​Marooned

A man was marooned on a deserted island.  After many years he was finally rescued.  The day the rescuers appeared was one of the happiest days of the man's life.  He was so excited to see them that he met them at the water's edge ready to be taken to the ship and returned to civilization.  The rescuers reassured the man he was safe now but they had to get the others off the deserted island too. 

The man exclaimed "There is nobody here but me."  The rescuers were perplexed and insisted on an inspection of the island, not wanting to leave anyone behind and noting they could see three huts.  The man explained "the hut in the middle of the island is where I live and the hut on the north side of the island is where I go to church." 

​What is the hut on the south side of the island asked the rescuers?  "Oh, don't worry about that old place...that's where I used to go to church...."

​​

​

Isaiah 54:17 gives us a wonderful promise from God. It says, “No weapon that is formed against
you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be
in the wrong. This [peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the
servants of the Lord [those in whom the ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced]; this is the
righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me...says the Lord” (AMPC).
No one likes to be judged or criticized by others, and this verse clearly says “every tongue that
shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong.” The question is, how do
we show those who judge and criticize us unjustly that they are wrong? Do we defend
ourselves? Do we get mad at them and say equally bad things about them, trying to get back at
them? No, none of that works and it’s not what this scripture is talking about.
Jesus is our ultimate example of how we should live, and the Bible says in 1 Peter 2:23 (NIV),
“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no
threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges fairly.”
When someone comes against us, we’re often tempted to defend ourselves and say something
like, “You’re not going to talk to me like that!” or, “If you think you’re going to treat me that way,
then I’m going to do this to you!”
But the way we show those who judge and criticize us that they are wrong is by behaving in a
godly way instead of letting what the enemy—the devil—did through them cause us to act the
same way.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we are in a war, but it’s not a war against human beings.
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV) says, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of
evil in the heavenly realms.”
I realize that talking about Satan is unpleasant, and many people don’t want to do it. I attended
church for years and, although I knew the devil was real, I didn’t understand that he could be a
real problem in my life.
The truth is that the source of all of the evil in this world is our enemy, Satan. It’s so important for
us to really get this if we want to effectively fight and win in the spiritual warfare we face.
Sometimes we take a verse, like Isaiah 54:17, and focus on the part that we like, expecting to
reap the benefits of the whole thing. For example, we like saying, “No weapon formed against
me will prosper, and everyone who says wrong things about me will be proven wrong!” But we
need to take the rest of the verse to heart, too. It says, “This [peace, righteousness, security,
triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord [those in whom the ideal
Servant of the Lord is reproduced]...” (AMPC).

The heritage we have in Christ—His peace, righteousness, security, and triumph over opposition
—is experienced by those who follow the example of “the ideal Servant of the Lord,” which is
Jesus Christ. This means that true faith in Christ produces a lifestyle that represents His heart...
His character and His behavior.
When you’re born again—when you have a real relationship with Jesus—His Spirit comes to live
in your spirit and shows you how to live right; He changes you little by little, from glory to glory (2
Corinthians 3:18). And you won’t be comfortable with an ungodly lifestyle as you grow closer to
Him.
So, practically speaking, what does it mean to act like Jesus in these situations? The first thing
we need to do when someone comes against us is pray for them. They need to have an
understanding of how dangerous it is to treat others this way. Matthew 7:2 (NIV) says, “For in
the same way you judge others, you will be judged....”
We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and trust Him to give us the wisdom and strength to do
what He would do. Remember the greatest commandment God gives us: “‘Love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.’;
and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27 NIV).
I want to encourage you to be a wholehearted believer in Christ who lives for Him in every area
of your life! Commit yourself completely to Him and pray, “Lord, I give You every part of my life--
there’s nothing that is closed off to You. Do what You want to do in me and make me everything
You’ve created me to be.”
Loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength is the secret to certain victory in
spiritual warfare. In Christ, no weapon that’s formed against you will prosper!

​

​When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, . . . the wall fell down flat.​   Joshua 6:20, NKJV

God surely gave Joshua the strangest strategy for overcoming Jericho that any general has ever been given! God told him to lead his armed men in a silent march around the outside walls of the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, they were to march around the city seven times. On the last lap, the priests in the army were to blow trumpets loudly and the people were to shout. Then the wall would collapse, and Joshua’s army could successfully capture the city!
God answers prayer, but sometimes the way He goes about it can be incredibly confusing and unconventional, which is one reason He goes about it in that way — so that our faith rests totally in Him. Then, when the answer comes, we know without a shred of doubt that it comes from Him alone and that He knows best. And we give Him all the glory.

​​Honoring Father's Day, June 21, 2026

I hope you have planned to honor your father in some special way this
Sunday, June 21st.
Moses gave us the 10 Commandments that God gave him for God's people,
Israel. The 10 Commandments are for all people.
The fifth Commandment is recorded in Exodus 20:12, "Honor your father
and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is
giving you."
NIV

The Apostle Paul tells us this about fathers and mothers in Ephesians
6:2, "Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with
a promise.

​Why We Celebrate Father's Day
Father’s Day celebrates and honors the men who have embraced the
essential role of fatherhood. On this day, we also thank fathers and father
figures for the sacrifices they make, for embracing the responsibility of
nurturing and raising children, and for devotion to their family. 
Father’s Day is celebrated annually on the third Sunday in June in the
United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, and a number of other
countries around the world.

The Bible declares that the first commandment with promise is “. . . to honor
your father and mother that it may be well with you, and you may live long
on the earth” (Ephesians 6:2).

My father is an example today of one whose days were prolonged by God
because he lived his life in accordance with the Word of God.
 
I count it a high honor today to pay tribute to my father, Hugh Henry
Morgan, who lived to be 94 years of age.
 
He was born on December 12, 1884, in Denison, Grayson County, Texas, to
John Thomas and Emmeline Gregory Morgan.  His father was a rancher and
six years after his birth, a great president of the United States, Dwight D.
Eisenhower was born in the same county. The Eisenhower's moved to Kansas
and the Morgans moved to Oklahoma during the time when Texas was an
Indian territory and before it became a state.
 
My father was a real, live, wild-west cowboy.  He was a man’s man with

abounding physical strength and agility. He could lasso the foot of any cow
and ride his horse as fast as the wind. He packed a six-shooter, but he never
desired to use it to harm or kill anyone.  He could tell some of the most
exciting, suspense-packed stories that you have ever heard about those
early days when men were men and women were women. After he told a
story, I would often say, “Daddy, tell it again!”
 
As a young boy he knew very little about God. He had never gone to church.
When he was nineteen years old, he went to a brush arbor meeting and for
the first time heard the story of Jesus. His heart was tender toward God, and
this young, outwardly rough and tough cowboy got off his horse, walked to
an altar of prayer and gave his heart and life to the Lord. Little did he realize
that he would become a preacher of the Gospel.
 
He later learned about Holmes Bible and Missionary Institute in Greenville,
South
Carolina. Feeling a call from God to preach and to study for the ministry, he
left his beloved relatives and wealthy cattle ranch of his father in the west to
go to a Bible school he had never seen back east.  It was there that he met
my mother, Julia Payne, from Birmingham, Alabama. These two people fell in
love, and that was a miracle when you know about the strict rules of Holmes
Bible College which prohibits verbal and written communication between the
sexes.  However, the students learned a language of communication which
conveyed their deep feelings for one another.  My mother was called to be a
missionary to China and spent 9 years in that Oriental country while my
father waited patiently for her in Oklahoma.  As I reflect today on the love of

my father had for my mother; I’m convinced it was one of the greatest love
stories of all time.
 
In 1929 my mother returned to the United States from China, and my
mother and father were married in Oklahoma City by Bishop Dan T. Muse,
the first Bishop of the West.  Forty-six years later, I became the third
president of Southwestern College in the same city of their wedding
ceremony, and the college is located just across the street from the great
Muse Memorial Church named after the bishop who married them.
 
My father was endowed by God with unusual talents and gifts. He was a
unique man. I’m confident that God threw away the mold when He made
Hugh Henry Morgan.  There is no one just like him.
 
It’s amazing what a son comes to know and believe about his father after he
struggles through his teenage or adolescent years. After working through
that process, I discovered that my dad had a brilliant mind. He knew the
Bible about as well as any man I know. He committed to his memory large
portions of the Bible, and long after he became unable to read because of
failing eyesight, he could quote word for word great sections of the Bible
from Genesis to Revelation.
 
He was a masterful storyteller. I remember Bible stories he told us as well
as stories from his own life experience. He painted word pictures as he
talked. You could visualize what he described. He was a man of keen mental
and spiritual insight and could see spiritual truths in almost every experience

of life. And he led our family in daily devotions which always centered on the
Bible, prayer and singing.
 
He dearly loved people. His compassion and concern for them was
unexcelled by anyone I have ever met. He never met a stranger.  He knew
persons by name. More than once I have been amazed at his ability to
remember the names of the children in large families as well as special
interest stories, he could tell about each one of them. He had a special talent
for giving children nicknames which had special meaning to the child and my
dad.
 
My dad loved my sister and me. He believed he had the best daughter and
son in the entire world. He rejoiced in our successes and he showed
compassion and love for us in our defeats.
 
He was a writer of poetry and stories. Many of his poems have been
published. I remember once when he visited me at Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base, in Dayton, Ohio, where I was an active-duty Air Force chaplain. 
I gave him permission to speak to a chapel packed congregation one
Mother’s Day Sunday morning. He shared a poem about “The Good Old
Days” which he had written and committed to memory.  He captured the
hearts of a great Air Force congregation–young and old alike. They came up
to him after the service and hugged his neck. The Commander of the Air
Force Logistics Command, a three-star general or lieutenant general, waited
until every one had left and he and his family spoke with my dad for a long
while, and as the general left the chapel sanctuary, he said, “Chaplain
Morgan, your dad outshined you today.”

 
My dad was a pioneer Pentecostal Holiness minister. He preached the full
Gospel and believed in miracles and divine healing when it was not popular
to do so. He organized and built several churches during his lifetime. He was
an excellent carpenter and really knew how to build strong buildings. As a
minister he considered no sacrifice too great to preach the Gospel. He and
my mother were two of the most generous people in the entire world. They
knew the secret and joy of giving. In fact, they gave everything they had to
the cause of Christ and the Kingdom of God.  And God, Almighty, in turn
provided for their every need.
 
My father was humorous and witty. His wit was a dry humor. He laughed and
smiled continuously. He was a positive thinker and was always optimistic. He
saw the bright side of every situation in life. In fact, he would say, “If your
God can’t take care of your problems, I wouldn’t serve a God like that.” He
knew God to be good, and he believed that everything or, as the Scriptures
proclaim, “that all things work together for the good of those who love God
and who are the called according to His purpose.”
 
When my dad was 93 years old, President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Roslyn
Carter, sent him a birthday card which has on it the seal of the President of
the United States of America. He greatly treasured it, and a few weeks
before he died, he asked me to see that all his grandchildren and his great
grandson receive a copy of it. And I provided copies of it for each of them at
his funeral service.
 
My dad died with victory. One day he told me, “Hugh Holmes, I have no

enemies in this world!”  I asked, “Why?” He responded by saying, “I have
outlived them all.”
 
He shared with Mary Evelyn, my older sister, and me how he wanted his
funeral to be conducted. He was not afraid to talk about his own impending
death. He had peace with God and the peace of God. Four weeks prior to his
death the Lord impressed me that my dad would die. I felt it so strongly that
I thought he would die that very day.  I went to see him and spent an hour
and a half talking with him about his death and his relationship with the
Lord. He assured me that everything was all right between him and God;
and today I have the assurance in my spirit that father has gone to be with
the Lord forever.
 
My sister, Mary Evelyn, had two favorite stories our father told, and she
asked me to share them at his memorial service.
 
Many years ago, before our father was married to mother, he had an
apartment somewhere in Oklahoma. There was a couple with two children
who needed shelter and food for a temporary period of time. Our dad took
them in, provided them with food, etc. He had plenty of food but no milk. In
those days milk cost 10 cents a quart, but none of them had any money.
One evening our dad was walking and found a site where a tepee once
stood.  As the moon shone on the entrance to the tepee, he saw a bright
glistening object which he picked up. On closer examination he discovered
he had found a dime–a dime to buy a quart of milk.  Our dad believed that
God had provided the dime.  The next day he was walking down a wagon
trail and found another dime in the center of the track. Again, there was

another dime to buy a quart of milk.  The next day was not so prosperous,
at least it didn’t appear that way. There was no money to buy the milk the
next morning. Everyone was in bed and settled down for a night’s sleep,
when there was a knock at the door. A friend of our father needed to borrow
some gas out of my dad’s car. My dad gave him permission to siphon some
gas from his gas tank.  Just before the man left, he called out to my dad and
said, “I’m leaving you a dime and it will be under the door mat.”  All during
this time God had been dealing with the husband of this woman who was not
a Christian. He was now convinced that there is a God. The next morning at
the breakfast table he received Christ as his Savior. Our father would always
close the story by saying, “God won a priceless soul, and it only cost Him 30
cents.”
 
Then, there is his story about riding his horse up to the top of a high
mountain. As he sat down, he saw a little flower. There were no other
flowers or vegetation anywhere around. He would always say that God had
put the flower there just for him.

Our father was continually quoted Scripture. I would like for you to know of
two of the many Scriptures, he quoted that registered in my mind and
heart.
 
Psalm 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.

NKJV
 
Habakkuk 3:17-18
Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls — 
18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
NKJV
 
My father believed the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and he gave his
heart and life to Him. He had the witness of the Holy Spirit that his sins were
forgiven, his name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and the assurance he
was bound for heaven when he died.
 
I would like to read one of the many poems my father wrote. The title of it is
“Good Old Days”:
 

“Good Old Days”
By Hugh Henry Morgan
(father of Hugh Holmes Morgan and Mary Evelyn Morgan McDuff)
(Written by our father when he was 80 years old)
 
I often hear some people speak
   About those “good old days,”
I still remember some of them,
   For which my God I praise.
 
I made a trip some time ago
   Where I lived when but a lad;
Instead of joy and happiness,
   What I found there made me sad.
 
Things had changed, the people gone,
   The old houses were torn down,
My youthful friends I used to know
   So few of them were found.
Graveyards claimed the most of them,
   So few who still remain;
And what was left had grown so old
   They did not seem the same.
 
Some came to me to shake my hand
   And said, “I am So and So,”
I looked at them with great surprise,

   As they had changed since long ago.
 
Old man today, but once a lad--
   Some forty years had passed.
I thought of time that changed it all;
   The “good old days” were going fast.

I like these days I am living now;
   How precious do they seem!
The days I lived in yester years
   Seem too much like a dream.
 
The best of life I’ve ever lived,
   I am sure it is today,
So many people call me “Dad,”
   Still I am young and gay.
 
My health is good, my strength is great
   For threescore and nineteen,
You talk about the “good old days,”
   These are the best I’ve ever seen!
 
I go to church, I sing and pray,
   I preach when I am called,
So that is why these days I live
   I think are the best of all.
 

We all loved my father. Charlie, the oldest grandchild, called him “Doodah,”
And that name stuck with all the grandchildren and his only great grandson,
Chris. It was only yesterday that Chris said, “He was a great grandfather!”
 
We will all miss him. I thought I could handle my emotions in dealing with
my grief. Moments after my dad died in the hospital, I called Melvine to tell
her of his death. I was doing just fine until she said, “I’ll call my daddy and
tell him.”  I choked up and began to cry.  I suppose for the first time I really
felt and knew that I would never be able to call or talk with my dad until I
get to heaven.
 
Dad prayed that he could always care for himself. He never wanted to be a
burden on anyone, and God answered that prayer. He took care of himself
until the last. He dressed himself every day and always wore a shirt and tie.
 
His last words were “I’m crossing over.” It is true that this world is not his
home—He was just a-passing through.
 
It is my belief that my dad has crossed over to the Promised Land. I am
grateful today that Hugh Henry Morgan was my father. What a great ​heritage I have.

​Dr. Hugh Morgan

​




The enormous building on the hill intrigued me. As a nine-year-old country girl, I had
never seen a structure quite that magnificent and mysterious. Who were those children playing
on its massive lawn? They seemed to be enjoying what I considered to be a paradise of
playgroup paraphernalia: the tallest swings I had ever seen, teeter-totters, a merry-go-round, and
picnic tables for afternoon treats.
My family moved from Southwest Oklahoma to Bethany when I was in the third grade.
As we would ride past the place on the hill, my eyes were always drawn with curiosity to the
activity taking place, all under the watchful eyes of women dressed in long, black robes and
strange bonnets. Having been raised in a sheltered, Pentecostal Holiness environment, I knew
nothing about other faiths, particularly Catholicism. I don’t recall ever having encountered a nun,
priest, or any other leader in that strange religion.
So, how was I to know the role that place would play in my future?
As the years passed, I grew accustomed to seeing St. Joseph’s Orphanage and lost interest
in the building on the hill and its purpose in the community. After having married and graduating
high school (in that order), my husband and I eventually moved out of the Bethany area.
Our lives continued to revolve around “church life.” I was always teaching Bible classes
for various ages and Dewayne served as deacon and Sunday school superintendent. When we
purchased a home on the south side of Oklahoma City, we became active members of the Agnew
PH Church. Our pastor, at the time, was the Rev. Jim Crocker and his wife, Juanita.
In preparation for the 1973 General Conference in Roanoke, Virginia, the church board
selected the two of us as lay delegates representing the Oklahoma Conference (now known as
Heartland Conference). We had attended an earlier Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, but we
soon discovered this specific event to be pivotal for the future of the denomination and life-
changing for us in particular.
As Conference business ensued in Roanoke, we listened and voted on agenda matters
brought to the floor for consideration. Then, suddenly, we heard an unusually controversial
subject being discussed—a motion to relocate the denominational headquarters from Georgia, to
Oklahoma. And the proposed site for the transition was St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Bethany.
There it was: the place of my childhood fascination being discussed as a possible new
location for the Pentecostal Holiness Headquarters. I knew the building had stood vacant since
1965 but I never dreamed it might be under consideration by my denomination. Following heated
debate, the motion carried by a slim margin. Of course, Dewayne and I voted in favor of the
historic move.
During the early 70s my spiritual life had reached a stalemate. I continued to teach, sing
in the choir, and perform other church responsibilities in a perfunctory manner. All the while, I
was straying from God’s path and plan for my life. As I struggled in disobedience, I decided to
fill the void by enrolling in a few night classes at Southwestern College. The electives I chose

included “Introduction to Christian Education,” “Creative Writing,” “Speech,” and others, not
realizing at the time, how the subjects I had selected--on a whim--would play into my future.
As renovation on the new Headquarters building continued, I didn’t give it much thought.
I knew, however, the PH General Superintendent, Bishop J. Floyd Williams, had hired my
pastor’s wife, Juanita Crocker, as his executive secretary. The Treasurer’s office and the General
Superintendent’s suite were among the first to be occupied in the summer of 1974.
One Sunday, following the morning service, Juanita called me aside and introduced me to
her cousin, Dr. Frank Tunstall. He and his family had moved to Oklahoma City from South
Carolina. Following the 1973 General Conference, Dr. Frank, as he became known, had been
appointed as the denomination’s new Editor in Chief of Publications and he was in need of an
executive secretary.
“Would you be interested in an interview for that position?” He asked. And, of course, I
agreed.
My first day as executive secretary to the Editor in Chief of Publications was January 5,
1975. When I stepped into the beautiful edifice that had intrigued me as a child, a sense of
belonging settled into my spirit. As time passed, that building was more than a place of
employment to me; it became my place of hope.
In 1979, Dr. Frank resigned to launch a church in Northwest Oklahoma City, the Board
of Publications assigned me the interim role of Executive Editor of Publications. I was to served
in that position until the upcoming General Conference in 1977 when a new Editor in Chief
would be appointed. Yet, the Board that followed that event, appointed me to serve as executive
editor on a permanent basis. I served in that role for 30 years, resigning in March 2010.
As I reflect on my life, I see clearly the hand of God directing me in ways I didn’t
recognize at the time. First, my early fascination with the building that housed St. Joseph’s
Orphanage; second, His nudging me to enroll in college courses that helped prepare me for His
plan and purposes for me in His service; and third, placing me in a local congregation where I
would be introduced to the right people at the right time to move me from spiritual lethargy to
become a person of promise. In retrospect, I see all of these “coincidences” leading me to my
Place of Hope where I would grow in grace and serve the church I love and the worldwide ​kingdom of God.

​The most Traditional Irish Blessing

The most traditional and well known of all the Irish blessings is ‘May the road rise up’. It was written a very long time ago, and is often recited at weddings and special ceremonies and sometimes said as a prayer. It goes as follows:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sunshine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

​A man, in a hurry taking his eight-year-old son to school, made a turn at a red light where it was prohibited.

"Uh-oh, I just made an illegal turn!" the man said.

"Aw, Dad, it's okay," the son said. "The police car right behind us did the same thing."

​The IPHC 30th General Conference will convene July 15-17, 2026, at the Mobile Convention Center in Mobile, Alabama. Certified delegates and visitors can register at https://iphc.org/2026/01/16/general-conference-registration-now-open/. The theme of the General Conference is "Arise for Mission."
 
Events related to the General Conference begin with IPHC Chaplains Ministry on Sunday evening and Monday, July 12, 13. Discipleship Ministries events of Women's and Men's Ministries will be on Tuesday, July 14. Discipleship Ministries is hosting a pre-General Conference dinner on Tuesday night, July 14, with guest speaker Rev. Tim Dilena of Times Square Church, Manhattan, New York.
 
The General Conference begins at 9 AM, Wednesday, July 15 with a worship service and holy communion led by Presiding Bishop A.D. Beacham, Jr. Formalities and business will begin following the worship service.
 
Wednesday evening service will begin at 7:15 PM with Bishop Beacham speaking. This will be the final service Bishop Beacham will speak as the General Superintendent. He has served as IPHC General Superintendent since 2012. Beacham will continue to write, speak and teach as invited, and in August become President of Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of North America (https://pccna.org/), a relational network of over forty denominations in Canada, USA, and Mexico. 
 
On Thursday and Friday, July 16, 17, at 11 AM, Rev. Steve DeNeff will provide inspiration and information for pastors and laity. The Thursday night speaker is Dr. Mark Williams, the third assistant overseer of the Church of God, Cleveland, TN. The Friday night service will feature the installation service of the newly elected General Superintendent and other elected officials. The newly elected General Superintendent will be the evening speaker. 
 
The IPHC General Conference Committee reports will be released digitally to all registered and certified delegates in mid-June. Printed copies are available on request. A first-time feature of the 30th General Conference is that persons willing to be considered for general church offices have been nominated in advance. Their names, photo, and brief biography will be released with the Committee reports. Nominations will still be allowed from the floor. All committee reports and nominees will be available at https://iphc.org/ in mid-June.
 
IPHC delegates will gather from around the globe for the General Conference. We ask that the conference be covered in prayer for the name of Jesus Christ to be exalted and His will to be accomplished. 

​Please keep Dr. Hugh Morgan in your prayers. Pray for strength, healing, comfort, and peace for him during this time. He has been transitioned over to Hospice and is receiving great care at The Grove of Athens.  Greg, his son is by his side and is a great comfort to him. They both want to thank everyone who has called, visited or sent cards and welcomes anyone who wants to visit. 

Isaiah 41:10
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10
  

​       In Keeping Up with the Joneses, author Karen Fitzgerald Jones pulls back the curtain on a deeply personal love story that is anything but a fairy tale. It begins with a divine “trick” that united an independent, quick-witted girl from Virginia and a gentle giant from North Carolina at a small Georgia college. Through intimate excerpts from decades of saved love letters, Karen chronicles their fifty-one-year marriage—a bond defined by passionate devotion, unexpected heartbreak, and breathtaking miracles.
       Karen writes with unapologetic, refreshing honesty about the gritty realities of living out the vow “in sickness and in health.” For decades, she and her beloved husband, Rev. Bill Jones, fought the grueling shadows of his chronic kidney failure, two transplant surgeries, and the crushing, silent grief of twenty-two years of infertility. Together, they pastored congregations, weathered intense ministry conflicts, and navigated the messy, beautiful reality of two imperfect people fighting to stay together through the mundane and the tragic.
       Yet, in their darkest valleys, God’s light shone the brightest. You will laugh out loud at their hilarious marital misadventures—from catastrophic haircuts to ruined breakfasts—and you will weep with awe as God orchestrates a cross-country miracle, dropping a promised son into their arms and fulfilling prophecies spoken decades earlier. 
      Keeping Up with the Joneses stands as a powerful reminder that prayers are never in vain and tears are never wasted.
This memoir is a profound invitation to witness a life of faith lived "all in." It is a transparent portrait of a couple who chose love in the hard places, proving that a life of struggle doesn't mean a life of sadness. Whether you need encouragement to persevere in your own marriage, the faith to keep believing for an impossible miracle, or simply a beautifully real story of human resilience, grab a cup of coffee and settle in. You are about to meet a truly unforgettable couple.
Available now on Amazon.com and Barnes and noble.com.
 
Karen Jones is an outstanding writer and story-teller. This story is the real
life story of her marriage to her late husband, Rev. Bill Jones. It’s a story
of passion and pain as their five decades of marriage display the realities
of “in sickness and in health, for better, for worse, till death do us part.”
The honesty in this story is refreshing and gives permission to all of us to
live to the fullest with the promise of “faith, hope, and love.”
Dr. Doug Beacham
General Superintendent
International Pentecostal Holiness Church

​





​Our Heavenly Home
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
 
John 14:3, NKJV
The first book in the Bible, Genesis, gives us an unforgettable picture of the Lord God. After at least five “days” of intensely creative work, He “planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground — trees that were pleasing to the eye” (Gen. 2:8-9, NIV). In my mind’s eye, I can see Him on His hands and knees, grubbing in the dirt, planting trees and flowers and shrubs and grass, watering and pruning and landscaping. God Himself was the first homemaker, preparing a place for His children, Adam and Eve, that would be pleasing to the eye. We can only imagine the joyful eagerness of the divine Gardener as He presented Adam with his lovingly prepared home that was not just adequate or sufficient to meet his needs, but extravagant in its lush beauty and comfort.
But the preparations made for that first earthly home . . . are nothing compared with the preparations being made for our heavenly home!

​For the Benediction today, I have chosen Psalm 126

Psalm 126  Sow in tears . . . reap with songs of joy
 When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed. 
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The Lord has done great things for them." 
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy. 

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like streams in the Negev. 
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy. 
6 He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him. 
NIV

​My elderly grandmother was giving me directions to her apartment.

“You come to the front door of the apartment. I am in apartment 4012."

"There is a big panel at the front door. With your elbow, push button 4012. I will buzz you in. Come inside, the elevator is on the right. Get in, and with your elbow, push 4."

"When you get out, I’m on the left."

"With your elbow, hit my doorbell.”

“Grandma, that sounds easy, but, why am I hitting all these buttons with my elbow?"

“You coming empty handed?”

​Memorial Day in America began during the Civil War when southern women scattered spring flowers on graves of both northern Union and southern Confederate soldiers,

In the War Between the States, over a half-million died.

Many places claimed to have held the original Memorial Day, such as:
​
Warrenton, Virginia;
Columbus, Georgia;
Savannah, Georgia;
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania;
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania;
Waterloo, New York.

One such place was Charleston, South Carolina, where a mass grave was uncovered of 257 Union soldiers who had died in a prison camp.

On May 1, 1865, former slaves organized a parade, led by 2,800 singing black children, after which they reburied the soldiers with honor as an act of reparation and gratitude for their ultimate sacrifice which gave them freedom.

In 1868, General John A. Logan, commander of the Civil War veterans' organization "The Grand Army of the Republic," called for a Decoration Day to be observed annually on May 30.

​Douglas MacArthur told West Point cadets, May 1962:


"The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training-sacrifice.

In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those Divine attributes which his Maker gave when He created man in His own image ...

No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of Divine help which alone can sustain him.

However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind."
0 Comments

​It was on May 24, 2019 that President Donald J. Trump sent this Memorial Day Message from the White House in Washington, D.C.:

"Whether on the battlefields of Bunker Hill, on the beaches of Normandy, in the jungles of Vietnam, or in the mountains and deserts of the Middle East, brave Americans of every generation have given their last full measure of devotion in defense of our country, our liberty, and our founding ideals.  On Memorial Day, we humbly honor these incredible patriots and firmly renew our abiding commitment to uphold the principles for which they laid down their lives."

To those brave men and women who served in our nation's military in combat we stand as Americans to honor you this day. 

Let us never forget the supreme sacrifice that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, made by dying in our place, taking our punishment and our hell. It is by God's grace we can be saved through faith.

​Our Built-In Alarm System
Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, . . . having a good conscience, that . . . those who revile your good conduct . . . may be ashamed.
 
1 Peter 3:15-16, NKJV
Wrong attitudes have enormous power in our lives. That’s why God has placed within each of us a conscience that begins to feel guilty when our attitudes and actions are wrong.
Many of the later-model cars are equipped with theft alarm systems. The more sensitive ones can be annoying to the general public as the least bit of motion by a passer-by or the lightest touch to the car body can send off an ear-splitting siren accompanied by flashing lights and honking horn. But that obnoxious sensitivity is purposefully designed to be a protection against unwanted entry.
God has built into each of us an alarm system to warn us of the unwanted entry of sin into our lives. The alarm system is called guilt. Guilt is our friend. Without it we would go on in sin until we were dominated and defeated by it. So . . . heed the alarm and repent of your sin!
Blessings,

​Romans 8:18-39 The 8th Chapter of Romans is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the One who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And He Who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. 

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. 29 For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. 

31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He Who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all — how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, Who died — more than that, Who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
NIV

[Editor's comment: With these words of instruction and encouragement from the Apostle, who in his right mind wouldn't want to love and serve Almighty God. I am so glad the Gospel was given to me when I was six years old, and when I understood it, repented, confessed my sins, and trusted Jesus for eternal life, and a home in heaven. Because of what I experienced, I wanted to tell everybody, and I took the message to all the neighbors in the block of where I lived on Division Avenue in East Lake, Birmingham, Alabama. What a Savior! I love Jesus and I am not ashamed to call Him my Lord.

Do you know Jesus? Well, today is your day to receive Him. Call on Him right now. The Bible says, "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9, NIV).]

​Three nurses went to heaven and were awaiting their turn with St. Peter to plead their case to enter the pearly gates.

The first nurse said, "I worked in an emergency room. We tried our best to help patients, even though occasionally we did lose one. I think I deserve to go to heaven." St. Peter looked at her file and admitted her to heaven.

The second nurse said, "I worked in an operating room. It was a very high-stress environment, and we did our best. Sometimes the patients were too sick and we would lose them, but overall we tried very hard." St. Peter looked at her file and admitted her to heaven.

The third nurse said, "I was a case manager for an HMO."

St. Peter looked at her file. He pulled out a calculator and started punching away at it furiously, constantly going back to the nurse's file. After a few minutes, St. Peter looked up, smiled, and said, "Congratulations! You've been admitted to heaven ... for five days!"