Thanksgiving Blessings

A few days late, but here are some broad categories of things I am thankful for -

1. God - He loves me and He has saved me. He forgives my sin and heals the wounds of my heart. He gives me instruction that leads to happiness and guides me on the paths that lead to life. Without Him in my life I am nothing and I cannot truly help anyone. He gives me strength, wisdom, and vision. All good comes from Him for my betterment.
2. Family - They encourage me and stretch me. They provide opportunities for growth and learning. They support me and help me as I search for truth and look for ways to serve God.
3. Work - It gives me accomplishment and self respect. It provides the resources for my families survival and keeps me out of trouble.
4. Home - It provides comfort and protection from the elements. It is where my body is nourished and sleep is acquired for the refreshing for another day.
5. Today - New opportunities and new challenges. New chances to serve God and help those around me. A chance to start fresh and put behind me the mistakes of yesterday. Today I can give my heart anew to God and let Him guide me where He knows is best for me. I can make good choices today that will lead me closer to God. Today I can be wise and forsake the ignorance of myself.

5 things I am thankful for on Novemeber 23, 2009

Today I am thankful for -

1. People who share their love of God with me to encourage me.
2. The rainbow (like the beautiful one I watched as I traveled home from Chattanooga for several minutes yesterday) to remind me of God's love for me.
3. Standard item #3.
4. A warmer November than the same time last year when lows were in the teens and highs were in the 30's for a couple of days around the same time as now.
5. Seeing my niece Amy blossom as she grows while at college.

5 things I am thankful for on November 18, 2009

I am thankful today for -

1. A loving wife
2. Children who love and follow God
3. A nice home
4. A job that supplies me with funds to live on and challenges to aspire to
5. A world to explore and consider the beauty God gives my life

A path of fire will cleanse the heart

I am thankful that God loves me enough to take away my sin. He loves me enough to take the punishment for my sin and He loves me enough to forgive my sin. He also loves me enough to put a fire in my life to burn away the impurities and sins. When I allow Him to guide me, He sets the paths of His way before me and leads me towards the home He has made for me.

Thank you to all veterans

I am thankful for the veterans who have served honorably in the armed forces of the United States of America. The men and women who have sacrificed so much to preserve freedom for my family are greatly appreciated. I do not pretend to understand the feelings that they had as they became part of the military and stood in the face of hardships and before enemies both within and from afar. Many sacrificed their body, spirit, and too many even their life to preserve the freedom of our great land. Their families also sacrificed much as they watched their loved ones go into harms way, without a sure knowledge of the results of the hardships endured. While we are grateful for the majority who returned home after their time of service and contributed so much to the strengthening and building of our homeland, we especially honor those who never returned or who returned broken in body or spirit. I hope that I will never forget the service they rendered to me and that I will always be thankful for each one who did so much to preserve freedom in the United States and around the world, so that a better life is within the reach of all.

5 things I am thankful for when I am sad

1. A kind word from a friend
2. Someone who is sad with me or for me
3. A serendipity (something unexpected that happens that is good, so that I know God loves me despite)
4. An encouraging word from someone
5. Bright sunshine and a gentle breeze whispering in the trees

Hopefully I can provide a kind or encouraging word when someone else is sad, or just be with them and be sad for them. God will have to handle the serendipity and the sunny day.

5 feelings I am thankful for

1. Hope (there is always the opportunity for something better happening soon)
2. Relief (it is never as bad as it seems when it is happening bad)
3. Excitement (even though excitement is usually bad, but when you see a soaring eagle excitement is good)
4. Interest (as in learning something about something, not the wrong kind of interest, you define your wrong kind of interest and I'll define mine)
5. Sadness (when the event is sad, it is better to feel sad than happy, otherwise you are callous)

5 things to be thankful for on 11/7/2009

5 things I am thankful for -

1. Tullahoma wants me to do a PBA Invitational.
2. The weather is extremely nice today; warm, sunny, low humidity, gentle breeze.
3. An excellent sermon today that was clear and easy to understand, yet brought the conviction of truth.
4. Standard thankful item #1.
5. Friendly people were friendly to me today.

5 things to be thankful for on 11/5/2009

I am thankful for -

1. A lady at work is who good to work with. She is unusual in that she is reasonable. She wants things to be done right and is willing to work towards a good solution with letting her ego get in the way.
2. standard thankful item #4.
3. A good lunch. Was hungry all morning. A friend gave me a banana, which was nice. But lunch was really good and now am ready for a nap. Too bad I'm at work.
4. My study of Jeremiah is helping me see some things about God and how I relate to Him in a new light. Doing a journal helps me focus.
5. David Hartman who back in July talked about how his daily journal that he had been doing for years helped him get more blessings from his Bible study. Now that I have tried it I understand what he meant. I am thankful I listened to him instead of ignoring the idea like I had done so many times before.

Not ready to rumble

I am thankful for family peace. Most of the time we do not have a lot of bickering and sniping amongst the people in my family. We seem to be able to get along without destructive words and hurtful comments. I am thankful for the love and support my immediate family members give me. The absence of constant arguing and undercutting is appreciated.

A new day is here!

I am thankful today is a new day. Yesterday I made a mistake and did something I shouldn't have done. I told myself not to do it, but I did it anyways. I should have relied on God to give me the strength to not fail again. Instead I relied on me. Now I have a new day and a new chance to trust in God and rely upon Him to help me avoid doing things that harm me and those around me. I always seem to fail me, God always seems to give me strength. It is so obvious that I should trust Him, yet there I went again. Thinking I could do something for myself. Trust in God. My Hope and my Forgiver. Thank You Lord for giving me another chance.

Second chances

I am thankful for second chances. Mistakes happen in my life on a regular basis. Most of my mistakes are relatively minor. The most common mistake is when I sin deliberately, knowing better, because I want to. I don't do what most people would consider major sins, like murder or rape or robbing banks. Yet each mistake I make and each sin I commit takes me further away from God. Each sin affects my relationship with Jesus and my relationships with those who are closest to me in negative ways. I am thankful that God gives me a second chance each time I fail. When I repent He forgives me and washes away my guilt. The results of my errors are still there, but now I have a chance to make new decisions. I can choose to do the right things and follow God's law for me. I can choose to rebuild the broken relationships. Jesus has already chosen to rebuild His relationship with me at any time I will open my heart to Him, so I always have a second chance with Him.

Is spelling optional?

I am thankful for the ability to communicate through writing. I am not a particularly good writer, but I am able to read and usually understand what others say and I can usually write things that others can understand. It is handy to be able to write a letter or an email and communicate a need or a message to others and not have to be face to face with them to communicate. Writing things gives me time to organize my thoughts and think through what I want to say and even occasionally to revise what I write to better communicate the ideas I have. I am thankful that God has communicated with me through His written word. At any time I can open His word and the Holy Spirit can embed His message in my heart through the reading of that which God had written long ago.

Rainy days are best when you sleep in

I am thankful for occasionally being able to sleep late. Most days I get up at 4 AM or 5 AM, and rarely as late as 6 AM. Then on Sunday mornings I might wake up at 5:30 to check the temperature and rain gauge, then slip back into bed and sleep till 8 AM or even 8:30 AM. Ah, it is deliciously decadent! I know in theory that I would be better off to go to bed and rise every day at the same times. I am not sure why I enjoy the sleeping in till 8, when its not cloudy the sun shinning outside will usually wake me up. I can just check the time, roll over and go back to sleep. Breakfast can wait a little longer.

Unappreciated Jeremiah

I am thankful for stories in the Bible that help put things in my life in perspective. I am currently feeling unappreciated in a certain area of my life. I feel that I have something to offer others that would be a blessing to them in this area, but not only do those people not seem to want my help, a few individuals apparently are doing everything they can to make sure I don't help anyone in this area even in a small way. Like I said, I am not feeling appreciated. I am studying the book of Jeremiah. Like so many of God's prophets, he was not appreciated. God gave him a message and he faithfully repeated it. If the people of his day had listened and taken it to heart, they would have lived and the nation of Judah would not only have not been destroyed in gruesome horribleness, Judah and its people would have had a prosperous peace with God's blessings flowing through them to the nations around. The rulers and people of Judah didn't listen. They also didn't want to have God's message spoken around them, they preferred to hear the lies of false prophets who told them what they wanted to hear. So they plotted to have Jeremiah killed and did everything they could to make his life miserable. Even the folks in his home town plotted to do him in. I can imagine there were days that Jeremiah felt very unappreciated. Probably even questioned whether what he was doing was from God. God had given him very clear instructions to keep giving God's word to Judah, so Jeremiah kept on being faithful and doing what God wanted. Kind of puts my problem in a different light. No one is trying to kill me. No one is shouting at me to shut up. No one is accusing me of treason just because I am doing what God tells me to do. Since I don't have a clear word from God to do what I think would be helpful in this area, I am just going to back off. If I get a clear message from God, I hope I will have the courage to do what God wants me to do, otherwise I'll just leave it in His hands.

A tree falls and I'm not around

I am thankful for the ability to hear. Hearing sound is a practical way to acquire knowledge and perspective, brings useful information into one's brain and can also bring pleasure. Sounds are always around me, loud sounds, piercing sounds, soft sounds, voices of those I love, voices of those who nag, voices of cows bellowing, shrill sounds, wailing sounds, soothing sounds, whispers in the trees, startling clunks or whams, sharp retorts of gunfire, roars of blasting explosions, peals of thunders, voices of irritation, chirping sounds of insects, mewing sounds of a kitten, raucous sounds of laughter, the sound of the trilling brook through the valley, the quiet drone of the professor in the classroom, the cover your ears whine of a jet engine, the snap crackle snap crash of the sawn tree crashing, a voice that says I love you, a baby crying in the middle of church, a caw of a crow, a warning wail of the ambulance, the soft murmur of the voice of God on the top of the mountain. Sounds are everywhere affecting my life with information conscious and unconscious. I am thankful for the ability to hear.

Sight

I am thankful for the ability to see. There are so many things in nature that are so beautiful to see that so much pleasure to life. Sight is a blessing that most people have and I think I usually take it for granted, as too many of us do. I am thankful for the blessing of sight.

Does a leaf make noise when it falls in the forest?

I am thankful for autumn. Coolness without cold, for the most part. Occasional rain without flooding, usually. Clear skies with sparkling freshness, often. Here in Tennessee the weather changes frequently and is often unpredictable. Every year there is usually a lot of seasonal variety. This year October has had more cloudy wet days than is usual for this part of the US. October is the driest month on average and there are usually lots of sunny days. Last year I recorded a trace or more rain on six of October's thirty-one days. This year is unusual in that I have recorded a trace or more thirteen of the twenty-two days so far. Still, fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I don't like temperatures much over 70º F and I don't like temperatures much under 40º F, and usually October and early November has more days in that range than any other times of the year except for mid March through April. The earth is settling down for its winter rest in the northern hemisphere and I like the way the air feels on mornings when the temperatures are in the 40's and then I like the way the days warm up to the 60's. The leaves change into a beautiful palate of reds, yellows, oranges, and mauves (OK, maybe not mauve). There are usually enough junipers on the hillsides to infuse green into the pictures of autumn color. I am thankful that autumn is beautiful and peaceful.

A blog a day can be inspiring!

I am thankful for blogs. A college student from our church, Matt, has gone to Peru to be a student missionary for a year. He created a blog to record some of his experiences and the church passed along the address so members could keep up with his story. His writing style is interesting and informative and it has been a pleasure to read his occasional entries and see what his life as as a student missionary is like. He also has some followers that are also student missionaries who have blogs telling of their experiences in other places like Honduras. Those followers in turn have other student missionary followers who are blogging their stories. I have to make myself stop spreading the net out or I wouldn't have time to do much else but read student missionary blogs. The stories these young people tell are impressive. They usually don't have a lot of great things to talk about, they spend their days doing small services for those God has called them to help. They are honest in their writings, so you get a sense of the frustrations as well as the joys they have as they deal with other cultures from Egypt to Peru to Honduras to the Marshall Islands. Some of them are together at the same places, so you even get different perspectives sometimes of the same incidents that happen at the schools or clinics they are teaching at or doing their medical work at. God is using these youth to show His love to individuals in ways that will be eternal blessings to both the student missionaries as well as the people they impact each day. I have known since I was in college that student missionaries were being sent to far away places, but I had never given much thought to their stories unless one of them spoke about their experiences when they got back home for a mission report or something. It is so fascinating to read their stories as they write what happens from day to day. I am blessed when I read their blog entries and I am inspired by what these youth are doing for God. I anonymously thank each one for taking the time to write about their student missionary life so others can see the things Gos is doing all over the world using special people who are willing to let God stretch them from their comfort zones to serve others. I praise God that He uses each of us if we are willing to be used where we are.

What a grouch!

I am thankful that my being grouchy usually lasts only a short time. I realize that to some it probably seems I am often grouchy, but I think I am usually really quite easy going and take things pretty well. Sometimes I can get pretty disgruntled at life and mad at everything. I am thankful these periods usually don't last very long. A little reality thinking usually will help me remember that God is good to me and I have many things to be thankful for. I'm sure these periods last way too long for those around me who have to put up with my needless seething, but at least a few hours is usually the limit. (We won't get into how many a few is!) Maybe as I get older I will almost always be happy when happiness is appropriate. I have reason to be happy most of the time, so maybe it will come my way. For now, I can be happy that sometimes I'm happy I guess.

Mom

I am thankful for good parents that loved me when I was growing up. My mom is now 84. She is the one when we were going up that verbally expressed her love for me. Mom claims she doesn't like parties and such, but growing up she was always doing things to celebrate birthdays and holidays. Nothing big like a party with 50 acquaintances and a pony, but some kind of celebration within the family to make a big deal of the birthday or event. She tried to let you know she was interested in you. And if you showed interest in something she tried to get something to help you develop the interest. She made sure we went to church each week and participated.She worked outside the home, but she was big in helping to teach us about gardening and putting food up and such. She taught us to respect others and tried to keep her four sons from beating on each other too much. She was a forgiving person and taught us to be forgiving. When she loaned me a pocketknife that had belonged to her first husband who had died years before and I lost the knife, she expressed disappointment but did not berate me endlessly. Later I realized how that must have hurt to lose one of the few things she had from her earlier husband, but she forgave me. I was interested in different things than others in my family, but she encouraged most of those interests and even tolerated my love of sports to some extent. My mom loved us each and encouraged us to show our love for each other, which most of the time was not an easy task. Thanks mom, I love you and I am thankful I had a good mom who loves me.

Dad

I am thankful for good parents that loved me when I was growing up. My dad passed away in 1995 at 90 years of age. He loved me and as he got older he showed that love more. He had a temper and expected things to be done a certain way and he would let you know when you weren't meeting his standards. He also knew how to do lots of stuff, useful stuff. He taught me to work. He wasn't satisfied with just doing a job, he wanted it done right. He was not an Adventist, but he went to church with us for many years. He allowed my brothers and me to go to church school for a few years. He was consistent in his relationship with his sons. He had integrity. He was honest. He modeled Christianity even though I never knew him to speak of being a christian. He was smart in both book learning and in horse sense. His ability to do practical things that I didn't know how to do always intimidated me. Now as I look back, I think I was more like him than I ever knew. A lot of his practical knowledge came from experience, from having to do many different things over the years. I am thankful that I grew up with a father that loved me and did everything he could to make sure I grew up to be a good man.

A shrub tries to grow into a tree!

Growing can be painful. Not necessarily physical growth, but character growth. I often seem to have to learn lessons the hard way, through the pain of mistakes. Many of these lessons could be learned from seeing the experience of others and from paying attention to the results of others actions on their lives and the lives of those around them. But no, I have to make the mistake and fail and have the poor results for myself, and often I seem to have to do it again and again and again and again and... Well you get the point. I am thankful that sometimes, not often enough I'll admit, I do learn the lesson. I am thankful that sometimes I don't keep repeating that thing I did that causes so much trouble for me and/or those around me. I've grown a little bit as a person and I'm better off for it and sometimes those around me are better off too. God in His wisdom and patience has helped me grow by giving the thing in my life that I needed, whether I knew I needed it or not.

Appreciation

I have helped our local Pathfinder club with a program called Pathfinder Bible Achievement (PBA) for the last few years. PBA is a Bible Bowl type program with four levels where teams advance with a First place when they get within 90% of the top score at any event. I started helping because a few years ago Travis was on the team and no one seemed to be doing anything to help the team get ready for the first event. I found I liked making practice questions, so I have helped the team study the last three years. Last year Travis was too old to participate, Pathfinders can only participate when they are in grades 5-10, but I still helped the team study. I enjoy interacting with the Pathfinders and I like the feeling that I am helping them in some small way get a blessing from the PBA program. At the end of the Pathfinder year, I received a plaque in recognition for my help with the PBA team. I appreciated the plaque when I got it, but I appreciated it even more after Nancy told me that the plaque was the idea of one of the Pathfinders who had wanted to do something for a long time to thank me for my efforts to help them study. It meant a lot to know that it came from a Pathfinder and not just the adults. I am thankful that I received this plaque. It means a lot to me and encourages me to continue to try to help the Pathfinders on the PBA team study and learn meaningful lessons from the portion of scripture they are studying. Some of the adults associated with the PBA program do not appreciate my efforts (a long story with a lot of misunderstandings involved), so it is especially encouraging to know that a Pathfinder not only appreciated my efforts, but wanted to thank me enough that they took the time and effort to badger the Pathfinder leader into doing something to publicly recognize my efforts. I am thankful that I was appreciated.

Snow is White

Winter is on the way. While I don't like many aspects of winter in Tennessee, I am thankful when we have snow. A six or seven inch snow is a good snow for around here. I don't remember ever seeing a snow of more than eight inches, and that was several years ago when we lived in Dickson, Tennessee. A seven inch snow is the most I can remember us having here in Westmoreland. Three or four inches is pretty exciting for me. When it snows that much, I enjoy walking around in it and seeing how clean and fresh the normally drab earth looks. Feeling the fluffy puffs of water falling on my face as I saunter through a few inches of new snow is both exciting and peaceful for me. My family will tell on me if asked. I also have been known to rush outside every thirty minutes or so to measure the snow depth while the snow is falling, hoping to see a truly good snow pile up. Maybe someday ten inches will fall or maybe even a foot of snow will cover the ground around me. A foot of snow, now that would be a snow! Anyone from places where it really snows, like Soda Springs California, can just laugh at me. A foot of snow will be my dream until I see it, though I'd just as soon pass on driving in that much snow.

Procrastination

I know it seems like it has been a long time since I last posted that I am thankful about something. I've had good intentions, I have meant to make an entry many times about various things that I was thankful for, but I kept telling myself I would do it when I "got home from work" or "in the morning" and you see the results of that thinking. Well, today I have solved that problem. I am thankful that I am no longer procrastinating on updating my thankfulness blog, I have made an entry.

June 19, 2009

Today is my anniversary. I am grateful and thankful that I have such a beautiful and gracious wife. All who know us would agree that I am a better man because of the influence of Nancy. I have hopefully matured some over the years, and she has been used by God to help in that process. While my faults are many and the journey of this life may have potholes and bumps, I am glad that there is a person who truly cares for me along beside me, giving encouragement and assisting in the living of life. She adds a pleasantness to the trip that would be missing were I alone or with a less kinder partner. Thanks Nancy for 26 good years.

Happiness

Small things can make us happy. For some reason, when more than 10 people view my weather blog on a given day I feel happy about it. This is a puzzle to me since I mainly do the blog because I figure I can read it in the future easier than I can read my scribbles about the weather on a calendar where I also record my home weather. It shouldn't matter how many people look at the blog, but it seems to matter to me. (By the way, I am aware my weather blog is not exactly interesting reading. I would say it is the most boring blog in the world, but then I read some teenagers blogs where they go into excruciating detail about the relationships among their friends.)

Thankfulness?

I see I haven't been very thankful lately. Actually I have been thankful for many blessings, I just have been lazy and haven't recorded them here. Today is a new day that the Lord has given me, I will attempt to listen to His voice and learn His lessons. There are many distractions and I am not noted for my focus, so God's Spirit will need to give me the ability to concentrate on Him and His voice.

5 things God has done for me lately -

1. Gave me a Sunday at home to do yard work.
2. Increased my memorization abilities as I try to memorize portions of Jeremiah.
3. Helped me maintain my patience as work gets insane at times.
4. Filled our fruit trees with fruit.
5. Rained peaceful rains and not severe storms on our spot of land.

Limited damage

Another line of strong thunderstorms crossed Tennessee yesterday. We were hit around 7:15 and didn't have much damage, for which I am thankful. From the local newspaper lack of coverage, it doesn't look like there was any significant damage or injuries in this area, for which I am also thankful. We are used to these lines of storms doing some damage and occasionally spawning damaging tornadoes, so it is always good when no one loses their life, health, or home.

5 flowers I am thankful for

1. Rose (for the honey).
2. Iris (gave to mom every year on Mother's Day, probably meant more to us kids than her, but still gives a warm feeling).
3. Daisy (also for the honey, her favorite flower).
4. Daffodil (Spring is here!)
5. Sunflower (what's not to appreciate, stately, beautiful, and tasty).

5 trees I am thankful for

1. Oak, sturdy, provides shade for me and shelter for birds and squirrels.
2. Pine, stays green in winter to remind me that the green is a growth kinda color.
3. Dogwood, beautiful in bloom, provides food for the birds.
4. Black walnut, rewards me with a tasty morsel after all the work of cracking the shell.
5. Red Cedar, berries for the birds, shade for the moles, shelter for the squirrels, and beautiful scented wood for me.

The moon reflects light, but sometimes it is very bright

Our moon is relatively small and fairly far away so that it looks like a small disk in the shy. However, it reflects enough light when it is "full" that one can easily see things all around them. The moon goes through regular phases and can be relied on to have times of great brightness and waxing and waning periods and even times when it is dark. While my life isn't as regular in its phases (perhaps it is and I've never figured out the pattern) it still has periods of great brightness, times of darkness, and phases in between. I can be sure that dark times will get brighter, because God always is with me and just like the sun He is always shinning. Unlike the moon which is locked in it's orbit, I can control whether or not the world can get between the sun (Son) and myself. I can move to where the sun(Son) shines fully on me, making me as bright as possible, or I can let the world get between me and the sun(Son) to varying degrees and diminish or blot out my brightness all together. I am thankful that God gave us the moon for a light at night and as a reminder that I need to keep the world from getting between me and the source of light (the Son).

5 thanks I am thankful for about my house

1. The heat pump keeps it warm in winter.
2. The heat pump keeps it cool in summer.
3. The roof doesn't leak.
4. Electricity keeps the appliances and lights working.
5. Lots of windows so we can look out and observe the birds and other wildlife.

5 suprises that I can appreciate!

1. It's supposed to be cloudy and dreary all day, but around 1 PM the clouds break up and the sky turns blue and everything is shimmery.
2. The car goes to Hudson's for repairs and it costs a lot less than you expect.
3. Someone feeds you something new that looks kinda funky and it turns out to be delicious.
4. Its a dryer than normal summer and you expect the tomatoes and corn to suffer, but the crops grow and produce anyways.
5. There is a late freeze in April that does in most of the fruit trees, but the plum trees have already bloomed and they produce lots of plums for the wife to turn into some of that delectable plum jelly.

5 foods that I'm thankful for (but I could go on and on)

1. Potato salad.
2. Pizza.
3. Spaghetti.
4. Fried okra.
5. Lima beans.

5 things that make life work better

1. Health.
2. Sunshine.
3. Clean water.
4. Fresh air.
5. Fruits and vegetables.

5 things to be thankful for today

1. It's a holiday and I am home and have a chance to do a few things around the acres I've been putting off.
2. There is lots of sunshine and temperatures should be in the 40's instead of the 20's.
3. The birds outside our windows seem to enjoy the food we give them.
4. Yellow dog (Travis' cat Cheddar who generally doesn't like me) sat between my feet for a couple of minutes.
5. Wife has decided it is time for spring cleaning.

5 more things to be thankful for

1. Life
2. Opportunities to grow
3. A support network of family and friends to lift you up when times seem bad
4. The earth, provided by the Creator, which has the resources to supply our physical needs and wants
5. A brain to reason and remember with

Top 5 things to be thankful for today

1. God loves me and saves me.
2. God gives me opportunities each day to help someone.
3. God provides all my needs.
4. God blesses me each day with some of my wants.
5. God opens my eyes to His reality when I open my heart to Him.

Rain

Rain is a blessing for us here in Tennessee. It refreshes the air, washing out dirt and leaving sparkling molecules of air ready for deep breathing. It replenishes the moisture in the earth, giving us water for our wells, streams, and lakes. In summer it changes the dry cracked earth after a few days without to green green grass and garden vegetables with a renewed mission to grow. I am thankful for rain.

January 31, 2009

I am thankful for the opportunity to work with our churches Pathfinder club's Pathfinder Bible Achievement team. Pathfinders are a Boy/Girl Scout type organization of the Seventh-Day Adventist church for young Christians from 10 to 15 years old. Older youths can continue in the clubs as teen leaders. Pathfinder Bible Achievement is a Bible Bowl competition that encourages Bible study. This year the portion of scripture being studied is 2 Chronicles 10-36, which covers the history of the divided kingdom of Judah after Rehoboam messed up and caused the 10 northern tribes of Israel to rebel. This seems to be intimidating to a lot of people, but actually contains many interesting stories. Chronicles presents the history in a more spiritual focused way than Kings does, with emphasis more on the peoples interaction with God. I help our club study by making practice questions and thinking up ways to encourage the team to torment themselves by writing Flash Cards, lists of things to memorize, etc. It is fun to see how much I can remember as we practice and I have learned a lot as I study with the team and as I prepare for study sessions. If you'd like to see what a set of questions looks like in a competition, you can go to http://pbawiki.org/index.php/2_Chronicles_Practice_Sets and click on Invitational if you can read PDF files.

Tomorrow is a new day!

I am thankful for tomorrow. Today is almost over and whatever I've accomplished or failed to accomplish is locked in the past. Whatever mistakes I've made and whatever success I've had is set in my history. Tomorrow is a new day with a fresh start and new opportunities. I will live with the results of today, but I will endeavor to allow God to lead me in ways that improve my life and the lives of those around me. I don't know exactly what opportunities God has in store for me, I can only put my life in His hands and allow Him to guide me. Tomorrow is coming, a fresh start for me and I am thankful that a tomorrow awaits.

The battle within, a war between reality and despair

A kind word from someone when my heart is discouraged can lift me from a funk back into a more realistic mindset of hope. I tend to look more at my personal faults and failures and not think about any positive qualities I might have. I know God wants me to be positive and look on the good side of things, but my nature tends to want to look on the bleakness and darkness. God shines His light around me,but I allow my mind to turn the light into a gray mass of despair. A kind word of encouragement from someone else can help me to change my thinking enough to allow some of God's light to penetrate the darkness I have created. I am thankful for the light, I am also thankful for the kind word that lifts my spirit enough to see the light. I suppose the encouraging words are part of the light, and are a blessing that God gives when He sees I desperately need it. I hope that God will help me allow Him to shine some of His light around me by giving me kind, encouraging words for others.

Where have all the birds gone?

Was out bird watching at Roan Mountain State Park with my brother-in-law this morning. It was drizzly with temperatures in the upper 40's. We saw a few birds, but nothing very exciting. Mainly just crows. Finally we started heading back to the cabin when some chickadees and tufted titmice started fluttering around in some nearby shrubbery. Then the B-I-L got excited, he'd seen a golden crowned kinglet. A very small, but beautiful bird. It flitted around where we could see her (the B-I-L thought it was a her from the field guide picture, I agreed) very nicely. A disappointing trip turned good in just a moment. I am thankful God gives us those moments where things go from disappointing to successful. I am sure He gives me a lot more of those moments than I recognize, because too often I don't see what there is too see. And sometimes it is nice to have someone else, like my B-I-L, around to show me what I was missing. I am thankful that others eyes are open to the wonders and truths God has for me, and they are willing to share and point me in the right direction.