はじめましてHajimemashite! (Ha-jeem-eee-MASH--tay!)

[Epieikes]

Nice to meet you, RF family! My only brother lives in Japan and is unsaved...hence the Japanese greeting and shameless request for prayers for JOHN. I am a pastor's wife/worship leader in Millbrook, AL, just north of Montgomery, land of massive multiple identity crises (ha...needing humor in these chaotic times). I'm also a 24-year public school vet, available and willing to start a half-day K at our church this fall IF Jesus tarries. (I adored K-8 and ESL on the mission field, but keeping faith-quiet got too difficult for "Miss Exuberance.") We serve as best as we are able in the "Bible Belt" that can be anything other. We planted WellSpring Community Church in 2006 in faith and prayer, stepping away from politics and apostasy in our previous denomination after two decades. Researching everything I could about PreTrib as the headlines illuminated what I call the longest altar call in at least my history (i.e. March 2020 ongoing) led me to Markell & team and then to you! Super grateful for the forums and the wealth of articles and links that show the pitfalls of everything from NAR to progressive "Christianity." It has helped us greatly in clarifying tough questions from our flock. Thrilled to co-labor alongside you as we prepare for the wedding feast whose wonder and mercy I still cannot grasp. John 3:16-17 and Revelation 22:20 are my bookends verses that I'm wearing out in sharing the Gospel these days...but my life verse is 2 Chronicles 16:9, and I believe it applies to each of us for strengthening and perseverance. Maranatha, Lord Jesus!

P.S. I don't like emojis at all...

 

[Tall Timbers]

Welcome to RF, Epieikes! I have a sheet up paper with 2 Chronicles 16:9 written out. I especially love that verse!

 

[mattfivefour]

Welcome to Rapture Forums! I like your user name. More Christians need to allow God to develop that grace in them.

 

[Everlasting Life]

Hey there!

I'm so glad this site has been of good spiritual use for you and your church!! Praise God!

 

[Carl]

Welcome aboard Epieikes. Ahmm! Apparently the spell checker doesn't like your name.

 

[Armor of Light]

Welcome to RF!

 

[Epieikes]

Welcome to Rapture Forums! I like your user name. More Christians need to allow God to develop that grace in them.

Thank you, mattfivefour! Tis but a goal...a flesh goal...

 

[mattfivefour]

Thank you, mattfivefour! Tis but a goal...a flesh goal...

Well, it's a great goal. But then, all of the graces of Galatians 5:22-23 are goals. Right? The fruit of the Spirit is the very character of Christ and that likeness is produced by the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Our role is to desire it as a goal --that is, to hunger and thirst for it-- and therefore cooperate with the Holy Spirit so that He can produce the image of Christ in us. I'm 77 and my wife is 73 and we are both still pursuing the goal of Christ-likeness. But the longer we serve Him and the sweeter He grows, the worse we see ourselves! No wonder Paul, in one of his last epistles before his execution, told Timothy that he, Paul, was the chiefest of sinners!

 

[JamesSuth]

@Epieikes, I'm glad to hear that you have been finding the forums useful, I love them! I'm from Britain, but I know Montgomery. I was there a couple of times during a visit to Alabama and Georgia in the 2000's and really enjoyed seeing the city centre architecture, the tree lined streets, Capitol and the old Union Station. But the best thing was all the woods in the countryside, and... the heat and humidity. I used to enjoy looking outside and seeing it was dull and cloudy and my brain thinking 'this will surely be cool', only to open the door and be met by a wall of heat like someone had a heater in my face . I have said a prayer for your brother, and prayed for your husband and your church. May God open lots of doors for you in these last days.

 

[caligal]

Welcome to the forums.

 

[Epieikes]

@Epieikes, I'm glad to hear that you have been finding the forums useful, I love them! I'm from Britain, but I know Montgomery. I was there a couple of times during a visit to Alabama and Georgia in the 2000's and really enjoyed seeing the city centre architecture, the tree lined streets, Capitol and the old Union Station. But the best thing was all the woods in the countryside, and... the heat and humidity. I used to enjoy looking outside and seeing it was dull and cloudy and my brain thinking 'this will surely be cool', only to open the door and be met by a wall of heat like someone had a heater in my face . I have said a prayer for your brother, and prayed for your husband and your church. May God open lots of doors for you in these last days.

Hi, James...I've been meaning to write and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your precious prayers and your sweet memories of our neck of the woods. It IS hot here. Downtown has been revitalized with nice Civil Rights tributes...but there are some things time and money may not fix. My husband grew up in Georgia, so we are there fairly often...albeit learning of the Georgia Guidestones and Georgia's role in the 2020 election has soured it some.

It's so funny...I am an Anglophile! (I confess, of the last decade, an Eire-ophile, but England will do nicely.) I'm all tea, Vicar, and Hyacinth...TBH...more "Father Ted." As an AU graduation present, my parents asked me if I wanted to accompany our pastor and his wife on an Auburn UMC trip to England/Scotland to walk in John Wesley's footsteps...August 1988. It was my first time to board a plane, but it was that, boat, or swim...so I bravely parted with my new fiance and crossed the pond. Falling in love with the flowers and culture (it was everything I already loved, just didn't know it) and finding my wedding dress pattern there (patterned after Lady Di's of course...back then when so much was veiled) led to three more opportunities, gracious blessings. The first trip was London/Edinburgh, and all of the Wesley-area hotspots in between--Oxford, Stratford, Epworth, Coventry, Birmingham, York, over the border by Jedburgh Abbey, and up, back. Our sweet guide threw in Liverpool, Beatles-fanatic that I was at the time. The second trip, friends who owned a timeshare gave us their guidebook right after my dad passed away from cancer in 1997, Easter Sunday. They said, "You need a vacation..." so we decided we could go to "Lake Martin, Alabama" anytime and requested a trade for one of these: Switzerland, San Francisco, Hawaii, and Canterbury. Canterbury came back! We took a sweet college-age girl from our church to help with our new toddler, and this trip entailed the SE basically...London, Canterbury, Dover, ferry to Calais and train to Paris, overnight, back, and the rest around Canterbury. THEN, the next year, the couple who gave us the timeshare decided (well SHE did, but that's a long story) they wanted to go and wanted us to go along as tour guides. This time, the Lakes District came back--November, 1998. We were in London on Guy Fawkes Day (fireworks from the top floor of the Victorian B&B, unforgettable), and upon our first trip to Harrods, a limo pulled up and Mohammed al Fayed got out of it with two bodyguards. Because Diana and Dodi had just perished in the tunnels a few months prior, I piped up and said, "Oh, sir, I am so sorry for your loss." He smiled sadly from behind his sunglasses, snapped his fingers, and one of the bodyguards produced a lollipop for our strollered daughter. Kensington Palace was still knee-deep in memorials. We found a cafe in the village countryside near Althorp and we still rave about it. Then, it was up to Keswick. Beatrix Potter country! Overnight in Scotland, loved York (walking the walls!) and the Lakes area. Portmeirion China Outlet on that trip, and I am using both botanical vases as we speak! Some time around London in Windsor...our host-husband hated travel and the "opposite side of the road" and he fussed/pouted most of the trip; they divorced not long after, but that was trip 3. Trip 4 was with our two, 5 and 1 at the time, March 2001, I believe. It turned out to be the favorite, probably because we went for longer. We had essentially a week around Bury St. Edmunds/Norfolk/Ely visiting friends stationed at Lakenheath and a week in the Cotswolds...amazing, amazing. And we FINALLY made it to Bath via Cheddar Gorge, Glastonbury (what an incredibly interesting spot!), and even Stonehenge (closed for "hoof and mouth" I believe...but to get to see it before the sun set! I was certain the Lord elongated the day just for us). All that is to say YOUR HOMELAND IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL AND WE LOVED THE PEOPLE! Blessed, blessed, blessed to have been able to see so much, so often. Where in Britain do you live?

If the Lord tarries, we would LOVE to retire as missionaries in Ireland. Any part is fine...we've been blessed to experience nearly every region, Northern and Republic. Our daughter is preparing for a possible "last days" term of ministry there at the moment and the heartstrings (and bodran) are beating hard. Thank you for your patience in letting me relive these precious memories. Maranatha and have a blessed week as you shine for His glory!

 

[JamesSuth]

Thank you for sharing those memories @Epieikes, what wonderful experiences to have had! I think you've seen more of the British Isles than I have . I do feel blessed to live here, and thankful for how God has blessed the world in the past through the people of the British Isles, and I include the diaspora of Canada, New Zealand and Australia in that. But in the twentieth century, the USA has also been a great Christian nation and blessed the world. I recall seeing a woman in a shop with a t shirt with a Bible verse on it, I turned to a friend and said 'If I were back home I would introduce myself as a fellow believer, but this seems to be quite normal here!". I've been to Auburn also, that is a really nice small town, especially the area around the campus.

I live in the very north of Britain in the Highlands, and love it. People remark that 'there's nobody there', but I find it quite busy enough . My favourite areas aside from the Highlands are, the lake district, Shropshire & Hertfordshire, Yorkshire and the Isle of Man and Channel Isles. But there are so many nice places. There always seems to be a garden, country house, or some industrial museum to take my interest! You are very much accepted as an Anglophile, I say anyone who speaks English has a right to call themselves English if they wish , and I say that as a Scot .

I will pray that your daughter gets clear guidance on what to do. I think time is short and we need to making the most of the opportunities we have, but that needs a lot of personal discernment because sometimes His will for us is not to do the thing that seems obvious to us.

 

[Mocha Latte]

I had to say…and I couldn’t remember which post it was in so this was the easiest way for me to find you again…You mentioned a couple of recommendations for Andy Woods - In the Days of Noah and I finally got around to watching them. His recordings are very good and now I find myself listening to different ones here and there. You also mentioned a couple movies in another post and I took a screenshot so I wouldn’t forget what they are.
So thank you! You have a few good suggestions and I’m appreciating their teachings.

 

[UntilTheWholeWorldHears]

I never did officially welcomed you. So welcome and God bless you.!!!
I already enjoy reading your post. Post more often!!!