Thank you Pastor Richard Mansfield for sending this picture in!
What is your testimony on how Jesus turned your life around?
God led me to this post I did on May 23rd 2014………..I traveled from Albuquerque, NM to Yankton, SD to see my brother Daryl, who I had not seen in years and also to see my friend Paul Dokken, who I had not seen since the 70’s. I was on my way to see our son Lars graduate from Columbia in Chicago. This is my testimony on true friendship…..
Dear family of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Thank you for coming by for a Memorial Day Weekend CUP! Amen!
We are so moved by your love!
I am being moved by the Lord to share with you today on two things, Christian friendship and Memorial Day.
Continuing with what God showed me on my travels………….
That HE is with me always.
He showed me true friendship……Christian friendship. Friends that go that extra mile to show the true love of Jesus Christ. I have several friends that have gone that extra mile for me this month!
A true friend gives everything with not expecting anything in return.
One of those friends is Paul Dokken.
Paul and I were football managers for Coach Ron Meyer at Windom, Minnesota High School in the early 70’s.
I would hear from my Dad back in the late 70’s and early 80’s that Paul was always asking about me.
It was not until a couple of years ago that we got connected again! PTL! Paul found Dewey’s Daily Cup on the internet.
When we got hooked up, my first thought was, and shame on me, LOL! he is the guy along with Gary Wiese that crushed my sack lunch one day that my Mom made me….don’t ever mess with anything my Mom made for me! LOL!
Anyhow I find it strange how things like that stick in our mind. That has taught me to be very careful how I treat people. A few years ago I talked to a man in his late 50’s who still recalled the names of the people who teased him in school and he even remembered what they said. We must be careful how we treat others. I know I have hurt others in my life by my words and I pray that they have forgiven me. I even have called ones that I know I have hurt seeking their forgiveness.
Getting back to Paul…….I met him for the first timer in 40 years in Yankton, South Dakota last week. He traveled down from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to visit with me and my brother Daryl. Paul and his lovely wife Rene became friends with Daryl when he moved to South Dakota. Daryl has had a rough life up of ups and downs. Paul and Rene have shown him so much love in our Lord Jesus Christ. They travel down to Yankton from time to time for a visit with my brother. The love of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing like it.
Paul and Rene are very busy people, involved in the Christian community and Paul flies for Delta. But they make time for Daryl, as they have become true friends in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I have watched this friendship develop, this showing the love of Jesus Christ, this true testimony of friendship from Albuquerque. I got to watch it first hand when we got together in Yankton.
On my trip I was mentioning the killing of a homeless man in Albuquerque, and a person said, “Well, he just was a hobo”
That comment crushed my heart. Is this what has become of our society?
I had a very stern talk with that man, in love.
Do we not value life anymore?
I wrote earlier this week about America becoming more and more secular. It truly and sadly is.
When I see the friendship that has developed between my brother and Paul and Rene, it touches me so, it brings me to tears.
As the President of Colombia said at graduation to the students……”seek people out…….meet people”
Do you seek people out and meet with them and share the love of our Lord Jesus Christ?
What kind of friendships do you have?
I have included a picture of me and my brother Daryl on the left and Paul Dokken on the right.
Now here are some verses on friendship……….
Proverbs 18:24 ESV / 485 helpful votes
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 ESV / 336 helpful votes
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
Proverbs 17:17
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
Proverbs 27:9
Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.
Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Proverbs 27:6
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
Job 6:14
“He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
1 Peter 4:8-10
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
John 15:12-14
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Proverbs 22:24-27
Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?
Proverbs 27:19
As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
Proverbs 17:9
Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
Ruth 1:17 I love this one especially, my Moms name is Ruth! PTL!
Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
Romans 1:12
That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
Hebrews 13:5
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Proverbs 16:28
A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.
1 Samuel 22:23
Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.”
Proverbs 27:10
Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.
Psalm 55:12-14
For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.
Luke 6:31
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
Proverbs 25:17
Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
Proverbs 27:5-6
Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
Psalm 41:9
Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
Job 2:11-13
Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
2 Timothy 4:16
At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!
Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Proverbs 11:13
Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.
Job 19:13-22
“He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me. My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me. The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes. I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy. My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
1 John 2:6
Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
Amos 3:3
“Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
James 4:4
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Proverbs 13:20
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Proverbs 27:14
Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.
Proverbs 22:24-25
Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
Proverbs 25:19
Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.
Ruth 1:16
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Here is a Memorial Day Story To remember………
As I came out of the supermarket that sunny day, pushing my cart of groceries
towards my car, I saw an old man with the hood of his car up and a lady sitting
inside the car, with the door open. The old man was looking at the engine. I put
my groceries away in my car, and continued to watch the old gentleman from about
twenty five feet away.
I saw a young man in his early twenties with a grocery bag in his arm walking
towards the old man. The old gentleman saw him coming too, and took a few steps
towards him. I saw the old gentleman point to his open hood and say something.
The young man put his grocery bag into what looked like a brand new Cadillac
Escalade. He then turned back to the old man. I heard him yell at the old
gentleman saying: ‘You shouldn’t even be allowed to drive a car at your age.’
And then with a wave of his hand, he got in his car and peeled rubber out of the
parking lot.
I saw the old gentleman pull out his handkerchief, and mop his brow as he went
back to his car and again looked at the engine. He then went to his wife and
spoke with her; he appeared to tell her it would be okay. I had seen enough, and
I approached the old man. He saw
me coming and stood straight, and as I got near him I said, ‘Looks like you’re
having a problem.’ He smiled sheepishly, and quietly nodded his head. I looked
under
the hood myself, and knew that whatever the problem was, it was beyond me.
Looking around, I saw a gas station up the road, and I told the old man that I
would be right back. I drove to the station and went inside. I saw three
attendants working on cars. I approached one of them, and related the problem
the old man had with his car. I offered to pay them if they could follow me back
down and help him.
The old man had pushed the heavy car under the shade of a tree and appeared to
be comforting his wife. When he saw us he straightened up and thanked me for my
help. As the mechanics diagnosed the problem (overheated engine), I spoke with
the old gentleman.
When I shook hands with him earlier, he had noticed my Marine Corps ring and had
commented about it, telling me that he had been a Marine too. I nodded and asked
the usual question, ‘What outfit did you serve with?’
He said that he served with the first Marine Division at Guadalcanal, Pelieliu,
and Okinawa. He had hit three of the worst ones, and retired from the Corps
after the war was over. As we talked we heard the car engine come on and saw the
mechanics lower the hood. They came over to us as the old man reached for his
wallet, but was stopped by me. I told him I would just put the bill on my AAA
card.
He still reached for the wallet and handed me a card that I assumed had his name
and address on it, and I stuck it in my pocket. We all shook hands all around
again, and I said my goodbye’s to his wife. I then told the two mechanics that I
would follow them back up to the station. Once at the station, I told them that
they had interrupted their own jobs to come along with me and help the old man.
I said I wanted to pay for the help, but they refused to charge me. One of them
pulled out a card from his pocket, looking exactly like the card the old man had
given to me. Both of the men told me then that they were Marine Corps Reserves.
Once again we shook hands all around and as I was leaving, one of them told me I
should look at the card the old man had given to me. I said I would and drove
off.
For some reason I had gone about two blocks, when I pulled over and took the
card out of my pocket and looked at it for a long, long time. The name of the
old gentleman was on the card in golden leaf and under his name was written:
‘Congressional Medal of Honor Society.’ I sat there motionless, looking at the
card and reading it over and over. I looked up from the card and smiled to no
one but myself and marveled that on this day, four Marines had all come together
because one of us needed help. He was an old man all right, but it felt good to
have stood next to greatness and courage, and an honor to have been in his
presence.
Here at FGGAM we encourage you and yours to remember why we have Memorial Day.
Please bless us by reading these stories we have posted at FGGAM.ORG
Thank You Veterans! We Thank The Lord For You! The True Meaning Of Memorial Day
Gary Bauer; Patriot Graves
Thank you so much for stopping by for a CUP!
May you and yours be blessed!
For God’s Glory Alone in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, Dewey, Sharon, Family and FGGAM team.
Let us keep praying for each other and our families
