To be continued:.....

Don't you hate it when this happens. You are watching your favorite TV show and it's really good. A commercial comes on, you glance at the time and realize that there's no way the story is going to be resolved in the next 5 minutes, dang it. So you watch and sure enough the final scene fades to black and those haunting words come on the screen "to be continued..."!

Have you considered that saying, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."? As my life progresses I realize the truth in this. But it's also true, that today could be the last day of the rest of your life. As life changes and we age, it is true that today is the last day of my life as I know it. Tomorrow (should it come) is new life unto itself. Every day is life continued.
But even in those ..to be continued...episodes, if you do catch the next show, they recap i.e. "Previously on NCIS." and then show clips from the show that ended without an end. So even if you missed the last show you still can be well enough informed to watch this one. I think that's how life is everyday. All our experiences are "Previously in Your life." episodes and as one gets to know who they are, it because they review the previous episodes and are able to continue the story line.
In the recent changes in our life, the story line has changed, and fortunately the new life is much like a previous episode from 30 years ago. Even with all the changes we have experienced in moving around and being in large towns and large churches, where we are now has it's familiar glow to it.
However, it is also a little like being Marty McFly in the Back to the Future films. We know what the future looks like and we would like to get back there, but instead of leaving Doc Brown behind, we want to take him with us. So we look at the church and the people and pray that God will use the Word preached and the Holy Spirit as the flux capcitor that will zap, (with 1.21 jigowatts of God power), the Golden City United Methodist church into the future. Pray for us as we minister here, that the outcome of our ministry will lead to a future, like that at the end of the original Back to the Future film.
Remember what happened at the end? Doc Brown came from the future and took Marty and the last frame of the film....To Be Continued....
Peace my friends.

Flowers of God and Grandkids.

Six years ago we moved "back to the country" to this 3 acres of wind, rock and thin dirt that we have dubbed "Windrock", sometimes Windrock Gardens. It was 10 year old house with a mostly grass driveway and landscaping that consisted of one 4 x 8 flower bed with some dying roses, a half dead small tree in the backyard and a oil change gravel pit right out the side door of the garage.
This whole move began with a question of what would one of us do if the other was to die or "something"? Answer: "Sell this too big house in town and move out to the country." Response" "What are we waiting for?" So we listed our house and in a few months God worked all things out and on Valentines Day we moved out of town and into the country.
What we were looking for was a unique place where our grandkids, who we knew would be living in a subdivision, could come and experience something of the farm life we had both grown up with.
We started building gardens and adding flowers and lovely plants. Funny thing, the grandkids,
all three of them, Logan who is now 10, Nathan now 6 and Alyssa 2 1/2 found that the most attractive flowers, the ones they wanted to pick for their mom, (everytime) were not any of those cultivated. Nope, these kids love the same flowers that I believe God must love: DANDELIONS!
When Jesus says to "consider the lilies of the field" I think he was talking about dandelions, whose shining yellow faces are so attractive to kids. I used to think that they were part of the curse God put on the ground, because of Adam and Eve sinning, but now, as I have toiled with the land and fought the good fight against dandelions, I realize that God put them everywhere not to vex me, but to remind me that God is everywhere. Just like getting rid of dandelions trying to separate from God is really hard and can only be done through extreme stubbornness.
My grandkids and all little kids who come to Windrock love the dandelions we grow. They love to pick them when the dandelions have on their original yellow smiley face, or when they are ready to have their seeds blown away, just like God does.
There are still spots at Windrock where dandelions are not welcome, like in my now white gravel driveway, or trying to shoulder in amongst the elite daylilies and dahlias, but for the most part I've learned to tolerate them. I know that when I mow over them, they will just take it in stride and like God show up somewhere else in my yard of life.
I know my grandkids will always remember picking dandelions for their mom. Most of theses cherished flowers end up wilted on the counter in our kitchen. Which is another part of dandelions that reminds me of God. Those little kids are picking flowers for their mom, not because the flowers are beautiful, but because they love their mom. But that's for a whole other blog.
Just remember to consider the dandelions.....
Peace
Dan