Happy Father's Day BEST PRESENT OF ALL

So I wanted to tell you that I received the best present for Father's day. This past Thursday I received a text from my wife that said

"Abby prayed tonight 'to have

Jesus come in my heart so I

can do great things and love

you' all by herself tonight"

I can tell you that there is no better feeling as a father when your child starts to get to know YOUR FATHER... God, thank you for your gift that is Abby. Please continue to bless her life and yes, come into her heart so she can do great things and love you... From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger. Psalm 8:2

AMEN!!!!

Then Rebecca said to Abby "All of Heaven rejoices???" and Abby replied in her cute little excited voice "YES!!!!"

Happy Father's Day a Little Early!!!

In my house we decieded to celebrate Father's Day a few days early. First, because we will be away on Sunday and there is NO WAY that we were lugging my gift to NY and back again.

Second, I am the worst at waiting to giving gifts and getting gifts. In that way, I am very much like my father.

So what did Rebecca and the girls get me? Well, actually two things. One that I have been asking for over and over again and the other was a huge surprise.

For my first gift (you can see it in the picture) is a portable fire pit. I have been wanting one of these for a very long time now. I just like the idea of being able to have the family sit around a fire in the backyard. What was even better about last night is that we had icecream cake last night and sat around the fire... That was just perfect!!!! Thanks Sweetheart....

Oh and the second gift was a new water bottle with a neat ice pack to keep everything cool in the bottom. I have actually used that more than the fire pit so far... Here are some more of the photos that my wife took. Please enjoy!!! And hug your father between today and Sunday if you can!!! Just tell him you love him, that will be enough...

These last two I took of the sunset last night...

He did it again, and again...

This past weekend my nephew Jonah was invited to play in a baseball tournament in Delaware. Last year Jonah also played at this tournament called "Sports at the Beach" and that weekend he hit a couple homers (one over 330 feet). Well Saturday, I had the joy of attending and watching him hit another home run. It was about 310-315 feet down the line. Then on Sunday, I am told he hit yet another home run over 320 feet... I could get used this! Nice job slugger! Keep up the hard work!!!

Sorry this picture is a little blurry, but you can trace the ball off the bat if you look in the left hand side of the picture, you can see the ball line going out...

Here is a few other shots that I got... Please feel free to leave any comments!!!

He must love this place.

Getting ready to crank that ball!!!

Stealing My Friends Through the Night

"The Prince of Despair has been beaten you know, the loser still fights... Death's on a long leash stealing my friends through the night." (Caedmon's Call: "Love Alone")

DEATH! It was never meant to be this way. Very often I wonder how it must break God's heart when we are brokenhearted over losing someone close to us. God never wanted us to feel the pain of losing someone. WE were not created with Death in mind. When God put Adam and Eve in the garden He provided a way for Death to never be a part of their lives.

¹⁵And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; ¹⁷But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Genesis 2:15-17)

God's original plan was for us to live with Him and nature in perfect harmony. Never to know of death or loss. Once Adam and Eve ate of the the tree of the knowledge of Good & Evil... Death was knocking at their door. God promised it!!! See, to Adam and Eve, death was a threat and a promise. A threat because they could no longer live with God and walk with Him face to face. Their relationship with God was lost/damaged and would never be the same. Can you imagine hearing God with your own ear? I mean they knew the sound of God, not just His voice but He had a sound... I think it is the same with people we truly know in our life. Even if they are in the other room or you can't see them, you still know their sound. This is what Adam and Eve had with God... They spent time walking and being God... What we have lost! This must have been so amazing to behold.

Once they ate of the fruit all was lost in a moment and the blame game started.

¹²And the man said, The woman whom YOU (emphasis added)gave to be with me--she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate. ¹³And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled (cheated, outwitted, and deceived) me, and I ate. ¹⁴And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all [domestic] animals and above every [wild] living thing of the field; upon your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust [and what it contains] all the days of your life. (Genesis 3:12-14)

Death is also a promise to Adam, Eve and us... After Adam and Eve ate the fruit and sinned against God, God removed them from the garden & the tree of internal life. The Death promise is this: "You will not live forever in your sin". You see, we weren't designed for sin and death. But since we have strayed away from God, we have chosen both. Now we are far too familiar with both. But it is God's grace that He doesn't allow us to stay in our sin forever. He could have allowed Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of life... but He had a plan...

22And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us [the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit], to know [how to distinguish between] good and evil and blessing and calamity; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live [b]forever-- (Genesis 3:22)

It is promised that if we trust in Jesus and He as our sacrifice, then we will not live forever as sinful, disobedient, wretched beings. Instead, we are promised that once we make it through the death (or end) of this life we will be changed forever... NEW BODY AND ALL!!!! Yes we have a lost a lot... BUT THROUGH JESUS (THE SON) we can have it again...

PS... D I am praying for you and your family! May God's grace and peace find your hearts during this time of loss and pain.

Lost in the Shuffle

One week ago this past Saturday I was in Buffalo for my Nephew Stephen's black-belt extravaganza. I can't tell you how proud of this little man I am. He is ten years old and a Junior black belt. If you don't know my nephew (also my Godson) then let me explain a little bit about him. He is an amazing little boy because he has acomplished this while having a form of Austim called Aspergers.

Taekwondo has been perfect for him and a great outlet for him to express himself.

Anyway, I had the pleasure of taking the pictures for it and here is just a sample!!!!
Congrats Stephen, I love you