Latest View of Andrew

Here is one of the latest pictures of our grandson Andrew in Spain.

I won't get to see him until this summer - what a bummer.

So the pictures help - along with the times we get to chat with Brooke and Matthew and Andrew with our web cameras.

LOST - I Don't Believe the Helicopter Girl

Oceanic Flight 815 out of Sydney, Australia is mysteriously brought down out of the sky, crashing on an uncharted island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean...

That's how it all began. And now, after last night's episode, (and 90 days on the island by the survivors) we are supposed to believe that there weren't any survivors after all.

I don't buy it. Either the girl from the helicopter crash (don't even think about flying close by this island) is lying out of some sort of effort to hide her connection to Desmond, or it is a vast conspiracy/cover-up attempt to keep rescuers from searching for the survivors.

After the report of the Italian-speaking helicopter girl are we supposed to think the survivors are trapped in some parallel universe? Is the island some sort of "purgatory" (which of course is non-existent) where the survivors are paying for their sins? There is indeed the strange black clowd of doom. I still don't get that.

How did I ever get hooked on this show? Why do we care?

Oh I know this is going to sound corny, but I'll say it anyway.

Hope we care as much about the truly "lost" who need to be rescued.

Adventures in Remodeling

Easter, filing income taxes, and remodeling have all kept me from blogging like I would like lately.
Deb and I are redoing the family room. Yes I admit, my wife asked me to do it. I put one too many holes in the carpet last winter by forgeting to put the fireplace screen back on. "First God created the earth, then he rested...Then he created man, then he rested...Then he created women and no one has rested since!" (Anonymous)

We've taken up the old flooring, did some repairs to the walls and are getting ready to paint. After we paint we'll decide on what type of new flooring to install. Then Deb wants to shop for new furniture. (Look out thrift stores, here we come. I'm not cheap. I'm thrifty.)

Remodeling always seems to take more time and effort than you planned. But you envision how beneficial the changes will be so you invest yourself in the project. Without making changes your surroundings become outdated and uninspiring.

Same could be said of the spiritual life. Without occasional change our spiritual self gets outdated and lethargic. God offers fresh and invigorating spiritual truth but we must invest the time and effort to remodel ourselves.

The end result will be well worth the effort, even if it takes more time and effort than we envisioned.

I'm thinking about what room of my life needs a faith facelift and I challenge you to do the same. I'm leaning in the direction of trusting God more with the results of my life.

At midlife I look at what little I've accomplished (except for my family, for which I am extremely thankful) and at what I long to do for God and I worry too much about the results. I must remind myself daily that God is the builder and I work for Him. I will keep trying to utilize the right kind of building materials, follow His blueprints, and let Him inspect my work, but I will not be disheartened by my limited perspective of "results."