"Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." - Isaiah 41:10.
God is faithful to His Word. He has been with me, strengthened me, helped me, and upheld me. He has already provided me with a message for my uncle's funeral and given me further direction for this time. Thank you Lord!!!

Today has been quite a day. My uncle, Levi Taliaferro, passed away about noon today. He had been ill for awhile but I hadn't realized he was that near death. My mother is also worse and had a small family conference about that just before going to visit my aunt. I'll be doing the service for Levi on Monday morning. A member of our church is having bypass surgery that morning as well so I will have to leave to go to Oklahoma City as soon as possible after the funeral. Life does have its twists and turns but I am so thankful that my Lord is walking with me through each one. Sometimes when it gets bad He just picks me up and carries me. Only through His power can I do what He has called me to do. Just praising Him!!!!

TGIF it's Friday! And we can thank God for another day He has made! The day has started out well for me with another new devotional written, sent, and posted. Have some left over things from yesterday which still need to be done today (sign, bulletin - those things). Sunday is our son Nick's 23rd birthday (Nick has Downs Syndrome) and we are spending the weekend in Oklahoma City in a motel since that is his favorite thing in the world to do. So, need to to take care of a few things today before we leave.

I need to visit my Mother and Dad at Canute today. They live about 45 miles east of here. My mother is for the most part bedridden and they have her so doped up that she is sleeping most of the time. I don't agree with her treatment program but parents (and my sister) always seem to have a mind of their own. She is receiving hospice care which I understand signs away some rights to other treatments. You have to be terminal under six months to live to receive hospice. In my mother's situation I see it as possibly being a self-fulfilling prophecy. Keeping her over medicated and bedridden may very well result in her deterioration and the excess medication may cause damage to kidneys and liver resulting in death. Sad situation but I have been unable to reason with them.

Enough of the sadness, there is work to do! Hope you all have a great day and a wonderful weekend!!

It is always amazing to me to see how easily people can be offended. One word said or written in the wrong tone or font can be enough to set some people off. Christ's command for us to forgive so that we may be forgiven and if someone hits you on one cheek to turn the other to them is as much for our benefit as it is for the offenders benefit. I liked the title of an article in USA today last Tuesday "Learning to forgive can benefit the forgiver." Most definitely! Living a life of forgiveness will cause you to reap benefits emotionally and physically.

Interesting how little there is on TV nowadays. Living in the country we only receive about 8 channels and there is not much on anymore. It's kind of like so much of the Blogs I've seen in the Blogger directory. It seems the majority of them are pretty bad at least from a godly perspective. It makes you realize there are so many people that have no desire for God and never really even think about God. How can they ever be reached? We need revival. What would have to happen for a real revival to come?

Things are going well this morning. Of course each morning begins with prayer and the Word. The devotional has now been written and sent but haven't posted it to my website yet which will take a few minutes more.

I did take care of one of my important duties this morning which was to take out the trash. Living in an isolated rural community the trash truck comes by once a week on Thursday and if you forget well it's another week. But this is much better than it was a few years ago when you had to burn all of your trash and if you had a burn ban you were in trouble.

Growing up on a farm that was one of my duties - to take out and burn the trash. I caught the side of the chicken house on fire once but was able to put it out with a garden hose before there was too much damage. Surprisingly enough my parents continued to entrust me with that chore.

During the time when my parents grew up during the depression they didn't have the problem with trash that we have today. Why? Because everything was valuable and a use of some kind would be found for it. Also, there just wasn't the money to buy as much junk as we buy today. Taking out the trash. Hmmn. I think there may be a devotional there somewhere.

Arrived back home about 1:30am. Now unable to sleep. Could be that someone needs prayer and there was one prayer request that could have been the reason.

Only a few showed up for the GROW meeting. Probably my fault for not promoting it better. However, I think the devil hates the idea of any outreach and is fighting it. Last month when our first meeting was planned my mother was in the hospital in Oklahoma City and I was having to stay with her. This month I almost wasn't able to attend again because of having to pick up my sister in Oklahoma City.

Today, after I sleep a while, I plan to do some work on the bulletin for Sunday and I need to change the sign. May have to go to Elk City sometime today. I'm not going to be here to preach Sunday but there are still things which must be done to prepare for those services.

Beginning to feel a little sleepy so maybe.....

Started the day trying to access theburningbush chat room for scheduled online prayer meeting but yahoo apparently has changed something which prevented access. Trip to Wheeler, Texas to pick up some things and just now back to send out the devotional. Today will be preparation for GROW (God Rewards Our Work) outreach meeting tonight. After the meeting will drive to Oklahoma City to pick up my sister who is flying in from Miami, FL to stay with my parents for a couple of weeks. Should be back home around 1:00 am. Several people still seriously ill and some facing surgery in our church which weighs heavy upon my heart. (Prayers are appreciated!!!!).

Just thanking God for how He has moved in our lives today! Thank you Lord!!