so generous to chauffeur us around Pasadena and up to where Sandi and I lived in Altadena. I will only comment that forty years changes many things. We had a hard time even figuring out where our house had been. Yet I have no doubt that the next forty years will be even far more revolutionary than the past forty years, as hard as that might be to imagine.

Before we left home we had already hired a shuttle to get us from Glendale to the airport to leave Los Angeles for a ten and a half hour flight to Fiji, where Iliana Qoro was waiting for us.

Iliana and her son (his name is Joji, but he told us, “Call me ‘George”) met us at the the Nadi international airport, and took us to their beautiful home with coconut trees and citrus trees growing in her yard. We enjoyed getting to know Christ in each other that evening. Joji’s wife, Tanya, cooked us a wonderful Fiji dinner of plantain, various fruits, and a curry dish, which we enjoyed as we continued our fellowship.

Sandi and I were surprised to learn that Iliana had been a member and had gotten married to her husband while in the World Wide Church of God, the same church we had been in forty years ago. Iliana cares for her aging father and had made arrangements for his care so she could have time to visit Sandi and me.

We were given a tour of part of the island by Joji and went north the first day and witnessed the terrible devastation of what was classified as the worst cyclone ever recorded in that area. The cyclone had hit the northern part of the main island just a month before we arrived, and we were wondering whether Iliana had survived that devastation when power was finally restored, and she was then able to respond to our inquiries via email. Iliana was perplexed as to why the storm which was headed straight for Nadi, had made an abrupt unexpected turn and circumvented the city for some unknown reason. Sandi and I told her we had requested prayer for her when we first heard that the strongest cyclone ever recorded in that area was headed straight for Fiji. Sandi told her that she believed it was the prayers of the saints on her behalf that caused that cyclone to turn abruptly and by-pass her hometown of Nadi with the worst of the storm. Iliana did not think of herself as being all that important, so Sandi reminded her of these verses of scripture:

Psa 17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

Zec 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

Iliana’s experience with that cyclone demonstrated how God keeps His elect through the trials and tribulations of life. He does not take us out of the trial, but He does provide a way of escape so we are able to bear the trial, and when it is finished we come forth purified as gold:

Job 23:8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
Job 23:9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Sandi had gotten sick while we were in Fiji, so she stayed home the next day while Iliana’s son took me south to a resort oceanside tourist village. That part of the island did not suffer from the cyclone, and we saw much of the beauty of the Fiji countryside. When we got back, Sandi was feeling better, and the next morning we left for the airport to go to meet our sister Ursula and her family in New Zealand.

It was a tearful parting with our lone sister who has very limited access to the internet, but we know our Lord will provide the needed fellowship “after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11). We were stopped on the way to the airport by two cows in the road, but we soon got by them and made our flight in plenty of time to be with our beloved sister, Ursula.

Ursula and her husband Ben met us at the Auckland, New Zealand airport and drove us through beautiful and clean Auckland, to their home which is near the ocean that can be seen out Ursula’s kitchen window. Thus began a whole week of sweet fellowship and some much needed rest after having to make so many late night and early morning flight departure times.

I had already shared with Ursula by Skype that it is my conviction that we are living in the period just prior to the first resurrection and the institution of the government of Christ’s elect over the kingdoms of this world, but as we had the opportunity, Sandi and I shared with her our experiences with Iliana and with all those we had visited earlier. Everyone insisted we give hugs as we traveled around, so we delivered many hugs!

Ursula’s husband, Ben, was a very pleasant host who went to great lengths to make Sandi and me to feel at home in his home. Ben supervises the construction of a huge retirement community which is easily spotted from several miles away because of a very high purple crane which is located in the middle of the construction site. Ben calls it ‘Papa Smurf’. Ben took us to see a park which was donated to the city by a wealthy man who had played a significant role in the advancement of agriculture in New Zealand. In fact, while it is a museum of the family’s history, it is also still a working dairy and sheep farm.

It was here at this park, named Cornwall Park, with a high point called ‘One Tree Hill’, that for the first in my life I saw trees with roots which appeared to be flying buttresses, going out from the huge trunk of the tree. These roots were in some cases as high as my shoulders. It was here also that, for the first time in my life, I saw the most incredible trees with roots growing down from very long limbs to the ground. In some instances the roots extending from the limb to the ground becomes as large in diameter as the limb itself. Left to themselves they become a huge conglomeration of very long limbs with many roots extending down to the ground forming a very wide and extended tree, which one has to examine closely to determine what is the original trunk of the tree. There are many roots hanging down which have not yet reached the ground, and when that is the case they are called ‘air roots’ because they hang in the air until they become long enough to reach the ground, develop roots and become just one more of the many trunks on a seemingly endless mass of a single tree.

New Zealand is full of such wonders. It seemed that much plant life in New Zealand is plant life on steroids. These trees do not have the sheer bulk of California Redwoods, but they do spread out much more than the Redwoods. Nothing in New Zealand is exactly like the trees here in America. Even the oaks and the pines are different. The oaks I saw all had huge acorns which were the length of a knuckle on my finger, and the needles on some of the Pines grow upward instead of hanging down on the limbs. Some of the hillsides of New Zealand are literally covered with ferns which are absolutely huge, growing up to thirty feet high. It is unbelievable, but it is true.

Ben and Ursula took us to several different parks where they had hiked, just to see more of these incredibly large trees. We were later to learn the tree with the deep buttress roots at the base of the trunk are called Morton Bay Figs, and the huge trees with all the roots growing from the limbs to the ground were call Banyan Trees. They are to me some of the wonders of this world, and we would soon discover that some of these trees are also in Australia, some 1400 miles to the west of New Zealand.

Ursula took us and the boys by ferry across the bay to an area called Devenport. What I remember about Devenport was all the yachts docked there and the restaurant where I had the best bowl of seafood chowder I have ever eaten. We spent the day enjoying our fellowship and the sights in Devenport and returned by ferry to a dock which is less than a mile from Ursula’s home. It was a memorable day spent with a very dear sister and her boys.

On one of our days with Ursula and Ben, Ben drove us south of Auckland through the incredibly scenic Karangahake Gorge, to a beautiful waterfall just a very short hike from the road. We met and spoke with a Maori man while we were there and learned quite a bit about their traditions. Maoris of New Zealand greet one another by touching foreheads together and a handshake. Every culture is different in some way.

Just up the road from the waterfalls was a very good restaurant, The Falls Retreat Bistro, with both good food and good service. You could dine indoors or outdoors, and there was a huge fig tree in the outdoor dining court with the figs just beginning to ripen. Just one more delightful experience we had with our sister in New Zealand.

I will share one more observation I made while in New Zealand. We rode the bus on several occasions while there, and when we first heard a passenger thank the bus driver, Sandi and I thought, “Well now, that was a very thoughtful thing for that young lady to do,” but then we noticed that virtually everyone riding the buses did the same thing. New Zealand is obviously way behind the times when it comes to being ungrateful and unfriendly to public servants.

Before we left, Ben took me by his job site because I had told him I would love to see how commercial construction is done in New Zealand. Again I was struck both by how courteous and trusting everyone was at that job site. Everyone knew and greeted Ben with a cheerful smile, and I noticed that one of Ben’s co-workers left his billfold on his desk and left the room. I commented to Ben that I thought that to be very unusual, and Ben assured me there was no chance of anyone taking his co-worker’s wallet. Then he explained that crime was very low in New Zealand because their local police force is strong, and all law enforcement is dedicated to resolving all criminal offenses.

[God’s children are in the shadow of His wings and the palm of His hand, and in Him they are safe wherever they live. Nevertheless, we all just got word from Ursula that their permanent residency application has gone through so we are rejoicing that after being brought to her wits’ end, the Lord has given her and her family a little respite in one of the safest, least corrupt nations on earth.]

We left Ursula and Ben for Brisbane on Sunday, April the third. They took us to the Auckland Airport, and we had coffee together until we had to part and board our flight. We are so very grateful for all Ursula, Ben, and their boys did for us while we were there with them.

We landed in Brisbane Sunday evening and were met at the airport by Michelle Grace, the sister the Lord has used to make all of this wonderful time of fellowship and coming together in Christ possible. There at the airport with Michelle were Barry and Helen Smith who had driven up earlier from a town several hours away from Brisbane. What a wonderful, rewarding experience it was to meet three more people we have known only via email for many years. We had two wonderful weeks with Michelle, her husband, Rick, and her son Anthony. The day after we arrived, Michelle had arranged to take Sandi to see an opal museum because Sandi had mentioned that she had always dreamed of going to an opal mine when she had had her gemstone business.

The next day we picked up Grant Squelch at the airport. We had another wonderful time getting to know Christ in Grant. That evening Michelle fixed us all a Zimbabwe dish with sadza, a south African form of grits, while Anthony prepared chicken, fish and kangaroo on the braai. The grateful spirit and the excitement expressed by Barry, Helen, Grant, Michelle and Anthony was really the best meal of all for Sandi and me. Barry and Helen soon had to leave to make a doctor’s appointment, which happened to be on their way back home, and Grant also had to leave us, but we will not forget the love we were shown by all.

I could take hours telling you all Michelle and Anthony did to make our visit memorable, including a trip Michelle arranged for us to Stradbroke Island, an hour by ferry from Brisbane, where we saw literally hundreds of huge fruit bats hanging in trees right next to the main road into and out of the little town. We drove to the interior of the island and visited Brown Lake, then she drove us to another town where we walked through a park situated atop the cliffs that met the Pacific Ocean. There was a trail going around an inlet which was so narrow that it had the effect of causing the waves of the ocean to constantly be forced together as the inlet narrowed. We saw a huge sea turtle in that narrow gorge.

After our walk through that park, we had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the beach and the ocean. It was another opportunity to thank our heavenly Father for His manifold blessings and to speak together of the life we have been given in knowing Him and His Son.

I must share a very exciting experience I had two separate days while sitting out on Michelle’s deck. One evening she and I were talking when a magpie flew over from the ridge of the roof of the house across the alley between the two homes. I saw it leave the roof of the other house and come toward us. I assumed it would swoop upward at the last moment and perch itself on the ridge of Michelle’s home. Instead it came straight at us and landed on the railing of the deck, not 15 feet from where we were sitting. I threw a piece of bread on the deck to see if I could get it to come closer, and to make the story a little shorter, I soon had the little critter on the coffee table not two feet from me. Then his mother appeared, and while she was much more cautious, she too, eventually came right up onto the table and ate the bread I was giving them, though she did not get as close as the younger bird. When the bread was all gone they left, and we did not see them again until two days later when the younger of the two returned alone.

This particular evening we weren’t even eating, but Michelle slowly got up from her chair and went to the refrigerator and brought back some thinly sliced roast beef. When the young magpie got a taste of that beef he threw all caution to the wind and came up onto the coffee table, and without hesitation he ate out of my hand. I wondered if I could get him to stand on my knee and eat while in my lap, and indeed he did. I took away from that experience that Christ was working only in the heavens of those who will humble themselves and become as that little magpie, and eat the bread of life, which bread is the words of Christ. That magpie did not say a word, it simply ate what it was given without arguing or complaining. Of course no magpie can ‘humble himself’ but neither can a literal ‘little child’. Humility is something we must have burned into us as the holy spirit is burning out the pride of life.

Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

One last thing I must share is the visit to the wild-life refuge which Michelle and Anthony provided for us. We finally saw and petted both kangaroos and koalas and saw many other indigenous Australian wildlife. The kangaroos had an area into which they could go to be away from their human visitors, but many of them were more interested in eating the pellets one could purchase to feed the kangaroos, and some of the kangaroos which chose to eat those pellets were mothers with joeys in their pouches.

Those pouches are an incredible thing. They are capable of holding a huge half-grown joey, and as soon as the joey comes out of the pouch, the pouch contracts, and you can’t even tell it is there. As I always say with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek…”Evolution is an amazing thing.” I cannot help but wonder what the evolutionists think kangaroos did for the millions of years the evolutionists insist were required to develop that whole marsupial pouch system. However, that is another topic for another time.

We finally had to leave Brisbane behind and fly across Australia to the west coast city of Perth where we were met at the airport by our sister Sheryl’s husband, Avo. Sheryl Woroglian had to be at work at the time of our arrival, so Avo was kind enough to meet us and take us to their home.

Soon after our arrival Aaron came to his mother’s home. He had been to university and had gone to his own home first. Soon after Aaron arrived, Sheryl came home from work, and Sandi and I delivered our special delivery hugs from Michelle and Anthony to Sheryl and Aaron. Here we were once again meeting Jesus Christ “in earthen vessels” after communicating for years with Sheryl and for about a year with Aaron. What a blessing once again to be granted that privilege!

Sandi and I had met Avo via Skype several months earlier when Avo and Sheryl had visited family in New Zealand. Sheryl is from New Zealand and happened to be visiting her family there while Wendy was also there in New Zealand visiting Ursula. Sheryl and Avo were able to spend a few hours with Ursula and Wendy. Wendy was so thoughtful to Skype Sandi and me while Avo and Sheryl were there visiting Ursula. That was a true blessing for which I again thank Wendy, but Skype is not the same as a real life meeting, and this was the real thing.

We were with Sheryl and Aaron and Avo for nearly a week, and again we were received as Jesus Christ Himself:

Gal 4:14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

Indeed that is exactly how Sandi and I perceived our hosts at every stop we have made on this tour. We knew it was Jesus Christ of Nazareth washing our feet and being our host at every stop we made (Act 22:8). Perth was no exception to that Truth. Avo and Aaron were there every morning and every day to fix us meals and to take us all around Perth seeing King’s Park with Aaron, and touring north and south Perth with Avo. Truly we were “received as Christ Jesus”.

I may not have these things in exact chronological order, but one of the most memorable things for me was when Aaron brought his friend over for dinner and the friend asked me so many questions about the millennium and the purpose for the millennium. The young man still has the beast of free will sitting on Christ’s throne in his heart, but he asked, and the seeds were planted that evening as several others in the family listened in.

Another very memorable thing for me was seeing that what Barry Smith had told me in Brisbane was actually true. Barry told me that he had seen literally hundreds of kangaroos at a time in his home area dotting the landscape and being a general nuisance. I had seen many ‘Watch for kangaroos’ signs around Brisbane, but I had not seen a single kangaroo in the wild. Barry’s words sounded like something that might have been true when he was much younger. I just could not imagine how that could still be the case anywhere on earth. Well, I think it was the second day we were in Perth that Aaron took Sandi and me just outside Perth into the countryside, and there they were just everywhere. Some were out grazing and others were in clusters in the shade of trees. But they were everywhere and in every direction in the fields that lay before us. While we saw kangaroos in the bushes, too, we saw many more right out in the open fields. So I am here to testify that kangaroos are not an endangered species in Australia! They appear to be breeding like rabbits and doing very well.

Next day Aaron bought some kangaroo steaks, which he cooked to order for us for lunch. It was just one of many wonderful meals we were given while there in Perth with the Woroglians.

I think it was the following day that Avo gave Sandi and me a tour of the coastal area near Perth. Along the way he told us of his own experience of coming to know Christ and Him crucified, as each of us have experienced (1Co 2:1-2), and how he and Sheryl came to know each other. It was the same steps we all experience at our own preordained time (Psa 139:16).

The night before we had to leave Perth, Sheryl and Avo took out us all out to a Thai restaurant where it seemed to me that Avo had ordered everything on the menu. It was one course after another, after another. It was an unforgettable dining experience. Aaron’s older brother, Stefan, and his sister, Leah, were there with us, and afterward we went to Stephan and Leah’s apartment for a final time of fellowship with them – and mango gelato.

Sandi and I are most grateful for all the time and expense Sheryl, Avo and Aaron spent to make our visit to Perth a time to be remembered and cherished.

The next day we left Australia for Bahrain to spend a few days with Jesus of Nazareth in the form of Ron and Mae Pasaporte. That is how we are to see each other as this verse reveals:

Mar 16:12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.

That is where we will pick up our tour with you next week, Lord willing. That was Sandi’s and my first experience with life in a Muslim country. It was very revealing, especially a tour of the largest Mosque in Bahrain given by a devout Muslim woman from Egypt.