One of my character goals is to grow to a point that I have great self control over my thoughts and self talk and ultimately my feelings when a circumstance occurs in my life that I can’t control and that blocks a goal or desire that I have. Normally when that happens I feel very frustrated even angry. I am almost always in a hurry to accomplish my goals, and a roadblock or anything that slows me down causes great frustration. I want to be able to think automatically how God is in control and He knows what He is doing and that He loves me so relax and trust Him. I am building a Aquaponics  system in the greenhouse I just built. I took a hot water heater element and made a heater for the 300 gallon tank that I have to raise fish in and wired it up using a nice digital heat controller. I didn’t seal it good enough and water leaked in and short circuited the controller and burnt it up. That messed up my schedule because my fish are coming in a couple of days and the controller cost me $49.50. My response was ” oh well, I bet I don’t make that mistake again”, thank You Lord for the wisdom gained!”. Afterwards as I thought about it I said, “Thank You Lord, for helping me to become a totally trusting and patient man”. More to come, I am sure!

We had a family Christmas party plus a bunch of friends as well with about 23 people here. Sang songs, prayed, had a communion service, played bunko and had a white elephant gift exchange plus ate a bunch of snacks. As I enjoyed he evening I thought, I wonder how much partying like this will happen when we get to heaven? I bet there will be a bunch because it seems that Heaven is more about relationships than anything else. Heaven will be a wonderful place because the curse is gone and I will have a glorified body that will be perfect. But the best part is that there will be no wars, big ones or little ones between friends. Relationships will be everything in heaven.

one week until Christmas. Funny how Christmas has changed. When I was a kid I thought mostly about what I was going to get for gifts. Then it was all about our kids and trying to decide what they would really like. Patty and I would spend hours and hours walking up and down store aisles trying to decide on the perfect gifts for each of our eight kids. Now it is the 21 grandkids that consume most of our thinking. I enjoy giving to my kids and grandkids. There is a special joy that comes from seeing their eyes light up when they open their present, and you know that you got it right this time anyway.

God gave to us the perfect gift, His son Jesus because He loves us. I wonder how much He enjoys seeing us receive His gift to us with gratitude.

Got my Russel dog back today. I had given him away a couple months ago because he was a bit difficult when Sherri and Thomas moved in with their little boy courage. The family I gave him to gave him back today because he was a bit difficult for them. I am really happy to have my dog back. He is a super hyper dog that is a nuisance, barks, bites, and kills Patty’s chickens, but I like him, and I think I will keep him.

Kind of reminds me of my relationship with the Lord. I am a bit difficult, I do a lot of things wrong, but the Lord loves me ,and He promises to keep me.

My sermon this weekend is the second part of “The Woman at the Well” in John 4. Two weeks ago we looked at the fact that Jesus initiated a conversation with a Samaritan woman who was a part time prostitute. Jewish men didn’t talk to woman in public, Jews hated the Samaritans and would never talk to them, and a woman with her past and reputation would be shunned, the reason she was coming to the well to get water by herself in the hottest part of the day when nobody hauled water.

Jesus purposely reached out to those who others shunned and accepted them right where they were. Because He accepted them they listened to what He had to say, and the power of Jesus words transformed them.

This week we will continue the story when Jesus’s disciples return with food and wonder what in the world Jesus is doing. He says to them, “lift up your eyes and look”. He is commanding them to pay attention to the people around them, really pay attention and look for opportunities to meet people’s needs and to make a difference in their lives.

I am guilty of being so busy, in such a hurry, self-absorbed, and indifferent that I don’t see the people around me, let alone see their needs, hurts, and sadness and try and help them. I am going to work hard at looking around at the people God sovereignly brings into my life and really noticing them.

One of my goals in life is to learn a new skill each year to help keep me from getting into a rut and keep my mind young. Learning a new skill is more than information gathering, it is gathering information and organizing it and learning how to “do” something significant with the organized information.

My new skill this year is aquaponics. Raising fish and using the water the fish are in to raise plants in, plants that you can eat. I built a greenhouse, put a 300 gallon tank in it that I mostly buried to raise the Tilapia in, and built racks that hold 55 plastic barrels cut in half length wise to raise the plants in. Today I got everything plumbed. Water is pumped from the fish tank to the grow beds which are filled with 3/4 inch gravel, when the half barrels are full of water a syphon starts that drains the water back into the fish tank, and the cycle continues. The water is filtered in the gravel and the plants grow in the gravel fertilized by the fish poop.

I felt quite proud of myself when the whole system worked like a charm today when I finished. Next step is some fish and then I will plant my garden.  Man was created by God to conquor and learn and grow, but often we just hibernate or tread water. We have to choose to do something new, to learn something new, to try something that is a challenge. The older we get the more important it is. It is a choice, a goal.

came home from the last performance of “Little Woman” at JBC tonight feeling very “up” from the great job those in the play did. It was a very “up lifting” weekend. I spent the last two hours praying for all those in our church using my prayer journal on my iPad with pictures and photos. I get so emotionally involved in people’s lives as I pray for them and often after a long session of prayer will have a chest ache. I pray for each persons spiritual needs as I observe them and problems and trials they may be going through. I truly believe that God listens and works powerfully in those I pray for, and that I can be a major factor in people growing closer to the Lord, being free from the temptation of the devil, and growing in the area of character defects as I observe them . God will work powerfully.

If I keep doing this horse riding thing I will have to get me a hat that is a bit more “horsey” than my bright orange “Elmer Fudd” hat. We are on our 18 hour, 1,000 mile ride home from our adventure in Wyoming. I am looking at the many pictures we took of all the wild and beautiful  country we were in while Seth drives, reliving all the fun and excitement we had in this week. Being able to do this with my son Seth made the whole trip so much more meaningful for me. I enjoy so much trips, adventures, and events with my kids. I enjoy it more and I remember it way longer than the things I do without them or Patty. We are making plans as we drive for our big family hunting trip to the Steens Mountains in South East Oregon in September. I think most of our 8 kids, their spouses, and their kids, our 22 grandkids are going to be able to make this adventure to one of the most rugged and beautiful places in the world. Our camp sight will be like a mini village😄 I can’t wait.

 Spent all day riding a horse with my son Seth, brother Cliff, pastor friend Mike Silva, and friend from Wyoming Andrew. The horses belong to Andrew who took us on the ride today that was amazing in it’s beauty. Andrew had an elk tag to fill so we were officially looking for something for him to shoot. We saw hundreds of elk but they were about a mile away and we didn’t have the time to try and get close to them, but we did some major high elevation mountain horse back riding today. The scenery was almost surreal in it’s beauty. I kept whispering all day,”Wow, my God is so powerful”! Over and over. How could anybody believe that this is by accident and anything but incredibly intelligent design. “Wow, my God is so powerful, and He loves me”!

Had Lots of adventures in the snow and ice today. Put on chains and I was still worried about being stuck back in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming until Spring, but we got into some Mountain Lions and I got mine. Big Tom cat that will look good as a full body mount in my living room. Adventure is an interesting word. I had a major adventure today with new things, new experiences, new accomplishments, tense moments with crisis just inches away, lots of adrenaline, but at the end of the day it was a great day with lots of pictures and memories.