Day 2…

My oldest son and I travelled from Pendleton, Oregon to Portland…we followed the Columbia river..the weather was wonderful, the wide river like glass winding between the winding basalt walls. Barges, a cruise ship, fishermen chugged along, winding their way to their destinations…

Upon arrival at my daughter’s home, we unpacked, then headed out to the donkey sanctuary where she works. We petted and brushed the donkeys who have found their forever homes after being abused, abandoned, etc…is it like being around great big dogs, with minds of their own…

Dinner at a Japanese restaurant with robot servers….(there are live people as well )… 

Fellowship with one another is key…adding a few fun, interesting visits to the itinerary is great…something out of our ordinary days…

Most of us have ordinary days…with a treat along the way…

We have had them for eons of time…we rejoice in each day…because each day is a day that the Lord has made…”let us rejoice and be glad in it”…

Thank YOU…

This the day…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4A5klnLG2uM&list=RD4A5klnLG2uM&start_radio=1&pp=ygUmdGhpcyBpcyB0aGUgZGF5IHRoYXQgdGhlIGxvcmQgaGFzIG1hZGWgBwE%3D 

Backroads…

 Backroads….

Adventure # ?….

My husband and I travelled some, China-2 times, Mongolia, across the USA, USA East coast, Alaska-2 times, trans Canada via train, around the islands of Hawaii, visiting children and parents  wherever they were….we had a bucket list and actually checked off a few…several got cancelled for various reasons. When I look at this accomplished list, I feel so blessed… But we hadn’t finished, when he got cancer…that was an abrupt halt…actually I felt guilty even thinking about traveling without him or even having fun without him…I finally realized I still had to live for whatever years God granted me…it wasn’t being disrespectful to go on living.

So I have a friend who was “willing” to travel and we had great adventures and travelled some more, plus I had the opportunity to travel with my children a bit as well…all were soooo fun and places out of the ordinary…

Now I have cancer, which has dampened the traveling quite a bit…not the amount of energy that I used to have, lots of meds and still under treatment…

My children/grandchildren continue to travel to “exotic” places, some on missions, some as pleasure…so seeing their photos is mostly my way of traveling now…enjoying their joy….

Yesterday, one of my sons drove a few miles of backroads after leaving my house…smelling the forest air, seeing the spring flowers in bloom on the mountain sides was a treat! Today, Lord willing, we travel on to one of my daughter’s home in Oregon…

Backroads or detours, changed plans are part of life…new chapters…sometimes they come abruptly…other times they come safely into life…

I think of Mary, mother of Jesus..she had an abrupt change when the Angel came to give her her Life changing news…or even the disciples, who quickly left their nets to follow Jesus…reading  through whole Word, people made life changing directional decisions, going on adventures that God had planned…

We are still doing that…maybe a few backroads along the way…

Jeremiah 29: 11 For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Thank YOU…

Plans…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBhuLCPZ_0Q

Mothers….

 Mothers…

Proverbs 31:25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;

    she can laugh at the days to come.

26 She speaks with wisdom,

    and faithful instruction is on her tongue…

28 Her children arise and call her blessed…

John 16: . 21 A woman, when she is in labor, has pain because her time [to give birth] has come; but when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of her joy that a child has come into the world…

Thank YOU….

Mamas…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ8uJ16P9Cs

Words…

 Words…

5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.Colossians 4:5-6

5 Conduct yourself with wisdom in your interactions with outsiders (non-believers), make the most of each opportunity [treating it as something precious]. 6 Let your speech at all times be gracious and pleasant, seasoned with salt, so that you will know how to answer each one [who questions you].

 

Sow and sow…

 

Sow and sow….

I know many people who put their heart and soul into their ministries…whether to adults, children, teens…

They sow and sow , sometimes reaping abundantly, while other times , those faith-building  times, the crop maybe sparse for whatever reason…

I thought of them as I looked at my fruit trees this week..

They bloomed early this year, consequently the frost took most of the crop…usually every year I throw buckets away of the pruned  out fruit…there has always been too much…this year I may have a dozen peaches or nectarines…a few pears and apples…I tended them the same as before, but God gave the amount…He is in charge even of the amount of fruit on my trees…just as He is in charge of the harvest of people…we do what we are supposed to do, but He is the Controller…

Another one of my trees , the persimmon, leaves out with tender shoots and then blooms later…this year, it was leafing out and the frost hit it as well…froze whole branches of tender shoots…now I see, under those tiny brown frozen leaves, new green  growth is peeking out on some….belated growth after a season of hidden growing…we see that in ministry as well…the life is there, but hidden from view due many reasons…hurt, sorrow, tiredness, the claims of the world, etc…then it bursts forth in newness…

God’s lessons are all around us…

Thank YOU….

What we sow…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE_PNUNmw9c

Evangelism 101….

 Evangelism…101…

Evangelicalism taught and prayed for…we have a mighty teacher…

Thank YOU…

John 1: 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

John 4: 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

John 17: 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Matt.28: 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

People need the Lord…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uZcGaixMhg

Love is…

 

Love is…

For whatever reason I needed this this morning…maybe there are others…

1 Corinthians 13: 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. 

2Peter 3: 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Romans 2:4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

Psalm 86: 15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
    slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me;

Psalm 103: 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

John 8: 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Numbers 23 : 19 God is not human, that he should lie,
    not a human being, that he should change his mind.

Thank YOU…

Love is patient…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuBwkEp_mEQ