Second Month

     Today marks the last day of the second month of 2011. Like many people, I set some goals for the year.

• #1 Start a blog called Everyday Thankfulness to encouraging thankfulness.
• #2 Start a blog called Pupperville Ponderings where I can post all my puppet stories with some added thoughts to ponder.
• #3 Finish making the rest of my unfinished puppets.
• #4 Finish studying out the book of Revelation

      As of today I've been able to make progress on all of my goals

• #1 I've continued this blog and have been able to keep up on it everyday now for two months - only 10 months to go.
• #2 Pupperville Ponderings has now had 8 posts made to it.
• #3 I still have no new puppets finished, but I did collect some storage bins for them and did some cutting on the sock part of the puppets.
• #4 Collected yet another resource on Revelation and finished breaking down all the chapters for further study.

      How have you been doing on your goals...

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For the ability to set goals to work towards
• For making progress towards fulfilling them

Laura Danielle

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Psalms 127:3 (NAS)

     February 27,2007 was a very special day

• The week of Feb 25,2007 was suppose to be a week of nights at work for me but that changed
• On Sunday the 25th I fired up the snow blower and cleaned out the driveway from a snow storm
• Sunday evening my wife started having stronger contractions and we decided to call in the midwife - we didn't want to take chances after Melissa but that's another story.
• What turned out to be the first layer of membranes ruptured and people started to arrive for the big event
• Labor continued but nothing progressed, the midwife stayed the night and we tried to get sleep.
• Monday morning I called into work to take the week off expecting baby to come soon.
• Through out the day miscellaneous things were tried to help labor along - many friends came over to walk the road with my wife - Walking is suppose to help but when she walked labor quit, when she rested labor continued.
• Evening came, the baby didn't so we tried again to get some sleep - midwife spent another night and my lead at work wondered why I hadn't called with stats on the new baby.
• Tuesday morning labor progressed and transition finally came along with more friends to witness the birth.
• Getting hot, my wife wanted to switch to a lighter night gown - it never happened - the midwife said forget the gown and I proceeded to catch a baby girl.
• That evening I made a quick trip to town to show off pictures at work - I was forgiven for not calling sooner.
• Today Laura Danielle turns 4 years old

     Dear Lord, Thank you

• For Laura Danielle and the 4 years we've had her.
• For all 7 of the children you have given us

Love Never Fails

     1 Corinthians 13:8 - Love never fails;

      The following is one of the songs we had sung at our wedding...

Unfailing love flows from His heart, and heals my soul,

In spite of who I am, He loves, and makes me whole.

I almost can't believe it's true, unfailing love,

And yet I know, He gave His life to give to me unfailing love.

If the highest mountains turn to ashes,

If mighty rivers should run dry,

Should sun and moon grow dim,

I still will trust in Him,

He's watching from above,

I'm resting in His love

Unfailing love flows from His heart, and heals my soul,

In spite of who I am, He loves, and makes me whole.

I almost can't believe it's true, unfailing love,

And yet I know, He gave His life to give to me unfailing love.

Pelle Karlsson

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For love that never fails

Endures

     1 Corinthians 13:7 - Love ... Endures all things.

      What does it mean for love to endure? It means to stay behind or remain it doesn't retreat or back away. From the POSB Commentary we read that the Greek word for endure is a military word meaning to stand against the attack of an enemy. Love actively fights and endures all attacks. Love is strong, full of fortitude and fight, and it struggles against any and every assault to buckle in to being unloving. Love conquers and triumphs - always - because it endures all things.

      Sometimes we are quite unlovable.... I'm quite unlovable.... (just ask) but I'm still loved.

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For loving me (us) when we are unlovable.
• For those who love me (us) just the same

Hopes

     1 Corinthians 13:7 - Love hopes all things...

     Barclay says this of love's hope - it expects the good to eventually triumph and to gain the victory; it refuses to accept failure; it always hopes for the best and for the ultimate triumph of the good - no matter how fallen or how tragic the fall or how difficult gaining the victory may seem.

     Many people seem hopeless and at time I'm sure we do as well, yet there are those who hold out hope for us and encourages us along.

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For those who never give up on us.
• For those instill hope with in us.

Believes All

     1 Corinthians 13:7 Love...believes all things...

      Truth can be stranger than fiction.

      Have you ever been told not to believe everything you hear? Since we are human, we have a limited amount of knowledge and sometimes it can be difficult to believe some of the things we hear and yes, sometimes we shouldn't.

      Sometimes we may be asked to believe things when the one asking has a reputation for not telling the truth like the boy who cried "Wolf!"

      Sometimes we are that person who needs to believed and despite the fact that what we have to say may not be believable, someone tries.

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For those who take the time to listen
• For those who believe in us no matter what

Love Bears

     1 Corinthians 13:7 Love bears all things... (ESV)

      What does it mean for love to bear.... The word for bear in the Greek language means to cover. Adan Clarke's Commentary on this says the following:

      Love conceals every thing that should be concealed; betrays no secret; retains the grace given; and goes on to continual increase. A person under the influence of this love never makes the sins, follies, faults, or imperfections of any man, the subject either of censure or conversation. He covers them as far as he can; and if alone privy to them, he retains the knowledge of them in his own bosom as far as he ought.

      Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. - 1 Peter 4:8 (ESV)

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For those who can keep things quite

Presidents Day

      Until 1971, both February 12 and February 22 were observed as federal public holidays to honor the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and George Washington (February 22). In 1971 President Richard Nixon proclaimed one single federal public holiday, the Presidents' Day, to be observed on the 3rd Monday of February, honoring all past presidents of the United States of America.

      Over the years we've had many presidents, some great, some not so great, some we may like , some we may not like, and even one that I'm suppose to be related too. And while we have the privilege here in America to elect our presidents, ultimately it is God who is in control. Romans 13:1 - Obey the government, for God is the one who has put it there. There is no government anywhere that God has not placed in power. (TLB)

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For our presidents - liked or unliked
• For being in control

What a Friend

     The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds." - Matthew 11:19 (ESV)

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All ours sins and griefs to bear,

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Saviour still our refuge;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise forsake thee?

Take it to the Lord in prayer!

In His arms He'll take and shield thee;

Thou wilt find a solace there.

Joseph M. Scriven and Charles C. Converse

Dear Lord, Thank you

• For being our Friend

To Rejoice or Not

      1 Corinthians 13:6 - Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (NIV)

      Who doesn't love a celebration? A time when we get together for a birthday, anniversary, a graduation, a promotion, a victory, a goal reached, a reunion, the list could go on. And when we celebrate we enjoy having our family and friends rejoice with us for what ever the occasion.

      On the flip side, when things go wrong it's kind of nice when those same family and friends come along and give us comfort and encouragement instead of laughing at us.

      Love is like that. God is like that.

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For family and friends who rejoice when we rejoice and don't rejoice when things go wrong
• For Your love for us

Storage Bins

     Since one of my goals for the year is to finish making the new puppets I started however long ago it was... I decided that they would not all fit in the current storage bin that I have been using to store them in.

      With that thought in mind I picked up the ad and guess what... Storage bins were on sale. Since my wife was in town and more than likely going shopping at that particular store, I called her on her cellphone and yep, she was going shopping there and had just pulled in to the parking lot. I now have two new, nice, blue storage bins for all my puppets.

      As I look around the house and storage shed we have many such bins and not just for puppets. They're used for Christmas stuff and toys as well. Juts imagine what it would be like if we didn't have such nice containers to store things in...

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For all of the puppets
• For storage bins to keep them in

Calculators

    I picked her up to take her to the Christian Olympics and when it was done I brought her home, no problem other than the fact that she forgot her calculator in my car and needed it for a college class. The simple solution, stick it in a oversized envelope with an index card with a little bit of writing on it and mail to her. And so began my letter writing which lasted until I bought another calculator, another oversized envelope, wrote on another index card and mailed it to her right before we got married.

Over the years I've gone through quite a few of them from the simple ones that fit on a watch to more complex ones with more advanced features. Yes calculators are great and too often we just take it for granted that when we need to do some math there will be one around.

     Of course, there is still the old fashioned method of doing math with a piece of paper and a pencil. Several years ago at work I actually had to show someone how to do division with out a calculator... Amazing. Of course the calculator would have been faster.

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For the many things calculators can do for us
• For that forgotten calculator so many years ago

Love Forgets

     1 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV) ... Love is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

      Please don't get angry with me if I can't remember what I was going to blog about today.....

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For not being angry with me when I mess up
• For truly forgiving me
• For those around me that do likewise

Love Thinks of Others

     1 Corinthians 13:5 - Love is not rude, it does not insist on its own way

      You get up to the check out line at the same time as someone else and they step and let you go first and you think to yourself "How rude for letting me go first." You plan a get together with some friends and they tell you you can pick the meeting place for lunch and you think "How selfish, they're letting me pick where I want to meet."

      Don't you just hate it when people think of others first? Well, no, not really. The world is full of rude inconsiderate people that want to have it their way or no way at all but that's now what love is like.

Dear Lord, Thank you

• For thinking so highly of us even though you're God
• For those who think of others before themselves

Valentines Day

     It is said that Roman Emperor Claudius II, created a law forbidding marriage in hopes to booster his army. He believed that married men made poor soldiers. Valentine refused to adhere to the law and secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail.

     While in jail it is said that Valentine was interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. but before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing his jailer's blind daughter whom he had befriended.

     On the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he would have written the first "valentine" card himself, addressed to the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed. It was a note that read "From your Valentine."

     In 496 A.D. Christianity had taken over Rome and Pope Gelasius outlawed the pagan Lupercian Festival. Knowing it’s popularity, he looked to replace it with something more ‘appropriate’ and set aside a day in February to honor the martyr St. Valentine. Even though in 1969 Pope Paul VI removed St. Valentines Day from it’s calendar of ‘official’ holidays, it is still widely celebrated today.

     Today, Valentines has become a celebration of love, a day to tell those we love that we love them.

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For all those who love us, including You
• For those whom we can love

Friends

     Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble. - Proverbs 17:17 (MSG)

Dear Lord, Thank you

• For each of my friends wherever they may be
• That I can be a friend to others

Sno Feast

     This weekend my daughter is enjoying herself at Sno Feast, a gathering of youth sponsored by the Church of Christ in Kimball, Mn. I made it there once many years ago as a chaperone and it is definitely a great time for teens. In the mean time....

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For those at Kimball who host Sno Feast
• For Sno Feast itself and its benefit for those who attend

Hard Drive

     Last week I did the first major upgrade on my computer since I built it - I installed an additional hard drive.

      When I built the computer several years ago, I had decided to put a 250 gig hard drive in it thinking that I would never fill it up. So, I was wrong. I keep finding more and more wonderful things to download off the internet and since my wife surprised my a few years ago for my birthday by upgrading our internet from dial up to DSL, downloading lots of stuff became feasible.

      I still have the 250 gigabyte hard drive installed and now I have an additional terabyte of storage and this time I'm not going to say I'll never fill it up.

Dear Lord, Thank you

• For my computer and it's storage capacity.
• For all the wonderful things available to download
  • Movies
  • Sermons
  • Music
  • Lectures
  • Articles

The Humble Sort

     1 Corinthians 13:4 ... Love does not brag and is not arrogant,

      Opposite of envy or jealousy (Tuesday's post) is arrogance and bragging. Instead of wanting what another has because we don't have it, we boast of what we have that others don't. Love isn't like that, Love is humble.

      Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:3-11 (NAS)

Dear Lord, Thank you

• For Your humble example towards us
• For those who humble themselves for oursake

Rechargeable Batteries

     Around our house there is something we tend to go through a lot of - AA Batteries. They're used in flashlights by little kids who tend to leave them on, they're used in cameras, and they're were used in the Wii remotes.

     When Aaron first got his Wii, which everyone uses, we went through lots and lots of AA batteries so I decided to get rechargeable batteries for the remotes and a charger that went with it. That worked great, and my stash of batteries quit disappearing saving us money, however....

     Nothing lasts forever and the kids ruined the charger and I became stingy with my batteries and the rechargeable batteries were greatly missed. - Never fear a new one was ordered and the kids can again play games.

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For rechargeable batteries

Love is not Jealous

      1 Corinthians 13:4 ... Love is not Jealous

      Rachel (Gn 30:1), Joseph's brothers (Gn 37:11), Saul (1 Sm 18:8), Dathan and Abiram (Ps 106:16,17) Commissioners and Satraps (Dn 6:4), Religious Leaders (Mt 27:18), and Jews (Ac 13:45) all have something in common. All of them at one time or another became envious or jealous of another and in most cases. their jealousy led them to try and harm the one whom they should have been showing love to.

      Most all of us could probably say that we have been on both sides of the jealousy issue. Despite God's warning, we've been jealous of others or had others jealous of us, or both and if I dare say we may even try to make others jealous. Again, jealousy leads to no good. So with that in mind, it leads me to say...

Dear Lord, Thank you

• That we have nothing for you to be jealous of

• For those who love us without being jealous of us

Super Bowl?

     To be honest, unless the Minnesota Vikings are playing in the Super Bowl, I could care less about watching the game or who wins. Yesterday's Super Bowl game was no different. Further more, not only did my not watching the game not effect its outcome, it's outcome did not effect me and I'm sure most people I know could say the same thing.

       On the plus side, a lot of people have Super Bowl parties and get togethers and those can make a difference as people spend time fellowshipping with one another. Here in Warroad I took the oldest two kids to one such party with a half time devotion by a former pro football player.

     Dear Lord, Thank you

• For times of fellowship with friends and family

Love is Kind

     1 Corinthians 13:4 ...Love is kind...

      O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. - Psalms 63:1-8 (NASB)

      One could read through the Psalms and find there is much to be said about God's Loving Kindness or one could just look around for God's loving Kindness surrounds.

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For your great kindness towards me

All in one Printer

     Recently my printer has been displaying a warning on its little LCD screen telling me it needs more ink. Since my ink supplies are running low I went shopping on the internet looking for some good deals and I think I found some at a place through Amazon.com.

      All too often, the printers is forgotten about till the day comes that you need to print something and you find that you're totally out of ink, or you have no more paper to run through it or something else is wrong and than you whine and complaining.

      At our house, seeing how we are a homeschooling family, our all in one printer get's used a lot and when it goes down it is missed.

Dear Lord, Thank you

• For our all in one printer and for all it does
• For supplies that can be found rather easily

Love is Patient

     1 Corinthians 13:4 - Love is patient...

      Gladys and Rhonda walked along the sidewalk after church. They were on their way home, thinking about meals planned for later that afternoon and casually discussing the morning service.
"That was a great sermon on patience," remarked Rhonda.

Gladys replied, "Yeah, but he went five minutes long."

      What do you think of when you think of patience? For me, I think of a snail called Herbert.

      It's easier to have patience with others when we remember God's patience toward us.

2 Peter 3:9 says The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (NASB)

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For your patience with me
• For the patience of others with me

Swim Night

     Do to the fact that the gymnasiums that are used for game time for the kids are not available on four of our AWANA nights, swim nights became a fun option for the kids. Last night marked our second AWANA swim night of the year.

      Since I'm am not much on swimming, I take it upon myself to help monitor the boys locker room and guard the hot tub. Yeah, it's a rough job, but someone has to do it. Actually, last night I did neither. The secretary was gone so my wife was filling in for her which meant I needed to use my time taking care of David. Oh, well, two more swim nights to go.

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For swim nights for the kids
• For a hot tub to enjoy

Ground Hog Day

     In America, February 2nd is known as Ground-Hog Day, an American tradition that supposedly predicts when spring will arrive. According to legend, the ground hog, also called the woodchuck, awakens from its winter sleep on February 2 and emerges from its burrow. If the sun is shining that day and the ground hog sees its shadow, it will be scared back into its den, and there will be six more weeks of winter. But if it is cloudy and the ground hog does not see its shadow, it will come out, and spring will arrive soon.

      For hundreds of years, European farmers had similar traditions that involved bears, badgers, and other animals. Germans who settled in Pennsylvania brought the custom to America. The ground hog, which is plentiful in the Eastern and Midwestern United States, became linked with the custom. The custom is partly based on ancient and traditional weather signs. People have long looked to the awakening of hibernating animals as one of the first signs of spring.

     February 2nd is also known as Candlemas Day, a festival to celebrates the presentation of Christ in the Temple. This festival was to be a replacement of a pagan candlelight ceremony celebrating the return of light and like Ground Hog Day, British rhymes incorporate the belief that the weather on Candlemas Day indicates the weather of coming weeks.

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight;
But if it be dark with clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again.

     While many people look forward to spring this time of year, winter in Northern Minnesota has the tendency to stick around regardless of the today's weather today, so let's just enjoy it.
 
     Dear Lord, Thank you

• For Winter and all that comes with it
  

The Love Of God

      Seeing how Valentines day happens to fall in the month of February, and love is always associated with Valentines day, I thought I'd make love an underlying theme for many of the things this month for which we should be thankful starting with the love of God.

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen could ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell

The guilty pair bowed down with care
God gave His Son to win
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin

Could we with ink the oceans fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above
Would drain the oceans dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Oh love of God so rich so pure
So measureless and strong
It shall forevermore endure

The saints and angels song

Mercy Me

      For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. - John 3:16 (NKJV)

      Dear Lord, Thank you

• For Your great love for us