Summer Heat

 Really hot this last week and also the coming week here in S Texas - 100+ degrees most days. Thank goodness the evenings and mornings are cool.

We had a celebration dinner today (our anniversary) - I really hate to enter the date and/or year for two reasons - first of all I cannot believe that it has been so many years - and I fear that a lot of those who read this blog do not read it for the right reasons - they are looking to steal personal information. The reason I say this as I have had some strange replies - the way they were worded lead me to believe that the person writing them did not know the English language very well It is sad to realize that in the world today we are so electronically venerable. But on a lighter note, we enjoyed a wonderful  dinner at Red Lobster (thanks to our daughters!) with friend Shirley Maxson. Shirley and her husband, Jim, minister at Mission Bell as chaplains and come to our park to teach and facilitate a bible study. Jim is off on a family visit tour on his motorcycle as Shirley works in the office at Mission Bell, so we picked her up to join us. We had a wonderful visit, including coffee and biscotti at her home afterwards. These past years of our marriage have been quite an adventure, full of mountains and valleys that only God showed the way for us to traverse. In all honesty, sometimes, we did not even let Him lead the way, trying to do so by ourselves, only ending in disaster. Hopefully, we have understood what He wants from us, together s husband and wife, and follow the plan He has laid out for us.

So very quiet here in the park - I saw some photos from other parks that see to have a lot more residents at this time of year but do enjoy the quietness of summer.

We have a mama whistler duck sitting on a nest on a dead tree over the lake. The park maintenence crew is cleaning up the lake - so far it looks fantastic, but are leaving the dead tree for now until the babies are hatched. As we drive by, we often check in on her - she is still sitting. I imagine she, too, is hoping the babies hatch soon as it is really hot out there! Miss Opal is patiently waiting for the turtle eggs in her yard to hatch. I had looked up info on the internet and saw that it took 30 to 45 days for the eggs to hatch. Opal's nephew also researched it and saw that they would not hatch until August. We hope that they hatch before we head North, as we missed seeing the ones hatch that were laid in our yard last year.

We had a discussion in Sunday School this morning regarding salvation as viewed by diffwrent denominations.  I got the impression that the beliefs from some of those present  that a person can loose their salvation. That is not true. You never can loose your salvation - you can be saved, drift away from the Lord for a period of time, repent, and come back to Him. But never during that time is you salvation lost!!!

Pastor Robert officiated also at the early traditional  service this morning, which we attended for the first time. Guess we really enjoy the comteporary service more - just do not like the time change. We are hoping that the church goes back to our previous time.

What does healthy really look like? There are so many diets and health programs available to us now, all with the same results. One says stay away from fruits and all carbs, another one says to eat whatever you want and still loose weight, etc. Health and diet are not the only thing needed to achieve desired healthy results. We often speak of a person being holy - what does holy really look like? Is someone who loves and works for God is considered holy? Or is someone who shapes their life around God word holy? We consider clergy, monks, or even someone who lives a "holy life" to be holy. Does being holy mean that a person cannnot live a normal life, enjoying the things of the world? Of course not. Being holy allows us to strive to follow the path of those clergy, monks, and holy folks. What can we do in our lives to be like them? Paul's teaching in Romans stresses that we have an obligation to God. The obligation is to not be selfish because of all that God has done for us. We have to live with others desires and needs in our minds and not just our wants. We have to love others as we love ourselves. God has blessed us with so many gifts (not only material ones either) that we need to share with others.We see who God is by the life of His Son, Jesus, who put everyone else's needs above His own, even to the point of death.We are not only children of God, but heirs to His heavenly realm - use your gifts to be a beacon in someone else's life.

Honor your military people not only tomorrow, but every day. If you see a military person, shake their hand and thank them for their service, offer to buy their lunch, visit with them while, give up your place in line for them. especially remember our veterans - they really deserve a huge thank you for their service also. It is because of all of them that we can enjoy our freedoms today. 

Joshua Texas

Rainy Sunday afternoon visiting the Gees in Joshua, Texas. Just relaxing a few days and totally enjoying it. We have witnessed God's great and amazing blessings. I am always amazed ( and should not be) at His perfect timing and provision. Roy and Paula have an amazingly loving, giving, and caring family. Their daughter and granddaughter have a website (glamgirlsbotique.com). Check it out - great wonderful merchandise at wonderful prices and quality. God has exploded their business in a bit over 2 months to new heights. It was fun, through the grace of God to watch it grow.                                      We delivered this past week to the new colonial to see the response. As God always seems to understand our needs, there was an abundance of produce -pineapples,apples,oranges,bananas,guavas,melons,as well as celery,tomatoes,onions,carrots,broccoli to just name a few of the  items. Because of the live, support, and prayers from all of you this was made possible. We cannot thank you enough.
We attended church and Sunday School this morning at the Gees church, Lane Prairie Baptist Church. We have attended with them every time we are here as it is such a warm and friendly church. It was pretty typically Texan as we entered the church and saw a hat rack specifically designed for cowboy hats! Pastor Jerry Clements delivered a message directed at the graduating seniors - a message that could pertain to all of us. His grandson is graduating so he wrote a message just for him which was the basis of the sermon. He had specific things to tell his grandson - keep all of this in mind alsdo in your life.
You can be anything you want to with God's help. Look back and be thankful, look up and be greatful to the Lord.
Trust in the Lord. People disappoint us, but the Lord never disappoints us.
Remember your faith. Don't live in fear but in faith that God is always with you.
 God has a plan for your life  - a plan to prosper you. We live in a world of captivity - we can be delivered from capativity by God.
Don't worry - the key to not worrying is through prayer. God's peace will guard our hearts and minds.
If we are faithful to God, He will be faithful to us.
Be an encourager - be a Barnabas.

Pray for the horrific tragedy in Santa Fe Texas this past week as many students and a teacher we killed and injured. Pray for the victims, their families and friends as well as the the family of the shooter a well as the shooter himself - that he will come to the Lord.

Summer Heat

Another sunny Sunday in the Valley , actually a hot one – 91 degrees already with a bit of humidity. We had some  excitement this morning – went to pick up Miss Opal for church – door was locked, no answer to the knock or bell. Checked with her brother-in-law who also had gone over to take her to church (Miss was Opal was a bit confused and thought we were not not going to take her this morning), and also found the same thing. Tried calling her, but the phone was turned off. We went to church and checked in her Sunday School class – there she was. She simply called a friend to pick her up for church, forgetting that she has asked her brother-in-law since she thought we were gone. So relieved to find her safe and sound.

We are still receiving a few food items from the straggling Winter Texans leaving for the North. The items are so few (not enough to distribute to all in the colonias). We found a deserving family here in Alamo who were so grateful for all we had. One day we delivered to the lady who does work but makes just enough to support her adult son and herself. We had a gallon of milk which she was so happy to receive, as she had only $10 left for groceries and no milk for her cereal. She had bought hamburger and cactus ( a dish the Hispanics eat here). Her son wanted hamburgers, but she did not have enough for everything he needed, so split what she had bought with him. The next day I saw her – she was so excited. In the items we delivered to her were hamburger buns, lettuce, pickles, and catsup – just what he needed to make his supper.

 I had some work done on my computer - it seems as if it will now let me post pictures. Hooray - below are some of our loyal ladies packing produce even in the heat. 

Our watersize leader is back from her 50 day cruise so we are starting our morning water exercise class tomorrow morning. It has been awhile so we have to be retrained! We follow a CD with specific routines and usually have it so memorized that we can talk and workout at the same time I think tomorrow we will have to concentrate on listening closely.

Spent most of the week bagging dried fruit again - the people just love it and we have an ample supply for now. We delivered last Friday in the colonias with an almost overabundance of produce - so many fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as marshmallow fluff, dried fruit, and plenty of tortillas. This is a critical time in the colonias as the kids are home from school and need breakfast and noonday meals. There are free meals available at the schools, but no transportation for them to get there. 

The trees are again budding and flowering so I am back on the allergy medicine again. This year as we are not returning North until August, I am hoping there will not be any new budding or flowering! I never had any allergy problems before - this year is a real eye opener. 

After we got all the Miss Opal situation resolved, we arrived at our Sunday School class just on time - with a teaching of how the silk trade route affected the modern religions As the traders moved by caravan from country, the ideas, beliefs, and views were discussed. People formed their own opinions and became immersed in the religious belief of their choice that they had absorbed. Quite an interesting study. Our contemporary service has not increased in number as expected. We are hoping that we return to the the 9 AM time schedule as we earlier had. Many others feel that way, so perhaps it will happen. If not we may go to the traditional 8:30 service.

Pastor Robert continued his new sermon series of Jesus after the tomb as Jesus continue to walk with us. Have you ever felt left out? I have - I felt isolated alone, sort of not wanted or even in the way. It hurts not to be included when every else is talking about the event. Are there parts of our faith journey that we feel left out with something missing in our faith? Thomas is an example of that. He was not there when Jesus appeared to the apostles. They were excited when they told Tomaso about being with the Lord again, but Thomas needed physical proof that Jesus was alive. Jesus wanted Thomas to name his unbelief. Sometimes we too, struggle with our unbelief. What is it that keeps us from unbelieving?  8 days later Jesus again appeared to the disciples and Thomas was there that  time. When Jesus appeared and told Thomas to put his finger in the holes in His hands and his hand in the wound in His side, Jesus was giving Thomas the proof of his doubt. Just as Jesus responded to Thomas' unbelief, He was to respond to our unbelief. Name it to Him and He will help you to believe.

Our park manager had surgery last Friday on her shoulder - not exactly sure what- but all went well and she is recovering. Please keep her in your prayers. 

Selected Selectivity

It is already May and usually at this time we are planning our Northern trip. Due to the fact that our oldest granddaughter is getting married in mid-September in Northern Wisconsin, we are not leaving the Valley until August. It will be different, as we have never been here throughout the entire summer – although we have been her in July so we should be able to climatize. God is so amazing to bring us the opportunity to minister to others in a different space of time.

We are involved in Friends in Faith in church. Before school starts, we are assigned a youth from the church to write to all year, encourage, pray for, etc. Our name is not revealed to them until the Reveal Party in May, which was today. We were excited to see our “special” girl (a 10^th grader) in this special party, but, alas, she was not there. We stayed and took part in the refreshments, and met some of the other great youths in our church. We hope to some time to meet Andrea - the young girl we spent snail mail time with.

Again, a busy week – I anticipated a quiet week where I could do some slow time for myself, but of course, God had other plans. I packaged 120 bags of dried fruit (a combination of peaches, plums, and nectarines) to use in our Friday distribution. We also picked up 90 pancakes of tortillas from a nearby tortilla factory, not to mention the food donated from the few Winter Texans still heading North. I got inspired to then clean kitchen cupboards – a bigger project than I anticipated, although I got to spend time with the Lord as I cleaned, sorted, and then rearranged cupboards, including the pantry. Wow, I can really find things again now, with space to share. I have 3 boxes of donations to the CHI resale shop of stuff I have not used in a couple of years, or even had doubles that I did not know about!

The items that are donated to CHI resale store are sold and all of the proceeds go to support the refuge for disadvantaged kids in Reynosa, many of them placed there for their own safety by the Mexican human services. We support a young lady there, Pati, whom we have supported, through the support of Prairie Grove Christian Church in Prairie Grove, since she was 10 years old (she is now going to be 20 in June). Pati is going to start her 2^nd year in college, studying to be a Mexican Abogado (lawyer). We are so proud to give her this opportunity to become a role model for other kids, as well as “helping others” as she talks about her goals. She comes from a very poor family in the colonias in Reynosa (which are many times worse than those here in the States) and wants to be able to help her family rise above of the deplorable conditions in which they live.

We started a new sermon series today reflecting on Jesus after the tomb. We think of Easter as just a day – the Sunday Jesus arose from the grave. Easter is really a season called Eastertide. It begins on Easter Sunday and continues until Pentecost. Jesus was still on earth during that time, appearing to disciples and trying to help them understand His crucifixion and resurrection. Have you ever spent time looking for something when it was right there under your nose in plain sight?? What changed in order for us to see it? The item did not certainly suddenly appear – although we seem to think so. This phenomenon is called Selected Selectivity. Many experiments have been done to prove this. A group of people were told to watch a video showing two basketball players bouncing a ball. They we asked to count the bounces. They were so focused on watching the ball that they did not see a person walk across the screen in the background. I guess I am different than most people – I notice really odd things in a movies or program – things such as the actors wearing a wedding ring when they shouldn’t be, watching them drink from a half empty glass, only a few minutes later seeing that same glass full (and no one has refilled it). When I mention this to those who are watching the same thing, they look at me sort of weirdly. But most of the time we are so focused on what we think we see, rather than what we actually see. The experiment proves that we can only focus on so many things at once, depending on how intently we focus. If you remember the story in Luke of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. As they were walking along they are talking about the crucifixion and resurrection and all that had happened in Jerusalem. All of a sudden, a stranger appeared on the road, and joined them as they walked. They asked the stranger to join them for a meal as it was getting dark, the road was dangerous, and they feared for His safety. As they sat together to break bread, Jesus took charge and broke the bread. It was then that they realized that it was Jesus who was walking with them the whole time.  They were so amazed that they ran back to Jerusalem (7 miles away) on the dangerous road to tell the rest of the disciples. Do we pay attention where we are in our walk with the Lord? Why do we suddenly see Jesus, when He has been there all of the time. What has changed in us??? We allowed Jesus to be in charge as we changed from host to being hosted. Sit still and know that He is God – He was there the whole time.