The End Is Near

The end of summer anyway…

As long, warm days are being slowly being beaten back by the cooler days and nights of the approaching autumn I realize it’s been a couple of months since I wrote anything here. As with most every summer I had great expectations of what I might accomplish. And as with every season in life there were disappointments and successes and that sort of has a melancholy feel to it.

But one thing I do know for sure is that no matter what happens in life I am blessed beyond what I deserve. And with that in mind I decided to post a short list of the good things that have happened to me and my family in the last few months.

-We traveled out of state a couple of times this summer and got to meet a lot of really great people and renew some old friendships.

-We went to a family reunion and I saw cousins I hadn’t seen in over 30 years. It was really nice to reconnect with many of them.

-I saw Switchfoot in concert. I appreciate their music more than anything else out there right now.

-We finally got a good crop of tomatoes from our garden this summer after three less than successful attempts.

-My wonderful daughter had the opportunity to stand firm for her belief in observance of the 7th day Sabbath in a work situation. Yahweh blessed her employer with the wisdom to see the value of making the issue go away. And our daughter blessed us with her easy decision to do the right thing in spite of staring down the potential loss of her job.

-My son starts his final semester of college tomorrow. Those four years seemed both long and yet in retrospect have flown by. Chalk one up for the homeschoolers.

-My grandson starts his “formal” schooling in about a week. Looks like it will be a family effort to home school him. I’m looking forward to my part.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I hope to post more regularly, but will see what my Heavenly Father has in store.

A Summer Stroll Around The Neighborhood

Six months ago I took winter pics shown here


So now here is the same walk this morning

And He Knew He Had Found Life

He looked down at the brightly glowing eyes
Filled with magnificent wonder
New life in the small gentle hand reaching
Reaching up for comfort and hope
And he knew he had found love

He marveled at the intricate complexity
Felt the elaborate texture pressing his fingertips
Heard the whispered secrets of swaying branches
Tasted the aroma of the gentle blooms
And he understood the magnificent perfection

His awe inspired gaze of the great expanse
Lungs filling with the touch of the eternal
Exulting in his own smallness
Wonderment at so great a treasure
And he knew he had found life

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 A Translation

These words, matters, and causes I charge you with this day shall be the center of your life, a part of all your thoughts and feelings. By constant repetition and persistence you shall sharpen your children’s and grandchildren’s minds with my words. When you are sitting as a judge among your family you shall arrange these words to build up your family. You shall declare these words when you walk through the course of your life, when you rest, when you commune with your wife, and when you rise up and strengthen yourself to succeed. These words shall clothe you as a sign of your power. You should wear them like a guard wrapped around your mind. And you shall record and inscribe them in a prominent and conspicuous place on your household(family). These words shall act as a gatekeeper making you think about and judging everything that comes to your family.

The Penetrating Darkness

Moments ago an answer to prayer
Joy in heaven’s ordained purpose
Now an inconvenient tangible pain without voice
Only softly flowing tears for another victory lost

The enemy gloats at another victory
Beating down the best and the brightest among us
Convincing there is some intangible connection
Something more than simple unity in Spirit

Divide and conquer his perverse battle cry
Magnify the differences in the obscuring gray
Letting us know we’ll never be enough
Crushing out hope with the penetrating darkness