December 29, 2015. Madison, GA. 3.....2.....1.....2016

Counting down the final days of 2015. How quickly the year went by and in a few days we will be writing 2016 or /16 on all our checks, documents and other places where a date is required. A lot of "worldly" events will take place in the coming year: Super Bowl 50, the Rio Summer Olympics, a Presidential Election and all the events leading up to it, microchipping of all dogs in England, a bunch of space probes and first-time space events. We can anticipate a growing number of strange-named drugs with horrendous side effects, wilder weather and a host of theories on why it is occurring, and occurring more frequently. In all that will happen, we are certain that we have no certainty, and will constantly be "surprised" by what we as humans come up with and what the "world" is capable of.
But of more importance is the reality that we are all getting older, getting closer to the inevitability of our demise and what will take place to us thereafter. For believers in Jesus Christ, the future, while not fully known to us, will outstep life as we know it now, and our present peace and joy will pale by comparison to the peace and joy we will experience then. We don't know if 2016 is the time for this all to take place, but we should look ahead with anticipation and expectancy to God's "ultimate relief" and live each day until then with gratitude and thanksgiving for all He has done for us and the hope He instills in us.
I pray for the coming year, all God has in store for us, and for His peace to prevail in our lives and the lives of all we come in contact with. May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done, now and forever. Thank You, Lord, and Amen.


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December 26, 2015. Madison, GA. Blessed

I just woke up from a two hour mid-day nap, after sleeping almost two hours more than usual and having a morning of mostly sitting with my feet up in the comfortable co-captain's chair of our motor home. My brother, Phil, and I went for a leisurely walk this morning enjoying the 70-ish weather and the lack of rain after a very wet and soggy week here in Madison. Phil and Sharon arrived yesterday afternoon for a visit from Jacksonville, FL, and we have worked very hard at not working hard. It has been wonderful to just relax, lounge around, play board games with some of the SLM people last night, raid the refrigerator, chase lady bugs and "enjoy".
Our only real concern at the moment is a glitch in our bathroom and a possible inability to dump our "black water" and "grey water" tanks because of the over abundance of rain the past week which may have backed up our sewer line. I'm not sure how we will actually know when the line is usable, so, in the meantime, when nature calls, we jump in the car, ride up the hill to our Mission headquarters and use the facilities there. At lest we are getting some exercise, getting out of the RV and learning something about pre-planning and making due with minimal use of one potty for four people. Sleeping later, and taking naps, makes the situation less critical.
It's great to have the convenience and freedom we do. I say it often, how blessed Karen and I are to live as we do. We are well aware that we have little to complain about, much to be thankful for and humbled by the grace of God in allowing us to serve Him as we do, yet having a peace and joy that is beyond what we deserve or have cause to expect. Jesus told us, that in life there would be trials and tribulations, and we have all had our share, but He also promised life abundantly to those who sought Him and sought to serve Him. As we celebrate, Christmas, the birth of our Lord and Savior, and contemplate the life He lived and the life He gave, it's wonderful to know that while we have been given so much, as we give back, we will see that the best is yet to come. Let's all rejoice and be glad and live in the peace of God and say again.........Thank You, Lord.

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December 24, 2015. Madison, GA. Merry Christmas

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December 22, 2015. Madison, GA. Staying Informed

We receive three television stations here in Madison; NBC, Weather Central and the Justice Network. If the weather is bad between here and Atlanta, we get no tv reception and sometimes even if the weather is good, the stations don't come in very well. When one station goes, they all go. The Weather Central station is good for getting the overall national picture, but when you've seen it more than once, you've seen it enough and The Justice Station is a lot of cops and robbers stuff which gets pretty tough to watch when you see all the nasty things going on in the country.
NBC is okay, but it can get tedious to see their line-up of shows. They have a lot of police-type shows, Dateline stories about crimes, three shows about fire, police and medical disasters in Chicago, soccer, The Voice, Lester Holt (who we like), Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, a host of off-beat and offensive ethnic-oriented comedies and infomercials on a host of medical issues and "buy my brand diamond" or vacuum cleaner or other product. It's hard to find real wholesome entertainment on our tv selections. Even the specials were questionable; The Wiz and it's second showing, "How Murray Saved Christmas" and it's second showing were kid oriented with a lot of adult "humor" thrown in. We did enjoy It's a Wonderful Life a few weeks ago. Always enjoy Jimmy Stewart.
With only a weekly newspaper, the on and off tv and no desire to read the news on a small cell phone screen, it's hard to stay informed on the events in the world, but I've becoming accustomed to being uninformed. When we hear people talk about something, we Google-it and that seems to be enough. We're pretty well settled on who we don't want to be President, so we can do without all the debates, the soon-to-come negative ads and the wild boasts, claims and accusations of the political process.
Our work here in Madison and at the Passion Play give us a good idea of what God has called us to do, the importance of an eternal perspective over the temporal one and our desire to live as holy, righteous and non-hypocritical a life as we can. As always, we seek God's will for our life and press on toward the "prize". If we stay informed with God and keep close to Him...........that will be enough.........that will be sufficient.

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December 19, 2015. Madison, GA. Thank You

Every morning, like clockwork, and usually without the benefit of a clock, I wake up around 5:30, turn off my CPAP machine, take out my earplugs, check to make sure the parts of my body which need to function are still functioning and begin the new day in a fairly similar way to what I have done every other day, I mostly take for granted that I have things to do and the ability to do them. I mostly take for granted that I have clothes to wear, food to eat, senses to sense with, money to buy the things we need and the health and strength to do what I want to do each day.
And yet, as I look around me, listen to the news, spend quiet time with God, or pray with a group of fellow workers, I realize more and more that I have a lot to be thankful for and that my life, while not always easy, is made easier and more joyful by the grace of God and His many blessings. While I may not always act like I'm thankful, I AM THANKFUL. My selfish streak often becomes a burden for others to bear and it amazes me sometimes that anyone wants anything to do with me or my moods, attitude or curmudgeon-i-ness. I'm convinced that because people love Karen so much, they put up with me as part of the baggage she has to carry. I am thankful for her and all she has endured the past 40 plus years we have been together. I'm glad she won the five hour dominoes game last night, was able to sleep in a little longer this morning, that I came in sixth in the game, was up at 5:30, able to look at life on a beautiful Saturday morning and say thank You to God who gave so much for us and continues to give us all we need and much of what we want, as well. Yes, I am thankful. THANK YOU, LORD.


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December 16, 2015. Madison, GA. The Best Laid Plans..........

Two years ago yesterday, Karen and I set out from Fort Collins on what we thought would be a three or four month journey and then back to Colorado for the Spring and early Summer to decide where to go and what to do next. It didn't work out that way. We have been back to Colorado only to take care of medical issues and our plans which never had a definite destination when we started has now revolved around Eureka Springs, AR and Madison, GA for two stays in both locations. Colorado has become our temporary permanent address and Arkansas and Georgia our permanent temporary address.
We still minister to Vietnam Veterans with our Ministry of Miles, but The Great Passion Play and Source of Light Ministries are where we give our "time and talents" and join God where He is at work, helping to advance His Kingdom by being part of a community which is devoted to preaching The Good News in different ways to different "audiences". We enjoy both and also enjoy the life style which we did not plan, but was part of a larger plan which we accepted. For now, we are planning to stay on a similar "schedule" for the coming year, but only He knows what lies ahead, and our plans will yield to His should they not be the same.
We watch the weather pretty closely, and right now even though we have rain in the immediate forecast tonight, we are thankful we are not in Colorado where it is much colder and snowier and has been so for a few weeks now. When we left there in December, 2013 it had been below zero for quite a spell and we were "fortunate" to have a warm day in the mid-30's to de-winterize and start heading south. The motor home has only traveled 11,000 miles in the two years, but it has served us well and we are grateful for the plans we didn't follow and the Plan we did. God is Good and we are abundantly blessed.

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December 14, 2015. Madison, GA. Taking Inventory, part 2

Leaves and lady bugs;  exempt from Inventory.    Whew!!!

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