and so it goes on...

I've been home now for a little over a week... it seems the sporadic rains of Seattle have followed me and are arriving tonight to lightly drizzle upon my greening lawn and heart. While I was in Gig Harbor, Seattle and the surrounding area my wife continually informed me on our daily call (3:30a.m. Seattle time) that the days were warm and sunny at home, with an average 72 degrees and sun, while I was in the land of cloudly overcast skies and perhaps somewhere in the 50's. However, I would not trade one for the other in that very significant week... significant to my faith. It was not only a faith building week for a certain bearded, dreaded guitar picking evangelist of a Seattleite... but also for the bumpkin-guy. We always view conventions as fuel stops and recharging stations; as mountain top experiences between the low and dark valleys of the daily drag; and I too got myself recharged in lots of ways. I shed quite a few tears over that weekend as I watch two very lovely girls (inside and out) symbolize their own death (of their wills) in a crystal blue pool, and my vidoes reveal the flowing tears from their own eyes as they met their Savior in the water... their embraces of this big-head with the glasses, they had never met before were intense... as they consented to my encouragement to follow always their heart of hearts and the Savior whom they loved. I shed tears as various brothers shared their hearts from the podium in talks of deep contemplation that no doubt involved hours of study... indeed, a lifetime of study; tears for the sympathetic spirit of the many testimonies offered; from the brother who had made a mistake in his talk and then arose before the entire crowd to tearfully apologize for his mistake; tears shed at the thought of all of these dear ones I've known who sleep in death and cannot attend conventions for now, though they were their in my heart.

I cried this week too a bit... when I realized that I had perhaps stumbled a young girl who offered me cake of all things. I was finishing up my meal that the dear ones had so attentively prepared when this young girl came to me offering a bit of desert. I told her, "Oh, you don't have to do that.... I can go and get my own." What a shame. It was so much like offering a drink of water to a thirsty man... it was what this little one could do... I used this as an example in a discourse Sunday... Why is it we often throw up the blockade almost instantly to those offering something on our behalf? perhaps to buy for us a book to help our studies... to offer money to help us with our expenses... to offer us a ride to the meeting... whatever the little seemingly insignificant thing, we are to be like Jesus who would offer us a hand up out of the pit. Shall we say, "No thanks Lord... I can do it myself?" Hardly.

I appreciated Regan's dog story. It was a fun little moment seeing this breed he had never witnessed pop into existance just as we were discussing that he had never ever seen that dog in his area. Now we should not be so surprised since Seattle is much closer to Japan than Nelsonville Ohio. They do give us some joy and have helped my wife with her empty nest syndrome. I had a little experience with them today.

I should have read the Bible first. There seems to be a verse in there for every situation of life. Philippians 3:2 - "Beware of dogs...."

Yes, it was Shiba Inu bath time in Ohio today. I took the little one first. Sheena is the ornery one too... I expected a little sprinkling I usually get for this chore, but today I rather received a little baptism of my own. BY the time I finished with #3 I was ready to pack them up and ship them to you-know-who.

I am basking in the light of last week still and contemplating the weeks to come that will take us to the Caribbean to meet with a host of brethren I've not yet met... who love me already as I do them, and who will forever be etched in my heart no doubt as we share their culture and their stories of love for the Lord. Then a little swing around middle-America to meet brethren old and new... then yet another convention in Connecticut and more visits to the north before the home convention here just down the street from my office. My west coast parallel-universe brother will be here then, and if the Shiba's done eat him I'm sure we'll get along fine (again).

God is good.... much more so than any of us deserve and yet we also must remember that "eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man those things He hath prepared for those that love Him."

a-man

jonalfred