Saturday, September 27, 2008

Good stuff

A little while ago the sun came up and the 2008 archery deer season began in most Texas counties. This begins year number three sans hunting in my world. I miss it, but I'm not unhappy. I have plenty to do without it. Besides, its too hot to be out there right now.

Actually life is really good. I turned 45 last week and got to see all my family. I also got a new watch, a new shirt, gift cards for new shoes, a ton of chocolate, two new tires, a new rake, and a repair job for the TV in the living room. Lots of good stuff which we are really enjoying.

The best thing of late though, happened last Sunday. I got to baptize Jonathan. I just can't explain how cool that was.

Thank you Jesus.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

What do you think?

Argghhhh! Kris and her mom spent three straight weekends (including a holiday and several hours of help from me) packing up the house in Mexia. It was a huge job. The garage sale did not go well because the newspaper only ran the ad one day instead of three. Had there been more time we would of had another garage sale and we would have tried to sell some things that they ended up just giving away. They worked doubly hard to empty the house this weekend so they could close Friday. In fact, when they got home Sunday night they both looked like they were about to pass out. After all that, the realtor called yesterday and said the buyers had moved the closing from Sep. 19th to Oct. 3rd. Go figure.

Now, what do you think? When there has been miscommunication and misunderstanding in a relationship, at what point does it become the best thing to bury it? How long do you keep talking and trying to find resolution? What has to happen to make it preferable to just quit?

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Ike leaves his mark

The past week seemed really long for some reason. And then, it was topped off by Ike, the category two hurricane. Ike roared through Texas Friday night and today. It did a good bit of damage and I've heard of at least three deaths related to Ike. My parents and sister live in Houston and spent a sleepless night listening to Ike roar through. They lost electricity and water Friday night. However, there was no damage to their house and the power and water were restored in about 23 hours. Thank you Jesus.

Please pray for the millions of other people who are still without power and/or water and of course for those who lost loved ones and those who lost property.

Meanwhile back at the ranch... Ike stayed farther east then initially predicted. We had very little wind and rain. Honestly, I needed a lot more rain to help my yard out. Now I'm going to have to water this week :-( .

Jeremiah and I went to the first half of the Baylor game last night. Jeremiah is not a sports fan...oi. On the positive side Baylor won and we got to visit with Aaron B. and Paul M., two old Baylor Camp friends. I had not seen either of them in years and it was such a delight to catch up a little. That was another little blessing of the weekend.

Finally, Kris and her mom are back in Mexia packing up the big house. Its ridiculous how many man hours have gone into that task. I think I have to make one more trip over to get the remaining few heavy, bulky items. Hopefully, the closing will proceed on Friday and it will all be over.

Alrighty then, I'm really sleepy. More later...

Thursday, September 4, 2008

What do you think?

When Jesus ascended to heaven, two angels told the disciples, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." See Acts 1:11.

In Acts 7 Deacon Stephen saw heaven open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. This seems to have been a brief glimpse from one realm into another. Later, on the road to Damascus Jesus appeared to Saul as a light and spoke audibly to him. See Acts 9. Finally, the apostle John also saw the glorified Christ, but by his own admission he was "in the spirit", Revelation 1:10. In other words he was praying and had some type of spiritual vision or out of body experience. And in that experience Jesus appeared to him in several different forms.

Other scriptures talk about seeing Jesus again. Matthew 24:27 says, "For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." I Thessalonians 4:13-18 says that when Jesus comes back all the dead Christians' bodies will rise.

Now here's the what do you think part. Do you think that it is possible for Jesus-in bodily form-to visit people here on earth in these days? Would such an occurence contradict scripture? And for those of you who want to think even deeper, if you accept that Jesus can, in fact, visit people bodily-does that lend credence to the preterist view of prophecy?

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

And so it begins...

Not the beginning of fall, but the beginning of the end of summer. Its still hotter than blazes outside but there are some tell tale signs that summer is winding down. First, football season started. Baylor got stomped in their opener. No surprise but still disappointing. Fortunately UT started off with a big win. Second, I had John Denver songs stuck in my head while I was mowing the yard Friday. Third, I awoke Monday morning to the sound of shotguns in the fields down the street--the opening of dove season! Yay for September and the changes in the air.

On the homefront, Nana finally got a contract on her house, thank God. So, she and Kris spent four bittersweet days packing it up--and that's just the little stuff and the kitchen is still full. Yikes. They are really tuckered.