God expects us to obey Him and when we do, we will have peace in our souls.  Disobedience will bring the disfavor of God upon our soul and it will have to be punished.

Jesus has said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  John 14:15.  Love for God will make us careful to keep His sayings and He will give us a peace that the world cannot take away from us.  We can’t find soul peace in the world.  And after all, my dear grandson, we want to live so we can live with our inner self.  God created us with a part of Himself in us.  There is something within us that looks up to a Creator.  Some will disregard the true God and worship the gods of stone etc.  They think that will satisfy the longing in their souls but it doesn’t.  Only when we are in contact with the true God can we find real peace.

Now my dear grandson, and all who read this, take the true key to peace and let it open your heart and by prayerfully seeking God, you can have peace in your soul.  I love the souls of all mankind and want everyone who will desire peace in their heart with God, to make it into heaven by observing the Word of God.

—­Grandma Miles (A.  Marie Miles)

“I Can Handle It”

“What does Jeff’s death mean to me?  Well, some kids will probably stop dropping flippies for awhile.  I mean, you got to watch that stuff and know what you’re getting so you don’t take some with too much rat poison in it.  Me, I know what I am doing, I can handle it.”

This was the answer to a question asked of one of Jeff Stewart’s friends who came to the cemetery, with other barefooted friends, who were clutching wild flowers, to place on his grave.  Jeff Stewart was the son of a Methodist preacher and had refused to listen to his parents.  They had pled with him in tears to turn away from drugs.  He had gotten into it through others’ influence, but when his parents tried to help him, he would generally say, “I can handle it.”

Jeff Stewart was a handsome boy, so said his mother, and a B student.  He was only 17, but had died of an overdose of barbiturates on August 22, 1970 in a shack that he and his drug addicted friends had built on a side street in Hopewell, New York.  In the midst of “rock music” he and his friends “smoked marijuana” and “dropped acid,” (LSD) regularly.

At times Jeff wanted to get off drugs and had told his mother that he wished he had never started taking drugs, was a little boy again and could start life all over.

There is a struggle going on in the minds of every young teen-ager.  At times he is a carefree person but then at other times he tries to act grown up or feels that he knows what he should do and the path he should walk.  These are difficult times in a teen-ager’s life.  Influences from within and from without will cause him to decide upon his course.  Parents see this indecision and they try to guide their teen-agers in the right direction.  The pastor, Sunday school teacher, and the young people’s