Sketch of My Blog

Our Journey in Life is more than we allow it to be.
We must all Be Ourselves to really enjoy what's all around us.
Take hold and learn from Life and Others.

I Follow the Way of Jesus.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Pastoral Candidacy

I have applied to become a Pastor.  So I am in the process of Candidacy for becoming a Pastor.  It is a long process and it takes filling out a lot of forms and writing up a lot of information.  I hope that my family can survive and that I have the patience needed.

We will see. . .

Here is where I am in the process so far.  I have declared my intent and asked to be admitted to the Candidacy program.  Now I just have to write up my Call and my official request for admission to the Candidacy program.  In the mean time I am filling in a lot of forms online, with more to to and assistance needed from my wife.

This is going to be interesting.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

God's Call

God has sent out a Broadcast to the world.  He is calling out to everyone.  Rich or Poor, Young or Old, Big or Small, Short or Tall, Good or Bad, Every Race, Creed, Color or Gender.  


Will you Answer the Call?

Two days after Christmas 2012...snow storm!


Well Hello There,

It's the post-Christmas snow storm. It started last night and continued into this morning and a bit sporadically through out the day. I shoveled about 10 inches this morning to just leave my front door of my apartment. It was beautiful and I just really enjoyed the beauty of it all. As I was shoveling out my car also, that was an adventure in it's own right, I noticed someone who was shoveling out their car from a side road at my complex. I wasn't sure if they needed help, so I kept at my clearing out of my car. When I was done, they were still trying to get their car unstuck, so I went over and lent a hand. It was the least I could do. After several minutes we finally got a chunk of wood under the one tire that was spinning and got the car unstuck. That was an adventure also.

Driving to work was slow and steady at about 50-55 miles an hour. I was apparently braver, or crazier, than others, because I kept passing people. I just kept driving straight and just kept passing everyone. It was a safe drive the whole way. Now I'm just looking forward to getting done with work so I can go home and spend time with my family.

Christmas was wonderful as we got to spend time with my Grandma and a friend of the family.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Church vs. State

Just before I left High School I found a need for a Bible Study.  But since you can't cross Church and State, I had to find a legal way to have one.  I enlisted the help of the Bill Graham Society and there views on the matter and after reading over some legal papers on what was allowed and what wasn't allowed I approached a Teacher with the proposition. He suggested I have a talk with the principal and I did.  After some discussion in which I agreed that I would be the one holding the meeting and not a teacher, it was agreed that as long as it was not run by a teacher it was okay.

I had to jump through hoops to make a Bible Study during lunch hour a reality.  Just because Church and State regulations.  I didn't see the reason behind it then and I still don't see the reason behind it now.  I am a professing Christian, a Follower of Jesus, a Disciple, and an Apostle.  I am currently being mentored to be a Pastor.  I don't see why there needs to be such a divide between what can and can not be done in Schools when it comes to religious freedom.  Nowadays it is only right and acceptable for teachers to discuss all different forms of religion in public schools when those topics arise.  If the teacher is even allowed to discuss the topic of religion.

It isn't that we have taken God out of the Schools or that we have prevented Him from being involved in the Public school system, it's that we mentally block all that God is from being present.  God is not someone you can keep out of a location.  You can ignore God, but He is still there.  God was there in China and in Connecticut and He felt the pain, He felt the agony of what the victims and the attackers.  He witnessed it and was hurt by the outcome.  Someone may ask, "Why didn't God stop it?"  I would ask "Do you stop everything little thing from happening to your child each and every day?"  No of course not.

God has given us free will.  We make choices each and every day.  Some of them bad and some of them good.  I don't claim to know the mind of God, but as a parent I know what I can and can't do for my child.  I can't shield him from everything.  I can't stop him from being hurt or from hurting others.  It happens and I can't protect him from every little thing.  What I can do it try to train him for what is right and wrong and direct his way so that when he grows up it he will continue to do what is right.

I believe God has given us that same option and responsibility.  We are allowed to make mistakes and we for the most part know what is right and wrong.  We also know what is the way to live that is right and we know where to find the instruction manual, (The Bible).  God is right there beside us each and every day, whether we like it or not and whether we believe in Him or not.  You can refuse to believe in God and you can believe in something like evolution, which takes more faith than believing in a God who created everything and loves us and wants the best for us.

We never kicked God out of schools, we just started ignoring Him.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Meteor Shower, God is Awesome!

Last night my family went outside around 8 pm to see the Geminid or Piscid Meteor Shower.  Since they're both happening at the same time frame, not sure which or of it was both that we saw.

Take a look here for more information about the meteor showers.

Anyways, my son saw his first Meteors that night.  He is 11 and it was so special to have him see something that God planned.  God set in motion such wonderful and amazing things to see that I can't believe some people don't believe in divine creation.

We saw about a dozen and are planning on going out again tonight after we see the Hobbit.  I think it will be awesome and I just can't wait for both the Hobbit and so see more Meteors.

What was even better was that this morning I went for my 2 + mile jog and when I stepped of the front stoop and looked up I saw another streak over head.  During my jog, I checked the sky every so often, but nothing that I could catch.  After my jog I turned around just in time to see the biggest Meteor go streaking over our Apartment complex and break up.  It was a slow one, large and bright and it broke up at the end just before it went out.  So I saw two other chunks light up and then go out.

God is so Totally Awesome!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Stumbling in the Dark 09-16-2012


Stumbling in the Dark

          What do you think about when you hear the words “Stumbling in the Dark”?  Is it something about being up in the middle of the night and trying to find your way around?  Walking into furniture, stepping on toys, or trying not to step on your pet?  Or have you ever considered the possibility of stumbling in the dark in broad daylight?  Think about that for a minute.  We all do it each and every day.  Whether it's day or night we all stumble around.  Not knowing what's around the next corner, what's right or wrong, or what will happen the next day, week, month, year.  What I want to talk about is even more frightening, because it has eternal ramifications.  It's Spiritual Darkness.
          Jesus made Spiritual Darkness a reality.  To show this we are going to John Chapter 3 verses 1 through 21 and we're going to look at this in sections.  So from the New Living Translation we read: 
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.  2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” 
I want to stop right there to point out two very important facts.  First, it was after dark that Nicodemus came to see Jesus.  He arrived under the cover of darkness.  Secondly, Nicodemus didn't even start with a question. 
          Okay so, Nicodemus has come under the cover of night, to talk with Jesus, whom he believes is sent from God.  He's trying to find out more about Jesus, but doesn't want too many people knowing this.  Many of us like to hide what we do in the dark.  It's convenient and comfortable.  In the dark: No one can see what we look like, No one can see who we are talking to, No one can see what we do,  No one can see who we hurt, No one can see the scars, No one can see that we are hurting, No one can see the tears.   There is another type of darkness that we can hide in, it's called Spiritual Darkness or Ignorance.  Are you in spiritual darkness? 
          Nicodemus didn't know he was living in spiritual darkness, at least not yet.  Lets continue on with the reading for a moment: 3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”  5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.  6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.   7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’  8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
          He's living in spiritual darkness and ignorance.  Now he's opening the door to a change.  He's no longer content to live in darkness and he's trying to see what's out there.  What he's missing.  Jesus is guiding Nicodemus towards the truth.  Now remember, Nicodemus didn't even ask a question to begin with.  He just said we know you are sent from God.  Nicodemus is asking Jesus a question without actually asking, What am I missing?  What am I lacking?  What do you have to offer besides these miraculous signs?  Nicodemus, being a sage man of the ruling council, thought discretion to be the right way to go about this.  Jesus didn't think so.  He cut right to the chase and side stepped all the pleasantries.  When truth is on the line Jesus doesn't mince words.  He comes right out and shines a light on the situation.
          Jesus is telling him right here, what's the secret to eternal life.  What everyone in the whole wide world needs to know.  He says be born again.  Born of the Spirit.  Have your eyes opened to the light so that you aren't stumbling around in the dark any more.  You want to know the truth?  Well you can handle the truth.  It's just not what you are expecting.  You're probably expecting something, like clean you feet first and your head last, that will make you acceptable to God.  Or how about this one, take your shoes off because everywhere you step is Holy Ground, God made it.  It's the truth.  Or, Kiss every child you come upon and make sure that all of them are being taken care of, for they inherit the Kingdom of God.  Instead it's the simplest thing in the world, Be Born of the Spirit.  But Nicodemus doesn't get it.  His response is along the lines of “What?!”, “That's not possible!”, “This is crazy talk!”  He was in a word, incredulous.  So Jesus' reply is one of the most famous passages of scripture John 3:16 -21: 16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.  18 There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.  19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.  20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.  21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
          So, 2000 years later and none of it's changed.  We stumble around in the dark.  To some of us it can be like a warm blanket.  It can be frightening to others.  None of us want our sins to be cleansed, because it might hurt, or because it's embarrassing.  We don't know, or sometimes don't care, that only Jesus can fill us up inside.  That He is what we ache for.  Not the next person, not the next new car, next new job, or World Series, or Super Bowl or Olympics.  It's all fleeting and useless.  It's temporal and meaningless.  Do you know what's permanent and what's meaningful?  Life in Christ!  Nicodemus found that out.  He came to Jesus at night, with a veiled question, hiding behind truth and fact.  He left a believer.
          We need to shine the Light of Truth in the darkness and find the strength to walk through dark places, so we can help shine the light of Jesus.  Why?  Because there's only one way to heaven and Jesus is it.  What more do you need?  The alternatives are Sin and Hell.  In John 8:12 (NLT)   12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”   We need to stop stumbling around in the dark.  It's not healthy.
          Here's four things to help you not Stumble in the Dark: 1.  Spend time in the Word of God.  2.  Read your Bible daily.  And don't just read it.  Anybody can do that.  What you need to do is really read it and listen to what it's saying to you.  I mean, it's God talking to You.  3.  Pray about what you read.  Think about what you read.  Absorb what you read.  If you take the time to do that you'll get more out of it.  It'll lead you down the path you need to go in life.  4.  Talk with other Christians about what you read and what it means to you and listen to what they have to say.  It'll help you grow, not only mentally, but also spiritually.  You'll see life in a whole new way.  Not that life won't have its own ups and downs.  It's just that you will have an assurance about your life that no one can take away.  Let me leave you with this verse from John 12:35-36 (NLT)   35 Jesus replied, “My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going.
36 Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.”

Friday, July 6, 2012

Don't judge a book by it's cover


My son wrote this and I wanted to share it.  Enjoy!

Don't judge a book by it's cover
By
Josiah

Once there was a gerbil prince who was looking for a gerbil princess. He lived in a castle cage, in a pet store. The castle had five towers, a drawbridge, a laboratory, and a food moat. Every night he quietly sprinted out of the cage to look for a beautiful princess, because he wanted to start a family.

One night there was a terrible storm outside. Someone who knocked on the castle, told the king that she was a real princess. The king did not believe her because she was terribly wet. Her fur was sticking up and her tail was limp.

The king quickly got the princess test ready. He took a pile of corn and placed it on the floor for the princess to sleep on. He told the princess who was very sleepy to sleep on the corn. The princess woke up the next morning well rested because she was a real princess. The prince noticed the princess and fell in love.

Remember don't judge a book by it's cover.                                              

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Mister Rogers Remixed | Garden of Your Mind | PBS Digital Studios

This is such a great remake and compilation that I wanted to share it and put it on my Blog.  I really enjoyed it.  I hope anyone who wants to can enjoy this.  I also wanted to post this here so I can find it easier in the future.  Later, All.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Mouse Family - Hospital

It was a family of mice that came into the hospital one day. They needed food and an operation. It was a cold and bitter winter day. They came to get out of the cold, plus one of them needed a small hip operation. They came in the early morning hours of a Tuesday morning. The second oldest of the 5 needed their left hip replaced.

The mouse family had been waiting a year and a half for this. They went to prep and the second youngest and the one needing a hip went into get more prep done and wait. The other three, all males, waited in a waiting area. An hour later the four went to scavenge for food.

While they sat to eat what they found, the got called to all go to the operating floor. At that point they bagged their food and followed up to the OR. Up there they said their goodbyes. They separated from their family member for the next two and a half hours.

They scavenged around the OR floor, seeing if their was any other food and decided to go back down and eat their earlier find. The family of four now sat around eating their food, talking about what the mouse doctor and mouse nurse said. The doctor was concerned about a chance of infection, but the family wasn't worried. After eating they went back to the waiting room to sit again.

At this point the family sat around and played some card games. Got some coffee for the oldest of them and played UNO and Sorry Revenge. The middle oldest and next close one in age won most of the games. They then read for awhile; waiting for the call to go see their family member.

After two and a half hours of waiting the doctor came and said all was well. The doctor mouse had tried to get a hold of them earlier but couldn't. The surgery went fine and they were getting an x-ray to see how everything went. In another half hour or more the mouse family would get to see their family member again. The doctor mouse said that the mother mouse would have to limit weight bearing to 50% for the next month until another x-ray. So the waiting continues until they can see their family member again.

Around 2:30 a phone call came saying that they could see the mouse matriarch at 3:00. So in a half hour, at 3 p.m. they could visit her in the recovery room. They visited with a friend on the way to see their family. This friend visited for a moment too. They stayed with their family member for about an hour. Then they had to go home and let the patient rest.

The next day they went about the day as best they could being down one mouse. They did okay and went to see their patient / friend mouse matriarch after supper. It was nice but they miss their friend being at home with them. They want their friend to come home, but it is too soon. The PT mouse (Physical Therapy) and the doctor mouse suggest that the grand mother can go to rehab sooner than Friday. This information was made them feel both nervous and excited. The want time to go faster, but they want it safely.

Thursday came and calls started happening that moved the grand mother from recovery to rehab. Which meant going to a new place closer to home.

Much Later.........

Rehab has been full of ups and downs. It is only twenty minutes away from their home, but there has been some issues. First the grandmother has been getting sick and throwing up and after that seemed to be getting better, the leg with the hip replacement decided not to work after three days of therapy. Then the grand mother started throwing up again. It seemed that both times it was medication or vitamins that were causing the problem.

So now that the medication or vitamins have been straightened out, the grand mother has found out that her leg was going into rebellion since it has not been lifted in over a year and a half. It has only been shuffled around instead of being lifted. So now the leg needs a little rest before it can continue therapy and start moving and lifting again. Slow and steady is the way to go for this therapy.

She has been in therapy for a little over a week and has an appointment with the doctor's office that did the surgery. Hopefully everything is going well. They will find out later when the grand mother tells how the appointment went.

All is well, the staples have been removed, therapy has been going well for the last two weeks and the grandmother can go home in a couple more weeks. The mouse family is happy that the whole ordeal is almost over.

Ever since this has started, two of the mice have been taking care of everyone else. One has done the most work in taking care of the grandfather and the youngest. The other has been doing all the transporting and a little of the cooking. It has been a big challenge for them holding down the fort while dealing with their own life. They have done it and more and it is almost over.



(A little bit of a real life experience for us, told in a very different way.  Hope you enjoyed it.)

Writing...

Here I am sitting in front of the keyboard.  Wondering why I am sitting here in front of the keyboard.  Am I going to write something poignant?  Will there be a moment of inspiration?  I enjoy reading and almost equally I enjoy writing and or drawing, but what does any of this have to do with the topic?  I picked the topic out of thin air and still don't know what to do with it.

I believe I am doing this as a exercise in writing.  Since I need to write a little more often.  I also need to improve my writing.

So I will see what will come of this and where it might end up in the future.

The Good Shepherd and the Sheepfold Gate

Did you know that Jesus is the Shepherd and the Sheepfold gate? That means that not only does can he guide us through our day, if we allow Him to, but he also is our place of Rest for the night. He will guard us through the night. What do you think of that? John 10:1-18

A Prayer


My Wife took a Prayer from Max Lucado and re-wrote it to be more personal. She wrote it as if she was speaking to God. Here it is:
"O Lord, change my focus from a me-focus to a God focus. Work your will in my life that I might be an instrument to do your work and to tell others of your great love. Let my life reflect your holiness through thick and thin. Help me live in pursuit of what you want rather than what I want. May I keep a firm grip on my faith no matter what hard times come my way. In all I do, may I honor you. Amen"
Just wanted to share it with you.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Ecclesiastes 1-2

I was reading Ecclesiastes 1 & 2 today and was thinking how depressing Solomon was sounding.  Then really got thinking about how it is not so meaningless.  The trees work hard to create leaves and shade animals and us, and provide safety for birds and squirrels.  Water works from one form to another and it comes from the river into the ocean.  It is a cycle that goes around and around and keeps working.  The whole earth was made to work.  We were made to work.

It is not meaningless.  Our life is a purposeful life meant to work for others and to work for God.  It is our gift from God.  It is why we need to take breaks, but it is also why we need to move and work.  If you ever wondered what you were meant for?  If you ever wondered why you felt you needed to do something and didn't know why?  Because it was what you were meant to do.  Don't run from it!  Don't hide from it!  Embrace who you are and do what you are called to do.  Work and find your passion in it.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Christians at War!

Christians are at War!  We are at War with Satan.  We are at War with the World.  We are at War with our own self.  I have proof!  Whenever Christians get together and share a meal, there is always enough for a small army and what's more is that the leftovers could still feed a small army.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Soon more to come

There will be new posts soon and more info.  Just getting back to this.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Update, sorry been busy and away.

Will be changing things a bit soon.  May move this or something.  Maybe just update it.  Not sure will let you know, when I figure it out.