I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes

Dear Children, Edson and Emma: Here I am at Mr. Fair’s, husband to your cousin, Addie Clough Fair, looking out and upward upon mountains of perpendicular rocks estimated at five hundred feet high….

Mr. Walling took us up, up, up the mountains. We feared sometimes that we should never reach the top. We had a commanding view of the country. We could look down upon Black Hawk and Central, and see all there was of both cities….

The mountain scenery of Colorado can never be described so that the imagination can gather distinct and correct ideas of this country. It is wonderful! It is marvelous! The scenery of the grand old mountains, some bald and others covered with trees! Instinctively the mind is awed and deep feelings of reverence bow the soul in humiliation as the imagination gathers a sense of the power of the Infinite. I would not be deprived of the privilege of seeing what I have of the mountain scenery of Colorado for [a] considerable [sum]….

I walked miles yesterday up the steep mountains and I did not get to rest until past eleven o’clock. But this morning I am up at five, bright and active. This trip among the mountains is doing much for my health. None of you were aware of my miserable state of health. I knew it would not make home better to complain when I left Battle Creek.

Father is better, we are sure, but he has times of shortness of breath and faintness or giddiness. He is careful of his diet….

Mr. Walling is very earnest that we should go with him across the snowy mountain range to what is called the Park, on the other side of the snowy range…. We should have to ride on ponies over the mountains. Our provisions for three or four weeks would be taken in a wagon. All of us would have to ride on the ponies over the mountains while two horses would draw the provisions and blankets for lodging. When there, over the mountains, we are away from all settlements and must carry everything along that we need….

Be sure, my children, to keep your souls free in the Lord, and then He will lead you. The meek will He guide in judgment; the meek will He teach His way.

Your father is perfectly cheerful and happy. We had precious seasons of prayer before God in the groves and mountains in behalf of ourselves and you and the cause and work of God at Battle Creek.—Letter 12, July 31, 1872, to Edson and Emma White.
The Upward Look p. 226
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray that Ron can find a job soon. Rose
—- I have a good friend and his mother, Elizabeth was in a nursing home. She been transferred to hospital and tested positive for this terrible virus. Please lift her and family up in prayer .Daniel
—-Please pray for my sister Kim who has been going through some really challenging times. Shelly
—-Update on my friends daughter who is 20 weeks along and possibly losing her son. She had lost some amniotic fluid but, the leaking stopped and the babies heart beat is strong. Please pray that her being on bed rest will see this baby to full term or at least him being able to survive if not! Connie
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Dear Friends,

Even though my great-grandmother was very poor, she made sure that her children got music lessons. The girls learned to play the piano and her son played the trumpet. When my grandmother had girls of her own, she gave them piano lessons. How they hated those lessons! Every day my grandmother had a rebellion on her hands. Finally she gave up.

One day, after I was grown and had children of my own, my mother came to visit me. She sat down at the piano and played Give Me the Bible by Priscilla J. Owens. I was so surprised! From that moment, the song became special to me. I’d like to share it with you today for its message is one we should not forget.

Give me the Bible, star of gladness gleaming, To cheer the wanderer lone and tempest tossed, No storm can hide that peaceful radiance beaming, Since Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Give me the Bible holy message shining; Thy light shall guide me in the narrow way. Precept and promise, law and love combining, Till night shall vanish in eternal day.

Give me the Bible when my heart is broken, When sin and grief have filled my soul with fear; Give me the precious words by Jesus spoken, Hold up faith’s lamp to show my Saviour near. Give me the Bible holy message shining; Thy light shall guide me in the narrow way. Precept and promise, law and love combining, Till night shall vanish in eternal day.

Give me the Bible, all my steps enlighten, Teach me the danger of these realms below’ That lamp of safety, o’er the gloom shall brighten, That light alone the path of peace can show. Give me the Bible holy message shining; Thy light shall guide me in the narrow way. Precept and promise, law and love combining, Till night shall vanish in eternal day.

Truly the Bible is the Book of books. From Genesis to Revelation we can rely upon its message. Wicked men have tried to destroy it, but it has endured. Many have laid down their lives for reading. Many are ridiculed for following it fully. Modern man has tried to ignore it, but it will judge him in the end.

Jesus assures us, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” Luke 21:33 God’s Word endures forever! It is the one sure thing that we can rely on. “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven….Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.” “Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.” Ps 119: 89, 160, 11-16 “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Ps 1:1,2

May we daily read God’s Holy Word. May we order our lives according to its precepts. May we exclaim with Paul, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Rom 11:33

Rose