Sunday, October 23

Yesterday, I worked on getting the houses clean,  and ready for any other people who need a place to stay.  I don't know if I wrote but we got a sofa to put in the Neidlinger house, I haven't gone to get it,  The store is selling out and we didn't pay much for it.  After dinner I went over to Frank and Dorothy's  Sandy Weaver was with them, she stayed most of the afternoon and we had a good visit together with Dorothy.  Frank didn't wake up until after I got there, he was really thirsty, eventually did eat something and of course had a bunch of pills.  Brenda was there briefly in the late afternoon, and I felt I should go so they could be alone, but as I drove down the road I met Carla, so I came back.  She wanted me to help her get him cleaned up and change the sheets.  After Brenda left we started that task, but we couldn't manage it and didn't know what to do, so she called Carly who is a CNA and she came to help  She bathed him and we got him dressed and the sheets changed.  She had brought her friends Bobbi and Marta with her, they waited in the kitchen and then came in the living room and sang for them,  It was 9 by then and they were still singing but I felt that I needed to go home. 

I feel like Joni is on the same page as we are.... 

Therefore...
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature
God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself
nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And
being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death
- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave
 him the name that is above every name. --Philippians 2:5-9

Notice the "therefore" in today's reading. Jesus was on a journey of humility -
he was God, but he made himself nothing. He was a servant, but he was utterly obedient,
even unto death. And not only an average death, but death on the cross. At each
level, Jesus humbles himself more. And the point? "Your attitude should be the same
as that of Christ Jesus." You may be a "somebody," but God would have you make yourself
a "nobody" in the world's eyes. But does it end there?

No! Therefore God exalted Jesus... and God will exalt you to be a co-heir with Christ.
"We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings
in order that we may also share in his glory" (Romans 8:17). It's like a math formula
or an inverse proportion. The more we humble ourselves, the more God will raise
us up not to just any old high place, but as a co-heir seated alongside our Savior.
Astounding! We suffer with Christ - that we may share in Christ's highest glory.
 Believers who face the greatest conflict yet hold onto God with all their hearts
- these are the ones who have the greatest confidence in sharing Christ's glory.

In what way can you humble yourself today? Is an apology owed to a friend or a family
member? Is there an elderly person in your apartment unit you can help with a chore?
Volunteer as a teacher's aid in the special needs class at church?

I humble myself today in the sight of you, oh Lord.

Sunday October 23

Saturday 22, 2011

I haven't been writing very much, these have been really busy days.  Between school, cleaning church, selling ads at Cando, and spending time with Frank and Dorothy that is about it.  We have such good memories of last week, I have taken the pictures you posted and put them into the guest book.  I would like to see the photos John had put together at Hampden, I started looking at them and got side tracked and didn't get back.

I didn't have school Thursday and Friday, Thursday i was at home and spent time outside cleaning, but Friday I sat with Dorothy.  Frank is not very good and we feel that someone should be with her.

These thoughts from Joni say a lot to us today:

Future Memories

'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' --Jeremiah 29:11

I love a good memory. The older I get, the more I enjoy them. Talking about favorite
vacation spots, childhood jaunts, and my dear mother who has long since gone to
heaven. My sweetest memories are those that inspire hope. I recall what it was like
to peel an orange, pluck a guitar, hold a cold glass of Coke, and feel my fingers
tap the cool, ivory keys of a piano. Why do memories like these inspire hope? They
remind me that one day I will have new hands. Fingers that work, feel, touch, pluck
and pick, scrub and dig. I can't wait to reach for the glorified hand of Ken in
heaven. It'll happen! Today's verse promises it.

My best memories give shape to that hopeful future. Your memories - especially if
you've lost a loved one, or your health, or your ability to think clearly - should
inspire hope in you, too. For as wonderful as the world was when all those special
remembrances occurred, as wonderful as it was when my hands worked, these things
 are only foreshadowings of more delightful, pleasurable experiences to come. Jesus
is the one who makes our future bright. Jesus assures us that our best memories
will one day blossom into a more joyous reality than we ever imagined. He is our
 hope. First Timothy 1:1 speaks of "... our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which
is our hope" (KJV). In Titus 2:13, he is called our "Blessed Hope."

What are the memories of things you've lost? How might those memories inspire hope
in you today? How might these remembrances draw you closer to Jesus, the God of
all hope? Grab hold of today's verse and so many other scriptures that promise the
world. Oh, not this world, but the world to come!

Lord of hope, thank you for the promise of hope and a future.

this week October 3rd

  This week I went to Cando on Thursdy after dinner,  I went to Matt and Mavis house.  You probably remember that I had a cousin Lois out in Washington, she passed away this year.  I think she was about 95 or near that.  This is her son, Leroy with his friend Rosemary.  His mom wasn't married when she had him and she never wanted him to have any thing to do with his father's family.  So in recent years he has met his family and made a relationship with them.  While we were there Matt's sister Rose came over and had coffee with us.  It was a good time together.  Later at the end of our visit. Their granddaughter Lacey came to get them and take them to Minot.  Friday they were going to the Doctor.  It is Matt that is having a problem.