You Will Suffer

Please take ten minutes to watch John Piper remind you of your calling in Christ to a life that so magnifies Him that you will know what the Savior meant when He said, "A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you..."

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

You Will Suffer

on April 18, 2009 0 comments

Safe At Shore

My husband, Robert has taught a midweek Bible study for many years. He recently assigned some extra reading - a small booklet written by C. H. Spurgeon entitled Around the Wicket Gate. What a great read - so encouraging and motivational.

I offer this excerpt from chapter two, Jesus Only:

Faith saves us because it makes us cling to Christ Jesus, and He is one with God, and thus brings us into connection with God.

I am told that, years ago, above the Falls of Niagara, a boat was upset, and two men were being carried down by the current, when persons on the shore managed to float a rope out to them, which was seized by both men.

One of the men held fast to it and was safely drawn to the bank; but the other, seeing a great log come floating by, unwisely let go of the rope, and clung to the great piece of timber, for it was the bigger thing of the two, and apparently better to cling to.

Alas! The timber, with the man on it, went right over the vast abyss, because there was no union between the wood and the shore. The size of the log was no benefit to him who grasped it; it needed a connection with the shore to produce safety.

So, when a man trusts to his works, or to his prayers, or alms givings, or to sacraments, or to anything of that sort, he will not be saved because there is no junction between him and God through Christ Jesus; but faith, though it may seem to be like a slender cord, is in the hand of the great God on the shore side; infinite power pulls in the connection line, and this draws the man from destruction. Oh, the blessedness of faith, because it unites us to God by the Savior, whom He has appointed, even Jesus Christ!

If this has encouraged you and you would like to order Around the Wicket Gate for yourself, go here to Chapel Library.

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

Safe At Shore

on April 08, 2009 0 comments

Visit With Franziska for a Spell

Over at Franziska's Pantry you will find a recipe for the most splendid Baked French Toast. It can be made up the night before and refrigerated so that there is minimal work for you in the morning. It is also very versatile in that it can actually be used for a delicious dessert when served with whipped cream instead of maple syrup (or even a little of each). But there is one more reason why I really like this recipe. It makes at least 8-10 servings so whatever is leftover can be frozen for breakfasts in the days or weeks to come.

So mosey on over and visit with Franziska for a spell. She'd like to add some nutritious and delicious mouth-watering goodness to your morning. She loves visitors. In fact, her motto is "the more the merrier". Go on now! What are you waiting for?

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

Visit With Franziska for a Spell

on March 29, 2009 0 comments

Fixing Our Eyes and Ears Upon Jesus

"I will hear what God the Lord will say; for He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones; but let them not turn back to folly." Psalm 85:8

A wide-margin Bible is such a great tool for encouragement. For as long as I can remember, I have had various wide-margin Bibles to use for study. As I read and meditate, I record spontaneous prayers and thoughts and the date in the margin of my Bible (I plan to pass these Bibles onto my children when I leave this world behind). At some later date, that prayer or thought might actually encourage me, like this morning's note on Psalm 85:8. On October 5, 2005, I wrote:

This verse (Psalm 85:8) is so appropriate! God has been convicting me of a certain bad habit I have - a sin - I should say. As I launched into it again yesterday, the Lord gently reminded me that I should turn from it but I kept right on going. Then within minutes, He made it clear to me that my sin was like the letting out of water. It spreads quickly and always seeks the lowest path of least resistance and it cannot be gathered back in once it has gone out. So from now on, I commit to "hear what the Lord will say, for He will speak peace" to me and I will not turn back to folly. Help me, Lord.

As I read that entry, I had no idea what that "bad habit" had been. I did not name it in my note (thankfully). But this I know, the Lord did speak peace to me concerning my sin. He did help me. Whatever it was, it is no more. He turned me from it.

However, since I continue to struggle with sin it is crucial that I listen to the Lord and keep my eyes on Him. He alone is my help in this conflict. Only Jesus can turn me from my folly to obedience and empower me to live a life that brings Him glory. Oh, how thankful I am that I am not left alone to do this work that is humanly impossible. But I can do it through Christ who strengthens me! I just need to keep looking at and listening to Him. Let us fix our eyes and ears upon Jesus!

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

Fixing Our Eyes and Ears Upon Jesus

on March 25, 2009 2 comments

Franziska - Chapter Eight

Note: If you have not read Franciska's amazing story up to this point, you should do so now. Find chapters one through seven here. Start at the bottom of the page with chapter one.

It has been months since I last wrote about Franziska. The previous chapter dealt with Hermann's (her husband) death in 1933. This chapter will bring to a close Franziska's life.

During Hermann's two year struggle with cancer, he was cared for by a granddaughter, Martha. She lived with the couple while caring for Hermann and learned how to give the injections that Hermann needed at that time. She devoted herself to her grandparent's needs until Hermann passed away.

Franziska was 71 years old when she gave Hermann over to heaven. The couple had been married for a little over 50 years. How difficult it must have been for her to now be bereft of the one she had spent nearly all of her life with. She would really need to cling to her Heavenly Father now, in ways she had never imagined while her beloved husband was still with her.

I wonder about Franziska's health at this time since she obviously needed the granddaughter's help with Hermann. After Hermann's death, her grandson, Robert Max stayed for a while with his grandmother. Then she went to live with her son Frederick and his wife Lena for about three years.

At that time, a pastor who knew Franziska arranged for a second marriage to a man named C. A. Borchers, living in Bessie Oklahoma (this is the town my own mother was raised in). Unfortunately, he turned out to be a somewhat cruel man, mistreating and neglecting Franziska especially whenever she was ill.

But Franziska outlived her second husband. After his death, she went to live with my grandfather (her son) and grandmother, Herbert and Lena Meyer in Ingersoll, Oklahoma for some time. But eventually, because she developed symptoms for what we now know as Alzheimer's Disease, caring for her became too great a demand for my grandparents.

At this point her two daughters, Helen and Emma, traveled to Oklahoma to help care for their mother for several months in 1947. Shortly after that she was hospitalized at Western Oklahoma Hospital in Supply, Oklahoma. This is where she would spend the remainder of her days on earth.

Just four days before her 87th birthday she went home to be with her Savior. What a reunion must have followed with Hermann and all of her children that preceded her in death, one of which was her son, Rudolph, who had died exactly one year before her, on January 2, 1948.

Following is Franziska's obituary. This piece of information was the first writing I came upon concerning my great grandmother after my own father's death in 2003. This was after obtaining the family records that he'd had in his possession. Her obituary was such a grand discovery for me - realizing that just a few generations before me, a godly woman had lived a life that brought much glory to the God who first loved her.

Franziska’s Obituary

Franziska Agnes Meyer-Borchers, born on January 6, 1862 in Germany, was called to her eternal reward on January 2, 1949 at the Western Oklahoma Hospital at Supply, Oklahoma.

In her long and eventful life she experienced much joy and happiness, but also much grief and sorrow. At the tender age of 5, her mother passed away, overshadowing her life with a dark cloud. In her teen years she came under the influence of the gospel message, accepting Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and Lord. Upon her confession of faith she was baptized and joined the Konigstrasse Baptist Church in Berlin, Germany.

In 1882 she was married to Hermann Gustave Meyer, and in 1886 this young couple migrated to the United States, settling on a farm in South Dakota and later in La Salle, Colorado where her husband passed away in 1933. Three years after her first husband's death Franziska remarried. She was united to her second husband, the late C. A. Borchers from Bessie Oklahoma, in 1936.

Early in life she had made her choice to be a faithful, loyal and true follower of Christ, devoting much of her time and talents in sacrificial service to HIM who had done so much for her. She shed forth her Christian influence liberally as a good Sunday School teacher, young woman’s adviser and faithful president of the Ladies’ Aid for 25 years.

She was a devoted wife and a good mother, a fine Christian character and example. God blessed her with thirteen children, of whom six died at the ages of six and under. Two sons preceded Franziska in death a few years ago: Reinhold in 1942 and Rudolph in 1948. Five of her children survive her, along with 42 grandchildren, 47 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grand child, as well as many Christian friends and neighbors.

I have hesitated in writing this final chapter because my great grandmother's last days were not so pleasant as you have seen. It pains me to think about this noble and gracious lady's difficult latter years without Hermann. But she dwells on high now and all is well.

I never met Franziska. I was born nine months after she died. She left a godly heritage - 13 children, 42 grandchildren, 47 great grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild. That adds up to 103 descendants at the time of her death. I include even the children that did not live but a few years for they are certainly worshiping the God who created them and ordained their days on the earth as well as the sons and daughters who grew to adulthood glorifying God, and who lived longer on this globe, also by the will of their Creator.

That makes me wonder how many more great, great-great, etc. grandchildren there are now. I am one more, not having been counted at the time of her death. But it comforts me to know that I had a great grandmother that prayed for the generations yet to be born as the Psalmist did (Psalm 78:5-7).

Her prayers for her unborn grandchildren included me and God honored her desires. For that I am eternally grateful to my Lord for He put me upon her heart ere she knew me. And as I write, I find myself lifting my grandchildren, those born and yet to be born to the same God, asking for the same thing that my precious grandmother asked for - that they might know and love the glorious and gracious God of creation and redemption.

How I would have loved to have known this regal daughter of the King, but our getting to know one another will have to happen in a different realm, beyond time and space. There, in that blissful city, we will have an eternity to "catch up".

But the greater wonder will be seeing Jesus, the Host of Heaven, the One who untied Franziska and myself in the family of God by His sacrificial death on the Cross. Yes, we are related by human blood, but we will be reunited by Christ's divine blood. It is because of our Savior that we will meet one day and enjoy one another's company in His very presence, never to part.

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

Franziska - Chapter Eight

on March 21, 2009 2 comments

Moving Movies

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Are you as disappointed in the movies that are promoted these days as I am? If so, here is a short list of some that will inspire you:

Northanger Abbey
Wives and Daughters (from Masterpiece Theater)
Jane Eyre
Cranford (from Masterpiece Theater)
Mansfield Park
Emma
Oliver Twist (for the link to Oliver Twist at Masterpiece Theater click here)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982 version with Jane Seymour)
Sense and Sensibility (with Emma Thompson)

Many of these suggestions came from my most faithful commenter and reader, Anne. (Thank you, Anne, for these titles.)

Most, if not all of these movies, can be had through Netflix. This is the easiest and most inexpensive way of viewing movies that I know of. I hope you enjoy these. Also, please leave a comment with your own suggestions and I will post them too.

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

Moving Movies

on March 16, 2009 2 comments