||
                 ||||||||
                    ||                       How beautiful on the mountains
                    ||                       are the feet of those ... who
                    ||                       proclaim salvation, who say to
                                             Zion, "Your God reigns!"
          Pastor RALPH & GENE ANN WOOD                  --Isaiah 52:7 (NIV)
          E-mail:  randg.wood@encode.com
          FRESH MANNA, 28/01/1998 ............................ 2 KINGS 2:12
             And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the
          chariot[/s] of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him
          no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in
          two pieces.   --2 KINGS 2:12 (KJV)
             God had revealed both to the great prophet, Elijah, and to his
          assistant, Elisha, that Elijah was now to be taken up to heaven.
          Yet, even though he was prepared for this event; when it actually
          happened, Elisha cried out in anguish.  The loss to Israel was as
          significant as the loss of its chariots and horsemen would be.
          The city of Barrie has just sustained such a loss.  For Emerson
          Graham, for forty-six years pastor of the Full Gospel Lighthouse,
          died suddenly last Saturday, still in active ministry at the age
          of eighty-seven.  He was a great brother in Christ, a great help
          to us, and a great pastor to many, both in this city itself, and
          throughout a wide region.  Thinking about this on Monday morning,
          I had to cry out, "Brother Graham is gone: what shall we do!".
             He was a real 1 CORINTHIANS 13 man-- full of faith in Christ,
          strong in the eternal hope of the Christian, powerful in love.
          And he had the gift of imparting these virtues to others.  The
          course of Brother Graham's ministry saw signs and wonders, gifts
          of the Spirit, healings, deliverances from demons, and lost souls
          won to Christ.  He had a long-standing prison ministry at the
          jail.  If you were at the hospital waiting for a loved one to
          come out of surgery, there he was to wait with you.  And if you
          came to a worship service, you'd find he had most of the people
          involved in some aspect of ministry.
             He encouraged us, also; and made us welcome to worship with
          the Lighthouse, when things weren't going well.  He had a way of
          not judging, or even giving advice.  He'd just share things from
          his experience of serving God, leading the church, ministering to
          people; and let you pick up wisdom from these things yourself.
          His great faith in God gave him great faith in what others could
          do for Him in the name of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit;
          and in his quiet love, he imparted to you the desire to do it.
             So, "Brother Graham is gone: what shall we do?".  Let us all
          carry on:  with his passion for Christ; his love for people; his
          understanding of hearts; and his ardent, unquenchable desire for
          revival.  And, let all of Barrie thank God for him!   --RLW
--- QScan/PCB v1.17b / 01-0313
---------------