Good Weekend

Our son graduated high school this weekend, so we had a cookout Sunday at the house. We had many friends and family in for the event and a great time! Thanks to all of you for coming by.

Graduation at the new high school was a good event this year. Air conditioning makes all the difference at such a ceremony! The speaker's comments were very short and the the crowd large and 116 students moved on to the next phase of their lives. God be with them!

Yesterday we attended a farewell party for Alena, foreign exchange student who was staying with some family (church and blood) for the year. Her parents joined her here Thursday and are leaving today for a trip through D.C., Philadelphia, and New York. Then they'll be heading home. We wish them well and safe travel.

My daughter had her latest romantic quest with her this weekend, a Polish track runner attending U of Tenn. He's visiting through Friday and is a very nice young man. We've put him to work around the house just like one of the kids so he's fitting right in!

I had a great time leading worship Sunday morning, the congregation was in one of those "singing modes" as they usually are when we a have a lot of guest on a holiday weekend. My wife had some cousins visiting from Pennsylvania and they went on and on about how good the worship was. I'm so glad when people can see the hearts of our congregation opened up to to praise the Lord. The sermon, by my very good friend Jamie Riley, was very good and uplifting and encouraging- as always- and the Lord was glorified, I believe.

Jamie and I met together Saturday night to work on the worship details. We pray for the service, for the congregation and for the Lord's help to work through us. I think it makes the biggest difference on Sunday morning. Of course we laugh together and stay too late, but we also encourage each other to move into a higher level of worship. In the last few months we've been meeting with some of the newer, younger worship leaders to encourage them too. I need that encouragement and I like to be an encourager also!

Over all it's been a great weekend. I think there will be many more like it to come!

So I'm out in the blogger world this morning and I read about the tragedy for John Dobbs in the death of his son, John Robert Dobbs. He was to graduate high school this evening, but instead will be buried tomorrow after an accident on the interstate. It really struck me because I have an eighteen year old son graduating this weekend. He's a precious, fine young man and I'm so proud of him. I could not imagine losing him.
I guess Mrs. Dobbs became concerned when they could not get in touch with their son about midnight and she went out looking for him. She returned and John went out looking for him about 4am. Shortly after he left the police came with the news that their son had been killed.
I've made the phone calls, and went out looking a few times, but I cannot imagine getting that kind of news. My heart goes out to the Dobbs family and all their friends. I'm going to hold my son a little closer this weekend and thank God for both my children and my wife. And our health, and our home,...etc!

Rance Allen and Kirk Franklin

How could you say no?

I love this song by Julie Miller:

I'm tired! The wife and I have been working on the house getting ready for my son's graduation this weekend. We decided several months ago to do something about the 15 year old carpet in the living room. I really didn't see a problem but she wanted hardwood floors. Well, hardwood floors in the living room meant they would have to go through the dining room directly open to the living room. OK, but if you put flooring in the dining room which is open to the kitchen which really needs some new floors because the vinyl floor has a few cuts and burn marks after 15 years of wear.
We always wanted to open the wall from the kitchen to the living room. We are open space people and our kitchen was kind of a galley kitchen that felt more like a hallway with appliances. If we have to put in new floors we better tear out the wall because it will be very difficult to do that later after new hardwood floors have been put down. Tearing out a wall means fixing the ceiling where the old wall was, rewiring recepticals and of course the old cabinets will not fit the new layout of the room. The old light fixtures are not where they need to be in the new kitchen and the new layout would be more open and user friendly if the dining room is made into a sitting room and the living room is made into a dining room all possible if the chandlier is moved and the ceiling fan moved and she always wanted an island bar in the kitchen and the refrigerator moved out of the corner and a pantry built into an old closet that we don't use any more -- but the door is going into the wrong room, but if we move that door and take out a bathroom door we will have more space for a wall unit in the family room....
I'm tired! The wife and I have been working on the house getting ready for my son's graduation this weekend.

1 Kings 21:2-4
Ahab said to Naboth, "Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth."
But Naboth replied, "The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers."

So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat.

Many are the times have I sulked over the stupidest things! The Lord has been so good to me, yet instead of thanksgiving I return grace with covetousness.
Satan could be blamed sometimes for his temptation power, but I don't think Ahab could really blame Satan for his petty vegetable garden. But that's where Satan gets a foothold. He takes our pettiness and makes it bigger than it is.
Lord, help me with patience and humility.

(The picture is a vegetable garden in Haiti.)

Put out the fire

Without God, my life has no meaning.

Without God, home, family, friends are expendable and disposable.

Without God, compassion is futile.

Without God, my marriage bonds mean nothing to me.

Without God, I am nothing in a vast world of nothing.

It’s hard for me to imagine a world without God because I do not believe it to be true. God is life, love, compassion, caring, giving, concerned for me and those around me. God is an integral part of every aspect of my life. Along with the good comes the bad. Satan is an ever present force trying to destroy me. Therefore, I cannot imagine trying to overcome Satan’s destructiveness without relying on God’s greater power to enable me to overcome. Alone, without God, I am unable to overcome. Alone, I am unable to resist the forces of Satan. If I were alone, without God, I would have no reason to overcome.

I refrain from saying I ask God for “help.” “Help” is not a strong enough term. Asking God for “help” would be like the man in the picture throwing a little water onto a blazing inferno. I need more from God than just refill my water pail. He’s more than a smoke alarm, although my relationship with him will have sounded some alarms. No, I need God to put out the fire. Rescue me from the danger. Lift me out of the way. He will do this if I will surrender my life to Him and let Him lead me by His Spirit.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Romans 8:12-14