Former Clerk of Courts Passes Away
Matthew April 3rd, 2008
I received a call from the Statehouse late in the afternoon on Tuesday regarding a special prayer request. It was for former Clerk of Courts John Okeson. He was in his forties with three children and entered the hospital with flu-like symptoms. He passed away that evening. Please pray for his family and friends. Click here for more info and a picture.
March 08 Update
Matthew April 1st, 2008
The April 08 Prayer Calendar is now ready for your perusal. I have a new page on the website for calendars and hope to make it even easier in the future for you to get them. Here is the link - http://publicservantsprayer
We will have Chapel service Thursday at 12:10 p.m. and Bible Study on Friday at 12:00.
*PRAYER REQUESTS* A lobbyist friend of mine just lost her mother on Tuesday evening after an extended illness. Please pray for the Wilson family. Also, please pray for two churches that have lost men who were pillars in their respective churches. One was from Indianapolis and the other from Kennard, IN. I am saddened to see folks that stand for truth being called home, and I hope those of us who remain are ready to stand in the gaps and make up the hedge. Ezekiel 22:30. None of us know when we will be called out of this life, and the mortality rate for humans is still 100%. What will happen then? If you don’t know, please e-mail me. I would love to discuss it with you. That is the most serious question you can answer in this life.
Little Sympathy for NY Governor
Matthew March 11th, 2008
That is the headline today for the New York Governor on the BBC website. The next sentence says - “Eliot Spitzer, the New York State governor, can draw little comfort from US newspapers and blogs.”
What a sad headline. Let us not rejoice in the fall of a man, knowing that but for the grace of God we have the same sin nature. Let’s pray for Gov. Spitzer, his wife and three girls. They need it today! I don’t know where he stands with the Lord, but I know God can heal, and that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse from all unrighteousness.
Remember, “Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made… for kings and all that are in authority.” I Timothy 2:1-2
State Senator David Ford passes away…
Matthew March 7th, 2008
Thank you all for praying for Sen. Ford over the past six weeks or so. He went to his eternal home yesterday morning. The loss is felt deeply in the Statehouse where he was respected highly by everyone. Please pray for his family, friends, staff, and colleagues as they mourn the passing of a gentleman and a scholar.
These verses were given to me yesterday by a friend of Sen. Ford’s, in reference to his passing.
Isaiah 57:1-2 “The righteous perisheth, and… is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace:”
What a great promise for all those who know Christ as their personal Savior. We will have rest and peace.
I am posting the news article from the Indy Star below.
God Bless,
Matthew
–
Rev. Matthew Barnes
The Public Servants’ Prayer Ministry
I Timothy 2:1-4
www.publicservantsprayer.org
State Sen. David Ford died this morning at age 59 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Ford, a Republican from Hartford City, died at his home, Senate officials said. Ford had been absent from the Senate since January, when his family confirmed he was critically ill with cancer.
Senators planned a moment of silence for Ford this afternoon.
“Words cannot take away the sense of loss his family and friends are feeling at this hour, but it is important that they know he and they are in our hearts and minds,” said Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne.
Ford was the Blackford County prosecutor before being elected to the Senate in 1994. He represented District 19, which includes all or parts of Adams, Allen, Blackford, Grant and Wells counties in northeastern Indiana.
Republican Rep. Jeff Espich of Uniondale, who was a close friend of Ford’s and visited him often after he became ill, said he was heartsick about the death.
He said Ford was a good, honest man whose Senate colleagues called him “the road warrior because he was always out on the road doing town meetings and visiting constituents.”
The General Assembly, he said, had lost “far and away the best expert on technology issues, as it relates to education, operation of government. He was far ahead of anyone in terms of those kinds of issues.”
Ford, who did not miss a single vote in the Senate last year, had not been in the Senate since Jan. 15. On Feb. 21 he wrote a letter to the editor thanking his constituents for their support, e-mails, cards and prayers.
“Obviously, this is not the way I would prefer to be representing you because I prefer being in the middle of the fray as opposed to the sidelines, but it is the best I can do for now,” Ford wrote.
He went on to thank his constituents for understanding.
“It is this ‘heart of gold’ spirit within Hoosiers that constantly reminds me of why I do this job and how important it really is,” he wrote.
Survivors include his wife of 37 years, Joyce; a daughter, Kelly Konzel of Granger; three sons, Jeff Ford of Chicago; Andrew Ford of Indianapolis; Matthew Ford of Marion; and two grandchildren.
