It’s a beautiful autumn Monday here at Higgins Lake, Michigan. The air is crisp, the sun is shining (occasionally) and the scent in the air tells me the leaves are beginning to turn. I love the sweet scent of early autumn. We may even build our first fire in the wood stove today.

We begin saying goodbye to some of our Higgins Lake Baptist Church family this week. It was fun this spring as our family had the first opportunity to enjoy the seasonal growth of the church when our spring and summer residents began to return. Some of them we had not yet met as they had already left for winter before we arrived in November for my first speaking engagement. How those precious folks have encourage us all. We’ll miss them.

We’ve been studying Genesis on Sunday evenings recently. Last night we spoke of the account of Noah’s loss of control and nakedness as a result of his drunkenness (Genesis 9:20-29). It is encouraging to note that in spite of Ham’s disrespect for his father his brothers Shem and Japheth showed self-restraint and modesty.

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Higgins Lake Baptist Church
Kevin A. Pierpont
9-28-03

Church leaders were largely to blame for Mark Twain becoming hostile to the Bible and the Christian faith. As he grew up, he knew elders and deacons who owned slaves and abused them. He heard men using foul language and saw them practice dishonesty during the week after speaking piously in church on Sunday. He listened to ministers use the Bible to justify slavery. Although he saw genuine love for the Lord Jesus in some people, including his mother and his wife, he was so disturbed by the bad teaching and poor example of church leaders that he became bitter toward the things of God. 1

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Those who know me will agree I’m a bit strange. It’s raining today here in beautiful northern Michigan. I love rain. I love sunshine too but I also enjoy thunder and lightning, high winds and even snowdrifts and the bitter cold of deep winter. The chill of winter makes a spot by the wood stove quite enjoyable, you should try it sometime.

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Higgins Lake Baptist Church
Kevin A. Pierpont
9/21/03

Let me share this poem of Amy Carmichael’s,

“He said..’I will forget the dying faces, the empty places. They shall be filled again. Oh, voices moaning deep within me cease.’ But vain the word, vain, vain. Not in forgetting lieth Peace…

He said..’I will crowd action upon action. The strife of faction shall stir me and sustain. Oh, tears that drown the fire of manhood cease.’ But vain the word, vain, vain. Not in endeavor lieth Peace…

‘I will withdraw me and be quiet. Why meddle in life’s riot? Shut be my door to pain. Desire, thou doest befool me. Thou shall cease.’ But vain the word, vain, vain. Not in aloofness lieth Peace…

He said..’I will submit, I am defeated. God hath depleted my life of it’s rich gain. Oh futile murmurrings, why will you not cease?’ But vain the word, vain, vain. Not in submission lieth Peace…

He said..’I will accept the breaking sorrow which God tomorrow will to His son explain.’ Then did the turmoil deep within him cease. Not vain the word, not vain. For in Acceptance lieth Peace” (Amy Carmichael)

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We just completed a weekend Missions Conference here at Higgins Lake Baptist Church. It was one of those “mountaintop” experiences. God used three missionary families to challenge and encourage us to faithfully serve where the Lord has put us. After a group of meetings like this when you are with other Christians for several days and you are faithfully challenged with the scriptures you can’t help but be spiritually charged and ready for service. You can’t help but be on a spiritual high.

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Higgins Lake Baptist Church
Kevin A. Pierpont
9/7/03

An ad appeared in a newspaper that read: “Farmer wants to marry woman, age 35, with tractor. Send picture of tractor.”

We laugh at this but it ought to cause us to think about just what kind of traits do make a woman attractive? In a moment we’ll begin to consider what God’s Word says about the qualities that God thinks are important women who profess to know Him.

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