squeak

it is 10 oclock at night and my wife is spraying jig-a-loo on the wooden rocker, Jason and Sarah laughing at the ad on the web and Sophia is sleeping... the world is upside down, the rocky is not squeaking the laughting is less, Oh my I need to sleep, the car has seen 520 miles today my bottom saw it too.. tired and the laughter is better then tears.... having some fun...but the rocky is better, Jig-a-loo to the rescue.

Lessor and Greater

It has been awhile, yet the mind of me has not been still, thoughts roam and some even settle for some time within, stirring and encouraging a continued shaping and changing of me. One such idea was born from the Gospel of John chapter 3 verse 30. John the baptist made a statement regarding his relationship with Christ. People told him that Jesus was now baptising and that everyone was going to him instead of coming to hear and be baptised by John. His reply included the statement. "he must become greater, I must become less". How powerful is that? How prophetic? It this not the essence of walking in the light? Each believer must come to that point of realization. I must, that is my "self" must become lessor thus allowing Christ in me to become greater. Our Lord is a gentle teacher, he speaks in a small still voice, and when the self is screaming, how can I hear his voice. We must quiet the self, Jesus said, "Matt 16:24-25"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.NIV

There it is," deny himself", as plain and as simple as that. With all the personal preferences, with all the goals and aspirations of life, with all the dreams of having this or that, with all the needs for self pleasure and aggrandisement's, with all the desires for applause and praise from others. Deny all that, and follow Jesus. I must become lessor so that he may become greater.
Oh to be like Jesus!

Dizzy Me

Sunday, the day I enjoy so much because I get to attend church and spend time with others in worship of God. This Sunday was a bit different then most for me, I arose from my slumber to head to that same room, when out on my mind there arose such a zoom. I could not stand alone, I was leaning, and not on the everlasting arms, but leaning sideways, so much I had to hold on to everything to arrive safely at my destination. What on Earth was going on? my head was in a spin, and I surely had not drunk that much during my dream cycle. Instead of Church, the Dayton VA Hospital ER was my next stop. Walking a start line might be a good test for the police to administer late at night, but at 8:30 am it's a bit embarrassing, especially when you track left a lot. Tests, tests, and tests, they sure treat my right, only to determine all is well with my soul. The problem was with my ear, they think, I still believe doctors only "practice" medicine. Sure, arrive with your hand separated from your arm and they can stay" The problem is your hand is missing". Well enough "soap box", I got some dizzy fix er up stuff and was sent on my way. What a day, spent the most of it redoing the laundry room, with a dizzy head, that took some time to remove the old, paint, install the new. But I am better, the future looks quite not so lopsided.

Thought

Yesterday was like most Tuesdays during the warmth of summer in Ohio, I spent it with a old friend, not that I have known him a long time, but that he is old, at least older by 18 years then myself. We spent this day together at Locust Hills Golf club enjoying the wonderful game of golf. Each Tuesday this summer has been changing as my old friend was told he has the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease. forgetting how many times he has hit the ball is not a problem, but watching him slowly change hurts a bit. He has admitted he is scared of what is coming. I can only imagine what he is going thru, and yet it still makes me think of how life has it's way. There are things we have no control over and we just have to deal with it or resign ourselves to it. Some things, true enough, can be cured by modern science, some things cannot, this is one of them. Our Lord has intervened from time to time, a divine healing, a miracle, if you will. I know this on a personal basis, I pray this for my old friend, he knows God can do that, he prays to the same end. I think also, am I wrong to be thankful, it is not me. Tuesdays will forever be changing, we agree, if he will remember, we will spend Tuesday together for as long as he can.

What Songs we sing

One day a young man was walking along the beach when he came across a salt encrusted piece of metal, after working for an hour or so to remove the salt, lo and behold it was a very old oil lamp. Thinking it may be of some value and perhaps he might be able to sell it on ebay, he continued to clean it up some more by beginning to polish it, when poof! out pops a genie. Now the genie was so glad to be out of this lamp he granted the young man three wishes. "My first wish" said the young man, "is to be one dollar richer then Bill Gates". The genie did not know who Bill Gates was so the young man told him to check out Forbes, so pulling the latest edition from the lamp, the genie found that Bill Gates was the richest man in the world and said, " you shall be forever one dollar richer then Bill Gates, what is your second wish?"Well the young man thought ans thought, and then asked for the most expensive Porsche ever built, fire engine red, with GPS location system and the most awesome sound system ever installed in an automobile. The genie said, "that's easy" and pulled one right out of the lamp. Then asked, "What is your third wish?" Well now the young man was in trouble, for he thought really hard and just could not think of what is should be, he thought should I wish for a very beautiful woman, no, I am the richest man in the world surely I will be a chick magnet now, perhaps I should wish for world peace, no weirdo's and beauty queens ask for thank, so he ask the genie, " can I hold off on that a bit?" the genie said that was most unusual however since the young man held the lamp, he had no choice, he said, " I will return into the lamp and just call me when you are ready" so the young man place the now very valuable lamp in the trunk of his new car and drove off the beach onto the highway, 60, 70, 80 and he was rolling along, he turned on his radio system, balanced the 36 speakers, and was so happy, this is the life, he began singing so loudly along with the music, " I wish I were an Oscar Meyer....Poof!

The moral is be careful what your song is,

Bless the lord, Oh my soul and all that is within me bless His Holy name!

Birthday

Today I celebrated my birthday with my family, so happy, so verclump, to have them all here. I took some pictures to share.



Anne, mommy to Victoria and Margaret,

daughter to me.


Sarah, mommy to Isabelle and Sophia, Daughter to me.

Victoria, what a young lady she is becoming.

Margaret is so smooth, so cool, new hairdo too!

Isabelle so happy to have her picture taken, a charmer as well.

Sohpia, smiling for Papa, what a joy!

Papa with his four little ladies, my heart is full.

The day is done

The B day is about to be over and it was a blast, packed the girls minus one in the car and off Nana and Papa went to Kiln time a paint your own pottery place, OH NO! they went out of business and did not call us and let is know, now what do we do? Gas station, yellow pages, thumb through until PTL! another place in Springboro, true another 6 miles but hey Papa and Nana with the Granddaughter having hopes of painting some pottery, off we drove and man o man this place was the greatest, customer friendly, very attentive to the girls and we all painted something, yep, Papa painted an elephant, and Nana did something that was not blue and yellow! Isabelle painted the cutest three puppies piled up sleeping, Margaret painted a cookie jar for her mother, Margaret always like doing things for someone else. Victoria chose a big tall grande coffee cup, no she does not drink coffee and painted a wonderful sea scape, with fish and seaweed. We all had a great time and then for my birthday I was allowed to take them out to dinner to the Flying Tiger, yep! all the good stuff. Tomorrow we haul off to Newport KY to the Newport aquarium, they will even get to pet a shark, baby ones, none biting ones, but never the less sharks. They all love this place, it has become an every year event. no visit to Papa and Nana's would be complete without a trip to the Newport Aquarium. But tonight I am done, worn out, feeling my 63, legs a bit tired, ankles hurting, but my spirit is still soaring.

63

Well, today I have reached the beginning of my 63rd year, reflecting of how blessed I have been.
It was the year of my 57th on this Earth when my heart screamed for attention. A major artery was 100% blocked and the pain was very intense, the doctors thought death was eminent, but God decided otherwise. The thought which came to my mind at that time was, of course, my father died at age 57 from a heart attack, we were told. Have I repeated that course? Oh it was for sure a different habit that brought about his end here, but nevertheless, an end at 57. Here I was 57 and staring eternity right in the face, not that I do not want to meet my Lord face to face, but I prayed that he would allow me to stay, because my wonderful wife was not ready to be alone. God was so gracious to her, at that moment all was well. Oh sure the doctors still have to clear the artery, but I was allowed to stay, and today it is 63, six years, with so much change, leaving the stress of my pool business behind, and moving to Ohio to live a far more relaxed life. The song in my heart sings "Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me, bless his Holy name"