Mark 12: 29-31(NASV)–Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Dear Friends,
I do pray that this letter finds all of you doing well.
As usual we stay very busy around here. People used to ask Sissie and I what we when we retired. Well, we are not really looking for retirement as long as the Lord wants to use us and the ministry here. I have found it very true, through the years, that if you make yourself available to the Lord for serving, he will definitely keep you busy!! We do thank Him for the privilege and blessing of serving Him and serving others.
Since the last letter, we were blessed, again, with a person who volunteered to take a load to Tulsa. Included in that load was about 300 Christmas boxes for children. At this time, we have another load ready and hope to get it out in the next month or so. We also have a load of new sweatsuits (that must go out of the country) ready to go to Morristown, Tn. to be shipped from there. Those, plus the local needs where the Lord allows us to minister daily.
I hope that all of you had a great Thanksgiving. Guess we had 50 or so here and had a great day. As we had our “circle of thanks”, I was thinking that if we just did that for 24 hours, we could never list all of the blessings of our Lord. Do you ever consider all that is going on all over the world, or just in your community, and wonder why the Lord has blessed you as He has? I think of this very often.
As we approach this Christmas Season, perhaps we should ask our Lord to make us more aware of our blessings and of the needs and hurts of those around us. We were given the greatest gift when God sent us His Son so that through Him we can have eternal life. Let us try to express our thanks more to God each day while also praying that He will work in each of us to be open to opportunities to express His love to others we come into contact with. Very often, this can simply be done with kind words or simply showing them that someone cares about them. That is what Jesus did. Your life is an instrument in His hands. However, He allows us to choose whether we will be used by Him, or not. Do you have the desire for your life to express His love? There is much hurt in the world today and you can be helpful.
There are no words to express our appreciation for your prayers and support. I want you to always remember that anything that is accomplished here, you are a part of. I never take it for granted how the Lord touches hearts and people respond. I thank Him for His faithfulness and for your faithfulness in responding.
Someone once asked me what kind of needs we have around here. I told them, “the same as you—just more of them!” Recently, I have had to purchase 2 trailer tires, had the truck in the shop for repairs, the suburban in the shop for repairs, a trailer with 2 broken springs being repaired, and needing some repairs on one of the tractors. Now, I want you to know I am not complaining, for a couple of reasons. First, those problems are nothing compared to what so many are facing today both here and throughout the world. Second, this is God’s ministry and those are His vehicles and equipment which are all used to minister to others—which means His responsibilities to meet the needs for them. And, through you, and hundreds of others through the years (almost 58), He has always done so.
From all of us here at Fairhaven, we wish you all a very Blessed and Merry Christmas!
In His Service,
Johnny
NOTE: AS I COMPLETED THIS LETTER, I WAS ON THE PHONE WITH ELLA HARJO, WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THE MINISTRY IN TULSA. THEY ARE DESPERATELY IN NEED OF PERSONAL HYGIENE PRODUCTS. I JUST WANTED TO MENTION THIS IN CASE ANYONE WANTS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THAT NEED. SHE TOLD ME THAT THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE LIVING ON THE STREETS AND IN VEHICLES IS CONSTANTLY INCREASING.
Fairhaven Ministry of Faith, Hope, and Love
21066 Fairhaven Road
Covington, La. 70435
Office: 985-892-1134
Mobil: 985-264-5052
Fax : 985-892-1385
Email: johnny@fairhavenministry.com
Web: hopeforothers.org
Philippians 2:4–Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Love is God’s will in action.