In Season and Out of Season (the big visit)

In 2 Timothy 4:2, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Timothy+4%3A2-3&version=NIVwe are instructed to be ready in all circumstances to stand up for what we believe.  Some of us have deceived ourselves into thinking that "others" will do the work that needs to be done.  I have been thinking about this over the last few days, and felt I would put my thoughts on paper so to speak.  We must understand firstly that all Scipture is for all believers.  I do not feel that certain people need to read certain passages because of who they are.  Pastors,Deacons,Wives, and Husbands come to mind.  It is true that the Bible speaks to specific people, but still relates to all people. For Example: Wives submitting to husbands.  Husbands need to submit to the authority of God, as the Church is in submission to Christ. 
To be honest I have been struggling with this as I am all to aware, of the dangers of feeling a need to do something to validate our standing with God. If I am really saved by Grace only, and not by what I do, then how do I avoid the sense of guilt for not doing what we think we need to do? 
Last week, I had the opportunity to come face to face with a JW.  Yes a Witness at my door!  The wheels started turning and since we had company over, my first response was to ignore them and hoped they would go away.  However after collecting my thoughts, they were exposed to their many and I must say MANY errors to their cult.  After they thanked me for my time and left with questions they could not answer, I realized what had happend.  This happens to all of us, when we submit our wills to God.  To always be ready to respond in all circumstances.  It is not of the Spirit to guilt ourselves into doing something, which rarely works, but when we allow the Spirit to work through us in his time, we can actually respond to 2 Timothy 4:2-3.http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Timothy+4%3A2-3&version=NIV

Back, but never recovered

There are three things in life you never get back.  Time, Words and Opportunity.  I am back at home, to the daily routine and scheduling of our lifestyles.  In a effort to come up with some great reasons as to why we do the things we do, and reason number 6 why Gaylene and myself are still married, these three treasures I have held on to.  Time never turns back.  We can never replace our years we have, and so I try to make every effort to make Time count.  Always looking ahead on the ultimate goal and striving to make a difference in someone's life. Time passes us bye whether we use it or miss it.  Words like Time can never be taken back.  A Rough word to someone or maybe your spouse that makes them angry or hurt, can never be taken back. Words mend, bond and build relationships, Words also tear down, erode and seperate. My choice but in either case, Words can not be taken back.  Opportunities come and they go.  When you miss the boarding time of your flight, this opportunity is gone. So many times I have used the saying, If I had only done this... or if I had only said that.  If only I had made a different choice I would have done better. 
Gaylene and I are still married, in large by a conscience choice to make these three things work for our marriage.  Time,Words, and Opportunity.

Good to be Home!

6300km

We are in Portage

The God who Serves Us

None of us find it easy to forgive.  I am sitting here in the lobby of a hotel and started thinking of how many times we complain, or voice our complaints to the front desk.  The front desk is there to serve much like God serves us.  Many Christians may find this hard to say, but God serves Us. If we think about how many times we have had experiences that worked themselves out for the good, we often use lines such as, "Well God sure had a better plan, or God knew what he was doing".  God is a Serving God! God is the front desk of a hotel.  We ask for extra towels, fix our TV, ask for internet, toothbrush,cots,bedding,discounts,free breakfast and even ask to extend our stay by a few hours when we just can't get out!  How incredible selfish!  I see people leaving the hotel with Smiles on their faces, walking past the front desk.  And I see people walk past the front desk with a cheerful "Good Morning".  After all, we have been served.  Maybe we had a good night sleep and the bed was good, so our thanks is a "Good Morning".  If our God is the front desk to the hotel why do we only visit the front desk when we need something.  Why do we complain so much to the front desk, when things are not quite right?  God is a Serving God, and he does serve us.  The problem lies within ourselves.  We boast of our accomplishments, our victories and our fine children.  We take them out past the front desk to breakfast, "Compliments of the front desk!"  Leave our towels on the floor and beds a mess, garbage on the floor, and leave it to the front desk to "Clean our rooms". 

I am thank-ful this morning for our serving God.  He serves me in ways I do not even know.  He is always on the line when I pick up the phone.  If God is a Serving God....can we at least learn to forgive others who have hurt us, cheated us, lied to us, or talked behind our backs.  Instead of going to the front desk to complain, why not thank him today with a tip to the maid, who cleans up your room.  The God who cleaned up you life and gave you Salvation, deserves to be praised!  The fifth reason I feel we can stay married for 25 years is forgiveness.  Don't wait to be served.....If you are wrong don't wait for the towels to arrive.....Forgive already! Gaylene and I often hurt each other, and often can forgive within minutes, by not waiting for the spouse to set the mood for forgiving.  It is always up to me to "forgive"

Stupid people

Okay enough serious stuff.....Today I declared.....People are stupid! Now I of course I would never say that in public or call my friends that, but think about it.

Why do I drive away from a drive through with no napkins. And in the same day have a lane closed and traffic being slow to a crawl have people try to get by and cut in line.... Tell me why it is safe to eat and drive and not talk on the cell phone. Hey I was looking for a irrigation system that shot water onto the highway so I could wash the vehicle. I also find myself squeezing every drop of gas possible into the tank and doing it all the time.

Okay it is late....but the fourth reason we are still married after 25 years is the fact we both are stupid people and admit it. We all do dumb things and we have learned to accept each other in spite of our shortcomings.

Vancouver

We are staying in the Best Western Downtown with decent view of the towntown from the eighth floor. Today we visited Stanley Park with the Boys going to the aquarium, and then doing a drive around the sea wall taking in all the sites. Later we took loads of pictures at the Olympic site. Cool seeing the olympic torch and seeing the skyline from the bay area was amazing.

I guess I forgot to write about our Vancouver Island visit.....well you will have to ask about it.

Jayms and Adison want to visit Roger center tommorow and then hopefully visit some family. Kelowna,Vernen here we come!

Leaving Seattle

We have been staying at a Travelodge for the last two nights. This morning we are heading north to Seattle premium outlet mall and then finding a hotel near washington ferries for the crossing onto victoria Island.

Yesterday we attended Mars Hill Church and had a wonderful service. We all left very refreshed and impressed with the worship environment. Service started at 11:45 and ended at 1:00. Who said service needed to be kept short. Pastor Mark spoke for about :45 minutes, and loads of praise and worship before and after the message. We all agreed that the length of the service really was unimportant. We got the impression the people really wanted to stay there and were not in a hurry to leave. Loud music....but people actually sang....Very friendly!

Approaching Seattle

We got into Seattle yesterday after leaving Ellensburg around 9 am. The timing was great as Ellensburg is just on the east side of the mountain ranges we went through before coning into Seattle. The drive from Spokane to Ellensburg was amazing. The interstate highway here is as good of a highway I have ever seen. The geography is basically flat and you can see thousands of acres of farmland. Just beatiful! No way I can explain as it is nothing like Sask or even Alberta?? Just outside of Ellensburg we crossed the Columbia River. The interstate comes in along side of the valley at about 1500 ft (I think) and before the bridge at a look-out there is a amazing view of the valley,river, and a wind farm on the foothills of the mountains. Awsome!

In our marriage of 25 years, I guess I would have to say that if a person is not willing to accept change in our spouse, either in the way they act or maybe even in their outer appearance.....you will never make it. Often couples are determined to stay in the present and even may try to go back to the past to remain satisfied. I have found that much like God's creation changes as you travel the country, so too does your marriage. God instructs us to remain fruitful and productive in everything we do. John 15:1-8. We are to remain in him and he will remain in us. God will prune us so we can be productive. Let's face it, we can never stay young forever. Our marriages can never remain in neutral so to speak. The honeymoon of our marriages, as they were can never remain the way it was. So when Gaylene and I decided to let God prune us and shape us to the couple he wanted us to be,we gave in to our desires to try to change each other. Every marriage, and ours is not the exemption, has challenges. We struggle at different times and may even go through dry times. But if we are willing to remain rooted in Him and allow Him to do the pruning,(as if I could ever prune Gaylene!) then when change happens we will always be able to accept our spouse including their flaws and shortcomings. Allowing change to occur in our marriage is reason number three we are still married.

Friday night near Seattle

We are staying in a cheap hotel about an hour and a half from Seattle. Tomorrow we conquer Seattle! I am reminded how grateful I am for our family. Nothing beats the togetherness and unity in arguing, quaraling and sibling abuse. Of course we always have a great time. I guess family is pretty much like the Christian family. Always plenty to discuss and disagree with, but agreeing to accept one another in Love. God has made us all different and this is what makes life so great.
Aaryn has just booked cruise for tomorrow! She has been our navigator and map reading. Gaylene has lost her touch. Haha you got to love it! The Boys love their WiFi connections when they have it. Of course I feel I need it as well

Yellowstone Day Two

Friday morning eh! Well the week has been filled already but our drive is just starting. We are on the road to Spokane and then finally Seattle Washington. We had about 2 hrs of driving north on highway 191 through a mountain range which was absolutely amazing. We had our devotions on this stretch, and we discussed Prayer. Adison has been going through in his baptismal class a book on Christian growth. We discussed whether or not God hears or answers prayers of those not yet of faith. As I am writing this I am coming to the second reason we have been married 25 years. Prayer. Pray for your partner and for your relationship to them whether you feel like it or not. There have been many times where I have not always felt like building my marriage. It was during these times where I make sure God knows about it.

Yesterday we visited Old Faithful and many other geysers and mud pots. We drove to the south end of the park and at an elevation of about 9500ft it was very common to see patches of snow still in the trees along our road ways. Although we all sunburned and the temperature was well above 25C, I found this very interesting. Yellowstone receives a lot of snow over winter!
On our first day when we came back from the upper falls, and our drive back to our hotel is only about 45min, we were stuck behind traffic for about 1.5 hours as a herd of bison walked down the highway about a mile in front of us. God has a way of finding ways to teach something during these times. Actually Gaylene and the kids got out and ran ahead of the line for exercise and pass the time. Finally the bison left the road and we were able to get back to West Yellowstone. Missed our evening at the pool though!

Day Two Yellowstone

Good Morning!
I was doing some thinking this morning as to how we got to this point of being married for 25 years. There is a lot of scipture I love, but today I will call this Reason Number 1, we are still married. It is so evident to us that we find our strength from God to sustain us.

Eph 3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father,
Eph 3:15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
Eph 3:16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Eph 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
Eph 3:18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

Morning of?

We have been married 25 years, and so on this trip we might try to understand why this all happened! (my quote of the day)

It is 7:30 am local time here in Billings,mt. Gaylene and myself are only ones up. Obviously right? When would someone under 21 get up any time other than to go to work or school? Yesterday was a travel day, but we got to enjoy the late afternoon and evening. We had a wonderful supper at Texas Roadhouse for steak. After buying some pepper spray and throwing knives we relaxed in the HOT (if ours is 104 than this one ways 110!) tub.

This morning we travel about 4 hours and will spend next two and half in yellowstone, or until we want to leave.

Just to clarify, the number 2 highway near minot north dakota was under water so we followed another car onto a gravel road and eventually to a paved highway, but only by gps were able to navigate back to our route. During this time we needed to "back track" about 10 miles as at 6:30 in the morning no one is up, never mind mind manning gas stations in a tiny hillbilly town.

Jaym's troubles

Into Montana and sitting at McDonald's using their WiFi. Gaylene went for a ice cap and we are cooking in the 31c heat. Jayms almost pee'd himself. We will be uploading some pictures later tonight. We all love Jayms.

Great 25th Family vacation tour

We are now a couple hours from billings where we will stay for the afternoon and first night. We drove all night and then early in the morning almost ran out of gas as we took side roads because of the main highway being closed due to flooding. Back tracked about 20 miles and just made it to a gas station. We are now stopped for breakfast at a Perkins.