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September 09 The ShackFor some reason, my wife and I were feeling like we had to get away for awhile. Life can get going pretty fast and every now and then we need just to get off the ride and rest a while. So we began looking for somewhere quiet with a few activities nearby just to keep life interesting.
I was talking with my brother Tim from Michigan who recommended a bed and breakfast to me that some of his church groups had used. The name of this place is "The Shack". Whenever anyone hears of a vacation spot called "The Shack" near a little town called "White Cloud", naturally they question what this place may be like. We did as well, until we googled it. After seeing the beauty of it, we were willing to give it a try.
It took for us, about 7 hours to get there, but when we arrived, we were awestruck. "The Shack" is on Lake Robinson with acers of trees, flowers, and just natural beauty. There are things to keep you busy like a game room, with pool, ping pong, and shuffle board; paddle boats on the lake, and hiking trails. They serve a hearty breakfast, and banana splits every evening at 8:45. There is a porch on both sides of the building with many chairs for just relaxing or watching the swans on the lake. Fremont is nearby which had a number of resturants which we tried at mid-afternoon. Every room comes with not only a Bible, but a "Daily Bread", and some other study helps.
This place for us was a God Send. We hardily recommend it to adults (not kids) who just want to get away and spend some time reconnecting with your mate, or with God. July 12 Thoughts On The 4thFor a long time, I gave up on going to parades on the 4th of July. If you see one parade in Hartford, you have seen most others in the future as well. So when the family went, I stayed home. Maybe I'm just getting sentimental with old age, or I'm just getting mellow, but I agreed to go to a Hartford parade on the 4th. We parked our lawn chairs in the front yard of one of the families from our church and began to enjoy the fellowship right away. So if your keeping score, this definately scores points with me. Then the parade started and the first thing is the color guard with Old Glory! More points scored! The Hartford City Band playing "Stars and Stripes Forever". A whole lot of points! Some people elected to public office walking and greeting people scored a few points, but then the score began loosing points.
A Church rock band went by and we at first did not even know that it was a church. We could hear the music from a long ways away, but never could understand the words even tho' they went right in front of us. A dance group goes by with more rock music so loud that my wife and I had a hard time hearing each other, and she was right next to me. Add in a few old tractors, a hot rod or three, fire engines, businesses advertising for free, and some drunks playing "In Heaven There Is No Beer", and you have gone so far backwards on points that you maybe break even if your lucky. I'm not sure what the last few entries in the parade have to do with celebrating our independance. Why can't people use their imagination like a fella I know in Kenosha. He is in his 60's, over 6 foot, with a beard. But every July 4th, he either dyes his hair and beard brown, wears an old suit and top hat, and goes in the parade as Abe Lincoln, or keeps his hair gray and dresses as Uncle Sam.
I have to admit that I enjoy Hartford fireworks. They were 22 minutes long, but were very good. There was even a local radio station that played marches while the fireworks were going.
There have been many people that have laid down there lives so that we could celebrate this day. I hope we don't forget the true meaning of why we celebrate July 4th. July 07 Keep Checking!I promise I'll stick with this blog site! I have been checking out other blogs and waiting for them to post. But if I expect them to write, than I must engage my brain as well! I like a little more depth than what I've been reading in another website that the whole world visits. A blog keeps you current a lot better than idle chatter. So stay tuned, I'll be back! April 07 ReunionTonight, my wife and I were just trying to get on our page at facebook, and kept getting denied. So we decided to look at blogsites instead and were surprized that alot of you are still blogging. Well, if you can forgive my absence in the last five months, I will try to be more consistant. After neglecting this for so long, we will have a reunion. There were two other reunions last week as well. Let me tell you about them.
The first one was a get together after two years. Because I love harmony, and fellowship with good friends, I really enjoy singing in a men's quartet. For five years our men's quartet at church was Troy, Keith, Pat, and myself. Then the Lord moved Troy and Pat to other locations and I was forced to replace them with others who still attend our church. On March 29th, we had a great opportunity to get together with the old quartet, and give a concert at the new church that Troy is pastoring currently. Because our love of the Lord and each other has not diminished, our harmony had not either. We still have the sound we had for five years. Troy did an excellant job of getting the word out about the concert, and needed a name. We weren't the First Baptist Men's Quartet any more, so after some thought we became the Ransomed Quartet. We sang seven songs for the church that Troy is pastor of, and four more for the church he was an intern for a year ago in the evening, including a encore! What a tremendous time we had.
The second reunion was when the Gordon's got together to celebrate our mother's 85th birthday. I have 6 brothers and a sister, and all but two were able to make it and bring some of their families along as well. I had much help in planning this including my wife, and sister in law Karen. They handled the eating, and I planned the singsperation. Yes, we sang together for most of an hour, then were challenged from the Word of God by our Pastor brother, Mike. It was our families first time together in four years. Our family is scattered in Florida, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin, so it is not easy to assemble.  November 22 This is a test...If any of you listen to the radio for any amount of time, you have heard the words of the title of this blog on the radio before. When I hear those words, I get ready to turn down the volume before the nasty, ear drum breaking sounds begin to start. I'm glad the station at least warns you before it starts the emergancy test of the broadcast system. The Lord often wants us to see what our character is made of, so He sends us tests too, only they are not announced. Without warning, the tests surprize us and then show us what we are made of.
Recently, I had a day of tests that left me thinking about the kind of character that resides within me. Twice in one day the Lord revealed to me some things I need to work on. The first was when I was in one of my stores I service for the bread company I work for. I was trying to locate the receiver to check in my product and move on to the next store. I walked up and down aisles, searched the entire back room, looked in offices, (and got angry looks like "mind your own business") but could not locate the receiver anywhere. I decided that said receiver had to come back sooner or later, so I stood outside the receivers office waiting. Unknown to me, she had come in a back door and was waiting for me to come check in. When I finally discovered her, I was made to feel like a blind idiot or something of equal value.
The second time, I was walking in a Wal-mart parking lot to the front door. I had parked my truck on the edge of the parking lot and proceeded to the door, when a car came quietly up behind me and honked the horn. I was startled to say the least, but when I turned around to see who it was, the driver was yelling at me from inside the car. I stepped aside and let him pass me by, only to have him roll his window down and yell at me some more.
Because both of these events were on the same day, I was ready to jump inside the car and beat the snot out of the poor excuse of a man. But words my father spoke to me many years ago came suddenly back: "Just walk away, Jack, just walk away. You will be more of a man than he if you do!" I felt worthless for the rest of the day, until I remembered that I am to be a servant. Did my reaction to these reveal servanthood or something else? I'm afraid it was something that made me want my rights. Do servants have rights? I suppose maybe some, but I'm remembering what our Lord said; "If any man would be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me". November 10 Niagra Falls!In my last blog, I was talking about my lovely wife and I taking a trip to Michigan. Actually that was just the first part of the trip. The second part was fulfilling a life long dream of my dear wife to see Niagra Falls. We were encouraged by our daughter and son in law who made the trip and posted a blog about it. So, on the Monday following our visit to Macomb County (explained in the previous blog) we crossed the border and went into Canada to see the falls! Crossing the border was too easy. We just had to answer 3 questions: Citizenship, destination, and length of stay, and we were off. (I must admit that it might have been harder if we had a chain saw in the trunk!)
The falls itself was very majestic. Once you were there it was hard not to just stare at the beauty and majesty. We thought that a day in the area would be plenty of time to see everything, so we took a tour and learned that there is much more there than just the falls. We learned about the history of the falls, the whirlpool just down stream, the dams that help keep the falls from eroding away, and lots of parks and hiking trails if we should ever go back. All the Canadian people seemed very friendly to us, but then we were there at the end of the tourist season, so the crowds were small. At the time we were there, the American dollar was worth more than the Canadian dollar, so businesses were more than willing to take our money for their price. I stopped to gas the car and used a visa card for $20 of gas but when we were billed it came to $18.67. Another interesting note of interest was the construction signs on the expressway. They were in both English and French.
Getting back into the U.S. was not as easy as leaving it. The border patrol officer asked us a lot of questions about everything. His tone of voice was not pleasent, and it seemed we had committed a crime by only staying one day. At least this whole experiance was easier than what it would have been come June 1st, 2009. Passports will be required to cross the borders so we went at the right time.
We would recommend going to anyone. We are certainly grateful we went and I'm really glad I was able to fulfill a long awaited dream. However, when we got home, I was quickly told about another dream - the Grand Canyon! I knew that living with this woman would be exciting, but I didn't realize what some of the excitment would be! October 09 Troy and Cheries new homeLast week my wife and I took a trip to Michigan to participate in the first service of Faith Baptist of Macomb Township. As most of you know, my son-in-law is the pastor whose wife is our daughter. The service went extremely well as over 120 were in attendence, with good singing and warm smiles and handshakes all around. It was quite evident that the Lord was working in the hearts of all who were there. We were very impressed with the whole realm of it all and are sure that this new work is off on the right foot.
While we were there, Pastor Troy and Cherie were able to show us the home that they will be moving into come Oct. 15th. The Landlord knows them from church and wanted them to rent this house so much that he lowered the rent to meet their needs. It's really a nice place, with 3 bedrooms, a finished basement, two car garage, and a nice fenced in yard. I have posted 16 pictures of the place and I hope that it is not too confusing. Enjoy! August 10 Your assignment, should you decide to accept it...I understand that there are many families that are experiancing a staycation this year. The price of gas has everyone staying home on their time off from their jobs and doing things either around the house, or nearby. My job allows me three weeks of vacation, so we decided to spend a couple of weeks on a staycation, working on things that needed to be done around here. With another week of time off coming in October, we are rethinking.
Maybe it's just me, but I take my responsibilities probably more seriously than I should. When I am at home, sometimes my head is still setting up the next bread display, or planning the music for fall and Christmas. The effect of this never lets me rest completely unless I am away from it all. So we have concluded that we need to be crafting a vacation that is not too costly, and still a restful time away from the cares and burdens of life.
Canada and the U.S. are going to require passports for people crossing the borders starting June 1st, 2009. So I think it is time to fulfill a life long dream of my wife to visit Niagra Falls. With our money (or lack of it) it will be a short trip, nevertheless, we are looking forward to it a great deal. The color in October should be great!
So what's with "Your Assignment"? If any of you have ideas, points of interest along the way, ways to save money, or anything you think would help, please comment to this blog, or if you know us, talk to us directly about this. And by the way, this blog will not self destruct. June 11 An UpdateI have been thinking of updateing this blog for quite a while, but something always seems to come up. After my last blog where I encourage myself to "keep on", one would think that this blog would have come sooner than two and a half months later! I would also like to thank those who left comments on the previous blog as well as those who talked to me personally about staying with it. That was a good lesson to me - how many lives are watching and reading my life, as we walk this side of Glory.
Let me update you on what's going on around here. Our church choir is now on summer break, but when we were singing, Sept. thru May, we sang every Sunday, plus did a concert for Christmas and Resurrection Day. Along with that, most individuals in the choir sang in groups, duets, trios, etc., so our church would have two selections of special music in one service. They did a great job, and, I might add, without complaint.
Our family is growing! Missy delivered Maelyn Joy on May 28th, her due date. She is a special reward to Matt and Missy for waiting for her for 11 years. God has certainly blessed that home and it has not come without a lot of prayers, both Matt and Missy's as well as ours. Caleb and Kassey are expecting in November! We will find out in a few more weeks what the Lord has sent to big brother Carson, a sister or brother. We all are excited about another precious life being added their family and ours!
I have given my job to the Lord, and my will to Him. If He is to rule in my life, then He needs to have full control. Now that sounds so basic, but even the simplest lessons need to be learned at a practical level when your life takes unexpected turns. Travelling an hour to work and an hour back would make anyone object, esp. with $4 a gallon gas prices. I fought against travelling that far, by looking for another house, or another job. One thing has finally gotten thru to me; God is sovereign, period. He knows what is best for me and will teach me through it all. There isn't anything that surprizes the Lord, or is unexpected to Him. So if He is the ruler of the universe, my responce should be as the song title: "Bow the Knee". God is meeting our needs, and I'm sure He will guide us and tell us of a differant path to walk if we walk close enough to Him to hear Him speak to us.
I'm sorry this has taken so long to get to. Thanks for your patience! March 29 Stick with it!In my last blog, I wondered if writing this blog was still worthwhile, to which some of you reassured me that it was. Some by comment, one by email, and all encouraging me to stick with it! They seemed to emphasize what was being underlined in my life this last week; even if it seems bleak, don't give up. Allow me to tell you about it.
On Monday, I started training a man for working at Alpha Baking, where I work. It normally takes about a week to teach someone to be a route salesman from start to finish. The man I was training came with an attitude that seemed to say that he already knew everything and that I was only humoring him. After three days he was getting the "hang" of the job and just needed confidence, in spite of the fact that he was a rookie that didn't need my help.
When we walked into the depot that afternoon, we were met by my supervisor who told us that Alpha Baking had decided to change our pay to a lower base pay and more incentives. That news was shocking to most of us, who were thinking of finding employment elsewhere. That evening I received a call at home from my supervisor saying that the man I was training quit. The lesson of sticking with it came the next morning when I found a note to the drivers saying the new pay system was out, and we would be paid as we were before. If the new guy I was training could have stuck it out 12 more hours, he would have found out that his pay was the same as before.
I Corinthians 15:58 was brought to me anew: "be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord!" Nehemiah encouraged the builders when their strength was decayed (Neh. 4:10) and the wall was completed. I may have to re-train someone else again, but my eye is to be on the Lord, not myself. God has a purpose for everything that we do, and may not be seen right away, if ever. I will try to keep that attitude with this blog as well. So, I'm sticking with it! March 13 Does anyone read this?I've been having trouble trying to get to this blog site to put something down worth reading. Time is kind of at a premium for me, and I would take the time, if I knew that anyone reads this. I know I visit blogs and don't always comment, which could be the case here. I would like to find out if anyone reads this or if everyone is visiting facebook and has forgotten blogs like this one. Please don't think that I'm being vain, or trying to get others to pat me on the back. I'm really wondering if I should delete this or keep it going. Writing does get my brain working, and gives me a good mental exersice but then so does reading. A mental exercise could be done by writing in my journal but then it may never be read either.
So it is up to you, if there is anyone that reads this. Would you like to challenge my thinking? Should I keep writing, or delete? January 09 It's That Time AgainWith that title some readers may be thinking that I have been blogging once every two months so it is time again. That may be true, but actually the title is refering to the first of the year and time to do a self check from last year and a look to next year.
I know that there are people who refuse to set goals thinking that they just set one up for failure. I approch it differantly. Instead of aiming at nothing, and floating by in life, I would rather aim at something. Even if I miss, I will have improved my life and character even it is a little.
If you look back at my blog in Jan. '07, you will see some goals projected for last year. Some of those goals were met and some did not see year long successes, but all of the goals had some degree of success. The deck did get done, and debt was paid down in spite of making less money last year. I did loose some weight, but not as much as I hoped for. I aimed at 15 pounds and lost 12. I did start reading more, even though I didn't read as much as I hoped for. I memorized some psalms, but not a verse every week as I had hoped. Last year our church had a special speaker who asked anyone listening to him what Psalm 40:1 was. It just so happened that I was memorizing that same psalm earlier and quoted the verse to him. Did I reach my goal of a verse a week? No. Did I memorize some scripture? Yes. That is success.
This year I hope to keep improving on some of these same goals; more weight loss, more memorization, more reading, more debt reduction, and more of a closer walk with God. I do have specific terms in these goals that I won't share here, but if you ask me sometime, I would like to talk to you about this and to held accountable.
How about you? Are you setting any goals this year? Tell me about it! November 14 Growing Pains When I was in seventh grade, I grew about 6 inches in one year. I still remember the tripping over everything, falling UP the stairs, and mostly the pains in my legs. My dad would come in our room to
pray with us and would rub my legs for some temporary relief. It was a hard time to grow through, but necessary none the less.
So it is with our lives. When our Lord tries to teach us something it can be uncomfortable, not only for us, but also for others.
In my last blog, letter B was about some changes to the choir. Now that we are past September, I think it is safe to say what some of those changes were. We have in our choir folks that love to sing, even if it is not as good as others. I'm thankful for people like that who want to praise their Lord no matter how good or not so good it sounds. The singing is a result of a condition of their heart joyfully praising God. Because they at sometime in their lives were probably urged to do what you love to do, they came to sing in the choir. I've heard some people who don't think they can sing, that have great voices, and others who want to share their singing with everyone, that should reconsider. So at the urging of my Pastor, I asked some choir members to consider another ministry. It is one of the uneviable jobs that music directors do, which we don't want to do; something that must be done, but that is very uncomfortable. Thank The Lord, these people did not take it too hard, and have moved on with their lives for the Lord.
So because of the church schedule, we didn't get started with the first practice until the 4th Sunday of September. But because of these changes, the choir learns faster, the blend is better and we have sung more songs this year than some years in the past. This is not to say that we are without problems. When you are dealing with people, challenges will always be there. Sometimes growth is painful, but nevertheless, it IS growth. When we get to Heaven, and have perfect bodies, I hope it will include perfect voices too. With God's permission, I would like to have a 200 voice choir, and include the very ones that were asked to reconsider down here. September 06 If you think yours are cute, look at these!I am on vacation this week, something I was looking forward to for a long time. I'm sure most of you who work at jobs where you spend 60% of your day at know what I'm talking about. Nine days off were going to give me rest and something else to think about beside bread!
So Monday, I wrenched my back. Talk about something else to think about! But something else happened Monday that picked my thoughts back up again. My wife's brother and his family came for a visit to stay a few days. He is a missionary doctor in Tanzania, Africa, and is married to a tanzanian woman. They have been a blessing to us and the fellowship has been sweet.
I have included some pictures of Scott and Jaycee, their 3 month twins. They are miracles all by themselves since their parents were told not to ever expect any children. But you have to agree that these kids are cute! September 02 An UpdateI just saw that the last time I posted something on here was in July, and it is almost embarressing. I'm not that shallow that I don't know what to update you all on. There are a few things going on in our lives that have not worked out to a conclusion yet, nor do I expect that the conclusion will come quickly. Basically, here is what is going on:
A. I am still working for Natural Ovens and driving an hour each way. I'm not sure if the Lord wants me to quit and work somewhere else, or if He is testing my character. I'm the type that gets testy if I don't get my way, so this has been a lot of time to pray and think on the whole issue. It's not easy to walk away from 15 years on a job and the benefits that come with it, and start over when 60 is 3 years away. I am applying at other places to see what the Lord will do.
B. It is September and time to get the choir back in gear again. This year, because of the church calendar, we don't have our first practice until Sept. 23rd. So that is giving me more time to not only deal with what we are going to sing, (still not sure) but some internal questions within the choir that need to be addressed.
C. Our daughter and son-in-law just moved to Warren, Michigan to start in full-time ministry. We are certainly glad to see our prayers as parents answered. Our church sent them out with their blessings, and a nice offering not to mention the great reception they received when they arrived in Michigan. They not only got a lot of help unloading the truck, but a food shower too! Now we are discovering the hurt inside us to see the little girl we love, cared for, and supported for 23 years move 8 hours away when she and her husband were 10 minutes away before. Today was the first day in church after they left, and we are really grateful that we have another daughter and son-in-law still here. We are comfortable with an empty nest, but are getting used to distance now.
That is a little update. Now you know what is on our mind.
July 17 It's coming!I know it's been a long time since I wrote here and let you all know what's going on in my life. But since my employer was bought by Alpha Baking and moved, I have had little time for even simple things, like enjoying an evening on my deck, fellowshipping with neighbors, or bloggin'. My day starts at 1 AM to take a hour ride to work, then 11 to 13 hours later, a hour ride back home, arriving usually by 3 PM or so, just enough time to get cleaned up, eat, do some reading, and go to bed.
This is not how we intend on living. I am currently looking for another job, and we plan on selling our house. My paycheck is much lower now so the budget is out of wack, percentage wise. We are praying about all of this, and thinking that this could be God's hand getting us ready for something. What, we are not sure, but we have been praying about this for quite some time now.
So bear with me. I'll try to keep you posted. May 31 A Grownup vacationWhen my wife and I were younger, our vacation planning always included what the kids might enjoy. Often it was a trip to see Gramma and Grampa since we don't live close to them. With the kids out of the house now, the planning takes a differant twist, what would we like to do?
My mother and step father live near Branson, MO so a trip to see them seemed like the correct thing to do, just as in years past. But when we came home from their place, our ideas included things that children might be bored with.
First, we stopped in Jefferson City, MO, the capital city of the state and toured the capital building. This makes the 11th capital building we've toured, so we have been comparing them to each other. When we walked in, the building was unlocked with no security guards and no metal detectors. There are plans for those in the future, but we were able to just walk right in. It seems southern states don't have as much pride in there capital buildings, except Missouri. This one has much to see, including scripture printed in the marble and color sky lights.
The next part of our vacation was something kids would complain about. We just drove along the Mississippi river on the "Great River Road". No deadlines, no schedules, just driving in a river valley and enjoy the senery.
The next vacation should be a little longer in time, as we both had issues with coming home after a nice time away. But for now, we had a great time together and time away. May 02 another milestone Through 36 plus years of marriage, Mrs. Fizzy and I have seen a lot of mile markers along the way. Markers that we past decades ago are now markers that the next generation are seeing. They are just as exciting now as they were back when we went by for the first time.
Most of you know we have 4 adult children, who are married, so now we feel we have 8 children. We love and pray for and thank God for each one. We agree with the apostle John who in III John verse 4 said "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth". Now that we are empty nesters, we pray and watch as our children make moves in their lives that give us as parents fulfillment.
Friday, May 4th, will be a special day in our family. Troy will graduate from Maranatha Baptist Bible College with a degree in Biblical studies. It has been a long time since he started with this course, but working your way through a private college is not easy. I know that when you finally reach the goal and graduate, it shows alot of things including character and a sence of accomplishment, not only for Troy, but for Cherie as well. Not to take anything away from Troy because he put in much hard work. But my wife and I have been down this path so I know first hand the support of a devoted wife and how important she is.
Troy has many talents that the Lord can certainly use. I have seen first hand some of these: a good preacher, singing first tenor in our men's quartet, teaching the teens, just to name a few. May I encourage you to pray with us for both Troy and Cherie as they ponder what the next step in this journey is.
April 18 It's comin'Whenever I visit a blog and discover cobwebs I wonder what's going on, or why nothing is going on. Well now I know. I'm going through a similar time myself. If you have a blog, I'm sure you've had a time where nothing seems right, you're a little dry on ideas, or there is not enough time in a day.
Currently, it is after 7 pm, which is after my bed time. I had a good long "to do" list for my day off and was bound and determined that everything was going to get done. I guess 70% is pretty good if you're in baseball.
At any rate, I promise I'll write about something in the near future. Thanks for being patient. (That's more than what I can say for myself.) March 10 Just when I was getting cozy If any of you read the business pages of the newspaper, you might have noticed that Natural Ovens, the company I work for, was sold to a big Chicago company, Alpha Baking. Alpha bakes Rosen buns, Mary Ann breads, buns for Brownberry, and a ton of institutional bread for resturants, ballparks, etc. They are interested in expanding their business into more grocery stores, so they purchased N.O.
At first my reaction was good. They have a better benefit program, which in recent years, would not take very much effort to be better than what Natural Ovens was (or was not) offering. Alpha wants to load up our trucks with their products which should help my declining paycheck. A win-win situation, right?
Then the other shoe dropped. Alpha is trying to condense 2 depots (ours and theirs) into one - theirs. I currently drive 45 min. a day to get to work, a 80 mile round trip. IF they move us to their location, it would mean an additional 20 min. drive, making the trip over an hour one way. With gas over $2.50 and rising, that move would make our budget strain, and I would be spending 10% of a day just traveling to and from work.
My wife knows that I am a real rut person. She would like change every now and then. I love to get into habits and just stay in those habits for a real long time. It's very comfortable! I have a good job, and my children live all around me. But I am beginning to think that the Lord agrees with her and wants me to be open to change. There are many examples of men who were called to something different while being past middle age, not only in these current times, but also recorded in the Bible. Job, Abraham, the disciples, and Paul were called to something different after already being involved in what they thought would be their life work.
I have been brought to this intersection in my life before, and blogged about it. How willing am I to change? At 56, it is a question that is not easily answered, but must be addressed. |
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