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There are times when I’d just like to click my ruby slippers at the heels and bleep out of here! Then I wake up! That would be stupid wouldn’t it! Bleeping out of a perfect job at the center of God’s will. Lately I have been giving frightful updates of murderous, coke sniffing thugs who would definitely make the cowardly lion faint dead away. I paint pictures of desperation, heart-ache and sadness that would make the tin-man shed a corroding tear. All of these are real life snapshots but they need not be motive for heel tapping escapes. Those are for empty-headed scare crows who haven’t got a brain. God isn’t hiding behind a silly curtain and rattling and prattling about promises He is not going to fulfilled. Granted His timing is different and His answers are too. Take this one for example. My wife has recently been praying a much needed Stateside visit. I left her to her petitions and settled for the fact that we would be going in 2013 as previously planned. Though I was doubtful...

While passing our tracts on Saturday Rebeca, one of my juniors, saw two teens and went to give them one. She came back running and said, “Man, pastor! They were making dust!” I replied, “Dust? What do you mean?” She burst into hysterical laughter while the other girl with me said, “They were getting ready to snort cocain!” Man, I am 58. Rebeca is 10. She is more streetwise than me. Not that that is necessarily a good thing. Just a few minutes later we were able to spend about an hour sharing the Gospel with a lady named Rose. She in turn sent her two nephews to our Bible Club and they had a blast. So, besides the dust the day was a good one. Even thought my team is in last place in our club’s competition. Yesterday I looked out my office window to see a police helicopter hovering just three streets away. Not five minutes later I heard the screeching of tires and sirens. I discovered today that a police was murdered in an afternoon gunfight. Wow. This news came a day af...

Our Youth Retreat was a blast! We spent quality time in Psalm 119 learning about the importance and indespesibility of the Word of God. Our teens (and at least one old guy, me) will be memorizing 120 verses of this Master piece in the coming months. We again went to Peruibe for our retreat and had a lovely time. The trip started out rather rough when a normal three hour voyage turned into a seven and a half hour trial because of the holiday rush! The time together was worth that rough start. We saw each of our teens make important decisions for Christ. This retreat came just a week after our move to the neighborhood and several days of painting our former house. Here when you rent a place you have to paint it when you move. We went on the trip needing a rest! Dawn, however, has kitchen duty cooking for twelve during the four day outing. She worked her wonders and everyone was thrilled with her new recipes. We are still trying to downsize and dig out of our quick move. Its one s...

  And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod .Exodus 4:2 I'm a "walking-stick" kind of guy. I've always like to grab a stick when going for a walk in the woods and weeds. I have several right now on my back porch. The one that I cut just two days ago is green bamboo! Cool. In Moses’ writings we read about Aaron's rod, God's rod and Moses' rod. All were used in Power move situations. Have you noticed? On Moses’ first encounter with Jehovah God the question is asked, "What is that in your hand" and the response is, "A rod." However, when tossed to the ground that "rod" became a wicked looking snake. How do I know that it was wicked looking? Because an aged shepherd who had been working the "back-side" of the desert for forty years ran like a scared school boy when he saw it! The rod became leverage in the conversation with pharaoh. Don't you just know that Moses was chomping at th...

Exodus 18.9 When is the last time that you shared a blessing with someone. I mean that you literally sat down with a friend and shared the blessings that God has been showering you with. That is what happened in Exodus 18 when Moses met with Jethro his father-in-law. Can you imagine this scene with me? These two old men with their long beards are sitting on the ground at the table where they have been dinning. All the while Moses has been recounting what the LORD has been doing in his life lately. Man! A firsthand account of all of those miracles by none other than Moses. Here sits the entire family around the table recounting God's blessings. The result was that "... Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel ...". Interesting that word, "rejoiced". It means to " rejoin ". It has the sense of uniting, intertwining or connecting . I know that you have been in a situation like this. A friend is weaving a story and you a...

Camp was FUN! Thirty two kids and seven leaders had a blast living together and learning from God's Word. Our special guest speaker this year was none other than King Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon! He shared his prospective on the life of Daniel. What made this story even neater for our kids was that one of them is named Shadrack! Ben Jacobs played the king and Ben Broyals played Daniel. They were perfect for each part. Except for the fact that both were blue eyed blonds! The kids were spell-bound as they listened to each installment of the story. We knew that they were paying attention because many questions were asked afterward and their answers were great. Some of them even earned a little of the king’s gold (chocolate coins) for their good attention. We broke into devotional groups in the mornings and it was great to be able to share principles of Reverence and Respect with my five boys. This year we had leaders in training: Amanda, Lucas and Dani helped Ben Broyals, Ben’s ...

Genesis 37 - 50 Moses in preparing his novel called Genesis relates some fascinating human interest stories. One that endears me each time is how Joseph saves the universe! What? You’ve never read that part? Well my friend it is there as plain as day in chapters 37 - 50. Joseph was a casula. Whoa brother you lost me there. Casula (ka-SOO-la) is a Portuguese word which usually means, “Spoiled rotten little brat”. Well... that might be the Amplified version of the definition. It actually means the youngest child in a family. The “baby”. Joseph being the casula got doted on by daddy. Jacob’s favoritism lead to such bitterness that Joseph´s brothers wanted to kill him literally. While planning to do just that Joseph was saved by big brother Rubin. That, “salvation” lead to a life of slavery in Egypt shortly after being sold to a caravan of Ishmaelites. Lovely little family tradition that. Let’s sell the casula! Yay! Sounds like something from Star Wars. Soon after his unexpected journey...