Tax season....
I never did the taxes all the time I was married...my husband did them or we had an accountant do them...
Well, here I am almost 50 years later gathering info for the accountant, answering questions, etc...
January 1st hits and I really panic, because the job seems gigantic, insurmountable....so many forms, so many reports, so many paper trails...it hasn't gotten any simpler being a widow...
The last few weeks, I have been back and forth between various people, connecting one with another, making sure that each has what the other needs or connecting them one with another, finding missing documents and reports, scanning, forwarding, etc, etc, etc...I want to obey all the rules and regulations ...
This am I was reading the portion of Numbers (very fitting for tax season) and had to chuckle ...they had seen the promised land, seen the lushishness of it, the fruit, the abundance, but were scared of the giant people and felt little in the sight of them...just like I feel when I see the piles of papers, files, reports readying for the accountant..."it is too big", I cry...until I step back and take one step a a time, conquering one item at a time in my land of plenty...I don't want to spend 40 years in the desert because of my complaints and unbelief...
Thank YOU even for tax season...the giant job but, bit by bit, it is worth conquering... Take away my fears...
They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.
We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan. ”
Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”
And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Numbers 13:26-33
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Two storms ...
Two storms....
Having been on stormy seas, I found them not to be fun at all...roiling, boiling, churning water, up and down, up and down, stomach churning, heady dizziness, .....yuck...and watching the horizon was no help....meds to sleep was my answer...even though watching the waves was mesmerizing In their relentless pounding, crashing...several times, the doors to the deck have been lock and barred to hold the passengers in, not letting us out to experience the raging winds, rain or sleet...
The fishermen on the Galilee were open to the seas, their boats without "safe" places to hide from the storms which would suddenly hit....
In these two storms, Mark placed one after another...
Jesus calmly sleeping through the first and walking on the water in the second...
The first, the disciples are terrified,but asking, "Who is this?"
The second, they are afraid, but conclude, "truly, You are the son of God!."
The first, Jesus has been teaching with parables...
The second, Jesus has just fed five thousand men with a handful of food, with abundant leftovers....
In both, he questions their faith...but he calms the seas in both ...he who created the seas has power over them...
He calms their fears...in turbulence of life...
Why am I so afraid, terrified in the sea of life...when I have a Calmer, a Comforter...one who rules the wind and waves...One who holds tomorrow in His hands...who reaches out and lifts me up when my eyes turn toward the turbulence?
Thank YOU....
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.
There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Mark 4:35-41
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Matthew 14:22-33
Having been on stormy seas, I found them not to be fun at all...roiling, boiling, churning water, up and down, up and down, stomach churning, heady dizziness, .....yuck...and watching the horizon was no help....meds to sleep was my answer...even though watching the waves was mesmerizing In their relentless pounding, crashing...several times, the doors to the deck have been lock and barred to hold the passengers in, not letting us out to experience the raging winds, rain or sleet...
The fishermen on the Galilee were open to the seas, their boats without "safe" places to hide from the storms which would suddenly hit....
In these two storms, Mark placed one after another...
Jesus calmly sleeping through the first and walking on the water in the second...
The first, the disciples are terrified,but asking, "Who is this?"
The second, they are afraid, but conclude, "truly, You are the son of God!."
The first, Jesus has been teaching with parables...
The second, Jesus has just fed five thousand men with a handful of food, with abundant leftovers....
In both, he questions their faith...but he calms the seas in both ...he who created the seas has power over them...
He calms their fears...in turbulence of life...
Why am I so afraid, terrified in the sea of life...when I have a Calmer, a Comforter...one who rules the wind and waves...One who holds tomorrow in His hands...who reaches out and lifts me up when my eyes turn toward the turbulence?
Thank YOU....
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.
There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Mark 4:35-41
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Matthew 14:22-33
Friday, February 23, 2018
Counting off...
Counting off...
The book of Numbers starts with the tribes taking a census of the number of men available to serve in an army....so each tribe counts, coming up with their number...then they are arranged by groups when they are encamped...each assigned to a certain place and order...
The Levites are not in the army count, and must encamp around the tabernacle...their job is to take it up and down, as well as carry it...not any other tribe...
When two of my children went on a summer mission trip with Teen Missions International and now some of my grand children, they each came home with the "count off" "habit". Let's "count off" they would say, when we needed some order...and we did it sometimes when we were traveling ....each person assigned a number to say, so that we knew we had everyone...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...it created some semblance of order and humor in the "chaos" of family life...
God is a master of order...not confusion ...
But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
1 Corinthians 14:40
I have asked myself this question a multitude of times over my life..."is this __________ causing confusion?, if so then it is not from God"...it has kept me on track many, many times...
Thank YOU for your order in life...your clear directions both in the deserts and good times....in the past, present and future....
Number 1,2
The book of Numbers starts with the tribes taking a census of the number of men available to serve in an army....so each tribe counts, coming up with their number...then they are arranged by groups when they are encamped...each assigned to a certain place and order...
The Levites are not in the army count, and must encamp around the tabernacle...their job is to take it up and down, as well as carry it...not any other tribe...
When two of my children went on a summer mission trip with Teen Missions International and now some of my grand children, they each came home with the "count off" "habit". Let's "count off" they would say, when we needed some order...and we did it sometimes when we were traveling ....each person assigned a number to say, so that we knew we had everyone...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...it created some semblance of order and humor in the "chaos" of family life...
God is a master of order...not confusion ...
But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
1 Corinthians 14:40
I have asked myself this question a multitude of times over my life..."is this __________ causing confusion?, if so then it is not from God"...it has kept me on track many, many times...
Thank YOU for your order in life...your clear directions both in the deserts and good times....in the past, present and future....
Number 1,2
Friday, February 16, 2018
Moonstones and agates .....
Moonstones and agates ....
From fourth grade on up, I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandmother and step grandfather. They lived on a sheep ranch near Eureka, California.
It had a huge two story old farm house, an intriguing (little women) attic, a real parlor, wooded roads, climbing trees, wood stoves to cook and to heat, a huge woodshed, sheep, chickens, a creek, a big barn....all those things that make a wonderful place for children and grandchildren...and my cousins and I spent a lot of time there...grandma would fix pancakes, breakfasts we loved...wonderful meals. We helped with dusting, cleaning, working in the garden, picking berries, climbing trees, building "forts", picking cherry plums for customers....
one thing that took lots of time, (I think) was playing in the creek which ran by the barn...it was "filled" with moonstones, agates and just pretty rocks washed down from the nearby hills...I still have some of those "precious" stones 60 years later...they won't mean anything to anyone as I pass them on...but yet they were valuable to my childhood ...or the relationships built while hunting those wonderful stones ...
As I walked an Oregon coast beach recently, looking for the illusive sand dollar, agates or moonstones, I was reminiscing to myself of the hours we spent in my grandmother's creek looking for those stones as well... Our excitement at finding a treasure, pocketing it and later showing it to grandma...her enthusiasm over our "finds". She made that place a wonderful memeory....her ready smile, her hugs, her strength of character, her joy, her love for each of us...thank YOU for the people You have placed in my life...
I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.
Psalm 45:17
(Totally out of context) but this verse reminded me of my grandmother, she is worth remembering...we have letters and history of her life written by her. She had a pioneer spirit, having made it through many hardships and passed down fun times...She lived a long life until her passing at age 92 in 1992.
Your name, Lord, endures forever, your renown, Lord , through all generations.
Psalm 135:13
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
Deuteronomy 11:18-21
From fourth grade on up, I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandmother and step grandfather. They lived on a sheep ranch near Eureka, California.
It had a huge two story old farm house, an intriguing (little women) attic, a real parlor, wooded roads, climbing trees, wood stoves to cook and to heat, a huge woodshed, sheep, chickens, a creek, a big barn....all those things that make a wonderful place for children and grandchildren...and my cousins and I spent a lot of time there...grandma would fix pancakes, breakfasts we loved...wonderful meals. We helped with dusting, cleaning, working in the garden, picking berries, climbing trees, building "forts", picking cherry plums for customers....
one thing that took lots of time, (I think) was playing in the creek which ran by the barn...it was "filled" with moonstones, agates and just pretty rocks washed down from the nearby hills...I still have some of those "precious" stones 60 years later...they won't mean anything to anyone as I pass them on...but yet they were valuable to my childhood ...or the relationships built while hunting those wonderful stones ...
As I walked an Oregon coast beach recently, looking for the illusive sand dollar, agates or moonstones, I was reminiscing to myself of the hours we spent in my grandmother's creek looking for those stones as well... Our excitement at finding a treasure, pocketing it and later showing it to grandma...her enthusiasm over our "finds". She made that place a wonderful memeory....her ready smile, her hugs, her strength of character, her joy, her love for each of us...thank YOU for the people You have placed in my life...
I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.
Psalm 45:17
(Totally out of context) but this verse reminded me of my grandmother, she is worth remembering...we have letters and history of her life written by her. She had a pioneer spirit, having made it through many hardships and passed down fun times...She lived a long life until her passing at age 92 in 1992.
Your name, Lord, endures forever, your renown, Lord , through all generations.
Psalm 135:13
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
Deuteronomy 11:18-21
Saturday, February 10, 2018
Radiant face...
Radiant face...
I was reading this am about Moses as he went a second time to the mount to receive the commandments in stone...he had broken the first set over the sin in the camp when he came down from the mountain ....
The second time, he was different. His face shone, radiant, as he had been in the presence of the Lord again....
It just got me to wondering, do I ever shine so much that people know I have spent time with God...am I being transformed more and more into His likeness...do others even know I am a Christian? What to do I do to show Christ in my life? Or is my earthly/worldly life more overpowering ....
There are others that I know are Christians by their lives, their love as they shine brilliantly ....and am drawn to them...just to feel the presence of God in their lives...their goals, their illuminating personalities ....their gifts which they use....they are radiant...being transformed...
Do I let God's light shine?
Thank YOU for your radiance...your transforming power...
“Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Put the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law in the Most Holy Place. Place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lampstand opposite it on the south side.
Exodus 26:31-35
The radiant face of Moses...
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.
When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out.
And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
Exodus 34:29-35
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split....
Matthew 27:51
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,
Hebrews 6:19
Hebrews9 and 10
But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18
I was reading this am about Moses as he went a second time to the mount to receive the commandments in stone...he had broken the first set over the sin in the camp when he came down from the mountain ....
The second time, he was different. His face shone, radiant, as he had been in the presence of the Lord again....
It just got me to wondering, do I ever shine so much that people know I have spent time with God...am I being transformed more and more into His likeness...do others even know I am a Christian? What to do I do to show Christ in my life? Or is my earthly/worldly life more overpowering ....
There are others that I know are Christians by their lives, their love as they shine brilliantly ....and am drawn to them...just to feel the presence of God in their lives...their goals, their illuminating personalities ....their gifts which they use....they are radiant...being transformed...
Do I let God's light shine?
Thank YOU for your radiance...your transforming power...
“Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Put the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law in the Most Holy Place. Place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lampstand opposite it on the south side.
Exodus 26:31-35
The radiant face of Moses...
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.
When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out.
And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
Exodus 34:29-35
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split....
Matthew 27:51
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,
Hebrews 6:19
Hebrews9 and 10
But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
By faith...the Glory...
By faith...the Glory...
I have been reading in Exodus, the beginning of the wanderings of Israel in the desert...their encounters with the Lord and more specifically Moses' encounters...to think that he could spend days and nights with the LORD of glory is incomprehensible...to lead the nation out of Egypt and through the desert is as well...
The Creator of the universe meeting with mortal man, declaring His Glory...and to think that He wants that relationship with each one of us...maybe not on mountain tops, but in everyday life, in everyday thoughts and actions...that closeness, that bonding, that love and worship..."amazing love, how can it be?" That He who rules the world would love such as me?....thank YOU...
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16-17
When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Exodus 24:15-18
“For the generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance to the tent of meeting, before the Lord. There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my glory. “So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
Exodus 29:42-46
Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Deuteronomy 34:10-12
By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
Hebrews 11:23-29
I have been reading in Exodus, the beginning of the wanderings of Israel in the desert...their encounters with the Lord and more specifically Moses' encounters...to think that he could spend days and nights with the LORD of glory is incomprehensible...to lead the nation out of Egypt and through the desert is as well...
The Creator of the universe meeting with mortal man, declaring His Glory...and to think that He wants that relationship with each one of us...maybe not on mountain tops, but in everyday life, in everyday thoughts and actions...that closeness, that bonding, that love and worship..."amazing love, how can it be?" That He who rules the world would love such as me?....thank YOU...
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16-17
When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Exodus 24:15-18
“For the generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance to the tent of meeting, before the Lord. There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my glory. “So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
Exodus 29:42-46
Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Deuteronomy 34:10-12
By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
Hebrews 11:23-29
Monday, February 5, 2018
A hope and a dream...
A dream and a hope...
My young husband and I pulled into Reno, Nevada on a hot day in August, 1969.
We arrived with a 14 foot UHaul trailer and a Ford pickup laden with all of our worldly goods...
We had time to set up our bed in our second story apartment, haul in our hand me down furniture, clothes, assorted boxes and wooden desks...our couch was one which we stood against the wall for the back not to collapse into a flat bed, a hand me down from Don's parents...our dining room set was a chrome and gray Formica table with plastic covered chrome chairs, also a hand me down....our bed was one I had had forever, with a kapok mattress that I had gotten as a child, assorted wooden dressers, boards and cinder blocks for bookshelves....assorted wooden boxes for bookshelves painted to match...what a conglomeration of items...
The apartment was within "walking distance" to the university, but we didn't walk it, a little too questionable. $90 per month, two bedrooms, a kitchen the size of my bedroom closet....but it was home for two years...
Reno, at that time had no freeways, the "big mall" was Parklane in south Reno.. Virginia and Sierra were the main north south streets..Keitzke was practically in the country. Mill street east was lined with farms and ranches and barely two lanes... Hidden Valley was truly hidden. Kmart on Oddie was the big shopping center near us. Carson city was a long drive...you could go to a big time show dinner for $25 a couple...
but we had a dream and a hope...my husband's dream and confidence was that he could find a piece of ground which would turn into a producing mine...a dream that probably most geology students have...a true prospector like the men who found and searched for gold in California or Virginia City or the Yukon...those rugged men whose stories young boys read about...
But, first we needed to finish college...which we set about doing...he was awarded a graduate student job to help with expenses...he fired assayed rock samples sent in citizens to see if there was any gold. One particular sample I remember was a quartz crystal about the size of my fist, crystal clear with tiny stringers running through it...a beautiful specimen..much too good to pulverize into fine dust, but that is what he finally did-that was part of the job...to find out the gold content... I don't know what happened to all of the tiny gold beads he found in the samples after they were measured and reported...we didn't take them...they went into the archives somewhere in the bowels of the mining building..
School was ongoing for us both. Don was a graduate student with McKay school of mines and I was an undergrad at the then Sarah Fleishman School of Home Economics...I finished and graduated in 1971, he finished in 1972. His thesis area was north of Lovelock off of the Oreana exit. He mapped it, wrote about it...I hand pencil colored all of the maps to finish.
The summer of 1970, he worked for Bear Creek Mining company under Pete Hahn. We were given a 16 foot travel trailer, and an old Scout for living accommodations and transportation...and sent off into the mountains west of Winnemucca off of the Jungo Road...near an old homestead with a cistern for water....to explore and map the area...then to Denio to look at the moly prospect south of town...Imlay to look at mining district of Mejuba hill...
In 1971, he took a job for Cordilerain, living in Winnemucca most of time while I worked in Sparks. His bosses were the late John Livermore and Pete Galli.
We had purchased a small home in Sparks, cleaned it up, painted the whole interior, cleaned up the yard. The monthly mortgage bill was $110.00. Our combined wages were $1200 per month ...we rain up a $1200 credit card bill for building supplies-couldn't believe we had done it soooo fast and decided we would never do that again...because we had to make payments on it rather than pay it all off... ( our early lesson in credit cards)...the price of that first house was $19,000. We sold it the following year for a $7000 profit, moving to Winnemucca to a brand new home built by Boise Cascade.
That profit was our first test in tithing...we gave 10% to a small local mission church we had started to attend...
he continued with the same company until the fall of 1972. He resigned, " knowing he could do as well as they" on his own... We had a huge sum of $1300 in the bank and I was pregnant with out first son,...he consulted for many companies, including Harvey ranches, Freeport-McMoran, Cordex, always looking for ground which he could pick up for mining. His first was the Adelaide claims near Golconda, NV. We held those claims for many years, finally selling them. He also had claims near Battle Mountain which we sold to build our first house in the 1980's. He ended up with claims all over northern Nevada, many of which he held to his death in 2012. Another set of claims was the Marigold district in the 1970's leasing ground owned by the University of Nevada adjacent to the Marigold claims. We bought patented claims held by a Mr. Wasden for more that we had, around $30,000, a huge leap of faith...
We lived mostly on consulting and some mining lease fees. It was Feast or famine, never falling behind on bills, always tithing that 10%, until one famine year, we felt led to increase the percentage. We had established a modest lifestyle, our children were fed and clothed, we were able to help others and were able to give/serve others.
His first partner was Paul Holmes, two former grad students with the saying that their vehicles had the combined experience of over 35 years...they hunted for minerals as well as meat for provisions...until Paul was called into full time ministry..with more schooling first...their lifetime friendship is a testimony to faithfulness...to each other and the giftedness for which each was called...
Another partner was Joe Hebert, who is still looking for those gold mines in far flung places..
His last partner was Alan Branham...who helped him sort through mounds of paperwork, file cabinets of ideas, dreams and potential mines...until they exhausted themselves...with myriads of plans, and probables...handing off those to their widows much too soon...but providing others with data to search for more mines in the future...
Giving was his motivation for making money, besides the thrill of finding the minerals that God had graciously put into the ground for discovery...One of Don's dreams was to build churches...by giving, he was able to do that....bodies of believers throughout the world benefitted from that dream, Uganda, Mongolia, South America, Central America, Papua New Guinea, as well as local bodies where we attended over the years, Winnemucca, Elko 2x, Corvallis, Quartsite...that legacy has continued on and now I see grandchildren going to far places doing similar things, with different spiritual giftings, but the same servant's heart...as well as others we have been able to support down through the years...
One of the songs sung at Don's funeral was, "thank you for giving to the Lord"... Picturing people that were affected by his giving....near and far, ones we knew of and others which he will see in heaven...I can picture him walking those streets talking to friends and strangers about the times they all had here...to God's glory...how all the times fit together, the reminiscing, the praising...
There are so many stories ...but it all started with a dream and a hope...put there by God...facilitated by God...thank YOU for the path You prepared...the many chapters in our book, the provisions in the lean times, the faithfulness through the years...the twists and turns, the friendships along the way... The harvest....
Sarah Young, "Jesus Lives"
HOPE
BE STEADFAST AND PATIENT IN SUFFERING. Affliction is a largely unappreciated gift among My children. Decades of “health and wealth” teaching have obscured the benefits of suffering. As a result, a secular worldview that despises pain and sorrow has infiltrated the church. When painful circumstances are weighing you down, I encourage you to rejoice and exult in hope: to leap joyously upward. Although physical jumping is sometimes impossible or inappropriate, your soul can leap upward at any time.
As you lift your soul to Me in hopeful anticipation, My showers of Joy fall upon and within you. The longer and more expectantly you wait in My Presence, the more abundantly I can bless you. One way to enhance this transaction is to lift your wide-open arms up toward Me—as if you were celebrating a triumphant moment in your life. This posture expresses exultant Joy, and I respond by filling your soul with more Joy. This puts you on an upward spiral of rejoicing. If you want to verbalize your jubilation, one of the best ways is to speak, sing, or shout: “Hallelujah!”
Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer. ROMANS 12: 12 AMP
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ROMANS 15: 13
Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. PSALM 86: 4 NKJV
After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. . . .” REVELATION 19: 1
My young husband and I pulled into Reno, Nevada on a hot day in August, 1969.
We arrived with a 14 foot UHaul trailer and a Ford pickup laden with all of our worldly goods...
We had time to set up our bed in our second story apartment, haul in our hand me down furniture, clothes, assorted boxes and wooden desks...our couch was one which we stood against the wall for the back not to collapse into a flat bed, a hand me down from Don's parents...our dining room set was a chrome and gray Formica table with plastic covered chrome chairs, also a hand me down....our bed was one I had had forever, with a kapok mattress that I had gotten as a child, assorted wooden dressers, boards and cinder blocks for bookshelves....assorted wooden boxes for bookshelves painted to match...what a conglomeration of items...
The apartment was within "walking distance" to the university, but we didn't walk it, a little too questionable. $90 per month, two bedrooms, a kitchen the size of my bedroom closet....but it was home for two years...
Reno, at that time had no freeways, the "big mall" was Parklane in south Reno.. Virginia and Sierra were the main north south streets..Keitzke was practically in the country. Mill street east was lined with farms and ranches and barely two lanes... Hidden Valley was truly hidden. Kmart on Oddie was the big shopping center near us. Carson city was a long drive...you could go to a big time show dinner for $25 a couple...
but we had a dream and a hope...my husband's dream and confidence was that he could find a piece of ground which would turn into a producing mine...a dream that probably most geology students have...a true prospector like the men who found and searched for gold in California or Virginia City or the Yukon...those rugged men whose stories young boys read about...
But, first we needed to finish college...which we set about doing...he was awarded a graduate student job to help with expenses...he fired assayed rock samples sent in citizens to see if there was any gold. One particular sample I remember was a quartz crystal about the size of my fist, crystal clear with tiny stringers running through it...a beautiful specimen..much too good to pulverize into fine dust, but that is what he finally did-that was part of the job...to find out the gold content... I don't know what happened to all of the tiny gold beads he found in the samples after they were measured and reported...we didn't take them...they went into the archives somewhere in the bowels of the mining building..
School was ongoing for us both. Don was a graduate student with McKay school of mines and I was an undergrad at the then Sarah Fleishman School of Home Economics...I finished and graduated in 1971, he finished in 1972. His thesis area was north of Lovelock off of the Oreana exit. He mapped it, wrote about it...I hand pencil colored all of the maps to finish.
The summer of 1970, he worked for Bear Creek Mining company under Pete Hahn. We were given a 16 foot travel trailer, and an old Scout for living accommodations and transportation...and sent off into the mountains west of Winnemucca off of the Jungo Road...near an old homestead with a cistern for water....to explore and map the area...then to Denio to look at the moly prospect south of town...Imlay to look at mining district of Mejuba hill...
In 1971, he took a job for Cordilerain, living in Winnemucca most of time while I worked in Sparks. His bosses were the late John Livermore and Pete Galli.
We had purchased a small home in Sparks, cleaned it up, painted the whole interior, cleaned up the yard. The monthly mortgage bill was $110.00. Our combined wages were $1200 per month ...we rain up a $1200 credit card bill for building supplies-couldn't believe we had done it soooo fast and decided we would never do that again...because we had to make payments on it rather than pay it all off... ( our early lesson in credit cards)...the price of that first house was $19,000. We sold it the following year for a $7000 profit, moving to Winnemucca to a brand new home built by Boise Cascade.
That profit was our first test in tithing...we gave 10% to a small local mission church we had started to attend...
he continued with the same company until the fall of 1972. He resigned, " knowing he could do as well as they" on his own... We had a huge sum of $1300 in the bank and I was pregnant with out first son,...he consulted for many companies, including Harvey ranches, Freeport-McMoran, Cordex, always looking for ground which he could pick up for mining. His first was the Adelaide claims near Golconda, NV. We held those claims for many years, finally selling them. He also had claims near Battle Mountain which we sold to build our first house in the 1980's. He ended up with claims all over northern Nevada, many of which he held to his death in 2012. Another set of claims was the Marigold district in the 1970's leasing ground owned by the University of Nevada adjacent to the Marigold claims. We bought patented claims held by a Mr. Wasden for more that we had, around $30,000, a huge leap of faith...
We lived mostly on consulting and some mining lease fees. It was Feast or famine, never falling behind on bills, always tithing that 10%, until one famine year, we felt led to increase the percentage. We had established a modest lifestyle, our children were fed and clothed, we were able to help others and were able to give/serve others.
His first partner was Paul Holmes, two former grad students with the saying that their vehicles had the combined experience of over 35 years...they hunted for minerals as well as meat for provisions...until Paul was called into full time ministry..with more schooling first...their lifetime friendship is a testimony to faithfulness...to each other and the giftedness for which each was called...
Another partner was Joe Hebert, who is still looking for those gold mines in far flung places..
His last partner was Alan Branham...who helped him sort through mounds of paperwork, file cabinets of ideas, dreams and potential mines...until they exhausted themselves...with myriads of plans, and probables...handing off those to their widows much too soon...but providing others with data to search for more mines in the future...
Giving was his motivation for making money, besides the thrill of finding the minerals that God had graciously put into the ground for discovery...One of Don's dreams was to build churches...by giving, he was able to do that....bodies of believers throughout the world benefitted from that dream, Uganda, Mongolia, South America, Central America, Papua New Guinea, as well as local bodies where we attended over the years, Winnemucca, Elko 2x, Corvallis, Quartsite...that legacy has continued on and now I see grandchildren going to far places doing similar things, with different spiritual giftings, but the same servant's heart...as well as others we have been able to support down through the years...
One of the songs sung at Don's funeral was, "thank you for giving to the Lord"... Picturing people that were affected by his giving....near and far, ones we knew of and others which he will see in heaven...I can picture him walking those streets talking to friends and strangers about the times they all had here...to God's glory...how all the times fit together, the reminiscing, the praising...
There are so many stories ...but it all started with a dream and a hope...put there by God...facilitated by God...thank YOU for the path You prepared...the many chapters in our book, the provisions in the lean times, the faithfulness through the years...the twists and turns, the friendships along the way... The harvest....
Sarah Young, "Jesus Lives"
HOPE
BE STEADFAST AND PATIENT IN SUFFERING. Affliction is a largely unappreciated gift among My children. Decades of “health and wealth” teaching have obscured the benefits of suffering. As a result, a secular worldview that despises pain and sorrow has infiltrated the church. When painful circumstances are weighing you down, I encourage you to rejoice and exult in hope: to leap joyously upward. Although physical jumping is sometimes impossible or inappropriate, your soul can leap upward at any time.
As you lift your soul to Me in hopeful anticipation, My showers of Joy fall upon and within you. The longer and more expectantly you wait in My Presence, the more abundantly I can bless you. One way to enhance this transaction is to lift your wide-open arms up toward Me—as if you were celebrating a triumphant moment in your life. This posture expresses exultant Joy, and I respond by filling your soul with more Joy. This puts you on an upward spiral of rejoicing. If you want to verbalize your jubilation, one of the best ways is to speak, sing, or shout: “Hallelujah!”
Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer. ROMANS 12: 12 AMP
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ROMANS 15: 13
Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. PSALM 86: 4 NKJV
After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. . . .” REVELATION 19: 1
Friday, February 2, 2018
You can look , but don't touch...
You can look, but don't touch...
This week, I had the privilege to go on a sleigh ride out among wild elk...
Our seats in the sleigh were alfalfa bales...so as we rode into the herd, the elk would come to the sleigh and eat...we could look, but not pet or make any gesture toward them...we quietly took lots of pictures...
They were used to the drill of the food in the wagons, as it went on day after day, but they didn't allow for any other movement or strangers...so we sat quietly and marveled at the beautiful creatures...their territorial behaviors, the young ones, the males dominance, even a bit of fighting, their gracefulness...
They were here for the food...and then quietly disappeared into the trees when they had had their fill...
I was thinking about Thomas, who didn't really believe that Jesus has reappeared after his cruxifixction. Doubts, doubts, denial...until Jesus appeared before him...asking Thomas specifically to touch, feel and see...taking away his doubts.
Then Thomas declared, "My Lord and my God."
Unlike the wild elk, God wants us to reach for Him, to lean into Him, grasp his every word...call Him our Lord...believe...let the Holy Spirit pray when we can't...trust...not doubt....thank YOU...
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus ), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them.
Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20:24-29
This week, I had the privilege to go on a sleigh ride out among wild elk...
Our seats in the sleigh were alfalfa bales...so as we rode into the herd, the elk would come to the sleigh and eat...we could look, but not pet or make any gesture toward them...we quietly took lots of pictures...
They were used to the drill of the food in the wagons, as it went on day after day, but they didn't allow for any other movement or strangers...so we sat quietly and marveled at the beautiful creatures...their territorial behaviors, the young ones, the males dominance, even a bit of fighting, their gracefulness...
They were here for the food...and then quietly disappeared into the trees when they had had their fill...
I was thinking about Thomas, who didn't really believe that Jesus has reappeared after his cruxifixction. Doubts, doubts, denial...until Jesus appeared before him...asking Thomas specifically to touch, feel and see...taking away his doubts.
Then Thomas declared, "My Lord and my God."
Unlike the wild elk, God wants us to reach for Him, to lean into Him, grasp his every word...call Him our Lord...believe...let the Holy Spirit pray when we can't...trust...not doubt....thank YOU...
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus ), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them.
Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20:24-29
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