I can look at a face and remember it from 20 years ago. But you tell me a name from last week and I can’t place it. It is funny how that works. My memory is selective. What ever caused me pain, I tend not to remember. Then again, I remember things that were extremely painful. My parents bought a set of World Book Encyclopedia. I was in high school. I read the entire set of books. It took almost 2 years, but it helped me in college. And yet I can remember things that happen to me years ago and have trouble with last week. I had dyslexia when I was young. With the help of my mother, a special education teacher, I was able to read on a college level. I like to read. History is my hobby. You wouldn’t believe some of the stories of my family, from pirates to preachers. When I came to the Lord Jesus, I had never read the bible. I began to read the New Testament, only stopping when God would teach me something. I have read the New Testament, twice, and the Old Testament, once, in 40 years. The Holy Spirit was teaching me all along the way. It took time to learn what God wanted me to learn. Now the Holy Spirit reminds me of a scripture in time of need. This is how I write my blogs. God shows me what He wants me to think about. And the Holy Spirit begins to write the blog in my heart. I am not that good of a wordsmith. I am sure you have notice misspelled words and incorrect grammar. The Ideas and understanding of God’s ways are all the Holy Spirit. You see He brings all things to remembrance (John 14:26).

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I watched a young squirrel make its way across my fence, up a tree and across a neighbor’s roof. And I realized that squirrel spends his life in prayer. “And creation groaneth for the revelation of the children of God.” Rom.8:19-22. And if that squirrel can pray its whole life through, where do we fall in place? Prayer is talking to God. That squirrel lives in the presence of God. He’s not afraid to approach God. In fact, that is the place where he wants to live, in the safety and security of the arms of God. God has wanted man to do the same thing, since Adam. God gave man a free will, so he can choose God freely. This honors God. Our Father is pleased and joyful when man chooses Him and not the world. Talking about God’s creation, He talks about sparrows, that not one of them fall to the ground without Him knowing and caring. Then He says that man is worth far more than a sparrow (Matt.10:29). Living the life God has called us to is a life of prayer.

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We all know how to talk. Some will talk your ear off. When I talk to people, I must be aware of how much they can receive from me. Everybody knows how to tune out another person when they are talking. If the conversation, is unwanted, it happens in a hurry. I chose my words carefully. But there are times that I can’t get a single idea across to anyone. It frustrates me. I want people to understand what I am saying, even if they don’t like it. I look for people to communicate with. I search for that person who will be interested in what I say when I start talking. I have a brother, from another mother, who will listen and talk to me. We can talk for hours and never be bored. I get to talk to him every so often. He lives in California. I want my words to have meaning. I don’t want to be known for vain babbling. Look it up. When I came to the Lord, He told me to be quiet and listen. I didn’t need to say anything. I was there to learn. Then God told me what He told Samuel. He said that my words wouldn’t fall to the earth but accomplish the thing they were sent to do. That is when I became very silent. My words have power and will accomplish many tasks. God says that life and death are in the power of the tongue. Communicating isn’t just talking. It is relating an idea to another person. So that, another person will understand.

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For most people Saturday is a day off from our regular jobs. It is a time to run errands and get honey-dos finished. It is funny that we say we are off from work but do more work than we do at our regular job. This is all too familiar to us. Sometimes we get to do things that are just for fun on our day off. Unfortunately that is mostly rare occasions. I should say fortunately. If we didn’t try to accomplish our goals all the time, we would become complacent and lazy. Doing things that are familiar is how we operate our daily lives. It is also how we learn things by repetition. My wife and I went to our friend’s baseball game yesterday. It is out in the open. We sat in lawn chairs while we watched 10 year olds play their hearts out. It was a fun day. But it is all too familiar. We have done this for years with our sons. Many times familiarity will breed contempt for life. Which will lead to behavior that will destroy things. I have watched people over the years. Some have accomplished things in their lives, while others have gone into a death spiral. Things that they did became familiar and then a habit. Then if the habit was a bad choice it lead to death. Did you know that a habit is formed by doing something over and over for 30 days?  And it can be broken by not doing it for 30 days. It all comes back to the familiar choices we make over and over again. We all have a free will and can choose the path we walk on. As the bible says broad is the way that leads to destruction and narrow is the gate that leads to righteousness. And few that find it. Look for that gate and choose that familiar way in your life.

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Comic books began to be published in 1922. Since then there has been an array of graphic novels to suit every taste. Superman appeared in 1938 with his super powers. During WW II, the writers of Superman began tell their viewers that the power to change things was in our hands. They didn’t want to destroy the image of Superman but he wasn’t real and couldn’t help win the war. After WW II, Red China began to educate the masses with graphic novels about the glories of communism. My favorite comics were Archie, GI Joe and Sgt. Rock. In the 70’s comics turned into videos. Then came computer games. There were always sports games to play but the games turn dark because killing was involved. Then there were games with wizards and dragons. Then games became wars against other nations. It all got to a point where I wouldn’t let my sons play any game on the computer that involved killing. I wasn’t going to let them become desensitized to killing. It is against everything that we are. No one is immune to the effect that killing has upon a person. My dad fought in WW II and earn a bronze star medal for valor in combat. When he returned home, he would not allow a gun in the house. I never grew up learning to shoot. I was in the military and learn to shoot an M-16. The point is you look around and see that killing isn’t as repugnant as most would think. It is because people have learn to kill with no shame. If you look back at our history you will see why. The bible says in Matt.6:22-23 “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”

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All my life I have never been afraid of working. Since I was 13 years old I have had a job. Back then my parents asked me if I wanted an allowance or money when I needed it. Since I was working I decided just to receive money when I needed it. Even in college I worked. I was taking 12 hours a semester and working too. It was a lot to handle but I did just fine until a romance and a fraternity came along. I have always tried to take responsibility for my actions. However, as things turned out I had to make a choice each day in my life. I won’t say that it was easy but it was always simple. I waited to marry because I didn’t think that I was ready. When I did decided I was 32 years old. The only time I really became afraid was each time I brought a son home from the hospital and held him in my arms. I looked at my child and the realization that I was responsible for this human being. And each time I dedicated him to God. And asked God to take care of that child. What God did was to give me peace. Because you see God is ultimately responsible for each of us. And all I had to do was to see about the needs of each child. Even when any of my children became deathly ill, I was at peace. My wife didn’t quite understand why I wasn’t running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I didn’t have too. All I had to do was my job. Because you see all things work together for good, for those that love God and are called according to His will.

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You can find almost anything on Facebook. The news of Billy Graham’s death, seems to be a sideline. That man has done more to change this world, than any government you can think of. I know because he change my world in 1957, when he led me to the Lord Jesus. He goes home not as a conquering hero, but as a Christian who did the will of God. I pray I can say the same when it is my turn. This world is needing many Christians like him. Pray that God will raise up more.

It was raining. The thunder and lightning woke me up. But some people become afraid of this. But I find it very soothing. Because I know that by this act of God that He is still in control. It has a very calming effect upon me. It is like listening to ocean roll into the shore or ducks flying into a lake.  There are many things that God does to bring peace to this earth. And if you don’t listen or look for them you will miss them altogether. Peace is important in our lives. It is how we can deal with everyday life. And with the lack of peace can bring turmoil. Everybody wants to find that place of peace or the lack of noise. I enjoy the delivery service because most of the day it is absolutely quiet in the truck. I enjoy talking to people but silence is golden. Each person strives to find that place of peace. For some it is in the middle of chaos with people all around. But when we find that place it seems to us a perfect place. So look for your place today. See if you can find the peace that God has promised to all of us. As the bible says, God makes the sun to rise on the good and the evil and He sends the rain on the just and the unjust.

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Our lives consists of so much time. When it is used up, it is over. There is no more time for us. We can’t reload time in our lives. We are responsible for the time we are given. We have to use it wisely. It is too bad that we can’t make people use their time correctly. And God won’t make you obey with a big stick. We have free will and can choose what we will. That is why when we stand before God there is no excuse we can come up with that will justify our lives. And make no mistake we will stand before God in judgement. But God gives us opportunity after opportunity to do the right thing. If God is anything, He is the God of second chances and third and fourth and fifth and so on. But time waits for no one on this earth. For that matter neither does it in heaven. When God set time in motion, He did it for man to tell the time and seasons. He divided day from night and season from season. He gave us feast days to celebrate the time of year. God set the stars and planets in motion on schedule having each one moving in time. We went to a reunion and my wife became lonesome for my parents because they are no longer alive. I told her that is what the reunion is about, to remember those that have gone on and greet the new people that have arrived. In other words to mark time in our lives. Time is so important to us because it is a gift from God to help us decide what to do in our lives. It would be a great shame to waste the precious time you were given. Because as we all know time waits for no one.

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It’s a new day and my cat is just as hungry as ever. She greets me at the same time every morning. She had to adjust her time for day light savings time. Because I wasn’t getting up an hour earlier to feed her. But life is going on. It is time to write my blog and get ready for work. It seems like a regular Monday. But it isn’t. I am a day older and the circumstances are different today. My job hasn’t changed but it still will be different today. I sometimes wish life hadn’t gone by so fast. My wife and I went to a family reunion yesterday. It is something that I have been going to since I was born. Each year new faces appear and slowly but surely the old faces disappear. But it was a beautiful day and the fellowship and the food were good. My 3^rd son is preparing a garden in his yard this year. I already have plans for the fruits and vegetables. I started canning food. My parents and grandparents use to do this when I was little. I can still remember when my mom and her 2 sisters, my grandmother and her sister came to the house with a large sack of okra. They use to put band aids on their fingers because the okra had spins. They cooked or I should say smothered the okra and divided it amongst themselves. The okra was very tasty. So God gives us each day to live our lives for good or bad. He wants us to live a good life but it is not always the case. Our free will chooses the path we will take each day. Make no mistake we choose which way we go. There is a scripture that I have quoted for many years about each day. It says, this is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it. I will rejoice and be glad in each day because it is a gift to me from God Himself.

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