Dear KKIM Family,
How are you today?
What a blessing to be with you today!
Thank you for being a friend of KKIM and the Daily Cup!
Sharon got me a cute old sign that say’s freshly brewed cup of coffee!! That is what we share almost everyday together, right? I have hung it in the KKIM talk studio.
I have got to be up at 3:30am to get ready for the start of our Radio-A-Thon with Cross International so I am sending the CUP Tuesday night.
Thank you for your prayers for Daryl Moede, my brother. He is getting better. Cowboy Clarence Montoya asks for prayers as his extended family as they will be traveling to his house this thanksgiving.
I called one of our dear friends yesterday to share this scripture with……….My Bible was opened to it yesterday and it really brought me peace………..
1 Peter 3:10-12″He who would love life and see good days,Let him refrain his tonguefrom evil,And his lips from speakingdeceit.Let him turn away from eviland do good;Let him seek peace andpursue it.For the eyes of the LORD areon the righteous,and HIS ears are open to their prayers;But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.”
Verse 13 goes on to say……..
And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? AMEN
I am so in love with God’s word!
Today begins our Radio-A-Thon for Orphans in Mozambique with Cross International. Please be a part of this, giving what you can to help the poorest of the poor. No matter where you are at California, New York, Malaysia, South Africa, Minnesota, Indiana…….wherever……….you can help KKIM and Cross International in this HUGE effort. Please go to www.mykkim.com and make your pledge………Thanks so much and God Bless. KKIM will get credit for your gift no matter where you are from! I have asked many people to pray for this fund raiser….would you please? Would you please tell all your friends about this effort? Just $68.00 cares for an Orphan for a whole year!!! Please spread the word about this project. God Bless. I would love to see a lot of folks from Windom, Minnesota…..Sidney Montana………..South Bend/Elkhart, Indiana………give in this effort!
Bonnie wishes us all a Happy Thanksgiving…………
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=HY27482779
Let us here from our dear friend…yes all our friends are dear, Dr. Joe Fawcett…………..
Louann wanted me to share these funny children’s stories with you.
But before you read them, I’d like to share a far more serious story with you. I’ll keep it short as possible. It’s about my Uncle Joe Joiner. He’s my mother’s oldest brother of five siblings. Uncle Joe and my dad were best friends at Austin College (they played varsity football together), in the Army, and up until the sudden death of my dad from spinal meningitis at the age of 36 – I was 15. Uncle Joe and dad were like brothers. Uncle Joe became close to me like my second dad for several years after my dad’s death.
A long time ago, Uncle Joe married my mother’s best friend Harriet (Aunt Hoppy) Hopkins – they’d been best of friends since first grade in Sherman. My mother’s big brother married her best friend.
I grew up with the Joiner kids. They were like brother and sisters to me. We had wonderful, magical fun times growing up together in the mid 50’s and 60’s and 70’s. Nowadays, when we get together – often – we still have wonderful fun times. I’ve been super blessed with such a wonderful family of origin that is also my family of choice.
Uncle Joe became an attorney and eventually a Federal District Judge.
Tragically, in 1986 he was stricken with what the doctors determined to be “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. This was two years after my mother had died from a three year battle with brain cancer.
Uncle Joe was given three months to live. His health decline was shockingly dramatic for this robust man with movie star looks. Everyone thought the doctor’s were right but hoped they were terribly wrong.
The years passed.
Aunt Hoppy faithfully tended to her sweetheart around the clock. She exhibited true Christ-centered love, hope, faith, mercy, and courage. A monument of a uniquely dedicated woman to her husband, children, grandchildren, and everyone who has had the extreme pleasure of knowing this incredibly gracious and intelligent woman.
I was told this afternoon that last night Uncle Joe leaped into Eternity at 10:05.
All his precious children and grandchildren had crowded into the room where his shell of a body had laid in a bed for the last 22 years. They profoundly experienced his passing from this world into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven. Their precious dad… grandad… and my uncle will soon experience the resurrected body.
It was a marvelous sight, I’m told, when they all held hands and sang hymns and prayed around him. And just before his heart stopped, he suddenly opened his eyes wide, looked around at everyone, closed his eyes, and exhaled his last breath.
Over the years we all knew Uncle Joe was to leave us at any moment. But when it happens, it’s always upsetting.
The memorial is this Thursday in Sherman. In the same chapel where my dad’s service was.
I didn’t know how his passing would effect me until now as I write this. It has opened up some rather deep “old” wounds that I don’t like to experience. But I’ve found writing is an emotional release that is healthy.
After the service, the immediate family will gather at the home in Sherman where Uncle Joe lived the last 30 plus years. It’s the same house Aunt Hoppy grew up in as a child all the way through High School and College. Isn’t that amazing!
Louann, Jonathan and I will be there. We will hear and tell funny and tender stories about Uncle Joe… probably late into the night.
The death of a loved one draws us closer and closer to the reality of an Eternity that’s always a breath away. It’s also a constant reminder that you and I need to love more deeply and live more purposely… and that life… goes on…
The wonderful world of Kids
While I sat in the reception area of my doctor’s office, a woman rolled an elderly man in a wheelchair into the room. As she went to the receptionist’s desk, the man sat there, alone & silent. Just as I was thinking I should make small talk with him, a little boy slipped off his mother’s lap & walked over to the wheelchair. Placing his hand on the man’s, he said, ‘I know how you feel. My mom makes me ride in the stroller, too.’
* * *
As I was nursing my baby, my cousin’s 6-yr-old daughter, Krissy, came into the room. Never having seen anyone breast feed before, she was intrigued & full of all kinds of questions about what I was doing. After mulling over my answers, she remarked, ‘My mom has some of those, but I don’t think she knows how to use them.
* * *
Out bicycling one day with my 8-yr-old granddaughter, Carolyn, I got a little wistful. ‘In 10 years,’ I said, ‘you’ll want to be with your friends & you won’t go walking, biking, & swimming with me like you do now.Carolyn shrugged. ‘In 10 years you’ll be too old to do all those thingsanyway.’
* * *
On a brutally humid day, I walked past a miniature golf course & saw a dad following 3 small children from hole to hole. ‘Who’s winning?’ I shouted. ‘I am,’ said one kid.’Me,’ said another.
‘No, me,’ yelled the 3rd. Sweat dripping down his face, the dad gasped, ‘Their mother is.’
* * *
On the way back from a Cub Scout meeting, my grandson asked my son THE question. ‘Dad, I know that babies come from mommies’ tummies, but how do they get there in the first place?’ he asked innocently. After my son hemmed & hawed awhile, my grandson finally spoke up in disgust. ‘You don’t have to make somethingup, Dad. It’s OK if you don’t know the answer.
* * *
Just before I was deployed to Iraq , I sat my 8-yr-old son down & broke the news to him. ‘I’m going to be away for a long time,’ I told him. ‘I’m going to Iraq .’ ‘Why?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you know there’s a war going on over there?’
* * *
Paul Newman founded the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for children stricken with cancer, AIDS & blood diseases. One afternoon he & his wife, Joanne Woodward, stopped by to have lunch with the kids. A counselor at a nearby table, suspecting the young patients wouldn’t know that Newman was a famous movie star, explained, ‘That’s the man who made this camp possible. Maybe you’veseen his picture on his salad dressing bottle?’ …. Blank stares.
‘Well, you’ve probably seen his face on his lemonade carton.’
An 8-yr-old girl perked up. ‘How long was he missing?’From our dear friend David Standridge of Warrior Life………
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
This November has been a very interesting and exciting month. As I write, we have already gone through the elections and celebrated Veteran’s Day. In a few weeks we will celebrate Thanksgiving. All of these events have caused me to think and ponder on freedom.
Freedom is an awesome responsibility. We can attend church, speak our mind, write our thoughts, work wherever we desire and cast our vote for whoever we want because of freedom. Thanks to our military men and women we enjoy the fruits of their labor. They have sacrificed, bled and died for our freedom. Freedom is sometimes difficult to define, but we certainly know that we want it. Throughout the years, families, individuals and groups have sacrificed their lives, limbs, comfort and own personal desires for the sake of freedom. The idea of freedom is so powerful that it caused our founding fathers to pledge their “lives, fortunes and sacred honor” to declare impendence from what was then the most powerful nation in the world. The idea of freedom is so powerful that it caused slaves to run away from their “masters” and travel through land and territories completely foreign to them. The idea of freedom moved the slaves to blindly place their trust in strangers along the underground railroad in order to pursue freedom. Then again in World War II, the idea of freedom propelled the “greatest generation” to toil, sacrifice and be vigilant against the oppressive Nazi regime. The idea of freedom caused young men to advance on the beachhead at Normandy. Many other examples exist where people undertook difficult odds and circumstances just to experience freedom.
The idea of freedom is so much a part of our culture that many of you would fight to the death to preserve it. The idea of freedom still rings true as much today as it did at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Many of you would challenge me with a gun or fist if I told you that I or any other person or entity would take your freedom from you tomorrow. Many of you would rather exclaim that it is better to be dead than to live as a slave without freedom. Yet, unfortunately, many men are in fact choosing to live as slaves instead of the free men that they are.
Galations 5:1 declares that “It was for freedom that Christ set us free.” You see the idea of freedom is not an American invention. It is not an invention of the Democrats or Republicans. It is an idea born from God. Christ died to make all men free. Free from the chains of slavery to sin and the effects of sin. While it is great that we can live in a “free” Nation like the United States, many men still choose to live like slaves in their everyday lives. While it is wonderful to exercise the rights we have because of freedom, many men still choose to live well below their potential. If we tried to take your civil freedoms you would yell and fight, however, our enemy everyday is trying to take your real freedom in Christ. Unfortunately, many men choose not to fight for their freedom. The freedom from poverty, freedom from sickness, freedom from divorce, freedom from pornography, freedom from fear and anger, freedom from lust, freedom from a poor self image. You see, Christ made us free from sin and all of its repercussions. Are you living as a free man?
Ask yourself a question. Are you willing to fight for your civil freedom? If so, are you willing to fight for your spiritual freedom? Recognize that freedom is not free. Our men and women died for our civil freedom. Our Lord Jesus died for our life freedom. So many men go through life thinking “if only I could conquer this or that in my life.” Realize that you don’t have to live like a slave any longer. You were bought with a price. You were granted freedom. It is now up to you to choose whether you want to continue as a slave or live with the freedom that is given to you.
I love the line in “Braveheart” where William Wallace (Mel Gibson) says, “All men die but not all men live.” Are you living in freedom today? I challenge you to question yourself and take an inventory. If you feel so strongly about freedom in our nation, why not more so when it comes to your everyday life. It was for freedom that you were set free. Decide to live like a free man. Decide to live like a champion. Decide to live like a warrior. Reclaim your Warrior Spirit.
Next month I want to talk to you about fighting for your freedom!
Dave
God Bless you all and May the Peace of the Lord be with You and Yours! Dewey Sharon and family
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