Guests at Freddie and Jessie Barnwell’s farm Saturday evening Get-Togethers were reminiscing. They were recalling all the wondrous, perhaps miraculous things had come about over the years there at the farm. Games, horseback riding, Jessie Barnwell’s cookies, along with fresh apple cider from the Barnwell’s apple trees and of course everyone’s favorite time, “Farmer” Barnwell’s story time were always in abundant supply.
Here you find the type of Christian fellowship that is so lacking in society in general, and even in many churches. There is so little fellowship today between people of all ages, youth, teens, college students, and adults.
It was here at the Barnwell’s one Saturday evening that 20-year-old Dusty Clemens discovered that Mrs. Fredhold, a 73-year-old widow, needed someone to take care of repairs around her house. She couldn’t afford to have things done, or do them herself, so he offered to do them for her. In return, she tutored him in his college science classes, since she was a retired science teacher, and he was having some difficulty.
This enabled him to graduate on the Dean’s list. Dusty often quotes I Peter 1:4, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of God’s grace.” He says whenever he practices it, he ends up receiving a blessing.
Mr. and Mrs. Daniels met one of the girls who attended the Barnwell’s every Saturday named Aviana, who was in foster care. They recently heard on the radio that around to 50% of foster care children are being shoved out the door by many state agencies when they turn 18.
Most are either dead, in jail, or on drugs by the time they turn 20, and a large percentage of the rest of them are crying out for someone to help as they face the challenges of life in a lonely world. The Daniels knew they had to do something, and they did! They gave Aviana a place to live, financial support, and the love of Christ, until she graduated from Junior College. She is married now, and has a wonderful family, thanking the Lord Jesus for people like the Daniels!
Jessie Barnwell shared how her five-year-old great granddaughter, Emily, was spending the weekend with them. After saying their bedtime prayers together, Jessie told Emily she could not hear a word she was saying.
Emily looked at her grandmother with a sorrowful look on her face and said, “Grandma, I was praying to God, not to you, and I know He heard me.” Jessie said she had a lot of apologizing to do as Emily had it exactly right; when we pray, we should be praying to God, not to be heard by others. Everyone clapped, bringing a big smile to Emily’s face as she gave her great grandmother a big hug!
When Lessie Amerit asked Fred Lenon, a genetic researcher from the State University, if it was true that scientists, using DNA, can trace our heritage back hundreds of years, and in some cases, all the way back to the first man and woman.
He said, “Yes. The millions of years formerly believed as the arrival of the first man and woman on earth, science now shows is closer to 100,000 years, and perhaps much less. As the science becomes more exact, those who were critical of the Bible, and a young age of creation, need to readjust their thinking. Sadly, even with this new science, few in the secular community, including most scientists, will believe the book of Genesis in the Bible nor accept this proven science related to DNA.
This proves the saying “there are none so blind as those that will not see!”” He told us, when he was giving a lecture at the University regarding this subject, one of the students said it didn’t matter to him if his grandfather was an ape. Mr. Lenon said, “Perhaps not, but I have a feeling it would have mattered to your grandmother.” He was thankful the whole class erupted with laughter. He found that instead of being defensive but replying with humor, the students were more apt to listen to what he had to say!
It was at this point that Freddie Barnwell asked, “What about our spiritual heritage? How did we come to belief in Jesus Christ as Lord? And how did the person who introduced us to Christ as Lord and Savior, come to Him, and so on and so on.”
Somer Chang said her grandfather traced her family’s spiritual heritage back to Hudson Taylor and his missionary outreach in China. She said, “Knowing how Mr. Taylor suffered incredible adversity, in his own family, and all the missionaries and their children serving in his mission program, makes me wonder how this man of such strong faith became a believer in Jesus Christ, and how the gospel was passed down to him through the ages, for which I am most thankful.”
Freddie Barnwell, before telling us the story, said, “The day is fast approaching when as Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:1, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom.” Twelve-year-old Timmy said, “If you ever go to New York City like I did with my family, you will know what the quick and the dead refers to when you try to get across a street in New York.”
Farmer Barnwell laughed right along with everyone else before saying, “The “quick” as used in that verse in the King James version of the Bible means the living.” He then said, “While we are still living, someone, somewhere, is dependent on us to tell them about Jesus Christ and His love before the judgment day which appears to be fast approaching.
Be it personally or in support of your church, missionary organization, or by sharing the stories found on ChristianShortStories.com website, someone needs you to tell them.”
The following week Dillard and Molly MacIntosh stopped by Bobby Lee’s Rockton Street Market in town to pick up a few grocery items. Bobby Lee could not stop talking about the wonderful Christian fellowship, fun and harmony experienced among all those with faith in Christ, and of all ages, who were at the farm Saturday night.
He said, “There wasn’t a word of gossip, people were willing to give of their financial resources in support of each other without hesitation or concern of repayment, regardless of what a person did right or wrong. There was never a word of criticism. There was total support, nurturing, restoration if needed, and encouragement in the faith, without reservation.”
He felt this was what God had intended when he created us. What he experienced at the Get-Togethers at the Barnwell’s farm was like a great advertisement for Heaven. He was so thankful and was confident that he would be in Heaven someday.
His faith is evidenced by the Bible verses he has posted on the wall at his Rockton Street Market!
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” John 13:34
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-
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