My son came by to visit us with his family on his way back to Broken Bow from their trip to Colorado. They had a restful trip and are anxious to return home. We enjoyed their brief visit and of course our grandson Madison (Named after two great grandfathers on Jeanie's side of the family.) He is fascinated with cars and trucks and anything with wheels and for a three year old he is a lot of fun. Of course he is my grandson!

Just talked to my sister and it sounds like my mother is worse again. My son is going by there on his way home. Hope that visit goes well.

Visited my parents this afternoon and my mother is in better condition than when she was taking maximum dosages of everything. However, now that my niece has gone home it appears the dosage levels have again increased. Short of a complete upheaval of my relationship with my father there is not much to do at this point but pray.

Forgot about the online prayer meeting this morning. Just realized it a few moments ago! Amazing how bad my memory can be sometimes. The score on the devotional today was 13 unsubscribes and two new subscribers. Two wonderful people actually wrote saying how much they enjoyed today's devotional. I think 13 may be a new record for unsubscribers in a day! Some may be moving, or have a new address, or think they are receiving too much mail, or they may just not like the devotional, or something in today's devotional just rubbed them the wrong way. I used to email people and asked them why they unsubscribed but I've given up on that. Usually it is not something about the devotional but one of those other things.

God is blessing weatherwise in our area of the world. Last year it was 106 degrees and today it was in the 80s with rain just in time to put in the wheat crop. Rain hasn't come at the perfect time to put in the wheat like this in years!! Actually we have had several droughts here instead. Thank you Lord!!!

One of the visits last week found that one family is not going to attend our church any longer (Only part of the family attended a few times.) because one of the kids in our church was very hateful to them. This is the first time I have ever heard this excuse for non-attendance and wonder if maybe they are eligible for some kind of an award! But we need to verify the accuracy of the report and track down the kid who was actually the offender that pushed this family over the edge and into another church. I've already narrowed the suspects down to two with my suspicious mind. Should I call them up or confront personally in front of their parents? Actually if I were to do that I could probably succeed in pushing a couple of more families out of the church if I was rude enough.

What is that the apostle says over in I Corinthians 13? Hmn... "Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." Maybe I ought to stop thinking the evil about people and not be so easily provoked? Maybe the truth is that someone did hurt someone's feelings. Maybe I need to exercise some love that beareth all things, endureth all things. Because love never fails. Maybe I'll just love these people so much that they will love me back. I guess I could try that.

Much to do today! Must finish a Bible study in Revelation for tonight. This will be the next to last study in the book of Revelation. Not sure in what book of the Bible our next study will be. Need to prepare for the prayer meeting portion of tonight as well. Must check on all of those who have been ill but several are improving. Have to go to Elk City (About 30 miles from here.) today to take care of some things. Balanced the bank statement today and found a not so pleasant surprise that the bank had encoded a 320 dollar check as 32 dollars a couple of months ago. But they found their mistake but I had not and so I was just off about 300 dollars but it will be okay. I learned from this mistake to check off the checks from the bank statement noting the dollar amount and also noting the amount the check is encoded for at the bottom of the check. I wonder what other surprises today has in store? I need to remember Philippians 4:13.

I have been wondering why so many in our church, community, and family are ill at this time but have come to no conclusions except we are all getting older. Romans 8:28 is still true and no matter what the situation God can bring good out of it if we love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose.

Amazing news about Edmond Logan. Three heart bypasses yesterday afternoon and today he is off the respirator, sitting up, talking and may be out of ICU by tomorrow! Considering that he 87 1/2 years old that is amazing! God is at work!

Wrote a new devotional this morning but couldn't send it out for awhile because our mail server was down. Apparently three days of incoming mail has been lost or deleted by Logix. So, if you sent me an email over the last few days you might want to resend it if you really want me to read it.

One of the most wonderful things about living in the country is the silence. Today has been silent except for the occasional vehicle that happens to pass this way. After three days on the road going to and from and being in Oklahoma City the silence is golden. But after a few days the silence becomes stiffling if it goes unbroken. Silence can be so very restful but at times it can become the opposite as it becomes distressful. It depends on your perspective as most things in life do.

After arriving home last night found out that two more of our church members were in the hospital. One for a back problem and another for a light stroke. Visited one before the funeral and the other after the funeral. My uncle's funeral service went well. After the funeral I went to Oklahoma City where Edmond was having his bypass surgery and that went well too. Considering Edmond is 87 years old the surgeon was very positive concerning how it all went. Edmond had a few family members, about 20, waiting there at the hospital during the surgery. Arrived back home about 9:00 P.M.

Some verses of Scripture on my heart tonight are Lamentations 3:22-25, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him."

Just made it back home from our trip to OKC for our son Nick's birthday. We stopped by my parents yesterday on our way and again today on our way back. My niece who is an RN was able to come in for a few days and she found that my mother was greatly over medicated. She has had the medication reduced at least for now and my mother is coming out of the near death state that she was in. Hopefully the correct level of medication will be continued after my niece has to go home.

Thinking about preaching my uncle's funeral tomorrow which is not something I ever thought I would be doing - Philippians 4:13 is of great comfort as I affirm with the apostle that I too can do all things through Christ Jesus. Only through His power. Only through His strength.