I Believe – My Values

Out of Religion and Into an Interactive Two-Way Relationship with God

Growing up as a child in a religious community with parents that participated in church life, I initially presumed I was a nice boy and that was surely sufficient for life. Becoming a believer in Christ by the age of 8 shortened the opportunity to become enslaved by the enticements of the world before my experience of salvation and being made a child of God. My practice of sin and learning of its sinfulness came after I became a believer in Christ!

At the age of 4, I began a monthly visit to the County Jail. My Dad was part of a church quartet that went to the Butler County Jail each month to sing gospel songs to the prisoners and share their own stories of knowing Jesus Christ and explaining the gospel to them. I was permitted to play with the men through the bars with my toy tractor and wagon I always brought along. I likely caused them to think of their own children from whom they were separated. Upon completion of good behavior for the evening, the Jailer would invite me to select my choice of candy bars from the lower drawer of his desk. I loved going to Jail. I continued my interest in prisons visiting regularly the prison in Hutchinson, Kansas throughout my high school years. After college, I continued special work with chaplains and inmates in over 50 State and Federal prisons. Befriending prisoners and hearing the details of their lives and crimes, had a large impact on my own life, greatly reducing my temptation to participate with any schemes to extort, steal and bring damage to others.

By third grade I had my mouth washed out with a soap bar by my mother and the cause of that was never repeated in my life again. Even so, I claim childhood innocence for most infractions of law and order, though with some exceptions. We attended the recently started Newton Bible Church in their first basement-only meeting place. On a Sunday night, in a classroom for kids off the main room where the preacher was teaching the adults, I found a hairpin that seemed to me to fit perfectly into a wall outlet in the room. The preacher, gauging his teaching and preaching by the wall clock at my end of the building, went well over the allotted time. The fuse for that clock had shorted out with barely a spark at the outlet I was working at. The pastor would sometimes thank me for giving him a bit more time to finish his sermon.

My mother proved her love for us kids in so many ways. Growing up in the Mennonite religion, she learned the great stories of the Bible in their detail. With terrific story telling skills, she helped me and the children she taught in a summertime backyard Good News club to imagine being inside of the story. She easily communicated to us what was the great contest between little David, a shepherd boy, and the giant Goliath. She could mimic the sounds of the stream that separated this young boy and the battle hardened giant of a man. It was clear to us the specific dimensions of the stones that David selected from the stream to fit his slingshot. We came to understand his courage, from his experience with God’s help to fight a bear and to kill a lion to protect his sheep herd. When she explained the sacrifice God made for us, by sending Jesus Christ to earth and then to the cross, as payment for my sins, it was clear to me from the Scriptures being read. I believed it and accepted God’s gift for myself.

40 years later, my mother came to realize she knew the stories of the Bible, she knew about the life of Jesus and His death on the cross, and she had adapted as best she could to the norms and requirements of her religious community, but she had never for herself, accepted God’s payment for all of her sins. By the graciousness of God and specific provisions of God, while she was living in California, she came to understand the truth of the good news of the Gospel and embraced it for herself. Her life was transformed in every way possible. She had moved from a life in a religious society and church to a personal relationship with the only true and living God.

My grandmother and grandfather, the Ben Wiebe’s offered me $5.00 (a great sum in the 1950s) if I would read through the entire Bible and report to them when I had completed it. I did read the entire Bible that next year and in addition to $5, I began to see the great wealth of God’s riches He was offering to His children. By reading through the Bible that first time, I realized there was very much I did not know. I also appreciated there were 100s of the most amazing stories of people and nations that would require many more readings to understand all of what was happening in this history of the world.

My first two years of school, I was the smartest (and dumbest) kid in my class because I was the only kid in my first grade and second grade class in the one room Kellas Grade School (near Newton, KS). Third grade was at Peabody, KS where we rode the bus into town from the one room school house my dad had converted into a home. By third grade I was hearing the stories of the Bible at church and from my mom’s teaching at the summer Good News Club she taught in the backyard of someone’s home in Peabody.

For me it was fairly simple and straightforward. I understood I was a sinner. No large crimes but operating based on my natural inclinations. I was glad to learn of a Savior who paid for all of my sins and offered me life and everlasting life in place of my earned death penalty.

He (God) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.                 2 Corinthians 5:21.

The Bible verses we heard and learned were clear about my condition and God’s love and gift.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23.

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9.

Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5:24

Believing that offer and that promise from God was for me personally, and receiving it, thanking God for it with a simple prayer resulted in peace with God.

 

 

When I was a small girl, my home had many Christian influences.  The biggest influence was Christian music.  Though I know my parents did not have much, they did buy records, both long-play for adults and small records for children.  Hearing about Jesus through the records greatly influenced my belief in Him.  My dad also read to us from the Bible and led in prayer.  I’d written the date 1959 in the front of my Bible as to when I became saved, but I think it was earlier than that.  It was not at home, but through a conversation with a Sunday School teacher, that I took the step to ask Jesus Christ into my life.

Our family was faithful in attending church where my sisters and I sang in the Children’s Choir and attended Sunday School.  We also attended a “church school” in our neighborhood.  Arnold Epp was the pastor in my growing-up years.  His teaching added to my understanding of the Bible and of the gospel.  In preparation for baptism, Rev. Epp chose this verse for me to ponder:

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees…. Colossians 2:20.

I believe Rev. Epp was warning me not to be caught up in legalism, that is, in rules like, don’t go to movies, pool halls, or dances.  That was certainly how many in those days thought we should act.  So, instead of following “religion” or relying on good works to be saved, Rev. Epp was pointing to Scripture which instructs me to focus on Jesus and live out the truths of the Bible.  It reminds me how, a few years later, as a college dorm assistant, I was asked to measure the length of girls’ skirts and to give infraction slips to those wearing skirts that were too short!  Thankfully, further study of the Bible and knowing God more would lead me away from rule-following to learning what it means to be a true Christ-follower. 

My parents found a way to send my sisters and me to a Bible college, at least for one semester.  While working part-time, I was privileged to hear the Word taught there for four full years.  Right out of college, I became a part of a young adult Bible study and had roommates in this study.  Some of us sang together in church.  A few years later, I met my husband at the place where we both worked…Back to the Bible Broadcast in Lincoln, Nebraska. 

My husband (Tom Loof) and I are so grateful that, through the years, God led us to churches where the Bible has been taught clearly, even verse by verse.  And each of our daughters professed to come to Christ from the hearing of the Word.

One of my high school Sunday School teachers had a phrase he’d repeat that stuck in my mind.  He said, “Life is real, life is earnest.”  Besides being about taking life seriously, those words had another meaning for me.  You see, I knew, growing up, that my dad was a Christian.  He led by example with a godly life, he taught children in a Sunday School class, and he sang for many years with his brothers in a gospel quartet.  But it seemed to me, that he could not talk to me about spiritual things, or about other important topics.  It’s what Uncle Otto said in his testimony…being a Christian in their family back then was more of a private matter.  Because of the hunger to talk to my dad about things that mattered, I resolved to be even more open in future conversations with my own family.  I continue to ask God for the courage to share the Gospel with them and to pass on my faith to the next generations. 

We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD, about his power and his mighty wonders. Psalm 78:4

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4

God has been and is faithful; His faithfulness is a continuous thread throughout my life.  Physical ailments started when I was a junior in high school; a hemorrhage kept me home for a couple of months.  Before our oldest daughter was born, the headaches and feeling “off-balanced” started.  This continued for several years until an MRI revealed a tumor on my pituitary gland.  God watched over us and enabled me to take care of what was then all three of our daughters.  After a move to Arizona and seeing new doctors, the headaches lessened.  I taught school for over 18 years.  During the last few years of teaching, the headaches and feeling “off-balanced” began again.  Vertigo occurred after plane trips.  Again, God was faithful.  I knew it was God’s will for me to be alive when I woke each new morning, so I told Him that I would live with the amount of strength that He would give for that day. 

And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10. 

Though I nor the doctors knew what was going on in my body, God knew:

For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. Psalm 103:14

(This verse may also be about our weakness as sinful people.)

I love the story about God giving timely strength that Corrie Ten Boom tells in her book, The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom:

“Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed.  ‘Corrie,’ he began gently, ‘when you and I go to Amsterdam—when do I give you your ticket?’    I sniffed a few times, considering this.  ‘Why, just before we get on the train.’ ‘Exactly.  And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too.  Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie.  When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need—just in time.’”

After my retirement, a few things became clearer.  I had developed TMJ (jaw and facial pain) because of clenching my teeth while driving and at night.  Some hormonal issues needed to be resolved.  And Mayo doctors gave me Botox injections and an antidepressant.  For a season, the headaches faded some.  Today, my husband does the driving, and a neurologist is searching for the right combination of medications for my head pain.  I am confident that my struggles have a purpose, one of which is being able to encourage others in pain. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.  The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21, 22.

I am so glad Jesus is the real deal!  I knew at a young age that I was sinful and fell short in so many ways.  Though I lived in a “Christian” family, I had to believe in Christ for myself.  It’s overwhelming for me to know how much He loved me, suffered a terrible death on the cross, and rose again to pay for and secure my salvation. 

Who, although He (Jesus Christ) existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2: 6-8. 

For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:6, 8.

As a follower of Christ, I desire to know Him more and to live so that I am pleasing to Him. 

I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ my Lord…and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.  Philippians 3:8, 9

I am assured that He will continue to work in me, in all kinds of circumstances. 

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6.

Remember, how God used music to draw me to Him?  I still love hearing and singing music about Him!  My daughters will attest that I constantly sang to them in the car.  Through the years I so enjoyed singing in different choirs.  God sometimes awakens me in the morning with a song!

Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise Thee, so I will bless Thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Thy name. Psalm 63:3, 4. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marilyn Schmidt Flaming is the wife of Mel Flaming, who is the son of Solomon “Dick” and Rose Guhr Flaming.

Faith Life Story and Journey by Marilyn Flaming

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD, “Like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”  Jeremiah 18:6

♬♪♪♪ Have Thine own way, Lord, Have Thine own way,

Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.  

Mold me and make me, After Thy will, 

While I am waiting, Yielded and still.

This is my FAITH JOURNEY with GOD’S Influences that shaped my Faith.  Those influences came through many different avenues.

When Mel and I started dating, I was in Bethel Deaconess Hospital, Newton School of Nursing and he was at Tabor.  We had a pre-arranged marriage (HA!). Our relationship started as a blind date in 1967, initiated by Rose and my mother’s sister, Aunt Linda Guhr. No longer blind, we opened our hearts to each other and I am so happy that he pursued me (from Hillsboro to Osawatomie and then Kansas City).

He, being a Conscientious Objector, and I discussed where we wanted to serve and therefore live for a couple of years. MB Missions and Services helped direct us to a Voluntary Service opportunity with John Kliewer in Nebraska. We would get jobs in our fields and our income would go to Missions/Services who would in turn find us housing and give us $80/ month for living expenses. We stayed with parents after the wedding in 1969 for about 4 weeks while waiting for housing in Lincoln, NE. That move had a huge impact on my Faith.

The MB church in Lincoln, Nebraska was a church plant by an Evangelist in 1959 and started as a Bible Study with 4 families. This is where we started attending in 1969, directed there by our VS organization saying we needed to be involved in an MB church. There were about 55 people attending. It was August 1969.

Pastor Gil Rugh, the new young pastor, came with a desire to lead the church through in-depth, systematic Bible teaching.  The congregation devoured the deep truths of the Word as well as the basics, and ministries were developed for all ages.  I would say for the next 6 ½ years, we had an education in the Scriptures, with exposition and systematic teaching, 45 minutes of teaching morning and evenings on Sundays (spent a year in some of the books, like John).

During our time there Mel was treasurer and on the building committee as we needed space to accommodate now hundreds of people. We had small group Bible Studies where I learned more about what a commitment to Jesus was. I heard people talking about a specific time in their lives when they trusted Christ, and I started doubting I had had a real spiritual birthday. I was lacking the assurance in my understanding of Salvation. Hebrews 7:24-25 says “But because Jesus lives forever, He is a permanent priest. Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.” (Completely, Always, Forever!) God said it, I believe it, That settles it! (That’s a song too.) Yes, I had been going to church, had a catechism class to learn about what it means to be a Christian, and I was baptized in 1963, but I don’t remember hearing these truths.

It was encouraged by my home church that at a certain age the youth should be baptized. I believed in the Salvation message and accepted it as mine but it seems that’s as far as it went.

In Lincoln, I was in the choir and taught in a children’s program on Wednesday nights. I was in a Praise band, the first time I had seen drums and guitars in church.

During these years God taught us systematic giving. We learned how to live on a budget, on the $80 a month we got from Missions/services.

 

FAST FORWARD

We finished our VS (Voluntary Service) and were thinking about starting a family and getting out of a basement apartment for two, not yet ready to leave Lincoln. We moved to a rental house, fixed it up, and then bought our own house in a couple of years.

Our children were born in Lincoln, in 1973 and 76. Mel was getting tired of the smoky environment of his office, I had quit my job (Orthopedic clinic) during my pregnancy with baby number 2 and we got a call from Mel’s father that there was a house on 160 acres for sale and Mel should look at it, move close to the home place and help farm and raise pigs.

I had my friends, my church, a recently purchased 3-bedroom home with a garden, walking distance to school, grocery store, and close to church. Move????? Really God? The call from Mel’s Dad came in Early Spring and on Easter Sunday 1976 a family came to look at our house and said yes (if we throw in the swing set). The day before we would give it to a realtor, it sold. We got our selling price and were scheduled to move out in 30-45 days.

I had come to Lincoln thinking I was working for the Lord, going to church and being involved. God showed me so much more. It was the teaching, the support and encouragement of many friends that gave a jump start to my maturity as a believer. This was my growth spurt.

We came back to Kansas May, 1976 with a 4 month old and 2 ½ year old to a 100 year old house with snakes and mice in it. We didn’t know what the next year held for us.

After only 5 months of farming, we found out the economy was not so good for pig and grain farmers. It wasn’t supporting 3 families (his brother too) and there was a new business opportunity Mel’s Dad found. We moved again. We sold 2 houses in one year. God was not done moving us.

In 1977 Mel, brother Del and Dad formed a limited family partnership in construction.

I love to tell that amazing series of events because it shows God’s orchestration taking us through ups and downs but with the encouragement of our families and friends, here we are. Thank you for your support.

Mel’s parents, especially Rose, his mother had scripture in her heart and on her lips. She always wanted to know how it was with people and the Lord. Often, she’d say “Do you know my Lord?” One of Rose’s favorites:

This is the testimony… He who has the Son of God has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may KNOW that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13

My influence in becoming a nurse: My ‘dream’ from 2nd grade on. I have memories of the hospital when my younger brother, Larry, who had polio at 15 months of age resulting in lower limb paralysis, had many hospitalizations. I was 3 then. We got to visit him through a window of the hospital. Later he had corrective surgeries and more therapy. He had to do some chores too. Dad made him a walker in his welding shop. Mom and Dad never ‘babied’ him though he needed help walking, going to the bathroom, etc. I got to give some of his care early on.

♪♪ “A CHARGE TO KEEP I HAVE, A GOD TO GLORIFY’ To serve the present age, My calling to fulfill; Oh, may it all my powers engage to do my Master’s will.

It was another God ordained influence in 1978 when Phoebe Jost, the director of nursing at Salem Home, who was attending Parkview MB Church, asked me to come ‘special’ for a person on the ventilator (that means one on one person to patient). Mel and I had been talking about the need for a second income to help pay the groceries! Now I was back to work, evening shift. I have to give a lot of credit to my sis-in-law who watched Ryan and Annette until Mel got off work. God used this time to grow me as a nurse. This was my first experience in a hospital setting as a registered nurse.

While there I got a call from a physician in Newton who was starting an outpatient surgery center. In 1989 that was a very new concept. In a few years Newton Medical Center bought out the surgery center and then I was employed by them and moved to the current location. So my last 20 years of nursing I was able to do patient care, have weekends off and work with people who loved Jesus. We’d talk about Him at work. I asked people if I could pray with them and only one time in 20 years did someone say “No, I’m fine”. I have friendships to this day that started with a prayer before their surgery.

Memorizing Scripture encouraged me.

Psalm 100 “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord” was memorized in 8th grade. At Parkview we had small group Bible studies where we memorized scripture. We recited them and held each other accountable. I had 20 minutes in the car going to work at Salem Hospital when I could say 72 verses.

Encouragement has influenced and shaped me.

• • Parents
  • Family (Del and Margaret and 1 year old let us stay with them for 1 week as we waited for our house in the country.)
  • Music
  • Teachers (SS, Grade School, Nursing classes, Pastors)
  • Church leaders

        More encouragement came from:

• • • Friends
    • Dick and Rose Flaming
    • Scripture
    • The children that I see on Wednesday night that give me hugs around my legs

Hebrews 5-6 talks about drifting, being dull, sluggish. There were those times too. But for the Grace of God. . ..

♬♪♪♪Heaven only knows how I’ve been blessed 

With the gift of your love 

And I look around and all I see 

Is your happiness embracing me 

Oh Lord I’d be lost……  But for the grace of God 

 

 

 

 

I believe in the Finished Work of Christ. He is “My Enough.” When God looks at me, He sees Jesus who is in me. My sins, past, present, and future are on His credit card that is pre-paid!

♬♪♪♪He’s still working on Me, to make me what I ought to be.

It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, Sun and Earth, and Jupiter and Mars. (It takes a lifetime for us.)

How loving and patient He must be.

He’s still working on me.

As of today, September 1, 2023, I can say I am still growing in my faith. We still attend and serve at Parkview MB Church, Hillsboro. I facilitate a ladies weekly Bible study, and serve on the ‘Social Committee’ with Mel to plan funeral meals, potlucks, etc. A joy for me is singing for 30 years. I have led the children’s groups of Awana and Team Kid in music on Wednesday evenings (ages 3- 5th grade).

Arnold Guhr (1923-2007)

Written in Koerner Heights Mennonite Brethren Church (Newton, KS) choir member’s booklet:

“As a 9-year veteran of Celebration Choir, Arnold’s favorite song is “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”  He enjoys singing in the choir because of the gift God has given him.”

 

Malinda Guhr (1927-2013)

As part of Malinda’s testimony to transfer membership to Koerner Heights Church, Malinda responded to two questions.

Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you were to die tonight, you would go to heaven?  Yes

Suppose you were to die tonight and stand before God and he were to say to you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?”, what would you say?

“Believing by faith in God’s Son, trusting Him to forgive my sins and acknowledging Him as Savior and Lord.”  

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  John 3:16

Please describe briefly the experience concerning your decision to follow Christ.

“Although I was raised in a home where we had daily devotion and prayer, attended Sunday School and Church regularly and was exposed to the gospel in many ways, it was not until I attended an instruction class for baptism that I knew that I myself had to make a decision to believe that God’s Son died for my sins and that I had to ask for forgiveness and the new spiritual life He offers.”

 

For a baby shower for Arlene, Malinda wrote a devotional based on Psalm 139:14-16.

God is involved in the development and birth of a child.  The arrival of a baby is one of the greatest miracles that a new mother can be a part of.  In fact, you may be feeling some of the same wonder at the birth of your child that was expressed almost 3500 years ago by the Old Testament author David.  In Psalm 139, he praised the God who had formed him in his mother’s womb.  

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  It is amazing to think about.  Your workmanship is marvelous and how well I know it.  You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion!  You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe.  Every day was recorded in your book!  Psalm 139:14-16 The Living Bible

We wonder about the kind of world our children will face as young adults.  Is this the right time to bring a baby, so fresh from the hand of God, into the world?  But the scriptures are filled with examples of children who were reared in difficult situations.  And because God was vitally involved in those childbearing and child-rearing experiences, it really was a good time to have a child.  Those biblical children experienced good things in their lives and were mightily used of God.

We also can expect God to help us in a similar way with potential problems facing our children and grandchildren in these evil days. 

Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Prov. 22:6 

God promises,

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.  Psalm 32:8

If our children and grandchildren are instructed by our words and our prayers and our lives, if they grow up in the overflow of love, the risk of having children is turned into a challenge.  And the rewards for us can be among the choicest blessings God has for those in His family!

Marilyn Koehn, one of Presbyterian Manor’s staff, interviewed Malinda when she lived in the nursing section of the Manor. This is what Marilyn recorded concerning the way Malinda coped and what her strengths were:

        Malinda says that she “looks up to the Lord” for strength.  She is a positive person who says that she always looks for the best in any situation.  There is “nothing she can do but the best.”  It was when talking about her strengths that Malinda brought up her health.  She told me that they think she has Parkinson’s because her sister has it and she has some difficulty with balance.  However, she did not seem to be disheartened by this—instead mentioned looking to the Lord and the strength that that provides for her.  She also said, “We’ll make it through somehow,” once again pointing towards her positive demeanor. 

  Rose’s daughter-in-law, Marilyn Flaming, said that Rose died in August of 2015, so Rose would have told or written this before that, probably when we were talking about an    obituary with her.

I was born October 27, 1921, to Birkholtz and Eva Goertz Guhr at home on a farm north of Walton, Ks.  I always loved to live on the farm, the big vegetable and flower garden which we loved.  We were a large family and enjoyed playing together and singing together a lot on the porch after chores. I love 4 part harmony hymn singing and instrumental music.  I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Savior as a teenager at home with the help of Mom. I joined the Tabor Mennonite church later.

Favorite verse:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  Romans 10:9

Second best verse:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.”  John 11:25

Another verse:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart.  Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14

These were favorite songs of mine:  “This is my Story this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long.”  “Gott ist de liebe” –which I can hear my mom and my grandma singing or humming – praising the Lord.  They also know my Lord and taught me and we taught our 4 sons the plan of salvation.

Dick and I grew spiritually when we went to Newton Bible church where Pastors Ted Veer, Bill Regier and Homer Friesen were our Pastors.  We moved a few times on different farms but were always concerned where we and our boys would go to church.

 

The following is a transcription of a recording of what Rose said when she resided at Bethesda Home in Goessel. 

 “Well, hello, my name is Rose Flaming.  And I moved here a while back.  I’d like to stay on the farm, but this was the opening for me and I took it and love it here and all the friends that come to see me, I can tell them about my Lord and Savior.  And I think I will see Him very soon.  You may not, but you better be ready where you are going.  I love you all.”

 

This is my Story and this is my Song     Jesus Paid It All

As told to Tony Guhr

(Please notice the second section’s reference to Uncle Otto’s parents–our grandparents–and his siblings–our parents and aunts and uncles–and their beliefs.)

Life before Knowing God

I grew up thinking everyone was a Christian.  It became clear to me that a person had to make a choice to become a Christian.  The Scripture says,

You can never please God without faith, without depending on him.  Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely look for him.  Hebrews 11:6

History of contact with genuine Christians

My mother and father were quiet about their faith, keeping it personal and private as was the custom of their society.  My father did read the Scriptures at the breakfast table each morning.  It was not their custom to quote Scripture out loud.  My parents had each of us children kneel by our beds each night and pray to God before going to sleep.  These prayers were always silent prayers, never out loud.

When we moved in 1942 to the Potwin, KS area, I began to attend a “Memorize the Word” class at the Emmaus church.  I believe it was taught by either Frank Busenitz and/or Henry Thiessen.  This class and the Scriptures memorized were a great impact on my thinking and believing in Jesus Christ for salvation.

The Emmaus church scheduled a series of meetings with “Blind Esau” the Evangelist (John Esau) who preached at the Emmaus Mennonite Church of Whitewater, KS in I believe 1945.  I know that our family and I believe the church as a whole believed that a person had to be good in their behavior to be kept safe in relationship to God and salvation.

Rev. Esau announced on Sunday that his next evening meeting sermon was on the topic of “How to be saved and know it.”  On the drive home from church, my father declared, “There is no such a horse!”  “I may sin tomorrow and would then lose my salvation.”

Once my father and mother and the family heard the teaching of the Scriptures by Rev. Esau, they became fully persuaded that salvation from God is secure and cannot be altered or jeopardized by a person’s committing a sin the next day.  Jesus paid it all.

My first exposure to the Bible before faith

I heard and then read the Scriptures which describes God,

For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them.  2 Chronicles 16:9

This is the summary of the process of becoming a believer in Jesus Christ as God’s salvation offered to me.  I became a believer in Jesus Christ over a period of time as I read, memorized, and understood the Word of God, placing my trust in Jesus Christ for my salvation.  The best summary for my understanding of the Gospel is that there are three parties involved in my salvation.  God the Father, Jesus Christ, and me!  It’s best described by the Scripture,

For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins.  Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us! 2 Corinthians 5:21

Because of his kindness, you have been saved through trusting Christ.  And even trusting is not of yourselves; it too is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good we have done; so none of us can take any credit for it.  Ephesians 2:8-9

So there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus.  Romans 8:1

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Romans 6:23

Faith is the same as believing.  Faith is believing God provided Jesus Christ as yours and my salvation, his payment for all of our sins so that we might have peace with God.  Believing is the decision that each of us must make.  The Scripture says,

All those who believe this are reborn! – not a physical rebirth resulting from human passion or plan – but from the will of God.  John 1:13

Yet faith comes from listening to this Good News – the Good News about Christ.  Romans 10:17

What is faith?  It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen.  It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.  Hebrews 11:1

My experience with God’s faithfulness

I will tell you one of many stories that come to mind.

(Please read Ruben Guhr’s story that follows as told by Otto Guhr.  A cousins to Otto and the other children of Birkholtz and Eva Guhr, Ruben was the son of Ava (Guhr) Voth, a sister to Birkholtz Guhr.)

 

Privilege of service

I was glad to reach out to prisoners, men who had sinned and been caught, explaining the good news of the gospel to each one.  I have had the privilege of meeting some of these men as they returned to visit me once they were set free.  During the 1960s, I worked with the Harvey County court system to have several young men sentenced to live with our family at the farm.  I began jail and prison work in the 1950s at the Butler County Jail with a gospel quartet that included Richard Wiebe, Edgar Thiessen and Milton Guhr.  I would often take my first born son along each month who played with the prisoners through the bars with his toy tractor and wagon.  He was rewarded for good behavior, with the jailer giving him his choice of candy bars from the bottom of his desk drawer.  I had the privilege of serving with Central Kansas Prison Ministries and Lynn McBride by participating in a most rewarding ministry at the El Dorado Prison for 13 years.

I was involved with the beginning of the Newton Bible Church and in years following, the Bible Baptist Church where I was able to take a number of youth to church and youth meetings each week in the back shell of my pickup truck, summer and winter.  During the Chicago years, we attended the Lombard Gospel Chapel where we developed many close friends and enjoyed a wonderful fellowship with the believers there.

My Life’s Favorite Bible Text

For the free gift of eternal salvation is now being offered to everyone, and along with this gift comes the realization that God wants us to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures and to live good, God-fearing lives day after day, looking forward to that wonderful time we’ve been expecting, when his glory shall be seen–the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11-13

My hopes and prayers

My prayer is that each of my relatives, my friends, and my neighbors will yet hear the good news of the Gospel and understand it for the salvation of God can be theirs, and embrace it for themselves, just as I have.  May I ask you, have you placed your trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation?  If you have not yet trusted Jesus for salvation, as long as I am alive, I would be glad to visit with you about any question you may have.

Uncle Otto concluded his story by saying, “I have experienced many good events in my life, as well as a number of very hard times.  When it is all added up and a whole lot is subtracted, this account of how I came to know God and experience His salvation is the very most important of all.”     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ruben Voth, son of Henry and Ada (Guhr) Voth (1922-1969)

Story told by Otto Guhr told to Tony Guhr, August 23. 2018

Ruben Voth of Little River Kansas was a cousin of Otto Guhr.  Birkholtz Guhr, the father of Otto, had a sister by the name of Ada. Her husband was Henry.  Henry and Ada had two sons, Ruben and Milford and two daughters.

Ruben and much of his family were living godless, caught up with the world’s attractions and its failed promises. His associations were with other young men who spent much of their time drinking alcohol and involving themselves with sexually active young women.  Ruben was not a believer in Christ, living a life that caused the concern of his mother who at a family reunion at the Military Park in Newton, exclaimed to others, “I wish someone could help him.”

One summer day, Ruben was mowing weeds with a tractor on top of his unfilled trench silo.  The tractor slid and tipped into the trench, pinning Ruben beneath the tractor wheel.  As Ruben hollered for help, a salesman passed by in his car.  Hearing the screams for help, the salesman turned into the farm and drove to the trench silo.  With Ruben greatly crushed by the tractor’s weight, gasping his last breath, and with no equipment to lift the tractor, the salesman spent the last 5 minutes of Ruben’s life explaining the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, His offered salvation, forgiveness of sin and the promise of everlasting life. Ruben embraced this wonderful news and asked the salesman how that could become true. The salesman led Ruben in a simple prayer of a sinner asking for God’s forgiveness of sin and thanking God for His salvation in Christ.  Ruben died that day.  His mom’s request at the family reunion years earlier had been answered. Someone did come along and did offer the only help and the very best assistance they could. 

Part 1 – Guhr and Kopper History 

Chapter 1 – Where Do We Find Our Family Names in Mennonite History?

The article, “Mennonite Settlements in Central Poland,” by Erich L. Ratzlaff (see the web link) provides historical facts about the development of the Mennonite communities in which our family names appear.  Mr. Ratzlaff also cites other sources, including the Mennonitisches Lexikon, to give us a more complete picture of these developments.  Here are main points from the article:

• Mennonite merchants from Danzig, Elbing, and Marienburg probably started these settlements along the “Great Road” which were about a day’s journey apart by horses:  Marienwerder; Kulm; Obernessau at Thorn; Neudorf at Brest; Wymyschle at Plock; Kasun near Warsaw; and the Sachsenkempe in Warsaw. (p. 24)
• In the Mennonitisches Lexikon,” we find confirmation that Mennonites traveled up the Vistula River beyond the Schwetz-Kulm lowland and settled in Deutsch-Wymyschle and Deutsch-Kazun around 1750.
• Leo Ewert, the last elder of the church in Deutsch-Kazun, began to write a record of the congregation, which he says was founded in 1762, but did not receive permission to build a house of prayer until 1823.
• In 1776, Mennonite families from the villages of Montau, Schoensee, Przechowka and Obernessau moved up the Vistula and formed the community of Deutsch-Kazun at Modlin.
• Mennonites first leased the land from the king for four years, between 1758 and 1762.  The names of some of the first settlers were Bartel, Schroeder, Guhr, Ewert, Jantz, Stobbe, Klaus, Koppert, Koohnert, and Plennert. (p. 29)
• They then together bought 1,600 Polish Morgens of land.  Elder Leo Ewert saw the deed of sale signed by Bartel, Kohnert, Schroeder, Klaus and Dauter, with the land divided between twenty-three families.
• Subsequently, because the land was not large enough for the settlers, and when Poland land fell into Russian hand, the opportunity to buy more land occurred.  “At the third Partition of Poland in 1795, Warsaw and the surrounding area came under Prussian rule.  A small estate northwest of Kazun belonged to the Russian General Markow.  He found it advantageous to sell his estate to the Mennonites.  In 1798, three years after the third partition of Poland, the Mennonites Franz Bartel, Heinrich Schroeder, Salomon Konnert, Cornelius Foth, Jakob Ewert, Heinrich Bartel, Jakob Matis, and a certain Guhr bought this estate, called Markowczysna.  Soon after, at the beginning of the 19th century, the Czosnow estate, 3 kilometers southeast of Kazun became available.  The land was higher, therefore protected from floods and consisted of soil suitable for wheat.  General Czosnow sold the land to Franz Bartel, Johann Jantz, Gerhard Nickel, David Schroeder, Heinrich Ewert and Jakob Foth.  Later, David Buller, Georg Nickel, Heinrich Kliewer, Cornelius Kasper, Wilhelm Lehrmann, Cornelius Baltzer, Gerhard Koppert and Albert Vogel lived in this village.  In 1803, the neighboring Czastkow was sold.  Half of the estate was bought by the Mennonites who established the village Deutsch-Czastkow.  It was good, flat country, and it wasn’t located in the flood plain of the Vistula.  The buyers were Heinrich Guhr, Jakob Bartel, Peter Frantz, Kornelius Goertz, Heinrich Nickel, Peter Korber.  Later, Peter Wohlgemuth, David Nachtigall, Peter Bartel, Cornelius Baltzer, Heinrich Bartel, Peter Schroeder, Kornelius Plennert and Peter Ewert lived there.” (p. 30)
• In the article, Mr. Ratzlaff refers to P.M. Friesen’s writing in Polish literature.  Friesen says that the Mennonites under Polish rule suffered for their faith, but were defended by the nobles, kings, and cities.  The letters of protection and privileges stated “that the Mennonites must be protected because they were useful people, the ancestors of the kings had invited them from the Netherlands and used them to build the Werder.”  (p. 27)  Under later German and Russian rule, that changed drastically; Mennonites were given a heavy toll tax, men were forcefully conscripted for military duty, and they were limited in purchasing new land. (p. 27)
• Small groups of Mennonites purchased property from Lutheran settlers in the neighboring villages of Grochaly, Malowies, NeuhoferKampe, CzosnowerKampe, Neuhof, Montau, Szamocin, Ozarow, Januszew, Elsenbruch (Olsynek), Targowek, Tomaszew, Josefow, Marcelin and Gluske.
• “The following names were found in the Mennonite community of Deutsch-Kazun: Adrian, Albrecht, Baltzer, Bartel, Block, Buller, Dirks, Ediger, Eckert, Ewert, Flaming, Foth, Frantz, Funk, Gedert, Goede, Goertz, Guhr, Harn, Harm, Jantz, Kasper, Kerber, Ketler, Klaus, Kliewer, Knels, Koehn, Kolmert, Koppert, Lehrmann, Matis, Nachtigall, Neumann, Nickel, Pauls, Penner, Peters, Petker, Plennert, Ratzlaff, Regier, Rosenfeld, Schmidt, Schroeder, Siebert, Stubbe, Tjahrt, Unruh, Vogel, Vogt, Willms, Wohlgemuth, Zimmermann.” (p. 32)
• The community of Deutsch-Kazun expanded under Prussian control, after the third Polish partition. (p. 32)
• The church was known to be Frisian, not “Old Flemish” at the beginning.  A Peter Goertz from Malowies served as one of the preachers, from 1812-1867, when he moved to Russia.

Link to Erich Ratzlaff article: https://www.mharchives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/lmWeichselbogenRatzlaffGHPprofedFinal-reduced-6.pdf