The Bible Story Family

Election frenzy is in full swing. Enough said! Silver bells and candy canes will soon replace Halloween scarecrows on store shelves. I am convinced that some year the final fireworks display on Independence Day will proclaim, “Do your Christmas shopping early.” What can we do to remain calm in a traffic jam world? We’re going on a cruise to Alaska. Carmen’s siblings and their spouses plan to relax for a week, slow down, and reduce the pace at which life is lived. But is that a good thing? Shouldn’t we always stay busy? Jesus didn’t think so. When He and his disciples became so busy that they didn’t even have time to eat, He told them to “come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile” (Mark 6:31). The Psalmist agreed with that when he wrote that God “gives His beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2). Calm, like so many other aspects of life, can be profitable, or unprofitable. Sleeping life away because of laziness will not prepare us for election frenzy. Allowing time t...

  It is not every day that a person attends a 100 th birthday party. Carmen and I had that privilege recently. Her aunt, Gladys Toews, celebrated one hundred years. However, it was more than just a celebration of a hundred years on earth Those gathered in Waseca, Minnesota, celebrated a life lived for the glory of God. Carmen’s brother, Don Odens, was asked to share a brief history of the ministry of Gladys and her husband Jake Toews. They spent most of their adult lives serving as missionaries in the Philippine Islands. They were involved in the organizing of more than two hundred churches in that country. Two of the stories Don shared provided a fascinating insight into the lives Jake and Gladys shared together. When Jake was eight years old, the offering plates were being passed in church. When the plate came to him, he set it on the floor and stepped into it. “I am giving myself to serve the Lord,” he announced to the congregation. That was the spirit with which he and Gla...

  Chaplain Stephen Huebscher has written a book on Hebrew Verb Form Semantics in Zechariah which will be published by Brill this fall. The book is titled Prose and Poetry through Time. “This is the first major study of the Biblical Hebrew verbal system of a prophetic book. It is also the first book-length study in over 60 years to focus on how genre affects the Hebrew verbal system,” according to the publisher. When asked why he chose this topic, Stephen replied, “I like to get to the bottom of anything I study so I don’t get surprised later on by having made a wrong turn.” Chaplains are encouraged to produce scholarly works, but studies like this need to be done on their own time. “That’s a challenge,” says Huebscher, “working on evenings, weekends, and taking vacation time.” He estimates that about seven years have gone into the research. This book will be useful to those in ministry because it deals with the significance and meaning of every verb in Zechariah. “Also, if so...

Carmen and I had the privilege of presenting a program to the Golden Agers at Fourth Baptist Church of Plymouth on Poetry and Music. Some of my favorite poems were combined with arrangements of her favorite hymns, blended together in one nostalgic package. I chose old favorites like “Casey At the Bat,” by Earnest Thayer, and “In School Days,” by John Greenleaf Whittier. She started with Fanny Crosby’s “Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It,” and Russell Carter’s “Standing on the Promises.” As the poems and songs were shared, people were able to see lyrics from the hymns and pictures of the authors on power point. One of the highlights was James Weldon Johnson’s “The Creation,” followed by “In the Garden,” by Charles Miles. The program concluded with the universal favorite, “The Touch of the Master’s Hand,” by Mira Brooks Welch. Poetry and Music is available for presentation in other churches as well. It would be perfect for a banquet or anniversary celebration, or a gathering like ...

  Ministering in a state where only ten percent of the landmass can be reached by road seems like an impossible task. And it would be if not for flight. Fifteen percent of Alaska’s total population live in areas accessible only by airplane. It is to these villagers who need the gospel that God has called the Houtz family. Aaron’s burden for aviation ministry began when he was in high school. He planned to pursue that career in Papua, New Guinea, until meeting Mike and Jeannette Clark, missionaries to rural Alaska. During a six week internship with Baptist Mid-Missions, he was asked by a Yupik Alaskan native, “Are you the preacher I have been praying for?” That was when he knew God was calling him and his family to do some creative flying in Alaska. Aaron and Rachel Houtz were both home-schooled and then attended Bob Jones University. Their sending church is Mount Calvary Baptist of Greenville, South Carolina. The Clarks have been in Alaska for eighteen years and are located in ...

  The badlands near Glendive, Montana, feature one of North America’s premier sights for fossils and dinosaur bones. Many of these are on display at the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum. Founded in 2009, the museum endeavors to share a biblical worldview with visitors. On our visit we were thrilled to experience interaction with tyrannosaurus, stegosaurus, and triceratops bones as well as skeletal recreations based on fossil discoveries. Throughout the entire museum we were challenged to think critically about issues related to origins. Answers were provided which proved the existence of a creator God. The museum sponsors fossil digs in the badlands of Montana where you can experience paleontology first-hand. Guided digs teach you how to identify, collect, and interpret fossils from a biblical perspective.   Although we did not have time to join a dig, it is definitely on our bucket list for some time in the future. When traveling through northeast Montana, be sure to...

On account of a life-long interest in Evangelist Billy Sunday, I was pleased to be asked for resource materials for a senior paper on Ma Sunday. Johanna Huebscher graduated from Bob Jones University this spring with a B.A. in history and a B.S. in Multimedia Journalism. The research into the life of Mrs. Sunday was part of a graduation requirement for her history degree. Billy Sunday died in 1935. His wife outlived him by several years, and during that time she became involved in the work of Bob Jones University. “I chose her as a research project,” writes Johanna, “because I wanted to study the life of a woman involved in the beginnings of BJU.” The research paper is titled “Ma Sunday, What Did It Mean to be Her?” Johanna draws some comparisons between the parental choices made by Nell Sunday, Mary Gaston Jones, and Ruth Graham. Each of the husbands, Billy Sunday, Bob Jones, Sr., and Billy Graham, traveled in evangelism, but the decisions concerning child-care varied. One of the s...