SUPER LONG TIME...

It's been a while.  I am hoping to resurrect this and make it more regular.  Here's hoping.

BLESS THE LORD

Bless the Lord, O my soul, Bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all His benefits.
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

2012 READING PLAN

Melissa and I have 5 days to decide on a reading plan that will be right for us this coming year.  We will be finishing our plan for this past year on the 29th and hope to have decided on another one by then.  This year, we have read the entire bible once through and got to read the following books a second time: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Isaiah.  We also read all of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John four times.  It was good to continually be reading the life of Jesus all through the year.  I have grown much in my knowledge of what he actually did when he was here, in the flesh.

This new year, we will be aiming at something different.  We will be seeking to 'master' 12 books, one per month, by reading the entire book in one (or two if necessary) days, every day for one month.  By the end of the year, we will have read through 12 books many times and will have a very good grasp about what the entire message of those books are.  Along with this, we would like to read the Bible through again this year once, but have yet to decide on the exact method or specific plan.  I would like to take the time to encourage you to find a plan (there are many on the internet) that fits you and get into God's written word this year.  There is nothing more important you could be doing.

THE URGENCY OF MISSIONS

THE STORY BEHIND THE HYMN

GOD'S GOODNESS

I am truly grateful for Melissa's tumor markers falling so dramatically this time around.  We just got home from another visit to the doctors in Tulsa at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America and have found that the new drugs she is on are working very nicely.  I am thankful to serve a loving God who listens to men.  God's sovereignty ought not amaze us so nearly as much as God's love for us.  It is right for God to have control of all things.  Such a being would not be God without such control and yet his love for us is not necessary to his being.  His love for us is something he chooses to do out of his sheer....well love for us.  I pray that your service to him would flow out of this never ending fountain that bears the name of Jesus.  God truly did love the world so much that he sent Jesus for the purpose of joining me to him by taking away all things that have separated us.  Why?  Well, because of his love for me.  And it is this love for me that allows, nay, is the very fiber and fuel of my boldness to ask God to do great things for me, one being that Melissa get better and not die from this terrible illness.  This is a desire of mine and I wholeheartedly desire others to see God move on my behalf so that they might begin to see the extent of God's love for them.  Yes, God is sovereign, but he is willing to use that sovereignty to give his children good things if only they would have faith to ask.

A NEW NAME AROUND HERE

Well, I renamed the blog today.  I was driving to Tulsa, OK with Melissa so she could get treatment and noticed that I was driving 55 in a 75.  I am in no hurry to get anywhere any more.  I am grateful for the great peace the Lord has given me recently.  Many have been praying for this for quite sometime and I can truly say that the Lord has come through on my behalf, thus the new name.  No hurry to get anywhere here, just a wonderful expectation that if I continue cruising in this direction, steady, I will arrive finally at my Lord's gate where I will be admitted to a true and more complete rest than I can ever conceive of here.