This past Sunday I preached on Psalm 7 as part of our series through the first book of the psalms entitled "The Spiritual Life." In Psalm 7 I pointed out how God's righteousness (His holiness lived out) affects how we deal with the unrighteousness in our lives; especially untrue, unfair criticism. If you'd like to listen to the sermon, click here.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Ducks in a Ditch
Because of all the snow North Dakota had, there are literally lakes where there shouldn't be. And as a result there are ducks where you wouldn't expect them. Now ducks usually prefer to swim in actual lakes or ponds but in our case some ducks seem to be fine with swimming in ditches off the side of the road that are filled with water. It's quite amusing to be driving down the highway and see ducks congregating just off the shoulder of the road.
Well, I feel like I have taken another big step into becoming fully immersed in the agrarian culture. On Monday I rented equipment for the first time from the Farm Supply store in town. No, I did not actually rent a farm implement per se, but I did borrow a power rake in order to prep our lawn for fertilizer. If you don't know what a power rake is (and I didn't until Monday), it's the size of a lawn mower and kicks up all the dead material under the lawn. So I mowed our lawn and then power raked it. Then my wife and I spent most of the afternoon "manually" raking up the dead vegetation. After watering the lawn, I put together the spreader I picked up in Bismarck over the weekend and prepared to fertilze the lawn. Unfortunately we didn't have near enough fertilizer to go around so I'll to have to pick some more up to finish the job.
On Sunday night I played basketball for the second week in a row and was quite a bit less soar on Monday than I had been last week. We had a few less guys this week so we played 4 on 4. I have always done better offenseively playing 4 on 4 rather than the traditional 5 on 5. I can remember back to elementary basketball how I used to score significantly more when there were two less guys on the court...which isn't saying much in terms of total output!
By God's Grace, Jeff
Well, I feel like I have taken another big step into becoming fully immersed in the agrarian culture. On Monday I rented equipment for the first time from the Farm Supply store in town. No, I did not actually rent a farm implement per se, but I did borrow a power rake in order to prep our lawn for fertilizer. If you don't know what a power rake is (and I didn't until Monday), it's the size of a lawn mower and kicks up all the dead material under the lawn. So I mowed our lawn and then power raked it. Then my wife and I spent most of the afternoon "manually" raking up the dead vegetation. After watering the lawn, I put together the spreader I picked up in Bismarck over the weekend and prepared to fertilze the lawn. Unfortunately we didn't have near enough fertilizer to go around so I'll to have to pick some more up to finish the job.
On Sunday night I played basketball for the second week in a row and was quite a bit less soar on Monday than I had been last week. We had a few less guys this week so we played 4 on 4. I have always done better offenseively playing 4 on 4 rather than the traditional 5 on 5. I can remember back to elementary basketball how I used to score significantly more when there were two less guys on the court...which isn't saying much in terms of total output!
By God's Grace, Jeff
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Humility & God's Glory
"Humble people know who God is - and who they are; where God stands, and where they stand. We were made for God's glory and pleasure; it's not the other way around."- Tom Garasha ("Vital Signs")
Confidence is Found in God's Mercy
This past Sunday I preached on psalm 6 and the main message that I saw as it related to our lives is that "Confidence is found in the mercy of God." Whether it is physical suffering or spiritual affliction, the confidence to respond in a way that please God is available because of God's mercy and specifically through what His Son Jesus accomplished on the cross for us. If you would like to listen to this sermon, click here.
By God's Grace, Jeff
By God's Grace, Jeff
Monday, May 4, 2009
Beautifying Underwood
This Saturday my wife and I participated in "Beautification Day". A bunch of people from the community got together to improve the looks of Underwood. Originally the plan included installing a new highway sign and planting rows of trees from the highway into town. Both of these projects had to be postponed until a later date but we were still able to do quite a bit to beautify Underwood. My wife and I spent time collecting trash, preparing large flower pots to be dispersed around town and plating trees in some empty lots downtown. Even though some of our plans had to be changed, I believe we accomplished a lot and had fun doing it.
Well, I thought this week was going to be a quieter one, after finishing my basketball coaching duties. But on Sunday night I heard that a family in town who tragically had lost a member a year ago, suffered another loss. If any of you remember a post of mine from last April you may recall that I was asked to officiate a funeral for a family in the community because I had a connection with them through basketball. Believe it or not, but it was the same family that suffered this loss. How do you even begin to minister to a mom who's lost two children, a sister who's lost two siblings and children who have lost a mother and now a beloved uncle? Even more so that the funeral a year ago, this one proved to be immensely more challenging. I was able to visit the family each day last week and the funeral was held on Friday. Please pray for my ongoing ministry to this family in their time of unimaginable grief.
Last night I joined a bunch of other guys for some basketball at the school gym. Each Sunday night high school guys and guys my age and older get together for some hoops. Let me just say this: my legs are quite soar today after playing for nearly two hours straight last night! I had a great time re-connecting with some of the high school guys that I helped coach last year and getting to know some other guys from the community.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Well, I thought this week was going to be a quieter one, after finishing my basketball coaching duties. But on Sunday night I heard that a family in town who tragically had lost a member a year ago, suffered another loss. If any of you remember a post of mine from last April you may recall that I was asked to officiate a funeral for a family in the community because I had a connection with them through basketball. Believe it or not, but it was the same family that suffered this loss. How do you even begin to minister to a mom who's lost two children, a sister who's lost two siblings and children who have lost a mother and now a beloved uncle? Even more so that the funeral a year ago, this one proved to be immensely more challenging. I was able to visit the family each day last week and the funeral was held on Friday. Please pray for my ongoing ministry to this family in their time of unimaginable grief.
Last night I joined a bunch of other guys for some basketball at the school gym. Each Sunday night high school guys and guys my age and older get together for some hoops. Let me just say this: my legs are quite soar today after playing for nearly two hours straight last night! I had a great time re-connecting with some of the high school guys that I helped coach last year and getting to know some other guys from the community.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Swinging Into Spring
This past Saturday my wife and I participated in Underwood's "Swing into Spring" event. This event was put together by one of our economic development organizations and included a free meal, info about upcoming economic development opportunities and Swing lessons and dancing. It was a ton of fun as many couples from the community came out for free food and to work on their dancing moves. My wife and I had taken a dance class at a community center a few years back and so it was a great refresher for us and opportunity to enjoy some social dancing. Now I know dancing is not for everyone but I can think of few activities as beneficial to marriages than dancing.
Well, if I had to describe this week in a nut-shell it would be "driving to Bismarck and back." We were in Bismarck for some part of five days this past week. Remember, Bismarck is 50 miles south of us, so we spent a lot of time on the road this past week. Our final trip to Bismarck was on Saturday to attend Child Evangelism's "Big Event Carnival". My wife and I help out with the Kids' Club here in Underwood and the regional director organized a huge gathering of families at the Bismarck Civic Center. There were three rows of carnival games hosted by various churches and ministries and the walls were lined with inflatable bounce house games. And they had about 2200 people in only four hours!
Elementary basketball is finally over for the year. It seemed like a shorter season that last year and even though I enjoyed working with the kids, I'm glad it's over. The sixth grade team (mostly fifth graders) only won one game but the fifth grade team (all fourth graders) won three times including their last game. I think this bodes well for the future of Underwood basketball.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Well, if I had to describe this week in a nut-shell it would be "driving to Bismarck and back." We were in Bismarck for some part of five days this past week. Remember, Bismarck is 50 miles south of us, so we spent a lot of time on the road this past week. Our final trip to Bismarck was on Saturday to attend Child Evangelism's "Big Event Carnival". My wife and I help out with the Kids' Club here in Underwood and the regional director organized a huge gathering of families at the Bismarck Civic Center. There were three rows of carnival games hosted by various churches and ministries and the walls were lined with inflatable bounce house games. And they had about 2200 people in only four hours!
Elementary basketball is finally over for the year. It seemed like a shorter season that last year and even though I enjoyed working with the kids, I'm glad it's over. The sixth grade team (mostly fifth graders) only won one game but the fifth grade team (all fourth graders) won three times including their last game. I think this bodes well for the future of Underwood basketball.
By God's Grace, Jeff
What you Say shows what you Believe about God
This past Sunday I preached on Psalm 5 in our church's series through the first book of the Psalms entitled "The Spiritual Life". The main point as I saw Psalm 5 relating to us today is that "what you say shows what you believe about God." If you'd like to listen to the sermon click here.
By God's Grace, Jeff
By God's Grace, Jeff
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)