Men's Fraternity Week 25

Men’s Fraternity
Week #25 – Letter of Honor/Tribute to Parents



Ephesians 6:2-3
“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

• Honor means to prize, to fix a value upon.
• Value means to place worth, importance and usefulness on them.

The action of showing value is appreciation and respect.

Proverbs 6:20
My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching.

Proverbs 23:22
Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

• Placing a value on who they are, no matter what they might have done or did not do.

I. Two-fold promise that is affected by honoring parents.

1. First Promise – It affects your relationship with the Lord. “That it may go well with you…”

The actions you take toward your parents reflect your heart toward God.

Matthew 15:3-6
He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.

For Jesus, doing what was wrong in dishonoring your parents could never be linked with what was right in God’s eyes.


2. Second Promise – It affects your own life in a positive way.

Proverbs 16:24
Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

Proverbs 17:22
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Results of dishonoring life with parents:

Proverbs 30:11-14
There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers. There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth. There are those—how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift! There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind.

II. Practical Tips to Bring Honor

1. Meaningful touch
2. Spoken words of gratitude
3. Give them words of high value
4. Give them a picture of a special future

When parents grow older, they want to know we love them much more than to receive what we can buy them. One parent put it this way: ”Give me a kiss and time for my birthday. That way I don’t have to dust it.”

Personal Application/Exercise

Take the time we have left and write a “I am thankful” letter to your parents by next week.

If your parents are deceased, write a “tribute letter”. When you have your children and grandchildren together read this to them and let them know the qualities you received from your parents.

Men's Fraternity Week 18

Men’s Fraternity
Week #18 Control

I. Deep Idol of Control

1. Idol of Control is when I am unwilling to let go of my agenda and let God do His work.
2. When we are feeling powerless or circumstances are overwhelming the enemy proposes the lie that, “we must do something (be in control) or we will be hurt.”
   
   • When I am feeling powerless I no longer turn to God, instead my new idol of control is what I live by to protect myself from feeling powerless.

II. Manifestations of the Control Idol

1. Manifests itself in fear and anxiety.
   
   • Fear and anxiety surface when you might lose influence over something you want, and uncertainty about someone or something.
   
   Matthew 16:22-23
   Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him saying, ‘Far be it from you Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ Jesus said to Peter, ‘Get behind me Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on things of God, but on the things of man.’
   
   Luke 12:25-26
   Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do a small thing as that why are you anxious about the rest.
   
   
   • Fear shows itself in many ways:
   • I am irritated
   • I am unsatisfied
   • I am restless
   • I am unhappy
   
   
2. Manifests itself in workaholism.
   
   • Having “work” under control gives the illusion and mirage of security.
   
   Matthew 16:26
   What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
   
   
3. Manifests itself in anger.
   
   • When I cannot control a situation and begin to feel as if I am losing control the result is anger.
   • Look behind anger and you will find fear. Look behind fear and you will find control.
   
   Ecclesiastes 7:9
   Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
   
   Proverbs 14:29
   Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
   
   [Important to remember: Sometimes God removes our control to protect us.]

III. Replace Idol of Control Through Relinquishment

1. Greatest stumbling block in growing in our relationship with God is that we no longer can be in control.
2. Definition of Relinquishment: to surrender a possession or right.
3. Jesus is the great example of relinquishing His right to the Father.
   
   John 5:30
   I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
   
   Luke 22:42
   Father if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless not my will, but yours be done.
   
   If Jesus our Savior exchanged His will for God’s will, then why would we entertain ideas that our self-will is something we are master over?
   
   
4. Relinquishing is a trust issue.


Do we trust God enough to let go of our heart and life - of our self-will and let God have his way in our life?


• Letting go is rarely easy or desirable. It is like a wrestling match – a match of the will, God’s will VS my will.
• If relinquishing is a trust issue, then when an issue of relinquishing arises, the true colors of our heart’s devotion to Him will emerge.


5. Being a follower of Christ is not willing to relinquish my sin only, but my whole way of looking at things.
   
   Galatians 2:20
   I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
   
   
   • ”…it is no longer I who live…” – means, my life is no longer identified as mine – I give up my rights.
   • When we relinquish our will to God, we settle with the truth of His sovereignty and live in peace allowing the outcome of our circumstances to be in the hands of our loving Father.

Discussion:

1. Several manifestations emerge from the deep idol of control: fear, workaholism, and anger. Discuss any of these manifestations that can be a temptation for you.

2. How should the concept of relinquishing (surrender of rights) change our approach towards our Control Idol in our lives?

3. Read Jeremiah 17:5-8. Discuss how this passage relates to what we have seen today.

Men's Fraternity Week 17

Men’s Fraternity
Week #17 XXX

INTRODUCTION

• Pornography has a stranglehold on the American Culture!
• Stats from Lifeway Research and Education Database. (Jan 2013)
  
  
  • $3,075.63 is spent on pornography every second.
  • Most popular weekday for viewing porn is Sunday.
  • Percentage of men age 18-34 that visit porn sites in a given month - 70%
  • Percentage of Christian men who view porn regularly - 70%
  • Percentage of men who say viewing porn is acceptable behavior - 67%

Men of all ages, ethnicities, professions and income levels are willingly infecting their hearts and minds with images that are addictive, destructive, and in some cases, criminal.

Matthew 5:27
Jesus addressed this issue: ”You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’”

1. Sexuality is where we are most vulnerable; we experience the most shame and exhibit the greatest secrecy.
2. In the past you had to go our of your way to acquire pornography, today you have to go out of your way to avoid sexual images.
3. Perceived anonymity and pervasive accessibility has made pornography bigger than ever before.

I. SUSCEPTIBLE BRAINS AND DISCONNECTED HEARTS

a. Susceptible Brains

• God designed our brains to be stimulated visually by the beauty of the female body.

Proverbs 5:15-19
”Drink from the water of your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in love.”

• When a man views pornography, pleasure chemicals are released in his brain in amounts that far exceed normal levels.
• You quickly build up a tolerance to the same old stuff you’ve seen and to get the old high you’ll have to push the boundaries.
• You are not alone. This should strike shame at its root because we are all in the same boat and have the capacity for this stuff.

b. Disconnected Hearts

• Pornography is an outward act indicating a deeper need in us. The deep need is intimacy with God and others.
• A man disconnected from God and others is a man either struggling with or extremely vulnerable to sexual temptation.
• A man connected to God and trustworthy men, you will find a man nobly fighting the battle of lust.

II. ACTIVATING THE NOBLE FIGHT AGAINST LUST

a. We’ve got to ADMIT the sin and pursue ruthless honesty beginning with ourselves and with trustworthy men.

• Breaking the hold comes when we remove our mask and provide opportunity for truth and hope.

Psalm 32:3-5
”When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity, I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.’”

• When we don’t share, our hearts are disconnected, we live life alone and in isolation - turn to pornography to medicate our pain.

b. Identify the broken promises (lies) of pornography.

• To change we have to go beyond the “what” of our sin [I am looking at porn] and get to the “why” [porn promises to meet some need in me].

Matthew 15:19-20
”For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.”

c. Move from the broken promises of lust to repentance to something better.

2 Corinthians 7:10
”For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

• Worldly grief – produces death.
  
  • Negative consequences of pornography do not produce change because they lack the ability to affect repentance. Must go beyond saying, “I have sinned.”
• Godly grief produces repentance leading to salvation…
  
  • Repentance is what happens on the inside; it is not an effort to change behavior through a process of steps or muscle training.

Colossians 3:5
”Put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry.”

• Repentance involves a change of authority, and adjustment in who rules.

John 8:34, 36
”Truly, truly, I say to you everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

• We are so powerless to make change that repentance is impossible apart from God’s work.

Jeremiah 13:23
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

Matthew 5:3
”Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

• Repentance is a call for brokenness and a radically inward change toward God.

Psalm 51:17
”The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise.”

Discussion:

Reflect on this statement: “Show me a man disconnected from God, from his wife, and from others and I’ll show you a man either struggling with, or extremely vulnerable to, sexual temptation. But show me a man connected to God, his wife, and trustworthy men and I’ll show you a man who has a chance to fight the noble fight.” What are you experiencing? Discuss.

How does the above relate to Proverbs 18:1 “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.”?

Have you known “worldly sorrow” or “Godly sorrow” when dealing with sin? Discuss the difference.

Which of the 3 Deep Idols [control, significance, and comfort] is at the root of your battle with sexual temptation? What false promise can lust use to lure you (i.e. escape, validation, power, acceptance, comfort)?

Share with your group one or two strategic moves that you need to make in order to apply what you have learned in this session.

Men's Fraternity Week 16

Men’s Fraternity
Week #16 Battle Plan Modeled


Pastor Brian likes to begin our sessions with short videos, today he showed this one:



Review

Our “Battle Plan”

• Admit the Struggle.
• Identify the lie.
• Replace with the truth.

1. Jesus’ Example

1. Just like Adam in the Garden of Eden, Jesus was tempted by the great liar himself, satan.

Hebrews 2:18
For because he himself (Jesus) has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. [And because Jesus was human we will suffer when tempted the same way He did.]

• There is a suffering we face when dealing with temptation.
• Jesus can identify with the suffering we face in times of temptation and help us.

Hebrews 4:15-16
We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

• We need to have confidence in the grace and mercy of God to give us the help we need.

2. Jesus’ Model for us.

A. Jesus tempted with the deep idol of comfort

Satan: ”If you are the Son of God command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Matthew 4:3

Lie: Satisfy your needs through your own means.

Jesus: ”Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4

Replace with Truth: True happiness comes not in immediate gratification but in self-sacrifice to benefit others.

B. Jesus tempted with the deep idol of significance.

Satan: ”If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Matthew 4:6

Lie: Proving his significance through effort of power and performance.

jesus: ”It is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Matthew 4:7

Replace with Truth: Understand your place and God’s authority.

C. Jesus tempted with deep idol of control.

Satan: ”All these [kingdoms of the world] I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Matthew 4:9

Lie: Happiness comes when you are in charge.

Jesus: ”Be gone satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Matthew 4:10

Replace with Truth: God is the focus and the only one we serve. [The things we are in charge of end up being in charge of us.]

”Our chief enemy is the lie that says sin will make our future happier. Our chief weapon is the truth that says God will make our future happier. When my thirst for joy and meaning and passion are satisfied by the presence and promises of Christ, the power of sin is broken. We do not yield to the offer of sandwich meat when we smell the steak sizzling on the grill.” John Piper

Discussion:

How do the two passages in Hebrews help you when you are dealing with temptations in your life?

Remember that all idols over-promise and under-deliver. Discuss what idols are out there today that we as men are getting duped by? What are they promising? [Everywhere we look are advertisements promising that if we drive a certain type of car or drink a certain type of beverage etc we will be happier, more successful, more attractive to the opposite sex. Many promises that never deliver.]

Proverbs 28:13 says, ”People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them they will receive mercy.” Discuss amongst yourselves why we want to conceal and why we are reluctant to confess our sins? What is the truth conveyed here?

Ephesians 5:11, 13 says ”Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but instead expose them… When anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible.” What is the truth that we need to acknowledge here?

1 Corinthians 14:20
Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

What is the challenge for us when we read this vese?

Journal - A Sad Day

Well, as some of you already know, last Tuesday, September 17th, we suffered the loss of a dear, dear friend: my truck, which Joni fondly referred to as “Destiny”. Yes, it was a tragic day. My 1999 Ford Explorer, which I have owned since 2002, met its end going up 2nd Avenue in Kearney.

First let me assure you that no humans were injured, but there was a rather violent collision that took the lives of two perfectly good American automobiles. I was driving up 2nd Avenue on my way to work Tuesday morning and just as I was entering the intersection at 33rd Street, a red car darted out in front of me. Of the two, I think my truck had more momentum going for it and was hardly moved from its original path, but I let it veer off the street onto the grassy lawn of a business that stands at that corner. The lady had been coming south down 2nd Avenue and was making a left turn at that intersection. There was a school bus on my side also making a left turn so that it was blocking her view of me, and my view of her. I never even saw her until she was right in front of me.

A sad day

After bringing my truck to a stop and turning the engine off (yes it was still running, what a trooper) I hopped right out and approached her car from the passenger side. I saw that it was a rather old lady inside, which gave me a moment of dread, but as I spoke to her through the passenger window she seemed okay: she was able to look me in the eye and tell me that she was okay. By that time a man had come out from a house nearby and together we got her out of the car. We decided to go ahead and do that because her car was full of the smoky gas from the airbags and she was clearly not seriously injured. I went back to my truck and, after digging around for a minute, found my phone and dialed 9-1-1. I told the operator that the lady didn’t think she needed an ambulance but the operator told me that someone had already called in the accident and the ambulance was on the way. Before I could even disconnect the call the ambulance was there as we were just a couple of blocks from the hospital.

So long Destiny

So anyway, some policemen were on the scene pretty quickly and began asking their usual questions. The lady decided to go to the hospital after all to get checked out and I subsequently learned from her insurance agent that she was fine. Then we were just standing around waiting for the tow-trucks. While we were waiting I took out my phone again and started taking pictures because I didn’t really know what else to do. Also, I suspected that would be the last time I ever saw my truck.

Coming home from Baltimore

Yep, I had my truck for 11-and-a-half years and we covered about 75,000 miles together. In all that time and all those miles she never let me down one time. Oh, I had the usual flat tires and dead batteries, but she never broke down on me or left me stranded anywhere. I remember the trip to Baltimore to pick up Joni and Adam and bring them back to Dallas where I was living at the time. That was a trip of about 2,700 miles round trip, and the return trip was with a U-haul trailer hooked up. My truck ran like a champ all the way. Joni called the truck “Destiny” ever since. We drove through a lot of rain on the way back too come to think of it. There were several trips from Dallas back home to Nebraska over the years, and of course that final trip when we moved up here in 2009. In 2011 and 2012 we made more trips to Omaha than I can remember to see my eye doctor. For a while it seemed like we were living in that truck.

Okay, I know I’m making a big deal out of dumb old car, but gosh darn it I really loved that truck. I really am thankful that no one was hurt. I know God doesn’t want us getting too attached to our earthly possessions but I suppose I needed a reminder of that. Each night before we go to bed, Joni and I read bible studies and passages from the bible. That night our bible study focused on how we should be willing to give up what we have. If you’ll indulge me for just a moment, I’d like to share the closing remarks from that study:

RESPONSE: Today I will live in the realization that people are more important than things.

PRAYER: Help me, Lord, to not be tied down by my possessions but be open to sharing what You have given me with others in need.

The main point was really more about sharing, but I think it applies pretty closely to my situation as well. I know I get too attached to my things sometimes and I should learn to be a little more fluid and flexible. That is something I’ll have to work on I suppose.

Matthew 6:19-21 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ESV

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. ESV

Journal - Visitors

Well, here I am back again! It’s about 3pm now and I just wanted to update what I started earlier. I got my potato salad finished and Joni and I think it turned out pretty good. The potatoes may have been a little bit overcooked but not too bad. At least they didn’t completely go to mush when I mixed everything together. Also the eggs I boiled this morning were undercooked and the yolks didn’t look right to me. So I gave the yolks to Sassie, which made her very happy, and I just used the whites in the potato salad. It’s in the fridge chilling right now and should be ready for supper. We’re going to have hamburgers and potato salad. Sounds good! Also, while I was waiting for the potatoes to cook I decided to whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies, something I’ve been wanting to do for a few days now. I usually take the easy way and instead of making a bunch of cookies I just throw the dough into a glass dish and make cookie bars or whatever you want to call them. So we’ll have something for dessert too.

While I was working away in the kitchen we noticed that we had some very pretty visitors out on the front lawn. Take a look at these!

This is actually the second time we’ve seen these colorful fellows in the yard. I snapped a few pics of them the other day but didn’t really get any good ones. Instead of trying to sneak up on them this time I decided to snap a few pics through the kitchen window and they turned out pretty good. When we saw these guys the other day Joni looked them up in her bird book and discovered that they are American Goldfinches. They’re very pretty aren’t they?

And both times that the Goldfinches have come around, there’s been 1 or 2 of these bright fellows with them. Joni couldn’t find this one in her bird book the other day but today found out that they are Indigo Buntings. These are much brighter and prettier than the typical bluejays or bluebirds that we usually get around here. Today we counted seven of the Goldfinches and two of the Buntings. As we watched them we discovered that the Indigo Bunting is a bit of a bully, often chasing the Goldfinches away as they found something to eat.

But all in all, they commingled reasonably well. Here’s a nice little group of them. The American Goldfinch is the state bird of New Jersey, Iowa, and Washington. They typically winter in the south from southern California down to Texas and Mexico, and even as far east as Florida. In the summer they head up to the northern Midwest and Canada to breed, but can be found throughout much of the US all year round. They also have a very pretty song. After listening to it from the internet we could easily identify their call in the yard.

The Indigo Bunting spends the winter all the way down in Central America but in the summer they can be found just about anywhere in the US with the exception of the Rocky Mountains and anywhere north and west of them. They are commonly referred to as “blue canaries” and I think that’s a fitting name as they are a small and brightly colored bird.

Matthew 6:25-26 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ESV

Genesis 1:20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” ESV

For Sandy Hook

This was forwarded to me by a family member and I liked it so I thought I would reprint it here.
God Bless These Families

Twas’ 11 days before Christmas, around 9:30am,
when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven’s gate.
Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air,
they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.

They were filled with such joy, they didn’t know what to say,
they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
“Where are we?” asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
“This is heaven.” Declared a small boy, “we’re spending Christmas at God’s house.”

When what to their wondering eyes did appear,
but Jesus their savior; the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled and they smiled just the same,
then He opened His arms and He called them by name.

And in that moment was joy that only heaven can bring,
those children all flew into the arms of their King.
And as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
one small girl turned and looked at Jesus’ face.

And as if He could read all the questions she had,
he gently whispered to her, “I’ll take care of mom and dad.”
Then he looked down on earth, the world far below,
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe.

Then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
“Let My power and presence re-enter this land!”
“May this country be delivered from the hands of fools “,
“I’m taking back my nation, I’m taking back my schools!”

Then He and the children stood up without a sound.
“Come now my children, let me show you around.”
Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran,
all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.

And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
“In the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT.”

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

Luke 18:16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. ESV

Matthew 18:3 “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ESV

Journal - The Holidays Begin

The week of Thanksgiving was kind of a long one. I worked full 8 hour shifts Tuesday through Saturday and a 5 hour shift on Sunday making it my longest week at Walmart to date. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty busy as expected with lots of people doing their last minute shopping for Thanksgiving.

Thursday was pretty slow, also as expected. It was kind of an interesting day to work though. Us cart pushers carry walkie-talkies for when they need to call us in for carry-outs and there was lots of chatter and buzz all day about he Black Friday preparations. Since it was slow I got to go in and walk through the store a little bit now and then and it was interesting to watch some of the preparations. They moved lots of the usual racks of goods, mostly clothing, out of the store and put them outside in the lawn and garden area which was by this time empty. So there were huge areas of the store that were completely empty in preparation of the special sale items that would be moving in later on. As I understand it, the big empty areas would contain special sale items with plenty of extra space for queue lines for those wanting that particular item. I only worked until 5pm that day so I didn’t get to see very much of the sale items being moved in. Walmart began Black Friday at 8pm Thursday night so I was gone before the rush began.

Then it was Black Friday. I thought this would be a terribly busy and miserable day, but as it turned out I was wrong. Since the sales all took place during the night, it was pretty much over with by the time I came in at 8am Friday morning. The sale items were gone and all the regular merchandise had been returned to its proper places.

Saturday also turned out to be a bit on the slow side, another surprise. I guess everyone got their shopping done on Friday and decided to stay home. Saturday is usually the busiest day by far.

Then I had my short day on Sunday and was ready for a day off on Monday. It was a rough week even though several of the days I worked were slow. My legs, which have been toughening up and doing pretty well were definitely ready for a rest.

On the week after Thanksgiving I returned to my usual schedule of about 32 hours. That would have seemed like a nice break after the busy week of Thanksgiving, but I started getting sick early in the week. Tuesday and Wednesday were short days but I wasn’t feeling very well at all. By this time I knew that I had a sinus infection based on my symptoms. I had Thursday off and still wasn’t feeling well. I was starting to try and figure out when I could make a visit to the doctor but on Friday and Saturday I started feeling much better and decided it wouldn’t be necessary.

On Sunday I had a much needed and anticipated day off. My sinuses were feeling fine by now but I woke up with some soreness in my left eye, that’s the one I can’t see out of. I didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t really painful, just sore.

More on this later.

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ESV

James 1:2-3 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

Journal - Walmart Wanderings Week 6

Well I haven’t written for a while, have I? I keep telling myself that if I would just write a little a couple of times a week then I wouldn’t have to cover so much ground each time and I would be better able to remember what I’m trying to write about. Time just gets away from me, especially since I started working again.

It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been working at Walmart for 6 weeks now. The first few weeks were pretty rough, as I have mentioned, with my legs being pretty sore all the time. During the last couple of weeks though, they have finally been catching up with the demand I’m placing on them. While I’m at work they don’t really bother me at all. As long as I keep moving that is. When I take my breaks and sit down for a few minutes then they hurt again when I get back up, but it only takes a minute for them to loosen up again. At home in the evenings they really tighten up on me and it hurts to walk but even that is getting better.

On the weekend of October 20 and 21 I started feeling a cold coming on. I was hoping to just get through Monday and Tuesday and then I had the day off on Wednesday. Well, I did get through and sure enough on Wednesday I felt pretty miserable. Unfortunately, I still felt pretty bad on Thursday and I had to call in sick. Thursday was one of our coldest days yet and I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to work in the cold all day when I was already sick. But after two days of Joni’s chicken-noodle soup I was ready to go back on Friday. I expected kind of a rough day on Friday but I actually felt pretty good that day and on Saturday as well. So I got over my cold without too much trouble.

I think it was that weekend that I started noticing a red spot in my eye. That didn’t concern me very much because that same spot gets red now and by the next day it’s usually gone. This time, however, the redness didn’t go away and by Tuesday I decided I better call the doctor. This was October 30. I called Dr. Feilmeier’s office in Omaha to find out what day he was coming in November and they said the 8th, more than a week away. I told them what was going on with my eye and the nurse said I should really get it checked out as soon as possible, but instead of asking me to come to Omaha, which is kind of what I expected, she offered to call the Kearney Eye Institute and see if someone there could get me in. She called me back a bit later and said she had gotten me an appointment with Dr. Vaughan, the same doctor who did my glasses back in July, on Thursday, November 1. That was fine with me as it saved me a trip to Omaha.

I saw Dr. Vaughan on Thursday and the report was good. There was no sign of any infection, and the sutures all looked okay. I had been thinking that one of those sutures came loose again and an infection was starting since that has happened before. Dr. Vaughan said the redness was because my eye is very dry. With cold weather coming on, the air is getting more and more dry all the time, and now that I’m working outdoors I’ll probably feel it even more this winter. Dr. Vaughan recommended some lubricant drops, commonly called “tears”, which you can get over-the-counter. Joni and I stopped at Walgreen’s on the way home and picked some up, both of us thinking that we had really dodged a bullet that time.

So all was well until Monday evening, the 5th of November. At a little after 5pm on Monday, one of Dr. Feilmeier’s assistants called from the office in Omaha. She said that Dr. Feilmeier had just seen the notes and results from my visit to Dr. Vaughan and he wanted to see me right away, as in the next day. I was so flabbergasted that I didn’t even think to ask her what Dr. Feilmeier had seen that got him so anxious. She wanted me to set an appointment for the next day but I honestly couldn’t think what to do. I was totally caught off-guard and I was supposed to work the next day and everything. I finally told her that I would call back in the morning. Mind you, I already had an appointment to see Dr. Feilmeier in Kearney on Thursday the 8th. Well I though it over for a couple of hours and finally decided I would have to go. Dr. Feilmeier hasn’t let me down yet and I trust him.

On Tuesday morning I called his office and told them I was on my way. Then I called in at Walmart yet again and we got ready to go. Dr. Feilmeier wasn’t in until 1pm that day so we didn’t have to hurry too much, but it was Election Day and I wanted to stop by and vote on our way out. The polling place for our area is about 7 miles east of our house so it wasn’t really out of the way that much. Also, up until this year, I have never voted before and really wanted to do it this time. I had wanted to in 2008 but didn’t get registered in time. We left the house at about 9:30am I think, stopped by to vote, and we were on our way.

This post is getting pretty long so I’ll cut to the chase. Dr. Feilmeier said pretty much the same thing Dr. Vaughan had said a few days before. We weren’t there very long and were back on the road heading home. In some ways it felt like a wasted trip, but some things are worth being extra careful with, and one of those things is your eyesight. So I have to keep putting those tears in my eyes several times a day, but everything is fine and my eyesight is still good. Today was my day off so I got to relax and do some fun things, which I will be writing about soon.

Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ESV

Matthew 14:31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ESV

Endings and Beginnings

Well, here it is, officially fall already. This summer just seemed to whiz by. Our beautiful flower gardens are now mostly dried up and dead, our one and only watermelon has been picked and consumed. The corn fields are dried up and harvest has begun. The pumpkins are still producing but I know that soon enough they will be gone too. I’m at the end of one of the most enjoyable summers of my life and that’s kind of sad as endings usually are.

Let’s do a little catching up shall we?

On Thursday, September 14, I had my checkup with Dr. Feilmeier in Kearney. It had been two months since I last saw him and things had been going well so I wasn’t expecting much news one way or the other.

The Doctor’s assistant took us in and tested me out on the eye chart and everything as usual. She put up a line on the chart and I read it, then she brought up the next line and I read that, then she put up a third and I read that one too. Then she said, “Great, we’re all done!” I was thinking “Why are we stopping, I wasn’t even struggling yet?” Imagine my surprise when she told me that was the 20/20 line! Back in July I had been testing at about 20/25 with my new glasses. That was much better than I had ever expected to see again and I wasn’t really expecting more than that. I guess God had other ideas! When Dr. Feilmeier came in he was looking at my chart and said, “Are you just showing off now or what?” I could tell he was genuinely happy for me. Happy for himself a bit too I think at having completed such a successful surgery and recovery, but also genuinely happy for me. Joni told him I had my driver’s license and he seemed sincerely happy about that too. “That’s a big step up from that stick you used to carry around isn’t it?” he commented. Then we looked at some pictures of his new baby boy, who was born around the time of my last visit in July, and we were all done. I remember back in 2008 when we had decided to move up here from Dallas and I had been wondering how I would ever find another doctor as wonderful as Dr. Hargrave, who had been taking care of my eyes for about 7 years. God was in control though, and I ended up with one that I like and trust just as much, if not more. I am reminded, once again, of Jeremiah 29:11 which says ”For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

So I’m seeing 20/20 now. With that kind of vision it seems like I should be able to read anything with no trouble at all, but I do still struggle with some things. I still can’t read my comic books, for instance, without my magnifying glass. I guess that’s because the fonts are kind of funny and the contrast isn’t very good, often black on blue or purple or something instead of black on white. I don’t have any trouble at the computer unless the font is very small. I can read books and papers pretty well as long as the print isn’t too small and there’s plenty of light. Still, I’m seeing much better than I ever thought I would and you won’t hear any complaints out of me.

Last Thursday, the 20th, I got call from Walmart for a job interview. I had applied there back on August 27. I went in on the 21st for my interview and it went reasonably well. It sounded like they were prepared to offer me a job pending background and drug tests. I had told them I couldn’t drive in the dark and they sounded like they would be willing to work around that. I was there for a little over an hour and then they sent me out to a place on the east edge of Kearney that does their drug screenings for them. The manager at Walmart had told me that the test results would take a couple of days and that I should hear from them this week. Well, first thing this morning they called and asked if I could come in for orientation. The job is mine! My orientation is on Wednesday. Tomorrow I’ll have to run in and get some clothes; more jeans as I have only one decent pair, and some plain navy blue t-shirts. I suppose I’ll also have to get something warm for the winter sometime soon.

This is not a very glamorous job, I’ll be one of those people who gathers up the shopping carts from the parking lot and brings them back up to the store. Also, it pays minimum wage, which may end up being a little less than I’m getting from social security. But if this is where God wants me right now, then this is where I’ll be and I will do the job for God like it says in 1 Corinthians 10:31 ”So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” There is a plus side: I think this will be a nice easy job for me to kind of ease my way back into the work force. And who knows where it will lead. I’m guessing most Walmart employees start out as either cart-pullers or working the checkout. I would much rather be pulling carts than doing checkout. I’ll stick to my old standby here: If you don’t appreciate what God gives you, then you have no reason to expect something more, or something better. If I do this job as well as I can, and do it for God, then perhaps he will give me something better at some point. Matthew 25:21 ”His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much…”

So, I stand here on the brink of the next stage of my life. I’ll admit I’m scared. Endings are often sad, and new beginnings often are scary because you just never know what will happen. The last year of my life has been a happy and comfortable one, recovering from my surgery and enjoying my returned vision. The garden was a lot of fun this summer. Now it’s time to move on to the next thing. God likes to challenge us with new things now and then. That’s what keeps us growing and developing in our relationship with Him. It is my task, and all of ours, to trust in the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-6 says Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. And really, how could I not trust Him? A year ago I was blind, and now I’m seeing 20/20. Last spring I had a 3-month long infection in my eye that left no damage at all. He has carried me through everything, and I’ve never gone hungry, never had to live on the streets, never really wanted for anything. No one on Earth could do all that for me, only God, my provider, my rock, my salvation. Psalms 118:8-9 ”It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.”

In The Blink Of An Eye

Last Friday, a terrible tragedy occurred in the state of the Nebraska. At approximately 4pm, a van carrying two coaches and eight boys of the Broken Bow high school basketball team was returning home from a basketball clinic in Kearney. Just two miles from home, a pickup truck traveling the opposite direction on Highway 2 swerved over the center line and hit the van head-on. The driver of the pickup, a man from Ansley, Nebraska, and both coaches in the van were killed. None of the eight boys in the van were killed although, as of today, three of them remain in the hospital, one in critical condition.

Broken Bow is a small town with a population of about 3,100, and Ansley is very small consisting of only 469 people. In small towns, tragedies like this one are felt more deeply, I believe, effecting not only the families and friends of the victims, but really the whole town. My prayers continue to go out to all those effected.

It only goes to show you that you just never know how much time you may have on this Earth. We all expect to live long, full lives, but now and then we receive these painful reminders that that just may not be in the cards for all of us. The driver of that pickup truck was 70, but the two coaches were aged 38 and 24.

We just never know when our time may come. That’s why it is so important to always be ready. Imagine if you had an argument with your parent, sibling, friend, etc, and then died the next day, never having resolved it. I guess that’s why it says in Ephesians 4 verses 25 and 26:

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger ESV

It would be a terrible thing to leave that kind of unresolved business behind us when our time comes, but it would be even more tragic if we were not right with God. It’s so easy to think, “I’m young, I’ll have plenty of time to learn about God later on so I’ll live my life the way I want to now.” I used to think that way myself and now I know how foolish I was. Maybe you have plenty of time and maybe you don’t. We just don’t know.

There are plenty of scriptures that speak very plainly about this. Luke 21 verse 34 for example:

"But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. ESV

And Mark 13, verses 32 and 33:

“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. ESV

An even better example is the parable of the bridegroom and the virgins from Matthew 25, verses 1 through 13:

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. ESV

Now, I know those verses are speaking about the day Jesus returns to the Earth, but I think it kind of works either way. Whether it is our time to go, or His time to come, the point is we need to be ready because, just like it says, “you know neither the day nor the hour.” It could happen next week or tomorrow or later on today.

I know, I know, this topic is kind of a downer. Who wants to sit around and think about the day we’ll die? The hard truth is that, as responsible Christians and human beings, we do need to think about it. Don’t be caught unawares; be prepared!

Journal - First Signs of Life

Tuesday and Wednesday turned out very hot. Tuesday was supposed to be in the upper 80’s but it actually topped 90 before it was said and done. As I write this on Wednesday afternoon, it is 86 degrees. The yard work has been fun but I have to admit that these temperatures take some of the enjoyment out of it. Flies and mosquitoes are already becoming a nuisance. We also have ants in the kitchen already and the moths are flapping around the back porch and the fluorescent light in the kitchen. On top of that we saw our first June bug last night. And it’s not even May yet. Somebody pinch me, I think I’m still in Texas.

Well, it was too hot these last two days to spend 3 or 4 hours in the yard as I did on the cooler days, but I still got out and did a few things. I’ve been keeping the various flowerbeds watered each day and we are finally seeing some sprouts. We have hollyhocks coming up in a couple of different places but no Zinnias that we can detect. I can’t remember if I mentioned it but I planted some sunflowers out in the yard toward the road where that old wishing well used to sit but no sprouts yet. Today I planted some more on the opposite side of the house, across the driveway where Joni’s “country fence” is. Some of the wild flowers I transplanted on the north side of the house haven’t decided if they like it there or not yet. The potatoes in the garden were a no-go so I dug up that part of the garden and moved some of the little pumpkin seedlings there. They were all growing in a big cluster right where we threw the pumpkins last fall so I just moved three of the individual seedlings to see if they will take. If they make it I’ll try some more to get them spread out a bit. If they do well we should have an awful lot of pumpkins later on. The trees have been dropping tons of those little helicopter seedpods all over the place so we got some of them cleaned out of the flowerbeds before they start to grow. I just got all those little trees cleaned out of there and I don’t want more growing. Joni also started some of our pepper seeds in a little tray today. Hopefully they’ll take off and we can get them in the garden. We also saw our first snake of the season in one of the garden beds. It was a good sized garter. In one of the flowerbeds I was digging up a couple of weeks ago I found a nice little sprinkler. Just a little round one but it’s made completely of metal so I guessed it might still be good. Today I cleaned it up and put a gasket in it and it works great. It will be good for watering the garden once it’s full of vegetables.

Tomorrow we go to Grand Island for my visit to Dr. Halsted, an associate of Dr. Feilmeier’s, so there probably won’t be any yard work tomorrow.

Matthew 13:3-9 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” ESV

Journal - Yard Work, Possessions, and Music

Let’s see, where was I? Oh yes, last Friday Joni and I traveled to Grand Island for Distric Music Contest at Grand Island’s Central Catholic High School. Adam, who joined the choir this year, was performing with a group, and Kylie was performing as well. We left at about 9am and made the trip to GI, which is just under one hour away from here. We had obtained the physical address of the school and so with our trust TomTom GPS unit, we had no problem finding the place.

As it turned out, Adam’s group and Kylie’s group were performing in the same room, one right after the other so that made it pretty easy to see both. Adam had also been in a group earlier that morning, and Kylie had another group later that afternoon, so we were glad of the opportunity to see both kids perform.

Adam’s group of about seven boys sang an old Billy Joel classic, “For The Longest Time.” Some of the boys in the group had trouble with the tempo and the pitch, but I have to admit that Adam did a good job. I could actually hear him singing, which surprised me. He’s kind of reserved in public sometimes and I didn’t think he would sing out that well. Also, when he sings at home he has a lot of trouble finding the pitch, but with the piano and the other boys he sounded right on tune. Next up was Kylie’s quartet. They sang “Ave Maria”, not the version you traditionally hear around Christmastime, but a different one. It was a really beautiful song and the four girls sang it really well.

And that was all we stayed for. On the way in, I had noticed that we passed a Home Depot store and I asked Joni if we could stop on the way out to look for a fuel line for the weed eater. So we stopped in and found one without too much trouble. After that we headed on home.

Saturday was kind of a cool day, but it was sunny and not too windy so I went on out to see if I could get that fuel line in. This is when I discovered that it wasn’t actually the fuel line I was replacing, but the line that runs from the primer. There are two separate lines running into the fuel tank. Not too worry, the package I had picked up at Home Depot had both lines in it. So after fighting with the trimmer for a little while we finally managed to get the primer line installed. Unfortunately it still wouldn’t start. I pulled and pulled at it but it never even tried to catch. The only other thing I can think of is to try some fresh fuel. The trimmer uses 2-cycle fuel, gas and oil mixture, and what we had on hand has been sitting around for about three years, which is the last time we were able to use the trimmer. So I decided to try some fresh fuel in it as soon as I could get some.

Also on Saturday I kind of piddled around the yard a bit. I didn’t have anything specific that I wanted to work on so I just kind of messed around here and there. I watered the various flower-beds and such.

Sunday we made it to church. I was glad we did since we hadn’t made it the week before. Two weeks in between church services leaves me feeling a bit frazzled more often than not. Pastor Mike’s sermon was about possessions and riches. It was something I really needed to hear as I have struggled with that. Not with riches, I don’t struggle with riches at all since I have none, but I do struggle with possessions. I have many possessions that are very important to me, even though I know I shouldn’t place so much importance on them: things that I’ve had for a long time, or things that once belonged to now-deceased grandparents and such. I would be devastated to lose those things and I know that’s not healthy. Anyway, it was a good sermon that left me feeling kind of thoughtful the rest of the day.

I can’t remember if it was on Saturday or Sunday that we discovered the pumpkins. I was looking for sprouts on the potatoes that I had planted, and thought I found some. I was wrong. The little green sprouts were coming up in the middle of a pile of pumpkin seeds. The seeds came from two pumpkins that Mom had placed on our front steps as a surprise for our return from Omaha after my surgery in October. The pumpkins lasted a good long time, but when they finally got soft and mushy we picked them up with a shovel and tossed them into the garden area. Well, some of them are coming up. In case you ever need to identify pumpkins sprouts, they have thick rubbery leaves, and they all grow with two leaves on each sprout. We had actually picked up some pumpkin seeds at Walmart, but I guess we won’t need them because there are quite a few coming up. As for my potatoes, I dug up a couple to see if anything was happening and they’re not sprouting at all. So that experiment failed. Pumpkins will be fun though.

Then on Monday the choir had their concert at the school in Gibbon where many of the groups that performed at Districts get to show off for the home crowd. We got to see Adam’s group again as well as the other group he was in that we had missed on Friday. We also got to see Kylie again which was nice since she’s a Senior and it was her last choir performance before she graduates. Mom and Bobbi were there too and there were a few tears afterward. This also marked my first visit to the new school in Gibbon since my surgery. It worked out well: we had to drop off Adam early so we had plenty of time to look around before the concert began. My favorite thing was the class pictures. The old school had the senior pictures for each class in large frames going up and down the hallway. The new school has gone digital, with all the class photos displayed on a large touch screen mounted to the wall in the common area. You can choose a class to view and it brings up the pictures for the whole class. If you want to see a larger photo you can touch the student and it brings up a larger image. It was pretty cool.

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ESV

Mark 8:36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ESV

Journal - Restful Week

This week has been fairly quiet and uneventful for us, something we needed after all the trips to Omaha and working in the yard and such. Joni needed it especially since she had a pretty wicked cold over the weekend. We ended up not even going to church on Sunday since she just wasn’t feeling up to it.

Monday was cloudy and cold and windy so we pretty much just sat around the house all day.

Tuesday was a little nice so I got out and did a little mowing. I did the front yard and up both sides of the house.

Wednesday was a very nice day: sunny and warm and not very windy. Joni started mowing and did most of the back yard, from the house all the way out to the road. While she was doing that I gave Sassie a bath, her first of the season. After that I started working on the flower beds along the south side of the house. Actually there aren’t many flowers there, it’s most covered with mint that came from three little mint plants Mom gave us a couple of years ago. It comes back every year and really goes crazy. The beds are bordered by some white, cylindrical concrete pieces that were there when we moved in here. Over the years they’ve gotten out of line and sunk into the ground and I had been wanting to get them straightened up a bit. So I started in on that and got about halfway along the house. I just didn’t have much energy though and called it a day even though I’d only been out for about an hour and a half.

Today (Thursday) was mostly cloudy but still warm. I guess it rained a little bit this morning because when I went out at noon the ground was damp. But the sun was starting to peek out so I went back to work on the south side of the house. I had done the western half of it on Tuesday, so what I had left was the eastern half where nothing much is growing yet. I pulled up all the concrete cylinders, then raked out the leaves and trash that were still in there. This ended up being a much bigger job than I anticipated because there were lots of little trees trying to grow in there. I had already cut out several of them a while back but I found a few more. Also, the roots from those little trees were all over the place, great long ones that grew horizontally just under the surface. After cleaning those up the best I could, I took some of the flowers that had begun growing outside the boundary on the western half of the wall and moved them inside the boundary on the eastern half where nothing was growing. We don’t really know what they are, just some kind of wild flower that came up there I guess. They get pretty little purple flowers on them. Then I put the concrete pieces back in place all nice and neat. While I was doing that, Joni got out the mower and finished up the back yard.

So the whole place is mowed, the flower beds are looking good, and all is right with the world. Let’s see, what will my next project be? Last week at Walmart we picked up a few seeds so it’s getting about time to start turning some soil in the garden so we can get those planted. I got a packet of sunflower seeds as well and I haven’t decided where to put those yet so I need to be thinking about that. I like sunflowers. Oh, and I looked at the weed-eater again. As it turns out, that fuel line just pokes into the fuel tank through a little hole and isn’t attached to anything at all on that side, so I guess all I need to do is get some new line and feed it in through the hole. Maybe next time we go to Kearney we can stop at Builder’s and look for some. It would sure be nice to have that running again.

If you’re wondering, I had no doctor appointment this week. We were supposed to go to Omaha but the doctor didn’t have any openings that would work for us. I’m really bummed out about that. I see Dr. Halsted in Grand Island next week.

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ESV

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. ESV

Journal - Easter

After our exciting Wednesday evening with the fire, Thursday and Friday passed without much happening. I had been hoping to get outside and do some work in the yard on Friday but it was cloudy and gray and very windy and just not very pleasant to be out in. So we sat around the house all day, all three of us since Adam had Thursday and Friday off from school.

Saturday turned out bright and sunny with temps around 65. I decided to work in the yard for a bit even though it was still a bit on the breezy side. I got the weed-eater out of the shed to look and see if I could do anything with it. It works okay as far as I know but the fuel line is dry-rotted and snapped off. I wanted to see if I could figure out how to replace it but I couldn’t really tell much. I knew I would be seeing my brother Brad, who knows a lot more than I do about fixing things, on Sunday so I decided to wait and ask him about it.

So I put the weed-eater away and got out the rake and went to work on the area that had been our vegetable garden two years ago, but last year was nothing at all. We had been piling downed branches there and an awful lot of leaves had gathered there as well. I started raking and filled up my 50 gallon bucket 5 or 6 times with leaves and branches and various trash. It was too windy to burn so I dumped it all in a big pile near the incinerator where it would be ready to go on the next calm day.

And then Sunday was Easter! After a really nice service at our church in Kearney we gathered at my sister’s house as we usually do for Easter. Mom was there, Brad and his family, Bobbi and Mike’s family of course including all four kids, Mike’s step-daughter Courtney and her two little girls Hannah and Samantha, and the three of us. Mike and Bobbi had prepared a couple of delicious hams along with cheesy potatoes, corn, strawberries, rolls, wheat bread from Bobbi’s bread-machine, deviled eggs, and Brad brought his famous pasta salad. It was a really excellent meal and I had two plates full, which I hardly ever do anymore.

Before dinner I was asking Mike about planting potatoes. Mike knows just about everything about agriculture and gave me some good tips on potatoes. All you have to do is cut up some potatoes and plant them, making sure that each piece has an eye on it. He said that it’s not a bad idea to let the pieces dry for a day or two before planting them to avoid rot but also said that he has put them straight in the ground before and had good results. Store-bought potatoes may not work as well because they are often sprayed with an inhibitor to keep the eyes from sprouting right away, but the potatoes I had were direct from a grower; they had donated some to Mom’s church for a fund raiser and Mom had given us some. After all of Mike’s good information and advice, I felt I was ready to try some.

During dinner I also asked Brad about the weed-eater. Without him being able to look at it, it was naturally difficult to make a diagnosis but said I should check if the fuel line has a nipple on the outside of the fuel tank, something I hadn’t thought to check, or if it’s inside the tank. So that’s my next step on that “project”.

After dinner, the kids had their annual Easter egg hunt. The youngest of the kids is now 14 with the oldest being in their 20’s but they are all good sports about it. Oh, except for Courtney’s two little girls who are still small, that made it more fun. They hunted their eggs and generally had a good time.

After that, we sat around and chatted for a while, which I always enjoy, and then it was time to go home. It was a very fun day and I was still stuffed with food and felt very content.

Matthew 17:22-23 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed. ESV

Luke 24:1-3 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ESV

Journal - Flat Tire Continued

So we had the spare tire on the truck, and more trips to Omaha to look forward to. Not a very happy prospect

Well, after we had gotten home that Thursday, Joni and I let our usual people know that we were home safe and filled them in on how the day went. Right away we were offered two new tires for the truck. On Friday morning we received another offer of two tires. And just like that, God took away our worries.

Saturday morning we went up to Walmart to get the new tires. Our friend from church met us there to drop off the money for two of them. We stood and talked for a few minutes while the truck was being worked on and then her son called her and said that she should run us all out to his house. He and his family go to our church as well and had a new house built recently on the old family farm south of Kearney. So we hopped in the car and ran out there for a few minutes. By the time we got back to Walmart the truck was all done with four brand new tires on it.

In overhearing another customer in the tire department that day, I had found out that you can save $2.50 per tire if you take the old ones with you so I did that. Ten dollars is ten dollars after all and we’ve got room for the tires out here at the farm. On Sunday I took the three tires that were still whole and planted them half in the ground along one edge of the area that used to be our garden. No particular reason, I just thought I’d try to do something with them instead of piling them in a shed or something. I think they look kind of neat there. Before I planted them Joni examined them and sure enough one had a nail in it. The nail had probably caught in the tread somewhere and gradually worked its way into the tire as we drove down the interstate. Once the nail let the air out of the tire it didn’t take long for the rim to shred it to pieces.

It’s always tempting to ask why things happen. Why did God let that nail get in our tire? Didn’t we have enough to deal with without that? Of course we know that God’s plans are rarely evident to us. He had His reasons even if I don’t know what they are. Maybe by picking up that nail in my tire I saved a mother traveling cross-country with her children from having to deal with it. There are thousands of possibilities. If I saved someone like that from having a flat then it was worth it.

You always have to look on the bright side of things. If you don’t, the darkness of this world will consume you. There is good in everybody and everything if you just look for it. Sometimes you have to look harder than others, but it’s there. Keep doing that, and pretty soon your whole attitude will begin to change, and then your life will begin to change, and then the lives of those around you will begin to change. It’s a choice each one of us can make, and with God all things are possible.

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ESV

Luke 11:10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ESV

Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" ESV

Journal - Peaches, peaches, peaches

Well, it’s that time of year again. At the end of August, Bobbi let me know that her and Mike’s peach tree was ready to be plundered. Joni and I went out one afternoon and brought home about 60 peaches, the tree produces tons of peaches but they’re kind of small. The peaches were already very ripe so I got busy canning them up and ended up with about 2 quarts, plus enough for Joni to make a cobbler.
While I was canning, I got the idea in my head that I wanted to try making some jam, something I’ve never attempted before. I looked at a few recipes online and decided to give it a try. Since I didn’t know what I was doing, I started out with a small amount, about two cups of peaches. It was a good thing I didn’t use a lot because I cooked it too long, and by the time it cooled it was really hard. It tasted okay though. The Hard stuff was kind of chewy and reminded me of eating dried apricots or something like that. I thought that might make a tasty candy so I tucked that idea away for later.
Anyway, I knew the two quarts of peaches I had wouldn’t make a lot of jam so I asked Bobbi if the tree had any left. She said there were a few so we went back and got a few more. Also, Mom had offered to buy me a case of peaches from her store. They were on sale for a very reasonable price so we came home with lots of peaches.
The peaches from the store weren’t quite ripe yet, so I had to wait a couple of days before I could do anything with them. They were really huge though so I was hoping to get several quarts. After two more days of canning I had a total of 8 quarts.
There was a little left over so I also tried another small batch of jam. Well, this second batch turned out great! After it had completely cooled, the consistency was just right for spreading on toast, and it tasted very good. The first batch I had thought was too sweet, so I cut back on the sugar by half and I think that was about right. So I spent a couple of days eating toast and jam and enjoyed it quite a lot.
My first experience with making jam was fun and challenging. When you cook jam, the test to see if it’s done is to let it run off the spoon. They say it should run off in a single clear stream, but of course I can’t go by how it looks. Instead I have to go by how thick it feels as I’m stirring. I’m guessing each batch will come out a little different, but hopefully I’ll be able to come up with several good jars of peach jam
This morning I tried my third batch, a larger one this time with a full quart of peaches. I was happy to find that each quart will make four small jars of jam, about twice as much as I had thought it would make. I canned three jars, and put the rest in the fridge to eat right away. As I’ve been typing this, I’ve heard two of the three jars pop so wish me luck!

Jeremiah 17:10 "“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
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Matthew 3:10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Journal - Vacation Blues

Yep, I have the vacation blues. No, I’m not blue because I’m on vacation, or because my vacation is ending, rather I am blue because I’m not on vacation. Is that making any sense? Alas, I shall have to explain further.
I’ve been crunching pretty hard on the audiobook reviews for the last several months, and I was starting to feel a little burned out. At the beginning of August, I had decided that I would finish out the month, and then take September off. You know, just listen to some audiobooks I have already reviewed so I could relax with them and not have to always be thinking about what I’m going to write. I was really looking forward to it too. Then last week I got an offer I just couldn’t refuse.
For several months I’ve been receiving audiobooks from Galaxy Audio. They’re the ones that are doing a whole bunch of L Ron Hubbard’s stories from the pulp fiction era of the 1930’s and 40’s. Last week, Galaxy President John Goodwin emailed me to say that next year they will be publishing Hubbard’s Battlefield: Earth, which is probably his best known work, and one that I have been hoping for since I was first approached by Galaxy. Anyway, John said that he wants to send out some advance copies to get some critical feedback. He’s not asking for a review yet, but some opinions on whether or not the audiobook is good as it stands, or if anything needs to be changed for the final production. That’s right, I could have a say in the finished work! But here’s the best part: John is only sending out two advance copies, and one of them would be mine if I wanted it. I wasted no time in telling John “Heck Yeah I Want It!”
Well, the audiobook is 44 CD’s long, which is absolutely huge. In fact, I think that will be the longest audiobook I have ever had my hands on. I estimate that it will take 12 solid days to get through it, and possibly more. So there goes my vacation plans. I’m not complaining though, because this is a huge opportunity for me that I would be an idiot to pass up on. John mailed it out late last week, so I’m expecting it any day now.
So here’s what I decided: instead of taking September off, I will continue hitting the books until the end of October. Then I will take an even longer vacation through November and December. That will actually work out pretty well because November is when I start practicing Christmas music on my sax and I’ll have less time for books anyway. But don’t worry, because I’ve been working so hard, I actually have plenty of reviews saved up to carry me through the two months. Ifyou follow Audiobook Heaven at all, you’ll never even notice that I’m on vacation. It’s actually a much better plan than the one I came up with myself. Pretty amazing how things work out sometimes, isn’t it?
So, two more months of hard work, then I’m off until next year. I’m still looking forward to the break. There are lots of audiobooks I’ve already reviewed that I would like to go back and listen to again, especially the Harry Potter series. I’ve listened to those books about a dozen times but I just can’t get enough.
Okay, break time is over, gotta get back to those books!

Matthew 21:21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. ESV

Mark 9:23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” ESv

Journal - Catching Up

Well, I guess I haven’t written for a while. The passing of time continues to befuddle me. Let me see if I can recall what’s been going on.
There isn’t much to report on Audiobook Heaven. After the flurry of activity during the first six weeks of the year, things have settled down a bit. That’s okay, I like some excitement now and then, but we always need that time to recharge the batteries. I continue to receive audiobooks from Blackstone, typically six books per month. I got a couple of L Ron Hubbard books from Galaxy Press last month, and just received two more today, although one of them is a repeat. I’ll have to contact them and see if I should send that one back. Last week I got my first two books from HighBridge Audio. The only new thing I have to report is my latest discovery, Graphic Audio. One of the books I got from Susan Dunman was from that publisher, and I had never heard of them before. I looked them up in Google and took a look at their website. They specialize in creating full cast audio productions, complete with sound effects and music, of comic book graphic novels. Can you imagine how excited I was about that? I contacted them, and they responded right away saying that they would send me some review copies. I didn’t get to pick out what I wanted, but I was pretty happy to get anything from them. Hopefully they’ll keep sending me stuff.
My Medicare became effective on March 1. I’ve spent the first half of the month getting information and making my choices for part D prescription coverage. I have part A for hospitalization; that part is free. Part B for doctor visits carries a monthly premium of $115, and it looks like there is also a yearly deductible of about $162. On part D, I qualified for extra assistance so there’s no premium or deductible. My scripts will be $6.30 for brand name, and $2.50 for generic. That ended up being better than I expected. My prescription coverage begins April 1, so I’ll be looking for a doctor over the next week or so and will try to make an appointment for sometime in April.
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this in my blog or not, but for the last 3 or 4 months, God has been trying to get me to play my saxophone at church. I’ve been dragging my feet as usual. I’m not very good at stepping out of my comfort zone. This began right before Christmas and I thought I might play some Christmas music, but that kind of fell through. It was pretty short notice, only one week before Christmas so there wasn’t time to get anything set up. Before I could play, I had to meet with the music director, Kent. Well, after that I let a couple of months pass, then I finally approached Kent again about it. We met at the church on March 4 and I played for him. He sounds like he’s okay with me playing at church, but we haven’t set anything up yet. The ball is in his court, though, I’m just waiting for him to say when.
Speaking of church, on February 27 we had our first service in the new sanctuary. When we first went to this church about a year and a half ago, they were just announcing plans to build a bigger sanctuary onto the church, and it’s finally done. The new sanctuary has theater-style seating for a little over 900 people. I’m looking forward to seeing it. I’m not sure how many our old sanctuary could seat.
For the last several days, Charles Stanley has been doing a series of sermons about guilt, and it’s got me thinking about some things. It seems clear that God wouldn’t want us to feel guilt for sins that He has forgiven us for. Guilt is, after all, a negative emotion, and God doesn’t typically deal in negative emotions. But it sort of seems like a little guilt might be a good thing. In the complete absence of guilt, are we not more likely to repeat our sins of the past? I’ll hav to do some thinking on that.
It’s now been about three days since the disastrous earthquake in Japan. A monstrous 8.9 on the Richter. It sounds like they are stil struggling to contain the nuclear power plants. 8.9 makes this the fourth most powerful earthquake in recorded history.
Okay, I guess that’s about it. See you next time.

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. NIV

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door an knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in with him and dine with him, and he with me. NKJV

Do It For HIM

This morning I was sitting at the computer, posting a book review over at Audiobook Heaven and checking my email. For about three weeks now, I’ve been exchanging emails with someone at Simon & Schuster to see if they would send me some audiobooks that I could review. The message I got this morning made it pretty clear that the answer was going to be no. They didn’t actually say no, but just keep putting me off, which is a lot worse than a flat rejection I can tell you.
I signed off the computer feeling a little bummed about that, and all the while this nagging little suspicion was gnawing away at the back of my mind. You know that feeling you get sometimes, like something isn’t quite right, or you’ve forgotten to do something? I’ve had it for a couple of days now. Well, over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed that sometimes that feeling means I really did forget something, but sometimes it means that God is trying to get through to me, and I haven’t been paying attention.
I went into the bedroom to listen to my current audiobook, but before I put my headphones on I just sat for a minute and asked God, “Are you trying to tell me something?” I sat quietly for a few minutes and nothing much really came to mind, so I put my headphones on and listened for a while.
A couple of hours later, I got back on the computer, and I had an email from another publishing company, Galaxy Press, whom I’ve never heard of, asking if I would like to review some of their books. Galaxy Press is putting some of L Ron Hubbard’s older works on audio, and that’s what they want to send me so I can review them.
Now, was all that just a coincidence? I’ve already mentioned that I don’t believe in coincidence. Rather, I think maybe God wanted a little acknowledgement. He has been very generous to me lately, arranging for me to get free audiobooks from Susan Dunman, Blackstone Audio, Last Word Audio and possibly from Hachette, although I haven’t got those yet. Maybe God just wanted to make sure I wasn’t forgetting who the architect is here, before blessing me even further.
In a way, I guess you could say that writing audiobook reviews has kind of become my job, even though I don’t get paid for it. I don’t get any money, that is. As Uncle Butch pointed out to me recently, I get paid in audiobooks. Call it what you will, this is where God has led me, just as He leads each of us to one task or another. The mistake I have always made in the past, and perhaps the mistake I’ve been making lately, is not allowing God into a particular area of my life, especially my job. Maybe that’s why I’ve never been very successful at any of the many jobs I’ve had. I have thanked God for blessing me with audiobooks, but maybe sometimes He wants a little more. Thanking God silently in our prayers is good, vital even, but how much better to tell the whole world how He has blessed us?
During one of his sermons a while back, Pastor Mike told us about a woman he met at a restaurant. The woman was an employee, charged with wiping down tables and preparing them for the next guest, a job many people might look down upon. As she cleared the table beside Mike, they struck up a conversation and she said, “I’m just doing this for the Lord.” Another Pastor we had back in Dallas once said that if you don’t take care of what you have, you shouldn’t expect God to bless you with something better, or something more. He was talking about material possessions, but I think that applies to our jobs as well. If you constantly grumble and complain about your job, God may not be so willing to give you a better one.
The biblical reference that jumps to mind here is the parable of the talents, which I’m sure many of you are familiar with. I won’t type out the whole thing here, but you can read it in Matthew 25, verses 14 to 30, or in Luke 19, verses 12 to 28.
It’s as simple as this: if we want success in every facet of our lives, home life, work life, church life, social life, etcetera, then we need to allow God in all those areas. It doesn’t matter if you’re the pastor of a church, or a school teacher, or a farmer, or a janitor, or an audiobook reviewer, be cheerful and productive with what God has given you. You may not think your job is very important, but He gave it to you for a reason, and if you let Him rule that part of your life, there’s just no telling what He might send your way next.

Matthew 25:21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ NIV

Ecclesiastes 2:24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God. NIV