Just a note

I just thought I should stop by and say something. Man, I really have a hard time getting here and posting what I need to. I guess it is a dicipline thing, and I need to overcome that. I really do enjoy writting, although my english skills are not the greatest, I still enjoy doing it and will continue to endeavor to keep it up.
Thanks for stopping by, I pray all is well with you and life is good.
God bless ya real good!

Tech thought

Hi again, how have you been? I been away for a bit but had a thought I wanted to share.

I was just thinking about the technology that we have today. Most of the time when I see something new come out that makes me think I've seen it all. I think about my mom and wonder what she would think about all of it, she was kind of a "toy" oriented lady and an adventurer. I thought about what she would say if I recorded an image of her grand kids, sent it to a little thin box with a TV screen and called her from the grocery store to let her know I loved her...all from my telephone! I can guarantee she would flip. We don't think much about it now but I can just see her shaking her head and saying "What will they come up with next?". If we ask that question today we don't have to wait very long to have it answered! Things change so quickly it is becoming mind numbing.

There are not many today that live a "simple life", to many electronically generated images and toys to occupy our lives. Is this causing us to loose track of people, to not take time to just sit and think about our lives and dreams? Don't get me wrong, I am just a big kid and I love my toys, but I know they do eat up to much of my time. Many times they use me instead of me using them. Maybe we all need to close the laptop, turn off the phone, grab a cup of coffee and just take a few moments to think, or maybe to connect with friends and family. What do ya think?

God bless ya real good! (:-))

I ran across this on Tangle.com. It caused me to stop and contemplate again what Jesus has done for me, the things He suffered that were due me. Yea, I am amazed.

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=2dfdc46320d68bb56a67&sp=2

Lilly the cat

Well, my wife is at work and my daughter is out with friends. Just me and Lilly the cat, my other daughters 'child', here at the hacienda. I get along with her pretty good, Lilly that is. I type and she watches. I watch TV, and she jumps in my lap to wake me so I don't miss any of the really good parts! I really appreciate that, it proves my heart is strong! Actually, we both take turns nodding off, I just don't scare the wadden' out of her (often). All in all a pretty good relationship I guess. 

That gets me to thinking, why is it that you can call a dog with reasonable success but when you call a cat they give you that 'I'm just going to ignore that because I am way more superior than you will ever hope to be' look. I mean, it's like they couldn't be less interested in what you want! Lilly is good at this and not a bit ashamed to use it. But she is, at least it seems so, a pretty caring creature. She is always checking up on me. Once in a while when I am surfing the web or typing or just playing some mindless game, I will suddenly feel a paw ever so gently placed on my elbow and there she is, staring up at me as though asking "You OK there old fella'?" 

She also misses Sarah, her 'mommy', quite a bit. Several times in the course of the evening she will go to the door and look at it as if she thinks she will show up any second. When she doesn't, it's back to napping or playing with that poor mauled stuffed mouse. I guess she has adapted to life with just us home folks for now. I think she is disappointed that she can't entice much play out of the old guy.

Enough said about that. Don't know why, just felt led to share. Time for Lilly and I to go to bed. More later, night all.

God bless ya real good! (;-))

Snow, not so bad after all!

Well, the great snow storm of 2010 has come, and gone. It seems that the pronounced gloom of near total destruction and chaos has somehow been avoided and basically we got some rain, ice and about 5"-6" of snow. Yea there were some power outages and there were some mishaps on the highways but all in all we have been delivered from the grips of destruction and are in fact all right. Thank You Jesus!

There seems to be a good side, a blessing if you will, that has sprung from the presence of the beautiful white blanket that has descended on us. My wife was saying this morning how it seems that snow does something inside her that she can't really put her finger on. It stirs something in her that is hard to describe. She was saying that if you just concentrate on it, focus on it's beauty, and push everything else back, it brings a peacefulness in your soul. It seems to slow everything down. She said "I don't know if it something from my childhood or what. I've lived several places that had snow in the winter. I just like snow, it's pretty! It brings me peace. "

I even noticed, while clearing nearly 4" of it off the car after work, that I had a little more peace. (Yea, being Friday helped a little!) I think that part of it comes from the fact that it insulates and absorbs sound, it gets quieter! Not as much noise to agitate us.

But it's true, it does effect us, the waitress at Duffy's Saturday morning was more gabby and cheery than usual, they all seemed to have an extra dose of lightheartedness! Everybody we met while we were out and about, even those complaining about having to drive in it, were more happy than normal. 

Maybe we can call it the 'Christmas effect'.

Thank You Lord for keeping us safe and giving us Your joy and peace!

God bless ya'll REAL GOOD! (:-))

Tough Times

Just a short note. Tough times have come upon many of us and I know that there are many people suffering lack, hunger and poverty due to loss of jobs, illness or even natural disasters. I know that it is hard and maybe you just can't see how there can be a good end to the situation your in, but I just want to encourage you and say, that God cares about your condition. Just trust Him, He'll see you through! He is as close as calling on the Name of Jesus.

WORDS ARE...touching and thought provoking!

I am convinced that words are the most powerful tool we have. In the natural, they can paint pictures in our minds, cause our emotions to rise and fall like the sun. They can tear down or build up. The bible says much about the power that lies in our tongue!
The fallowing story was e-mailed to me, it caused me to stop and think about my own life and focus. Perhaps it will cause you some moments of reflection.

TO MEET SUCH A MAN

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day. As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, "I will work for food." My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call for some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him.

I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car. Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: "Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square." Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

"Looking for the pastor?" I asked.

"Not really," he replied, "just resting."

"Have you eaten today?"

"Oh, I ate something early this morning."

"Would you like to have lunch with me?"

"Do you have some work I could do for you?"

"No work," I replied. "I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch."

"Sure," he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions.

"Where you headed?"

"St. Louis."

"Where you from?"

"Oh, all over; mostly Florida."

"How long you been walking?"

"Fourteen years," came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling.

He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, "Jesus is The Never Ending Story." Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God. "Nothing's been the same since," he said, "I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now."

"Ever think of stopping?" I asked.

"Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me. But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads."

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice.

The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked:

"What's it like?"

"What?"

"To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?"

"Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me."

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused. He turned to me and said,

"Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in."

I felt as if we were on holy ground.

"Could you use another Bible?" I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite. "I've read through it 14 times," he said.

"I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see."

I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

"Where are you headed from here?" I asked.

"Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon."

"Are you hoping to hire on there for a while?"

"No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next."

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.

"Would you sign my autograph book?" he asked. "I like to keep messages from folks I meet.

"I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched My life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you, "declared the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope."

"Thanks, man," he said. " I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you."

"I know," I said, "I love you, too."

"The Lord is good!"

"Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?" I asked.

"A long time," he replied.

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed.

He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, "See you in the NewJerusalem."

"I'll be there!" was my reply.He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said,

"When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?"

"You bet," I shouted back, "God bless."

"God bless." And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car.

As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them... a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them. Then I remembered his words:
"If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?"

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry.
"See you in the New Jerusalem," he said.
Yes, Daniel, I know I will...

"I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again."