Blessed of God

Hello,
Just stopped in to jot a little down. Trying to think of a title, couldn't think of any specific thing to write about. So I thought I would just write about how blessed I am! Most people might not see it the same way that I do. I work a good job, and my wife is a stay at home mom. She also homeschools the children.

So with only one income, money can get tight sometimes. But I am thankful, because I know that there are probably people out there that are more talented that I am, that are still looking for a job. Even when I was out of work, God supplied the needs.

I don't live in the finest house around, but it is a nice house. We are renting it, and the landlord lets us have our animals, which seem to keep accumulating. We moved here from a smaller house, with no land. It was also in a bad section of town, we had several things stolen out of our yard. (I guess we are too trusting) One thing I like is the fact that we live far enough away from anybody that we don't have to worry about being quiet. I've been known to take my electric chainsaw out, at midnight, and cut wood for a fire.

There is another blessing, my fireplace. I've always said I thought it would be nice to have one, but never really knew how much I liked it. I got up from my fire the other day, and went in, and kissed my wife, and thanked her for finding a house with a fireplace. The girls love to throw paper in the fireplace. We have simple kinds of fun I guess. I really enjoy laying in the loveseat, next to the fire, and reading. Talk about relaxing!!

Well, I did label my blog "thoughts of a rambling preacher" so I guess I've rambled enough for now.

God Bless,

Just catching up on stuff

I didn't write for a while, and I don't want to miss stuff.

The 11th of April was my wedding Aniversary, and guess what? I remembered, and my wife forgot. We were at church, in Sunday school, and they ask each week if anybody has a birthday or aniversary. I looked back at my wife, and she didn't remember, so I didn't say anything, until the ride home. She was so embarassed. Then to make matters worse, she had to ask how many years it has been. It has been 14 years. So I got to pick on her all week about it. I am glad it wasn't me. Usually it is!!

I was out the other day, cutting wood. We have a wood burning fireplace, and I love to watch the fire. Even though it is starting to get warm out, I think I will still have a fire, I enjoy it a lot. My girls like to play in the fire. I let them toss pieces of paper, and cardboard in. So I am creating two little pyros... My younger son likes to get them started, but after that, he kind of loses interest. Anyways, back to the story at hand, I was out cutting wood, and my wife was taking care of the goats, with the girls. So I am splitting wood now, which I can't wait to get good at, because I think it is a pretty macho thing... But right now, I'm not that good at it. I was beating up these logs pretty good. But I did get two and a half of the three split. then my wife said that she was going in, so I said "OK, hold on" then with one good swing, I split the half a log that I had left. I was so happy, because it looked like it was an easy thing. I think I got lucky, but I'll take it.

Right now I have an electric chain saw, with a dull chain. But it is better than nothing. I am cutting up the fallen trees and limbs around the house. I enjoy it, it is like real manly work, which is good, because my job has me sitting at a desk for 12 hours a day. So I need to manly work. Here is a link to a picture of my fireplace. http://www.pcc-webhosting.com/chris.html

Next topic: Bible reading. I just got done reading the book of Tobit, which isn't in the protestant Bible, but it is in the Catholic Bible, and in the Apocrypha. I don't completely accept these books, but then again, I don't know what is in them, to not accept them either. I have been wanting to read them, for my own knowledge, so I did. The book of Tobit is pretty interesting. I liked it because once you start reading it, you get interested, and it was no problem to read through the whole thing. It is only 14 chapters, and some of them are pretty small. I have read a couple other books of the Apocrypha, like "Bel and the Dragon" and "Suzanna". I try to keep an open mind, but also make sure I measure them against what the word of God says. I have also started reading the Book of Jasher, and the Book of Enoch. They are both pretty interesting. I hope to read some of Josephus' writings soon. I have read through the scriptures several times, and I want to keep adding to my knowledge. Being a preacher, I take my studying serious. If you are interested in studying the Word of God, I would recommend using E-sword. It is a free Bible program that you can download. Here is the link: http://www.e-sword.net It is a great product. There are MANY add ins that you can download, and use with it.

Well, I will type to you later.

God Bless,

The Goats have arrived.

Well, I knew it would happen, I just didn't know it would happen so soon. We moved to a new house in Feb. of this year, and the house that we are renting sits on about two acres. It is out a little ways, so it it is kind of like a farm. The landlord doesn't mind animals, and even mentioned goats, pigs, chickens... So my two daughters, and my wife, got the idea that they wanted to get goats for Easter. I had already said no to getting horses, because it would cost too much to feed them. So my wife started looking, and before long, she found a lady that was selling baby goats.

So now we are the owners of two LaMancha goats, Charlie and Mystery. They have promised me over and over, that they would do the work. I guess we will see about that. I have to admit, they are kind of cute. My Lab was outside, hooked to a cable, and when he saw the goats, he took off running, and broke his leather collar. Thankfully he doesn't have a mean bone in his body, he just ran up, and sniffed up one side, and down the other of the goats. So now we add to our collection of critters. We now have: 5 female cats, one big blonde lab, and now two LaMancha goats, both boys.

Next week I will be taking them to get fixed. That ought to be an experience.

God Bless,

A Dark Day

Well, today I went with my wife to the hospital. Her sister had surgery today. She had to have her second leg amputated. She has had diabetes for many years, and started having circulation problems last year. Last year she had a lot of pain in her left leg, and when she went to find out why, they found out that she had very little circulation in her legs, her left be the worst. So they tried to do a bypass, to get blood flow down to the foot, but that didn't work. They eventually amputated the left leg. We were worried how she would respond, but she determined in her mind, to go on, and she did. She learned to function with just the one leg.
Today we are back to square one, praying that she keeps the desire to fight. If she can, she can make it through this. If she doesn't I don't think she will.

I will say this, if you have diabetes, don't ignore it. Don't cheat, and eat things you shouldn't. It isn't worth the price. If you aren't sure if you have diabetes or not, GET IT CHECKED.

When you get a chance, please pray for Polly Klink.

Can't we all get along

I am a member of a forum of Apostolic Preachers, and just recently their was a big rift, and some of them got mad, and left. I'm not sure of all of the details, which is probably a good thing. But this isn't the first time I've seen this sort of behavior. People seem to have problems getting along with others. I have seen and heard about many "church splits". Which aren't actually church splits, because there is only one church. But many local assemblies.

I can understand people conflicting over issues. Because everyone has an opinion. But I think as Christians we should know when to back off of an issue, to remain civil toward others. I think sometimes we confuse our zeal of self, for the zeal of God. Sometimes we want to prove ourselves right, no matter what. I think this is where Pride enters. Yes even in christians. Being saved isn't the same thing as being perfect.

I think everybody has to learn the balance between standing up for what is "right", and when they are fighting to prove their point. This is where prayer comes in. I believe the Holy Ghost should be able to tell us to back off. But sometimes we are too busy trying to win the fight, to hear that important message.

But then again, that is my opinion on the matter.