Moving Soon...Into Our New Home!!!

Sorry for the late updates... We have been frozen in Time lately or so it seems...

Freezing rain....soon the snow is coming and we are closing on the house on the 27th of this month...


Here are some pictures...

Michelle's Truck...






Our Grass...



So you can see it's been cold around here...but we are doing fine!

Stay Encouraged!!

Randy...

On the Death of a Preacher...

The word came the old man had died.

The young pastor called everybody who was connected with the church and planned the funeral for the Elder who had pioneered the work. The town wasn't large but everybody knew the Man of God who had been there for them even when they weren't in his church. He had shouldered the church when it cried and danced when they rejoiced. He had worked to support his family and the church family when the funds weren't there. He had picked up kids for Sunday School and went to funerals for family members that weren't coming to church. He had loaned money to those who suffered tragedy and never asked for a penny in return. He had cried with mothers and with fathers who had lost their kids both physically and spiritually. He had rejoiced with the young as they would fill the altars after receiving what he was given by God to preach. He had watched as the church grew from infancy to adulthood but soon he realized he couldn't keep the pace he had once kept. Time began to catch up to him and soon his mind and body told him he had to let it go and give it another. He had searched diligently and finally found the young man who could keep his burden alive.

Sixteen years later he died alone in a rest home for the elderly. After his fifth year there his beautiful wife of forty years of marriage had gone on to be with the Lord. When he had first got there the visitors seem to never end but then as time waned they slowly trickled down to one or two. Time was still unkind to him as he battled different sickness's and illness during his time there and he passed away into the night and was received into glory.

When he woke up he looked down at his gnarled twisted hands and saw that wrinkles that were once there were now smooth and supple as young man's hands. He saw the great light and entered in. He looked at the Kingdom of Heaven and was overwhelmed by what he was seeing. He felt ashamed because he felt like he didn't belong there. He knew he wasn't worthy to see such a place because he had always been a humble man. There was an angel standing nearby and the Man of God went over to him and told him,

"I don't belong here".

The Angel looked at the man and asked him, "Why"?

The Man of God said, "I didn't do enough and got old to soon. Some of my visions for God were never realized and some of the goals and dreams I had of doing for God what I could weren't met and the Church never really grew the way I had planned for it to"

The angel smiled a knowing smile and said, "Come here and let me show you something".

The Angel walked over to the door of heaven and opened it and said, "Look down there".

The Man of God walked over and looked out the door as the angel opened it.

He saw the Earth and it was beautiful, he saw the clouds and the oceans and the lands as it was spinning slowly.

The Angel said, "Just keep watching"

And as the Man of God watched a little point of light would flicker and shine bright like a star and then another would do the same and another. One, two, ten, one hundred, two thousand and they keep flickering until there were to just many to count.

The Man of God looked quizzically at the Angel and said, "They are flickering in every state and all over the globe why am I seeing this"?

The Angel looked back at the Man of God and said, "Do you remember Johnny Webb and Pete Thompson and Susan Willoughby"?

The Man of God answered,"Yes, they were Sunday School kids I picked up and brought to church and they received the Holy Ghost"

The Angel said, "Every light you see across the Earth is a person who was filled with the Holy Ghost birthed from your Ministry"

The Angel Continued, "Johnny, Pete and Susan went on to become ministers and teachers and are still winning souls for the Kingdom of God and they are just three of the lives among the hundreds you touched by your ministry and there are thousands of lights flickering because of your work for the Kingdom of God".

The Man of God fell to his knees there on the banks of Heaven and was overwhelmed for a moment. He looked up and told the Angel, "I had no idea, I was just working for the kingdom".



So many times we only see what we see and never realize that the lives we touch can affect the world. The work that we do for God while feeling may never rise to the level we would like for it to may reach farther than our life may ever know. So many times we feel like we not doing enough or we can't see those goals met and yet God uses what we do to reach farther than time will ever allow us to see. And while this story is just using some imagination I do believe that our ministry is greater than who we are and farther reaching than we could ever imagine.

Stay Humble before God do what you can for the Kingdom and let God do what He does best.

Just some thoughts....

Randy

The Transition of Manhood....

Accepting responsibility is a big thing. Accepting responsibility when you are wrong is a greater thing. Responsibility is a heavy word we use when we are building people up and encouraging them to do better.

When a boy becomes a man at whatever age he begins to act responsible and accept responsibility. Sometimes it's not an easy thing to do, being responsible also means being accountable. So many times when trouble comes the easy way out is to blame others. Not accepting the responsibility that so often still falls on us. Many have capitalized blaming others so much until they are eaten up with bitterness and worry and have driven everybody else away.

It is human to make mistakes. Adam and Eve were born into a perfect world where there was peace and God communed with them daily. Walking together in the cool of the day with the Creator of the Universe and yet they were tempted and cast out because they made a mistake. Mistakes often times come with a heavy price tag. I've often wondered what God may have done if Adam instead of blaming Eve would have just accepted the responsibility of eating the forbidden fruit and apologized to God. But he didn't, he just blamed her and here we are.

I will tell you that God restored men through His great love for us. Complete forgiveness comes by repentance for the sins we have committed just by asking Him to forgive us. Accepting responsibility for our lives many times is the first step to overcoming whatever problems we may have.

Finding forgiveness in others often times is hard because our mistakes are farther reaching then we may think at the time. But if we do our part to accept responsibility and prove ourselves accountable to them then many times the relationship while not returning to what it may have been, can still be repaired enough to make it work.

The transition to Manhood often times is replete with mistakes and problems but complete when the boy understands he is responsible and the Man accepts that he is accountable. The transition is supposed to have mistakes and problems because without them we could not grow into what God wants us to be. Adversity while problematic and hard on us many times will shape us into who we are whether good or bad. That is what Life says. But there is a greater power than life at work in our lives and that is the Spirit of God. God will form us and shape us according to His will when we allow Him to work in our lives. He will not force himself on us but when we accept Him by receiving His Spirit into our heart and mind He goes to work and many times what life will try to destroy God will build a giant testimony of His Greatness through us so that our light shines before men in the darkness where they live.

Many have been made an overcomer or winner by allowing God to work through them by accepting the responsibility and growing into manhood versus retreating from it.

If today you are in the heat of a battle and you feel that you may not be winning it try accepting the responsibility for your life before God and repent of your sins and you will find yourself in transition from boyhood to manhood and let God do what God does best... Work in your Life today...

Just some thoughts... Be Encouraged....

Randy...

The Pen is Still Mightier than the Sword.....

The princes sat in stunned silence as the letter containing God's Word to his people was read. Baruch had delivered it to them and they had questioned him but he said that he had written it just the way Jeremiah had said to. It was a message from God to the people offering to deliver them if they would only repent and turn from their ways.

They had told Baruch they needed to read it to the King. He would be the one who needed to act and lead his people. It was a cold night and snow outside had become whitened by the moonlight. The King sat in front of the crackling fire as his servant Jehudi read the letter. The princes watched for him to show signs of shock or at least fear but he showed neither. As Jehudi read thru three or four pages the King took the scroll with God's Word and cut it with his knife and he would throw God's Word into the fire. The Princes shocked by his movements protested and and pleaded with the King to heed the Word of God but watched as the tender curls of green and blue heat flames rose from the parchment as it burned by the hearth where the King was warming himself.

The King and his servants showed no signs of respect, repentance or even fear at God's Words. They didn't rend their garments or show any emotion. They had been removed so long from God's presence the Word written had none effect on them thereby sealing their fate and their destiny in judgment and not mercy.

The sum of our lives will be defined by the choice we make to either heed the the Word of God or throw it into the flames of judgment sealing our destiny.
The simplicity of love defined is a forgiving God who will write into our lives mercy and hope if we will but heed His Word or a vengeful God who doesn't lie and will judge men according to same Word we could have found our salvation in.

Jesus stood on the roadside overlooking Jerusalem and tears ran down his cheeks caking on his face from the dust of travel and fatigue and he said these words, " Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Who kills the Prophets and stones them who is sent to you how often would I have gathered your children together as as a Hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you wouldn't listen" I wonder that as God if he didn't remember the burnt embers of His Word that were thrown in the fire burning mercy's only offer to those who only lived only for today and didn't care about their tomorrows.

Find sometime today to call on God and remember his Word, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

God will respond to us when we pray and humble ourselves before Him.

Hebrews 12
"Indeed, the Word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart."


Be Encouraged...

Randy

"The pen is mightier than the sword" is an adage coined by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy.


Jeremiah 36
Chronicles 7:14
Luke 13

Getting on with Life.....Slowly.....and Christmas Lights...

Time seems to pass by much slower here in Oklahoma than it did in California,or so it seems....

We got everything we needed to get done last night, even having time for a nap...only to wake up and head to the drug store because our youngest son has been sick...of course we had stop by the "bucks"...looking down at the clock in the truck it read...

8:30!!!!.... I made the remark to my wife....time is cool here in the OKC...:)

The town we are living in takes an entire city park and completely bathes it is Christmas Decorations... It is very beautiful...We took the boys there a couple nights ago and will probably make the trip again.

We put a bid on a home here and are waiting to hear the counter offer....

Michelle started back to work yesterday for our local school district and her "vacation" is over...:) She is enjoying it tho...

Well just some notes about where we're at...

Be Encouraged...

Randy...

Happy Thanksgiving... Everybody!!!

I hope that you have a great, or better Thanksgiving...


Eat some Turkey and think about the Good things in your past...


Be Encouraged...

Randy

Finding Hope in the Faces of the Damned...

This weekend my wife and I visited the Science Museum here in OKC. They were featuring an exhibit on the human body. Various people had donated their body to be displayed and a process was used to preserve the muscle tissue and various body parts somewhat freezing them in time. Simply put, it was amazing to see. They had different bodies posed; some standing, others sitting and some were simply cut into slices allowing you to glimpse into them and realize what is in your own body. We found the prenatal exhibit to be especially touching and telling.

As we walked into the exhibit we were met by the skeleton of a man greeting us. Soft music playing and the walls surrounding the exhibit were respectfully black. The skeleton was standing and there were little plaques beside them with information. There were clear glass boxes around with the different preserved body parts of the skeletal structure; elbows, knees, tissue and so on.

Entering the prenatal area was extremely telling. There were vials there that contained the baby from one month to seven months. It made us to realize that the term "fetus" may be scientific but with the little hands and feet we saw at just two months the little baby is anything but just a blob. It's a baby.

As we turned a corner were met by a human standing with muscle tissue completely exposed. You must know that these are donated by the person that once lived in them. The soul long gone and the body is preserved. They were long dead but somewhat alive in that their body had been preserved. Something you don't see everyday. As we continued we went into the vascular system. The process used was amazing to see the arteries and the blood vessels exposed like a mass of red strings throughout the body. To see our internal organs put together like a puzzle it really made the words of David in Psalms come alive when he said, "We are fearfully and wonderfully made".

Towards the end there was a body standing with all the muscle tissue exposed and arms extended with the hands holding a clothes hanger and on the hanger was the complete skin that once was draped over the body.

Finally as we exited our thoughts were somewhat interesting because after seeing the exhibit you’re not quite sure how to respond. On the one hand your not really repulsed because of what you have seen and on the other hand your somewhat taken back because you just got a glimpse into the eyes of what was at one time a living, breathing human being that now was a empty shell no longer containing the life or spirit that made this person who he or she was.

Truly we are all born with a curse upon our lives and the curse of death that will one day come upon all of us. How we choose to die is up to us really. I'm not talking about the cause of death but the condition of our soul. As I looked into the bodies of those displayed I could see something they never got to see. I saw the many different parts of their body and while it was interesting and contemplating I could not see their soul. I could see where science had brought them through chemicals and preservation but I could not their soul and did not know the condition of their soul when they died.

Where were they spending eternity? How did they live their life? Was it fulfilling to them? Did they have regrets? Were they abusive or giving? Were they happy or sad? Did they suffer? Did they have great success? There is one thing to note that while there were many bodies displayed none of them were smiling.

So many questions to ask but we will never know because all we see now is the damned and yet I saw hope surrounding the damned. It was a glimmer in a child's eye and the parent who was walking through the exhibit. I heard laughter outside as the kids were enjoying other aspects of the museum. I heard a baby cry as the mother tried to console. I saw an older couple holding hands as they were looking at the train exhibit. So many signs of life and even though I didn't know their stories I knew that there was still time to make a difference.

Paul wrote in Corinthians that we are looking thru a glass darkly now but one day all will be revealed. I hope that when that day comes and my body is lying in a grave waiting for the call that my soul will be in a place of peace and fulfillment because I choose that while I lived I would do my best to live for God and make a difference here on this temporal place called life.

The Bible says it is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment. When it comes my time I want to know I did everything possible to live, love and finish what God has called me to do. Regardless of where your at in your life today find some time to pray and ask God to find you,encourage you, help you...

Be Encouraged...

Randy...