Fast Food

Recently I was involved in a discussion concerning which is the best way to consume fast food. Let us assume you purchase a Biggie Fries, Big Bacon Classic, and a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger. Now, which of these three items would consume first? Do you eat the biggest sandwich first and work your way into the smaller sandwich before tackling the fries? Or do you eat your fries first and then gnaw on the hamburgers? I normally eat the hamburgers first, starting with the biggest. I save my fries for last because if I manage to be to full of hamburger to eat the fries, I am not missing much. I am also curious if you are driving while eating does this change your routine?

Sickness

Sickness has invaded our home. Rachel and Jackson are the two humans in our household who seem to have normal health. The rest of us are in varying stages of the dreaded head cold. Sierra has a rather nasty sounding cough. Aleya's cough is similar to a dog barking. I have this little problem in the vocal cords as well as some sinus issues. This is really an inopportune time because I need to leave in an hour or so and go ministering with these faulty vocal cords. VOP has been asked to sing at a church function in Lynchburg this afternoon and has another engagement in Appomatox this evening. If you think about it you could remember us in prayer, specifically my inability to vocalise at a pitch higher than two octaves below middle C. Okay, that is a bit of an exaggeration but not much.......

Dusty Feet Part II

I must say I am little disappointed the previous post has not generated more discussion. I will give my view and maybe this will generate more discussion. I am of the opinion that their is a time and place to cut ties. I believe when the ties are cut it may be a wise thing to have a discussion with the party you are removing yourself from. Explain to them why you believe you need to reduce the amount of time you spend with them. Sure, they may not like it but at least they know you have a concern about their lifestyle and how it is affecting the way you live. I do not believe cutting ties should include being unfriendly. For example, just because I think it is wise to reduce the amount of time I spend with an individual does not mean I will ignore them when I meet them in town or at the gas station. It does not include ignoring the wave they toss your way when you meet them while traveling a certain local route. I think at times it is wise to spend less time with certain people. It would be silly to have someone over for a meal when you believe it will put your family at risk. Should a missionary spend all of his time focused on one individual, working hard to restore a relationship or convince the person of their sin while the rest of his flock suffers and the end result is everyone going to hell?

Dusty Feet

Jesus told the disciples to shake the dust off of their feet and condemn the city if a city or town refused to listen to the message they had to share. Several months ago, may have been a year now, we had a Sunday school lesson on this subject. Someone asked if there is a time or place for us to shake the dust off of our feet in our time. There are missionaries who struggle with churches where natives do not respect the minister and this struggle over the truth and God's word seems to never end. There are the worldly neighbors who we try to talk to and encourage who never seem to realize they have a need. Is there a time or place where we need to say my relationship with an individual is not helping him/her develop love for God and therefore the relationship should be terminated or scaled back? Certainly we would not want to lose our own souls in the process of trying to win souls? Is there a point at which a father needs to say this situation is not right/best for my family? Therefore, I will remove my family from this situation?

Sierra Janae Part Two

We tried to get some sleep after she had received her pain medication but we were to wound up to sleep. About 1:00 the nurse thought it was time. Sierra was born at 3:21 AM on Friday, Oct. 27, 2000. They moved us from a delivery room to a new mother room we finally settled in around 7:00. People came to visit that afternoon. I remember feeling like I was in a daze as I blindly invited them into the room and proudly showed them our daughter. I am so thankful for mother-in-law's support. I have never felt so helpless in my life. This ordeal lasted 52 hours but Sierra's heart beat never faltered and she was a healthy baby. Praise the Lord.
I wonder how you fathers coped with this type of situation.
Does any one know what the name Sierra Janae means?
Last I want to wish Sierra a very happy birthday. Daddy is proud of you and I want you to know I love you.
Daddy

Sierra Janae

Five years ago, Oct. 24, Rachel went into labor. Now, you may need to know this pregnancy occurred after wise, smart, intelligent people told us we had 1% chance of having biological children. This pregnancy came after struggling through infertility treatments and deciding God wanted us to adopt someone. My wife decided to use a midwife with Dr. backup. The only problem was the midwife was located in Charlottesville Va. which is an hour and a half drive. On Oct. 24 Rachel went into labor and we waited. Her mother came down on this day and she thought a ride in the pick up would be a good way to to help her get the show on the road. I was more than willing to show them the countryside and we proceeded to cover some very rough terrain. When we woke up on Wed. the 25th, things had progressed enough that we thought we should take a ride in the van to the midwife. There was some discussion as to whether her mom should go with us. After pondering it a little I decided she should go along. This turned out to be a very wise decision. We arrived at the midwives establishment around eleven in the morning. Got settled and waited. She labored and labored and labored. I labored and labored and labored. Her mother labored and labored and labored. On Thursday the 26th, we had just about had enough. I was turning into an emotional wreck. Rachel was no closer to having this baby then she was on Tuesday. After much discussion the midwife decided we should go to the hospital. There was only one little catch the hospital in Charlottesville did not like the midwives so, guess what, we got to drive an hour back to Lynchburg. I really wanted to go 100 but I managed to keep the speed around 80. After arriving at the hospital around 5 it took them 2 hours to give her an epidural. I will never forget I had finally had all I could take and I called my mother. When she answered the phone I just started weeping. She knew the baby had been lost.... She kept asking me if everything was all right and all I could blubber out was yes. The funny thing was the nurse that gave the epidural came in the room while I was on the phone. I am sure he thought I was some kind of lousy husband weeping like a baby......

Why?

Why do you read blogs?

Belonging

Yesterday morning our Jayden and Jackson were dedicated. My wife's father spoke on what it means to be a father. He touched on the incredible responsibility we have. The way we as fathers relate to our children and how that affects there view of life. How it affects there view or perception of our Heavenly Father. He talked some about how our children react to the way they are treated, do they feel loved. This thought led nicely into my dad's thoughts as he talked solely about belonging. How do our children expect to feel like they belong to us when we often mistreat them. Don't say were sorry or tell them we love them. Do we communicate with our children? The importance of having a relationship with our children. What are some ways you parents are using to develop relationships with your children. Those of you who are not married, what are some things your parents did that helped you develop a relationship with them?

Blogs/Computers

Oh, I am so very irritated at the present moment. I have tried to add two links to my side bar. The first time I did this all of my links, not the blogs, showed up in the top right above the post. I took both links off before it went back to the left place. I then added the Love Worth Finding link and all is well. I then tried to add the other link and it will not show up in the links even though it appears to be done correctly. Computers seem to have a mind of there own and appear to do what they want whenever they want regardless of my command. I would like to know why? Is this a common problem?

Tuck

Tuck is a man who loves to talk. He is a person who loves training beagles to chase rabbits. He is a man who loves children. Tuck is a man who is my friend and I enjoyed talking to him. Tuck left this world this morning at 6:00. Our school sale spirit was dampened because of this. He enjoyed attending our sale and enjoyed bidding on quilts. I was told Tuck was lying under a quilt he purchased last year at our school sale. I have reason to believe Tuck became a Christian about two weeks ago. He struggled with bitterness because a Dr. did not find the cancer which was growing in his body and should have been very obvious. I had noticed in the past year Tuck did not seem as bitter about the things that had happened to him. I hope you will take the time to remember to pray for Tuck's family as they work through the funeral details and deal with the grief. Tuck's wife died about a year ago I believe. I will miss Tuck and I regret not going to visit him last week when I thought about him. Will we ever learn to tell people we appreciate them before they leave us forever?

School Sale

The school sale is upon us. If you think about our church tomorrow please remember us in prayer. The goal is to be light in our community as well as generate funds for the school/gym. If we are not a light we will have accomplished nothing.

Questions

I wonder how life would be if Pilate would have heeded his wife's misgiving concerning Christ's crucifixion. Would there have been a crucifixion? Would they have murdered Pilate and then crucified Christ?
Another question: What did Christ do with coin He got when he was asked about whether people should pay taxes or not. He took this coin and proceeded to explain why people should pay taxes. Did he give the coin back or keep it?

Honesty

Is it possible to be to honest? Does your spouse/friend need to know every little fault you have?

The Wreck

One wintry December evening in 1986 our family was on the way to choir practice at church. The church drive is located on the top of a hill. As we were slowing down to turn a car popped over the hill. Daddy slowed down some more but the car continued to travel directly toward us. Daddy drove into the ditch and the oncoming vehicle followed us into the ditch before slamming into the front left corner of the car. The car, a Volvo, was demolished however, a cop told us if the car would not have been a Volvo Daddy probably would have been killed. The way the car was made prevented the other vehicle from climbing into the drivers seat. My mother was not wearing a seat belt and her delicate jaw made rapid contact with the tape deck. Both items were broken and the jaw experienced more pain than the tape deck. I was not wearing a seat belt either and my hard head made direct contact with the head rest on the drivers seat which resulted in a concussion. My chiropractor tells me this is why my head is not on straight and I thanked him for giving me a good excuse. My sister, Juanita, was not hurt and disappeared without telling anyone where she was going. This frazzled the mother quite a bit and she spent a considerable amount of time looking under the car trying to find her before people came pouring out of the church and informed her that Juanita had gone into the church to get help. She had dashed into the church and shouted "We had a wreck." To which the director moaned and said "Oh great, silly children!" thinking some kids had smacked into each other.
I have no recollection of this incident except for a few minor things.
1. I can see to round headlights headed for us but I have no memory of impact.
2. I remember lying on a church bench and hearing Chris Good laughing at me for repeating myself. I also remember wondering how mamma was doing.
3. I remember one split second of the trip to our family Dr. Grandaddy drove us down to Brookneal. I can see Dr. Carwile's face with his normally grim expression.
4. I remember Daddy and Dave Gingerich took me to the emergency room and I remember one point while we were there but that is all.
These memories are of the very brief sort and in some ways I hope they never fully come back to me.
Have you ever been in an accident?
Oh, by the way, the guys that hit us, they were playing basketball in our barn within the next week. Right after the wreck they jumped out of the car and started throwing bottles into the woods. I do have a vague recollection of seeing them standing at the truck and hurling beer bottles into the woods. Sometimes it feels like a bad dream......

School Sale

We are having our school sale this weekend and one of our concerns is how to keep the focus on the community not the monetary end of things. How do you find the balance between raising money and witnessing when the two are so closely tied together? It is very easy to get wrapped up in the amount of funds the auction/sale generates and forget we can use this as a witnessing tool. What would be some ways we as a congregation can focus on witnessing as well as fund raising?

Day Of Rest?

Traditionally Sunday is viewed as a day of rest or the day on which working is wrong. How do you decide what is acceptable or unacceptable Sunday behavior. Here are a couple of examples.
1. Swimming
2. Sports activities: Volley Ball, Basketball, etc.
3. Purchasing gas.
4. Traveling in general.
5. Working: dairy industry, pizza hut. Is there a difference?
These are few things to tweak your thinking.

WCPE

I was listening to wcpe this morning while milking and I heard something that I thought was rather pathetic. Someone was advertising the station. He said something about people who are looking and searching for comfort should listen to great classical music on there station. Now that sounds fine and dandy, however, great classical music is not going to restore your soul. He made another comment about how the music they play will help calm your spirit.

Kissing???

Did you know men who kiss there wives before they leave for work
A. Have fewer accidents
B. Make 20-30% more money
Have you found this to be true, oh wait, your still single.......

Sin Questions

So we have decided divorce isn't sin but remarriage is. I agree with this, however, I wonder how this affects our view of those who are remarried. For instance, there is a local Baptist preacher/beef farmer who is divorced and remarried. He is a good man and an excellent speaker. He knows the Lord, is he going to hell? Why is it okay to worship with them and then not have them lead us in worship? Are we not all sinners?

Divorce

Oh no, I must be crazy, not this topic.
Is divorce wrong? Is there ever a time when divorce is a good thing or the right thing? If I am not mistaken the Bible does give two valid reasons for divorce. The first is abandonment. When one spouse leaves the other. The second is adultery. When one spouse has a physical relationship with some one other than the spouses spouse. Wow, that is wordy....
What about abuse? Physical or verbal abuse. Is this cause for divorce? I have come to the conclusion there is time for divorce. Can we look at divorce the same way we look at excommunication? Before excommunicating someone the church will send two or three brethren to talk to the individual about the sin that has been committed. If the erring brother is still unrepentant, the church moves forward with the excommunication, hoping this will bring the erring person back to the Lord. Can the same be done with divorce? If the spouse who is in the wrong does not change after repeated admonition, why shouldn't the other spouse leave or divorce? I wonder if divorce would be a way to work on marriage problems. I believe it should be used as a last resort. However, I also believe if both people really want to fix the problem there never would be any divorce. Now, I also want to mention this little fact. I am discussing divorce, not remarriage. These are questions I have and I am wondering what your thought on the subject is. Maybe it is impossible to separate divorce from remarriage.