It’s been a while since I added anything to my blog. I could write just to be writing but that is not what I intend this blog to be about. I want to try and communicate what the Holy Spirit inspires me to communicate and if that means I have to get out of the way sometimes… so be it. But you can be assured that being a sour puss is not one of my gifts, so for anyone who reads anything I write...lighten up. I'm sure there is laughter in heaven and I'm sure that the meek-less have all walked the plank, displaced to a distant, isolated, not so popular place to do a task that will remind them that it was never about them...it's about Jesus.

Matt: 7-6 is a verse I appreciate. “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” I especially like the swine part.

We are all sinners standing behind Christ. And the last I checked they weren’t giving out crowns for whiners or those pretending to be more holy. 
 
Now to business...
 

I want to thank all those who helped Lori and me with our recent move to the Bellingham missionary/military zone. I’ve already spotted a few pirates lurking in the shadows. I’m sure God has some new experiences and surprises waiting for us.

Now this is the place where I would name all those who helped and give them special Pirate awards but I was just informed that between sweat and prayers nearly everyone that could be involved with our move was involved and that they will be blessed by the Holy Spirit in a way and time that will bring glory to God’s kingdom.

Let’s just say that the leaders and members of Living Fountain are all amazing people and that Lori and I can’t thank you enough for your very hard work and dedication. The story of your efforts has already been told to people you will never know. The sweat and laughter I saw and heard during that time will never be forgotten.

God Bless.

I saw what appeared to be a beggar sitting in the middle of a field. He sat very still and held a sign in front of his chest printed with the word “Help”.

I watched as a well groomed man walked up to him and started to sing. And then after the song, he began to preach and then he spoke in strange tongues. But the beggar never moved or responded.

Then I saw a second man walk up to the beggar and he began to move in strange ways, to prophesy and say all sorts mysterious and interesting things. But the beggar never moved or responded.

Then I saw a third man walk up to him. He did nothing special but gave the beggar bread and walked away. But this time the beggar put down his sign, ate the bread and followed after the man.

After he caught up with the man, the beggar asked him how he knew what he needed.

The man said that not everyone responds to song, that some don’t care for preaching and most don’t understand tongues.

He said that the first man enjoyed himself too much because he was full of his own food.

He said that the second man was very insightful and interesting but that he was talking just to hear himself talk and was of no use to someone who was hungry.

He said He offered the beggar food because once he was full; the beggar might learn to like song and understand truth.

He said that it is man’s message that comes by way of theatrics or showmanship that man seeks to convince or impress but that the Spirit communicates with the needs of the heart.

The What-For years (1-4)

The What-Ever years (5-14)

The What-Now years (15-18)

The What-For years were basically for your parents to get to know you, if those years were important, you would have remembered them.

The What-Ever years were designed by God to give people a mental place to go in life after they become adults so that when things go bad there would be a place to retreat. If you neglect these years, skip this free time or play adult and worry about non children kinds of things in the real world, you will have no place to go.

I flunked 1^st, 2^nd and 3rd grades. I wasn’t very good at drawing stick people but still have my perfect attendance awards from those years. My twin sister flunked 1^st and 2^nd…she didn’t have as much fun but we both went on to college. She has a P.H.D. and still plays in a sand box. No one knew we had dyslexia but once we moved to the city the Catholic school nuns made us dress in uniforms and scared us enough to end our public school training of “going through the motions”.

These years for me meant that I was armed to the teeth with all sorts of weapons including spears, sling shots, bows/arrows, guns, rifles, stones, snow balls, chestnuts, knives and blow darts. I never got hurt and neither did anyone else I was with.

1. I never wore protective head gear while jumping out of trees, riding or swinging. I never got hurt and neither did anyone else I was with.

2. I made traps, to protect forts my friends and I built in trees, by digging holes in the dirt and covering them with sticks and grass. I never got hurt and neither did anyone else I was with.

3. I put World War II bayonets, I dug up from mounds of red clay like dirt I found in the back of the local cutlery, on the end of spears or just hacked things with them. I never got hurt and neither did anyone else I was with.

4. I played in the local cemeteries day or night without knocking or falling over any headstones…

5. I threw snakes in the road and watched cars run over them, they never complained…

6. I went trick-o-treating alone without a light two days in a row, jumping over fences in the dark so I could cover territory faster…

7. I set fire to leave piles and bugs using a magnifying glass…

8. I left home after breakfast without telling anyone, following railroad tracks to the next town and returned before supper, no one complained…

9. I climbed high cliffs and vertical walls of rock high above the same railroad tracks without equipment of any kind and squiggled into unexplored underground caves without rope or light…

10. I explored woods and gullies far from home having never been there before and never got lost…

11. I broke the ends off soda cans, taped them together, poured lighter fuel in one end, put a tennis ball into the other and fired the ball into the air…

12. I took empty 22 and 38 shell casings, filled them with match heads and whacked them with a hammer...

13. I rode my wagon and sled down very steep hills without breaks that suddenly ended with a stop sign, cars or a tree…

14. I walked in creeks not knowing how to swim…

15. I spent the good part of many wintry days outside in the snow, in freezing weather without a hat or snow suit, firing snow balls at anything whether it moved or not, built snow caves that never caved in on me and never got sick…

The What-Now years were the last four (15-18) these years you remember but don’t want to because they were not as fun.

These events happened, they are all true. I never broke any bones. I don’t hunt, never was a boy scout, don’t rob banks, don’t own a gun and know you don’t point real guns at people or yourself, am not a terrorist, don’t belong to the NRI or any other hunting or other outdoor organization, have never committed a crime or been arrested or jailed, have two good conduct medals awarded from the Navy, passed Navy Intelligence background investigation to qualify for a secret clearance while working with nuclear weapons, spent 30 years with my bare hands in toxic solvents and printing inks.

What does all this mean?

It means that if my house burns down, God will remind me of better times. He will send me there and I will build a snowman, admire the shiny bulbs and lights on a Christmas tree and be happy. The next day I will go about my business knowing God is in control.

Do your children pre-empt your commands, anticipate your orders, and calculate replies. Do they change the subject or talk back? Do they misdirect or circumvent everything you say or ask? Do they not trust you? Do they scheme and throttle you at every turn? If this is so, consider that this, to any degree, is not what things were like in my time. And consider that you are not what Jesus wanted you to be as a parent.

The other day I watched two young children playing with a Lincoln log set. They were not yelling or screaming …throwing or breaking things; I never heard them say the word “no”, turn away or run off when their parents spoke. They were not like most other children I’ve encountered in recent years.

The scene flashed me back to my youth…a more even time when parent/child relationships were not reversed… reasonably, a time when children behaved at home, school and especially when shopping because they wanted to go shopping again. In my youth we were not whiners. We didn’t throw tantrums and we didn’t break anyone’s things. We were in wonder of the world around us and our parents were our guide.

In those days, money for material things was in short supply and not a priority. If we broke something, it wasn’t replaced. If we didn’t like our food, we didn’t eat. If it was time for bed…we went to bed without crying and of course, no need of special lighting. We learned fast and we are still alive and happy today.

Both my mother and father worked but we did have our grandmother, neighbors and older sister to watch over us at times. Today the knowledge and teaching skills of our parents has been replaced by books, tapes, lectures and the internet…all of which is in business to make money, not give true tested advice. And what of the next generation…frankly, it looks sad. We have unhappy children living in an unhappy world waiting to be entertained and coddled…a vicious cycle to say the least.

Parents should prepare their children for the real world…a world that has other people in it. Children are not the same…they react and think differently but what we are raising today is chaos and discontent, a class of children with nothing in their heart. Why don’t we turn off the TV, DVD and computer and start pointing our children in a different direction? If they look, up they might see Jesus. 

1. Inciting laughter in other people
2. Collecting things (changes over time)
3. Respecting the things of others
4. Being orderly and clean
5. Letting people give me books and not reading them
6. Saying things people interpreted the wrong way
7. Exploring new places or things
8. Having a pet animal
9. Being on time
10. Being particular about who I hang around with
11. Writing
12. Exposing myself so that I can expose other people
13. Saying what I think
14. Asking questions
15. And last but not least, solving  mysteries or unknowns