Passing on

I first saw this video in church a few weeks ago. I was reminded of it again, when earlier this week my Uncle Jim called to tell me that his sister's 9 month battle with cancer had ended.




Aunt Loretta had been in pretty good health most of her life and had even just passed a physical with flying colors shortly before the cancer was discovered. While it doesn't seem to always ease the loss, we do have the comfort that she is now in her true home.

Miracles - Do they happen, they do happen

I believe that miracles do happen. Sometimes we forget to see them. We actually had 3 gifts from God over the last week. Spending ever day in pain can mean a lot of things, my prayer is that it will only make me more humble and more considerate of those around me. Many people need miracles today, sometimes they get them and don't recognize them.

Two of our miracles were unexpected, little bits of money came in over the week from two unexpected sources. Those were miracles, maybe small in nature, but miracles none the least.

The third miracle outweighed the other two. My youngest daughter (two years old) got into a weed in the back yard. It appeared she ate some berries off of it. A quick search on the internet from Brad while I was calling a Master Gardner revealed from both sources that we had Deadly Nightshade or Belladonna growing through the fence in the back yard. Both sources recommended the ER. One source even stated that just a couple of the green berries could be fatal to a small child. Heather took pieces of the plant with her and the doctor confirmed, it was the really bad kind. Oh, and kids don't spit it out either, cause the berries are sweet, they don't have any bitter taste this is yucky alarm. So, a charcoal drink with anti-toxin was administered and a few hours later Kara was released with a clean bill of health and a "keep an eye on her for 24 hours".

During that time, while Heather was at the ER with her, so many people were praying for Kara. Friends and Family from Michigan to Oregon. So, in the midst of gas crisis, money crisis, financial struggles, physical pain and so much more... God reached down and performed a miracle. Maybe you want to define it one way or another, but I know that my little girl, two years old, is still alive and not sick today, and that's a gift from God, a miracle.

Thank you Lord, for your Grace, you Mercy and reaching down and touching our lives, sometimes even when we aren't looking.

What my wife had to say on her blog... PeanutButterKisses.blogspot.com

Hope for America the 4th of July

For those of us in America, the 4th of July is our Independence Day. It's a day that defines our countries first step into Freedom. While it has been muttered about as an insurrection and some people don't like to think of it; it was defined by men and women hoping and believing in a better way of life, a life that was cemented in a core belief that all men were created equal. It's still believed in to this day, by many people from many nations. People are still immigrating into this country, looking to make a dream of a better life, a better future, for themselves, their families, their companies.... really, for their hopes and dreams.

Right now, many regions of our country are torn apart and feeling hopeless. We feel the pressure of struggling housing markets, fuel prices at an astronomical high and every other commodity that we use today, being affected by both. Foreclosures, bankruptcies, credit failings, long time institutions and communities collapsing are trying to drive us into fear, into hopelessness.

The reality is hard times exist all the time. Sometimes a region will have flooding, another will have fires, another will have financial problems. In our saddest times a whole nation may be affected, whether its gas prices or towers and lives destroyed by extremists bent on revenge. In those times we remember to pull together, bound together by tragedy and indignation.

So what happens when we are bent over with struggle, trying to survive economic downturns or changes in economy? Hope is our call. It will be contagious. For some of us, our hope is in God, for others it's hope based on days gone by, where we learned that tomorrow does come and can be a better day than today was. For some, we see a future that is different than the past, there is hope and belief that we can work towards a better day tomorrow, next week, next month and next year.

My belief and my personal goal is to pass that hope on to others. When I see a discouraged look or downturned eyes, I want to remind that person that they are in a country founded on God and founded on hope. If we encourage each other and share that hope with each other, tomorrow can be a better day. It won't matter if OPEC scrambles for more money, it won't matter if oil companies inflate prices and it ripples through the cost of every product in this country.

None of that will matter, because Americans will do what they do best, stick together, stand together and fight another day for that hope and living that hope for a better tomorrow as we create it together.

This 4th of July, Thank you to all the men and women who serve this country and protect our freedom to hope for a better tomorrow.... Thank you to the men and women in our military, thank you to the families that allowed them to go, Thank you to the men and women who protect our country here, our Coast Guard and Border Patrol, our Policemen and Firemen, our Doctors, our Nurses, our Paramedics, and Thank you to the guy who goes to work at the local Hardware store, Thank you to those people that live their lives everyday, unafraid and out there, creating new hope and a fresh start every day. May we live up to the legacy you give us every day....

Happy 4th of July