What A Summer!

(From The Paw Of Me)

Wow! The 'owners' have really been keeping me busy this summer. I have been in 10 different states in less than a month! I have meet all kinds of new people. My favorite kinds of new people are 'kids'! These smaller versions of people are great! They have as much energy as me and they let me get away with way more than the 'owners' do. They do wonderful things like leave treat bags lying around for the taking and holding pancakes and other food items right at my level.

I just got back from a great place called 'Minnesota'. Did you know there are actually 10,000 lakes there? That's right...I said 10,000!!!! I got to swim in about 5. We stayed in a place where you could see the water just outside the window! There were lots of other creatures there that I had never seen before. I really wanted to get a closer look at the animals called 'ducks' but for some reason the owners kept pulling me away.

It's been fun being a world class traveler but I am glad to be back home. I was starting to miss my own comfy bed and my nice little yard. I have enclosed some photos of my trip and my new friends. I hope you enjoy them!

A Weekend to Grill

(From the mind of he)

We just had a weekend full of grilling. We had the FCA leadership team over for a cookout on Thursday. We had the moms and my dad over on Friday and Saturday. Friday night we cooked chicken and had our first fire in our new fire pit. We managed not to catch any of the pines on fire. Saturday Mickey and Brenda came and we grilled hot dogs for lunch and steaks and veggies for dinner. Needless to say the grill is getting a workout. I love the season when you can grill and hang out outside. Family, friends and good food. We even had some intense outdoor dart games. Good times.

A New Post

(From the mind of he)

For all two of you who read this, I posted something new but started it on April 9 and didn't finish it until today, so it was posted under The Beginning.

Thanks

The Beginning

(From the mind of he, written for some reason in 1st and 3rd person )

Bare with me on this one. This is coming from a week without the wife. So in other words, sleep deprivation and many sugar highs and lows.

It all began one year ago today. It was a beautiful spring morning when little Zaba came into the world. He didn't quite know what was going on, but would soon learn what this world had to offer. He had freedom, he had a farm. He ran after four wheelers, ran with the horses, and played with his mother and siblings for hours on end. Three months go by and these strange people pull up in a green vehicle. He runs to them and greets them enthusiastically, not knowing what would soon follow. Little Zaba is taken from the farm life and introduced to the spoiled life. The life of weak-willed owners.
The Present- My friend Scott came over last night and we had a celebration of his birthday, which entailed giving him some steak. The steak disappeared in five seconds. We celebrated yesterday because I thought yesterday was the 17th. Again this goes back to a week without the wife. Anyway, it has been great times since we got our puppy. Life-changing and I have enjoyed every moment. And just think, in another year and a half he will calm down some. Maybe.

A Journey

(From the mind of he)

So I've been on this journey for the past 6 weeks or so. The journey I'm on involves this book by Paul Tripp called A Quest for More. It has been very eye opening and has allowed me to get a better understanding of the character of Christ. The book talks about the two kingdoms. The big kingdom, which is God's, and our own little kingdom.
The little kingdom is compared to a cubicle we build around ourselves. In my cubicle I have everything arranged how I like it. My timing, my purposes, my way. What God is trying to do is to punch a hole through my cubicle so I can see that there is this world out there which is in need. And once I see the need He wants to pull me through the hole and destroy my cubicle. Paul Tripp used this story as an example. He said when he was in seminary he and several of his classmates would ride to school together and discuss deep theological truths and solve all the worlds problems. Then one day he looked out the window and noticed the run down buildings, the homeless people, the lost. He was very focused on knowledge but forgot to apply that knowledge in love. I do that often. I concern myself often with how wise I can become through scripture, but forget that the point of knowledge and wisdom is to build others up. I'm too busy at times building my own spiritual resume and forget that I must decrease and Christ must increase. Luke 7 says this about the Pharisees, "...they rejected God's purpose for themselves." They had become so knowledgeable and wise that they felt they didn't need God to show them the path. They had discovered the path that fit them best.
Jesus on the other hand always lived for the big kingdom, God's Kingdom. His focus was never Himself. He never focused on the temporal or what He could see or touch. He focused on souls. I feel the reason He could do this was because His life was always looking outward. (Now don't get me wrong, Jesus spent many hours alone with God in prayer, which gave Him the strength to do this. But even prayer is reliance on God instead of ourselves). He looked around at others, he listened and invested His time in building relationships. Not so He could have friends or feel important (Although fellowship is very important). But He did this so He would know what the source of peoples struggles were. He cared and He loved while He walked this Earth, and He still does.
Now it's my turn to care and to love. To keep my head up and always be looking for the opportunity to impact the big kingdom. Self must die. Live for others. Live for God's purpose and His purpose alone.

On a side note. I have no idea when to use semi-colons.

Love vs Legalism

(From the mind of he)

I've learned that it is really easy to judge and really difficult to love. To live by grace and truth and not under the law. It says in John that Moses brought the law but Jesus showed how to live by grace and truth. So you have the law and you have grace. It is easy to let personal convictions stand in the way of loving others, or rather see faults in people instead of seeing how good they really are at loving someone that you may find it hard to love.
I know in my personal life that grace and my own judgement of others gets intermingled way too much. God is the only judge, I must show grace to all because it was shown so abundantly to me. So the question becomes, how important are personal convictions? Is it Bible based or just a human concept? If I stick by my convictions but don't love someone because of those convictions, I feel I am definitely missing the point. I also feel that you don't have to sacrifice the way God wants you to live to love people. I believe Jesus is the key. He did this perfectly. He didn't do away with the law but fulfilled it. He loved people perfectly. He loved them in a true way. He was there for them but challenged them. He broke free from the pharisees perceptions of right and wrong and just showed truth. This must be what I do. I must live in truth, not my interpretation of truth, but the Truth.
I must love and show grace. I must always listen to the Holy Spirit who screams at me often. I must stop thinking that I have it figured out and kneel down and listen to the one who does.

Faith

(From the mind of he)

Well, this ones not really from my mind, but I did read this and wanted to share it with you.

This story is about a minister in Iran.

A minister and his wife were driving through northern Iran. They came to a small village where he decided to buy water. As he stops his car he notices a man leaning against the wall of the shop with a beard and a machine gun. The wife sees the man's gun and face, takes a Bible in Farsi, and puts it in her husband's pocket. She says, "Give that man a Bible." Her husband looks at the beard, looks at the gun, and says, "No." She says, 'No, no, no. Seriously. Give it to him. Really. Please. Give it to him. Give him the Bible." So he says, "I'll pray about it." He goes into the shop, comes out with bottles of water, and they drive away. The wife looks at her husband. "You didn't give him the Bible, did you?" He said, "No, I prayed about it. It wasn't the right thing to do." She said, "You should have given him one." He disagrees and they go back and forth. So the wife bows her head and prays out loud fervently that her husband might listen to God. At that point, they have a friendly discussion that married couples have from time to time that ends with words, "Fine! If you want me to die, I will."

The husband turns the car around and goes back into the village. He gets out of the car, walks up to the man, and places a Bible in his hands. The man opens it and starts to cry. He said, "I don't live here. I live three days' walk from here. But three days ago an angel came and appeared to me and told me to walk to this village and wait until someone had given me the Book of Life. Thank you for giving me this book."

This comes from Ravi Zacharias' news letter. He also added this about the gospel. "We need to know that the gospel is simple enough to reach a little child and sophisticated enough to reach the finest minds..."