May 7th

God has been very good to me since my last post.

On Friday, May 7th, the coworker I had the brief conversation with (mentioned in my last post) came to our house to discuss things further. We talked from about 6:00 in the evening till well after midnight. Then, this past Wednesday, she came over again after work for a somewhat shorter visit. Though it seems unlikely that this person will ever come to a place of true repentance towards God, I must say that it has at least been wonderful to finally once again share with an interested person all that God has done in the lives of my family and I.

If I Were a Rich Man!

If I were a rich man (I consider my self a rich man, but in this post I am referring to money) then I would rent a hall of some sort, then advertise to my city and invite everyone to come listen to me share of all that God has done in my life and all he has taught me over the course of the past six or seven years. Of course I realize that few would come, but that is where being a rich man would come in. So great is my desire to share these things that I would be willing to pay people to simply come and listen.

Now of course I realize that this wouldn't likely bear any fruit for my listeners, but it would be worth every penny to me just to have the opportunity to express these things face to face to a great multitude at once.

In all truthfulness, I guess it doesn't even have to be a great multitude, but if God would just provide one interested person to sit with me for a couple of hours and just let me talk, OH HOW GOOD THOSE TWO HOURS WOULD BE!

It was almost exactly three years ago while living in Joplin that I got the chance to do just that. About 6:00 or 7:00 PM on a Saturday night, a neighbor lady knocked on our door to talk to my wife about something. As she was arriving, I was leaving to take my children to get an ice cream and pretzel at Sam's Club. However, when I returned later that evening, she was still there. At some point during my absence, the conversation turned to spiritual matters. So when I walked in the door, Karen brought me into the conversation. Once I entered the conversation, I found a hungry soul that eagerly listened to everything I had to say. This conversation went on for several hours until we all surprisingly realized that it was after 2:00 AM.

Though no long term fruit was produced (She sprouted quick, but had no root,and therefore quickly died when persecution came) those few hours are still remembered as some of the most wonderful hours of my life.

Here we are three years later, and though MUCH briefer in nature, this past week I had a similar opportunity to talk with one of my coworkers. This brief experience just reminded me once again of how great it would be to be able to express face to face with an hungry listener all that my God has done.

As you know, I often express an intention to either write or record something in order to share what burns in my heart. However, once I get started, I find that its a whole lot of effort and that my words seem very empty and pointless. Because of this, I rarely finish what I originally planned to do. NO! I don't want to write another thing on paper (at least not right now), and I don't want to attempt to speak to a camera or digital voice recorder. I so bad just want to sit across a table from a hungry soul and tell them my story. Or, standing before a crowd of a thousand wouldn't be so bad either. OH God, PLEASE grant this desire of my heart.

Still Here

Well, the calendar page has turned, and we’re still here. Am I surprised? Yes. But am I disappointed? No.

As 2009 began, I was very convinced that I would not be on this earth to witness the birth of 2010. For several different reasons, I was quite certain that the great trumpet was going to sound before 2010 showed it face. However, it turns out I was wrong.

Now, at the start of 2009, I expected that I would be very disappointed if I was here to see 2010, but surprisingly I am not. Instead, I am unexpectedly content, and even a little bit excited to see what is in store next for my family’s life.

I must admit, I am tempted to feel a little foolish for my strong conviction about 2009. However, there is nothing foolish about it. I am quite convinced that the conviction I had wasn’t something of my own making, but instead it was something that God allowed and even placed within me. Though I won’t go into a lot of detail, I will only say that God needed to accomplish something in my family’s life, and part of making this happen was creating in me a belief that 2009 would be our final year.

It has certainly been an interesting, exciting, and unfortunately (do to my own lack of trust) a somewhat terrifying month. God has led my family through fire and he has led us through a flood. At times the fire felt hot, and, at times, the water seemed to be up to our necks; however, in the end, absolutely no harm came to us. Though we couldn’t see Him, He was with us the whole time. The only thing that resulted from our time in the fire was a greater joy and increased faith in Him. Oh how good you are Lord!

Isaiah 43:1-2 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. (2) When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

For six years we have been following Him, and for six years He has kept every promise He has made. I don’t expect Him to suddenly stop now.

The Blizzard!

While I have certainly seen more snow fall in my life, I have never seen snowfall mixed with such wind. When all was said and done, we received about six inches of snow; however, because of the way the wind blew it around, some places had several feet, while other places barely showed a trace.

While I love living out in the country, it does have its draw backs in that our roads are slow to get cleared off. The snow began on Thursday, and today (Monday) is the first day that I could have safely taken my truck on the road.

There is more snow in the forecast for tomorrow and next weak; however, I don't think it is supposed to be anything like the storm we just went through.

The wind did very interesting things with the snow.

Do to the wind, this sections of road just north of our house was completely clear after the storm.

However, things would change drastically as you approached the four way intersection.

This is what the road looked like just north of the intersection.

This is what the road looked like heading east at the intersection.

And this is was the road looked like heading west. Yes, there really is/was a road there.


Four-wheel drive didn't help this guy any.

New Camcorder

A little over 11 years ago, my wife and I purchased a video camera. While we spent a little more than we intended, it turns out that we made a good purchase. For after 11 years of regular use, the camcorder is still running strong.

Despite the fact that the camcorder is still running strong, we recently chose to replace it with one that could record in digital format. This way, all of the recorded files could easily be transferred to our computers.

Originally, I planned to buy the Cannon FS200. It seemed to have fairly good reviews and it was priced at $300 which was the top amount we were hoping to spend. The Cannon FS200 would have probably been a good camcorder; however, before buying it, we discovered that the JVC Everio GZ-HM200 was selling on eBay for less than $250.

The JVC Everio GZ-HM200 is a high definition camera that is currently selling at our Wal-Mart for $550 (may vary from store to store). For some reason, at the time we in the market for a camcorder, there was a ton of these for auction on eBay that were either new or in like new condition. However, not only were they selling for much less than those at Wal-Mart, most of them included some bonus items that the one from Wal-Mart did not (ours came with a 4GB memory card, a memory card reader, and a carrying case). After watching several sell in the $250 price range, we decided to start bidding on some of them. Eventually we won one for $209 (plus $15 shipping). Ours was a former store display model; however, it shows virtually no signs of use. While I wouldn’t recommend spending $550 for this camera, it is well worth the $220 that we paid for it.

Below is some video footage that was shot on the day that we received our camera. If you click on the video as it is playing, it will take you to YouTube so that you can watch it in a bigger frame.

Video Project Update

Well, after investing a lot of time and a little bit of money into the video project, I have decided to call it off.

As I was working on this project, and as it continued to get longer and longer, I realized how unlikely it would be for anyone to actually watch it. While everything that I say makes sense to me and is very exciting to me, I realized that it is most likely very dull and confusing to others. And with that realization, I decided to go ahead and drop the project.

The truth is, if you are truly a child of God, then you already know and understand that things I was going to say anyway, but if you are not a child of God, then there is really no way of explaining these things in a way that they would make sense. Despite my best efforts, everything I would say would only be confusing and misunderstood.

I sincerely hope that you are one of the blessed ones who already understands these incredible secrets. I hope you are one who understands what the "sign of the son of man" is and also one who has the joy of knowing that this sign has appeared. If you are one of these blessed ones then it is with great joy that I say "see you soon!"

The Motorized Bicycle

This past spring, I started itching for a motor bike of some kind. I was thinking about getting either a motor scooter or a small motorcycle of some sort. I wanted something I could use on short trips down the road or even for a trip into town (we live about five miles from Wal-Mart) when we were needing only a few small things. However, I really couldn’t justify spending the $1000 that this was going to end up costing.

Eventually, I learned about a motor kit that could be added to a bicycle. The kits were advertised on Craigslist for $150 and less. At first I figured it was some kind of scam. But as I began to do my homework, I found out that there were several companies selling these kits, and they were selling for anywhere between $120 and $150. I also found some web forums that were made up of others who had added such motors to their own bikes. And even though a few of these people were not happy with their motor kits, most were. So with this information, I took a chance and bought a kit off of eBay (I made an offer and got mine for $110). In the midst of all of this, I also salvaged a bike that was in good condition to use for this project.

My kit arrived on July 3^rd. By late afternoon July 4^th, I had everything in place and gave it a try. Thankfully, she started right up. And up until I sold her in early September, I used the bike as a regular source of transportation.

After the motor was broke in, my motorized bike would reach a top speed of 33 mph (Even though it would reach this speed, you wouldn’t want to run it at that speed for long periods. Typically, I cruised between 22-25 mph). Also, it would get anywhere between 85-100 miles to a gallon of gas depending on how much I helped by pedaling.

In late August, I came across a good deal on a pair of motorcycles. After riding the motorcycles, I realized that I probably wouldn’t use the motorized bicycle any more. Realizing that, I sold it in early September to a college student. I got $200 for the bike which was probably a fair price for both the buyer and me. I made a little bit of profit, and the buyer got a ready to ride motorized bike. I really hope that it works out as well for him as it did for me.

The Complete Bike

A View of the Motor

Here is the bike with a "trunk" that I added. It was good for carrying a couple gallons of milk,or a few loaves of bread