Aging is both a blessing and a barrier. (I confess to a different \u201cb\u201d word when I first had this thought, but for this means of communication, I\u2019ll go with \u201cbarrier.\u201d) Having reached the biblical standard of \u201cthree score and ten\u201d (Psalm 90:10, KJV) I feel qualified to comment on this subject. One blessing of aging is the obvious additional years that God has purposely given. Obviously, God is not finished if we are still here. Additional years allow for ministries that, for whatever reason, we didn\u2019t perform earlier. My mother is a good example. Homebound the last twelve years of her life, she developed a rather extensive prayer ministry. In her pre-Internet, E-mail, Facebook, Twitter world, she used her telephone to call through the church directory repeatedly to see what matters she could include in her prayer for that day, often singing a hymn or chorus to the person on the other end of the line. The barrier created by aging is likewise obvious \u2013 physical, emotional, mental, limitations. An unnamed friend is a good example. He pouts about everything. \u201cIf it works, it hurts!\u201d he exclaims. \u201cThis young generation . . .\u201d and he continues with a list of complaints about youth. As one who now attends more funerals than weddings, I want my aging years to be a blessing, not a barrier. How about you? Comments are appropriate and welcome.<\/p>\n
Join me this week in praying (not pouting) for the following global concerns:
\n\u2022 This is Ghost Month (Aug 17-Sep 15) in much of East Asia, with the belief that the gates of Hell are opened, allowing ghosts to come out and roam the earth. Many believe in appeasing the wandering ghosts with burnt offerings and foods to avoid havoc in their homes by these ghosts. Pray for those who serve in East Asia.
\n\u2022 Pray for Marilyn and others who minister to Casino workers in Macau.
\n\u2022 Pray for \u201cThe first day of September\u201d – \u201cThe Day of Knowledge\u201d- when children in Ukraine gather to ring in the new school year. Many churches will start their Sunday School for children in September as well, after summer break.
\n\u2022 Pray for Patricia and colleagues in Cameroon as they begin their translation of II Corinthians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Aging is both a blessing and a barrier. (I confess to a different \u201cb\u201d word when I first had this thought, but for this means of communication, I\u2019ll go with \u201cbarrier.\u201d) Having reached the biblical standard of \u201cthree score and ten\u201d (Psalm 90:10, KJV) I feel qualified to comment on this subject. One blessing of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monday-morning-manna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}