The Murfreesboro Eddys

2011 Eddy Christmas Letter

2011-12-22T14:43:00.000-06:00

2011 Eddy Christmas Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Another year has come and almost gone! Lots of things happened in the last 12 months and I thought I’d share a few of them with you.

         Last Christmas was our 2^nd here in Tennessee, but it was Cathy’s 1^st WHITE Christmas… it actually snowed on Christmas day. It also snowed 4 more times in January.

       February came along with one day of snow. I took on mentoring a young man at our church. We went through the book of Hebrews, and now are going through Paul’s epistles to Timothy.

        We had the G-Boys (grandsons Gregory and Gabriel) for spring break in March. Gregory has desires to become a pilot. Last Christmas we gave him a gift of a flight in a small 2 seat plane. He was with an instructor who took off and landed, but let Greg take the controls while in flight. It lasted for 15 minutes or so. He was thrilled – you’ll see the picture down below of him and the plane. We also took them to the Corvette Museum up in Kentucky – that was a blast. One of the pics from that is also below. Gregory is now 17, a senior, and will be going to MTSU here in Murfreesboro. He says he wants to be an Air Traffic Controller and they have one of the best schools for that at MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University). Gabe is in the 6^th grade and is playing the tuba and the baritone in the school orchestra. He is also very active in the Boy Scouts. He is growing by leaps and bounds and could end up bigger than his brother.

         April saw another musical at Gregory’s school and he had a part in “Grease.” It was really well done. We had a blast watching it…

       Not much happened in May or June other than 12” of rain… this is a rainy area with over 60 inches each year.

       July came and went rather meekly, but August brought our 44^th Anniversary. WOW it seems like just yesterday. Not really ;-). The Rapps, our NY friends, came at the end of the month and spent almost a week with us along with a week in Alabama with family.

      Mom Z (Cathy’s mom) came at the end of September and stayed for a month. It is always so much fun to have her here. At the end of the letter you’ll see a picture of her, Christina and the G-Boys on the other page. Christina has had a busy year, as usual, and has a new position with Cricket Wireless that gives her a better chance for advancement. She is still active in her church and choir. But the G-Boys take up most of her time… ya’ think? It is so nice to just be a couple hours away from a visit.

       October saw Nathan & Lisa’s 4^th Anniversary. That black & white picture of them at the end is one of my favorites. Lisa is still working at MTSU, and - “Praise the Lord” - Nathan secured a full-time job as a CSR with G-Squared Wireless. They went in-and-out of some car problems this year, but Lisa finally got her “Jeep” that she has always wanted. They made good use of our Toyota while looking for the right one. We love having them close.

         November brought new windows put in our house, along with a new fence being built as time permits by a carpenter friend at church. Also, I had been praying on how the Lord wanted me to become more active at our church – that answer came with my ordination as a Deacon in November. This is a tradition at Southern Baptist Churches as we found out. I’ve been a Deacon before, but not ordained in this way. It basically is a “setting apart for service” to the Lord and His church.

       Cathy and I have had a so-so year health wise. She is still dealing with a back problem and had 2 epidural injections – the 1^st helping some, the 2^nd not much. She went to a new doctor who said the only option is surgery – with about a 70% chance of feeling better. So now she needs to decide whether she wants to do that or not. I was OK most of the year – except for my teeth: 2 crowns, one broken tooth, and one root canal later and I ran out of insurance. I will need to have two more crowns next year on the broken tooth and the one with the root canal. Other than that, we are just hunky dory.

    December is here and rushing by so fast. I had a chance to go to a LOGOS seminar for a couple of days and finally got to learn more about my Bible study software that up to this point has been self-taught. Cathy and I are still in the choir and this year is our 2^nd that we get to sing in the Christmas Concert with a full orchestra. What a joy to be able to praise our God and Savior in this way. We are truly blessed!

       We do pray, as always, that you will have a blessed Christmas with the knowledge that our Savior is the reason for the season.

In our Savior’s Love,

Bob and Cathy

Are You Really?

2011-04-03T15:16:00.000-05:00

Baseball is a sport that elicits many different kinds of responses by those that take the time to watch the game. If you are not an “aficionado” like me, those emotions can range from excitement to complete boredom.

The average viewer is excited if it’s a close game with lots of hitting and runs scored. In other words, action on the field that keeps you interested. This person is normally a basketball or football fan – action oriented folks out of their element at a baseball game. This same viewer will be bored out of their skull if it’s a pitcher’s duel – hardly any scoring, with a few great defensive plays throw in here or there.

Are you really a baseball fan? Do you care? Well if you do, there are several questions you can ask yourself to test if you really are a fan. Remember, “fan” is just short for the word “fanatic.”

#1 – Does a well executed “drag bunt” excite you as much as a homerun? (Do you even know what a “drag bunt” is?)

#2 – Does a diving catch off the centerfielder’s shoelaces thrill you as much as a double off the wall in right field?

#3 – Are you still enthralled with the game in the 8^th inning if there is no score and each pitcher is working on a 2-hit shutout?

#4 – Can you keep watching the game if your team is down 8-0 in the 4^th inning?

And, finally…

#5 – If the World Series involves two of your least favorite teams, do you still watch?

There is another “Are you really” that you may have never thought about? Are you really a Christian? Have you ever thought about that? How do you know? What are the signs in your life?

I’ve been reading a small paperback book called “Marks of the Messenger” by Mack Stiles. One of the chapters is about true Biblical conversion. What marks conversion? It is not as simple as you think.

Mack lists five signs of a truly converted person:

#1 – Conversion Is Required: Many people think it is unnecessary – even derogatory. But in the New Testament, Jesus made it clear to Nicodemus that he must be born again to be a Christian (John 3:3). People are not Christians because they were baptized in a certain church, or were born into a Christian family. There is a saying: “God has no grandchildren.” John MacArthur said going to church does not make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car. Jesus says we need the spiritual equivalent of a heart transplant. “It is only the work of God in hearts that brings people to repent and believe the work of Christ on the cross.” (Mack Stiles)

#2 – Conversion Requires Understanding: True converts understand that they are sinners. They know they must repent and put their faith in Christ’s work on the cross. But, they also need to understand what Christ did for them – they may not know the terms “justification” or “atonement” - but they need to understand that their sins were placed on Christ and He paid the price to bring us back into a right relationship and standing with God. (I Cor. 2:12)

#3 – True Conversion Requires Genuine Faith: There must be genuine faith and trust in what Jesus did for them on the cross. This is a deep faith “…that one might have when you step on a 747 and believe that a massive hunk of metal will hurtle you through the air safely.” (Mack Stiles) It is the strong and personal faith that entrusts our lives to another – Jesus Christ.

#4 – A Radically Changed Life Attests To True Conversion: “On the deepest level you cannot be truly converted and avoid a radically changed life, for you have moved from death to life.” (Mack Stiles) A true believer will have a deep desire to obey God and do His will. This requirement keeps us separate from what is called “easy believism” – a mental assent to the facts about Jesus, but with unmoved hearts. Mark Dever says “The ultimate mark of conversion is not walking an aisle, but picking up a cross.”

#5 – Conversion Results From God’s Action: Jesus states in John 15:16 that we didn’t choose Him – He chose us. 2 Thessalonians 2:13b –

“…because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.”

Modern Christianity is hung up on “free will” – but that phrase is not found in the Bible. People come to faith because God draws them. Knowing this will make sure that we give the glory to the right person – Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Did you take either of the tests? Are you really a Baseball Fan? But more importantly, are you really a Christian?

More Separate Than You Think

2011-03-15T16:37:00.007-05:00

My love for baseball started in the mid 1950’s when I was about 9 years old. We lived in Tucson (AZ) where the Cleveland Indians had their spring training facility. Many days after school and on Saturdays, my brother and I would make our way down to Hi Corbett Field and watch games. That was my first contact with major league baseball. Watching the hitters hit was the most fascinating part for me – it still is. I pictured myself standing there and hitting those 95 mph fastballs all over the field. Little did I realize at that time how separate these players were in their ability, reflexes and skill than the average person. I’m not sure how many people realize how difficult it is to hit a baseball thrown at 95+ mph.

A fastball thrown at 95 mph (a few can hit the 100+ mark) travels the 60 feet 6 inches from the pitcher’s mound to home plate in 4 tenths of a second. In less than one tenth of a second , the ball has traveled 12 feet – but the batter now has a visual fix on it. He has decided what kind of a pitch he thinks it is by the spin of the ball.

During the middle portion of the pitch, he must time the ball and decide where to swing – in one tenth of a second. If he has decided to swing, he has to start when the ball is 25 to 30 feet from the plate. At that point, the ball will arrive at the plate 250 thousandths of a second later.

The bat must make contact in an even shorter time frame. If the batter’s timing is off less than a tenth of a second either way, he hits a foul ball or he misses it completely. If he doesn’t make solid contact with the “meat” of the bat, he hits a grounder or a popup. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

These players are not just totally separate from the average guy; they are totally separate in their ability from the elite athlete in other professional sports.

Michael Jordan, arguably the best NBA player of all time, always wanted to play major league baseball. You would think that someone so gifted physically would have enough natural talent to do it. When he retired from the NBA (the first time) the Chicago White Sox gave him that chance – signing him to a minor league contract. He never made it above AA (the middle of the minor leagues), and in two seasons, he never hit higher than .202. He decided to go back to the NBA.

When I think of the term separate, it makes me think of the separation that exists between God and man because of our sin. I recently finished a book by Mark Dever and Michael Lawrence called “It is Well”. The book is a collection of expositions on substitutionary atonement. Jesus was our substitute to atone or make payment for our sins.

When it comes to man being separate from God, one part of the story is this: man runs from God, tries to hide from Him and pursue his own lifestyle. But that is just the small part of the story of our separation from a Holy God.

The larger part of this story is God’s exclusion of us from His presence. Adam and Eve didn’t leave the Garden of Eden – they were expelled. In the tabernacle, there was a curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the area. This wasn’t Moses’ idea… It was God’s.

God said to Moses that he could not see Him and live. It was God, not King David who struck down Uzzah for touching the Ark of the Covenant. And it was God that sent the Israelites into exile – expelling them from the Promised Land. Again and again it is God who separates and excludes sinful man from His presence. No one can get to God on his own merit.

“ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…” 1 Peter 3:18

Jesus, through His death and resurrection, brings us to God. This is so far from our human way of thinking that we entirely miss the point. Jesus Christ, the Only Righteous One, walked alone into the presence of God with our sin on Him and suffered the punishment of God’s wrath that we deserve. But He didn’t do this just to give us hope and meaning wherever we might find it. He didn’t do it just to free us from sin and leave us to ourselves. He did it to bring us to God – to do away with the separation between us and God. God gave us His Son to bring us to Him. This is an unimaginable testimony to His love and unending grace.

Jesus died for our sins, but more than that, He died for God and His glory. When Christ brings us to God, He brings us into a right relationship with Him – no longer separated because of our sin. It is a relationship that circles around God and brings us to a safe place where we bring Him glory and find joy and meaning in being an object of His worth – not ours.

Christ walked into the presence of God alone to face God’s wrath for us, but He is alone no more. He is now with a crowd of believers that cannot be counted – from every tribe, tongue and nation.

Lawrence says “…we were purchased for God and given as a tribute of His glorious grace.” If this does not make you feel special, then nothing can. Praise God that through Jesus we are no longer separate from God.

Convinced But Not Committed

2011-03-06T14:21:00.009-06:00

At the Major League level, baseball is a sport with coaches that can and will help with almost any aspect of a player’s game. The “Hitting Coach” has his own ideas of what will make a hitter more successful at the plate. Many down through the years have become famous for coming up with hitting techniques that have been adopted by many players. A lot of those players have improved dramatically by using a particular coach’s technique.

Charlie Lau was one of the most famous – he was never a good hitter himself, but he came up with techniques that made many players considerably better when they started using them. Four players that come to mind are George Brett, Frank Thomas, Mark McGwire, and Carlton Fisk. Brett and Fisk have both been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Consider this: what if Lau’s hitting style was “guaranteed” to make any hitter considerably better if they used them? If that was true, then I would say that almost 100% of the Major League hitters today would be a Lau Disciple at the plate.

But what if there was a player that really believes what is said about Lau’s hitting discipline: he knows exactly how to do it, knows that it will help him, has seen the success that other players are having – but still does not want to make the commitment to using it himself. Wouldn’t that be crazy?

This illustration reminds me of the recent study that I have just started with a college student I am mentoring. We are studying through the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews was written to a Jewish community perhaps somewhere near Greece that had been evangelized by New Testament apostles and prophets. The overall theme of Hebrews is the superiority or preeminence of Christ: He is better than anything in the Old Testament – any prophet, priest, king, or ritual. He is better than anyone and everything else.

This book was mainly written to Hebrew Christians – those who had come out of Judaism and received Jesus Christ as their personal Messiah and Savior. Because of their belief, they suffered persecution from their families and were tempted to go back into some of the old patterns and practices of Judaism. The book was written to give them confidence as they floundered in their commitment, and to encourage them to live out their new relationship in Christ. The primary message of the book was written to these Hebrew Christians.

But, weaved in and out of the book of Hebrews are warnings to two other groups of people in the same location.

One of those groups was Hebrew non-Christians, those not convinced of the Gospel or of Jesus' teachings. This book was written to show them the truth of Jesus being the Messiah and that salvation was only through Him.

The other group reminds me of my illustration about the ballplayer who knew what Lau taught, believed it, knew there was a guarantee with it, but didn’t commit to it. They were Hebrew non-Christians who were intellectually convinced that Jesus is who He claimed to be, but were not willing to make the commitment of faith in Him – even though they knew that Jesus Christ gives a real “guarantee” of salvation, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life.

My brother and I were raised in a wonderful Christian home by two loving parents who loved the Lord and taught us His love. We went to church all our lives and were very involved in church in many different ways as kids and teenagers. He was the president of our high school youth group at the church we attended in Spokane.

Later on, we were both married to wonderful Christian gals and lived in the same area of Southern California in the 70’s. He and his wife attended Grace Community Church where John MacArthur is the pastor. Cathy and I were still attending a smaller church where we were married.

One Sunday afternoon my brother called and asked if we wanted to come with them to Grace Community that evening for a baptismal service. I said “Sure… is anyone we know getting baptized?” He said “Yeah, I am.” I was shocked – you could have knocked me over with a feather!

I had accepted the Lord at the age of 10 at a summer camp in Arizona. I assumed my brother had made a decision at some other time in our youth. But he said – “No, I have been sitting under MacArthur’s teaching through Hebrews and realized that I had been a fake all these years.” He said he was convicted by MacArthur’s sermon on “The Tragedy of Rejecting Full Revelation” from the sixth chapter of Hebrews.

Here is part of what my brother heard that convinced him:

“… (Those) who have, on the outside, made a profession of faith in Christ, but who are not real believers...They know the truth. They believe it. They even follow some of the patterns of Christians, but they aren't for real; and they are warned periodically through the Book of Hebrews that they better be for real lest having heard the Gospel so much and become so familiar with it, they find themselves falling away into an evil heart of unbelief, and it is impossible for them to be saved.”

Let this be a warning to all of us to search our hearts and ask ourselves if we are really convinced and committed to Christ as Lord and Savior. Or, are we one of those who are “intellectually convinced” but not willing or ready to make that step of “commitment.”

Beyond Words

2011-02-22T16:39:00.027-06:00

Have you ever experienced something or saw something so unusual, so unique or so amazing that when you were asked about it later, you couldn’t describe it? I have had a few experiences like that – but the one I remember the most was the first time I saw the original “Star Wars” movie back in 1977.

Our daughter Christina was seven years old when it came out. She wanted to see it and we had heard great things about it – so she and I had a special daddy/daughter date one Saturday afternoon. I took her out to eat and then to see “Star Wars.” To use a phrase that was as common then as now: “It blew our minds!” It was the first movie made with visual or special effects that became an industry standard created by George Lucas and his company – Industrial Light and Magic. That is what it seemed like to me – magic: indescribable magic with a camera. And the characters and creatures in the movie were also indescribable. People would ask me about the movie and all I could say was “You have to see it. I can’t describe it.”

When you think about things being indescribable on a human level – even the imagination that created the creatures in “Star Wars” – you realize that they started with something. They took ordinary inhabitants of the earth, the sea or the air and then imagined them beyond normal boundaries to come up with the final creature. Even those unusually weird creatures could be described as looking like something - or a combination of "things."

“Even the most vigorous and daring mind is unable to create something out of nothing by a spontaneous act of imagination.” (A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy)

In my first blog about Knowing God, I talked about the fact that our sovereign God is someone that we cannot comprehend. I talked a little about it but let’s explore more closely the fact that God is incomprehensible.

This is the first aspect of God that really “blew my mind” – it was the first attribute that I really looked at in detail. God is beyond what the human mind can comprehend. Wanting to find another word that would help me understand what incomprehensible means, I found the word "ineffable." God is ineffable. What? I said the same thing – so I looked this one up in the dictionary.

“Ineffable: too overwhelming to be expressed or described in words; too awesome or sacred to be spoken.”

This means that we cannot comfortably put God into our own words. No matter what we come up with to describe God, it falls short. You begin to realize that we cannot answer the question “What is God like?” The finite human mind can only express what it has knowledge of. Tozer says “He is not exactly like anything or anybody.”

R. C. Sproul has a very concise way of putting this in his book The Essential Truths of the Christian Faith:

“Even in learned theological sophistication, we never really rise above a child’s level of understanding the mysterious depths and riches of the character of God.”

We cannot imagine what God is like. If we think we can, and we come up with some unique way to describe Him in our own words, then we have created an idol. Tozer so aptly puts it:

"If we insist upon trying to imagine Him, we end up with an idol, made not with hands but with thoughts; and an idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand…whatever we visualize God to be, He is not, for we have constructed our image out of that which He has made and what He has made is not God.”

I had to go back and read this several times. We cannot, in our minds, come up with an idea of what God is like, because He is not like anything we might know.

But nothing I can say can replace what is in scripture. Job 11:7-9 says:

‘‘Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.”

God is deeper than what we can even imagine. Isaiah 55:8-9 says:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Suffice it to say that God is beyond what we can imagine or think, so we should only think of Him as He has revealed Himself in the Scripture. A British hymn writer from the 1800’s, Frederick W. Faber, described the incomprehensibility of God in a paradox:

“Darkness to the mind
But sunshine to the heart.”

Not Getting What We Deserve

2011-02-16T15:07:00.002-06:00

Do you have any memories as a child where you did something so bad that you thought when your Dad got home from work that he was going to personify one of Bill Cosby’s famous lines: “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out!” I know I did several times – but I can’t remember any specifics.

The incident that brings a smile to my face is from the movie “The Christmas Story” made in the 1980’s. This is a holiday “Cult Classic” about a Midwest family in the 40’s and a 10 year old boy named Ralphie - who narrates the story as an adult. He has to convince his parents that he needs a BB gun for Christmas. If you’ve seen it, you’ll remember where Ralphie has finally had enough from the neighborhood bully, Scut Farkus, and attacks him, landing on top of him and pummeling him with his fists. His little brother Randy runs home and gets his mom. She grabs Ralphie off Scut, works on calming him down and takes him home. All Ralphie can think about is how much trouble he will be in when his Dad gets home. Randy is hiding under one of the kitchen counters, sobbing, and Mom opens up the cupboard and asks him what’s wrong. He cries out “Daddy’s gonna kill Ralphie!” Dinner time comes; while Mom’s dishing up the food, Dad is looking at the afternoon paper. He asks what happened that day. Mom brings up many things – but doesn’t mention the fight. Again Dad asks “So, what else happened today?” This time Mom says “Oh, nothing much. Ralphie had a fight.” Dad, looking at Ralphie, says “A fight, what kind of fight?” Mom interrupts and says “Oh, you know how boys are. I gave him a talking to…” Then she changes the subject immediately while Dad’s looking at the paper and talks about the Bears and Green Bay - Dad completely forgets about the fight and talks about the football game. Ralphie didn’t get “killed.” His Dad and especially his Mom had mercy on him.

This brings us to the next attribute of God we want to look at: God’s mercy. It is an infinite and never ending energy in God’s nature which causes Him to be actively compassionate. God’s mercy is His goodness coming face to face with human suffering and guilt. We can see God’s mercy in three different ways.

First is the general mercy of God that is shown to all creation. In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul is speaking to the philosophers of that time on Mars Hill. In verse 24 & 25 Paul says “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;” It says that God gives to all, that’s all of creation, life and breath and all things. That is His general mercy to all of creation.

Second is the special mercy of God that is shown to all mankind. In Matthew 5:45 Jesus, talking about His Father says: “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” I was searching for a good example of this special mercy and found this quote from John MacArthur in one of his sermons from 2003:

“This last week I was having breakfast early one morning with Dr. Joe Francis; he's on the science faculty of Master's College. He's a formidable scientist, to put it mildly, with an expertise in immunology. And among the things he was telling me which were so fascinating to me, this one stuck. He said, "There is more bacteria currently alive inside of you than all the people who have ever lived on the earth since creation." That is a frightening thought. And immediately my mind says, "Well what are they doing in there?" And he went on to tell me that a certain percentage of them are deadly. He said it is a mercy from God that you have an immune system. The immune system is what God gave you to encounter the Fall (of man). There may have been bacteria before the Fall but they were all there for a good function. The Fall catapulted some of those bacteria into a deadly category and God gave you an immune system by mercy so that you could survive, and that is an indication that God is by nature a Savior because if we didn't have an immune system, we would die...and you know that too because you know that diseases that destroy the immune system eventually kill.”

But the special mercy of God is for this life only. This special mercy to all mankind does not go beyond the grave. After this life, the mercy of God is not extended to those that rejected His gift of grace in Jesus Christ.

Third is the sovereign mercy of God. This is the mercy that endures forever. God’s sovereign mercy is the mercy that is shown to those that have become God’s children through salvation. This mercy is for now and for all eternity - God will forever have this mercy on those that are His. This is the mercy that God had on us when He chose us and saved us. Titus 3, beginning in verse 4 says “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” We are saved according to His mercy and justified by His grace. In 1 Peter 1:3 it says that “In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” What great mercy He has - we don’t deserve any of it except by the grace of God. His mercy arises solely from His sovereign pleasure.

As Christians, sinners saved by the mercy and grace of God, we have an eternity with Him to look forward to. I will let a quote from A.W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy wrap up this section: “We who earned banishment shall enjoy communion; we who deserve the pains of hell shall know the bliss of heaven - and all through the tender mercy of our God.”

Undeserved Gifts

2011-02-10T12:10:00.002-06:00

The game of baseball is famous for giving batters gift-hits that they didn’t deserve. A sharp ground ball is hit right at the shortstop – but the ball hits a pebble on the infield and it takes a “bad bounce” over the shortstops head and the batter ends up with a “gift” single. The batter hits a routine popup to short right field; the 2^nd baseman and right fielder converge on an easy out – but neither calls off the other, they collide, and the batter is slides into 2^nd with a “gift” double. The batter hits a pretty solid shot off the wall in right-center; the right fielder positions himself in front of the wall where he has played this kind of ricochet off that wall dozens of times and held the runner to a double or even sometimes a long single. But, this time the ball caroms off at a weird angle back toward the right field corner and by the time the right fielder can catch up with it, the batter has a “gift” triple, or if he’s really fast, an inside-the-park homerun. These types of plays happen all the time. Some batters are the first to say they got a gift on that play – others will say that they deserve that hit for all the times they the ball hard right at someone when it should have been a hit. It usually depends on how that player sees his ability and whether he realizes that what he has is a God-given talent.

When we think of God’s grace – it is the Ultimate Gift that He gives that none of us deserve. God’s Grace is a critically important part of His nature. God’s grace is getting what we don’t deserve – His unmerited favor, His spontaneous self-determined kindness. Most unbelievers and even some “church goers” have a problem with God’s grace. J.I. Packer in Knowing God says that there are 4 reasons why people do not like the idea of unmerited favor from God.

Reason #1 is that most people are naturally inclined to have a high opinion of themselves. Most people believe that deep down inside, mankind is basically good. But Romans 3:10-12 says “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Reason #2 is a denial in the retributive justice of God. Packer says “The idea that retribution might be the moral law of God’s world and an expression of His holy character seems to us quite fantastic.” A holy and just God would not be true to His nature unless He punishes sin.

Reason #3 is the fact that most people believe that they can repair their own relationship with God. They will say they are not perfect, but they will gain enough respectability in the end that God will have to accept them. Romans 3:20 says “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

And finally, the 4^th reason is the sovereign freedom of God. Most people believe that God is somehow obliged to help us even though we don’t deserve it. But one of God’s holy attributes is justice, and He owes it to no one to stop justice from taking its course. Packer says “Only when it is seen that what decides each individual’s destiny is whether or not God resolves to save him from his sins, and that this is a decision which God need not make in any single case, can one begin to grasp the biblical view of grace.”

When we look at the grace of God, we see it as the primary source from which the goodwill, the love, and the salvation of God flow to His people. Where does God’s grace come from? A.W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy said: “Grace takes its rise far back in the heart of God, in the incomprehensible abyss of His holy being; but the channel through which it flows out to men is Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.” It is God’s gift freely given; it is God’s gift freely shown toward us as guilty sinners. It is God showing goodness to us who deserve only punishment for our sins before a holy God, and we have no reason to expect anything but punishment were it not for God’s grace.

His grace gives us His righteousness and pays the debt of our sin that we could never pay. Romans 3:22-24 says: “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. That’s the key - we are justified - made righteous by His grace.

Ephesians 2: 8 & 9 tell us that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works. In the 10^th verse of that passage it says we are saved unto good works. In other words, we are to serve Him when we are saved. But we are not saved because of good works. There is nothing we can do to earn it. He bestows His grace through His sovereign will - Eph. 1:5,6 says “He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

For many of you who, like me, were fortunate enough to be raised in a Christian home and attended Sunday school most of your life – you might remember the acronym that we were taught when we first learned of the wonders of God’s grace. GRACE: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. We receive the riches of being God’s child because Christ died in our place and was raised again to life. I close with a verse from the hymn “Come, thou fount of every blessing”:

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be;

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee!

There's No One Like Him

2011-02-03T15:08:00.002-06:00

I think that most of us who are avid fans of just one sport (like me and baseball) almost always have a favorite player at the moment and a favorite player all-time. My team is the LA Angels – I have followed them from 1966 until now. I struggle with favorite player at the moment because players change teams so often now. But my favorite player of all-time hasn’t changed since 1972. When Nolan Ryan was traded to the Angels in 1972 - he finally came into his own and led the major leagues in strikeouts with 329. He pitched for 27 years and was the strikeout leader for 11 of those seasons. Being a power pitcher (first to ever have a pitch clocked at over 100 mph) that kind of longevity is unheard of to this day. He won over 300 games and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.

Nolan Ryan has two all-time career records that basically state that there is no one like him in the history of baseball - retired or active. He struck out 5,714 batters during his career. The pitcher in 2^nd place, who is also retired, has 839 fewer strikeouts. Consider this: there are only 4 active major league baseball pitchers who have over 2,000 strikeouts – and none of them will pitch long enough to come close to Ryan. The second all-time career record of Ryan’s that is far and above all other players – retired or active – is 7 no-hit games. Pitching a no-hit game is a rarity for major league pitchers – there have only been 226 in the modern era (since 1900). Ryan has 7 – next is Sandy Koufax with 4 – and then there are 13 other pitchers that have thrown 2 in their career. Both of these records are considered to be unbreakable by most baseball aficionados. When it comes to strikeouts and no-hitters, there is no one like Nolan Ryan – he is basically separate from all the rest.

But, when it comes to comparing human accomplishments, efforts and records to the attributes of our God – all similarities pale in comparison. The one attribute of God that surrounds all the others, the one that runs through all the others and shines its beauty on all of them, the one that personifies and describes each of them is His holiness. This brings us to the third point in how God reveals Himself.

#3 - God reveals Himself in His Word. The Bible is the revelation of God to man. The inerrant Word of God, written by many different authors through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is our only source for a glimpse of His nature. This is where we can get an idea of what God’s holiness means. God’s holiness puts all of His nature in a “perfect” light. It is the only attribute of God that is repeated three times in Scripture. Isaiah 6:3 says “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” Rev. 4:8 says “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.” God’s holiness repeated three times gives it extra emphasis and gives us a picture of the holy Trinity - the Holy Father, the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit. What can we know of God’s holiness? A.W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy, said it like this: “We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensive, and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God’s power and admire His wisdom, but His holiness he cannot even imagine.”

We know of His holiness only by what the Bible has told us. We see His holiness in the Bible in two different ways: His internal holiness and His external holiness.

God’s internal holiness means that He is separated. This definition of God separates Him from all the rest of His creation. Nothing in all of His creation is holy as He is. We cannot just think of the most pure thing we know of and then take it a level higher. Tozer says “God’s holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered.” God external holiness is seen in all of His actions being pure and righteous. Everything that God does is holy because He is holy.

There are scripture references that show both of these types of God’s holiness. Revelation 15:4 says “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For YOU ALONE are holy; all nations will come and worship You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.” Exodus 15:11 says it in a different way - “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” Scripture is asking a rhetorical question that assumes the answer - no one is like Him. In these two verses we see that God alone is holy and that His actions are righteous. God always acts in a pure and holy manner because His nature and all things about Him are holy.

It is this attribute, His holiness that makes Him and Him alone worthy of our reverence, our honor, our adoration, and most of all, OUR WORSHIP. This, above all of God’s attributes should humble us before Him. The prophet Isaiah, in a vision, saw the throne of the Lord and said, in Isaiah 6:5 - “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

God’s holiness is an absolute holiness without any degrees - He cannot impart it to any of His creatures. But we are still commanded to model His holiness. 1 Peter 1: 15 & 16 says “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” We cannot be holy as God is holy, but we are to strive to live as holy as we can in all that we do. We are to strive to live righteous lives. And if you’re anything like me, that is a constant struggle. I thank God for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ – because God sees us through the blood of Jesus as righteous and holy. Tozer says it like this: “We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ as Moses hid himself in the cleft of the rock while the glory of God passed by. We must take refuge from God in God.” And, how do we stay holy in our daily walk? 1 John 1:9 says “That if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This allows us to stay in fellowship with Him, and continue to live in the Spirit.

But remember, there is a negative side to God’s holiness. Because God is holy, He cannot accept anyone into His heaven that He does not see as holy through the righteousness of Jesus sacrifice. Anyone who has not accepted by faith Jesus death on the cross for themselves and trusted in Him as their Lord and Savior will be on the side of God’s holiness that none of us want to experience - His wrath and His judgment. Those that have not accepted His gift of salvation will experience His judgment for all eternity. We can only be thankful that through His mercy and the gift of His grace that He has provided a way of salvation through Jesus Christ that will keep us from experiencing that side of Him. God can be nothing other than what His nature says that He is and He is Holy in all aspects - including His judgment and His wrath.

Next time we will look at how we see God’s grace in His word.

The Greatest Gift

2011-01-28T13:37:00.010-06:00

I grew up in the LA area until I was 9 years old. All of the memories from those years (1946-55) come to me in the form of one house on “Hough Street” in what was called the Highland Park area. It was the neighborhoods right off the first freeway – the Pasadena Freeway - built it in 1935. It connected downtown Los Angeles with the city of Pasadena. Those years have my first memories of Christmas and the thrill of wondering what gifts would be under the tree on that magical morning. I only have memories of getting gifts – not of giving gifts in those years. The first time I can remember giving a gift was when we moved to Tucson, AZ in 1955. I don’t remember what I bought, but I remember my dad giving me money to buy a gift for my mom for Christmas. The look on her face that Christmas morning when she opened the gift I bought her is etched in my memory forever. From that time on, “giving” was always more fun to me than “getting.” I still love to watch the expression on my wife’s face when I know that I have bought her a gift that is a complete surprise.

But the greatest gift ever given on a Christmas morning was when God sent His only son to become the Messiah – our Savior. On that morning, Jesus – the 2^nd person of the Godhead - was born a helpless little baby. Just like all of mankind, He needed to be fed, He needed to be changed, He needed to be taught to walk and talk. And that takes us to the next point:

2^nd - God revealed Himself in the incarnation. God revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ who came to be God in the flesh. He was the Eternal God, the Word that came to dwell among us. Here is the greatest mystery of all time - the mystery of God becoming flesh - being 100% man and 100% God. He was not God becoming man and giving up His deity. He was God taking on human flesh. We see this in the first chapter of the Gospel of John - the cornerstone of the incarnation. John 1: 1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” John tells us that Jesus was and is God.

Let’s look specifically at some of these phrases. First, “in the beginning was the Word” - this tells us that the Word (Jesus) was from eternity - no beginning, no end – “He was”. Next it says that “the Word was with God” - this gives the Word personality - He is a distinct personal being. The Word, as the Second Person of the Trinity, was in intimate fellowship with God the Father throughout all eternity. Then it says that “the Word was God” - He has all the essence or attributes of deity. He not only is God, but He is the creator God. The passage continues with “all things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” It says that He is God the Father’s agent in the creation of the universe. That is the mystery of the Godhead. John MacArthur says “Even in His incarnation when He emptied Himself, He did not cease to be God but took on a genuine human nature/body and voluntarily refrained from the independent exercise of the attributes of deity.” Our God became one of us - yet still fully God.

Why would the Almighty Creator God of the universe want to become like His creation? I think that we can see at least three reasons why He had to come to dwell among us.

First: He came to be the perfect example of how we are to live. He came to live a perfect life, yet a life that was still subject to the emotions, the frustrations and even the temptations that we are subject to. He was tempted, yet He was without sin. Hebrews 4: 15-16 says “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”

Probably not many of you know the story of how I almost lost one of God’s gifts to me - my precious wife, Cathy. Christina was 4 years old, and Cathy had become pregnant again early in 1974. She had gone to the doctor for her 3 month check up and they could not find a heartbeat. The doctor said that the baby had died, and she should pass it without any problem. (In reality, as we found out later on, the doctor should have done a D&C right then – that is the standard procedure.)

About two weeks later, late in the night on April 1^st, Cathy started passing blood – but, she had no idea how much she was losing. As I lay in bed, I heard a big “thump” in the bathroom. I ran in and found her passed out on the floor. I called the doctor and he said he would meet us at the hospital. I took her in emergency, and they rushed her away. Needless to say, while in the waiting room, I was praying, pleading to the Lord saying “I can’t lose her – she’s everything to me – Lord, you don’t understand!” Finally, the doctor came down and told me she will be OK, but she came very close to dying. The average human body contains 10 pints of blood - she had lost over 6. The doctor said that if she had gone into shock, we would have lost her. But the Lord chose to spare her life. I had prayed over and over – “Lord, You don’t understand, I can’t lose her. You don’t know what I’m going through!” But - He does know; He does understand. Isaiah 53:3 says that our Messiah will be “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." That is why we can go to Him in prayer and lay our burdens before Him, because He knows what we are feeling and He will give us mercy and grace in our time of need.

Second, Jesus not only came to be our high priest who can sympathize with our emotions, He came to live a perfect life and thus fulfill all righteousness. Hebrews 7:26-28 talks about the fact that because Jesus had no sin, He could offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice for us – “…one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens;” Because he was sinless, He was mankind’s once-for-all sacrifice: “…this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.” Because He was without sin, God could put our sin on Him and give His righteousness to us. 2 Cor. 5:21 says “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Only a perfect, sinless Savior could be our substitute for sin and through Him God could impute His righteousness to our account.

Third, Jesus was born to die. He came to give His life so that we might live. This is the highest form of love that can be shown - to give your life for another. Philippians 2:8 says of Jesus “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” He not only came to die, but to be resurrected to life. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is called the cornerstone of all Christianity - because without the resurrection, Jesus was no different than any other man who died for a good cause. His resurrection shows His power as God, and seals the fact of our salvation and eternal life. Philippians 3:10 says “…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection…”

The giving of Jesus as our Savior is the greatest gift ever known. And, did you know that, if you are a believer, you are a gift? John 17 contains a beautiful prayer that Jesus prays to His Father, and in verse 24 He says something so special about us. John MacArthur says it perfectly: “The phrase ‘they … whom You have given Me’ expresses again the reason that believers are special to Christ: they are a love gift to Him from the Father. It is the Lord’s most affectionate way of referring to believers when addressing the Father.” How wonderful to know that God’s greatest gift to us, Jesus Christ, considers all believers as a gift to Him from the Father. If you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, that should make your day!

Knowing God - Part 3

2011-01-21T14:44:00.003-06:00

As you found out in my first effort at this blogging thing, I’m a baseball nut. I like all aspects of the game. But, like all baseball fans, I LOVE to see a monstrous home run. The night before the All-Star game, they have what is called the Home Run Derby. It is as popular and as entertaining as the game. They can track the approximate length of home runs by specific computer programs. They will flash on the scoreboard the computed length of each blast. The player who gets the most cheers is usually not the eventual winner of the contest but the one that hits the longest home run of the evening. I love to see how far some of these players can hit a ball. The longest I can personally remember seeing was when I was in Chicago on a business trip in ’98. I was given a ticket to the Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Sammy Sosa hit one to left field that went completely out of the ballpark, across Waveland Ave. and into a set of trees by an apartment building across the street. It probably carried well over 500 feet. Now that was power.

But, putting power in perspective, a massive home run does not compare to a brilliant thunder and lightning storm, or to buildings being shaken and destroyed by earthquakes. I’ve lived through 3 major earthquakes in my life: one in Seattle in 1965, and two in the Los Angeles area in 1971 and 1994. I’ve also been close to a tornado (Texas), and experienced a hurricane (North Carolina). Those types of phenomena can’t hold a candle to an earthquake – in my opinion. Why? Tornadoes - warnings are given when they are in your area. Hurricanes – you know they are coming from weather reports. Earthquakes – no warning, and there is no place to hide for protection.

But when we think of power that we can see or experience, it still does not compare to the eternal power of God. This is where we pick back up on our discussion from before. We are looking at how God reveals Himself through His creation. Last time we saw God in creation by His invisible attributes. We looked at what some of His invisible attributes are and how they affect us. The next two points involve two specific invisible attributes of God: His eternal power, and His divine nature.

#2 - we see Him in the creation by His eternal power. What does His eternal power refer to? This kind of power is defined as inherent power; this is God’s eternal power that is in Him by virtue of His nature. One aspect of His eternal power is in His miracles. Look at all of creation - what a tremendous miracle. We looked at this before and how the creation shows God’s omniscience, His wisdom, and His sovereignty. It is fascinating the way all of His attributes weave in and out with each other. How does the Bible show His power in creation? Colossians 1:16,17 – it is speaking of Jesus here: 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. All things hold together: they stand together and are held in position by Him. Without His eternal power, everything would fall apart. Hebrews 1:3 says that “…He upholds all things by the word of His power.” Who do you think holds the earth on its axis, and keeps it spinning at just the right speed to create the force of gravity keeping us on this earth instead of flying off into space? Who is it that keeps the seas from flooding over the land when the tides come in? The eternal power of God does all of this. His creative and sustaining power keeps our world - His masterful creation - in perfect timing.

The next invisible attribute this verse refers to is His divine nature:

#3 - we see God in creation by His divine nature. What is His divine nature? His divine nature is His invisible personality seen in the creation. We see His "invisible personality" in creation as He continues to allow the ground to bring forth food; He continues to allow the animals to reproduce so that we have meat, poultry and fish to eat. God is merciful and His common grace is poured out on all of mankind. Matthew 5:44-45 “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” He blesses all mankind with the goodness of the creation. Looking at God’s creation in this manner shows us that the fingerprint of God’s creation is on the heart of every person - whether they acknowledge it or not. Close your eyes and picture the most beautiful sunrise you’ve ever seen - maybe on a tropical island like Hawaii. You got up early to watch the clear radiance of the sun coming up over the horizon in the east and the way it glimmered through the palm trees, and glistened off the crystal clear blue ocean.

Then think about the most beautiful sunset you’ve ever seen. The most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen was on the shores of the state of Maine late in the summer of ‘92. Cathy and I were on an East Coast trip for our 25^th wedding anniversary. While in Maine, we visited what is called a lobster pound – a casual restaurant where you eat lobster, steamers or fried clams at harbor side picnic tables. We were at one late on a summer afternoon, eating lobster and watching a summer storm outside. Cathy and I watched as the clouds from this quick summer storm started to clear on the horizon and the sun fell between each layer of striking gray clouds and brilliant blue skies. It caused so many variations of colors shining through the moisture in the air – it was breathtaking. One of my hobbies is landscape photography (when I get the chance). As soon as we finished eating, I convinced my wonderfully patient wife to leave right away and we got in our rental and chased this sunset around the tree lined coves so that I could get it from as many angles as possible – it changed every couple of minutes as the sun went down. What a stunning view of God’s creation.

Coming next time – how God reveals Himself in the incarnation.

Knowing God - Part 2

2011-01-14T07:41:00.008-06:00

In my 1^st attempt at “blogging” we looked at the difference in knowing about someone and really knowing someone – most of all, really KNOWING GOD. Now you know what that means, right? Studying the nature of God – who He is and how He thinks and acts - is called Theology. Theology is a scary word to most people because they think that it should be reserved for seminary students only. Joshua Harris in his book Dug Down Deep says “I viewed theology as an excuse for all the intellectual types in the world to add homework to Christianity.” Those of us who hated homework may think the same thing. But, if our relationship with God is the most important thing in our life – and it should be as a Christian – then getting to know Him should be a high priority of our life.

Let's discuss what an attribute is, and how God reveals Himself to us. God’s attributes are anything that God has in any way revealed as being true about His nature. Let’s look at it another way: an attribute is a mental concept or picture, an intellectual or conscious response to God’s self-revelation – how God reveals Himself to us. When you study the incredible things that our amazing God says about Himself, many times your mind becomes is so blown away that you feel anything but intellectual!! This is good, because we cannot know God by our human intellect. Who God is may be apprehended - taken a hold of or perceived; but God cannot be comprehended – fully understood.

The Bible says this in Job 11: 7-9. It says “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.” We have to know Him by our heart and by our faith. Not that we don’t use our minds - we do. Our faith is based on fact. But we must not try to intellectually comprehend the God that our faith is in because we can’t. One of His attributes is the fact that He is incomprehensible. We cannot be on the same level intellectually with an incomprehensible God. God is also infinite – without limits. We are finite – limited in our knowledge. We can’t know God exhaustively, but we can know Him truly. We CAN grasp the truth about Him in His Word.

So, an attribute is how we get to know what God is like by what He tells us about Himself. It is how we get to know what kind of a God He is – how He thinks. It is how we expect Him to act toward us and all created things. Now how does God reveal Himself to us so that we can know Him? There are three general ways God reveals Himself to us:

#1 - God reveals Himself through His creation.

#2 - God revealed Himself in the incarnation.

#3 - God reveals Himself in His Word – the Bible.

Let’s look at these three ways God reveals Himself point by point:

1^st - God reveals Himself through His creation. Just look around you. His creation is so vast, so beautiful, so intricate and complicated, how could anyone think that it happened by chance? The Bible tells us that God’s creation tells us about Him. Romans 1:20 - “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” In this verse we see that God reveals Himself in three different ways: First, we see Him in the creation by His invisible attributes. Second, we see Him in the creation by His eternal power. Third, we see Him in the creation by His divine nature.

First, let’s look at how we see Him in the creation by His invisible attributes. What does it mean by His invisible attributes? The things about God that we cannot see are His invisible attributes. That makes sense – right? In other words, those things about His nature that are not visible. What are some of these invisible attributes? One example would be His omniscience or His knowledge of all things. We see that by looking at the perfect order in the world - how everything works in harmony within the creation. Also, we see it in the unbelievably intricate way our bodies work. God knows it all and created it that way. His wisdom is an invisible attribute: look at how the creation works together within itself. Look at the way that the rivers flow; how the Sun rises and sets each day; how the moon controls the tides; the wind cycles, and the rain cycles. All of His creation tells of His invisible attributes.

Another invisible attribute is His sovereignty: all things are under His perfect control. All things in creation are under His sovereignty. Our lives are all under control of the sovereign hand of God. There are things that happen in our lives that we just can’t understand. But that doesn’t mean He is not in control.

This reminds me of the story of how I met my lovely wife, Cathy. Believe it or not, this story begins with another girl whom I thought was my first love - Claudia. I met Claudia when I lived in Seattle during my sophomore year of college at Seattle Pacific. A good friend of mine was dating her older sister and he introduced me to her. I thought we fell head over heels in love, or at least it seemed that way to me. Within six months or so, I ask her Dad for her hand in marriage; he said yes and, so did Claudia. I was the happiest man in the world – or so I thought. That was the summer of 1966. I was transferring to Long Beach State College (in Calif.) to major in Graphic Arts for my junior year, and she had decided to go to LA Baptist College (now The Masters College) in Newhall, CA. She was about a two hour drive away from where I lived.

When I went up to see her for the first time, she seemed a little distant. But it was new surroundings for her, so I thought nothing of it. That same day, I had talked to my parents on the phone and found out that an old childhood friend of mine was attending LA Baptist also. I went up to his room to visit. When he found out that I was the guy engaged to the ONLY “spoken for” girl on campus, he warned me: “A large group of guys have made a pact to treat Claudia like a queen in order to break up your engagement – because they all want to date her.” I thought "No chance – we were in love – committed to be married when we got out of school." But, within less than a month, she said she was having second thoughts about our engagement, so she decided to take off the ring so she could date other guys.

That flurry of new dates only lasted a couple of months. Then they only ask her out occasionally. So, all of a sudden she was alone most weekends. I kept calling her and she would ask me up and say all kinds of things that would keep me hanging on. I just couldn’t see the writing on the wall. She kept me strung out for 3 months – and I’m still thinking that it might still work out. Until finally on Valentine’s Day of 1967 she said “We need to talk.” I was elated – I though “Finally, she is going to put the ring back on!” But, she said that we were over - she had decided that I was not the man that she wanted to marry. I was shocked - I was hurt – I was crushed. She wouldn't give me back the ring either – but that’s another story.

I thought I would never find another one like Claudia. Then, because I didn’t want to be alone that next Sunday, I called some old friends of my parents and they invited me to attend a 50^th Anniversary celebration at a Church where I grew up in LA. And that is where I met Cathy. We hit it off big time (to put it mildly): we were engaged in 3 weeks - and married in 5 months. This is what God wanted for me. He didn’t want me with Claudia - but I couldn’t see that - so He was instrumental in breaking us up - to the woes of my poor broken heart. But Cathy fixed that broken heart in a flash and 43+ years later, we are still going strong!

In my situation with Claudia, God chose to show me, in the form of Cathy, why some things just don't work out. Sometimes things happen that we never understand. He is the only One who knows what that purpose is. We have to rest in the fact that He is sovereign.

Stay tuned for continued discussion on how God reveals Himself to us.

Whiter Than Snow

2011-01-10T15:25:00.006-06:00

‎"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow..." This verse, from Isaiah 1:18, seemed much more personal after witnessing a blanket of snow that covered my home when I awoke at 4:30 this morning.

5:00 AM comes early, especially to one that goes to bed late. 5:00 AM also comes early when you're awoken throughout the night, once at 3:00, again at 4:00, and finally at 4:30 wondering why it's so much brighter in our bedroom than it normally is at this time of night (or day, depending on your lifestyle).

As I finally dragged myself out of bed (at 4:30 mind you), I knew what was waiting for me outside. A splendid, but awfully inconvenient, five inch blanket of snow had fallen some time after 10:00 PM the night before.

Why did I dread this? Because it would take me 20 minutes to clear off my car in order for it to be acceptable and safely drivable on the road.

However, I was also extremely excited. Why, you ask? Considering that I grew up in Southern California, snow was what you saw on television that other people across the country experienced, or if you had enough funds to travel to Big Bear, the closest snow that resided in SoCal. It was now in my backyard and my dog just loves to frolic in freshly fallen snow. (In all honestly, she'd be just as happy to frolic in any kind of snow, but she really loves the soft fluffy kind that she can lick and eat off the ground.)

After a not-so-quick "morning constitutional" stroll with the dog in the snow, breathing in the cold, crisp and clean air, I discovered that the lay of the land, at least throughout my neighborhood, was not in the best conditions to operate a motor vehicle. After an email and text message sent around 5:30 (as I called out from work due inclement weather), I sat on the couch and ate my breakfast as a wandering, but incomplete Bible verse popped into my head. "Whiter than snow..."

I knew the analogy inside and out, and I knew it was mentioned many times throughout the Old and New Testament. But I never truly experienced this first hand until moving out to Tennessee and never did I relate it personally until now.

Our yard, for lack of a better term, seriously falls short. We rarely upkeep it, other than to mow, and a random weeding might occur once every lunar eclipse. It's not an eyesore, at least compared to other yards in the neighborhood, but it ain't anything special either. So when it snows, all of the ugliness is covered in a beautiful white blanket. And suddenly my yard looks like a million bucks.

This is what is looks and feels like when you've been redeemed by Jesus Christ. Except He doesn't cover up your past life; your sins. He washes you clean and makes you whiter than snow. This realization is not as deep or profound as much as it is personal. He purchased you, and all of your ugliness and turned it into something beautiful, for all to share for His Glory.

Think about that the next time it snows and it'll put things a little more into perspective.

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
[Isaiah 1:18-20]

It Only Gets Better With Age

2011-01-07T15:07:00.029-06:00

There's always one, and sometimes unknown (until now), factor in the old saying that "some things only get better with age." I used to regard that most of my personal relationships and friendships almost always resembled this truth. However, one should come to the realization that it always depends on what kind of relationship it is before coming to this not completely valid, but mostly credible, personal resolution.

The "Expensive Scotch in the Liquor Cabinet" Relationship
Some relationships don't require much maintenance. These should be referred to as the "expensive scotch in the liquor cabinet" relationship.

Let's presume in a hypothetical situation that you received a very nice and quite expensive bottle of scotch as a gift. At that time, you didn't really care much for alcohol. Or maybe you enjoyed it from time to time, but not enough to think you would need an entire bottle of it at home. Rather than insulting your friend, who purchased this rather expensive gift, you thank them and place it in your liquor cabinet in hopes that eventually, one day, you'll crack open the bottle and sip it with great pleasure (but probably not right now).

Years have come and gone, and suffice it to say, you've grown quite accustom to, hell you might have even acquired an eclectic taste for scotch. And there sits that bottle, all alone in your liquor cabinet, slowly collecting dust. As you pour yourself two fingers of that scotch and take your first sip, you begin to savor what has most certainly gotten better (if not at least stayed exactly the same) with age.

The "Grand Piano" Relationship
Be that as it may, not all relationships end up on such an easy, yet sweet note, as what I've mentioned above. Some relationships require scheduled maintenance in order to keep producing successful results. This kind of relationship I would regard as the "Grand Piano" relationship.

Upon its arrival into your home for the first time, you're completely enchanted with such a wonderful musical instrument. But as you begin to entertain your guests with it, or use it when writing your next opus that will take the world by storm, you begin to realize that it doesn't sound like it used to when it first arrived. This, of course, is to be expected.

The more you use it, the more you realize that it needs scheduled maintenance and tuning in order for it to keep playing in top form. Once you have it serviced, it’s just as captivating as it was when it first arrived, instilling in you the very reason for acquiring it in the first place.

The 2-Fold "Leather Jacket" Relationship Principle
There are all kinds of relationships that can easily fit into the first two categories, but there are always special circumstances that usually require a third example. These relationships would fall into the "leather jacket" column, which isn't used very often, but when it is, two sub-categories are always needed for additional classification: Fashion Style and Preservation.

The "Leather Jacket That Doesn't Stay In Style" Relationship
Leather jackets are the epitome of cool. By the time you were in high school it seemed that at least one in every five students had one, and they usually wore them on a daily basis once the temperatures dipped below 60 degrees. On the other hand, just because they're cool now, doesn't mean they'll stay that way. This brings me to the first sub-category, the "leather jacket that doesn't stay in style" relationship.

There are certain articles of clothing that rarely ever go out of style. Perfect examples are these are: pea coats, button-fly blue jeans, black or navy blue conservative business suits, and vintage leather jackets. My very first leather jacket was purchased soon after graduating high school, and unfortunately it was not a vintage leather jacket.

Instead, it was manufactured in the fashion style of the early 1990s and by 2001 it spent more and more time in my closet, eventually never to be worn again. Only after being married for over two years did I finally come to the conclusion that my leather jacket, as nice as it was in 1994, would serve a better and much nobler purpose, as a donation to Goodwill.

The “Leather Jacket That Hasn’t Been Properly Preserved” Relationship
For ages people have clung to vintage leather jackets, wearing them when appropriate and taking very good care of them. When a leather jacket hasn’t been properly maintained, we arrive to our final example: the “leather jacket that hasn’t been properly preserved” relationship.

Let’s say that you received a fantastic vintage leather jacket as a gift. You wore that jacket every day when the weather permitted it. Then, one day, you move to a warmer climate and that leather jacket suddenly doesn’t serve the purpose in which it was designed.

Unfortunately, you left it residing in a moving box stored in your outdoor shed, until one day, you pull it out, and you realize that you haven’t been taking care of it, and it shows. You failed to protect it and condition it. By abandoning the jacket’s simple, yet obvious needs for longevity, you wonder if it will ever be able to be worn again. Will you be able to restore it, to take the time to nurture it back to what it once was, or will it eventually have to be discarded in the trash?

Why in the world have I taken the time to sit here, analyzing and creating lengthy relationship analogies?

Only for the most obvious reason that I have had recent encounters with certain friends and/or family that fit into almost each and every example I have put forth in this post.

I reconnected with an old friend who I hadn’t spoken with for at least two years. That relationship was like the scotch. Even though we hadn’t said one word to each other in those 24 or so months, it was like we never had been apart.

Unfortunately, I’ve also discovered the sad realization that one of my other most-valued and highly-regarded relationships has turned into the leather jacket. It hadn’t been properly maintained and because of that, I’m not sure if any kind of restoration agents will ever be able to revive it; all due to preconceived notions of what one thinks of the other (and vice versa). I’m hoping it can be saved, but even it can, there’s still the offset chance that it’ll end up turning into the other kind of leather jacket.

On a much more positive note, the relationship I’m most proud of is my marriage, which has turned into the grand piano. Despite minor issues, which are usually addressed and resolved rather quickly, it still plays just as beautifully as it did the first day it arrived, even more so, if I don’t say so myself.

My advice to you is this: it's up to you (as well as it is solely your responsibility) to properly decipher each of your valued relationships, and to treat each of them with the correct and proper manner as mentioned above. And may you be able to successfully restore any leather jackets that currently reside in your shed.

Until next time, dear readers.

Knowing God - Part 1

2011-01-06T15:26:00.033-06:00

For those who don’t know, I’ve been a baseball fan all my life. And I first started following it because it is one of the few sports mentioned in the Bible. Oh, you don’t think so? Turn to Genesis 1 and see how baseball is mentioned in the Bible. It is right in the first verse. It says “In the big inning, God created the heavens and the earth.” I know, that's a groaner... but seriously, as I became a follower of the game, I started to read a little here and there about the history and the most famous players.

When almost anyone talks about baseball, even those that don’t follow the game or it’s history, everybody knows of the “the sultan of swat”, “the bambino”, “the Babe” - of course, Babe Ruth. But as I got older, and read more, I realized that there is a lot more to knowing someone than knowing about someone. What I knew about Babe Ruth was basically two things - 60 home runs in a season, and 714 in a lifetime. Two records that stood for over 30 years. But, when Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in the 1961 season, and when Henry Aaron hit his 715^th during his career, I stopped thinking that much about Babe Ruth.

Then, sometime in the 70’s, my brother sent me a gift for my birthday one year - “The Encyclopedia of Baseball”. This is a compilation of the statistics on every person who ever played the game of baseball at the Major League level - whether they had 1 at bat or thousands. This would be a real bore (like reading a telephone book) for anyone who is not a baseball nut. One of the first players I looked up was "The Babe." I was blown away!!

Here were the statistics of a man that I thought had now been overtaken by two others in the record book, but little did I know what Babe Ruth had accomplished in his career. It took Hank Aaron 21 years to accomplish what Babe Ruth did in 16. And Roger Maris hit 61 home runs once, but never any higher that 39 in his short career. Babe Ruth averaged 43 home runs a year for 16 years! Now I don't mean to take anything away from Aaron or Maris. They were great players in their own right - especially Aaron who went on to the Hall of Fame, and held the career record of 755 home runs until Barry Bonds broke it - legitimately or not.

What is the point to all of this? I always thought I knew Babe Ruth, but I didn’t! I knew about a few things Babe Ruth had done. But when I got the Baseball Encyclopedia and looked at his career stats and the truth about him, then I knew who he was as a baseball player.

This may seem like a crazy comparison, but it is the same with a Christian and God. We can, even as a Christian, only know about God. We can have thoughts about God, and Who He is. But when you take the time to really look into His Word, see how He reveals Himself to us, and spend time with Him, then you will really know Him. You say "Is that really important?" If you have trusted in Him as your Lord and Savior (if you haven't, read on - it may interest you), then it should be natural to want to know Him. If you are married, when you first met your husband or wife, did you just have that first date and no desire to get to know them better? No, your meeting them caused that something special to start inside you that made you want to know them better, then fall in love with them, and eventually marry them.

Well, when we became Christians, we started a special relationship with God that should make us want to really get to know Who He is. Hopefully, if you are a Christian, when we go to Church to worship God each Sunday - do we really know Who we are worshipping? In order to worship God properly, we must know God for who He really is, for the way that He reveals Himself!!

Let me repeat that…We must know and worship God for Who He really is - We must know Who He is in order to worship Him properly.

Why, you ask? If we have a picture of God in our minds of something He is not, then we are not worshiping God for Who He is, and to worship God in any other fashion than how He reveals Himself is idolatry no matter how you slice it. Knowing God is crucially important to how we live our lives. Knowing God will give our lives direction and help us to understand what surrounds us. God is so big and vast, so transcendent, are we sure we can know Him? What is so exciting about this is that the Bible tells us that we can know God and it encourages us to know Him. In Jeremiah 9:23-24 it says:

“'Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,' declares the Lord.”

What does it mean here to understand and to know God? It is not saying we can comprehend Him. God is beyond our comprehension. The Hebrew word here for understand, among other things, is to have insight into - we can have insight into God. Or in simple terms it means that the lights have come on - we have an idea by what God has told us in His Word of how He will deal with us, and that’s how we get to know Him - the Hebrew word know here means to know by experience - to be acquainted with Him by the experience of how He has dealt with us.

That’s what I want to have you look into... a study of the nature and attributes of God can really humble our minds and expand it at the same time. When you realize what a great and majestic God we have, it will put you in such awe of the God we worship, that you will think about all other worldly things in a different light. It changed my life like no other study has. It began with the reading and study of a small book by A. W. Tozer called "The Knowledge of The Holy". As I read that book and studied the accompanying scripture, I became acutely aware of the attributes of God and what that means to the life of a Christian. Stay tuned for my next post which will talk about what an attribute is and how God reveals Himself to us.

Signs of why I'm no longer a California Transplant

2008-10-14T15:16:00.021-05:00

I sat down just the other day and started to realize how much less I feel like a California transplant than even just a few years back. To be completely honest, however, I didn't start to think about it again until Lisa and I were traveling down to Six Flags over Georgia this past weekend.

She asked me how it is that I "survived southern California traffic" with my normal vehicle pace? I really didn't give her much of an answer. 95% of the time I travel the speed limit on the interstate, which is 70 MPH. I don't know about you, but I personally believe that 70 MPH is fast enough. Sometimes I want to drive faster, but my better judgment usually gets the best of me. (And this is the person who currently has one ticket on his record and an accident all within the last year or so.)

I know that at some point in time, in my youth, I had a bit of a lead foot. That was usually depended upon the car that I was driving (specifically the 1994 Camaro I owned for a very brief time).

Growing up in Ventura County didn't provide, what you would call, "heavy traffic" (at least when I was living there). There wasn't the need to keep up the speed in order to not get mowed down until you were on the 101 headed out past Agoura Hills.

But I digress...

There are at least five things that I've noticed about either myself or how I view my surroundings that tend to make me feel that I am no longer a California transplant. Here's my list in no particular order:

1. SWEET TEA - I've developed a fondness for sweet tea. You may not think that's a big deal, but growing up in California, sweet tea, at least in most establishments, is practically non-existent. Granted, you can add sugar to your iced tea, but it's not the same. Sweet tea was also against my mother's religion. (This coming from one who saw her drink several glasses of iced tea on a daily basis.) So, for me to adapt to something that is predominately Southern, makes me question my California roots.

2. INTERSTATE/HIGHWAYS - Interstate highways intersect throughout the entire Continental United States, but they're referred to as "freeways" in California. It took several years to break the habit of calling them "freeways" here in Tennessee. Every time I called I-24 a "freeway," I would get a quizzical look before the need to correct myself.

3. GENERAL DRIVING ETIQUETTE - Driving etiquette has its subtle (and not so subtle) differences from state to state (just ask my dad about tailgating in North Carolina).
(A) Running Red Lights: Everyone one runs red lights, no matter where you live. But running a red light at a busy intersection in southern California would probably envoke some kind of death wish with that volume of traffic. In Tennessee, however, it's a much more common occurance. Heaven forbid you have to wait through one more cycle at the intersection. Instead, let's try to punch through that yellow as fast we possibly can. I'm not sure what's worse: when I catch myself doing it, knowing that I'm in the wrong, or when I see in my rear view mirror that there are two more cars doing the same damn thing right behind me.
(B) Pulling over for school buses, ambulances and hearses: I know that it's common courtesy to pull over for all of the above, but it just rarely seemed to happen when I lived in California. It was really strange having to pull over and stop for a school bus that stopped on the opposite side of the road... until I noticed that children usually darted across the street after exiting the bus.

4.CLIMATE CHANGE (no, not “global warming”) – I always joked that southern California's four seasons were riots, wildfires, floods and earthquakes. Amusing as it is, it's mostly true (riots are a rare occasion these days). I've learned to appreciate seasons here in Tennessee, especially Spring and Fall. Mostly because they are a much welcome change following the harsher seasons of Winter and Summer. Lisa and I really enjoy spending a brisk Autumn evening sitting around the fire pit with our friends. One good night in front of a fire pit and you'll begin to understand why it was the focal point of any family gathering back before television and electricity. If we did something like that in California, we'd probably end up violating fourteen city and county ordinances.

5. BISCUITS & GRAVY – Seems a rather odd one to end the five reasons as to why I don't feel like a California transplant anymore, but if you've ever had real biscuits and gravy, you'd all know why it's on my list. Made from scratch biscuits and homemade sausage gravy are one of the many highlights of living in the south. It never sounded appetizing the first time I'd heard of it, but I highly doubt that there are many places you can find it back in my home town.

I know that I'll never be a true southerner. I wasn't born here, nor was I raised here, but there's something about the hospitality here that can't be replicated. There are, of course, many things that I miss about California: family & friends, the Pacific Ocean and In-N-Out Burger amongst many other little things. But they're little things and I don't miss California enough to honestly ever want to live there again. That's why Tennessee will now, and probably always will be, my home.

Amity, as you know, means "friendship"

2008-07-15T17:39:00.010-05:00

Things have hardly been on a normal schedule for me these days. I recently aquired a job working retail again (it was the only thing that jumped into my lap at the time). After being unemployed for three months, you tend to take whatever is offered. It was nice not being on the state's Department of Labor payroll anymore.

Nothing quite boosts your self-confidence like being employed again, bringing home a steady paycheck, and the feeling that you are, in some way, contributing to society.

This new position at "Voltage Village" wasn't everything that it was promising to be. Just over the two months I've been there, they've gone through three management changes (and they only have three salaried managers at the store).

However, some stability has been re-established this past week. I now have a consistant schedule (again), working mornings with Sunday and Monday off every week. Hopefully things will remain this way until I find something else.

In other news, Lisa and I adopted a pound puppy this past Memorial Day weekend. My first two weeks at my new job ended with one bear of a day, so Lisa, to help improve my mood, proposed the idea of taking the next step of looking for a dog by actually going to the shelter (all winter I had been pushing hard to get a dog). We both wanted one, but decided to wait until the spring or summer. Rumor has it that it's a pain in the rear having to house train a puppy when it's below freezing outside (just ask my parents).

Her name is Amity, named after the island in the movie JAWS. We were wanting to use Brody, Hooper or even Quint, but we also knew that we wanted a female dog, so our options were limited. Our hopes, however, were for her to stay this size:

When we picked her up from the vet's office, she weighed six pounds. Over the course of six weeks, she's tripled in size.

Now, she almost doesn't look like the same dog.

Weighing in at just under twenty pounds, she's almost five months old and enjoys the extra-curricular activities she creates for herself.

Or the ones we choose for her.

Luckily enough, we were able to capture a "family portrait" before she completely grew out of her cute puppiness. Don't ask how we got her to smile!

Amity has been quite the challenge for both of us. The last time we were this intimately involved, as well as blessed with a dog in our home, we were still in high school... and we weren't engaged with the entire "training process."

We are proud to announce, however, that Amity sleeps through the entire night (almost) but benefits from my early rising to take her outside before she has an accident.

I hope you have enjoyed this insight to our little world and that if you're ever in the neighborhood, please feel free to stop by and say "hi." Amity just loves visitors.

Fu manwho?

2008-05-05T17:39:00.016-05:00

What happens when your husband doesn't get out much, and is slightly disoriented by cabin fever? I'll tell you what ... he becomes highly susceptible to suggestion and flights of fancy. In the wrong hands this could become fodder for horrible pranks or an extensive honey-do list (I am ecstatic and proud to shout from the mountaintop that I am extremely blessed because Nathan is fantastic at sharing the work around the house ... I love that he believes, truly, that we're in it together ... laundry, dishes, tiding up, making the bed, all of it).

So where does that leave us? Ah yes, my sweet impressionable husband. I must admit that I said something to the effect of "You'd be hot with a fu manchu." Why I said this? Dunno. Maybe I had just viewed a David Carradine Yellow Book ad and memories of watching Kung Fu with my father filled my brain, perhaps it was Divine inspiration, maybe it was just quiet in the room and I was looking to get a laugh out of Nathan. What I didn't expect were the events that transpired over the weekend.

This is what my sweet, handsome husband started as ...

Then he became this 70s biker wannabe...

Then an extra on CHiPs or one of the Police Academy movies...

Don't really want to get into his skinhead moment ... thankfully that's all it was...

...and finally babyfaced.

That's right ... multi-mustache weekend! Almost sounds like a bad radio ad for pawn shop, doesn't it? Come on down to Crazy Charlie's Multi-Mustache Weekend Extravaganza!!!! But that's pretty much what Nathan and I had. All because I made an innocent, goofy comment.

I must admit it was fun seeing him in a different light, since trying on a new 'do occasionally isn't really in the cards for Nathan. I guess I take for granted the ability to change my look almost daily if I wanted ... how I fix my hair or makeup, maybe change the color a bit. But guys, once they find a look, they seem to stick with it a bit more. No matter which branch of the facial hair tree Nathan chooses, he's still mine and I'm more than blessed and happy to have him!

But I am curious, which look do you like the most? Be sure to vote in the poll closer to the top of the page in the right-hand column!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-19T16:18:00.000-06:00

My apologies for not posting anything since our slide show. I haven't possessed enough desire at this moment to keep up with two blogs sites. I"ve also adjusted the settings so you don't get hit with our slideshow, with music, everytime you come here. The last thing I needed to do was annoy all three of my readers.

I'm hoping that Lisa will attempt to pick up a little bit of the slack, but I can't force her to do something that she either doesn't want to do or currently doesn't have the time. She'll be busy during tax season this year working part time at H&R Block to save up some money for a new vehicle. It'll also be nice to have peace of mind, knowing she's riding around in a more reliable car.

While we quietly debate the sooner-rather-than-later eventuality of being puppy owners, both of us want to wait until the weather has warmed up as well as have a dog run constructed so they'll have a place to be while were both at work during the day.

Until both of those events occur, I'll keep myself busy searching through petfinder.org as well as playing WoW again.

We all hope you had a great new years. To hear about ours, click here.

Nathan

Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!

2007-12-18T21:47:00.000-06:00

Since the wedding, everyone's first question to us is how's married life? We thought maybe it would be easier to show you a little glimpse into our life. We hope you enjoy our Christmas slideshow.

The inspiration for the pictures came from a suggestion from Lisa's brother requesting a "Christmas Picture" as an item on his wish list. While we were more than willing to adhere to the request, Lisa upped the ante and proposed the idea for a themed picture.

I'm just glad she decided on the "1950s Ward & June Cleaver" rather than rolling out our first Christmas with "the worst Christmas sweater" card or both of us bundled up in turtlenecks sitting in front of a roaring fire. I guess there's always next year to look forward to that.

The other tidbits you see in the slideshow is the hunt for our first Christmas tree. Just so you are all aware, Lisa has quite the photographer's eye (she may beg to differ). So all this creativity isn't just oozing out of me...

Enjoy!

Things to come...

2007-12-06T07:40:00.000-06:00

While I work on updating and posting on this site as well, please enjoy a slide show created by yours truly to enjoy.

My apologies if the slide show moves too quickly before you can read my captions. At this moment, I have yet to figure out how to change the speed.

Enjoy!