Louder Than the Voices

Here it is, 365 days since my very first post on this blog. So many things have happened and though 2016 has been rough on a lot of people, I feel like it has been pretty decent for our household. I feel like we have accomplished a lot, as a family, as a couple, as a small business, and as workers for the Lord. I am really excited that I managed to get this blog up every Saturday morning but 2, in the last year. Those two were a planned little respite, and I probably should have worked harder to put something out there, but I had some issues to deal with and it was easier to just give me time to adjust. I know God knows we are human, and there are some situations that just take longer for us to have that "It is Well with My Soul" moment. I was looking up verses this morning on looking back and I found a couple that I thought I would share. Isaiah 42:18-19a says, "Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing;...

2  And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. 2  (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3  And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5  To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6  And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7  And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8  And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of t...

S-L-O-W  D-O-W-N,  it was a message that came across my phone several months ago when I had sent a text to a friend, and had apparently been able to express my feelings of stress through the previous text to her. My thought was that I really wanted to slow down but had no real time to do so. I am venturing a guess that many of us are in that state right now as Christmas is now a week away. We had some ice last night and I always love the phenomena that happens after, the utter sound of peace outside. I live on one of the busiest streets in Newton, but after a snowfall, or even more so, after ice, it is quiet. In the wee hours of the morning, there is what some would consider an almost eerie silence, but I love it. That peace is one of the few things I miss about living in the county, so I treasure it when it happens right here in the middle of town. I have only one verse today, Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust...

Hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas season. I have had one of the most spectacular weeks that I have had in a long time; one of those that for a few hours, everything just seems right with the world. I know most of you have watched as things have happened over the years to our family. We have had some real challenges and faced some tough times. I am thankful that I always had faith in God to see us through, but have still been pretty scared at times as to what "through" was going to entail. I know there are people that are having less than the perfect Christmas, sadly, life doesn't stop being life just because we turned the calendar to December. I have a friend who I went to school with that had a major problem this week and is in Intensive Care in Champaign. I know his family is thankful he is alive, but it still doesn't feel right to be in such turmoil during Christmas. We had two really rough times during Christmas that I remember growing up. December 10th,...

It is beginning to look, and feel, a lot like Christmas. I love this time of year for so many reasons, but mainly because we take the time to really concentrate on God's love for us. I had mentioned last week about Max Lucado's book and Bible study, Because of Bethlehem. I am really enjoying going through it. At one point it mentions that Christmas started what Easter finished. I had never really thought about it in terms of simply birth and death, but that is what it is, but think about this: Christ was born to die so that we could live. In his death, we have the ability to be born again. And, because he conquered death, and rose again, death is not the end of the story, for any of us. I have been looking back this week, on my own, to the Old Testament, back before there really was a Christmas to celebrate. I always equated those people to looking for the Messiah's first coming similar to how we look to His second coming. One of the comments from a participant on Lucad...

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. Ours was good, the guys worked at the farm, my mom made Thanksgiving dinner, and I headed up there about 11 and spent some time with her as she finished up. We all gathered at her house at noon, ate together, then the guys went back to work on Robert's house. And I went to my office to finish a project that I had slated to be done by Thanksgiving, happily, I got it finished and we were all home by 5pm. Yesterday, Andrew and I went Black Friday shopping. We set a new record for staying out, leaving the house at 3:30 am and pulling in the drive at 6 pm. It was a good day, I got lots of bargains and lots of Christmas shopping done. We headed to Evansville, and even though a main reason was they had all the stores I needed to get to, the most important reason to me was that when you go to Evansville, everyone is so KIND. Robert and I noticed this the first time we went down there, and it is truly my favorite place to Black Friday shop. ...

Psalm 100: 4-5  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations. We are less than a week away from Thanksgiving and into the homestretch of the year. I have heard several people say it just doesn't feel like Thanksgiving yet, but to me it does. Several years ago, a bunch of us started on November 1 to posting, first on my other blog, and then on facebook, something each day we are thankful for. Though I try never to take what has been given to me for granted, it does make me really realize all the things I have, and seriously puts me in my place when I want to think about feeling sorry for myself. I didn't do my thankful days last year because someone criticized it the year before. I regret that because I know my heart, and I knew where I was coming from but I let hurt...

As many of you know, I am currently getting to participate in the pit band for one of our local community college's production of Into the Woods. At first I just thought myself in way over my head, but I have settled down, learned to let it go when I make a mistake and move forward. I am to the point of really enjoying having the opportunity to do this. If you don't know the story, it is a mix of different fairy tales, look it up on Youtube, or someplace, I am not going through the whole thing here. There are a couple of things that happen in it that really make me think though and that is what today's devo is about. One of the main stories is Rapunzel. The witch has locked Rapunzel in a high, doorless tower. We learn through one of my favorite songs, that the witch is really trying to protect Rapunzel from the world. She sings that "Princes wait there in the world, it's true/Princes, yes, but wolves and humans, too/Stay at home, I am home/Stay a child whi...

So, History was made last Wednesday night as the Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years. I was hoping, on that next morning, that all just seemed a little bit "righter" with the world, that maybe some miracle had happened and there would be something different happening on Tuesday.....I know, I know, that's not how it works. And then I remembered there really were Cleveland Indian fans that were disappointed with the results. Tuesday comes another day in History, and I have wrestled with this election like no other. I do not like either candidate, period. I am thinking we screwed up big time for allowing these two to be on the ballot, but the deal is, it is who was voted in on the Primary (and I can say in all honesty, I DIDN'T vote for either one of them in the Primary) so there it is. And I am scared, scared of what either person would say or do that would land us all in hot water. I keep hearing my own recently retired boss saying ...

I have one thing that I have prayed for fervently since the beginning of the year. God hasn't exactly said no, and sometimes I feel he has partially answered my prayer, in fact, as I look back, there has been a lot of ways I thought he said, "I'm working on it", but I am about to decide maybe he was really saying, "I'm working on YOU". I am in the pit band for Lincoln Trail's Musical, Into The Woods. I had never seen the musical before I started working with the band, but as I watch rehearsals, there are some themes that are very clear. The main one being, "Be careful what you wish for". Sometimes, I think we need to be careful what we pray for too. I am not going to divulge what my prayer is for. It is personal, and it isn't for me, but it would (or so I think) have to go through me, for it to be answered. I think if I face facts, it would make ME feel better if it went through me, that is probably the truth of the matter.  I have po...

I think I have lamented in the past few posts that life is crazy right now. I steal little chances at peace and refreshment anytime I can. Yesterday, it came in a trip to Paris. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and a little SiriusXM subscription, I can listen to my Sirius XM in the work car. So, I tuned in my FM modulator on my hands free and viola! Now, to sit back and see what God was going to bless me with. And the song, Dear Younger Me came on. I had to laugh. Let me share the lyrics with you. Dear younger me Where do I start If I could tell you everything that I have learned so far Then you could be One step ahead Of all the painful memories still running thru my head I wonder how much different things would be Dear younger me, Dear younger me I cannot decide Do I give some speech about how to get the most out of your life Or do I go deep And try to change The choices that you’ll make cuz they’re choices that made me Even though I love this ...

What a week! I feel like I am in a giant hamster wheel trying to get from point A to point B and point B is nowhere to be found. Do you ever have those weeks? And the craziest thing is I am doing EXACTLY what I WANT to be doing, and I am loving every minute of it, but I am still on the verge of being overwhelmed. And my Savior knows I am feeling this way, this week during my quiet time, before all the craziness hits, He has sent me some remarkable words of comfort. The one that stuck out the most though: Matthew 11:28      Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And He has shown that to me this week. Last night, I stayed at work until after dark, but driving home was a gift in itself. I was listening to the radio (Casting Crowns, Jamie Grace, Matthew West....good stuff!)  and was basically the only one on the road. I was trying to take in every little thing that God made that I could see. The stars, that beautiful moon, the clo...

In last Saturday's post I mentioned seeing a family friend who was in the final days of his life. The call came early Saturday evening, that Mel Blade had went home to be with the Lord. Mel grew up with my mom, and I grew up with his kids, we may not have the same blood running through our veins but to me, we are family. They have been there for me more times than I can count and every one of them are on my short list of people I know I can count on, and I truly hope they know they can count on me. It seems over the last few years, we have lost several of the people I looked up to and learned from. And it is dawning on me, kind of reluctantly, that I am becoming that generation for the ones younger than me. I read my Bible every morning, and would love to have Ruth Marrs' knowledge of the Bible, or Vaneta Carr's. You could be talking to them about anything in the world, and I swear, they could quote you a Bible verse (and reference) that goes with that situation. I try ...

There are days you wake up and think, "This is going to be a good day!" and then there are the days you wake up and your thinking, "Well, not so much". This past Thursday morning, I really thought it was starting out pretty okay. I needed to leave the house a little early to drop by the church and so I actually ended up at work 10 minutes early. 10 minutes to get started without the phone ringing and the normal ins and outs of my day, I would really like to get in the habit of going in an hour early everyday, or at least a half hour, that normally makes the day go smoother. Thursday, it didn't matter at all that I was there early. We have days when stupid things just happen. When several stupid things happen at once, it isn't good, and to me, it is frustrating. This day, we were already having some issues with some of the applications that had been brought to our office, I had just been informed that I had totally dropped the ball on getting a new computer...

When I was in about 6th grade, I decided I wanted to try to be in the McDonald's All-American band. Although it would have been neat to be in, my main reason was, they marched in the Rose Bowl Parade, the granddaddy of them all and I really wanted to march in the Rose Bowl parade. It just so happened that my junior year of high school, I did just that, with our own high school marching band. I never imagined such a thing could happen. Here's the deal, and something you need to remember. The thing I wanted was to be in that parade . I thought I saw the only way to do it.   God saw another way . Remember that. I still have a list in my head of things I would like to do before I die. One of those things is to play in a pit band for a musical. Last week, I get a message from one of my high school band directors asking if I would like to be in the pit band for Lincoln Trail College's production of Into the Woods. I was both honored and mortified. The funny thing was I was s...