It has been like forever since I last made a post in my blog.

Married life has been great, and time has been slipping quickly by. Mary and I realized after a rough couple weeks that we needed to remember each other more. It seems to very easy to allow ourselves to get so busy that we forget what really matters.

I have heard it said, “The main thing, is that the main thing, remains the main thing”! That is so true.

We really love the ministries that the Lord Jesus has put us in. We want to be faithful stewards of the time we are allowed on this planet. That being said, that also includes time for each other.

We decided to take a small trip to San Antonio a few weeks back, and had a blast walking on the River Walk and visiting the Alamo.

It was kind of funny and sad at the same time, but we told each other that we wouldn’t answer our phones. As we were walking in the gardens of the Alamo, the phone rang and we made the mistake of answering it. The person on the other line was insisting that we drop what we were doing and go visit them.

No matter how much we tried to explain that we were spending much needed time alone together, they chose to get offended and call people saying how mean we were. We make no apologies for building a strong marriage, and that is exactly what we are doing. The Father in Heaven put us together for a specific purpose, and we discovered that we will not allow anyone to come between us.

We do love our family, and we are proud of our kids. If there is anybody that we do make time for, it is our kids. That being said, we find ourselves at a transition in our lives. Three of our Five kids are of adult age, and are going out on their own. It is so hard to let go of them, and if we are not careful, those feelings will make their way between Mary and I.

We have seen it try to happen already, and we have learned our lesson. The last thing that we want to do is hinder our kids in their adult life by refusing to cut the ties. It is sad to see people never fly because their wings have been cut by their own families. Family is supposed to help, teach and enable our kids but when the times comes, family is supposed to let each other fly.

I look at the kids that I have been blessed with, and the first to really step out is Liz. I look at her and am proud of where she has gone in life. She is beautiful like her mom, and she has a level head. If there’s one thing that I respect in her is that she recognizes her mistakes, but still moves past them and never looks back to let those same mistakes stop her from making a life for herself.

I learn a lot from Liz and her attitude about her life. She is smart and works hard. We just had a Baby Shower for Liz and it is awesome to see how far she has already gone in life.

The next one I look at is Mallory. She is way smarter than me (that’s not saying much… lol). Since the 6th grade she has wanted to go to Rhema Bible Training Center, and that has been her focus. She has been working and saving to get there, and in a month she will be heading up to Tulsa to start.

Mallory has a beautiful heart (and her good looks and charm come from her daddy), and has every God given talent to go far in life. I wish I would have chosen to go to Rhema when I was a teenager, but I made the wrong choices. It is good that God still uses me now that I am older, but Mallory is starting her race at the correct Starting Position.

The third one to be going out is Billy. He might not want to admit it, but I see a lot of me in him. He is one of those guys that wants to take a higher road (even when he is unsure which road that is), and he defends the helpless. He also might not want to admit it, but his mom is going to miss him.

I do understand though exactly what he is thinking by moving to Vegas. A man comes to a point in his life (if he is smart, he will come to this point several times a year) when he asks himself if he is where he should be in life. I understand having a calling on your life, and wondering where to go to fulfill that calling. Billy is like me in that he needs to maintain a strong prayer life so that he never looses direction.

Billy will make a great husband and daddy, but it will come when he is ready for it. I think Billy recognizes that being a great husband and daddy is more than just “showing up”.

It is tough to let kids go, but I am so glad that God has blessed me with a loving and understanding wife. We have three down and two more to go, and I am excited to see what the Father is going to do with those as well. We will allow our kids to fly, but they will have a place to rest when they need it… At Home

This weekend was a very tough weekend for Mary and I, but we learned a lot of lessons from the events that went on. In an attempt to keep peace and preserve a dream, we found ourselves in a fuss that wasn’t worth it. We learned that we were really trying to please people and hold on to a dream that just wasn’t ours to hold on to.

In doing that we failed miserably, and despite our best intentions to protect everyone, we fell prey to attacks of all kinds. It seems that no matter how much you want to help people, if they don’t know or trust you, you will fall flat on your face.

The Father in Heaven has a plan and vision that He wants to give every one of us, and back in January I received a word stating His intentions for me.

Holy Spirit speaks to me

Basically I was told that I needed to keep the Father close, expect Him to work in ways that I never imagined, stand firm where I am till I am moved by Him, and if I do that I will see Him move in a greater way through me.

Mary and I sat puzzled all weekend and made a decision to get up this morning and pray like we have never done before. It was funny, because all week we would sit separately and ponder the last couple days, and both come together with the same words from the Holy Spirit. We were confirming each other all week long.

We had to work through a lot of hurt, but we made it together. So today we woke up and started to pray in tongues together, and after an hour we pulled out some scriptures that the Father gave me over a year ago. As we read those scriptures, the map of what we needed to do was as plain as day right before our eyes.

That reminds me of what we did out on the deck last night. I put my camera on the tripod and in the pitch black darkness I was showing Mary how to take pictures of the moon.

I was showing her that even though the sky seemed totally dark, by keeping the camera still on the tripod and the shutter open longer, we were able to see the darkness go away.

Then I showed her that by focusing in on the moon and zooming in, we were able to capture the details of the moon more clearly.

Isn’t that exactly how it is with our walk with God? No matter how dark it seems, when we keep our eyes open to the Lord and allow more of His light into our lives, the more that the darkness is done away with and everything becomes visible.

Also, like the details of the moon. When we draw close to the Lord and put our focus on Him, the details of what He has for us become more easily discerned.

That is what happened with us as we got back into the scriptures that were given to us a year ago. We stood there and read through every scripture, and as we spoke it out, we saw everything that had gone on and what we needed to do to get through it. Drawing closer to the Father and His Word caused us to see the details of the plan for our lives.

One of the things that had us confused was leaving an inheritance for everyone, and making sure everyone had their piece of the pie. What we were reminded was that we needed to continue to walk in love towards people, and by doing that we would set ourselves up with an eternal inheritance. We were reminded that the eternal inheritance includes a earthly one that can never be taken away.

So we were confirmed in our spirits that we needed to walk away from things that don’t matter or bare fruit in this natural existence, and be willing to walk in the place that God has for us so that we can be successful in His eyes.

Nothing matters if it distracts us from the plan that the Father has for us.

Thank you Father for the plan for Mary and I as a team, as well as individuals. Thank you for speaking to us as individuals so that we can confirm the plan that you have for us as a team.

After much thought, I have decided to start my blog over. I have taken my old blog and made it into a book that I can have for posterity. I was thinking about my old reasons for having a blog, and in all honesty it was from the need to make it through some tough times.

It has been about 2 years since the Father in Heaven made a promise to me of a brighter future, and on February 28th, 2009 my brighter future started when Mary and I got married. You could actually say it started January 1st, 2009 when we became the Children’s Ministers and were in a ministry as a team. Really… the Brighter Future started about 2 years ago when God first promised it to me, I just had to walk through a lot of the junk that I had made of my life.

If I blame the Lord for anything, it is that He is the one that got me through the mess that I had made for myself.

I find no reason any longer to look back into old archives, and I want this blog to reflect that old past mistakes are gone forever, and the Lord has got much better plans for me.

Laughing At The Past