All Good Things Must Come To An End

Day 366, My Final Day, in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Well, it's over. A full year, plus one day that I have posted a picture or three on this blog. It started off as fun, then turned into a challenge, but I believe that it was a good exercise for me and hopefully gave some insight into a little piece of my life. Yeah, not very exciting most of the time, huh? Today's picture? The neighbors thought they would celebrate my birthday with a fireworks show. Actually, I'm sure they were shooting them off for Independence Day, but I can pretend.

What I really hope to have had accomplished was sharing the love of God, that He has bestowed on me and my household. A lot of times it came easy to transition from my picture of the day into a testimony of God's goodness and grace in my life. Admittedly, some days it was a struggle and I know whose struggle it was, mine, as God is always good - even when we feel otherwise.

Many changes have come to pass through this year. The most recent and most life altering was the addition of baby Elliott. Just last evening Matt and Emily got engaged and today I became one year older. I've gained many gray hairs and I have lost several pounds. I have made new friends and I have had the opportunity to pray with and for a lot of people through the "Prayer Request Station" through Oak Grove's prayer ministry. I have seen God work in my church family's lives. I have seen the devastation that a flood can cause on one hand and see the miracles through the same flood. Through it all God has been there. Through each post God was active in my life and around my life. Sometimes I didn't see Him, sometimes He was quite apparent, but He was there.

Looking forward to the next 365 days and to my next birthday I can't help but wonder what God has in store for me and those around me. I wonder what He will do through Real Truth Matters, Oak Grove, my brothers and sisters at church, my family, my job and just life in general. My prayer lately has been to be able to perceive God along my path, because sometimes we do not have the eyes to see. We must ask for those eyes to see Him, ask for the ears to hear Him and watch expectantly for His work to be manifest so that we may praise His Name. I pray that I can be used in ways that makes it evident it is God doing the work through me. Who knows, quiet and introverted Jeff may be pulled from His comfort zone through the next 12 months. I have a new willingness to be out of my comfort zone, which is definitely not me making that step on my own.

Whatever happens I want to be able to raise the Name of Christ high and mighty. I want to praise Him through the valleys and high on the mountain tops and everywhere in between. Will you join me in that prayer for myself and for your own self? May we all be able to strengthen and edify one another. I know it a struggle sometimes to get along with me and agree with me, but I hope all the readers (all 3 of you) know that I just want the truth of scripture to be magnified. Sometimes I get a little over zealous, but mean well, and actually take rebuke quite well when I am wrong.

Who knows, I may even carry on this series. Of course there will be some major changes. Maybe a "Year In My Life through Pictures:Weekly Edition" as I told a brother yesterday. But thank whoever has read this little slice of the blogosphere. I have never been a writer, which is self evident, but I have learned some things along the way. Hopefully one day I might even be able to write a blog post that is planned out, instead of my normal way of doing them.

Officially A Year

Day 365 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Well, the official 365th day of my series is upon me. Tomorrow will be the official last day of my series as I was going Birthday to Birthday, but days wise it is a year today.

Through this year I have posted over 365 pictures of things I have found interesting in my day. Some times I have scrambled to take a picture and once I even missed midnight while working on a project and decided to skip that day. So I guess in all actuality tomorrow will be my 365th post in the series, so it worked out good.

I am actually happy that it is over, but have gotten accustomed to posting every day. Hopefully this will encourage me to post more frequently than I did before this series began. I was sporadic, at best, and inconsistent as the norm. I have realized that I never have had a real game plan for the blog past its initial inception over 3 years ago. This blog actually started for me to chronicle my search for a new church home after God opened my eyes to the very man centered messages that we were being given. It did not take God long to place us within a wonderful body that actually is a body. We love our church family very much and can't think of being anywhere else.

It is amazing to look back over a year and see how God has worked in my life. I am going to skim back over all of my posts within this series tomorrow to be reminded of everything I attempted to write about. As I look ahead to the next year I excitedly anticipate what God is going to do around me and prayerfully using me. The Real Truth Matters ministry that I volunteer with is about to get some national exposure and is in the final stages of releasing "The History Of The Modern Gospel" series on DVD, which is very exciting. God has allowed me to be a small part of this and I am very humbled to see how God is using the ministry and equally excited with the direction He is taking it. Only time will reveal to us where He is taking it and only He will reveal to us in Heaven what impacts have been made for the Kingdom through this ministry.

Praise God for allowing us to be part of His work. Not just in a ministry setting, but individually as He allows us to witness to His goodness each day of our lives.

Keep On Truckin'

Day 364 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I took the old truck out for a spin today. Actually I had to since I was buying a new wheelbarrow to do some work around the home.

I quickly realized that I am spoiled to air conditioning, since the only air that is conditioned in the truck is when you have the windows down and are driving down the road. Nothing like hot air blowing around inside of a hot truck. The next thing I realized is I need some sort of cup holder so I can put my beverage in it when driving. See, the truck has no power steering and is a manual shift on the column, which makes it really hard to drive, turn, switch gears and hold a Diet Coke all at the same time. I did have a roll of duct tape in the cab, so that actually did a fine job of serving as a makeshift cup holder today.

I stopped by the church office today and talked with the pastor a little bit and JT and Joseph. I was bragging on how reliable the truck was and how it kicked right on every time. Every time until I went to leave the church today. Talk about embarrassing. Fortunately it was easily seen to be a problem with the belt, which was very loose and was not allowing my alternator to turn, therefore not charging my battery. After being taken to the house by Joseph and JT on an errand they were running I grabbed my tool box and headed back to the church and had it fixed, jump started and back to the house in no time, with nothing harmed but my ego.

The truck is a year older than I am and is still running strong (except for today). I have no complaints about it at all, it is what it is - a truck to haul stuff with. It is 44 years old after all and only has 90,000 miles on it, which is less than some vehicles that are less than 5 years old. It doesn't smoke and it starts every time (99.9% of the time). I am over all happy with the truck and wouldn't change a thing..... well, I probably would add an air conditioner if I could.

I do realize how fortunate we are. We have 3 vehicles in our driveway, a roof over our heads, fresh water at multiple locations in and around the house, a cupboard and refrigerator full of food, clothing enough to last years, several pair of shoes and money in our bank account - all of which are luxurious in light of the majority of the Earth's population. I thank God and praise Him for allowing us to live here and for the things He gives us. I do think sometimes that all of these gifts can be hindrances in our faith. After all we have everything we could ever want or need at our finger tips, so we have less to seemingly depend on God for. Those brothers and sisters sitting in mud huts across the ocean are probably more fortunate than us, as their faith is increased every time God shows Himself in supplying their needs, instead of them just walking to a cabinet and opening a door.

So, reflecting on gifts should be done with thanksgiving of the Giver and not of the "things" given. May God give me the heart to do that and to trust Him for the things I lack, but the others that mentioned have in abundance - faith.

Facebook And Microwaves

Day 363 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Say what you want to about Facebook, but it has been a great joy to me. I am on there every day, but each day offers something new and edifying. I have met people from all over the world, that I would have otherwise never known this side of heaven. I just had the opportunity to pray for a young lady that needs God badly, which I wouldn't have been able to do if not for my little world of Facebook.

Each morning I pull a quote, actually two, one for my page and one for the Real Truth Matters Facebook page. I try to keep these short so people will read them, but do you know how hard it is to put a theological thought into a sentence or less? Yeah, very hard. I keep them short because we have all become accustomed to instant gratification and a desire to get as much information in as little time as possible. This goes right along with the rest of our "microwave society" that wants things fast or doesn't want them at all. We love our instant things, microwave popcorn, instant potatoes, instant pudding, minute rice. We can't get things fast enough to please us.

Maybe things will revert back some day. Probably not, but a guy can hope though, right? I am all about the slow life, well, most of the time anyway.

PS
Blogger was having major issues when I was trying to post this. It is now well after midnight and I have yet to succeed in making the post for today. I will try again in the morning.

Cat-A-Tat

Day 362 in my "year In My Life through Pictures" blog series

This is Chandra/ Allan's cat "Kick". I once again used the nifty iPhone App InstaGram for today's picture. This cat actually has 3 or 4 names, which are 1)Kick 2)Roger 3)Stinky Cat 4)CAT! The last 3 are what I call it from time to time, but since it is a cat it answers to none of them.

I think Roger is the one I call it most. That name comes from the movie "Open Season 2" from a cat that was kind of less than average intelligence and annoying at times, which defines this cat to a "T". Not a big fan of cats anyway, but this cat got off to a wrong foot from the get go. Oh sure, he tries to butter me these days, but it doesn't work. I'm fairly sure that I will remain anti-cat for many good years to come. I'm not even mentioning my allergic reactions to them, which was probably the first reason I never liked the feline family.

Anyway Only 4 more installments of this series and I couldn't be more relieved. A lot of hours have gone into these past 362 days so far. I am ready to retire the concept and pass it along to whoever is willing to stick with it. Feel free to take the concept and do with it what you will.

Knock Knock: InstaGram

Day 361 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I downloaded a new app for my phone, InstaGram. It's a photo app that gives old style looks to pictures taken on my iPhone. Kind of ironic, since we have spent the last few decades actually trying to stop pictures like this through technological advances. But, alas, everything old is new again.

I took the main picture today at a cemetery in Fulton KY, in a cemetery that is right across the street from the cemetery my grandad and great grandparents are buried in. I had to run an errand to Fulton this evening and whenever I am in that area I stop by their grave site. When I was leaving I happen to notice the angel grave marker across the street and thought it looked really neat. There is something about the artwork of grave markers that gets my attention. Sometimes I wonder if I missed my calling to be a stone carver or something because I am so fond of the craftsmanship poured into these works of art.

Sometimes I like to go to graveyards to take photos of the carvings and grave markers. It's not some morbid curiosity by the way, so don't think I am a freak or anything. I can just respect the love that these markers have behind them. Add that to the craftsmanship and there is something that should be appreciated. Plus, who wants their loved one to be forgotten? I am sure most graves get very few visitors, especially those that were at least 2 generations removed. That is probably why families seem to have their "family plot", to carry on the history and genealogy of the family.

This second picture is actually the first picture I took with the InstaGram app. What else would I take a first picture of besides a Diet Coke? Well, I think my first picture in this series was of my wife, so there's the answer. I was just playing around and wanted to see the looks available with this neat little app.

Speaking of first picture of this series, the last will be coming up this weekend. Don't think that I will carry on past it with the series, because I am beyond ready to set this project aside. I do have some stand alone posts in the works, mentally anyway, so stay tuned for those. I am sure that the one main one I am processing will cause some sparks to fly, which is not the effect I am after. I want to only shed light to a area that needs it. I really desire to do it in a manner that will not be meant to offend, but to share truth, so please pray for me in this area. I have a habit of being too blunt and straight forward a lot of the time, which my wife points out quite often.

Video Countdown

Day 360 in my "Year In My Life through Pictures" blog series

Tonight at church we had the first viewing of the last session of "The History of the Modern Gospel" from our body's ministry - Real Truth Matters. I highly suggest that you watch the whole series, from the introduction, then you will be ready to see this last installment. It will be posted/ released this coming week online.

Real Truth Matters has been working on these videos for a little while now. Over those months Lane Chaplin was gracious enough to post these on his blog and since have been viewed thousands of times each. That is just from his website and not counting the RTM Youtube and Vimeo pages. There is also now a separate webpage for the series, www.historyofthemoderngospel.com. The full series will be released on DVD and there is also going to be a study guide/ book that will go along with the series.

God has really used these videos. He has also proven what Hudson Taylor said, "God's work, done in God's time, will never lack God's supply. What a wonderful quote, one that comes to my mind often when I feel like I am treading water on my own, knowing that God will sustain and supply my efforts if they are in alignment with His will. Currently I am seeking His will about some short video ideas. Actually, I am seeking the components for the videos, trusting that He will lead me to the resources.

Following the video this evening Bro. Michael broke away from our study of Revelation to start discussing some things that have been on his heart about our body. I am looking forward to this series of messages as I have been in a spiritual rut of late. Mostly because I have had an increased awareness of how sinful I really am and how much I let that get in the way of my relationship with Christ. I somehow forget that He has already paid the full price for my sins. Not that I have a ticket to sin, because I don't, but that as a child of God I live under the blood of Christ. I actually hate my sins, I hate that part of my life and I would rather that part of my flesh be ripped from my being. I am slowly realizing that my sinfulness needs to be driving me to Christ instead of me placing barriers up that are not actually there. As a child of God I have bold access to His throne and should not do anything but that. Not in a bold and arrogant way, but in a bold way knowing that my Advocate has paid the price in advance.

Let's Go Down To The River

Day 359 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I journeyed down to the riverfront this evening taking part in the "Live On Broadway" festivities. This is the local free, live entertainment outlet that me and some friends use to frequent to evangelize, pass out tracts and talk to others about Christ. We haven't done this in a while, so this was actually the first time I have attended in a while, maybe once or twice in the time span between is not going as a group. I had to avert my eyes several times, to say the least. To be a "good clean fun" place to go, advertised as "family fun" it was not very clean and not very family friendly. I did pass out a few tracts and listened to a gospel group too that were very good.

My pictures is on the river side of the flood wall and if you read any of my postings during the flood you know how high the water got. This picture shows you the levels embedded into the concrete wall. It is really neat to see the different spacing between levels, which I assume is reflective of the quickness of the water rising or falling. Anyway it got really high and would have been up to my chest whee I was standing taking this picture.

I actually had a single purpose in going down this evening as a brother and sister from church's son was playing at one of the locations along Broadway. I wanted to show support of this young brother and let him know that he had some fans from church. He is a very good guitarist and I was impressed. It made me want to take up trying to play the guitar again, something I tried when I was in my teenage years. I quickly became frustrated as it is a lot harder than it looks, having to put your fingers in certain places all the time and stuff to make it sound right . So, I am always very impressed with giftings of playing musical instruments, especially the guitar.

This young man happens to have also just surrendered his life to music ministry, wherever that takes Him. I really need to pray for this young man often as God works in his life, that He will place people in his path to guide him in honoring God through his music.

I also have to make a confession. Somehow I got off on my blog day numbers, so I have started changing all of the past "Day In My Life" days. I thought I was being careful, but apparently I wasn't and I noticed tonight when I started typing. Since it is within of my birthday no I knew that if I wrote until my birthday this year it would actually be 366 days. I messed up and I wanted to publicly confess I made a mistake.

Vacation = Oh Yeah!

Day 356 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Only one more day of work until I start my vacation. With the 4th of July falling on a Monday I will also get that off, extending my vacation out another day, 10 days in a row. Yes! I love it when that happens. I normally take my birthday week off every year, sort of out of tradition, because we haven't actually gone anywhere in a few years. This year we will not be going anywhere over this vacation time either, well, maybe one day so I can use my freebie Genghis Grill meal coupon they emailed me for my birthday.

I've been at my job for over 15 years now, a really long time. With the 15th year came another week of vacation, putting me at 4 weeks off per year, or a full month. I really like my job, but I do realize it is just the means that God uses to support my family. I would be upset if I did lose my job, but I do know that God is in control. I am not anticipating losing my job, just saying "if". God is my source, not my job, so I know He will take care of us in the right way.

Also, my job is a mission field. There are a lot of people that work there and the majority are not saved. Unfortunately I do not get to interact with everyone, seeing how we work 3 shifts/ 24 hours a day. Also I work most of the time on a computer in the office, so interaction with most guys on my shift even is limited. I know I fail miserably when talking with these guys. While I do talk about my faith, it is not enough. It's as if I don't really believe they will one day be in hell if they do not repent and turn to God. I laugh and joke with them, work hard side by side, but yet do not warn them of the horror that is their future. Some say they are Christians, some say they are atheists and one even says he was raised a Jehovah's Witness, but I can count on one hand those that I believe to be converted, not that I judge their hearts, but their fruit is ever present before me on a daily basis.

I need to be seeking God more during my working hours, so He can use me more. I know that I need to be casting the seeds of the Gospel often and broad, tilling the hard grounds, allowing God to water where He wishes. After all, that is what we are commanded to do, along with making disciples. I pray that God allows my co-workers the grace needed to believe, that they will see themselves in the state they are in before the Holy God. May they repent and cry out for forgiveness and place all faith and hope in Jesus Christ.

Please pray for me that I will be a obedient servant to the Lord.

Scanning The Globe

Day 355 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

These things are really cool. They are QR Codes that can be scanned with your smart phone that can do any number of things. Scan this one to see what it says. First person to reply what it says gets...... absolutely nothing. Sorry, I have a tight budget on this side of the keyboard.

Technology is amazing. To see how far things have come since just my youth have been amazing. Although we didn't have to crank up the phonograph with a handle to listen to music, I have lived over several different types of music players. When I was young we only had a record player, then we added a console stereo unit that had an 8-Track player. While we still had that unit cassettes came out, in which I had to get a cassette adapter to play them in the 8-Track slot. Then came the walkman and car stereos with cassette players, which were the top of the line when I got my drivers license. Next up were CDs when I was about 20 years old, but were too expensive to put a CD player in my car, so I recorded them to cassette for portability. Now we have made the jump to iPods, MP3 players, jump drives and SD/ Micro SD cards that can hold many CDs worth of music on them. It has been amazing. I can even remember telling my son, when he was young, that when he got older he would probably have something about the size of a stamp that he would slide into a stereo for music, so I was right about the memory card.

I wonder what the next 20 years will hold technologically wise. I can only imagine that TVs will be paper thin and you will be able to roll it out on whatever wall you choose. Video games have already advanced to no controllers needed with the XBOX 360, so where those go will baffle me no matter what advancements are made. Wireless seems to be the newest thing, which I was told by the DirecTV installer to be ready for wireless Satellite TV in the next 5 years, no wires and the signal would be broadcast wirelessly through your house.

No time in history has the ability to reach everyone on the planet been able. Satellites and computers can take the Gospel anywhere across the globe. This could very well be the "end of days" as the Lord returns for His bride. I will not set dates, but will say that Day will probably be soon. I am ready, are you? Do you know the true God of the Bible? Have you seen your utter sinfulness before the Holy God of the Universe? Do you realize that just one little lie is enough to damn you for eternity? We are wretched people and in need of a Savior, because we are sinful through and through. We can't make a payment for our sins no matter how hard we try. We can never be good enough to deserve forgiveness. We can never do enough good works to buy our way to forgiveness. We can't do anything except see our state before God and cry out to Him for mercy. Repent and turn from your sinful life and turn to Him. See the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary as the payment for your sins and trust in Him. Only the blood of Jesus can pay for your sins. It is a legal transaction in which Christ takes everything you did on Himself, even though He never once sinned. No prayer will save you. No walk down an aisle will save you. No affirmation by a evangelist or preacher will save you. Only Christ can. Turn to Him. Repent and believe.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. I can help you find a solid bible teaching church in your area to start learning what the bible really says about you and me and more importantly what it says about Christ.

I "Like" Real Truth Matters

Day 354 in my "Year In My Life through Pictures" blog series

Came up with a new little "thing" for RTM this evening, on the fly. It just kind of happened all at once, but I "like" it . Maybe it will take off and I can talk the guys into this being the next RTM shirt. Would anybody 'like" a shirt with this on it? I would, but who knows if anyone else would. I have a weird taste in t-shirts anyway.

It has been a couple of years since we did an RTM t-shirt. There have been 2 so far, both of which were fairly simple. We have talked about doing a new one, but nothing so far. Maybe this could just be a fun kind of shirt and not the "official" next RTM shirt, maybe a version 2.1 or something. After all, this is the age of social media and Facebook is the forerunner with that, closely followed by Twitter.

It amazes me at how social media has gained in popularity and personal, one on one interactions have decreased. It's almost as if you must be looking at a screen to interact with someone. I am definitely not anti-Facebook or ant-Twitter, but I do see how it can be a stumbling block to some people. Like any other good thing, social media can become a huge hindrance to someone. Facebook can become a huge time waster and interfere with important "real" relationships, including a person's relationship with God. Even someone who only posts Kingdom and God focused things on Facebook or Twitter can still be sinning in doing so, if the One that the posts are about is not the object, or reason, for the posting. I am speaking from experience on this, because I have done that myself.

I have to evaluate constantly what my online life looks like, what I'm doing, how am I interacting, what am I posting and why to all of that. I still have a lot of work to do in my time management. Many times I could be actually working on a project, or even better, spending time with my family. But they too are either online, texting or watching TV or all 3 in any and all combinations. This should probably be called "Generation E" or the "iGen" because of its growing dependance of all things electronic.

Social media is a good thing, yielded in the correct manner. It has been used for my strengthening and edification and it has been used greatly to get the message of Real Truth Matters out there. I highly suggest that you check out the RTM website for countless and valuable resources. Be sure to send an email and interact with everyone. It is great hearing from those that are benefiting from the ministry.

Everything Is Better With Bacon

Day 353 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Mmmmmmm bacon. I purchased this behemoth bag from, you guessed it, Sam's Club today. It is a much better deal than I have been paying at Kroger, as I have been consuming my fair share of Bacon these days. It happens to be one of the enjoyable things that I can have on my diet. I know it doesn't seem right to be eating bacon on a diet, but a low/ no carb diet is one that allows for it.

I found the other picture on the internet a long time ago. It mixes two of my favorite things, bacon and Diet Coke. I'm not sure that I would actually like this, but I'd give it a shot. Sadly this is just a parody product. but there are many other bacon products out there. Wendy's has the Baconator burger, which has a pile of bacon on a cheeseburger. Then here recently a restaurant had a bacon promotion and even had a bacon milkshake. I've also heard of chocolate covered bacon, which actually sounds kind of good to me, mixing the saltiness of the bacon with the sweetness of the chocolate. But, then again, I have weird tastes anyway.

Nothing really monumental in my life today. I have recently started praying for folks I know through the day, at least more than I have been of late. I occasionally had someone cross my mind and I would say a quick prayer, but I am working on actually purposefully bringing people to mind and praying for specific things in their life. It is hard to do at work a lot of the time because my mind is preoccupied with thinking about work stuff, but I do get moments where I just go through motions and am then able to recall specific things that I need to be praying for. God delights in our prayers, not that He needs them, but He wants us to bring our requests to Him. I do often, but not nearly often enough. Hopefully He has been working on me and this is not something I am manufacturing, in praying for my brothers and sisters and my family. I also hope that they are praying for me, which may be the way God is working on me.

Tired Of Being Tired

Day 352 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I'm getting sleepy.... and it's not even 10:00 yet. That means that I am either getting old or I already am old. I could use to stay up until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and get up at 5:30 and be good to go for the whole day, now..... not so much.

Admittedly I do stay up late some times. Well, a lot of the time I stay up too late and do not get enough rest. I should probably start getting to bed earlier since I start getting tired while I'm still at work. Also, watching TV or on the computer at home I can close my eyes and nod off. Before you think it, no. I will not be taking any naps during the day, when I get off work. That is a guaranteed late night staying awake.

I have always been a night owl, but since I have been waking up at 5:30 AM for the past 13 years my body has set its internal alarm clock to wake me up. I am conditioned to wake up early in the morning now, even on my days off. Believe me, I try to sleep late, but it just doesn't work for me. Also, if I don't wake up early our dog makes sure that he wakes me up.

I do need more self discipline on my activities as well. I waste a lot of time just clicking through websites, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Ebay, a local classified website and too many other websites to mention. I do accomplish some things while on the computer, but not nearly enough. So, step one is taken - I have admitted that I have a problem. Next step is to seek God that He will guide me to how to overcome this issue and final step is to trust that He will do exactly that. Not that I don't have a responsibility to change, but I am certain He will show me and guide me into how to accomplish this. I need to be more Kingdom and eternity focused. I also need to get another project going that will take my focus and be work for the Lord. May He also guide me in that area and allow the project to come together in the way He desires. I have learned a lot and actually look forward to the next video and/ or project.

So, pray for me in this area. Pray that I stop wasting time and start focusing on the Lord.

Memories Of My Dad

Day 351 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I found this picture of my dad today - he's the second from the right on the bottom row. I was blown away at how much my older brother resembled him at about that same age. So, I guess that means as my brother gets older he will start to look like our dad did later in his life.

I really miss my dad. I was just really getting to know him better when he passed away a little over 6 years ago. It's not that we had a bad relationship or anything, but I never really knew him as a person until later in life. I knew him as Daddy and that he was the lawn mower, mechanic, car driver, bread winning, auction going man of the house when growing up. He and my mom divorced when I was 18(ish). I think they waited until my brother and I had both graduated high school, for whatever reason. I know it was a rough time on him (and my mom too), but I never placed blame on either one of them and still do not. I know it was a mutual thing that their marriage did not work out.

Six years later, after his death, I really wish I would have talked more spiritually with him. At the time I was still lost and still looking at my prayer as an 8 year old as my reason for salvation and not to Christ. There is no telling what I would have said to him anyway, probably that he needed to pray a prayer or something, which is all I ever knew at the time. It was, however, the time in my life that God was really starting to work on me, starting to open my eyes to a lot of the false things I had been taught throughout my childhood that carried on into adulthood.

My wife was kind during the time that my dad was in the hospital following the stroke he had just prior to his passing. She allowed me to stay with him for hours every day, foregoing my duties as a husband and dad and for that I am thankful, that I was able to spend time with him. He wasn't able to speak during that time, but he was awake. I remember looking into his eyes and seeing the pain from not being able to control his body any longer because of the damages of the stroke. I could see also that he was scared and probably knew he would never be the same. He never was the same and his health started to deteriorate fairly quickly. He was forced out of the hospital and into a nursing home where he died a day or two later, with my aunt by his side. Oh how I miss him now.

If I have one thing I am sorry about it is that I never was able to share the gospel with him. As I said, at the time God was working on me and I did talk to him about God and about salvation, but was always to intimidated to go further than I did. Why? I have no idea, but I do know that I would now. I would give him the fullness of the gospel, no holds barred, not withholding any of the greatness of our Savior from his ears. I would make sure that he knew his standing before God and that he needed a Savior to stand as his Advocate. Now, I can't do that. I am left without knowing if my dad was a Christian or not. I do not know if my frail words or anyone else shared with him while he was in the hospital and if he truly trusted in Christ as his only hope for salvation. I pray that he did, in his way, as he lay there without being able to talk or communicate.

God actually uses this situation for His glory. He uses it to show me that everyone needs Christ and that a lot of Christians are intimidated in some way in telling their families about Christ, for whatever reason. I am not here to pass judgment on any of them in any way. This is what fuels me and has given me a stronger love for evangelism, because everyone has someone they love that is not saved. My hope and my prayer is that God uses me to reach the lost of this world in whatever way He sees fit. I may never know, until I reach Heaven, what impact God allowed me to have for the Kingdom.

I close this post with a request to each and every reader. Please talk to your loved ones. Seek God and ask Him to speak through you, without fear, to your family and friends. May the Lord use you in the process of the salvation of your family. Just be faithful and speak up, tell of His goodness, His Grace, His sacrifice, His patience and His love. Also don;t leave out His holiness and His hatred for sin first as they will not realize their need of saving if they do not know their true state before God. Sow the seeds of the gospel and allow God to water them.

Directly Stated

Day 350 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

We had DirecTV installed today..... again. We had it once before and the price started climbing and so we went back to Comcast. One reason we went back to Comcast was because we wouldn't need any additional boxes on each TV. Well, scratch that because Comcast now requires boxes for every TV. This is even for new TVs with digital tuners. To me this is a big issue, because you buy a TV with a digital tuner and you expect to be able to use it. Comcast has different ideas, so we thought that if we had to have a box on every TV that we might as well have Hi-Def boxes and more Hi-Def channels. So, that's it in a nutshell.

All of my evening was filled with the installation process. I rushed home from work to meet Carl, the installation technician. Over the next 7 hours we became kinda of buddies. I helped him as much as I could, I un-packaged the receivers and hooked them to the TVs and waited for him to do his thing with the dish and cables. It was going really smooth until activation time. Things went south quick and stayed there for about 3 hours longer than he anticipated. It all worked out after troubleshooting the system and Carl was on his way. Unfortunately I did not get to share the gospel with him since he was outside or on the phone the majority of the time, but I will one day. I'm going to send a thank you letter to him and in it share the gospel. I am also going to send a letter to DirecTV and let them know how frustrating this job was and yet Carl kept his cool and delivered, above and beyond. I'm going to recommend a raise for him, even though it might be unheeded.

I did get to sow a few seed along the path with Carl today. I pray that God uses them to His glory in whatever way that He can.

Earning Your Way Or Accepting His Gift?

Day 349 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Winding it down now. My birthday is almost upon me this year, which will finish out this series. What better way to help close it out than by telling a little bit about a place I used to visit when I was younger.

My picture today is of a place that happens to be the same building I used to frequent, but not the same establishment. Back when I would go there to waste time and just hang out it was called "Pete's Place". It was a large pool hall/ game room and I wasted many Saturday nights and many quarters there. I was never good at pool so I mostly played pinball or the newest video games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong or Galaga. I would also play pinball, which I never was good at either, but it was fun as far as I can remember. I'm talking almost 30 years ago and my memory is so shot that I can't even remember what clothes I had on yesterday.

This building now houses "The Pony" with the tag line "The Ultimate Strip Joint". I will not go into much detail, but it is a strip joint. Women take their clothes off and men give them all of their money. It is one of those "wages of sin" things. I have not been to the Pony and never will, unless it is to pass out tracts or pick up someone I know that might need a ride. I wish I could say I never have been in a strip club, but I can't say that.

Speaking of "wages of sin"... Romans 6 tells us about those wages that we earned in our sins. We actually earned our place in hell by our sinfulness. To put that into a better understanding, look at your job, you work and you expect to earn a wage for your labors. Now put that on your sins, laboring in sin to earn death and hell. But that's only the bad news. The Good News is that God has a gift for us, which means it is something that we cannot earn, we cannot deserve it and it is not owed to us for any reason at all on our part. It is a gift, which means something that is given freely regardless of anything we may have done. If it was given to us out of obligation then it would be a payment, which would mean we worked to get that as well, but Paul's language here is wonderful.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

One of those well known verses that people gloss over, but yet so rich in the love of God. Even though I earned my place in hell through my working for damnation, in an ever constant state of rebellion to the God of the universe, He loved me. He gave me the gift of His love, His Son shed His blood for me and granted me the gift of eternal life. Good news indeed.

You know what is sad? That even though I have this free gift, I still try to buy my destruction by sinning against my God. Do you know what else? The gift is unconditional. God gave me something I did not deserve and because He gave it to me, He will never take it back. If He did it would no longer be a gift and instead would become a payment for as long as I was "good". A lot of people call that "once saved always saved" and others call it "perseverance of the saints" I call it amazing.

Not Feeling It

Day 348 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I have to admit something to you. I am not feeling like writing anything tonight. That's kind of ironic since I am not writing about not wanting to write, but the blog must go on. Or the blog series must go on anyway.

I embarked on this experiment called "Year In My Life Through Pictures" on my birthday last year, July 2nd. As you can tell by the nifty little calendar in the bottom right of your monitor my birthday is 2 weeks and 2 days away. That means that this series will be coming to a close. I am actually a little relieved that it is. I have had some days where I have had to rearrange what I was doing in order to post something, but that's the nature of the beast, as they say. Some days I have struggled to find pictures, some days I had several to choose from, but every day I have had something to write about..... except today. Not really sure what the block is either.

So, today I decided to just do a fun design and post it and tell that I didn't have anything to write about. Original, I know. Not. But should I really try to stumble through busting my brain and "settle" for something? Nah, I didn't think so either. So, this post has been about absolutely nothing, no point other than to fill space and tell you that I didn't write about anything.

So, I am done now. Bye. Maybe tomorrow I will have something interesting to say. Or not.

The Glory Shown Forth

Day 347 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

A very bright moon lights the sky tonight. You can't really tell by the picture just how bright it is, but anytime the moonlight casts shadows and you can read a newspaper by it - then it's bright.

It amazes me how God placed the moon, sun, stars and every other "thing" within the Universe. He placed each point of light to show His glory to us. Psalm 19:1 says that the heavens declare the glory of God... and I really believe that. I can set outside sometimes and just look upward at the stars. I would really like to go out in the country somewhere where there is no light pollution so that I can be even more amazed at God's handiwork. That's what He wants us to do - look at His creation and be amazed at Him, not the creation itself, but Him.

We should only be enamored with something as far as it points to God. Just as a child holding more affections for a toy that hi mother might give him than the giver of the toy can be seen as wrong, then how much more wrong is it for us to be flabbergasted by creation and not the Creator? We shouldn't. That's why I try to see God in everything, big, small, in nature, in man's gadgets, in animals, the stars, the good times and the bad times, in every time we should look to God and praise Him for His undeserved favor to us. If you are reading this right now, Christian or not, God has shown you mercy unbound! The fact that He allows you to live is astounding since you continually sin against Him.

Rest assured that one day everyone will meet Him. You will either meet Him as your Savior or you will meet Him as Judge. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, whether they are saved or not

In Moderation

Day 346 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Tonight was one of the first steps in the election process of our next president. The Republican candidate was very possibly one of those involved in the debate this evening. Actually I didn't think there were this many that had already thrown their hat into the ring. I can say, after watching the majority of the debate, that there are some I care nothing about voting for. In fact if I did vote for them it would be purely because the alternative was worse.

Looking at my picture, find Mitt Romney in the middle - starting with him look at everyone to the left and those are the ones I wouldn't vote for. Those left would be Herman Cain, Ron Paul and Tim Pawlenty. I hadn't heard anything from Pawlenty before tonight, but I did like some things he said. I did, however, not really get any kind of urging that any of these candidates are led by the Spirit.

I'm not really sure if I should actually pick a president based on religion. I mean, should that be my criteria? If I "believe" him to be a solid, bible believing Christian? No, not at all. But! I can tell you that if someone obviously denies God, the God of the bible, I will never vote for them. This is directed at Romney and his LDS religion. The same would be said of any of the others if they identified themselves with Islam, Buddha or any other false god of your choice.

I would really like it if we had a solid Christian as our president. I haven't seen one since I've been alive, so I'm not really sure what a Biblical Christian President would look like. I know that in my lifetime they have all professed to be Christians, which has been lie #1. I do not think that as Christians we can push our morals on others, though. We have a hard enough time living our convictions out and lifting one another up, those that are part of the Body of Christ. We can't go and push morality on the lost, those that are governed by their flesh. We must, however, be set apart. We need to get back to scripture and put aside all of the sideline stuff that takes up most of our time - TV, sports, cars, etc. and put all of that emotion and time in on cultivating a deeper knowledge of our God.

Fashion Statement Or Witnessing Opportunity?

Day 345 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I saw these bracelets and have some mixed emotions about them. Actually, I'm not really sure if I like them or if I don't. I'm still on the fence about them and a trip to a website describing them doesn't help out any either.

The premise is that when worn properly, these bracelets are to be a reminder of the scars on Jesus' wrists, His sacrifice for our sins. While I appreciate that we need to be reminded (sadly) of Jesus constantly, is this a way to do it? Therein lies my dilemma. Are these reverent to the Lord?

What further muddles this bracelet for me is the "Mission" that proceeds from these bracelets support. Here is a copy/ paste:

THE MISSION:
Over one billion people do not have access to clean drinking water. This ongoing issue threatens life on a devastating scale. We can mend that. In an effort to advocate the message of love on a global level, a portion of proceeds from every sale will go directly to Living Water International. To learn more about LWI, the world water crisis and what is being done to combat it visit: www.water.cc

I see that giving fresh water to areas that need it as very valuable. The Living Waters International ministry seems like a great thing too. I do not know anything about the organization than the little I read on their website. I take them at their word, which they have no reason to mislead. They use the supplying of water to communities in foreign lands to be a catalyst to spread the love of Christ. Wonderful! I pray that the latter is the focus and the former is just the means to get an audience. I can see where some ministries get things flopped around and just tack Jesus on to the physical needs. I am not making any type of judgment call against this group and I pray that the Lord uses them to add many to the Kingdom.

Back to the bracelets. My first thought was, "How much are these things?" Then my second thought was, "I bet these would make great ice breakers when someone asked what they are." These could be the conversation starter in order to tell of the love of Christ to someone, to share the gospel. Sort of like a tract without paper.... and that you are wearing it and don't pass anything out. So, it's not like a tract after all, but it could still be a great conversation starter. But that does take me back to if it is reverent or not. Should we be trying to portray the marks of our forgiveness, the scars of Christ? Sort of like removable leather stigmata.

Like I said, I am still on the fence. I can see the good from them and I can see a little "bad" with them. So, maybe one of you can share your opinion with a comment or three and let me know your take. I post 99.9% of the comments left here, even if they disagree with my viewpoint, just as long as there is no cursing and no blatant attacks. Other than that I post them all. I appreciate dialog and I gain much from it. SO please, leave a comment if you have a different take or if you agree with me.