A GREAT MINISTRY OPPORTUNITY

I am looking for someone who needs funding for the Lord's work. My uncle died recently and left me just over $3,000,000. It's in a bank account in Bayonne, New Jersey, but I will not be needing it since I was recently diagnosed with terminal arthritis. If any of you who are reading this are born again and need money for your ministry, please send me your savings account number as well as the routing number on your bank account. As soon as I receive the information, I will have the money transferred to your account. For security purposes and for my own peace of mind, it would also be helpful if you could include your social security number and the numbers and expiration dates of two or three credit cards. Also please include your birth date and your mother's maiden name.

If 3 million won't cover your needs, email me and I'll give you contact information for Angie Fred a born-again Christian from the Ivory Coast who has "US$2.500million dollars in a Bank in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire West Africa" waiting for you--if you'll just send the account number to which it can be deposited. I just received her email message today, so hurry before the money is gone.

The Story Keeps on Going

Every week new people keep finding "My Calvin Seminary Story." I might have thought it would have died within a year. Today, I received 2 emails, one from a former Calvin College student and one from a former student of mine. Here are some excerpts from the latter:

I just read your blog about your experiences at CTS. I can't tell you how disappointed and saddened I am that you had to go through that experience. I was touched by your honesty and openness in sharing the particulars of your ordeal. . . . I have to say that I think it’s laughable that the administrators at CTS suggested that you need to gain a reputation for godliness. Obviously I don’t know to what they were referring, but from what I know of you and from what you relate in your blog, nothing about you smacks of ungodliness. Rather, everything about you suggests that you are someone who in your commitment to Christ is passionate about the truth and you are a woman who is unafraid to speak your mind. If that is not what they wanted, then they should never have hired you in the first place. And if that is why they wanted to let you go, then they should have just said so. . . . I would propose that they might need to regain their own reputation for godliness. They can start that process by taking a stand for the truth, removing the silencing clause and offering you a redress. I do hope they do so, even if you would not be willing to teach there again.

RE-OPENING CARLTON GARDENS

After being closed for more than a year, John and I have been busy the past several weeks opening up the shop. John loves to recycle and re-finish old furniture, and he does a fantastic job. Three other other couples are also involved with us in artistic endeavors of all kinds. Check us out the store website in progress here.

This is the opening photo on the website--our white front-yard Victorian gazebo, decked out for the holidays. Stop by if you're on the southeast side of town.

I'm often busy in the back office working through my 18 chapters of the book due by the end of the year. My tentative title is: "Your Legacy Footprint: Sidestepping the Quicksand of Leadership Lies." When John and I are not around, son Carlton and granddaughter Kayla are there waiting to greet customers.

NIGHT FOR A HIKE

Tonight is a blustery, sleeting, windy weather-watch in Grand Rapids, but it turned out to be an incredible opportunity to explore the woods along the river where we ski. The city lights reflected in the clouds gave us a nice glowing pathway. Winter has come early this year and the river is already filled with huge slates of ice. We hiked for about a half hour until the trail ended at a creek then turned back for home. What a way to end the first day of December!