Word

What is it about the English language that some words seem to have more meaning than others? I was just thinking that this Saturday is November 1st, October sounds like a fall month but the name November has connotations of lateness, like the year is almost done, and it just sounds cold.

And that got me to thinking are there other words that may have similar connotations? I suppose your own personal history comes into play in a way, for example "home" for me is a warm comforting word, but I had a good upbringing, for others it may be different. Does all this make sense to you or am I just babbling?

Other words that came to mind-
vacation
Sunday
thunder
winter
mountain
race

If this makes sense to you see what you can add.

Point of Change

Two weeks ago my wife and I went on a two day color tour up the coast of Michigan. We had planned the trip back in the middle of the summer and tried to guess when the color would be best, as it worked out we were a little off. The weather did not cooperate and the trees were slow in changing, we did see some pretty trees but it was sporadic. At first I was a little bummed we had done all that planning only to see so little color, but the more I thought about it I realized maybe we were seeing something even more special, "The Point of Change".

You see, anyone can go out in the fall and see all the nice color, of course you have to be in the right part of the country, but how often do you get to see the time at which the change is actually taking place? A plant grows in your garden and you marvel at the pretty flowers, but have you ever seen it when the seed first breaks free of the soil and sends a shoot in the air, that's what I'm talking about, "The Point of Change". Mari and I were witnessing that point on our color tour and it left an impression on me.

I have always been in awe of God's handiwork in painting the Fall landscape, science can explain how it happens but only God can make it happen! As we drove along admiring the changing scenery it made me think about the point of change God can makes in our lives too.

You see, all who believe in Jesus as their savior were at one time like the green trees, blending in with the world around them. Then God, "who chose us in him before the creation of the world" (Eph. 1:4), touched our hearts, our "Point of Change", and we became the trees that were turning color. We do not change all at once but gradually over time, and the change in our lives is not to draw attention to ourselves but to bring glory to God who brought about that change.

As I looked at the trees I wondered, what color am I, how far along is my color, do I stand out? I have made it a point to be more intentional about my spiritual life and let my colors show!

How about you, are you bringing the glorious color of Jesus to the world around you, or are you just blending in? Are you still green? Get a Bible and read the book of John and ask God to touch your heart too.

People still do that?

I had this past week off from work and one of the things I wanted to get done was to split and stack a pile of wood I had cut last summer. Now working at a hardware store, and being a tool junkie, one would think I would rent the latest and greatest powered wood splitter, a pull behind with a small diesel motor able to snap a whole tree in one pass. But no, something in my head said to do it the "old fashion" way, (ok, maybe I'm a little bit of a tight wad), so here's what I used.

Yea, I hear what your thinking, "people still do that?" As I got the axe out I was thinking the same thing, "what am I doing, this is going to hurt later, am I to old for this?" But I have to tell you, once I got started it was fun! Sure it took a few swings to get the hang of hitting the metal to wood and not wood handle to wood but I soon had split wood flying every which way. It was very tiring, but it took me back to an earlier time when men needed to do this, when men earned a living by the sweat of their brow...and it made me feel good.

So here's the finished pile, not a lot of firewood but enough to keep the wood shop warm for a winter. And for you guy out there that are thinking, "that's not a splitting axe!" I know, but my last one broke and this was on clearance for less than a new handle, plus it looks cool!

Run Forrest Run!

As I get older I am learning to laugh at things I do that in the past would embarrass me. Well the other day one of those "laughable" times happened.

I was leaving for work one day last week, got down the road and around the corner when I noticed a garbage container sitting by the road. Suddenly I realized "oh no, it's garbage day, I forgot to put out the trash! Quickly I pulled in to a drive way and turned around. As I pulled up to the garage I turned the truck off but left the lights on so I could see what I was doing, (it was still dark out). I got out, grabbed the trash can and turned around to pull it to the road. As I started walking I noticed to my horror that my truck was going to beat me to the road! The truck is a stick shift and I absentmindedly left it in neutral! I was so glad it was early and dark out because the sight of me franticly running down the driveway trying to catch my runaway truck had to be quite a sight. I had visions of my little bomber in the neighbors yard or bent around a tree but luckily I stopped it before any of those things happened.

So I hope you get a good chuckle out of this, and from now on I think I'll have Heather be responsible for trash day.

Fallen Fall

It was a day like all the others that came before it, too much work and too little fun, but this day would prove to be different. The realization didn't take long to set in either, the sleep was hardly gone from my still foggy head. I'd gone thru the motions of getting ready that morning and I was heading out the door. As I stepped outside the cold air hit me in the face like a sledgehammer, it sent my mind reeling, "No, it can't be, not already!" Franticly I fumbled for my cell phone and looked up the date, my worst fears were confirmed, Fall had fell in Michigan.

Yea, I know it's kind of corny, but it felt that way, I am not ready for the summer to be over. I had so many plans for this year, a whole list of things to do. This post is also a bit of a confession as well, at the start of the summer I made promises of things I planned on doing for my improvement too.

Ok, here goes -

Every year I make plans to expand the flower beds in my yard. I love getting out and planting thing and watching them grow. This year I had intended to put in a bed of ornamental grasses in the back yard where the old dog house was. I did get the dog house removed and some weeds pulled, but thats as far as it got. Below you can see the empty spot in the middle of the picture where the grasslands was meant to be.

At the beginning of the summer I made a promise to my self that I was going to get more exercise, (it was also one of my first blogs.) I fixed up my old 10 speed bike and was riding at least two days a week, at first. Then the old Schwinn started to show it's age when the rear derailer cable broke. Yes I know, bikes can be fixed, I could have ridden Andy's bike, I FAILED OK! There, I said it, good intentions and broken promises.


There were other things I had planned but I won't get into them here, you get the idea. You are probably by this point wondering what could have kept me so busy for almost five full months so that I had no time for the other things. I had a list, you see, all the plans neatly lined up in a nice column, but one plan one little word had to be the center of attention, that menace was "kitchen". Those of you that visit my wifes Blog, (marislittlecorner.blogspot.com), know what I'm talking about, for the rest of you it's still too painful for me to talk about. Redoing that room took away my whole summer, whoosh gone! Ok, it did need it and it turned out great, and oh yea, the wife is happy too.

So I du-know, wasted summer? I don't think so, different than what I planned, yea maybe. There's always next year. Yea, I can see it now...