Slightly Sick Day

I am feeling a little under the weather today. Nothing serious, just some heavy duty sniffles and a lackadaisical attitude with the feeling as if I had done some physical toil yesterday, which I did not. I am thankful for Nancy's getting me some better medicine and fixing some tasty soup that really filled me up nicely and opened up the sinuses some. A good wife is a useful thing and I appreciate her care.

Every Day is a New Year

A new year is here. A chance to evaluate where one is at in their goals for one's life. Like a birthday or anniversary, we can use the new year to reestablish the direction of where we are headed. The day to day sameness of existence can take the edge off our reaching for a better self, and sometimes we are numbed into not thinking about our goals and ways of stretching towards a higher ideal. So I take the new year opportunity and look up towards God and try to put into place goals and desires that will lead me towards Him. I should so this every day, with a commitment each day to look towards God for direction. Perhaps in this new year I will begin each day as if it is the beginning of a new year.

Am I Snow?

January 2010 was below average in temperature with 9.1" of snow and December was below average temperature with 8.5" of snow. These snow totals were unusual for my place (The only month since 2004 with more snow was 10.4" in February 2006), so it was a good year for snow for us. I like the quiet look of snow on the cedars by the driveway. The cold icy flakes make a peacefully bright aura on the boughs of the trees and a pure white hiding of the normal browns of the grass and leaves. I am thankful that we have the occasional snow to remind me that Jesus will cleanse my heart of the blotchy residues of sin. It is the red blood of His death that washes my life to the purity of His character. Praise Him and give Him glory and honor and I thank Him for His love for me that allows me to have hope.

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.