No reason, I just like the sign.

Merry Christmas Rittman Ohio style!!!

No such thing as excess!!! The kids love this and we need some fun this year desperately!!! You have to give these people credit for boldness!!!

Goodwill Rocks!

Where else will a quarter get you something cool like these things?

He sees you when you're sleeping...he's making a list...and he carries an axe!?!?

Some of where it comes from...

An explanation will come soon. I'm tired right now.

This is Stanley Ryan. Sometime around 1910. I wish that I could have met him.

The Gospel of John Chapter 15. Heavy words.

I have heard so much soft doctrine over the years that there have been times I've actually believed it. Lately it has hit me in a very strong way that Jesus is not a genie in a bottle. There are still far too many people selling God in a way that sooths itching ears. I have read/heard this chapter at least ten times in the last month or so. The message here is very clear: Stick close to Jesus and He will stick close to you. Do your own thing and expect Him to be with you and it doesn't look like you are going to make it. It's been hitting me like a hammer.

John 15
1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.
23He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
24If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
26But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

Blessings...

I put this picture up in advance of Thanksgiving day with the full intent of making comment prior to, or on, T-day. I'm not into the traditional "horn of plenty" but for me this is the real horn of plenty: A 50's fridge stuffed with processed food and pop!

Just kidding...It is a reflection of the state our fridge has been in ever since a large struggle began for me and my family. Through it all God has provided! We have not missed a house payment nor have we gone hungry. Truly the Lord is good even though His methods confuse the living crap out of me at times.

Due to the nature of cyberspace I don't feel like spilling this particular set of my guts out. Should you be at a point of confusion and struggle..and you feel like the voice of God is as quiet as a mouse breathing...don't be afraid to post a comment and we'll figure a way for me to contact you and I will try to encourage you with a little more detail. My situation may not line up with yours but a shared burden is indeed much lighter. The way I look at it is there is no point in going through rough times if you can't use that experience to help someone else either avoid it or bear a similar thing.

I'll never be able to eat bread again...

What happens when you get married too young...

Can you believe this handsome devil...

Turned into this in just a couple of decades???

Some thoughts on the Virgin Birth

A lot of things I write about are spinoffs of incidents in my life or conversations I have had with other people. The following is a variant of a conversation I have had recently with a great friend over coffee.

We were discussing various things in the Bible and one thing that popped up was the virgin birth. I have no doubt that someone else has said some variant of what's below and maybe a multiple of folks. For whatever reason it was the first time that I had thought of it.

There had to be a virgin birth. There wasn't any other way around it. While God could do anything he wants there are some things that he cannot do as they are contrary to his nature.

For one thing sex is for the marriage bed so for the Father to have sex with a daughter would not only be incredibly creepy it would be a violation of the ten commandments. So there's that.

For another thing, a soul is created at the point of conception so you cannot have a situation where a human soul is occupying Mary's womb and have God's spirit in the baby at the same time. This would be the equivilant of demon posession and God doesn't work that way.

When we become Christians God does indeed come into us but it is only through our willingness that he takes up cohabitation. If Jesus had an earthly father then a human soul would be there thus making it impossible for him to be God. If that had been acceptable then any of us could have been born God via posession and would have made the birth of Jesus arbitrary and trivial.

Going further, accepting the divine conception as truth, if Jesus had to ask God into his heart the way we do then he would have been born without a spirit and that doesn't work either. From the point of God's unique creation of the Christ child God stayed right there through the whole pregnancy.

I don't know how to describe it beyond this. Christ as an avatar doesn't sound quite right. What I do know is that there's no way around a virgin birth.

Matthew 10:29-31 NKJV

This little one got herself trapped in a house that I am remodeling/painting/breaking/fixing. We have the floor torn out of a kitchen and several contractors are working on multiple aspects of the estate. I was working in the basement at the time. I went upstairs to use the bathroom and I saw this sparrow flying all over the place banging her head into the windows over and over again in all of the rooms (I couldn't open the windows because it was too cold and other guys were painting in another area of the house and that's not good for paint at all). She was looking for release everywhere. From her perspective every window promised to reward her chosen direction. Each window lied to her. Many of the same windows lied to her several times. I tried catching her over and over again and she kept flying away from me. Obviously she didn't trust me to release her from her prison so I kept my moves slow and deliberate so as not to speed her on her way to an early demise. Eventually she flew down into the floor of the kitchen and hid. I backed off and went back to my work for a while to give her space. A little later I went back up and there she was again trying desperately for freedom. I started directing her by closing doors to the larger areas as I could steer her flight. After closing off four rooms I had her down to a room with a bathroom. She tried each of the windows again and then went into the bathroom and I followed. I just stood there for a little bit watching her fly around in a very finite space until she finally landed on the floor and just surrendered herself to whatever I had planned for her. I reached down and gently cupped her into my hand and took her outside taking just long enough to tell her that I really was watching out for her. Then I released her to where she really needed to be. Her life would have ended if I hadn't guided her through her false assumptions and move her back to the path that would sustain her.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."-God

Toolbox

I have a lot of old tools in my toolbox. I pick up a lot of stuff at yard sales or auctions. I was looking through them and noticing how battered they were and how many I have rigged together with duct tape and other crutches. It got me thinking about things on a larger scale and this post may sound sappy but I really don't care as it's the first time I have written anything in a while....
Whoops! Sorry, I saw something shiny...Anyway...

All those tools were things that nobody else wanted. Some of them I acquired for free. Pieces of steel and wood that others found no value in I managed to see something a little bigger than the initial appearance.

Like I said it got me thinking about things on a larger scale. Did you ever think about the tools that God uses? He doesn't have a single brand new screwdriver in the drawer. All of us just chunks of wood and steel born broken and tarnished and only getting moreso over time. {like we were manufactured in China ;)}

What the world has discarded in it's global yard sale God has been able to say of all of us "you know, I could use that" and even though he has an abundance of 12mm sockets he still picks up another one when it comes to him and puts it to use.

I like that idea. He can take the worst of us and turn us into "Craftsman's" and no matter how bad those might look they are guaranteed for life to the Owner.

(This one might have been a strech but I liked it.)

Appropriate

Lexington Blueberry Festival

http://www.lexingtonblueberryfestival.com/

This is a no charge family oriented festival. If you can make it you can watch all kinds of things including this:

Now this one was right!

what braveheart character would you be (scotland) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Mad Stephen You are mad Stephen. You are Irish and claim to own Ireland. You also claim to talk to God personally. You're a bit of a loony. Mad Stephen 81% William Wallace 75% Edward the Longshanks 63% Hamish Campbell 63% Robert the Bruce 56% Murin 38% Princess Isabella 13% Edward II 6%

Family

You Don't Have To Be What You Were Born

Phillipians 3:7-11

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead

....and...

Ephesians 6:10-12

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

We are all born destined for evil. It's a fact. All we have to do is look at our track record and see where we have fallen short in at least one area of life. Prior to our acceptance of Christ all was lost. After our acceptance and yielding to Christ in our lives as ruler we are still left to contend with the things that we were born to be.

We hear it on the news all the time: "I am like this because this happened to me or this person did this to me".

I do not look down my nose at anyone's past. I don't look down my nose at my own past. I will not, however, let it determine who I am this minute, the next minute, or the next day.

Truly many of us have been scarred, manipulated, abused, molested, and/or assaulted at some point or points in our lives. For some people the points of these crimes occurred every day for years of their lives.

And if there is any exception to what I have just stated I can say this for the remainder and for all of us as a whole: we have all been deceived.

We have been told by psychology that we are the products of our environment. We have been sold the lie that we are bound to our cultural and genetic inheritence. These lies becomes the truth when we accept it as such.

When we become self aware, and I mean truly self aware, we break the bonds of our history and truly embrace potential. The truth of the matter is this self awareness can only reach it's full disclosure in the continued seeking out of God and who He is as well has what has been given up for us. We absolutely must come to the clarity that I/you were individually and collectively of such tremendous value that God would take our place in the penalty for our own past crimes. Make no mistake crime is sin and sin is crime. And none of us, whether victim or perpetrator can escape a measure of guilt.

But where am I going after all of this? Let's see...oh yeah "We do not have to be what we are born." We may have the tendency to go that route as it is what we are most familiar with, what's the easiest, what is most deeply known, or in many cases what we want.

When we accept Christ we start to see the evil thing that we have been and the things that evil person has done. Don't get me wrong, we are still destined for demonhood left on our own. The only difference between a Christian and a non Christian is the acceptance of the gift that God has given by the Christian. With that acceptance we also an inherit a revulsion for ourselves every time that we lean the old way or fall the old way. That revulsion is a good thing. A very good thing. That means the Holy Spirit's poking at us.

What the devil does with that revulsion, however, is a perversion. He will tell you that you cannot win, that you cannot change, that you are too bad to be of any use to God, and that you might as well just go back to the old path and enjoy what you can of it. After all, what's the use? We aren't perfect right?

This is by no means meant to be a cause and effect formula but often times the closer that we get to where God want's us the more troubles people get into.

And the devil's smart. He doesn't have to get you to go 180 degrees from God he just has to bump you off course enough that you forget about where you were going. Satan and his boys will tug and tug and throw crap in the path of the faithful. If nothing else take it as flattery. Personally, if my life was going 100 percent smooth I'd be nervous.

Don't feel bad brother or sister as you are not alone. Paul, arguably the greatest of the apostles, battled it all the time. The book of Romans details a great deal of flesh vs. spirit for control of our life. I'm going to mention only a spot:

Romans 5:19-6:2

19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
20The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

It's a war friends. A war around us and a war within us. But we don't have to lose. But we do have to fight. God will make up the difference from our weakness but we must fight. And the more we fight the better we will get at it. The battles will be swifter and don't be suprised if they are spaced out a little further from each other. Just don't expect them to disappear because they won't. Don't get complacent and don't be fearful. Just stay ready and remember Who's got your back.

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
1 Peter 1:18-19 (New International Version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXySJAqcnak

Praise You in this Storm

I was sure by now

That You would have reached down

And wiped our tears away

Stepped in and saved the day

But once again,

I say "Amen",

and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls

I barely hear

You whisper through the rain

"I'm with you"

And as Your mercy falls

I raise my hands and praise the God who gives

And takes away

I'll praise You in this storm

And i will lift my hands

For You are who You are

No matter where I am

Every tear I've cried

You hold in Your hand

You never left my side

And though my heart is torn

I will praise You in this storm

I remember when

I stumbled in the wind

You heard my cry

You raised me up again

My strength is almost gone

How can I carry on

If I can't find You?

I lift my eyes unto the hills

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord

The maker of heaven and earth...

-Casting Crowns

Lexington Blueberry Festival in Lexington Ohio

Here's the link: http://www.lexingtonblueberryfestival.com/

One of the items will be Highland Games and you will see some larger than average guys wearing kilts with shirts that have something like this on them:

Once Again A Child Holds A Clue That I Lost

I have had a couple of the toughest months in my recent years of life. I attend a couple of churches and was at one tonight. It is a practice within my faith for people to pray for each other while "laying hands on them". I'm not talking about a Benny Hinn punch to a forehead kind of a thing.

Anyway, I have a need in my life that most of the congregation knows about and the pastor insisted that I, along with others in need, go to the front during a prayer meeting.

We prayed, and the statement of my need is not required for this post, and we prayed for a little while. I felt something press lightly at my side and looked down to see a little girl no more than four years old standing there beside me praying for me with her one hand outstretched to me and the other hand to another person that was being prayed for.

If anyone needs a blessing in their life get a kid to pray for you. The act alone is a blessing to you but going beyond that I firmly believe that kids have a much clearer set of ears to hear God talking. She knew what she could do to help someone in need. The one thing that many of us, me especially, forget to do or leave till the last minute. The thing that we should be doing in the first minute of a challenge.

Tonight was a great night for me and one that was overdue although if you were to ask God I'm sure He would say it was just at the right time...