Sudoku...

Have you found the craze of Sudoku puzzles yet? Yep it's all in the numbers. My brother Mike got me hooked on them during a family vacation in Florida at the first of the year. Try one, make it an easy one and watch it catch on. The idea is to make the numbers fit in the grid (plan) is the key.

Life sometimes can be crazy. With all the multi-tasking that we all do now, we find ourselves still looking for that: purpose, significance and destiny that God had wired us all for. We've all read;

Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".

Wow what words! Yet trying to get everything to fit in the right place is where our faith comes into play. I've often said that God would rather pick up the pieces after trying to step out and yet making a mistake, then He would trying to get us going! It's called inertia. Inertia: "the tendancy of matter to remain at rest, unless effected by an outside force" - Websters.

Well, we have not the outside force, but the inside force of the Holy Spirit in us, working in and through us to do the work of His good pleasure. Can we accomplish what Jeremiah 29:11 promises? You bet, it all fits, every member working together for the common good that He has planned for us. Let me 'kingdom builders' this week - His and not our own.


IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT WEEK!
MT

Sundays...

Yes, this is Sunday, or the 'Sabbath'. The day the Lord made for rest, reflection & the day in which we spend worshipping the Lord. While it is not honored in a lot of our world anymore, let us always remember what Jesus said about it. "Man was not made for the sabbath, but the sabbath was made for man".

God is calling out for all of His kids to come close and sit with Him. He yearns to hear our stories, requests, testimonies and praises for who He is and what He has done. So He has given to us 'Sabbath' to position ourselves at His throne and to see His love, grace and mercy. I even find myself tuning to other radio and TV stations on Sundays, looking to get myself in order to seek His face.

My brother Brian sings a song called, "He Knows My Name". He, as a loving Father does, knows my name and every detail about me, and yet He still is calling me today to "Come Unto Me" and fellowship. Do you hear His voice calling you today? In whatever you are doing today, don't forget to spend time at His feet and enjoy this and every SABBATH!


Have an AWESOME day!
MT

Abigail is here...

Abigail has arrived. She was born at 10:22 Friday night June 27th on her mom's birthday. She weighed in at 7 lbs 9 oz and was 21" long. SHE'S A BEAUTY! As you can tell.

Life is Good!

News came to us on Thursday that our son & daughter-in-law Ashley, were going into the hospital for the delivery of our next grandchild. If all goes well, Abigail will arrive sometime on Friday, which would be her moms birthday - what a present! Brooke, our daughter, packed fast and got down to Evansville from Indy, just in time for Dad's birthday party and a quick stop by the hospital to see the kids. Wow, Thursday was a buzz!

Kids & Grandkids - man oh man. The Bible declares loudly that, "Children are a heritage from the Lord". They are truly a gift from the Lord. God has blessed us with some great kids, Brooke, Weston and wife Ashley, grand-daughter Amariah and Abigail coming real soon. Love You Guys! I'm learnng more and more what God meant when He talked about 'heritage'.

HERITAGE:
While walking through the forest one day, a man found a young eagle who had fallen out of his nest. He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens. One day a naturalist passed by the farm and asked why it was that the king of all birds should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens. The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it had never learned to fly. Since it now behaved as the chickens, it was no longer an eagle.

"Still it has the heart of an eagle," replied the naturalist, "and can surely be taught to fly." He lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, "You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly."

The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again. The naturalist took the bird to the roof of the house and urged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly."

But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and world and jumped down once more for the chicken food. Finally the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held the king of the birds high above him and encouraged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly."

The eagle looked around, back towards the barnyard and up to the sky. Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched his wings, and with a triumphant cry, soared away into the heavens.

It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia. It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken.

Theology News and Notes, October, 1976,

quoted in Multnomah Message, Spring, 1993, p. 1.

God's given to each us eagle's wings, FLY and SOAR with Him today - THAT IS YOUR HERITAGE IN HIM!

BLESSINGS,

MT (papaw)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is a special day, my Dad turns 70 something :-). I just read my youngest brother Brian's blog and man - Brian you are great with words man - it must just come from being who God has made you - love ya man. (You can read his entire blog by clicking onto my blog list at the right, entitled "No Regrets").

One of the 10 Command- ments is to 'honor your father and mother'. While many have hard times doing that today, it is a blessing for me. I have been very blessed that God (40 something) years ago gave me to them; I needed them in my life. Dad has always been a stable force in what is at most an unstable world. The life lessons that I have learned are too many to list, however, I am still learning from them. Like the round of golf that Dad beat me at earlier this year :-)

I have the opportunity to be their pastor as well. It is a real honor to see them Sunday after Sunday worshipping as I always remember seeing them as a boy - in church. They taught me a lot about how to work, play, honor and serve God, and to take responsibility for yourself.

I am the middle of 5 children: The 'oldest' is Bob (a Worship Pastor), Mike (a Concrete Contractor), Me (a Senior Pastor), Kim (a lawyer and full-time mom) and Brian (a Worship Pastor).

Dad, I love, honor and respect you very much and pray that God grants us all long life as we look towards the eastern sky, waiting for His appearing. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I AM BLESSED,
MT

A feel for the REAL...

I'm at my desk this morning and asking the Lord what to write. You know, the voice of God is not always the loudest voice in your day, but as we all know, it is the most important. Sometimes we sit for hours waiting on His voice and other times, he speaks so much we want to say; "Hold on Lord, I can't receive that fast". What if God always operated in the same way, everyday? Where would the daily 'seeking His face' be found? Wouldn't we just be, as Israel did with the wilderness provisions, become lazy; seeking His hands & not His heart or His face?

I'm teaching on Wednesday nights from the Jentezen Franklin book entitled; "Right People, Right Place, Right Plan" - great book! There's a story about a US Treasury office who was asked how he identified counterfeit dollar bills. He answered, "The key to identifying a false bill is to spend hours handling the real thing." We must develop a "feel for the real" if we want to identify the fake.

In all of our searching be sure to follow your internal compass (God's spirit within you), for it will always lead you to your true north! Deuteronomy 8:3, "Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord".

Help us all Lord to be seekers of Your face and not Your hands - AMEN!


God YOU ARE Good,
MT

Age & Connections...

I went to the dentist this morning and another crown seems to be in my future. Staying young is what I've been thinking more and more about lately. I bought (2)10lb dumbbells the other day at a garage sale and have been making a serious attempt to get more active/healthier. Man, you should see my arms after only two workouts - lol. I'm playing softball on Tuesdays. Well, at 49, life does change and we must flow with it - right?

Tonya and I had a conversation last night about all the options today of connecting with people. People want to be accessible, perhaps because of a God-given desire to connect with something or someone. We used to have only 'snail' mail and Ma-Bell, but now I have 3 email accounts, phones at the house, office and cell, a Facebook account, a My Space account, Website and now I've started blogging.

Well, what is the end of all this? BALANCE! My life verse is found in Proverbs 11:1, "A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight". We must ask ourselves, are we keeping life in balance with all the options that are out there. Obviously God wants us to enjoy life with abundance, but also allowing time for Him to speak into our prayer/study life is vital. THAT'S THE CONNECTION (His FACE & His Space) that needs to be up most in our lives. I don't even need modern conveyances to connection with Him, just talking & meditating... So don't forget about spending time with Him.

One 4 year old girl said to God, "Dear God, are you really invisible or is that just a trick?" 1Timothy 1:17, "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen". He is there for you and I right now. He desires for us to reach out as kids to a loving Father.


GOOD? Yes God IS Good!
MT

"Stressed' is "desserts" spelled backwards!

This is my 1st attempt at blogging and I'm not sure where this is going, but here we go. Someone recently told me that "stressed" is "desserts" spelled backwards - WOW! Now that's something that we can get ourselves into, right? Well, I always feel like having more desserts in my life (fav: those little swiss rolls right out of the frig for something quick). But I have found that there is a secret in the waiting for something truly special. Listen, when the drive through ask you to pull up and wait on your special order, know that it is just that - special! God, at times, asks us to pull up and wait, because what He has for us is just that - SPECIAL! Now that's a something worth waiting on!

BLESSINGS!
MT