Praise

The Christmas Refrigerator

Many families all over the world will open their Bibles on Christmas Day and read aloud the story of the birth of a baby boy from Luke Chapter 2 in praise of the Savior who gave us the greatest gift of all—Salvation! This is the season when we typically pause and reflect on the blessings and trials we experienced during the year. My family and I have no doubt received many blessings, but it’s also been one of the most difficult years for us trial-wise that we can long remember.

I have not had a full-time job since I was laid off due to the recession in 2009. I’ve been working some short-term IT contracts to pay the bills, but my last contract ended in July. I’ve not been able to land IT work since. I’ve applied for over 700 jobs. If one more person tells me I’m over-qualified, I think I’ll scream. I even had one person tell me that since I write IT books, I must not have a lot of real hands-on experience, just theoretical knowledge. I didn’t even know how to respond to that one.

We started a publishing business in June 2012, but if you’ve ever started a business yourself, then you know how long it can take to start producing a regular income. Our daughter is in college—an expensive college, and we’re determined to do everything we can to keep her there. As bleak as things may seem at times, God is providing tremendous blessings through it all. You may not see them as blessings, but to us, nothing could ever be greater.

So far with His help, I’ve published 9 print books and 8 eBooks for 17 books total. I’ve authored nine of the seventeen books. The last two eBooks that I wrote are adaptations of sermons that I’ve preached either at the Durham Rescue Mission or assisted living facilities. The series is appropriately called, The Message Series. Each book concludes with a clear, strong Gospel message. If you count the eBook downloads and the preaching opportunities God has given me over the past month and a half, I’ve presented the Gospel to over 600 people!! That is an amazing blessing that can only be orchestrated by God’s hand.

Waiting for God to respond to our prayers can be difficult. We’ve been praying faithfully for employment and sometimes it just seems that God is silent. But at other times, He’ll answer prayers so fast that it’s mind numbing. He did that for us this week when He responded to a supplication in a blazingly fast manner.

On Friday December 20, our 18 year-old refrigerator bought the farm. My wife gets up earlier in the morning than I do to make coffee. I’ll join her later over a cup where we’ll do our devotions together and pray to start the day. That morning, shortly after starting the coffee, the circuit breaker for the refrigerator blew. I came down and reset it. Everything seemed to be working fine and we didn’t think much more about it until late in the afternoon when the kitchen started to stink like an electrical component had been fried. The smell was coming from the refrigerator. It was still running, it was cold and the food was frozen. It was too late to call anyone to check it, so we let it go for the night and prayed the smell would dissipate by morning.

Were we ever wrong! By Saturday morning, the whole house stunk. I ran downstairs to find that the frozen food had defrosted. There was a huge puddle of sugar-free frozen chocolate pops at the bottom of the freezer. The compressor was still running, the fans were still blowing, but it just wasn’t cold anymore. I knew I had to call a repairman to find out what was going on. A couple of hours later, he pronounced the refrigerator dead. The defrost heater had shorted and burned into the evaporator coils melting them and burning the freon. That was the smell! It was burning freon. The estimated cost to repair the damage is $1,100.00! This is money we just do not have sitting around right now. Our best and only alternative is to turn to God in prayer and wait for Him to answer. We didn’t know how long we’d be without a refrigerator. We only knew we had to trust Him for the answer, but we still needed to prepare in case the answer was delayed.

Sue had done a big shopping for the holiday on Friday. We had a lot of food that now had to be cooked and/or given away. Both of us immediately thought of a dear elderly woman who had fallen onto hard times. We’ve been praying for her regularly and called her and asked if we could bring her some of the food before it spoiled. Yes, she needed it. We loaded a bunch of it into the car and drove the 25 miles to her apartment on the North end of Raleigh. We told her the story of the refrigerator and she asked if she could share our need with her church’s “Angel Recycle” program. She attends one of the largest churches in Raleigh, almost 5,000 members. Church members who purchase new appliances donate the ones they’re replacing to the recycle program to be given to families in need. We definitely qualify so we agreed to let her submit our name, not knowing if this is God’s way of providing for us or not.

It didn’t take long for the answer to come. Sunday evening we were visiting a friend’s church to watch a Christmas program that he had written. My cell phone kept vibrating in my pocket. When the play was over, I saw that I had a text message from our sweet friend saying that someone wanted to give us a 36″ refrigerator. She was getting a new one on Monday, heard of our need and offered it to us—for free!! Praise the Lord!! He answered are prayers.

Now the challenge was to get it to our house. I don’t know anyone that I could call on a Sunday night who could help get it to our place on Monday morning. So we prayed again. I knew in my heart that if God wanted to give us this refrigerator, then He had already worked out the details about how He was going to get it to us. When the new refrigerator was delivered to our benefactor, she asked the delivery men if they would bring us her old refrigerator. They agreed to do it for a very low cost. God provided again. So in the course of just a few days, our old refrigerator died, God gave us a new used 24.9 cu.ft. model, and He had it delivered and set up. What a mighty God we serve! The delivery men even carted off the old one. Our new refrigerator is definitely an upgrade from the old one. It may be 10 years-old, but to us it is a Christmas gift sent directly from God when we needed it most. We are grateful to Him!

As you reflect on our Savior this Christmas and the free gift of salvation He so desperately wants you to accept, keep this fact close to your heart, He loves you without measure and cares for the tiniest details of your life. Trust Him in all things and He will never let you down. Here are a few Scripture verses to think about today.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.—Romans 8:28

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.—Philippians 4:19

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.—1 Peter 5:6–7

Rejoice God's Christmas Refrigerator — Image Courtesy of Billy Alexander.

The Dash of Life

By Victor Font Leave a Comment

Tombstone of Hope I recently enjoyed the privilege of hearing North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Paul Newby deliver the commencement address to the graduating class of 2012 at my daughter’s high school. Justice Newby is the only conservative on the North Carolina Supreme Court. He is a born-again Christian who reflects the sovereignty of Christ in all that he says and does. He and his family attend a local Baptist Church in Raleigh where he is an Elder, Sunday School teacher and youth leader.

Justice Newby reminded me of something with his speech. He spoke about how much you can learn by walking through a graveyard and looking at the headstones. Almost every headstone you see will have two numbers separated by a dash, the date of birth and the date of death separated by the lowly dash. That dash represents and punctuates the brevity of a person’s entire life. And should our Lord delay His return to us, I too will have my life represented by a dash; and so will you!

What will that dash represent of your life? Is it a life of self-fulfillment and excess, a life of comfort and ease, pain and trials, or a life of goodness and service to others? Whatever type of life you are living or faith you practice, there is one glaring, inescapable truth that we find in 2 Corinthians 5:10:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

All of us will one day appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will judge us for what we have done in this world. Will your works stand up to God’s test?

“Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”—1 Corinthians 3:12–13, (AV)

Charles Thomas Studd was an English evangelist and missionary born in 1860. He served in China, India and Africa. He is attributed as the author of the following poem:

Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgment seat;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice,
Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave,
And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years,
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill,
living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore,
When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way,
Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Give me Father, a purpose deep,
In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife,
Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn,
And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone,
Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, “twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Now let me say,”Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call,
I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. ”

— extra stanza —

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,
If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.”

Only what’s done for Christ will last. What have you done for Christ lately?

The Christmas Story

By Victor Font Leave a Comment

This has certainly been a challenging year. And wow! Has it flown by fast. Laid off a little over a year ago, it’s difficult to know what God’s will is concerning His direction for our life. The one thing we do know is that whatever God’s will is, we want to be right in the center of it and not shift an iota to either the left or right. This is the only way to assure His blessings and continued success.

This year He gave me a book to write which is now on the marketplace. I’m still seeking my next full-time role, if that’s His will. We’ve gotten very involved in outreach ministry where I get to present the Gospel regularly. And this past Sunday night, Susie and I had the chance to narrate our church’s Christmas Cantata. What a privilege and joy it is to share God’s Word with 300 or more people!

But Christmas isn’t about us and what we’ve done. Christmas is about Jesus Christ and what He’s done for us. He’s given the greatest gift any human being can ever accept as their own. The gift is called salvation. He bought it for us on the cross of Calvary about 2000 years ago.

Salvation truly is a gift. There’s nothing we can ever do to earn it or merit it. All of our good works are as filthy rags before the Lord the prophet Isaiah tells us. If we need to depend on our good works to get into Heaven, then how many good works are enough?

We only need to depend upon Jesus Christ. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”—Ephesians 2:8–9, (KJV)

Jesus did it all for us when He died on the cross. Through His resurrection, He proved once and for all that He is Who He claimed to be—God come in the flesh. If He truly is God, then He told us the truth. We are all destined for an eternity in hell unless we accept His free gift of salvation.

Christmas is a season when we give gifts one to another. We take our time and put a lot of thought into picking out exactly the right gift for our loved ones. Don’t you think God has done the same for us? He loves us more than any human can love. His gifts are greater than any human can give. His gifts are perfect because He is perfect. His greatest gift to us is the gift of eternal life with Him in Heaven.

But when does a gift actually become ours? If you picked out a special gift for someone this year and go to their home to offer it to them, does it become theirs when you enter the door? No it doesn’t. You can stand there all day and hold it in your hands and offer it to them, but until they actually receive it from you and accept it as their own, it never becomes theirs does it? How would you feel, if they never accepted your gift and you had to return home with it. Pretty rotten I’ll bet. How do you think God feels when someone rejects the gift of salvation.

Don’t go to a Christ-less eternity. Accept God’s gift of salvation today and know with 100% certainty that if you were to die today, you’ll spend your eternity in Heaven.

Book Is Here

By Victor Font Leave a Comment

When I became a victim of the recession in December 2009, I purposed in my heart that with God’s help, I would do everything within my power to create multiple income streams. It’s been a long time coming, but the days of depending on a single employer to finance your basic life’s needs seem to be over for good. Our parents and grandparents could look forward to working for a single company until their retirement. That’s no longer the case. So after more than 25 years in information technology, I decided to do something about it.

In December, I sent a proposal to the technical publications division of McGraw-Hill. The proposal outlined details of what I believe is, to date, my magnum opus. The book is entitled “Principles for Maturing Your System Development Life Cycle: The Ultimate Guide to the SDLC.” I call it by its subtitle for short. Within two days, I received a positve response from McGraw-Hill. One of the first things the managing editor asked was “Do you do any kind of social networking or blogging to help promote yourself?” The answer at that time was “no.” In January, I decided to test the waters of social networking with outstanding results. I began earnestly writing the book in February and worked full-time 80 hours or more a week until I finished in mid-May.

That’s when the interesting part started. McGraw-Hill backed out of the project. I worked long and hard with the managing editor preparing presentations, concise proposals for their marketing staff, and much more. Unfortunately, during the time I was writing, the division lost several key senior editors. As a result, McGraw-Hill technical divison placed a moratorium on all book publishing for the remainder of 2010 or until they could resolve their personnel issues. What could I do? This is something completely outside of my control. Afterwards, I corresponded with Capers Jones, another McGraw-Hill author, who found himself in the same boat as I except he was working on his 18th book. He suggested I resubmit the proposal to a couple of publishers he had worked with in the past. I never heard from them.

I began wondering what God was doing. When this project started, I felt competely at peace that God was leading me to write the book. I felt His presence daily as I prayed over each of the 326 pages with their 6,240 paragraphs, 14,972 lines, 126,275 words and 815,163 characters. The book turned out to be a masterful collection of best practices for system development in the 21st century. There’s nothing like it on today’s market. But the only problem is, I still needed a publisher, or did I? I’ve learned through experience that when one door seemingly closes, God often opens another door better than the first. This is the 21st century and I possess a broad array of IT, marketing and leadership skills. Why can’t I use the talents God has given me and put them to work for me, with His Divine help of course?

Many authors have had their lives changed when they followed the self-publishing route. After praying fervently, God gave me three-very specific answers to prayer during the month of October as confirmation of His will and direction for this book. The prayers He answered, He did so within 24 hours of my asking. I’m not going to share what those confirmations are, but I can assure you, His still small voice came through loud and clear.

The website went live today at http://www.ultimatesdlc.com/ and I’m giving God the Glory.

Happy Thanksgiving to All

By Victor Font Leave a Comment

The second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence begins with these words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Nowhere in the Bible do we find these concepts framed in a political context. What we do find is that we have a Creator who loves us so much that He gives us Eternal Life, Liberty from the penalty of Sin, and Happiness in knowing that we can trust Him fully to provide us a home in Heaven. That Happiness is manifest as a peace that passes all understanding.

Our Creator grants us these benefits as a free gift. The gift comes by way of the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross to appease God’s Holiness and hatred of sin. He took the penalty for our sins onto Himself so we can escape eternal punishment in hell. If this isn’t love, and if this isn’t something to be thankful for, then I don’t know anything about love and thanksgiving.

A gift doesn’t become ours until we accept it. Our prayer for this Thanksgiving Day is that if you have never accepted the free gift of salvation from our Lord Jesus Christ, that today will be that day for which you can be truly Thankful! Happy Thanksgiving to all and may this be a day of true blessing and gratitude to our Creator for all that He is and does.

Welcome to the Font Family’s Website

By Victor Font Leave a Comment

We’ve finally built our little corner of the internet. We hope you enjoy your visit and find something useful or interesting. Please remember to sign our guestbook and let us know from where you are visiting.

This site is about our lives, our loves, our laughs, our passions, and our ministries. No matter what we do for our occupations, our vocations are music ministry, Bible teaching, expository preaching, and evangelism, that is, telling others about the wonderful free gift of salvation that is offered for the taking by Jesus Christ.

We do our best to provide a transparent view of our lives with the hope that someone will be touched by God as He ministers to us and through us as we minister to others.

We’re not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. We are born-again Christians who have been saved by Grace, wicked sinners who have found the Love of God and make it a focal point of our lives. It’s a wonderful place to be. Won’t you please spend a few minutes with us and poke around the website?