the older I get....

The older I get, the more I begin to think that I understand God. I know, I will never fully understand God for He is to great and vast for me, but the older I get the more I start to get Him. 


Today I am thinking of -


The daily rising and setting of the sun


The hospitality of one another


The importance of moments


PEOPLE - Their smiles and looking into their eyes and seeing their life looking right back at me. The truth of people.






and part of this whole big understanding of God is that I really do have everything I need. He has provided me with so very much. He gives me food, He gives me shelter and He gives me clothing and it is for this I give Him many, many thanks. 

the light in the darkness

there are those of us who's hearts are hardened and cannot see the truth, the light of Christ and it is these people we pray for, for their hearts to be softened for their eyes to see the light for the TRUTH to be revealed to them and for them to embrace it. 


TO GOD BE THE GLORY FOREVER AND EVER. 


true light cannot be hidden. it shines and shines and shines. 


for Jesus did not come into the world to judge the world, but to save the world. (John 12)

Taylor J

                                           

Awesome! Drawsome! 

(taylor)

Taylor is a mere 20 years old and is still as much of a wonder and joy as when he was one. He is sleeping across from me now as the train stops in Baltimore en-route to DC for some work time. I love watching him find himself and discover who he is. 


All of our children have incredible qualities of humanity and it is these qualities that impress upon me the most. 


Sean with his insight and patience never ceases to amaze me. How I wish I had his patience. Sean is always able to take the view of walking in another's shoes and seeing it from the eyes of others. He has incredible compassion and belief in others. 


Ary with her sass and frass is a hoot. This kid is incredibly disciplined. She has drive, passion and vision. And talk about caring and slowing down for others...she has it all. What impresses me the most is her taking that love of others and turning it into a nursing career. 


And of course the baby, Taylor; a man of  character. A man who sees others with honest love. A man who looks at others and even among their faults and errors does not judge. Taylor, he and all my children are growing into people of whom one can say....their name is good. 


Thank you. 

no skateboarding on the porch allowed

Philadelphia's University City (WARNING THIS IS A RANT!) District recently completed a city beautification project at 30th Street Station. It is really sharp! A much pleasanter walk is in store for you, the pedestrian. Frankly I thought the whole idea was money misspent, but I guess it kept the unions happy.

Navigating around the station with a vehicle is much more difficult and precious parking spaces have vanished.

This area is designated as The Porch, as chosen from 500 entries. It really is nice and has been complete for about two months and I have not witnessed anyone utilizing the space. For a while they had a guard standing watch, haven't seen them for a while.....then, one night, as I walked through on my way to the El, I noticed a few teenagers utilizing the space quite nicely, so for 10 minutes or so I watched them. They were skateboarding on the edges of the newly installed granite. They were good and doing the usual videotaping of their stunts. They were having great fun and it was joy to see them utilizing the new Porch, but alas, that was all in the past as no sooner had the space been properly utilized a week later, small metal abutments were added to the granite benches to prevent a skateboarder from grinding it out on the granite.

Yeah....I know we can all differ on the importance of this issue, but I have watched as Septa benches have been replaced with new and improved benches that do not allow for proper sleeping and I believe that people should dictate the use of space by....well.....the use of it. It really is a silly thing. And small in the scheme of life.

I just can't help thinking of how vibrant youth are and how we continually make it difficult for them.

I do encourage you to check out The Porch and even utilize it. Just be sure to sit quietly.

.

cracked my windshield and the moral is.....

TOP TEN POSITIVE THINGS ABOUT CRACKING MY WINDSHIELD 

1 - No one got hurt
2 - People in the Home Depot lot felt better about themselves as they looked at my windshield
3 - Apparently I have superhuman strength 
4 - The glass industry is thankful
5 - I have been thinking about a new car
6 - I am now thinking I need to be extra careful with my circular saw and router today
7 - It really is a pretty big crack....this is no wimp little tiny crack
8 - I got to hear other stories of cracked windshields
9 - This will definitively give my wife and I something to talk about tonight in the car
10 - I really needed something to write about


Two additional thoughts - the song Nobody's Fault But Mine is running rampant through my head now AND "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose" 


k...time to go plug in the router

why I believe in God

Why I believe in God, any q's feel free to ask. Thank you.

1.  There is good and evil
2.  Hearts and love- Love is real. Love is beautiful. I know God w/my heart.
3.  I see God in the beauty of everything, the sun, the moon, the stars and more importantly in people
4.  The Holy Spirit- I can feel the wind, but cannot see it. When everything is right. I feel the Holy Spirit
5.  Other, I see God in other people. All you have to do is look.
6.  The bible is the most powerful thing I know. It's words are alive and they grow.
7.  The hard heart. The disbelief and strength of the hard heart is in of itself enough to make me believe.
8.  I talk to God and He talks to me.
9.  The one thing that I know- God is THE only truth I have ever found in life.
10. The name of God...His name scorned, trashed and adored.

for what it's worth at the end of the day (and the beginning) His name, His word, His love sustains me.

thumbs up for rock 'n' roll ! ! ! !

There's this ultra cool youtube vid of a kid who just learned to ride his bike and his dad asks him to relay the experience. 


"I feel...I feel...I feel...I feel happy of myself"


"Everybody! I know you can believe in yourself!"


"anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it" Jesus


I love watching and listening to little children. They are so precious and so ready to trust. I will not forget when our youngest son Taylor asked me for the truth....the truth about Santa. I felt like Jack Nicholson from A Few Good Men when he spouts off about the masses not being able to handle the truth. I didn't think Taylor could handle the truth. But I asked him, "do you really want to know?", "yes," he replied. "No, Taylor, do you REALLY want to know the truth?", "yes, daddy, please". "Okay," I said, and then I told him the truth. Taylor got angry with me, so very angry, would not talk to me and cut me off for two days. No words, just hurt, anger and sorrow. 


Taylor believed whatever we told him. Blindly, innocently and without question. I watch and listen to young children and they believe in God that way. When Jesus says we must receive the kingdom of God like a little child, I want to do so. BLINDLY and INNOCENTLY and WITHOUT an OUNCE of doubt. I want that doubt to shrink into oblivion. 


I am sorry for not having enough wisdom to not ever lie to any of my children about Santa. I should have started with the truth there. They all turned out a-okay though. 


More importantly I want myself and family to have that belief, that BLIND BELIEF in GOD. 
That INNOCENCE. that trust. 


I want to always "feel happy of myself" and declare a "thumbs up for rock 'n' roll" and a thumbs up for God.