New Digs List

I just received my Bibical Archaeology Review and it has the list of digs for this summer.

HERE

I am checking them over.

My Best Christmas Present

My personal all time best Christmas Present came in 1972. At one minute before midnight my youngest darling Daughter Laura Lea - known to some here as Lola - was born. Now that was an exciting Christmas Eve.

She is visiting now and I am a very happy daddy for she is a gift that keeps on giving.

Aching For Good News

How often have you literality ached for some good news! When I was in Viet Nam’s Gulf of Tonkin my mother ached and prayed for the good news that my ship was on its way back to the US. How many ache for the new that their son or daughter is coming home from Iraq? What good news have you ached for hearing?

Have you ever stood by your window watching for the mail carrier to trudge up your path? Did you ever sit by the phone anxious for that certain person to call? Did you wait for news of a new baby being born into the family?

This Christmas season we celebrate the wonderful “Good News” that has been beautiful news for two thousand years that Jesus is born. Our time of waiting for Christmas to come is almost over for soon Church bells will peal the beautiful news for all to hear. We celebrate the Good News of Eternal Life as a gift of our savior.

Christmas Party Tonight

Tonight my Wife and I are hosting my Toastmaster’s Club annual Christmas Party.

Lots of great food and games and a round robin Christmas gifts - sometimes called Chinese Christmas.

Waiting For God

I am a patient man but just waiting around is difficult. When we are going somewhere I am usually the first one ready and then I have to wait for my darling wife to be ready. In the mean time I have nothing to do but cool my heels and wait. Pacing doesn’t seem to do me any good but that is what I usually do.

Advent is a time of waiting for Christmas and it is a useful time of reflection. Since Christmas day comes by the calendar we have not choice but to wait and wait and wait. As a boy this was the most difficult time of year for me – well you know I had to be good because someone was checking his list twice.

In our faith life there are often things we must wait for and just be patient as we wait for God. We don’t always see what God is doing during our time of waiting but we can trust God to see us through. Like waiting for my wife to be ready experience tells me that in her time she will be and we can go on our way, so too with God I have learned to wait. My experience is that when I trust in God’s time my waiting will be fulfilling.

So we wait for Christmas.

Church Yard Signs

I love reading Church Yard Signs as there is often both humor and truth in their short sayings.

“Prayer is a four-letter word you can say anywhere.”

“Aspire to inspire before you expire.”

“Many things are opened by mistake but none so often as the mouth.”

Cat Up A Tree

It is an old story of a fire department being called out to rescue a cat stuck up in a tree. It is a waste of time and money for a fire department to do that but kind hearted and misguided people think that the cats need help when they don’t.

I have watched cats go up and down trees for many years so I know that they are capable of both going up and coming down on their own. I remember watching one of my cats climb up a tree and then struggle to find a safe way down. It would start down and then hesitate and then it would settle down again and reevaluate the situation. I watched as it did this over and over. Getting up had been no problem as all but coming down seemed to be a challenge. This is the time when others might call for help from those with tall ladders but not me. After a time the cat made its way safely to the ground.

How often do we find ourselves in similar situations? We get ourselves into situations and get stuck. Usually the way out is time consuming and difficult but the way is there for us to find. This is a time for prayer. Well not for God to send the fire department but to pray for wisdom and guidance through what ever mess we have made.