Quote from Grover, attributed to Cathleen
Morris: "Well, I tried being a good man for a long time. Turned out I wasn't real skilled
at it. I got kind of discouraged about that, so I prayed on for a few
days. Finally, it just came to me. After that I just got up each morning
and first thing asked the Lord to forgive me for things I'd messed up
pretty badly the day before so I could start with a clean slate. Now
that took awhile!
After
that I asked Him to give me a hint about about kindness and things I
missed about other folks ~ just was blind to because I was
distracted by stuff that, at the time, seemed really important. By
then it was heading into lunch time, so I'd stop and thank Him for
all the things in my life that I was truly grateful for ~ the pure
grace and mercies I didn't in any way deserve.
By the time my list of thanks got
finished and I added the people and situations that were on my
heart, well it was close to dinner, and this old cowboy was
grateful. I was also hungry and tired, so I'd eat, read a book, head
on off to bed, say my night prayers and fall asleep in minutes ...
After doing that every day for a couple
of months, something else occurred to me. The new habits had changed
my outlook and I was slowly growing into the man I had always hoped
to be ..."
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click any photo below
to see it full-size
Grover liked the horse
Bob Woodson was giving him at his Retirement party |
Ladd Fields & Grover at Redeemer |
John Farra & Grover at Yeldall |
Nancy & Grover in Athens, TX |
Photo provided by daughter Janis |
Newman family 1972 move in Houston |
Bill Farra, Graham Pulkingham, John Farra and
Grover on Cumbrae Island |
Households at Giddings Ranch |
Nancy Newman in 2011: "Grover and I came
to Redeemer from separate paths in 1964, I as a music teacher and Grover
as a Methodist minister. We married in 1972. The Lord's call and the
ensuing experiences have shaped our lives for the last 45 years. In the
mid 60's a small band of people at Redeemer became very excited about
the actual possibility that the Lord wanted to raise up a church like
the one in the New Testament, a real Body of Christ. This was the Lord's
sovereign move. We didn't just come together and think this was a good
idea. The Lord spoke his will to this early band of followers. We had to
follow Him and that required every bit of us. It was hard. I struggled
in my soul. The Lord was faithful in the face of our sin. He raised up a
church that was way beyond what any of us could envision. The love, the
powerful praise and worship, the daily testimonies, the discipleship,
the healings, the sacred lived in the down to earth acts of each day,
the powerful Biblically based teaching was all God directed and yes, it
was imperfect because we are imperfect.
We thank you, Lord Jesus, for the way you shaped our lives for
glorifying Yourself, and yes for again and again calling us to the way
of the Cross. One of my teachers at Redeemer said to me "You don't want
that wooden cross with the nails and the splinters. You want one of
those golden ones that hangs around your neck."
We thank you, Lord, for bringing alive the scriptures, a daily lamp for
us. We thank you, Lord, for the move of your Holy Spirit that took us in
strange ways, like ordering moving trucks for our move to Colorado
before we had a place to live, for being prayed for at the church, all
45 of us and being sent out to "wherever God was leading us".
And Lord, we thank you for teaching Grover and me servant ministries as
parts of the Body of Christ, Grover in pastoral, preaching, mechanical,
logistical areas and me in worship and praise. I particularly am
grateful for how the Lord taught musical leaders and followers to learn
from each other. May He be forever glorified." |
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