Heading For Thanksgiving

This pic cracks me up! It shows 8 turkeys, like my family of 8 traveling in a station wagon across America when we were kids. Turkeys we were!!!

Camo Couch

Look very carefully before you sit on it.

When Your Hut's On Fire

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?' Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! 'How did you know I was here?' asked the weary man of his rescuers. 'We saw your smoke signal,' they replied. The Moral of This Story: It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God. And I want to add to this: When we are in trouble and we want a solution, we will build a hut. If the hut burns down we think it is the end of the world for us. When the burning down of the hut produces the solution to totally bring us out of trouble, we realize that God had to bring us through worse trouble to get us out of trouble altogther. We were going to be content with a hut on an island, but God was trying to get us completely off the island by burning down the hut, but things looked completely hopeless for a while, until the rescue came.

Johnny Depp

Reasons for posting this photo:

I liked the black/white effect. It is great photography.
Depp is a unique actor - more complex, interesting, not just a sex symbol, though attractive.
To show I'm not dead.
Just to see if anyone is actually reading my blog.
Disclaimer: even though he is smoking a cigarette, I am against smoking - it is harmful to your health. He's just trying to look cool, but remember, smoking isn't cool.

Christian Bashing

Since it so in vogue to bash Christians, it is not surprising to find a cartoon on the editorial page of the Minneapolis Star/Tribune that does the same.

It is a cartoon by L.K. Hanson and he has a quote above it by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish playwright and writer:

"I have never come across anyone in whom the MORAL SENSE was dominant who was not heartless, cruel, vindictive, log-stupid and entirely lacking in the smallest sense of humanity."

The cartoon is of a woman with her mouth wide open, showing her mercury fillings, and these are the words coming out of her mouth:

"I'm always right and I never lie"
"Feminists have ruined things for ladies like me"
"My religion is the only true religion"
"The sixties have caused the collapse of society"
"The gays are taking over"

This is all thought-provoking. Clearly, the group of people being targeted is Christians, and the conservatives.

The quote makes no sense. A moral sense precludes the negative things that he mentions. A moral sense ought to make you much more humane, much less heartless, should take away cruelty and vindictiveness, etc.

What makes him say these things? And he wrote them back in the end of the 19th century.

And what makes L.K. Hanson write the things he writes coming out of her mouth? "I'm always right and I never lie." Truly, if any says "I'm always right" it comes from pride. Saying "I never lie" is also prideful and never true.

And maybe the way Christians have dealt with some of the other issues hasn't been godly, such as the way they defend the truth, or the way they deal with sin problems such as homosexuality.

Though I was initially annoyed by the cartoon and the quote, this caused me to reflect on ways that Christians have failed to love and to live out the life of Jesus.

It's something to think about.

We Noticed

No matter who you voted for, don't you think that our president could at least salute the flag? Here he is on Saturday at Arlington.

Doris

What does the world care about one overweight, older black woman with no money, no job, no husband, no children in the area, nothing to speak of?

I met Doris at a church I was going to in South Minneapolis. She has been diagnosed Schizophrenic and lives in a group home in North Minneapolis. She was married to an abusive husband and her children live in Mississippi and she never sees them. They call her once in a while.

Sounds grim unless you know Doris and how sweet she is. She loves Jesus, and will always ask what you need prayer for when you come to see her and then she will pray a heart-felt prayer of faith. At the church she loves to get the opportunity to lay hands on someone for healing.

God spoke to me during the summer when I visited my home-town and the place where my childhood home once stood. There is now an apartment building standing where the house stood that houses mainly older women who are low-income. As I walked slowly past the building and watched the women sitting outside their building, biding their time with nothing to do but smoke, and with an air of despair, I heard God, I think, ask me if I was willing to give my life to helping people like this. Because there but for the grace of God go I.

I struggled with that. These people are the unlovely and unloveable. They are the rejects of society. I don't desire them anymore than anyone else.

But I realized I had already begun to reach out to women like these in the form of Doris and one other woman from that same church.
I take Doris out to lunch sometimes.
Here we are at Old Country Buffet.

Doris' prayer requests:

1. to find a husband and home of her own

2. to get out of financial bondage into God's prosperity for her

3. to be healed of schizophrenia

One Perfect Thing

I realize now the folly of trying to find a pet to replace a pet you had. I found this cat and thought he would be Tubby all over again. He was not. I already returned him to the Animal Humane Society because he was far too intense for my family, being a 4 year old male who wasn't neutered until recently.

But he was such a love, anyway, and I quickly began to get attached. He was so affectionate, and would put his head right next to your head, and you could feel the current coming from him. You know how that is with a human, if they put their head right to your head, and how uncomfortable that can be unless you share a strong bond with them?

With an animal like this it is divine. You realize that they are divine - that they have a spirit inside them that comes from God, that they are God-given.

They are the perfection of God's design. I can say that even though he was imperfect and we had to return him. He was such joy and delight. He added just the love and joy I was needing in my life after losing my cat Buddy.

Animals show God's perfection, in that they are so perfectly designed, unmarred by sin. I am lamenting that I had to return him, but rejoicing that my life was blessed with the time I had with him. His name was Caboose.

The Son

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art.
They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They
would often sit together and admire the great
works of art.

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was
very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The
father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.


About a month later, just before Christmas,


There was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with
a large package in his hands.


He said, 'Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom
your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying
me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly.
He often talked about you, and your love for art…. The young man held out
this package. 'I know this isn't much.. I'm not really a great artist,
but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.'

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son,
painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had
captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so
drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the
young man and offered to pay him for the picture. 'Oh, no sir, I could
never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift.'


The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors
came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he
showed them any of the other great works he had collected.


The man died a few months later... There was to be a great
auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over
seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for
their collection.


On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer
pounded his gavel. 'We will start the bidding with this picture of the
son. Who will bid for this picture?'


There was silence.


Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, 'We want to see the
famous paintings. Skip this one.'


But the auctioneer persisted. 'Will somebody bid for this
painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?'


Another voice angrily.. 'We didn't come to see this painting. We
came to see the Van Gogh's, the Rembrandts.. Get on with the real bids!'

But still the auctioneer continued. 'The son! The son! Who'll
take the son?'

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the
longtime gardener of the man and his son.. 'I'll give $10 for the
painting...' Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.

'We have $10, who will bid $20?'

'Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.'


The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the
son.
They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.


The auctioneer pounded the gavel. 'Going once, twice, SOLD for
$10!'


A man sitting on the second row shouted, 'Now let's get on with
the collection!'


The auctioneer laid down his gavel. 'I'm sorry, the auction is
over.'


'What about the paintings?'


'I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was
told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal
that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be
auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate,
including the paintings.


The man who took the son gets everything!'

God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like
the auctioneer, His message today is: 'The son, the son, who'll take the
son?'


Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.


FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, WHO SO
EVER BELIEVETH, SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE......THAT'S LOVE!

Losing and winning the Silly Saturday Contest!

Someone just sent me this photo, captioned. Sherri ran this same photo in her Saturday contest a while back, and I captioned it. Here were my entries:

Dear God, please take care of Daddy and Mommy and my sister and brother and me, and Buddy. And please take care of yourself, God. If anything happens to you, we're gonna be in a big mess.

Dog:
Dear God,
How come people love to smell flowers, but seldom, if ever, smell one another?

Dog: Dear God, When we get to Heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it the same old story?

None of my captions won but that's OK. None of them were my own originals:)!

Here's the caption my friend sent with it:

'Dear Lord: Thank you for bringing me to Timmy's house and not to Michael Vick's -- AMEN!'

I just wanted to post this photo again because it is so darn cute! And I just won Sherri's contest, finally, after many Silly Saturdays of throwing in my captions. Yippee!!

Healing of Hypothyroidism - my 1,000th post!

This is strange. It has been hard to tell people about this. Why? People reject hearing about an absolute, in-your-face miracle of healing by the hand of God. It is amazing!

This is one of those.

God has healed my hypothyroidism.

When I told someone about it, she said, “well, it won’t always be that way. You’ll probably still need to take Synthroid someday.” Great. Great response to a tangible miracle. Why is it that people reject something so amazing?

Only months ago, a doctor had found that my thyroid level was low, which is indicated by a thing called TSH. When the TSH level is high, that means that your thyroid is low.

My TSH level was 7.45, and the normal range is between 0.2-4.5. My doctor prescribed Synthroid, but I wrote her a letter saying I would not be taking Synthroid, and that Jesus Christ still heals today.

She had already sent me a prescription for Synthroid, and ordered another test of my thyroid level two months later, perhaps thinking I was, in fact, taking Synthroid.

I went in for the test, but not until I first went for healing prayer to the healing rooms in Brooklyn Center, MN. I had hands laid on me and I was anointed with oil for healing. I also read scriptures on healing and prayed to the Lord for healing.

I got the test back and it proved that the Lord had done the first truly tangible, physical miracle in my life! My TSH had gone down. It was now 5.58.

My insurance was going to end and so I wanted another test done before I was not going to be able to get more tests done. I got another test about two months later. I had been prayed for again at the healing rooms, and by other healing ministers, and continued to read healing scriptures out loud and pray.

The test came back. The Lord had done it again. Now my TSH had gone down yet farther. It was now 5.37! At the level it is now, the doctor merely says, “slightly elevated, stable.” I don’t know if the doctor realizes that I’m not taking Synthroid, but she didn’t prescribe Synthroid.

Now, I will believe God for my TSH to go all the way to normal.

Question not if the Lord wants to heal you! I don’t.

The 7 Wonders Of The World

Here is the first of the seven wonders of the world: my cat Tubby, last seen in Texas, walking along a highway near Fort Worth. When we were at the Grand Canyon, people stopped taking photos of the Canyon, and started shooting pictures of him on his leash!