I watched a short video of a message by Billy Graham this evening. He is 95 years old and he looked and sounded it on the video. But I was profoundly moved by watching and listening to this godly man. I thought to myself, he has a definite anointing on him from God that impacted me even from a video that was made in his home. He has been a super faithful man doing with all his heart what God called him to. He is finishing the race well when many do not. I want to finish my race well, in a sprint.

i have an App in my IPad that is a photo album with large capacity journaling capacity with it. I put in pictures of people with their names and any things that I can pray for. I have most of the people who attend JBC in it, and many people who have visited. If you visit JBC I look and see if I can find you on Facebook and then download any pictures there onto my prayer journal along with your name and any information that I know or can find so I can pray with some degree of accuracy. If I don’t have a picture I put in your name with a blank spot with the goal of taking your picture sometime with my phone. I do write in prayer needs as I discover them from the prayer letter, facebook or conversations with you. I invest at least an hour every day  scrolling through all the names praying that God will bless, guide, protect from the temptations of the devil, provide needs, and that you will grow closer and closer to God. Tonight I spent over 2 hours sitting in my recliner praying through my prayer journal and it is very interesting how much love I begin to feel towards those I am praying for and many I don’t even know. It is a very supernatural experience for me as I sense God’s pleasure and presence during these marathon prayer times. if you would like to be included in my prayer journal send me your info and I will do it.

i decided after my 4,000 mile bicycle trip to the East coast that I needed to have another big exercise goal so I wouldn’t lose all that I gained in the way of physical fitness or that I wouldn’t gain all that I lost, 45 lbs. I decided that I would train for and enter an Ironman Triathlon. You swim 2.5 miles, bicycle 112 miles, and then run a full marathon, 26.2 miles. I decided that I would do the one in Tempe, Arizona on November 15th, and then yesterday looking online I saw that it was full. Yikes. All of the others available were either to far to drive to or the dates didn’t work. Both my sons were going to do it with me so last night they talked me into doing a “Leadman Triathlon” at Bend, Oregon on September 20th. It is a 3.1 mile swim, 135 mile bicycle ride, and a half marathon, 13.1 miles. It is more total miles with a half mile more swimming, 24 more miles biking, but 13 miles less running. So I guess that is what I am signing up for. Let’s see now, that is 10 months away, whoooeeee I better get to training hard!! One of my goals is to every year attempt something that is near impossible. I think this is it😄

Someone asked me why I never asked for prayer for myself that my Parkinson’s would be healed by God. Interesting question, here is my answer. This is more personal than theological so if you do pray for yourself and ask others to pray for you in regards to your trials please don’t take offense at my personal convictions in this area.

i pray for strength to manage well any situation that God would put me in. I don’t ask Him to make life easier in any way. I believe I can bear up and grow in the most difficult situation if I have God’s strength. I believe that God will always answer the prayer for strength. I ask God for wisdom to fix anything that I can fix, to change anything I can change, to bear much fruit as a result of the circumstances God has put me in. I ask God for joy that is easily seen by every one that I am around in spite of events. Not phony or pretentious joy but very real joy that is in my heart as a gift from God. I do ask for the strength to rejoice and not grumble as an act of obedience No matter how hard life may get. I ask for peace so that I never feel sorry for myself or worry about my health or future. God is good all the time. I trust Him totally with my life and the circumstances of my life. I am going to heaven and I will get a new body that will never get sick or tired and I will fellowship with the God of the universe forever. God forbid that I would ever feel sorry for myself or want an easier life.

I have so many needs. Not physical or financial but character needs. Character weaknesses that constantly create problems for me. God is infinite and loves to help those who depend on Him and ask.  I am not sure if it is my pride that keeps me from asking more, or if I simply don’t think about it, it just doesn’t enter my head to ask God for help to live my life in a way that pleases Him. When I struggle to love others I could ask that God would help me to love like He does. When I struggle with anger I could ask Him for patience or self-control. . When I get sad or depressed I could ask for His joy in my heart. God loves to give these great gifts to those who ask, I know that without a doubt, but I still don’t ask much. Regardless of the reason for my lack of asking I am determined to work on being humble with My God and ask and seek and knock constantly.

Got up and drove to Trout Lake, Washington yesterday for Thanksgiving. About a three hour drive. That is where I graduated from High School and farmed with my Dad until moving to Jefferson to Pastor JBC. My mom still lives there as well as my sister and her family who have a dairy there, also my youngest brother and his family who run a Christian Camp called Jonah Ministries. A number of our kids and grandkids came as well as a bunch of nephews and nieces and connecting in laws. Everybody brought lots of food and we ate and visited until the Seahawk game started at 5:30. We still ate and visited but with different topics. Left at 9 pm and got home at midnight. Very few things are more enjoyable than hanging out with family all day.  We have a really big family. My mom has 79 great grandkids, patty and I have 8 children, 6 son in laws, a beautiful daughter in law and 21 grandkids. Not all were there but there was a gym full. Besides being a big family we are especially close. everybody loves each other and gets along super well. We enjoy our fellowship times very much. As I sat drinking a cup of coffee watching dozens of the 79 great grand kids buzzing around the gym we were in on there toys, skate board, and  bikes I thought how blessed I am to be part of such a wonderful family. This is pretty rare. Thank You Lord.

A little over a month ago as a result of Parkinson’s Disease my bladder quit working. Now I have to catheterize myself 3 times every day, every 8 hours. At first I came close to fainting every time I did it, then it got better so I just sweated a lot and got nauseous, now it is slightly more of a nuisance than brushing my teeth. It is a bit of an ordeal so I have to plan my day around those 3 “pit stops”. I recently decided to add a 20 minute prayer time to these interruptions in my day. The Old Testament Saint Daniel prayed three times a day so I thought I would give it a try to add more meaning and purpose to these forced breaks in my day. I have a long list of things to pray for in my iPad so finding enough to pray for is no problem. I have been doing this for just a short time, but already I noticed a marked increase in peace and joy in my life as well as a growing sense of God’s presence. I have been praying that the 10 years between my 65 and 75 birthday’s would result in more accomplished than the previous 38 years of ministry. It might well be that this forced interruption in my life is God’s answer to that prayer. Crazy huh😄

The hardest goals to make for my life are character goals. The reason is that a good goal must be measurable if it is going to be effective in helping to bring about change. The more precise a goal is in describing the Bulls eye, the target the more motivational it will be. So how do I write a goal to be more thankful, more grateful to God and others? I could simply say, “I will be more grateful”, but that is extremely hard to measure progress in. We all tend to be blind to our flaws in this important area of behavior. I can see a grumbler and complainer easily when I am around them, and they can annoy me to death, but how do I  become super sensitive to my own words of fussing and whining, and change to a person who rejoices always?

i think I will write my goal this way, “I will ask one person in the first week of January, 2015 to give me a score on my habit of rejoicing or grumbling from 1 to 100 and to give me specific examples If they can. I will explain the reason for the question and encourage them to be very honest because I very much want to grow in this discipline, habit, and character trait. The second month I will ask the same person plus one new person, the third month the same two plus one more continuing on that system to the end of the year. I will write down the names of the 12 people I will eventually ask for this grade before January 1st, and I will pray for them before I ask them for this  personal evaluation asking God to help them be honest and gracious and for me to be responsive and not defensive.

I am not sure how it will work, but I think I will give it a try and see what happens. I can see that the success of this goal will be in the wisdom I have in the people I ask to point out my blind spots, and in my ability to be humble enough to hear clearly what they say and then to work on changing. Whooooeeeee, this could end up being more painful then putting a catheter in😁

Have you ever lost something that was very important, and you couldn’t find it even as you desperately looked for it knowing that it was somewhere close. I lost my passport and I had to have it to get my visa for the trip we recently took to Vietnam. The plane tickets had been bought, I had to find that passport, I always kept it in the same place, this was crazy! I did find it after much searching and frantically racking my brain trying to remember where I had put it.

God tells us in His Word that if we would seek for wisdom frantically we would find it, but if our seeking is casual we wouldn’t. I think that I am casual or lazy in my seeking for wisdom when I don’t really think I need it, when I have it all figured out. But then there comes that situation that pushes me into a corner, and I have no clue what to do, what to say. Then I seek desperately for wisdom. But it would be so much better if my seeking for wisdom was an every day attitude of humility, desperate need, and faithful discipline.

I used to have a major anger problem. I lost my temper mostly with my wife Patty and my kids, the most important people in my life. Strange that it would be that way, but I have discovered as a pastor that many people have anger problems, most men do, and it is usually directed at those closest to them. I can honestly say that I haven’t gotten angry, not even a little irritated for a long time now, at least a year and hopefully for the rest of my life. Anger is a really big problem in many relationships, and needs to be overcome if there is going to be growing love and joy in that relationship.  I am going to start a study and support group  just for men using the book, “Getting Anger Under Control” by Neil Anderson. I have room for a couple more guys. Send me an email deefduke@hotmail.com if interested.