A Day At the Races

"Them Boys"
Nashville, TN 2007

Yesterday was the Toyota Tundra 200 in Nashville, TN and the boys had a grand time. Jimmy came with a friend from Atlanta, Wes came from INDY and the Ackeman boys brought a friend, too. It has been said that if not for the steady wind the day would have been miserable. All in all a fun day was had by all so I am told.

As for me...I had a quiet morning and I spent the evening with Laura and Kelly. I had to get a new printer/scanner/copier so we went shopping at Best Buy. Quite a bargain I might not have found if I had gone alone. This is my test run with the scanner. What do you think. I'm having fun and we had fun last night.

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Thanks be to God!!

Dreams

I read an interesting reflection today by Amy Welborn regarding the verse from Numbers 12:6:

And he said, "Hear my words:
When there are prophets among you,
I the Lord make myself known to them in visions;
I speak to them in dreams."

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Amy said,

"I envy people who have peaceful, soothing dreams. I don't think I've ever had a dream like that in my life. The dreams I remember are full of anxiety, usually centered on the theme of having to be somewhere or do something, with countless obstacles along the way.

Don't tell me God doesn't speak through dreams anymore. I think I can learn a lot about my own life, in reflecting on my dreams.

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You see I can identify with this. I don't remember dreams...I know I have them occasionally but I can never remember them. However, there are times I know I have been spoken to by God in dreams. Most of the time I'm sure this is the only way He can get a word in...When I am asleep. You see for a number of years I had prayed for Wes' healing of his diabetes. I prayed diligently and with persistence, just as we are asked to. Well, in the middle of the night I was awakened by a dream when He said to me, "If I heal him he will die." And indeed that would be true. Don't know why I didn't see it before. Surely, if Wes were healed we wouldn't know it. He would continue to take his insulin and eventually take an overdose and die. This called me to pray for Wes in a different way. Yes, it truly came in a dream...when I would listen!!! I'm just as certain that He will come to me again when I am ready to listen.

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For these times I say,

"Thanks be to God!!"

Oh,The Miserable Heat

Fred the Frog by Ron Keller, July, 2007

I think Fred, our resident frog, has a good idea in his quest to "beat the heat"! You have to find a shady spot by a pond and then when it gets too hot, take a dip in the water.


As kids in Colorado, when it got hot we'd go out under the shade trees and sit on the blanket and play cards, read a book, and drink Kool-aid Mom made with lemonade (so we didn't get too much sugar) and tell stories. Because of water rationing there were only certain days we could water the lawn and only during certain hours of the day...usually very early in the morning or very late afternoon. That pretty much precluded the opportunity of running through the sprinkler because then it was too cool in the day.


Our basement was the coolest and the "coolest" place in the house. The card table nearly always had a jigsaw puzzle on it to be put together or the ping pong table was up so we could play. Scrabble was always the game of choice when we played games with Mom. That way we could play the game, practice spelling and learn new words at the same time.


Rita and I would play jacks together. Sitting on the cool tile floor was grand and we laughed at MY usual clumsy mistakes. She was so much better at jacks than I was.


In the evenings we would play catch with the baseball or bat around the badminton birdy. OH!! Hide and Seek after dark is the so much fun...as was playing tag!!! We didn't have fire flies in Colorado or you can only imagine how much fun I would have had chasing those!!!


I invite you all to take some time today, in all this heat,to reflect and reminisce about other hot summers and how you entertained yourself. And then if you can...take a tip from Fred! Go take a dip in the pond.

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Thanks Be To God!!

Sunset Over the Colorado in Texas

Sunset over the Colorado in Texas

This was a glorious weekend. What started with anxiety and trepidation ended with a feeling of satisfaction of a job well done. Anxiety because Ron and I had never give a joint presentation before. And with the subject "stewardship" we weren't sure how we would be received. We wanted the presentation to be the work of the Holy Spirit and we hope we have succeeded. That is something we will never know.


The feeling of satisfaction came after the last presentation, not that it was successful but that we had finished the task we had been asked to do with a feeling of having done the work of the Lord. Does that sound hokey? Wasn't this is what "The Seventy-two" were asked to do? And then again we are called to do the work of the Lord everyday.

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"The Summons" ( one of my favorite hymns) asks "Will you come and follow me if I but all your name? Will you go where you don't know and never be the same? Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known, will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?"

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I think He just might have been successful with Ron and I this weekend. And to that I say,

THANKS BE TO GOD!!!

The Hope Flowers Bring

Well, I have finally gotten used to the new internet and have just successfully uploaded my first picture, Summer and the lovely flowers. I have always admired the gardener that has a garden that blooms from Spring through Fall. The anticipation of the Spring flowers makes the winter winds seem much less threatening. And so it is that HOPE springs eternal.

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Thanks be to God!!!