Headed Home

We have been in Michigan for a week and a half and are headed home tomorrow. Martha's mom celebrated her 90th birthday and we were here for it. I will post more when we get home.

Prayer is listening too

I was reminded this morning of something that I know all too well, but too often fail to practice. That thing is the simple act of listening to God when praying. I read two blogs almost every day and today they both hit the same topic, that of listening to God. You can read them here and here. It seems that most of the time when I come to prayer, I spend all of the time talking and very little listening. I want to make sure that God knows what "I need or want" and when done with my list, the session ends, often abruptly. Am I the only one, or do you have this problem as well?

So for me, going forward, I intend to cultivate the skill of listening in my quiet time. I will do my best to remove all the extraneous thoughts and worries. I will spend time quietly listening for His voice. That indeed will be a blessing in my life.

Weekend trip

We made the big loop this past weekend and were able to visit with all of our children and grandchildren. Our second oldest grandchild was graduating from high school and we were able to attend. It was great to be able to go and offer congratulations in person. We don't get to see her very often so it was special.

We travelled 1300 miles in all and saw flooding on the Mississippi to extremely dry conditions in south Texas. On Friday we stopped for gas at Krotz Springs LA and folks were under evacuation orders as the Corps of Engineers was preparing to open the Morganza spillway and flood their homes. On Saturday as we crossed the Atchafalaya floodway we saw many pickups and trailers loaded with furniture and belongings being moved to higher ground. The water wasn't there yet but they knew it was coming, and when it did, all that was in the way would be lost. That was a sad part of the trip.

We did see some lower gas prices though and that was encouraging. All in all it was a good trip, we were safe, the car performed admirably and we are back home.

Weather contrast

Yesterday we hit 100 degrees and today is even hotter. I was watching some eagles here. There is ice on the nest and snow, it is really cold there. There is in Iowa and that isn't that far away. In the meantime we need some moisture, preferrably in the form of rain to help our fire fighters. Vast areas of Texas are burning wildfires and they aren't making much headway agianst them. Pray for rain...

Boat work again

Well I am making progress but not fast. I do have the interior painted and the next step will be to install the decks and hatches fore and aft and then paint the rest of the topsides.

 Then I can turn it over and work on the bottom. The bottom work is mostly sealing and painting. Once that is done we mount the hardware, make a sail and it will be ready to go. I also have some network work to do at church so that may pull me away for a while but should not take too long.

Discipleship - A choice

This morning I met, along with a group of men from our church, for breakfast and Bible study at a local cafe. We do this every Thursday and it has grown to be a very special time of the week for me. Today was my opportunity to lead the study time and before getting into Acts 19, I started with some comments about the bigger story that encompasses Acts, part of that being the model that we see there for the making of disciples. Paul poured himself into several, who in turn did the same to build up the church. The last command to the church was to "make disciples". As Jesus called the twelve to discipleship, each of them made a choice to follow Him. It was a choice of total committment, a life choice that would change them completely. The goal of the diisciple was to be so like the teacher that there was no difference. This involved life change, a change of lifestyle for that one who chose to answer the call and become a disciple. Discipleship didn't end with the closing of the New Testament era. That last command hasn't changed for over 2000 years, we are still called to be disciples that make disciples. The choice is ours, what will we do?

Making Progress

Well I am making progress on the boat. I have a lot of the sanding done and old paint removed. This is very tiring work. I have the framing done to support the decks and to provide watertight compartments fore and aft that will aid in righting the boat if (when) it tips over. You may guess correctly that I have owned several sailboats before and all but one were susceptible (very likely) to tip over if the wind was very strong. I suspect this one will also be the same. I still haven't ordered the sail material nor the few pieces of hardware that I will need to make it sail but soon I will. The boat will be painted in nearly it's original colors of red and grey. The outer hull will be red and the interior and deck will be light grey. The spars, mast and boom, will be red and the oars will be grey. It should be an attractive craft when done. I have no idea how long that will take but hopefully by the first of June or so.

We have a couple of trips coming up in May and June which we are looking forward to. Our granddaughter Kaylee will graduate from highschool in May and we will try to attend the ceremony. That makes you feel old. We also plan to travel to Michigan this summer when Martha's mom will be 90. We also are excited about that.