Webstie Update

For those of you who do not know, I have redesigned my original website and the new address is www.nowwhut.org. We have completely overhauled it and even got a personalized license plate for our car that reads "NOWWHUT". We believe that there are great possibilities for ministry using our website and the blog.

For those of you who like to surf through the "Goodle Ads", I have devoted an entire page with nothing but "Referred by Google" advertisements. There is no cost to cruise through each site and I try real hard to keep the advertisements ethical and safe. Of course, all of the Google ads are safe.

Thanks for your support and continue to pray for Barb and I. We really believe that God has given us tools to use as we try to travel the countryside looking for people, "looking for the Lord".

God Bless,

Dave & Barb

Don't forget the NEW & IMPROVED website is www.nowwhut.org.

"Tho He Slay Me..."

This devotion is from Barb tonight:

"Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him (or yet will I Praise Him) Job 13:15
This past Saturday night, I watched as my husband...Dave…..(many of you know him from some of his devotions on Rest Ministries…) was being beaten and pummeled right in front of my eyes at the front door of our home…by two males…18 and 19 years old…hyped up on drugs and alcohol……I ran to his aid…trying desperately myself, to beat off one of the assailants with my fist and a shoe....and I cried out to them…"Please don't do this to my husband…he is weak with cancer and he has a severely damaged spine already"…but they continued to beat him…he had only gone out to offer to call them a cab to get them off the premises….my husband is the ultimate "believer" in being a "peacemaker"…..but as I watched this unfolding before our eyes I was crying out to the Lord……WHY????? WHY LORD??? Why would you allow this to happen to us….??? What is the reason behind this…?? What is it that you need us to learn from this??...but I just kept hearing the words of Job…"though He slay me, I will praise Him"……….today I have no idea still why this happened…Dave lays in severe pain…bruised all over and needing to go to the hospital today for another procedure….and I still can't explain it…but I keep hearing those words…"though He slay me..I will praise him…I will hope in him"…wow…Is that what I needed to learn???
What is "beating" you up today???? For some it's financial "beatings"…for so many of us it's "physical" beatings….maybe it's the "beating" of isolation…Maybe the "beating" of grieving a life you used to have….I don't know what your "beating" is but "Though he slay me…I will praise him" !!! Can we truly say this??? Can we truly live this??? I believe we can…it doesn't mean the hurt and "sting" of the sin of this world is going to go away…but maybe we can still try to "praise him and have hope in HIM" even though we are being slain.
Our hearts cry out for the HOPE of our eternal God and Father… In HIM is our safety net…
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About the Author:
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Barb Stallings is the wife and caretaker of Dave (37 years), mom to Brad, Amy, Annie… (their spouses !) "Grammy" to Sarah, David, Elle and Leo. She suffers from severe CFIDS/Fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivities… She lives in Peoria, Arizona with Dave and "Capt" Jack Stallings, their "shihztu-llhasa". Barb can be reached at grammybarb@qwest.net. Our website address is www.nowwhut.org.

The Good Samaritan

Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, "Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you." Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?" And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same." Luke 10:30-37

This popular parable emphasizes the meaning of neighborliness and the importance of true Christian compassion. Responding to a lawyer who asked, "Who is my neighbor?", Jesus makes it clear that any human being in need is our neighbor. By casting one of the Samaritans (men much despised by the Jews) in the role of the compassionate neighbor, Jesus challenges His audience. He seems to be saying: If a Samaritan, whom you consider an outcast, will rescue a Jew in trouble, what a reflection it is on you and your religion if, in indifference, you pass by those in need.

What side of the street are you walking on these days?

Dave

For Those Who Might Be Wondering

I have not left the country or the universe for that matter. I have just not taken the time to sit and blog for a week or so. Having some real difficulties with my back and even (I know the word is so hard to say...Depression). So I thought I would fill some of the days with my wife's thoughts as she is such a good writer herself and maybe you could glean some wisdom and encouragement from her for a few days.

I really like this verse of scripture: Psalm 34:22, The Lord redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.

Anyway, I appreciate and covet your prayers and I will be rested up soon and back to my normal type, type, type self again. In the meantime, please pray specifically for my back issues and the fact that (even though I know better) I have been carrying too much of the load and not allowing God to do this for me. Like my wife demonstrates in the blog below...sometimes we just won't let go.

Thanks...Dave

My Wife's Strong Prayer Concerns

Matthew 6:25-27; 31-34 – “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life…whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear..Isn’t life more than food and your body more than clothing?? Look at the birds…they don’t plant or harvest or store food in the barns…For your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to Him than they are??? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life??? So don’t worry about these things sayings “what will we eat?? What will we drink?? What will we wear?? These things dominate the thoughts of UNBELIEVERS. But your heavenly Father already knows ALL YOUR NEEDS. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously and He will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today”

It’s midnight and I can’t sleep…my brain just won’t turn off….there is so much….there’s my little granddaughter, Elle, with yet another ear infection who doesn’t feel good tonight and my daughter, Annie who is so exhausted…there’s my daughter, Amy, who’s in Texas with her back completely out and little “Leo” not feeling well…there’s Dave….and what is the doctor going to say tomorrow…I feel so bad for him…the pain is just unbelievable….there’s my friend, who wrote me tonight to tell me that he and his wife are most likely going through with termination of her third pregnancy…I have pleaded with him for the past week to change his mind and accept this baby as a “gift from God”….but his thinks only of what it’s going to “cost him” and his wife and he doesn’t see how he can do it….I thinking of all of the prayer requests I’ve received over the past two days of people who are so sick….of my dear friend, Leona, who is facing a breast biopsy in less than a week for possible breast cancer…and all the suffering she is already going through…I’m thinking of my friend, Bonnie, who has fallen ill after thyroid surgery, I’m thinking of “Joseph” who I have been praying for who died last night…I’ve been thinking of the Pastor’s family in Oregon who lost their son, Noah, who was in the military, just a few days ago when his plane went down…For Michele as she watches her daughter and granddaughter go through a marital separation…for Vee as she watches her husband deteriorate before her eyes..the man she has loved so long and is the love of her life…and there’s so much more…so much…so much…so many hurting….so many alone….so many needs….and tonight I feel like I’m carrying all of these burdens….and then I thought about the scripture from church the other night.

Of course….I’m worrying about all of these things and God is already finding a way to provide for all of these needs….EVEN for the little precious one whose life may end tomorrow…I just need to be about the Lord’s business….and see His mighty hand work…Oh…my feeble and fleshly mind starts to take control...and sometimes it wins (like tonight !)…but I will claim the promises of God and lean on Him and not on my “own understanding”…..and I’ll probably “fall” tomorrow again…and have to be reminded again…and I’ll flail around trying to do this life on my “own” and that won’t add a single day to my life or fix anything….but I ask God to fill me with the peace that passes all understanding…to truth in His unfailing love…and have the knowledge that HE WILL PROVIDE…It’s only my job to pray…pray…pray….that’s all…and give myself to God and to others around me….to help when I can help..and to just “pray” and be still when I can’t do anything more.

So…I will close for now and try to close my eyes….and thank God for His word…His love…His divine providence….His mighty arms which we can take shelter in ….Oh Lord…Forgive my worry…forgive my anxiety and strife..Lord….we know you are going to care for your children….Touch each one in a mighty way even now.

I love you Lord…and YOU Love me…even when I doubt..even when I fret….even when I “forget” that you are in charge… =)

Your frail servant…humbled before you….Barb