Showing posts with label Mount of Olives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mount of Olives. Show all posts

Monday, June 9, 2025

Friendships. Need Them. (Steve Martin, Love For His People Ministry)

 A person on a camel

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Laurie Martin on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Israel, with Steve Martin

 

Friendships. Need Them.

 

“A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24

 

One thing I have valued in life is having at least one good friend. The Bible warns against having too many friends, which can lead to ruin. (I guess Solomon’s downfall was having too many wives. Imagine that!)

When I was a freshman in high school, back in 1969, I attended Columbus High School (Catholic) in Waterloo, Iowa. This kid had his locker underneath mine, as the lockers were arranged in double rows along the main corridor. I was annoyed each time he came to his locker when I was at mine. He would be in my way.

By the end of our high school days, he had become my best friend. Denny Brennan. He ended up marrying the daughter of the local TV channel’s newscaster (a sophomore when in school, from the same high school) and becoming a butcher with his own shop in Cedar Falls, Iowa. I am not sure whether the two situations, the newscaster’s sweetheart daughter and butchering, are related. But it is a fact.

Reflecting on my life of 70 years thus far, I recall some other treasured moments, new beginnings in fact, when the Lord brought someone to me to be together for His plans and purposes.

Of course, I must begin with my beautiful wife, Laura Jean Unzicker Martin, who came to the former Baptist church every Sunday night in her hometown of LaSalle/Peru, Illinois, with her high school senior best friend, Susan. The “Holy Ghost, Pentecostal-driven, demon-deliverance, powerful worship times with guitars” service was the hottest one in the town of 10,000. Pastor Stan Buren had it going, along with the young men’s worship team of Ron Wey, Bob Smith, Mark Buren, and Mark Rummler. I would think the high school girls had other reasons for coming, in addition to wanting more of the Lord Jesus in their lives.

Stan, himself the former Southern Baptist who had been kicked out of his independent church by the one vote of a 12-year-old, years earlier, had gotten “baptized in the Holy Spirit”. That didn’t mix well with the Baptists. Just a fact.

More commonly known as Laurie, I admired this 17-year-old with her Dorothy Hamill haircut (an Olympic skater gold medalist in 1976) and her white painter pants.

A person leaning on a car

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Yes, I married her. Laura Jean Unzocker. Age 18. Photo on the way to our honeymoon in Mobile, Alabama, in 1977.

Susan, her friend who brought her, had an eye for me.

Mine eyes went to Miss Unzicker.

You can read the full story in my book, The Promise: The Journey of a Lifetime, if your curiosity gets the better of you. For the rest is history.

Our Lord, the Living God of Israel, Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, brings people together for His eternal plans and purposes. Sometimes, in fact almost always, we never realize the importance of those moments when friendships start, but looking back, we can be amazed at the goodness and love the Lord has for each of us. I personally love His plans. They are always the best.

Treasure the friendships and relationships He gives you. While it will be a “give and take”, as two or more walk together, the destination will be incredible, as you seek Him in all that you do.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin, Founder

Another great friend, David Peterman, shared on our most recent trip 
to Israel in May 2025. Watch!

David Peterman, Steve Martin May 2025

Love For His People Ministry

12120 Woodside Falls Rd. Pineville, North Carolina, USA

 

Message: “Friendships. Need Them.” June 9, 2025, in Charlotte, North Carolina

Website: Love For His People

Email: Love For His People

Facebook: Steve Martin/Love For His People

Sunday, September 11, 2022

Mount of Olives – Garden of Gethsemene, Church of All Nations, Golden Gate, camel ride! – Walk With Me videos as we travel in Jerusalem, Israel

 

Mount of Olives – Garden of Gethsemene, Church of All Nations, Golden Gate, camel ride! – Walk With Me videos as we travel in Jerusalem, Israel

Laurie Martin rides George Bush the Camel!

Sept. 11, 2022 Love for His People Ministry in Jerusalem, Israel, Steve Martin 2.11K subscribers, Videos filmed and shared by Steve Martin, Founder, Love For His People Ministry in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.

  1. Garden of Gethsemene, Church of All Nations, Kidron Valley, Golden Gate – Walk With Me, Steve Martin

2. Church of All Nations car ride up to the Mount of Olives – Ride With Me, Steve Martin and Nouri Hawa

3. George Bush the Camel gives Laurie Martin a ride on Mount of Olives! – Walk With Us, Steve Martin

4. George Bush the Camel gives Laurie Martin a ride on Mount of Olives, Part 2! – Walk With Me, Steve Martin

Steve Martin

STEVE & LAURIE MARTIN - LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE FOUNDERS My good wife Laurie and I (45 years in October 2022!), through the ministry of Love For His People we founded in 2010, give love and support for our friends in Israel and in other nations with friendship, humanitarian aid, and social media support, along with Steve's messages, and our Ahava Adventures trips to Israel. Steve has also authored and published 34 books. We live in the Charlotte, NC area. We have four adult children, spouses, and eight grandkids.