Hurricane Ike

Good Morning:

Hurricane Ike did very little damage here in Wharton, TX.  We were on the dry side of the storm and although we got some wind and rain, it has not been bad.  We still have electricity which we certainly did not expect.  

Looks like Galveston and Houston are in for a long recovery.  It's still early, but I'm sure you are also looking at the pictures.  What a mess.  The storm is huge.  I just looked at some satelite pictures and there are still rain bands far out into the Gulf.  

We came home from West Texas on Thursday.  We were supposed to go to an event for Ed's high school football team on Thursday night and then a special installation of his coach into the "Snyder Hall of Fame."  Ed missed his fiftieth class reunion and we really wanted to make this event but the predictions were for Ike to hit further to the west, and if it had, we would be where Houston is now.  

Anyway, we decided it was the better part of valor to come home.  We stopped in Abilene and bought a generator and some batteries.  when we got home, Ed and our neighbor put the thing together while I cleared the back patio of plants.  Didn't know I had so many!!  One end of the family room is full of plants and a bar-b-que pit.  Ed's workroom holds the patio furniture and another bar-b-que pit along with odds and ends.  So, if it stops raining--which looks unlikely--we have a job to do putting stuff back in place.

We watched the coverage of Ike until nearly midnight and then decided to get a little sleep before it go bad here.  Never happened.  Slept all night.  there were some good gusts, but only one that was bad enough to wake me.  There are a few tree limbs and signs in the street, but it doesn't look as bad as I've seen it after a good thunder storm.

Speaking of thunder.  I never heard any!   I guess we just were not so far out on the edge that they missed us.  Amazing.  

Have a great day,

Blessings,

pat

God's Gift of Teachers

Good morning:

I see from my trips to your blogs that many of us have taken a summer sabbatical. It’s good to be back. I believe this may be the place for the fellowship that I’m missing.

I spent the morning doing some reading in Kluane Spake’s book on wisdom. I have been hearing from the Lord that with knowledge I need to get understanding. I felt led to reread this book and discovered that she covers this very topic. God is good.

I love to read Kluane’s work. You know how you find some folks who are better able to communicate with you than others. She’s one for me. There are many others, but for today, she’s the one. Sometimes I need to read books that help me move beyond where I am in understanding His way. Other times it comes right from reading scripture on my own. But often it is a combination of the two. Thank God for helps! God’s teachers are a gift.

How about this question. How do we relate to someone who lives inside us and is there all the time? I think I heard it on a CD by Graham Cooke. Love that man. He is another of those who help me see beyond where I am and help me move on.

I’m rambling. Guess that’s what you do on a blog. Anyway, it’s good to be back.
Have a great day.
Blessings,
pat

Back to Blogging

Hi everyone:

I posted this morning on Karen's blog "that I need a place to fellowship and like Karen, am having trouble finding a "church" where I can be and not feel like I'm betraying what God is showing me about what His body is."

It has been over six months since I've written anything. Why? A couple of things come to mind. First, giving up my place on God's Word to Women was hard. I still believe that I did what God desired, but finding what was next has been difficult. I've spent much time reading and seeking direction.

Secondly, family. We had two granddaughters graduate from High School. In May, Jennifer, our son's daughter, played through district and regionals to the state finals in golf with her team from Andrews High School in West Texas. Grandma, was there for parts of it. Then there was her graduation.

Next our granddaughter Brittany, from Snow Lake, Manitoba Canada graduated. We were gone for a couple of weeks on that one.

I said a couple of things, actually ministry does enter in. A friend and I did a biblical womanhood seminar here in Wharton in July. Then we took it to New Mexico and I was gone for a couple of weeks. Great trip, I'll post some pictures. The response was good in New Mexico, almsot non-existant here. In both places it seemed that there were many much more pressing issues--not necessarily Kingdom issues.

Then, Ed and I went to Alaska on a delayed anniversay trip. We did a tour/cruise going from Ankorage to Denali then Fairbanks, Beaver Creek, White Horse and Skagway where we got on the the ship. Got home on Aug 27. Fantastic trip, more about it later.

All this to say, I'm wanting to get back into fellowship. I'll check out some of your blogs and see what's happening with you. Now family calls again, have to go and check on my mother-in-law.

Be blessed,
Pat

Hearing God on Grants

It’s a good day. I think I already said that Ed gave me a new Mac for our anniversary. Spent yesterday at the Apple Store learning about iMovie and downloading the things remaining on my JVC camera. I had already put them on the PC but they looked tall and thin and I feared the final results. So, now all the stuff is ready to work on. I had one file 0f me teaching in Kenya that was already on the old Mac and had been transferred to the new one. It is huge and I have to export it to QuickTime this morning to get it down to DVD size. More of the wonderful learning curve.

All this to say, this morning an idea came that may be from the Lord. The young man who helped me yesterday is a marathon runner. He reminded me that young people have little time to read but most either exercise or spend time commuting and do have listening time. This brought me back to podcasts.

There are so many wonderful articles that are already written and need only to be read into a podcast and put out there. I know how to do it with an Mac. Bet one of you knows how to do it on a PC. Even books could be done by chapters so they could be downloaded onto iPods and digested.

I had been encouraging an overworked friend to delegate. There is no way for me to begin to do all the things I think of. Do you think if we could get the word out that there are people out there that might be willing to do some recording.

I also thought about grant writing. In many cases large grants are divided into segments. There is a great need to write grants for the folks we met in Kenya. Again, I can’t do it all. If we had clear explanations of the project do you suppose anyone might be willing to help with the writing. I know there are folks here in Wharton where I live who would help with editing and there are probably those who would be willing to write if they were given some direction into how it’s done.

It’s a good day! God loves us. He says we need laborers for the harvest—that’s what sparked the idea. He delegated, so should we.

What do you think? I’d really like to hear your comments.

Discovering Hubs

Last week was our 50th wedding anniversary—an amazing feat. God does good work!

Today I’ve been learning about hubs. I’m again behind the times. I’ve spent the morning trying to catch up and now it is mid afternoon and there are still many things needing doing that haven’t even been started. Think I’ll just relax and enjoy the day.

My work on hubs came through Kluane Spake’s article on Unveiling Women. If you’d like to read it, go to: http://hubpages.com/hub/pastor I’d recommend it. It is a heartbreaking read, but worth your trouble.

I explored the other hub writings Kluane had up and wanted to share one in particular. Its http://hubpages.com/hub/WAHT-IS-HOLINESS (Not my misspelling, hers) Here’s a teaser:

What is holiness anyway? To tell you that most churches don't generally teach their congregation how to be holy, is stating the obvious. You know that already. They usually educate believers on prayer, giving, authority, and many important subjects. But not holiness. That's a downer. And, if they do try to teach about holiness, they usually hand out some helpful hints that are almost always the same. There's column A- the activities you should never do. That was obviously copied verbatim from your personal list of favorite pastimes. Then, there's column B - the stuff that you can still do. Basically, that second list sounds more like what a caged snail might enjoy doing.

Now I’m going to take some time to explore what you have been saying while I’ve been busy with life. Have a great day!

My Learning Curve

Time escapes around here. How do those of you who write often and check out everyone else find the time to do it? It’s a beautiful day but I got up way too early. Rare for me not to be able to sleep.

I’m trying to get pictures off my video camera. I have nearly 12 hours worth that need to be edited. Finally got the downloaded but the software that came with the camera won’t work with Vista and I’m having to improvise. I took the picture in wide screen mode and in the editing I’m seeing tall skinny people even when I know we are neither. Anybody know if that will change when I put them on TV?

They look fine on the camera, I’m just wondering if in the process of downloading something has gotten messed up. I need to get a DVD burned and give it a try. Here may be another problem. Our DVD player has been around for a while and would not show the snapshots that I put on a disk. Tried both CD and DVD and it didn’t like either one. So, I may have to get a new DVD player before I can check out the quality of the movies.

It seems God wants me to continue to stretch my brain as I have to learn new software way to often. Prayer appreciated!

Our west Texas grandchildren are playing in a golf tournament in Austin Friday and Saturday so we are going up to watch. Haven’t seen them since September and I am really looking forward to it.

Life stays interesting. Have some stuff to put up from a talk by Graham Cooke. I’ll get it done in the next day or two. Now I’m off to see what the rest of you are doing.

Busy Lives

It's been over a week since I have even looked at blogs. How do we get so busy? Or is it that we waste precious time. I get convicted by that passage on "redeeming the time. This week was full of “activities.” I’m a hospice volunteer and this was the week for training and TB tests. Wednesday was the Pilot Club Chili supper. I joined Pilot Club last fall and this was my first time through their annual feast--great fun but exhausting. I came home with knees and feet complaining loudly but recovered overnight and all is well.

Yesterday was Share, our local food pantry where I volunteer on Thursdays for four hours. I had written a grant for them and we got back word that it was denied. It was to cover dental expenses to remove abscessed teeth and to pay for prescription drugs for those who could not afford them—also glasses for those needing them.

Share can probably come up with the money for the drug needs, but dental is way out of budget. This morning as I was enjoying some time with the Lord the thought came to me that we should declare (claim) healing for those teeth. I’m still praying about my hearing, but I think it was Him.

I mentioned earlier the section in James 5 on claiming healing as a covenant promise bought for us by the Lord. I think He’s saying, OK, do you believe or not. I know He stopped a cold in its tracks for me when I claimed healing before the Graham Cooke conference. Now, I’m hearing step out in faith when I say so and watch Me work. Catch the “when I say so.” Hearing will be required, but it breaks my heart to send people away who are in terrible pain and even danger from abscessed teeth. So, next week we will see if I’m still hearing the same thing. I’ll let you know.

Today is a wonderful day. I don’t have to do anything but get the TB test read and get some eggs at the store. That means, time for blogs and reading and Him. I love it. Hope you have a great day too.