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July 1, 2010
Advice to a new lieutenant MAJOR
Allen
Satterlee Our dwelling place
Moving around has been the lot of Salvation Army officers since the very first days of the movement. While it can be exciting, it can also be distressing and wearisome. We went through a period of six years when we celebrated Christmas in a different house each year. There was very little excitement and a whole lot of weariness after the sixth year. No one could have felt more tired from moving around than Moses. He spent the first 40 years of his life planted in the palace of Pharaoh. Then he was tucked away for another 40 years amid the sheep of Jethro. After 80 years where he moved only once, he then was constantly on the move for the last 40 years of his life. Maybe it was just after another wearisome move that he wrote Psalm 90, with its lines that resonate about always being at home with God. Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God (Psalm 90:1-2). There is a simple eloquent beauty in that prayer to God. You have been our dwelling place. It’s not this tent or that mansion. It’s not in this zip code or even this country. No place is truly home other than this one near to the heart of God. Natural disasters testify to the truth that no dwelling place is completely safe. And even the great castles of the world that fended off fearful enemy attacks will crumble as microscopic creatures and water vapors patiently work. No place on Earth is completely safe from the laws of nature or the destructive hand of man. Except, that is, if we have the Almighty God as our dwelling place. Here no hurricane wind or earthquake shudder or raging fire can reach the child of God. Here there are no home invaders or declarations of eminent domain or earth-moving machines that can plow under the place of protection. Safe at home. Beyond that, with God we are always at home. Home is not a place, but a relationship. We have had the privilege to live and work in several countries. Always we are betrayed as to our citizenship by our skin color, our accent, our mannerisms. Always, we are someone from somewhere else and, because living in other cultures changes what a person is, we really do not feel we are much at home even when we go back to our own country. We ask no pity. We have found that we are always, always at home with our Heavenly Father. There is no fireplace that provides a warmer glow; there is no landscaping that provides a greater calm; there is no relationship that can match the one that exists between the loving Father and one of his children. In Psalm 90 Moses speaks of God’s eternal nature compared to our transient and brief life. Trying to reconcile God’s eternity and our life’s brevity cannot be reconciled outside of God being our dwelling place. So, Moses concludes by praying that we would find the peace that this is meant to bring. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days (Psalm 90:14). We built our family by adopting four children. One was an infant, one 2 1/2, one 4 and one almost 9 when they came into our home. How did we know when they felt that our home was their home as well? It was when we heard them singing, because a person never sings when he is not safe. And we sing for joy and are glad all our days, in this, our God, our dwelling place.
Allow me, please, to use this space to give a bit of advice to a friend just commissioned as a Salvation Army officer. You know who you are. Now that you are in fulltime ministry, it will be helpful – no, necessary – to determine early on if yours will be a vertical calling or a horizontal one. Paul and Barnabas were preaching in Lystra and after healing a lame man, people listening supposed them to be gods. They even wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. This only infuriated the two preachers, who rebuked the people and preached all the more strongly about the one true God. Within moments, Paul was dragged out of the city, stoned, and left for dead (Acts 14:19). What did Paul do then? What would you do? Your answer to that burning question may reveal if yours is a vertical or horizontal calling. Paul picked himself up and limped back into the very city whose men had just stoned him. He even spent the night there! In your career, you’ll be persecuted. Count on it. Will you stand back up and bravely (in the Holy Spirit) go back into that town (your appointment) and stay among those who despise you for Jesus’ sake? You
Rays of
Hope MA JOR FRANK DURACHER will if your calling is vertical. You stick it out. You don’t quit. You don’t retaliate or throw a pity party. You go to sleep night after night, trusting in the same God who called you to serve there – convinced that he is sovereign and in absolute control. A career that lasts is a career that relentlessly perseveres through periods of enormous persecution. That kind of calling is not fickle. It does not need the applause of men. It rejects being enshrined as a god. Authentic ministry delivers the truth of God, no matter how jagged the edges or perilous the threats. So keep your message clear and plain; regardless of the outcome or lack of results. The lost do not understand the gospel, and many who are saved rarely understand grace. Your job is to keep explaining both. Now go to it.
Promoted to Glory Major Everett Case
Major Everett Case was promoted to Glory June 4, 2010, from Concord, N.C. Participants in the funeral service included Major Mark Bell, Major Sheila Lanier and Major Allen Johnson. Everett Nicholas Case, Jr. was born July 17, 1925, in Clarksburg, W. Va., to Everett and Hattie Case. His mother had a debilitating bone disease, which was passed on to Everett. He had to be home-schooled often in his young life due to multiple fractures. Everett and his family participated in many corps activities, which helped him prepare for his future as an officer. He entered officer training in Atlanta as a member of the Warriors session and was commissioned June 2, 1947. His first appointments were as assistant officer in the Maryland-West Virginia
Brigadier Ruby Milton
Brigadier Ruby Milton was promoted to Glory on June 7, 2010, from Nature Coast Lodge Assisted Living Residence in Lecanto, Fla. She was 98. The funeral service was held at Westview Cemetery in Atlanta with Major Ron Busroe presiding and Lt. Colonel Vern Jewett speaking. Others participating in the service were former co-workers – Lt. Colonel Beatrice Combs and A/Captain Alfreda Tidman. Ruby Pauline Milton was born Jan. 30, 1912, in Marion, Va., to W.C. and Vinnie Milton. She stated that “like many other boys and girls I went to the altar many times,” but it was at a revival service later in life that she made the full commitment to Christ. She entered officer training in Atlanta from the Atlanta No.
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Division, followed by a short tenure in finance work in Atlanta and Louisville. He was married to Lieutenant Helen Henthorn on May 26, 1952, and their appointments together included Hazard, Paducah and Hopkinsville, Ky.; and Memphis, Tenn. Everett then took an educational leave to study Bible at Midsouth Bible College. He was a devoted Bible teacher and loved to share God’s Word. One of his favorite appointments was as chief side officer for single men at the officer training school. Everett and Helen also served in Charlotte and Concord, N.C.; Spartanburg, S.C.; Baltimore and Sebring and Miami, Fla. They entered honored retirement from Statesville, N.C., on Sept. 30, 1985. Everett was a positive person and even with his physical disabilities always looked for the silver lining. He loved playing the guitar and singing and used these talents throughout the years in his ministry. Surviving him are his loving wife, Helen; son Everett Nicholas III; daughters Constance Suzanne and Ruth Ann; and four grandchildren. 1 Corps, and became a member of the Enthusiasts session. Upon being commissioned an officer June 6, 1938, her first appointment was the Baltimore Settlement and Nursery. This began a career spent entirely in the Women’s & Children’s Social Service Department. Ruby was well-qualified for that work as she had assisted Major and Mrs. A. G. Graves in the Bruner Home in Greenville, S.C., prior to becoming an officer. Subsequent appointments were in Tampa, Fla., where she served successfully as assistant, acting superintendent and superintendent; Durham, N.C., for two appointments; and San Antonio, Texas. These latter appointments were also as superintendent. Ruby honorably retired from active service on Jan. 30, 1974, from Durham, having served over 35 years. She touched many lives during her ministry as a Salvation Army officer and was a humble, gracious and caring servant of her Lord. Ruby is survived by her wonderful caregivers, John and Mary Erdman, who loved her and faithfully ministered to her needs.
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