Letters To And From A Christian Mother And More
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It has been nearly two years since our Round Robin was started, and this is the sixth time around. I think that is a record! Six times in twenty-one months. It was started October 24, 1957...
I could write a tome on my present happiness! I am enclosing a picture of Gene...He is a very handsome man, but that isn’t the BEST about him. His personality is the thing that makes him so beloved by everyone. He is the most thoughtful man I have ever known–always thinking of the other fellow. He spends his time thinking of what to do to make us all happy. ME first! Then his children (and mine are now his), and then his friends. And good. Oh. He is so good. And cute and witty and “teasy.” Oh, I just couldn’t tell you how wonderful it is to live with such a person. I am so grateful to God, for it is all His doing. And Gene knows this, too. We both could have looked for a lifetime, and never have found someone as well suited as we are for each other. A little nine-year old cousin of mine expressed it perfectly. After visiting us in June, on the way home he remarked to his parents, “Mother, Mary and Gene just MATCH each other, don’t they.” We pray together several times a day, we are reading the New Testament together, and we discuss our beliefs regularly. We pray about everything–every little decision, and the grave issues. And when we have a problem or a fear, Gene is able to put the whole thing in the hands of God sooner than I am! I wish I had time to tell you some of the many wonderful experiences of answered prayer we have had together.
And, girls, I want you to remember my story. When each of you come to times of worry and fear, tragedy and loss, financial problems, or those of your children’s safety or development, etc., etc., just remember ME, and how our wonderful Lord took care of me, guiding us, sustaining us, blessing us all the way. Of course, there were bad times, hard work, moments of near despair. But, through it all, by His help, I was able to hold on to my faith that in everything, even the bad things, God was working for our good. This is the thing that is so hard–at the time–when it seems that all hell is falling in on you–to be able to believe that God is still “in charge.” BUT HE IS! And, if we can just hold on to that faith, we will come through it, and be able to look back and say, “God knew best.” Remember the story of Joseph–and, as I used to tell you, Joseph was just as SAFE in the PIT as he was back home in his father’s house. Because it was God’s plan. Read Genesis 45:5-8, and then 50:20.
The vicious modern teaching tries to say that such things are NOT in God’s plan–that even Jesus’ death on the cross was a tragic mistake. And this is the sort of teaching and writing we must avoid. But the world is full of it today. Albert Schweitzer and Norman Vincent Peale, and many others, whom the world considers the very greatest “Christian” teachers–very subtly undermine the kind of simple, child-like faith that the real Christian must have. These false teachers are so “good,” and seem to so beautifully exemplify the teachings of Christ, when actually they are teaching a worldly “moralism” that defies MAN and minimizes God. This is the “way” that seems so right unto man. Proverbs 14:12...."
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About the Book
Ethics, morals, and society in general have been spiraling downward for more than 50 years. Life simply was different up through the 1940s and the decade that followed. Christian thought today is discredited on the university campus, and traditional Christian piety now is viewed by the majority of the public as “old fashioned.” Postmodernism has become entrenched. In Christian circles, the question often is asked: “How does the unbeliever cope?” As believing Christians, we know that the Word of God provides all of the answers.
Perhaps LETTERS TO AND FROM A CHRISTIAN MOTHER AND MORE will be of some assistance to both the believer and the unbeliever, who as the parent of a young child or children, or of young adult children, must advise and counsel that child as they navigate through their religious, social, and academic decisions.
Dr. Terry L. Johnson stated that the letters “are remarkable and show clearly what a devout and accomplished woman your mother was...They are wise and devotionally rich, and may deserve a wider readership.” (From the Preface).
Dr. Johnson continued: “Their literary quality was outstanding. More importantly, they were filled with sound, shrewd, bold, Biblical counsel for her boys, particularly in the years between the beginning of college and the birth of Si and Suzanne’s first child, Carey. I wanted to read more and became convinced that others, particularly parents, could benefit from hearing the strong counsel of a Christian mother to her beloved sons.” (From the Foreword).
About the Author
I am 70 years of age and have lived in Savannah, Georgia since 1970. Since about 1830--over 180 years--my family lines resided in Mississippi. Widowed in 1953 at 39 years of age, my mother returned to college in Mississippi and took a masters degree in speech and hearing therapy. She then moved with her two teenage sons to Gainesville, Georgia, to fill a newly-created position of speech therapist in the public schools. She married a physician, a widower, in 1959, the father of two teenage children.
I hold degrees from Emory University, Atlanta (BA 1962, DDS 1966, MSD dentistry 1968). I have presided over local, state, and regional dental societies, and have been in the private practice of pediatric dentistry for 41 years. I published a masters thesis in 1968; co-authored and published with my brother THE ALSTON JONES McCASLIN FAMILY in 1988 ; published scientific articles in state and national journals in 2000 and 2001; co-authored and published with my brother a work, THE ANCESTRY OF C. S. LEWIS (www.silasdobbsmccaslin.com) in 2006; and published through my church, Independent Pesbyterian Church, a short monograph entitled "Some Thoughts on the Virtue of Work" in 2011.
Since 1985, my avocation has been genealogy and I have compiled more than 4,300 pages of family ancestry, for my own family lines as well as those of friends. My writing principally has been limited to genealogy and to my personal journal.
In early 2011, I compiled LETTERS TO AND FROM A CHRISTIAN MOTHER AND MORE. The letters were among over 100, comprising more than 265 pages, from my mother to me from late 1958 through mid-1980. This book is autobiographical, beginning with background information on my ancestors and extending down to the present.
I have held the office of both deacon (ordained 1974) and elder (ordained 1976) at Independent Presbyterian Church (Clerk of Session for 12 years). The Senior Pastor of Independent Presbyterian Church, Dr. Terry L. Johnson, has published at least nine books in the last 20 years and contributed to several others. He presently has two other books under review. Dr. Johnson’s published works can be viewed on our church website: www.ipcsav.org.
Dr. Terry Johnson insisted that the letters to and from my mother deserved a much wider readership and he recommended that I produce this book and have it published. He offerd to write the Foreword.
I have been a committed Christian since 1980. My wife and I are the parents of two daughters. I strive daily to serve the Lord with my gifts of administration, giving, and exhortation. LETTERS TO AND FROM A CHRISTIAN MOTHER AND MORE is another way for me to contribute to the Lord's work, by sharing with other believing Christians the guidance afforded to me by my mother.