God is With Me - Psalm 91

For as long as I can remember this Psalm was one of my mother's favorites, and it has come to be one of my favorite passages. When I need a "little time" with God , and a little reassurance of His presence in my life. I turn to the Psalms. The Psalms are full of comfort and peace. They are also the place where King David left  some of his notes and prayers to God. King David was a sinner of the highest magnitude, BUT, he also had God's ear, and God's favor. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, and actually had her husband sent into the heat of battle to be killed so he could marry her. He became convicted of his sin and David got on his knees and begged God for forgiveness. He admitted his sin, publicly, and David was forgiven by God. God elevated him to the status of one of Israel's greatest kings. God was also faithful to David's children. Read in 1 King, 2 Kings, 1 Cron., 2 Cron, and the Song of Solomon. Do you ever feel like your sins are so bad, so horrible that God could never forgive you for them. Well, forget that notion. God is all powerful, all seeing and always faithful. God doesn't want any of His children to be condemned in sin and be cast into the firey pit with Satan. God wants all of us to be heirs in His kingdom through His Son Jesus Christ! Paul also thought that he was the worst of sinners, yet all of his sins, and they were terrible sins, were forgiven and God elevated him to a place of honor. He filled him with the Holy Spirit through knowledge of His only Son Jesus. Remember that  Paul was first a pious Jew, as were all of the deciples, and had been persecuting those who followed Jesus and His way of life. Paul was even present at the stoning of Stephen. He was trained in the traditions of the Pharasees. BUT, he was forgiven all of that and ended up being one of the strongest believers in the "Good News" of Jesus Christ and worked hard all the rest of his life to spread this Gospel to the world.
Romans 8 (KJV)

16 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. . ." 
 
 John 3:16 (KJV)
16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
 
While we were yet sinners God sent His only Son, Jesus to die for us!
 
Romans 5:8(KJV)

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:7-9

 Galatians 3:26-28(KJV)

For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus

Psalm 91 (KJV)

1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because he[b] loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

All of the Psalms are wonderful revelations of God and God's love and faithfulness to all of His children. God does not want us to be cast down and depressed. He wants us to be at peace. We can have that peace through a personal relationship with God. The best way for us to do that is by accepting Jesus as our personal Lord and savior. When we are in Christ , we are counted as one of God's children. See the verses from Romans 8: 16, 17 above for the Biblical proof of this. I urge you to repent of your sins and sinful ways. Turn to God. Turn to Jesus to be your pathway to that salvation trhrough the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus knows you and knows your sins. They are what He went to the cross for. Jesus was beaten, spit on, mocked, and the hairs of his head and beard were pulled out. Imagine that suffering. Imagine all of that pain. Imagine the pain and humiliation of being nailed to a cross.  Now believe that He went through all of that and went to the cross to die for you so your sins could be washed away by His blood. Jesus was the final and perfect Lamb, sacrificed for your sins!     

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

Howdy y'all; it has been a couple of months since my last posting so an apology is in order. I have been pretty busy, but I have to say that some of it is procrastination! How many times have you used or heard the words in the title of this posting? I know I have used it a lot and I even made a bunch of buttons with my button machine that said it. I also made a bunch that said "Merry CHRIST mas" on them. Our society here in the good old U.S.of A. has, in recent years, tried to "numb" us to the Christ in Christmas. For years we have been bombarded with all of the commercialism, and "politically correct" desensitisation to this special time of the year. I remember when I first saw "Xmas" when I was a kid. I thought the people were just to lazy to write out "Christmas" and didn't think too much about it! The "wrongness" of it finally hit me when I experienced my first Christmas as a born again believer. Suddenly it ALL seemed so wrong. I looked around me with the new eyes of a true child of the Living God and really SAW all of the world's commercialism, all the "hype" for toys, cards, expensive gifts for your "special someone" and decorations that left Jesus out of the picture. I was actually nauseated by all of it. We, as believers, must take a stand and say a loud "NO" when we hear of someone calling it a "holiday tree", even though some really fundamentalist Christian's believe that the Christmas tree is a pagan symbol, and that it wasn't popularized in this country until the 18th century. From a certain perspective it's history does hearken back to pagan, or at least "non-Christian" roots. It really doesn't matter! What really matters is what it has come to represent with it's star or angel tree-topper that symbolizes the night when the star shown over Bethlehem and the angels proclaimed the good news of Christ's birth, and the lights that represent the good news that the "light" of truth and Jesus Christ has come for all of mankind. Granted a lot of folks over do it a bit, but it is still Jesus that is to be worshipped and recognized as the true and everlasting truth and light for all of us. It is a shame that "Jesus is the reason for the season!" has become so cliched. It has lost some of it's punch. Freedom of religion is one of the fundamental "RIGHTS" provided for us by the constitution of this great country, and I stand by it and believe it deep in my heart. Some people have perverted the right to freedom of religion to mean every other religion EXCEPT Christianity. I had a teacher in my high school civics class (it was called "Problems of Democracy" at that time) who taught us that my rights end where another persons begin and their rights end where mine begin! I took that to heart. Everyone in this country is guaranteed the right to worship as they desire, or NOT to worship anything if that is their belief. I don't have a problem with any of that. Really. I believe that they are wrong not to worship Jesus Christ or to believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and that God was, is now and will be for ever and ever, or that God created the whole universe. BUT. . .I will never try to cram Jesus down their throats or condemn them for not believing. I must confess that I would, and do, talk to non-believers about Jesus. That is really one of the main reasons why I started this blog; to try to introduce folks to Jesus. I find it a bit odd that in some communities it is okay to display a Jewish menorah   or other symbols for other religions but it is against the law to display a Manger scene, Creche or other Christmas decorations. It is okay to display Santa Clause in some cities but it is considered a religious symbol in others. There are a lot of other religious blogs out there in cyber space and they have a right to run them just as much as I have the right to run this one! Back to the title of this posting. Jesus IS the reason for the season. When you say it . . . mean it! When someone says "Happy Holiday" to you , don't be offended; just say "Merry Christmas" to them. I love Jesus! I love Him for going through all of the torture, the punishment and finally going to the cross to die for me and my sins! Without Jesus I believe I would have been condemned to hell for all of eternity. With Jesus in my heart and being born again. I believe that I am saved from that condemnation and that I will be in heaven with my loved ones who were born again believers, and better yet I will be in the presence of my creator, God and with His only son Jesus Christ! How wonderful is that!? The only way that can happen is if you are truly "Born Again"; and the only way to be born again is to accept Jesus Christ as you personal Lord and Savior.  How do you do that you may ask. First, you must truly repent of your sins (". . .for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"). Second, you must ask Jesus to come into your heart and to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Finally, you must confess that Jesus is the only Son of the ONLY Living God. It is one of the hardest choices you can make and also one of the easiest things to do. Pray this prayer:
       "Lord God I know that you are the creator of all things and that you sent your only Son Jesus Christ to die for me and that His blood was shed to wash away my sins. I confess that I am a sinner and I do truly repent of my sins. I thank you for sending Jesus for me and the rest of the world. I believe that He is no longer among the dead, but that He was resurrected to sit at Your side to rule in heaven. Please, Lord God, send the Holy spirit into my heart and give me the strength to turn away from my sinful ways, my evil thoughts and wash away any doubts you may find in my heart. Please, Lord God give me the knowledge, strength and faith to stand up for you in the world and to spread your word by teaching others about your Son Jesus." 
            God is ALWAYS faithful and true. He always keeps His word, and He  promised that if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and truly believe that Jesus is His only Son sent into this world to die for our sins that we would be "saved".  Without Jesus we are not worthy of being in God's presence or going to heaven when we die. God's grace is a free gift! It is only by our faith and by God's grace that we can be saved. I don't know about you . . . but as for me I want to go to heaven and be with God; and I want to be with Jesus through all of eternity! I also want see my brother, dad, mom, grandma, great grandma and the rest of my family that were/are believers! To be with all of those believers that have gone on before me, Moses, King David, Peter, Paul and the rest of the disciples. I want to see and reside in that heavenly home, that mansion not built by human hands. Thank you God. Thank you Jesus! I truly love you and want to please you Lord.
 YES; Jesus IS the reason for the season! AND, He died for you and me, He was raised from the dead to rule in heaven with His Father  so that we could claim eternal life and so that we could be washed clean and worthy of that place in heaven!                   

September - Roshashanah

WOW! Can you believe it is already September! This is the month in which Roshashanah is celebrated. That is the Hebrew New Year! It is also considered The Day of Atonement. In the Hebrew tradition that Jesus grew up in it would be a day of prayer and a time for asking for forgiveness from anyone you may have sinned against. I think we should celebrate the Day of Atonement as Christians too. We have all, at one time or another wronged someone or sinned against someone we know. How nice it would be to ask for their forgiveness and also forgive those who have sinned against us. We pray that in the Lord's Prayer. Wouldn't it be nice?
Well, anyway, on to my point for today. It seems like the older I get the faster and faster the days go by. When I was 18 years old an older friend of mine told me that the days would seem like they went by faster the older I got and I told him he was full of beans and nothing could make the days seem to go any faster than they were right then, when I was eighteen. Well, I was wrong, and he was very right! Back in the day, as they say now, it seemed like I had all the time in the world. I was working two jobs, taking classes and still was able to find time to go fishing with friends or go and shoot some hoops with buddies. When my step children were in school and doing different things, having to be chauffeured here and there for track or baseball, T-ball, football or whatever it seemed like there was time to do all of that and still have some time for myself and my "fun things". I wonder what makes the difference? There are still only 24 hours in a day. Still only 7 days in a week, sixty minutes in an hour! Is it our "energy level". I know I had more energy back then. But still there were chores to be done, wood to be chopped, split and stacked. Lawns to be mowed, fields to be plowed, meals to be cooked, household chores top be done. Still with all of that, I was able to find time to hit the rivers or streams for a few hours of fishing, or time to go hunting with friends or my step-son. Maybe it is because now that I am retired there is not the press for time as there was back then. I had to manage my time more closely to be able to get all of the "got to's" done and that left more time for the "want to's". I don't really know . . . but I do know it seems like I have less time to get things done than I used to. Any way, the point of all of that is to get to this realization that I had about spending time with God. "Back in the day"; I would get up at 4:00 or 4:30am and spend at least an hour with my Bible and with my prayers. Now I kind of fit it in whenever I can and that is not fair to me or to God. What I have decided is that from now on I am going to set aside a special time for God, the Bible and my prayers. For me morning has always been my best time. It is usually quiet and peaceful early in the morning and what better way to start the day than with my Lord and Savior, my Bible and my prayers. I will still set aside my Saturday evening prayer time at 8:00 central time to do my Prayer Warrior devotions and prayers. That is the time we all agreed upon to spend in prayer so that all of us would be praying at the same time. When two or more are agreed in prayer ". . .It shall be done!" The real point is that we ALL need a special time to reflect on life, God, prayer, service to others and especially on the people who really mean the most to us. One of the things I figured out a long time ago was that if I just read a couple of chapters in the Old Testament and a few chapters in the New Testament it wouldn't take long to get the whole Bible read cover to cover! I have done that many times in my life and I plan on doing it many more times. There is so much wisdom in the Bible that you realize that there really is "nothing new under the sun", and that just about any situation you come up against in life is already written about in the "Good Book". I have found that the Holy Spirit gives me a new understanding of the scriptures at different times! I have read a passage and had it speak to me about a certain situation in a certain way, and read the same passage at a different time and had it speak to me about a completely different situation and in a completely different way; and for both of those "understandings" to be right on the money EVERY TIME! I'm not exactly sure why or how, but the Bible is truly the "Living Word of God". I have heard many people criticize scriptures and say that it is too "confusing" or too "contradictory" and friends I have to say there was a time when I thought the same thing! You know what the difference is? It is the power of the Holy Spirit! Once you give you life over to God and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and the Holy Spirit fills your heart and understanding it makes ALL the difference in the world! We are all human and we all stumble and fall away from the Lord at times, BUT if you are truly responsive to the Holy Spirit and to the Biblical "Truths" of God's Holy Word; and if you truly try to live your life according to His commandments the Bible is alive and speaks directly to you and your heart. Every time I read it I find something NEW! Some new truth that I can hold on to that helps me make it through another day. Life is hard there is no doubt; and it is NOT fair sometimes. But with God, the Bible and prayer we can face all things and defeat all of life's foes and woes. One of my mom's favorite verses and it is also one of mine is: Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ which strengthenest me." or as it says in the NIV version of the New Testament "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." With God nothing is impossible. Romans 8:31 ". . .If God is for us who can be against us. " I want to leave you with this thought: Pray, pray alone, pray with others, pray in your church and most of all pray in your own special quiet place. I would also like to tell you all to read Romans 8 the whole chapter. There is much in there for you to discern. Read it prayerfully and with your heart open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. You won't be sorry!

Update on Revival

God bless y'all! Folks I have got to tell you that the Revival at New Hope Baptist Church has been awesome so far, and Brother Denby has been on fire with the Holy Spirit! You could literally feel the tension in the air caused by the Holy Spirit filling the whole church. Satan was on the run!! There was no room for him there. A number of folks went up to the Altar to rededicate their lives to service for Jesus Christ! Tonight he preached on the scriptures relating the defeat of Goliath by little David and how David sent Goliath's head to Jerusalem but how David kept the armor of Goliath in his tent. He likened that to the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in us through Jesus Christ and how we ALL as believers in the Salvation power of Jesus Christ is the ". . . something we have in our tents". People all around me were standing up and giving a "hand clap" for Jesus or shouting out "Halleleulya" or "Amen" and so was I. Brother Lamar was ON FIRE for Jesus. I was reminded a number of times of the saying; "that surely God is in this place". Amazing, wonderful, thrilling. There are not enough adjectives to describe just exactly what the feeling was that moved through the church. Someone sent me an email with a link to a quick short cut to scriptures based on "key words" and I explored the site and found a number of features that are awesome helps in doing bible studies. I am going to try to include them here for anyone who might like to check them out. Go to: http://www.biblegateway.com/ This site is awesome! There many different versions of the Bible available from the King James to New King James all the way to New International Version and many, many more. There are search helps and links to "Bible Verse of the day" . I love it and I use it often to do my research. Remember that all one needs to do to be born again is to renounce Satan and your sinfulness and truly repent and then accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and thereby accept the gift of the Holy Spirit into you heart. To believe and to know that you have been "Saved" is awesome. In a flash scriptures seem to be more clear and your understanding of them growing. The PEACE that fills you up, and knowing where you will spend all of eternity, WOW! Amazing! God bless you all!

August 2010

Well, here it is August and the weather here in Texas is as hot as ever. Actually it is hotter than I remember it being in a long time! The wonderful thing about this month is that we are having Homecoming and Revival at my church! That is the New Hope Baptist Church in Grapeland, Texas. August 8th is Homecoming and Brother Josh Mills will be bringing the word. There will be fellowship, fun, food and praise to the Lord of Lords. Hopefully we will have a lot of our older members and some new members coming to worship with us. We are also having our Revival week the 16th through the 19th and Brother Lamar Denby will be coming to preach the word. He is an awesome preacher and is truly filled with the Holy Spirit! I am looking forward to hearing him again. The Holy Spirit flows through the building and the prayer and praise raises the rafters! Awesome special music and awesome fellowship. The wonderful thing about being a Holy Ghost filled believer is getting together with other believers and feeling the renewal of the Spirit fill your heart and just blow you away! There is such joy at knowing Jesus and knowing that you will be with all of the saints and family believers that have gone on before when the time comes for you to shake off this mortal coil and then to be able to worship at the feet of the Savior! To know that by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior the old person, the old sins are washed away and you are made brand new! Washed clean by the blood of Jesus, praise God! AND there by able to take your place in heaven because your name is written in the Book of Life. That is one of the hardest, yet the easiest choices a person can make, to accept Jesus. You can believe in God, sit in a pew every Sunday, do good deeds and be a good person; but that will not mean you are "Saved"! That will not mean you will gain a place in heaven. You will not be numbered among the Saints UNLESS you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, and confess Him to be the ONLY SON of the LIVING GOD! All a person needs to do is pray this simple prayer: Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner, and I am in need of your Saving Grace. Lord wash me clean, fill me with the Holy Spirit and come into my heart. I thank you Lord for sending your Son Jesus to die on the cross for me and that by His stripes I am healed and washed clean and made brand new. Then you must study His word. Pray often for those around you. The amazing thing is that as soon as the Lord fills you with the Holy Spirit the Word of God, the Bible will come alive for you. Each time you read a passage your understanding will increase, and the more you will realize that God is your ever present help and comforter! I praise God for all He has done for me and all He will continue to do.

Spring!

Howdy Y'all! It's FINALLY SPRING!! I have had enough of cold weather. I know that around the middle of June I will probably start complaining about the heat but I guess that just makes me human. I wish I could be a bit more like Paul at times when he said (I may paraphrase a bit here) "I have learned to be content no matter the circumstance." The thing is, I am satisfied! Spiritually. I have accepted Christ as my savior and I have wept at the foot of the cross for every drop of Jesus's precious blood spilled because of my sinfulness and I have truly repented, I am washed clean by that precious flow. Life, my life is not perfect by any means but I have a house that is a home, I have friends who care about me, clothing, food in abundance (actually more than enough), reliable transportation and most important a wife (helpmate) who really loves me, understands me, cares about me, and all that even though she knows me and my quirks, foolishness and foibles. What is even more amazing is that she likes me! I like me, but I am amazed that some one else does too. We have had good times, abundant times, lean times, illness and down times and we see it all through together. The reason we can do that is because God is number one in our lives. We pray together, laugh together, cry together and we can be quiet together. I know I could go on with life if Leona was not in it, BUT I don't want to be without her. I know that Leona feels the same way. There is a line in that Jerry McGuire movie where the mute couple in the elevator are signing to each other and what passes between them is; "You complete me." That expresses exactly what and how I feel about Leona. God brought us together twice. The first time we got married and because of immaturity after almost 11 years together we divorced! We always stayed friends and occasionally we would communicate and then we even stopped that, but, miracle of miracles God brought us together again. This time, I will not make the mistake of letting her go. No matter what! We are truly meant to be together. I am not always sure why things are as they are, but it is not for me to question why. I just have to follow where God leads me (us) and trust that it is His plan and that it will eventually be to His glory! Nothing happens by accident or by coincidence. I am as sure of that as I am sure that the earth spins and the sun will come up again in the morning. I have lived long enough to know that . . ."All thing work for the glory of God." We may not ever come to know why, though the song says that; "Farther along we'll know all about it, farther along we'll understand why.' We have to have the bad times in order to appreciate the good times, lean times in order to appreciate times of abundance and see the evil in ourselves and the world to really appreciate the glory and wonders of God and His creation. What must be sufficient for us is to know that God has control and God knows His plan and why things must be as they are. There has been so much evil said about Barak Obama and what he is doing to this country that I am getting sick of it! I don't like him much and I don't like some of the things he has said about whites and this country, or some of the things he has done, but he is President because God wants him to be President! I pray for him and his soul every day! I pray for God's plan to be fulfilled. Whatever it may be. I urge you all to pray for Obama, and pray for this country to return to it's spiritual roots. Too many folks fought and died for this country and all that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution is, and stands for, to let it slip away! We are a "Christian" country and our forefathers have based the foundation of this country on sound Judeao-Christian principles. Let us pray that we never forget it or let it be ridiculed or stripped away. We all need to wake up and pay attention! Do not let the politicians and "political correctness" weaken our standards of freedom and democracy. While we still have the right to vote let us use those votes to get a grip on our government. Let all those in Washington know through the power of our votes that we won't stand for it. If "they" do not respond to what we want and what we need then they do not have our votes. Vote them out of office. I pray that God will touch Obama's heart. I pray that He keep Obama safe. Most importantly I pray that God's will be done! God bless you all, and may we all praise God for the blessings that He has showered down upon us. It is ALL about Jesus and God's will!

It's Summer time! YEEHAA!

WOW! It is hard to believe that so-o-o much time has slipped by since my last posting! We, my wife and I, have been VERY busy and have experienced some amazing changes in the months since my last posting. For quite some time we have been discussing the purchase of an R.V. and we have looked at many small ones, medium sized ones and some of the huge ones that are the size of a bus. Because we have two full sized poodles as our traveling companions we finally decided on a 36 foot long ForeTravel UniHome. It is definitely not a new vehicle, it is a 1990 model, but in very good shape and has plenty of storage bins, closets, "cubbies" and drawers. It has a wonderful queen sized bed in the master bedroom, a nice "galley" with a stove, complete with full sized oven, a microwave / convection oven and a nice sized "fridge" with a freezer and an ice maker. The main selling point for Leona was the tile floors because of the dogs. For me it was because both the drive engine and the generator were diesel and both had low hours of usage. The mileage was pretty good for a vehicle its size, being 6.4 to 7.8 miles per gallon. I have had experience driving heavy equipment, large trucks and delivery trucks in the past so I was feeling pretty confident about driving it. Needless to say I had a few humbling experiences on our trip. Parking lots in some of the older Malls are definitely NOT designed for vehicles of that size! There are some patches of color on both sides that were definitely not "factory colors". The thing that really stands out though, through out our whole trip, was that the hand of the Lord was upon us from the "git-go". We were so blessed all along the way that it still makes my heart swell with joy! On the second day of our journey, later in the afternoon, the rain had tapered off to just a drizzle and we were zipping along at about 7o mph when we heard a loud "BANG"! Luckily it was one of the rear tires that had blown and they were dual tires. (Blessing #1) I pulled over and checked the tire and it was solid and safe enough to drive on with no danger of falling apart (Blessing #2) so we consulted our map and our GPS and discovered that there was a town pretty close by with an RV park . (Blessing # 3) We turned around and made it safely to the RV Park and to our camp site (they had a vacancy! Blessing #4) As I was getting things hooked up and Leona was dealing with the dogs a gentleman about my age jogged up and stopped to talk. He was a very nice fellow and we chatted for a while and found out that the reason he had stopped was because he had just gotten a poodle as a gift after having heart surgery and was admiring our dogs. In the way of conversation I mentioned that we had had a blow out and needed to get a new tire or get the old one fixed. He said; "You know I was in the tire business for years and if you need to get a tire there is a friend of mine who is still in the business and he will fix you up right." (Blessing #5) The next day dawned bright and sunny and we gave the fellow a call. He said they would be able to fit us in right away or at least as soon as their RV man got back from a road call. By the time we drove over the RV man came driving in. I noticed there were crosses on the wall and religious tracts in display racks. It turned out that the whole place was run by Christians. (Blessing #6) They had the tire in stock and before our coffee got cold in our cups the tire was mounted, balanced and in place on our RV! The owner of the place said; "Because y'all are friends of Ron's I'm going to give you a special deal." and he shaved a considerable amount off the bill! (Blessing #7) Robert, the fellow who did the actual work, checked all the other tires to make sure they were safe and he and the owner gave me a lesson on how to tell the age of the tire and how to tell if they were safe to drive on. So we were safely back on the road before 12 noon and had a bunch of new Christian friends to boot! We were blessed all along the way! Even though the weather was cold and rainy for most of the trip and both Leona and I took turns having colds (unfortunately I ended up with pneumonia and bronchitis) we still were Blessed in so many ways! We were blessed with places to stay when we got to Otis Mass. A fellow named Larry who owns a gas station, garage and deli (Poppa Larry at L&M Auto) where you can get the most amazing sandwiches, fresh baked (and healthy) breads and pastries let us park in a corner of his lot for a whole week while we were visiting family in the area. We also were able to park our RV in a space behind a B&B (the Maplewood House)that is owned by some friends of ours and for a very modest fee they let us hook into water and electric service. More and more blessings! That is the way it was, all the way up and all the way back we were blessed over and over again. Strangers, friends and family all were blessings to us. It seemed that where ever we went and who ever we met it was ALL for a reason and there was ALWAYS a blessing! The longer I live the more I know that God is the power that moves the whole universe! There is no such thing as a coincidence! Even the "bad" things happen for a reason and even in those things there is a blessing if you look close enough and deep enough. A group of prayer warriors that we belong to kept us wrapped in prayer from the very first day through the whole trip and I know, just as surely as I know the sun came up this morning, that it was their prayers that kept us safe. All I can say is thank you Lord, thank you for all you have blessed us with and for keeping us safe. To God be the glory!

James 5: 13 - 16

In the New Testament of Christ's Gospel we find written in the book of James starting at verse 13: "Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. (14) Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. (15) And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. (16)Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (NIV)

This direction from the Gospel is for all of us! I am not asking for anyone to confess their sins here but what I am offering, along with our prayer group, is a place where you can come to offer up prayers and to request prayers. I am not a theologian nor am I an "ordained" minister or pastor, BUT as a believer I have FAITH! Faith in God, faith that Jesus was God's only Son sent to earth to be born, live, die a horrible death and be raised again for our redemption. ALL of us, as believers, are sent to minister to others through prayer in the name of Jesus!