Thanksgiving Greetings from Steve and Sandy Aholt,
We know that holidays hold special remembrances for each one of us. Hopefully, your main thoughts will go to the one person who has rescued us from the penalty of our sin. His resurrection after three days is the basis of our victory over sin and death. That person is Jesus!
This Thanksgiving was the first time that our daughter, Stephanie, and her family were able to travel to our home to be with us and Sandy’s dad. There were special memories made for both grandpas and great grandpa. A special season of memories indeed.
Reflecting back over nearly fifty years of being a follower of Christ I have found that there are two main things that matter most in the Bible. The rest of the Bible teaches us important history and how God blessed Israel for their obedience, or he punished them for their worship of idols – putting other things as more important in their lives than Himself. Do Christians have idols today?
The first main thing is that we must believe that Jesus died to pay the penalty for all sin, and that he came back to life again after three days. Not one person today has seen someone who has died and has come back to life again three days later. The Bible is true, and it teaches us that Jesus did just that. This is where our faith plays a part in our salvation. We must believe that Jesus died and rose again from the dead after three days.
The second main thing is that we must confess to God that we need Jesus as our personal Savior. Romans 10:10 says that with our mind we believe, and with our mouth we tell God our need of Christ as our Savior.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Rom 10:10
Random acts of kindness done in Jesus’ name will be rewarded. I was reminded of this truth today through the following story. During our tenure of flying in Papua New Guinea, we have many memories and stories. This is a new one that we heard about this morning.
Over fifteen years ago a very sick man needed a ride to the hospital in Goroka. So, he, and his “watch” person, rode with us on one of our return flights to Goroka, from Simbai. Simbai is where some ABWE missionaries lived. A “watch” is someone who goes along to watch over a sick person in the hospital. They usually sleep on the floor under the patients bed or on the floor next to the bed.
We were told in advance that neither the patient nor his watch had family to care for them in Goroka. So, Sandy and I agreed to care for their needs, like the good Samaritan did in the Bible. The hospital provides the bed, but the rest of the patient’s needs are to be provided by immediate family.
They both needed a mat to sleep on, sheets, a blanket, a pillow, a plate and a cup, eating utensils, food and a water container, a towel and soap, a way to do laundry. . . . At times, the hospital would run out of food, so Sandy made sure that they always had fruit and vegetables to eat. All of these items are normally provided for a patient if you go to the hospital here in the USA. However, they were not provided for patients in Goroka.
After a few days of caring for them and visiting them in the hospital, the patient asked, “Why are you doing all of these things for us? You don’t even know us!” Steve replied, “We are Christians and this is what Jesus would do for you if he was here. We are trying to be like Jesus!”
We continued to show love and compassion for the man as we helped to nursed him back to health. We always taught them about Jesus and prayed with them for God to heal them physically and spiritually. Both men realized their need of what Christ did for them, and prayed to accept Christ as their Savior.
This happened over fifteen years ago. Just this morning, we learned that this man is now pastoring a fast-growing church in Simbai. Random acts of kindness done in Jesus name are never done in vain.
Steve had the privilege to travel to Asheville, NC to help out on some Hurricane Helene disaster relief efforts with a group of thirty-two people from our church. The pastor of our host church, Trinity Baptist, had just finished a series of messages on Noah’s flood before the disaster occurred. The people were warned of the imminent danger of a possible disaster. Their response was not a little like the responses from people during Noah’s day, “We will be okay!” Hundreds of people were swept away with the flood.
God provided for all of Steve’s financial needs to make the Asheville trip. He also gave him the strength to accomplish the physical tasks involved. Another part of his time was spent distributing clothing, listening to heart-wrenching stories, and giving the spiritual care of hope to the people at “ground zero” who escaped with only their lives. Ground zero is where the main devastation occurred.
The Asheville area received ten inches of rain the day before the eighteen inches of rain from Hurricane Helene arrived. The main damage was caused by a thirty to forty-foot wall of water that was created when four of the nine flood locks failed on a seven-billion-gallon water reservoir. This flow of water destroyed nearly everything downstream. One man told Steve that, as he watched from higher ground, the water continued to rise until everything disappeared under water, including his mobile home. When the water receded his mobile home was gone along with hundreds of other mobile homes and thousands of vehicles.
Thanking God for his loving gift,
Steve and Sandy Aholt
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