Bob & Bonnie Horning

Once you have one child, what's another right? 3.5 years later we were joined by Jessica. Now armed with 1.5 children, we're catching up to the normal sized family. We found a bigger home that had an empty 3rd bedroom, we just had to fill it. Our family was complete and we were getting deeper into the parenting pool. We obviously didn't know what we were doing, but started by making sure our children had everything, especially everything we didn't as children. But most of all, we did pour love on them.

After moving to our newest home and palace for life, it seemed like one to us anyway, we met John & Judy Hubers who introduced us to boating, taught us to ski and tube and stuff. They were very well travelled and successful people who we just fell in with and with whom we enjoyed spending time together. Soon after catching the bug, John and Judy moved to Illinois and took our favorite boat with them... so we bought our first boat. The kids loved it, we learned to ski and mostly it was a great family time... and we adults imbibed quite a bit. It never occurred to us that we may be putting our children in dangerous situations and I remember many a day, coming back from the river with an open beer in the truck. However, we survived without a scratch.

Somewhere in this period, me being an athiest... which makes this decision weird, I decided we should be taking our kids to church on Sundays. I did feel compelled to at least expose them to it and let them decide someday for themselves. With Bonnie's church background and upbringing, it didn't go over very well. She'd be the first to tell you that she believed in God, but just didn't want anything to do with Him. He was afterall, a mean, megalomaniacal and controlling God who only wanted us to bow down and not have any fun. The idea of atttending the church really started with Gretchen who we had enrolled in a local church pre-school program. It was always talked about as the best pre-school in the area and was extremely affordable. We had Jess in that school then as she was old enough and we attended the church a few Sundays a month. It seemed harmless to me and we just said hello to a few people we knew there and didn't get involved. I didn't think it would be wise to let anyone know my "secret" and if I got to know them too well, I'm sure it would come out. I'm not sure if I protected my secret for mine or their benefit... but I now think it was for mine. Of course, its' all about me!

With Sunday open houses every week... it was a hit and run, when we did go. Some Sundays, we'd just drop the kids off for their Sunday school and bag church ourselves. After a year or so of this, our friends and our kid's Godparents asked us to attend their church. A more contemporary non-denominational church. They were fairly new and were meeting in a school. This appealed to Bonnie, not meeting in a church building seemed more inviting and not so churchy to her. We started attending and it did seem better. The music was actually more like rock and roll and it seems funny to me now, but I had a little difficulty equating this music as Godly especially since I wasn't familiar with any of it. The sermons seemed more like common sense with a wise way of dealing with life today. I still didn't believe the stuff connecting it with a God, but whatever, it didn't hurt too much and our attendance skyrocketed to 3 out of 4 Sundays.

Our business was growing and in 2000, we got the bug to build a new home. The girls got involved with horses and didn't seem to be losing this desire, so we looked for land we could have horses and build our dream home. We had purchased one horse and was boarding it. The cost and time spent going and coming just added up and if we could put it all together, everyone would have what they wanted. Logical. I had grandiose dreams of owning several magazines and would need office space, we wanted a pool and a place where we could PARTY and most importantly, get away from people! I lived by a saying in those days... "Life would be so much easier if it weren't for all these people!" So this house was completed in May of 2001.

My ambitions came to a screeching halt that September 11th... suddenly, I started to look at my life and decided it was more important to be around to see my family more and making more money in one fell swoop seemed totally unimportant at that moment.

I'll never forget the morning of 9/11/01. We had just sent off our latest publication to print and were looking forward to a beautiful day on the lake, skiing and relaxing... drinking a six pack or two... the boat was loaded and hooked up when a friend called and told us a plane just hit the Trade Center in NYC. So we turned on the little 9 inch TV in the kitchen, sat down and watched in horror as the next plane hit, then the Pentagon and the field in Western PA. We were frozen in our tracks. We have a beautiful 65" HD tv in our living room... but we watched every second unfold on that tiny little screen. It never occurred to us to move. We never did get out on the boat that day. This was the beginning of the end of the old people we once knew.

I am on my way tonight to go visit with my old friend John Hubers this weekend. I am driving out with another friend of mine and John's, Rich Keener, to spend the weekend with him. Along with his amazing and miraculous recovery this will be the first time we see John as a fellow saint and brother in Christ, I'll try to find time to write out Part 3 The Holy Spirit works... upon returning. The connection between John, Rich and myself is nothing other than God doing His people weaving thing... no man could ever arrange what has come about between us 3.

Jeremiah 1

⁵ "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

It was something I said to Mike Frazier about being an athiest most of my life that seemed to pique his curiosity. I lived most of my life in the shallow end of the pool and today I'm so deep in the river, I can't tell which way I'm going. So, Mike, here I go...In a recent message you suggested you would like to see me post my testimony.

Not even 4 years ago... I was one of the most selfish people you'd ever meet. But not on the surface, I've had many people tell me all my life what a nice guy I am. It was a mask I put on for others to make myself look good. The image I wanted to project was one of the perfect guy who had it all together. My marriage survived 24 years at that point, I was a successful business owner, had a nice little estate, any big boy toy I wanted, 2 beautiful daughters... but in reality a pretty hollow and shallow man The beginning of the end of that man was a statement I made to no one other than my wife one day. I was steaming over somebody, a client, who was needy and just a bother all the time. I stormed up to my office and yelled out to her... "Am I the only person in this world who has it all together?" Are you seeing a little bit of who I used to be?

I was a scammer! I would scam you in a minute of meeting you. You'd think I was a great guy, loving husband and father, well mannered and always willing to lend a hand. When inside and alone, I was anything but. Oh, I'd help people once and awhile, but all the while be grumbling, complaining and just making those close to me miserable. I was only able to think of myself, period! Honestly, we had just built our dream home 5 years previous out in the middle of nowhere to get away from people. My favorite motto was "Life would be so much easier if it weren't for all the people in it."

As I stated earlier, I was an athiest. Pure and simply, I thought anybody who believed in a God was a weak and pitiful excuse for a human being. I grew up going to church all my childhood and learned about the scriptures like, thou shalt not dance, and thou shalt not wear dresses above the knees... and if thy takes a drink thou goes to hell... if thy makes God mad, He crushes you like a bug... and my personal favorite: thou shalt smoke on the portico after church if thou is an elder or deacon... all the good scriptures. I can't really find them in my Bible now... but I was taught they were in there, for the most part.

My father had a falling out with our church over some matter and he stopped going during my teen years. I didn't like that and if he didn't go, why did I have to go? My mother never really answered that one. As an adult in my young twenties, I asked my father exactly what he believed, as I was searching myself. His response, and my father was an extremely well educated man, "Anybody with a brain knows there couldn't possibly be a God!" or something to that extent, I am keeping it succinct for brevity's sake.

With that comment absorbed into my being... I took on that sentiment. Thus started my long journey into athiesm and debauchery. I never really shared my religious views with others for fear of causing an uproar. It was the 1970's and Archie Bunker was considered very controversial. In those times, an athiest was closer to being admitted for psychiatric help than considered normal. The seeds of rebellion sowed at Woodstock, when Country Joe McDonald had everyone yelling the F bomb out loud and proud at the older generation were starting to take root. Even until the Holy Spirit started working on me, I only admitted to a select few people my thoughts on religion. I had one close friend who I confided in because he held the same views.

So just in my twenties, I went my own way... I started out falling in love with a beautiful girl who I'd gone to school with and that would be Bonnie. She also grew up with the same scriptures I quoted earlier, and worse. She wasn't allowed to watch much TV or movies and her upbringing was really religious compared to my "liberal" church experience. Her family really beat you up with the Bible. Well, I wasn't a very good influence on her and as we started dating, I scammed her dad into thinking I was a good Christian boy when in reality, I wasn't. I didn't even understand it, but if it got me in his good graces... I was one. Within 6 months of dating, I was more interested in getting her in bed than anything else. She didn't like kissing me because I smoked, so she started smoking and one thing led to another as we eventually moved in to an apartment together. This really killed her parents and I never heard about it from mine, but I know it hurt them too. During these times, as I was an aspiring musician, we partied. I mean, we drank, we smoked all kinds of things, experimented with many other drugs including LSD and cocaine and many kinds of pills. It was a wild ride. I struck out as a professional full time musician while she held down a good job. Not once did I ever do anything that put her first. After many break ups and reconciliations, we married in 1981. She says the break ups were my basic training... it really didn't work though. I went into our marriage not understanding what a marriage was supposed to look like. Not my parent's, certainly not her parent's and I didn't see many other good examples of marriage around me. So off we went. And it was a wild ride until... about 7 years into it. Ah, the old 7 year itch period.

We drifted apart while still occupying the same house... She was ambitious and wanted to have more out of life, while I just wanted to be a rock star and live the glamorous life. I had taken a road gig that I thought might propel me towards stardom!!! Although a great learning experience, it was not what I had hoped for. I now had driven a wedge in our marriage and we were hopelessly drifting apart. She was so faithful and supportive for the longest time. But on the road, I was so lonely and that led to smoking as much pot as I could to numb my pain. She wrote letters everyday, I would write one a month. Again, I couldn't think of anyone's misery but my own.

Upon my return from the road, things were bad. She was too busy working and making money and I was too into myself and escaping the reality that my career was dying. After a year or so of this, we were on the rocks and we decided to see a counselor. A band aid... no pun intended. It helped some and we eventually moved to Atlantic City, NJ where I was working a lot in the casinos freelancing with different acts. She gave up her real estate career she had buiit in Lancaster, PA to go with me on my journey.... to be a rockstar!

It wasn't long after we moved, that I noticed something different. She stopped moving. Bon went from super ambitious Realtor to couch potato. I'd go to work and come home finding her in the same position as when I left ... with empty chip and Doritos bags and Tastykake (a Philly thing-insert Twinkies if necessary) wrappers lying on the coffee table. This wasn't right. Then one morning around the crack of noon, (remember I was a musician) I awoke to find her sitting on the bed staring at me. I asked what was going on... she said and I remember this vividly... "I got a home pregnancy kit." I asked, "And what did it say?" "It's as blue as it gets!" she replied. "I guess that means we're going to have a baby." is all I could muster as I tried to roll over and go back to sleep. "You MEAN IT?" "Of course I mean it" I said... "what do you think it means?" That's when she started crying and told me that she thought I would ask her to have an abortion. That floored me. I know we always agreed we didn't want children, but that thought would never have crossed my mind and after 8 years of marriage she wouldn't know that about me??? It was a warning sign I should have heeded right then and there. But I didn't... and we muddled through. Within 4 months, I knew my music career was over and a new chapter was about to begin.

Before that beautiful little blonde girl we named Gretchen came into our lives, I traded all my gigs with a friend who had society gigs on weekends in Philly and we moved back to Lancaster where I trained and got my license for real estate while making good money on the weekends playing. God was already orchestrating things in my life, and I didn't even notice. There is nothing we can do to make Him loves us any less nor is there anything we can do to make Him love us any more.

^{Psalm 69}

¹ Save me, O God,
for the floodwaters are up to my neck.
² Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire;
I can’t find a foothold.
I am in deep water,
and the floods overwhelm me.
³ I am exhausted from crying for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes are swollen with weeping,
waiting for my God to help me.
⁴ Those who hate me without cause
outnumber the hairs on my head.
Many enemies try to destroy me with lies,
demanding that I give back what I didn’t steal.

Part 2 tomorrow.... the storm before the calm.

I am reminded by this call of some wisdom imparted by Elie Wiesel the Holocaust survivor and well known Nazi hunter after WW2. When asked what was the most important thing he learned in all his years recently, he replied: "I have learned it is more important to believe the threats of my enemies, than the promises of my friends." And with that sentiment it is my honor to pass along an urgent prayer request.

Convergence

It is critical that the church in America understands the times and what needs to be done now. The natural things speak of the invisible. Natural happenings on the earth are revealing something that is going on in the spiritual realm. There is a great spiritual conflict with a rising tide of Islamic boldness being manifested. Several happenings are converging this week. First of all, our President has recently proclaimed, honored, encouraged the Muslim holy days of prayer and fasting called Ramadan. He was very silent on the National Day of Prayer but very vocal on the support of Ramadan. Interestingly at the same time a major Christian leader of the Emergent Church called for forty days of fasting and prayer in the same Ramadan period with the goal that the church will better understand our Muslim friends. We are all for understanding but we must have spiritual discernment as to the spiritual dark powers that are being invoked into our nation.

Cause for Concern

At the same time, on the 25th of September, Muslims are calling for a Muslim Day of Prayer in Washington DC (http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/). They are calling for 50,000 Muslims to gather and pray on the DC Mall. This is the exact word of one of the Sheikhs who is leading this historic gathering, “Muslims should march on the White House. We are going to the White House so that Islam will be victorious, Allah willing, and the White House will become into a Muslim house.” These are not empty words. They speak of a dark spiritual intent and a coming day of great trouble to America.

A Divine Moment

Now one of these events is enough to awaken us to this significant throbbing moment, but when they all converge it becomes a massive spiritual alarm that must be responded to by the praying Church. However, I believe in this moment of divine providence God has raised up on the stage of history a little “Esther” that if we pray and fast for her she could be a major voice to expose the dark under-belly of Islam and radiate a bright hope for a day of salvation for Muslims in America.

Headlines

On Monday, Rifqa Bary, a young 17-year-old woman, will be in the headlines of US news. Four years ago, while living in a very devout and radical Muslim home, Rifqa met Jesus in a powerful way as her savior. She hid her conversion, began praying secretly, and began hiding her bible from her parents. Then, on Facebook, her love for Jesus was exposed to the radical Muslim community in Ohio. Rifqa’s father demanded that she renounce Jesus or he would kill her as is commanded by the Koran. As a radiant believer in Jesus she refused to renounce her Lord and fled to Orlando where she was taken in and cared for by a Christian Church and family. Now, the father is appealing to the courts to bring her back under his custody. Major television networks have already covered her story. How must the Church of America respond in this moment for our sister who is a part of the Body of Christ?

A Major Sign

This convergence, I believe, is urgently summoning us in the midst of the rising tide of Islamic influence in America to recognize that our God is above every god and that if we return to Him with all of our hearts and call upon Him with fasting and prayer then God could use what the enemy meant for evil to bring about a great day of salvation for Muslims in America, of which Rifqa is but a major sign.

Here is The Call

First of all, we cannot be passive as a Church to let these kinds of developments go on without being challenged in the spirit. Our fight is not against Muslims, it is against principalities, powers, and forces of darkness. We are calling the Church of America at the end of Ramadan, from September 21st through 25th, to five days of concerted prayer. On Monday, we must pray that God would grant supernatural wisdom to the courts so that the testimony of Jesus would be proclaimed and that the best situation for Rifqa and her family would take place. We must pray for Rifqa to be bold in proclaiming Jesus that even thousands of Muslims would hear and be awakened to the love of Christ. She has already said that this is not about her but about many Muslims coming to Jesus. We must pray for her lawyers who are being bullied, threatened, and challenged on every side. On Friday, September 25th, the Muslim Day of Prayer, we are calling the Church of America to fast and pray that Muslims would be moved by the Holy Spirit, convicted by the testimony of Christ, and even be visited by Jesus in dreams. We must pray that God would restrain the spiritual powers behind Islam and grant us the great awakening that we desperately need for America.

Let us hear the call to prayer and not miss this moment,

Lou Engle
The Call

This was a line out of one of the Matrix movies. It seems very appropriate for this post. This is a touching story of both tragedy and triumph. Webster's defines comprehension as: 1 a : the act or action of grasping with the intellect : understanding b : knowledge gained by comprehending c : the capacity for understanding fully <mysteries that are beyond our comprehension>. Many times we don't comprehend what it is that's happening around us.

Back in late May, the 23rd to be precise, a very close friend and his wife were in the wrong place at the right time or the right place at the wrong time. They were enjoying a nice relaxing ride on their custom Harley trike on the outskirts of their hometown of Minneapolis. The trike was purchased for Judy who had developed bad back and neck problems and had difficulty riding her regular Harley. John had just purchased a trailer to tow behind and wanted to see how it felt riding with it before really using it on a long ride.

The day was like any other for them. They loaded "Mini" their family dog and threw their helmets in the trailer and took off.

Not long after is when the day went down a path that nobody would ever expect. They were cruising along a two lane highway doing about 60 MPH while coming the other direction a truck pulling an open trailer full of cord wood started losing it's load. The first two cars slowed and avoided the best they could and a third car for some reason just veered into the oncoming lane to avoid it. The Honda was doing about 60 MPH also... the witnesses said John, who was driving, appeared to do all he could to get out of the way but was unsuccessful. A 120 MPH impact ensued and Judy was thrust into John's back, off the bike into the windshield and into a grassy ditch. She was killed instantly. John, who is, pound for pound, one of the strongest guys I know, held onto the bike and absorbed the full impact. Who could survive that? John could and did.

John was about as close to death as one comes without giving up his spirit. He was semi conscience at the scene. After almost 3 hours of being attached to the bike and still holding on, they removed him and transported him to the hospital. He uttered 2 words that I know of..."Call Dick.", his brother.

Barely hanging onto life, the amazing medical staff went to work on him. The impact was about the same as someone falling from an airplane from 10,000 feet without a parachute. The litany of injuries included: massive head trauma with possible brain damage, 2 broken ankles, right one in two places, shattered pelvis, all the right side ribs broken, internal injuries (I don't remember exactly what, but miraculously not extremely severe considering), both badly broken wrists, again the right one in two places... and that's just what I can remember. The numerous surgeries began immediately.

We were informed through a friend and went into prayer instantly. We heard in the Spirit to pray against infections and for the brain injuries to heal. So into battle we went. This is where Romans 8:28 is so crucial to understanding accidents like this. God doesn't cause them, but He uses anything and everything for His good. Judy had a relationship with Jesus and having already lost a son to a horrific truck accident years before, was now where she had wanted to be ever since. Judy was full of life and enjoyed each and every day, but once she lost her son, she lost some of her zeal and was forever changed. I think you have to have lost a child to fully understand this. God knows though. John really didn't know the Lord. Oh, he went to church once and awhile and would do whatever his wife wanted to do about "religious" things... but he honestly had no idea what the Gospel was all about. But we know he was meant to, thus we know that God's hand protected him enough to bring him through this major ordeal with his life and full faculties in order to someday know Him.

We kept getting updates through some friends and we kept praying each and every day. The original evaluation and prognosis wasn't good. IF he survived all the surgeries, he was looking at major personality changes, not sure if he'd ever walk again, probably wouldn't be able to work again and was looking at 8-9 months in the hospital for recovery. That's if he made it. What we didn't know until much later was that surgeons fear infections more than anything after these surgeries. He had one that he fought off. They were constantly amazed at how well he would come through the long grueling operations. In the picture you see a man who was swelled to about twice his normal size. Up to about 230 lbs, compared to his normal weight of around 160. His body was in hyperdrive of healing. They induced a coma after he started coming out of his coma, because, and you have to know John, he wanted to get up and leave.

6 weeks later, a phone call comes. It's John and he starts telling me about having an accident and didn't make sense all the time... but his son gave him his phone back when he was brought out of the coma and he could work the buttons well enough.

Only 10 weeks in the hospital, John convinced the doctors he was ready to go home. They insisted on making sure he could function nominally on a daily basis and he proved he was ready, about 5 1/2 months ahead of what they originally thought. A mix of prayer and John's tenacity to beat all odds... paid off.

Skipping over many weeks of good, long conversations and lots of prayer... John came to a decision about his eternal life. On Judy's birthday, Aug. 28th, He asked God to come into his heart. When he informed us about it... he said something to the effect that he wasn't sure what it all meant. Thus, it reminded me that our comprehension is not prerequisite to our cooperation. It's a FREE gift to each and everyone of us who wants it. It's pretty simple.

John's hardships may endure for awhile, but he will return to work Sept. 28th, a feat that nobody gave any hope of just 3 months ago. John is walking again, with only the use of a cane, there are no signs of brain damage with the exception of a tad of memory loss of recent events and all internal injuries healed. He will carry many scars, pain and reminders of this May 23rd but only one is eternal. He will one day join his loved ones inside the Gates of Heaven for all eternity. That's a lock!

God Bless John and all his loving family who was there for him. We'd also like to call attention to and thank the many people who faithfully prayed for all the miraculous things, as John and Judy have lived all around the country they have made many friends and have large familys who we know we're lifting him in prayer. Because of all this, his son Justin lovingly gave up his own home as a rental for now, to move back in with his Dad to help him and be there for him. His daughter, Lonna is still living here in PA with John and Judy's two grandchildren, but she made the trek out there for the first few weeks to support her Dad. I will be driving out with a mutual friend to visit with John the 1st weekend of Oct. May this story touch all who read it with the love and peace that surpasses all understanding of our Father Yaweh. Blessings on all.