Summer is almost gone... doesn't seem possible. I know I have not done well at updating. I don't know where to start. Maybe I will start with today and not worry about the past six months.

We had a beautiful Sunday. A good message about being ready for Christ's return, wonderful lunch at Tim & Wilmas, good fellowship around the table, a nap on the couch, rain in the afternoon and then it cleared off again.

I went to the graveyard for a walk tonight. The sunset was beautiful!

Some thoughts from Larry Crabb... I have read them repeatedly and am still not sure that it is all sinking in...

"There’s never a moment in all our lives, from the day we trusted Christ till the day we see Him, when God is not longing to bless us. At every moment, in every circumstance, God is doing us good. He never stops. It gives Him too much pleasure. God is not waiting to bless us after our troubles end. He is blessing us right now, in and through those troubles. At this exact moment, He is giving us what He thinks is good. There, of course, is the rub. He gives us what He thinks is good, what He knows is good. We don’t always agree.

The highest dream we could ever dream, the wish that if granted would make us happier than any other blessing, is to know God, to actually experience Him. The problem is that we don’t believe this idea is true. We assent to it in our heads. But we don’t feel it in our hearts.

Our shattered dreams are never random. They are always a piece in a larger puzzle, a chapter in a larger story. "

Spring is finally here in the Ozarks... at least on some days...it has been fun to spend some time outside and do some summer-ish things...

 a picnic at Erbie... the sunset was beautiful!

Ben & Lis were here for the weekend... good times!

another picnic... at Myrtle. No clue how to spell that but anyway,

the stars were brilliant,

the air was cool enough that the fire felt cozy,

a refreshing evening!

If we had no winter,

the spring would not be so pleasant;

if we did not sometimes taste of adversity,

prosperity would not be so welcome. Anne Bradstreet

I leave you with the following quote... something that I have been thinking about a lot lately... what do people see when they look at me? Does my life give evidence of having spent time with Him?

"Live in such a way

that those who know you

but don’t know God,

will come to know God

because they know you." - unknown