The Adventures of a Specialized Carrier Truck Driver

 Dad was on his way home from a long trucking trip and he called to say that he had just passed the place where he normally parks his big trailer, and it was full of other trailers. So he had to bring the trailer to our place, turn it around in one of the fields, and park it along side the driveway.
 For the past week or two it has been raining. A lot. So when he went to turn around in the fields, he got stuck. Very stuck. His wheels just sunk into the soft ground and he couldn't move. So, the truck and trailer was left out in the field until Saturday.
 Saturday morning dad, Jordon, and Levi, (Boaz went along to watch and I went to take these picture,) took the Chevy truck and the tractor out there to pull the big truck and trailer out.

The big truck.

Stuck

Levi

Hooking the chains up.

Try number one. They tried to pull it out backwards because they thought that this would be there best chance. They have the tractor and 'little' truck hooked up to the back of the trailer. It didn't work. They barely budged the big truck and trailer. 

Try number two. They tried to pull it forward. That also didn't work.

Try number three.
This picture is so you can see the size difference in the trucks. I always thought that our Chevy truck was fairly big. But you have no idea just how big Semi trucks are until you stand beside one. This truck is huge! But believe it or not, the trailer is heavier then the truck.

Try number three didn't work either.

Try number four. And it didn't work either.

SOOOOO, we called our good neighbor. He works on tractors and always has a few big ones around. Maybe he had something to help us out this time.
How about a big four wheel drive tractor?

Try number five. And it.........worked!

I want that tractor!

A Triumphant Christmas Message from Geoffrey Botkin

http://westernconservatory.com/article/2011/12/triumphant-christmas-message-geoffrey-botkin

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
– Isaiah 9:6-7

Great article!

Warning! Conviction ahead!

http://lorialexander.blogspot.com/2011/12/forget-submission.html?spref=fb

My new blog

I've created a blog about my life. I just thought I'd let you know so that you can go check it out.
laurelscrazylife.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Birthdays

Since 2 of our grandchildren's birthdays fall around the Christmas holidays and TJ and his family go out of town to the other grandparents for Christmas, we celebrated the birthdays yesterday.

Titus celebrated his 1st birthday (which is actually today) and Natasha is 3 on the 25th.

Since I haven't been real excited about posting on our blog for a while, I will take the easy way out and direct you to Johanna's blog that has the birthday pictures.

Hope you enjoy the pics.

http://dolcemusica.blogspot.com/2011/12/birthdays-for-natasha-and-titus.html

OH, MY GOODNESS!

(NaturalNews) Following the State of Maryland's threats against parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated, children were herded into a Price George County courthouse being guarded by armed personnel with attack dogs. Inside, the children were forcibly vaccinated, many against their will, under orders from the State Attorney General, various State Judges and the local School Board Director, all of whom illegally conspired to threaten parents with imprisonment if they did not submit their children to vaccinations.

Read more here:

http://www.naturalnews.com/022267_vaccinations_health_freedom.html

Abigail's 13 birthday

Yesterday was Abigail's 13th birthday. We had T.J., Rachel, Elise, and Gabriel over for lunch.
She wanted to have Ice Cream Cake, which was very good!

Umm. Spoon tastes yummy.
Mom wanted to get a picture of all four of her grandchildren together. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a picture of four children five and under, all smiling at once? Very hard. These two pictures are the best that we got.

Titus. He is so cute! And so friendly!
Aww. I thought this one was just CUTE!
Garrett likes to get up on his hands and knees. He hasn't quite figured out how to crawl. Yet.

Boaz's Birthday

Wow. This post is really late.
Dad was helping a friend move to Montana a few weeks ago and mom went up there with him. They were gone for almost two weeks. And they were gone on the fourth, which was Boaz's birthday. Boaz wanted to wait until they got home to have a celebration. So the Sunday after they got home we had T.J., Rachel, Elise, and Gabriel over for supper.

Boaz had Dirt Cake again.
I think that the presents were the most important part.
Allen thought so too.

Mourning the Loss of Another Godly Man

The world has lost another Godly influence this week.

His name was David Hall.

He passed into eternity October 11, after a battle with cancer.

Even though his family and friends are grieving over their loss, they are also rejoicing that David is face to face with his savior, Jesus Christ.

No more pain, no more suffering.

David and his wife Phyllis will always have a special place in our heart. It was Phyllis who introduced us to the man that would become our son-in-law. Phyllis was convinced that Gabriel would be the right husband for our daughter, Elise. She was right.

Our prayers are with Hall family as they go through this difficult time.

http://www.proclaimliberty.us/blog/index.php/2011/10/11/david-hall/

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/bell-ringer-who-honored-vets-dies-of-cancer-131557568.html

Jumping on the Steve Jobs bandwagon

I am sure that most of you know about the death of Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple computers.

(My family loves the apple products; love my imac.)

I thought Doug Phillips' article on the death of Steve Jobs was very well written from a Christian viewpoint, so here it is from visionforum.com.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

On the Death of Steve Jobs: Updated

By Doug Phillips

The fifty-six-year life of Steve Jobs has ended. What is the message?

First, this was the full life of one of the greatest innovators and marketing giants since Edison. He was a man who understood that the computer revolution provided an unprecedented opportunity in history to shape culture. Over the last thirty years, American culture has been shaped by Hollywood, by music videos, by Madison Avenue, by the government schools, and by Steve Jobs. It is time for Christians to take inventory of these influences and consider our response.

Second, Jobs lived a type of aggressive life which thrived in controversy. This may be one reason why public opinion of this man unwisely tends to run from gushing idolatry to utter detestation. He showed us that businessmen could have the popularity of rock stars and the contempt of fallen politicians. My perspective on his life is different—appreciation, gratitude, disagreement, sadness. His life is a reminder that whether your name is Alexander the Great, Leonardo da Vinci, or Steve Jobs, in the end, your physical body becomes food for worms. More importantly, your eternal soul faces the same Judge that every human must stand before. This is just one reason why human idolatry is folly. We must never worship men (future worm food), but only the Lord. But it is also folly to be unduly disgusted with leaders like Steve Jobs, especially if such disgust shows a lack of appreciation for the fact that God used this man who was made in the imago dei to accomplish His providential purposes.

Third, Jobs reminds us that men of influence must be creative, have some understanding of aesthetics, work hard, and take initiative. Jobs was a college drop-out whose calligraphy-inspired love of minimalist art would help to shape the aesthetic tastes of an entire generation, not through art, but technologies—Steve Jobs made computers elegant. He was the Wunderkind who took a financially devastated company called Apple and turned it and the business world upside-down using innovation, moxie, and creativity. He was the CEO of Pixar who gave the world some of the more memorable digital films in history. He was even once a twelve-year-old boy who demonstrated initiative by calling Mr. William Hewlett, President of Hewlett-Packard, to ask for help on a school science project. He not only got the help, but a job offer.

Fourth, Jobs gave us practical tools of dominion. That may not have been his purpose, but he did it nonetheless. For these tools I am thankful. Creating clever tools was the mark of his life. Consider that long before Jobs gave the world iPods and iMacs, he was the visionary who introduced the world to the mouse. This being said, the coming of Steve Jobs’ wonderful machines did not mean that the world would become wiser or full of more knowledge. Society may have unprecedented access to information, but this does not mean it has greater understanding. Only the fear of the Lord brings knowledge and wisdom (Proverbs 1:7; Psalm 111:10—there is a strong argument that we have become stupider and less wise because of our unprofitable use of these devices.) So while the world has changed greatly because of Apple and Jobs, we are not necessarily better off in any ultimate sense. It is righteousness and the very Spirit of God, not existence of technology, which ultimately prospers a people.

Fifth, when men take initiative, exercise diligence, and fight very, very hard, they are often rewarded with temporal success. Jobs did this. He was the beneficiary of what theologians describe as God’s common grace. Christian men can learn much, both about what to do, and what not to do, from the life of this focused, hard-working visionary.

Sixth, the death of Steve Jobs reminds us that to be wise we must understand the times—our technological times. We live in a world in which technology tends to master men, not the other way around. Furthermore, technology is so ubiquitous that it is nearly inescapable. That means we better become the masters of it. Ironically, Jobs may not have written his own epitaph or obituary, but he made the tools for disseminating them. The death of Steve Jobs may be the first time in history when it could be said that most people on earth learned about the demise of a leader on a device created by the leader himself. In fact, at this moment I am writing you on a computer that Steve Jobs designed, having just spoken to my wife on my iPhone 4, and having earlier today home educated one of my children with a teaching aid on an iPad which Jobs introduced to the world less than two years ago. His technological and marketing fingerprints have become ubiquitous.

Seventh, the life of Steve Jobs reminds us of one of the great fatherhood questions of our generation: Is it worth it to win the whole world, but lose the hearts of the children that God has given to us? Now to be fair, little is known of Mr. Jobs walk with his children except what he said himself. But during one of his only and final interviews on his private life, Jobs offered some insights into his personal absenteeism as a father. Walter Isaacson, Jobs’ authorized biographer, explained:

A few weeks ago, I visited Jobs for the last time in his Palo Alto, Calif., home. He had moved to a downstairs bedroom because he was too weak to go up and down stairs. He was curled up in some pain, but his mind was still sharp and his humor vibrant. We talked about his childhood, and he gave me some pictures of his father and family to use in my biography. As a writer, I was used to being detached, but I was hit by a wave of sadness as I tried to say goodbye. In order to mask my emotion, I asked the one question that was still puzzling me: Why had he been so eager, during close to 50 interviews and conversations over the course of two years, to open up so much for a book when he was usually so private? “I wanted my kids to know me,” he said. “I wasn’t always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did.”

Jobs won the world, but he needed a writer to reach out to his children on his behalf.

Finally, there is no evidence of which I am aware from the public record of Steve Jobs that he knew Christ or biblically sought to honor God. I hope that I am wrong. But if I am not, then this means that while he accomplished much in his life, none of it matters for eternity as far as his own soul is concerned. Zero. In other words, it is possible to lead a very successful life and even to be a tool of mercy for others used in the hands of God, and yet none of your philanthropies or business accomplishments earn you one moment in Heaven.

The death of all men reminds us of the brevity of life, the lost condition of our souls, and the uselessness for earning eternal rewards through human accomplishments outside of Christ.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only Christ is worthy

Thursday our family attended the funeral of a friend who had been battling cancer for, I think, 2 years.

His name is Frank and Frank was a Christian.

When you attend the funeral of a Christian, the service is different.

And when I say Christian, I mean a person who is committed to serving Jesus Christ. A person who, despite his short comings and sins, is , through God’s grace and strength, walking worthy of God, who hath called him unto his kingdom and glory. (1 Thes. 2:12)

Frank did just that. The praise of the Lord was always on his lips. He accepted the will of God in his sickness.

Also, he was more concerned for other people than himself. He was always encouraging others.

At the funeral service I was impressed with some things that one man said.

I thought it tied in very well to everything I have been hearing lately in different sermons about the glory of God.

He was telling us of another man he knew that spent much time trying to be worthy of the Lord. But one day that man read in Revelation 5 that no man was found worthy to open the book and read it and only the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is worthy.

He realized he will never be worthy. That it’s only through Jesus Christ and his sacrifice of dying for our sins that we are counted worthy.

This man was trying to appease God in his own works.

It cannot be done.

Romans 3:10 says: There is none righteous.

And in Romans 3:22-26

Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

I think we get caught up in trying so hard to walk worthy, that we miss the real goal.

We miss the goal of glorifying God.

It is God who is to get the glory, not us.

Don’t get me wrong. We are to obey the Word of the Lord. We are to produce fruit. We are to have changed lives. We are called to walk worthy, to walk a different life style, to train our children differently.

That is part of the Kingdom work.

What I mean is, sometimes we focus so much on ourselves and what we can do, that we forget that it is Christ who is working in us and who is using us to his good pleasure. It is Christ who we are to focus on and not ourselves and our works.

Could it be that we are trying to gain favor with man by trying to be so spiritual or trying to gain glory through another man’s praise of us? Because, surely, in our subconscious, we have to know that we can never be good enough or worthy in our own works to please God. We cannot impress God and God will not share His glory with another, not even our self image, which is just another form of idolatry.

Our duty is to obey and we must leave the glorification to the Lord.

Isaiah 66:1,2

Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Isaiah 2:17

And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.