Volume 20, No.7

JULY 2005

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CONTENTS

Songs In The Valley

Hugs 'N Tugs
By Wendy Greiner Lefko

Meaningful Prayer

The Empty Tomb

Best of Lifeline
By Rev. Larry W. Greiner

The Empty Tomb

More To Follow

Enlarge Our Coasts

Worshippers Wanted

Check Your Words

Praise & Prayer

SONGS IN THE VALLEY

There are songs which can only be learned in the valley.  No art can teach them; no rules of voice can make them perfectly sung.  Their music is in the heart.  They are songs of memory, of personal experience.  They bring out their burden from the shadow of the past; they mount on the wings of yesterday.  John says that even in Heaven there will be a song that can only be fully sung by the sons of earth...the strain of redemption.  Doubtless it is a song of triumph, a hymn of victory to the Christ who made us free.  But the sense of triumph must come from the memory of the chain.  

No angel, no archangel can sing it so sweetly as I can.  To sing it as I sing it, they must pass through my exile, and this they cannot do.  None can learn it but the children of the Cross.    And so, my soul, thou art receiving a music lesson from thy Father.  Thou art being educated for the choir invisible.  There are parts of the symphony that none can take but thee.  

There are chords too minor for the angels.  There may be heights in the symphony which are beyond the scale - heights which angels alone can reach; but there are depths which belong to thee, and can only be touched by thee.  

Thy Father is training thee for the part the angels cannot sing; and the school is sorrow.  I have heard many say that He sends sorrow to prove thee; nay, He sends sorrow to educate thee, to train thee for the choir invisible. 

In the night He is preparing thy song.  In the valley He is tuning thy voice.  In the cloud He is deepening thy chords.  In the rain He is sweetening thy melody.  In the cold He is moulding thy expression.  In the transition from hope to fear He is perfecting thy lights. --Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, Streams in the Desert

Is the midnight closing round you? 
Are the shadows dark and long?
Ask Him to come close beside you, 
And He'll give you a new, sweet song.  
He'll give it and sing it with you;   
And when weakness lets it down,  
He'll take up the broken cadence, 
And blend it with His own.

And many a rapturous minstrel
Among all those sons of light,  
Will say of His sweetest music 
'I learned it in the night.'
And many a rolling anthem, 
That fills the Father's home,  
Sobbed out its first rehearsal, 
In the shade of a darkened room.

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HUGS 'N TUGS  

By Wendy Greiner Lefko

Wendy is recuperating from melanoma surgery on her shoulder.. The following poem she wrote some years ago seems most appropriate at this time.

So many thoughts to be thought of,
So many words to be said,
So many songs to be written,
All going 'round in my head.

So many feelings to deal with,
Feelings I don't understand;
Yet in the midst of confusion
You never let go of my hand.

Time after time I have failed You;
It seems I forget that You're there;
I try to accomplish things my way,
But end up with trouble to spare.

You promised You'd never forsake me;
Lord, by Your Word I will stand;
Though I forget what You've promised,
You never let go of my hand.

Sometimes my trials and burdens
Block out Your face like a mask,
Yet You are patiently waiting
To help me if I'd only ask.

Trying to figure it all out,
I forget that all this was planned;
Lord Jesus, please help me remember
You never let go of my hand.

                      --Wendy Greiner Lefko ©1983
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MEANINGFUL PRAYER  

A great Christian of the past broke out all at once into a place of such radiance and victory as to excite wonder among his friends.  Someone asked him what had happened to him.  He replied simply that his new life of power began one day when he entered the presence of God and took a solemn vow never again to say anything to God in prayer that he did not mean.  His transformation began with that vow and continued as he kept it.  --Selected

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THE EMPTY TOMB  

The pyramids of Egypt are famous because they contain the mummified bodies of ancient Egyptian kings.

Westminster Abbey in London is renowned because in it rest the bodies of English nobles and notable.   Muhammad's tomb is noted for the stone coffin and the bones which it contains.   Arlington National Cemetery is revered, for it is the honored resting place of many outstanding Americans.  There is, however, all the difference in the world between the tomb of Christ and these places.  They are famous and draw visitors from afar because of what they contain; The Garden Tomb is famous because it is empty.  

--Christian Victory.

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THE BEST OF LIFELINE  

By Rev. Larry W. Greiner

During World War I a British company of soldiers were holding "Traverse Trench" as the enemy shelled the area. Suddenly a shell burst, and pieces of shrapnel whizzed past the valiant men. A soldier named Bert was hit. Tiny Jim (6 ft. 3 in.) and another man jumped down and picked Bert up, but they saw at a glance that it was a hopeless case. They laid him to die on some empty sandbags in the bottom of the trench. Suddenly Tiny Jim was startled by Bert's voice pleading, "Can you tell me the way to heaven?"

"Sorry, chum," replied Tiny Jim, "I don't know. I'll ask the other fellows." He moved from man to man along "Traverse Trench." "Bert is dying. He wants to know the way to heaven. Can you tell him?"  Not one of sixteen young men brought up in a so-called Christian land could help a dying comrade. Suddenly No. 16 jumped off the firing step and rushed to the next post where one soldier stood alone on alert. No. 16 shouted, "There's a chap in our company who has been hit. He is dying and wants to know the way to heaven. Can you tell him?"

Turning around, the lone sentry smiled. Yes." He thrust his hand into his pocket and pulled out a worn New Testament. Quickly turning over its pages he said, "Look here, that verse marked with pencil. I'll turn the leaves back, put your thumb on that verse. Tell him that is the way."

Quickly No. 16 rushed back, passed the message and the Testament on from man to man. Soon Tiny Jim had it in his hand. He dropped down beside Bert who lay there deathly still. He touched his shoulder. Slowly Bert opened his eyes.

"I've got it, Bert, old chum, here it is -- the way to heaven: 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'"   Peace came over Bert's face, as he kept gasping out "Whosoever! Whosoever!" All at once with one great effort he raised himself. His hands stretched upwards. His face lit up. With one last gasp he whispered, "Whosoever," and fell back dead. What a change -- from the battlefield to be with Christ! The experience brought Tiny Jim to Christ as well.

If we were asked the question by a dying person, "How can I get to heaven?' could we give the answer?

"Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (1Peter 3:15).

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The hardest thing in all art is to be brief and full of content. 

Meternich once wrote, "Excuse me for the length of my letter,

as I have not had the time to be brief."

MORE TO FOLLOW

A benevolent person gave Rowland Hill a hundred pounds of sterling to dispense to a poor minister.  Thinking it too much to send him all at once, Mr. Hill forwarded five pounds in a letter with these words within the envelope--"More to follow."

In a few days the good man received another letter containing another five ponds with the same motto--"More to follow."

A day or two after came a third, and later a fourth, and still the same promise--"More to follow."

By the time the whole sum had been disbursed to him, the astonished minister had become very familiar with the cheering words--"More to follow."

Every blessing we receive from God comes with the selfsame message from our Father--"More to follow."

"Your sins are forgiven" but there's more to follow. "Justified freely by His grace"--but there's more to follow.  "Children of God by faith in Christ Jesus"--and still more to follow.  "Grace for grace"---and always more to follow.

More and more, more and more,  
Always more to follow,  
Oh, His matchless, boundless love!  
Still there’s more to follow.

--Sword of the Lord

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ENLARGE OUR COASTS

Jabez wanted his influence to be enlarged. God can stretch you, as well. Psalm 4:1 says that God enlarged the psalmist when he was "in distress." If you ask to be enlarged, you can expect that God may use distressing circumstances to do that. And the pain will be worth it all. When God enlarges you, He does so to fill you with more of Himself. Don't be satisfied with God's filling a small place if God wants to fill a larger place. Are you ready to say, "God, I want more. I want You to enlarge my coasts. I don't want a blessing. I want a blessing indeed."? We need to pray big prayers to a big God.  Ask God to keep you aware of His presence all day, to bless your witness for His glory, to keep you from evil. --Adrian Rogers

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WORSHIPERS WANTED  

God wants worshipers before workers; indeed the only acceptable workers are those who have learned the lost art of worship.  It is inconceivable that a sovereign and holy God should be so hard up for workers that He would press into service anyone who had been empowered regardless of his moral qualifications.  The very stones would praise Him if the need arose and a thousand legions of angels would leap to His will.    Gifts and power for service the Spirit surely desires to impart; but holiness and spiritual worship come first.    --A.W.Tozer  

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CHECK YOUR WORDS  

If all what we have said this past year, with never a word left out, were printed in clear black and white, it would make odd reading, no doubt. And then, just suppose, ere our eyes would close, we must read the whole record through; then wouldn't we sigh, and wouldn’t we try a great deal less talking to do?  And I more than half think that many a kink would be smoother in life’s tangled thread, if one-half that we say along life's way were left forever unsaid.    

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PRAISE & PRAYER  

God is at work and we praise Him for His faithfulness which is new each morning.

Wendy had surgery for her melanoma and is waiting for the biopsy report.  She is coming along well.

Claire continues his chemo which seems to be working.  Recent tests show no plasma cells in the blood and the beta 2 micro globulin has dropped considerably. We are trusting God for total healing and removal of the cancer from the bone marrow. 

Praise God that everything has now been moved to our new location, and we rejoice in God’s provision.  It was a laborious job moving in the hot weather.   The family all said they have never worked so hard in their lives.

Please pray as we consider God’s direction for the ministry of FCI.   Program opportunities are picking up slowly, and Claire is able to participate.   Larry, with his heart for evangelism, continues to wait on God for His will.   He, with the rest of the family, labors faithfully in FCI.    The literature and web ministry continues effectively.   

Thank you, dear fellow citizens of Heaven, for your faithfulness in standing with us through these difficult transition days.    Your love and support are appreciated more than you will ever know. 

With love in the service of the King,

"The Greiners"

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