Psalms 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!

What a great verse to start blogging with. I need to take time everyday to remember that (and live that)!

Earlier in my reading the focus was on thankfulness. The two go together. Today I am going to elaborate on my top 10:

1. Jesus Christ: He died for me. It's hard to comprehend. I met Jesus through a campus ministry as a student at the community college. HE has been very patient in my growth of knowing and trusting Him.


2. Marilyn: When Marilyn went to Mexico in June, I realized Imissed her not only physically but for memories of the 30 years we've been together and the missed opportunities to know her better. Proverbs 31:11 Her husband can trust her and she will greatly enrich his life.


3. Family: I'm proud of our kids. When the forks have been in the road, they have trusted God and have taken the right path. Jessica: She took the risks and visited Japan as a high school student and now serves God with Campus Crusade for Christ in E. Lansing. She has a special gift of hospitality working with international students at Michigan State University. She trusts God for her livelihood by recruiting supporters who believe in her mission. Alex: God placed Alex in Sudan three summers ago. He and a friend worked in the Nuba Mountains leading natives in constructing three churches which were destroyed by the rebels with Samaratan's Purse. I've started reading his journal but it is rather overwhelming. Such a servant of God in such a place. His mission field now is in Hutchinson Kansas where he is an assistant superintendent assisting with the a new school construction. Amy: Amy left this summer to be a counselor at Yellowstone Alliance Adventures near Bozeman, MT. She took that step of faith not knowing much about the camp...and being afraid of the bears! She's had a great summer and now throws rocks at the bears to scare them away! We look forward to picking her up in August. Then it will be taking her back to Bethel College in Indiana to be sophmore in the nursing program. I pray daily for my kids and their faithfulness in serving Him.


4. Parents: Both sets of our kids' grandparents are well and living within 17 miles of home. That's pretty rare. I probably take it for granted too much. It is such a blessing to have been brought up in a home where family was/is important. They farmed 140 acres, had 30 cows and 30 sows and 500 chickens and a BIG garden. My foundation was absolutely rooted to those acres and responsibilities. (Some day, I would like to write a book on those memories!) On that farm, my brother and two sisters learned the skills of self sustainment with God's provisions and a work ethic. We are able to live in the house on the farm which my great grandparents gave my grandparents for a wedding present. Alex slept in the room that I slept in and that my dad slept in. That is a special heritage but is challenging to think about when heritages may get broken. Only God knows Alex's future. Probably the most inportant thing I learned was the value of serving others. My parents are masters of serving others...and have always been.


5. Health: I probably also take my health for granted too. Although I need to loose weight and have a more active lifestyle, overall things generally have checked out good. In read on line journals of Chloe Downey and Byron Johnson and recognize their faithfulness and spirtiual growth have challenged me to be more like Him. Both are amazing stories of praising God through their difficulties.


6. Friends: I have the opportunity to have a vast network of aquintances around the country and world. More important are the true friends. My family leads the list. Then the list is difficult to put down. I do confess I need to be more transparent and allow myself to be more of a friend to more people. I ask God for help in making that happen.


7. Church: Involvement in church activities has always been a high priority from travelling to West St. Charles United Methodist (the rural chuch 1/2 mile from the homestead) to feeling God's calling to help plant the Evangelical Free Church in Charles City, to our current house of worship being the Bethany Alliance. Godly pastors and friends have challenged me to be more like Him.


8. Careers: God has blessed me with stable employment. First in Sac City as a vo-ag teacher; then at North Iowa Area Community College in the ag division, and now for almost 20 years as a reginal manager for Iowa Farm Bureau. I appreciate the network of friends within the eight county Farm Bureaus I have been a part of in those years and look forward to the change in territory August 1. I claim the prayer of Jabez as a key verse in accepting those changes.


9. International influence: Today our neighbor Thelma Johnson will be buried. She was my Sunday school teacher. Reading at the visitation last night, she had hosted in her home 106 foreign visitors from 37 countries over a span of 30 years. In Sunday school class, we never knew where her next visitor may be coming from. She made our world something more than a planet. I am blessed with a special friend like David from South Africa who I was able to assist in getting his family to move to the USA through some political relationships. My memories of going to Russia for three weeks (with three weeks notice) to assist in starting an organization similar to Farm Bureau showed me how small the world is. Our family trip to visit Jessica in Japan will always be remembered as a trip that showed the vast population and culture of a country so far away. It's cool to know God is responsible...and we have a responsibility to maintain and improve our word to make it better than when we enterred it. I have often used the analogy that life is a giant jig saw puzzle. All of life's experiences are those pieces. That spider web of influences will continue to fit together until that last piece is put in and God calls me home.


10. Servant hood. I am thankful God has intilled in me and I believe gifted me with leadership qualities. It seems throughout life, I have wanted to be an engine and not a caboose. While at other times, I enjoy being one of those cars between the ends providing assistance in getting tasks done. It was a tough decision to decide to run for school board a second term. It was the belief that God has put me in that situation for a reason that I decided to. I pray to be bold, if elected again, and stand up for Him throughout this position.

God is great and I am thankful. I praise Him. Forgive me God when I don't give you enough of my time and adoration.

Amen.