Joshua Fellows was an engineer and worked on the railways. He had married young Hannah Spruce.
Both young George and his sister Irene died horribly of gastroenteritis. In those days, the doctors took both the children off food and gave them only milk, which was THE worst thing they could do, as milk only exacerbated the dreadful illness. They got worse and worse, and finally, both of those young children, my mother's sister and brother, died. What a horrible ordeal for Hannah and Joshua.
Joshua was an engineer and worked on the railways, where he organised the extension of the lines and what was really needed through to the beginning of the War. He was sent by the railways to go way up north to start the commencement of the rail so that the war needs and also the troops would be able to reach Darwin and even further north.
Hannah was an amazing lady, coping with the dreadful loss of her two children and yet continuing to stand by her husband, travelling away from where she was so used to living and where she had been brought up by her mum and dad, leaving her siblings and travelling way up north - even after the very sad deaths of her two loved children.
She stood by Joshua every bit and never left him alone to cope with the upheaval of leaving their home, where she, too, had been raised. She was an amazing lady. Joshua stood by her as well, and they travelled together to remote and deserted places. He organised the rail lines and continued working through the ravages of the war.
After the war ended, they came back to Newcastle. Hannah had given birth to three more children while away. Joshua built a five-bedroom home in Hamilton, NSW, where they raised their three surviving children, the youngest of whom was my mother.
They named their new home ROIGENE, and the plaque is still there today. It is a mixture of the names Irene and George, both their little ones, as mentioned above,
Hannah never gave in to her desire for things and places. She stood firmly by her husband and was there for him one hundred percent through all the anxiety and total alienation of being so far away from home, especially after the death of her two young children.
Jesus told the parable about servants doing what their master commanded. Joshua didn't "command" Hannah about anything, but she certainly stood by him, and he stood by her.
The story Jesus told, and you can find it in Luke 17:7-10, went like this: "Suppose one of you has a servant who is plowing or looking after the sheep. When he comes in from the field, do you tell him to hurry along and eat his meal? Of course not! Instead, you say to him, 'Get my supper ready, then put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that, you may have your meal. The servant does not deserve thanks for obeying orders, does he? It is the same with you; when you have done all you have been told to do, say, 'We are ordinary servants; we have only done our duty.'"
Once we give our lives to the Lord, we serve him with selflessness and never ever expect any thanks or special treatment. The lord expects us to follow him completely and share our love for him with others, showing all our complete surrender to Jesus.
Being followers of Jesus doesn't earn us thanksgiving and pats on the back from all and sundry. Jesus certainly didn't get any of those while he was here on earth, and the very fact that he gave his life to pay for all of our sins is certainly more than we can ever expect and even far, far more.
So, the parable Jesus told is about a servant doing what they are told and certainly not expecting any gratitude or special treatment from the boss.
The story really is not centred about a self-satisfying master; what Jesus is saying here is that it is about the selflessness of a servant, which is us if we give our lives over to him; a self-satisfying person isn't really a follower of Jesus.
The story, hopefully, ends with us putting ourselves in the same place as the obedient servant, doing what is required of them in complete surrender to their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
We are certainly blessed to accept Jesus death on Calvary all those years ago to pay the price for our sins. Jesus' death on that day certainly abolished all of our sins if we accept the gift he is offering us.
Hannah certainly stood firmly behind Joshua, and she loved her three children so much. We should certainly, like Hannah, stand firmly with Jesus Christ and accept what he did on Calvary all those years ago to pay dearly for our sins and abolish them from us completely if we ask him to.
He will forgive us everything if we give him complete and utter leadership of our lives. That means plainly that everything we do, regardless of what that thing is, Jesus needs to come first.
Seek the kingdom of God in your life! How do you do that? Put God first; stop getting concerned about what you are doing, wearing, worrying about; start thinking about God in everything you do, say, and think. Give it to God, and regardless of what is happening, he will be in the first place.
Of course, we will still be consumed with grief and anxiety many times in life, but God is there, and with us through the very tough times and through all the heartache that we will endure over our lifetime, he will be there with us and for us.
In the Bible, Proverbs 3: 5-6 says: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Do you really trust God? I mean, REALLY trust him? When we do trust God, we lean on him in every situation in which we find ourselves. If and when we rely on just ourselves and leave him way out of it all, that leads us to a world of confusion, static unrest, and total frustration all sometimes together.
When we do give our lives to God and fully trust him in every situation, no matter what happens in life, in really difficult circumstances, His love for you and me is real, and He will always be close to us, even when we are hurting the most.
We all know life isn't perfect; it would be nice if it were, but we all know it isn't, and often we are left without answers, but through every trial and situation in which we find ourselves, God is fighting for us, and we can rely on His strength and not ours when the nasty things happen in our lives.
Let's encourage each other to trust God completely, not just when we feel like it but in everything we do and everywhere we go.
God loves you, and He loves me, and He will always be on our side, often seeing us through the most difficult situations that life throws at us.
God's rich blessings to you this week, and I hope to see you next time.
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