The Mission Foundation

May 30, 2014

Dear friends,

I give thanks to our Lord for His great Hand of blessing on the weekly Louisiana Legislators’ Bible Study / Prayer Breakfast.  We saw far greater weekly participation than we have ever seen before!   This was, as I have mentioned before, my 21^st year at the Louisiana State Capitol and the 15^th year of the breakfast!

On May 20^th, we held our annual reunion breakfast, and we were very happy that several of our former representatives and senators were able to be with us.  What a great morning!  The room was so full that the staff had to open the doors and set up extra tables in the adjacent area, and we were blessed by our Lord to experience wonderful warmth and fervency in our fellowship, our meditation on the Word, and our prayers.  Again, we give thanks to our Savior! 

I would like to include a few notes (with slight modifications) from my reunion morning message:  “Living in Preparation to Say My Last Prayer.”

“God, don’t let me die. I have so much to do.”  September 10, 1935, 4:10 a.m.  These were the very last words that came from his lips. –  Governor Huey P. Long, age 42.

“I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave Me to do.” – These words were included in His prayer on the night before His death. – Jesus our Lord, age 33.

It is quite possible that you will know when you are saying your last prayer to God.  If so, what will it be? 

God has given you a work to accomplish:  He has given you a purpose.  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Matthew 22:37-39 ESV)  Love God!  And love every man, woman, and child around you! 

God has perfectly designed you to carry out this great purpose in a manner that is unique to you. “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that He prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them.”  (Eph. 2:10)  You are His “workmanship,” His poiema – His personal work of art!  The Apostle Paul says that God hand-made you for certain works that He prepared for you before the foundation of the world.  David prays, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made, . . . in your book were written . . . the days that were ordained for me.” (Ps. 139:14, 16) – “I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God’s thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, and most precious thing in all thinking.” – George McDonald  

You will accomplish your work by following the example of Jesus who lived every day for the purpose to which His Father had called Him. 

• Each day do only those things that you know are pleasing to your Father:  “And He who sent me is with Me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” (John 8:29)
• Each day seek to know and do your Father’s will:  “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 6:38)

• Each day observe what God is doing so that you might participate with Him:  Jesus said that He as the Son of God does “only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that He Himself is doing.” (John 5:19)
• Each day maintain a sense of urgency, knowing that your days are limited:  “We must work the works of Him Who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no man can work.” (John 9:4)

Every day you are making decisions.  Let every decision you make be guided by the purpose for which Jesus  lived, the same purpose for which He has called you to live:  Love God!  Love people!  Do this, my friend, and you will be prepared to say your last prayer to God!  Though you cannot live perfectly, as Jesus did, you will be able to say, “By Your grace, I sought to honor You by accomplishing all that You gave me to do.” 

Thank you for your prayers and your financial support of us in our work.  We are truly grateful. 

Your brother and sister in the Savior,

Rod and Bec

The Mission Foundation

P. O. Box 46358

Baton Rouge, LA 70895

May 7, 2014

Dear friends,

Some of you may have wondered what happened with regard to our April letter.  I am sorry that, in the midst of an extremely demanding season of ministry, my monthly correspondence with you has been delayed.      

April and early May have been blessed days of labor.  Bec and I give thanks to God for His workings through The Gathering of Men and Monday Morning for Men (Ruston) and for my recent opportunity to speak to the LA State Association of YMCA Directors and at a men’s retreat at Calvary Baptist Church.  I plan to write about some of these things later this month, but in this letter, I would like to focus on one special event at the Louisiana State Senate. 

Yesterday the Senate held their annual “Military Family Day” in remembrance of eleven of our soldiers who have died during the past year.  It was a beautiful ceremony that included presentations by the Baton Rouge Bagpipes and Drums and the LA National Guard Color Guard.  Very meaningful words of remembrance were given for each fallen soldier, and there were times of silent prayer and moments of comfort for the families.  It was very moving to see every member of the Senate coming to the front to offer personal words to the members of each family.  I must emphasize that there were words of reflection on the life of each soldier as his picture was shown before us, and expressions of comfort were offered to each family.  It was a lovingly and appropriately extended time of communicating respectful gratitude and of coming alongside the grieving. 

It was my honor to have been invited to present the opening prayer.  Before the ceremony began, I spent a brief moment with each of the family members.  As I moved from one to the next there in the Senate gallery, their eyes and their voices disclosed the greatness of the sorrow they carried in their hearts.  Their loved ones had paid the ultimate price for our freedom and for the freedom of others in this world.  As I write, I am remembering the weighty grief in the eye of a young widow; I am hearing a father’s voice muted by sadness as he spoke to me; and I am seeing the mourning on a mother’s face as she reached out to shake my hand.  What great loss.   

But at the end of the “Military Family Day,” recognition was also given to a living heroin! – WWII U.S. Navy Wave, Mrs. Dorothy Bauer, mother of Mr. Keith Bauer, one of our Senate guards.  Mrs. Bauer, who was a nurse and one of only 300 women trained to be a part of a flight crew, flew over 100 hours a month, often flying great distances over the Atlantic and Pacific with our wounded soldiers.   As Mrs. Bauer, who had her 90^th birthday in April, stood with her son Keith at the front of the chamber, and the words of her commendation were ended, the members of the Senate, and all others present, stood in applause!

May God help us to continually and gratefully remember our fallen soldiers and their families.  And may God remind us to regularly express our sincere appreciation to those who have served in our military in any capacity. 

Also, may God enable us to be faithful in prayer.  Please pray for the grieving families not only here in Louisiana but all over our nation, and please pray for our soldiers, both those on active duty and those who have served us in the past, some of whom bear great emotional and physical burdens. 

In closing, we want to say again that we give thanks to God for you.   Thank you for all of your prayers, your words of encouragement, and your support of us in our work. 

                                                                                    In the love of our Savior,

                                                                                    Rod and Bec