For most of my life I have had a bowl of ice cream in the evening while sitting in my recliner reading, sometimes 2 bowls if there was a blazer game on or some other game that warranted a bowl of ice cream. On January 1st this year I went on “no sugar, no wheat” diet that has had a profound impact on my health. That means that I haven’t had any ice cream for almost 6 months. Patty has bought me several brands of ice cream that is “no sugar”, but it tastes terrible, and I have not had any more. Since quitting I have been looking for a new vice. To qualify the vice needed to be a food or drink that I enjoy because ice cream was sort of an end of the day celebration for having gotten through another day and for accomplishing some things that mattered. So a celebration required something that tasted really good like ice cream did, that is why that “no sugar” stuff wasn’t going to cut it. Well tonight I dubbed the new celebration vice, pop corn with lots of butter. It is very enjoyable to sit in my recliner reading and munch on pop corn casually and occasionally lick the butter off of my fingers. Actually I have to lick my fingers often because I read mostly from my IPad and the butter messes up my screen big time as I touch it to turn pages . Popcorn with lots of butter is not exactly a low calorie snack, which is why it qualifies as a vice. I don’t want to totally eat and drink what is good for me, that would make life boring for sure. So now I will be trying various brands and ways of making it that will make it even more wonderful and qualify me as an expert on popcorn. Continue reading →

Over the past 60 years of my life I have had periodic seasons where my faith in God, Jesus, heaven, and the Bible have waned. I have these huge doubts pop into my mind, and have thoughts like, “I only believe this because I was brainwashed when I was a kid”, or “If this all is really true it seems that I would see more answers to my praying, or “Why are there so few people who seem to be truly changed on the inside by the Gospel?” In talking to other followers of Jesus it looks like what I have experienced is common to most believers. Even in the Bible those who wrote thousands of years ago what we read today went through these seasons of doubt and confusion. In Psalms 73 the writer was having such an experience and writes, “But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped”, and also, “When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight.” It is weird the timing and the content of these thoughts and doubts that periodically flood over me. I have come to the conclusion that God does to me what He did to Job, He gives satan permission to harass me for the purpose of testing me, and he does this by trash talking to me, as it were, and I hear him in my thoughts. 1 Timothy 4:1 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons”. Also in Revelation 2:10 “Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested”. And it appears that God also tests us, in Genesis 22:1 “Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham”. There was a mental wrestling match inside my brain and heart on each of these events, and the result has been that I have come out a bit stronger in my faith. It feels like when I was in wrestling in high school and won a match. In Revelation 2:11 it says, “He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.” The Greek Word for “overcomes” is where we get “Niki” as in the shoe company, and it means “winner”. I don’t enjoy these wrestling matches and I hope I have had my last, but they do appear to be part of life that God has planned as He makes us like Himself in character.

Here is a picture of my new 10 foot pram that I recently built in Odell Lake.

5 of us went fishing this morning at Detroit Lake, and we limited out with 5 fish apiece by noon. The weather was perfect, the fellowship with the other friends was awesome, and the fishing was superLast week I went fishing and the wind was blowing, it was freezing cold, and we didn’t catch a single fish. That is the way it with fishing and hunting, sometimes it is great and other times it is a bust. You learn all the skills and methods you can that are proven by others to work, but there are very many circumstances and conditions you have no control over that no skill level, method or bait will overcome. On a day like today you say “thank You Jesus for the wonderful day of fishing”, and on a day like last week when I was froze to the bone after 2 hours of fishing, and not a single bite, you say, “thank You, Jesus for a wonderful day of fishing”. My Dad used to say that a fishing Trip was like our life in a micro photo, and a major principle of life is enjoy the experience, good or bad because you choose to, rejoice always, never grumble or complain about anything, and be nice to the people you are fishing with (though a little trash talking is allowed😀).

Today was the “National Day of Prayer”. It became an official day on the calendar in 1952 after being signed into law by President Truman, but it wasn’t until 1988 when President Reagan signed a bill that made the first Thursday in May the official day of prayer. That also was the time when key Christian leaders took over leadership of the event and made it a major emphasis for the church. The National Day of Prayer is based on 2 Chronicles 7:14

“If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

A group of about 20 people from Jefferson Baptist Church, Talbot Community Church, Jefferson Evangelical Church, and The Abundant life Center gathered together today at the Abundant Life Center and prayed for our country. It was a very powerful time and I believe without a doubt that significant victories were won over the kingdom of darkness that wants to control our land and turn it into an evil country. God blesses unity and there was very good and obvious unity between 4 different churches today.

I believe that nothing as powerful as prayer is more neglected by the church today. It is very hard to get people to gather together and pray in spite of the super promises in the Bible toward us if we just took some time and interceded to God on behalf of our country and it’s leaders.

We don’t pray because we have little faith that it will make any difference. We don’t pray because we are so self absorbed in our own life that we refuse to take time away from our stuff to pray. We don’t pray because the devil is very strong, fears prayer, and works diligently to keep us from praying by planting all kinds of negative thoughts in our head about the activity of corporate prayer.

I was fiddling with a new bicycle computer that I got recently for my bike. It is a little thing, about the size of an I-phone, but it tells me a bunch of information beginning with being a speedometer. At the end of a day I can see how many total miles we went, what the average speed was, how much climbing we did and at what grade and speed. It will tell me my fastest speed for each day and for the trip, and a bunch of other stuff that I have forgotten and probably won’t use. The first thing I did was check the default settings and changed many of them. Changing them was a major trial because each setting had a different formula to change it and to use it, and they weren’t easy to remember or to enter. After an hour of frustration I pushed a button that put everything back in default mode. Oh well, at least it was in miles instead of kilometers in default. I went with default because it was easier and less hassle.

We were born with a default setting in our brain and our character, it is called our sin nature or old nature in the Bible. Our default setting is selfish, gets angry, bitter, is critical and judgmental, is seldom content, and is never really grateful. Wise people have learned how to change the settings, but it isn’t easy, and it takes lots of work. Because of the work and constant attention to detail that is required most people give up and settle for the default setting. They just go with the flow. Reminds me of

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

I worked on my bicycle for a couple hours today getting it ready for our 2,000 mile ride in the month of June to Glacier National Park. I replaced the pads on the disk brakes, put new tires and tubes on, put a new seat on, and fiddled with it for an hour trying to get the perfect height and angle on it so it was comfortable, relatively speaking, of course. I had a squeak in the front wheel that I just couldn’t seem to figure out quite where it was coming from, but finely got it gone. Tomorrow I am going to try and squeeze in an hour ride someplace. I haven’t ridden on the road with my bike for 10 months, just the stationary one in the house. I hope I haven’t forgotten how!

I got to thinking as I was working on my bike how nice it would be if I could do some fine tuning on my character and behavior in 2 hours that would make me good as new. All it took for the bike was a couple of new parts, an allan wrench, a pair of needle nose pliers, a couple of wrenches, and a tire pump to make the old bike like brand new.

I really want to get better, to grow to be like Jesus, to be mature, and to never, ever backslide not even a little bit. But, man, it is slow going, like trying to find that squeak. But, you just keep working at it, a little bit here and a little bit there. Evaluate, examine, and reflect, then commit, resolve, and plan, then confess and do it all over again with hopefully better results.

We just finished our third Marriage Retreat at Odell Lake Lodge in the month of April. Each one had about 22 couples, so discounting the several couples who came to all three to help there were about 60 couples who came this year. Patty and I spoke at all three and we both had a wonderful time fellowshipping with everyone and getting to know people as we ate with them and shared about our lives in general and also about our marriages. The quality of marriages in our church is all over the board. There are some very unified, spiritually strong, loving, and joy filled marriages, and then there are those that are characterized by anger, bitterness, resentment, fighting, and lack of love. Patty and I are going to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary this August and we have a very good marriage, characterized by unity, care for one another, enjoyment in our relationship, and a very strong spiritual oneness. The difference is that those who have good marriages work at it. They always want to grow in their marriage relationship so are constantly seeking advice and counsel. Proverbs is clear saying dozens of times in 31 chapters, “In abundance of counselors there is victory”. So many are to proud to seek help, but even the best marriage can use help. Couples who have been married for 50 years and have a good marriage ought to be sought out often for counsel but it doesn’t happen much. Humble, teachable people grow and are blessed by God. Self sufficient, prideful people think that they can do it on their own, but they are wrong and will pay a high price for their arrogance.

The warnings in the Bible about bitterness are everywhere. Simply put there probably isn’t anything we can do even just a little bit that has more consequence to it than being bitter and its coralarys. The opposite is to forgive anybody of anything quickly no matter how bad what they did to us is and no matter how many times they have done what they have done. It seems a bit overboard to say it like that but Jesus is quite clear on this. We have been forgiven of everything by Him because of His death on a cross, and He commands that we forgive quickly anybody of anything. The consequences of failing to do this is Jesus not forgiving our sins, which means He will not hear our prayers, we will not have peace or joy, we won’t be able to understand the bible, we won’t have any power, and many more equally bad deals. The way I have learned to deal with these situations where I feel hurt, offended, irritated, or just plain judgmental about their life style or performance especially as it relates to and affects my life or the life of someone close to me is to make them a major recipient of my prayers for a season. In the evening when I do most of my praying I think of anyone who I am annoyed with all the way up to hate and every feeling or attitude in between. I pray God’s blessings on them and then ask God to give me the strength to forgive them as He has forgiven me. Every time a negative thought pops into my head about this person I pray, “Father, thank You for forgiving me of all my sins, I choose to forgive this person of all that they have done because You have forgive me. Please bless them with great success in life.”

Some marriages are husband and wife. Other marriages are God, husband and wife. Marriages that have God as a member have huge advantages over the marriage that don’t.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

God becomes part of a couples marriage who invite Him to be part. When He is an official member of our marriage relationship because we invited Him to be, He gives us strength to do the things that are very difficult to do, but so important. The command to husbands in Ephesians is to love our wives to the same degree that Jesus loved the church and gave his life for the church. That is an impossible command without God’s strength. God gives us the wisdom to know what to say and do in any and every situation that could come up in a marriage.