Prayer A to Z

A couple days ago when I was sitting on my couch watching TV, I saw a mouse come out from under the couch; and then, as soon as I saw him, he quickly ran back under the couch again. I was startled. Did I really see what I think I saw? It was late, about midnight, so maybe I was half-asleep and it was part of a dream. I settled back into the couch, but I made sure my feet were up resting on the stool. If he came out again, I didn’t want him to crawl over my feet—or I didn’t want him to be tempted to run up my pant leg!

I will never forget the time, on the farm, when my mother was working in the garden hoeing, when suddenly we (me and my sister) saw her start wildly dancing and screaming. We found out later that…

I just finished reading her book. I wish I would have highlighted more lines, because she had a lot of good things to say—much wisdom. But anyway, I’ll do my best at giving you my overall thoughts and just a few details from the book.

In the first couple chapters Nikki recounted the events of the Charleston murders and how she was affected. You could definitely see her tender and caring heart through the pages—how she had a hard time holding her tears back as she went to every funeral and spoke. This happened when she was still governor.

I’m not sure most people knew this, but Trump really wanted Nikki Haley as his Secretary of State. But she turned him down. A week later he had another offer—U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. At first, she was reluctant, but she eventually agreed, which had a lot to do with her…

Just a few months ago I thought Barnes and Noble was great. They would put out all the best-selling new releases and they were all discounted. But now it’s all different. It almost seems like they have an agenda. The only books that are up-front and discounted are the books they want to sell. And not coincidentally, they are all the anti-Trump books.

Okay, I should be fair; maybe they are putting up-front the books they think will sell. Maybe. But it is more likely that they are putting up-front the books they want to sell. Whichever it is, it is very evident and offensive—at least to me. The first think you see when you walk in the door is about 50 copies of Disloyal by Michael Cohen displayed very provocatively. Then a few steps down are 30 or 40 copies of the book, Too Much-Never Enough: How My…

This morning I was attracted by the article in my Pioneer Press entitled “Trump ads target Minnesota, Wisconsin.” This article was doing so well for me, until I came to BIDEN’S ADS RESPOND. The first line which introduces Biden’s response begins like this: “Trump’s false depiction of Biden as a champion…”

What’s wrong with this? What’s wrong is the word “false.” Everything else is okay, but that word ruins the entire article. Why? Because journalists are supposed to report the news, not give their opinions. If there is one thing that turns me off to the media is when a reporter slips in his or her opinion of who is right or wrong. Come on; I just want to read the news. I don’t want your opinion. I can judge that for myself. If you were God or an angel or one of Christ’s apostles, I would…

If you have been hearing that the George Floyd protest is more that just local concerned people, here is proof. I read today in my morning newspaper, the Pioneer Press, how Federal authorities in Minnesota caught up with two young men, Michael Solomon from New Brighton, MN, and Benjamin Teeter from North Carolina, who are part of a radical anti-government terrorist group called Boogaloo, and were operating within the George Floyd protest group, or, you might say that they were piggy backing off of the group.

Generally speaking, this group is a loosely organized anti-government movement with the goal of starting a second American Civil war. And their method is to invade protest groups—wherever they find them—and then stir up the group to riot.

According to Wikipedia, their beliefs are not all the same. Some of them absolutely condemn racism, but others within the same group are white supremacists…

In my reading today I was struck by the passage in Mark 4:26-28.

And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;  27 and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows — how, he himself does not know.  28 “The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.

My observation here is that God calls us to plant the seeds of the gospel. I think for a Christian that is his primary task. And that task is very simple; just plant the seed and leave it alone. God will do the rest. He will cause it to grow. Too often I think we are too concerned that we will do something wrong or not enough. So, we do nothing out of…

Okay, I’ll get right to it…

My work. I’m a retired painter—not a lot going on. Tomorrow or the next day I will wash a deck and paint it. I do this particular deck every 3 or 4 years. The next two jobs are doors—to repaint a few doors—easy. After that I have a bedroom to paint. So, what I have lined up is easy, a little boring, but just enough to keep me out of trouble.

Bible reading. I always manage to keep myself busy, but for some reason I feel that I have sadly neglected my time in the word. Yesterday I decided that I would spend two half-hour periods reading the bible—where I am at in Exodus. I liked it. It did me good. I’m gonna try to keep doing that. I have sort of prided myself for being faithful to a morning quiet time. But recently…

I can’t think of anything in particular to write on that would be enough for a blog. But there are a few things I’m thinking about that, put together, would give you an update of what’s going on with me. Let me first tell you about the books I’m reading. The book I just put down a minute ago is Nikki Haley’s book, With All Due Respect. It will never be a best seller, but I enjoy reading it. I liked her before I started reading it, but now even more. She has a good character and I loved how she stood up to the people at the UN over their disrespect for Israel. I also love how she stood up to Kelly and Tillerson over their divisiveness against President Trump. It was refreshing.

Another book I’m reading is a very large book, The Presidents Fact Book, on…