So Much To Learn (LB)

LOOKING BACK - A feature where I repeat a blog that I had previously posted.  This was posted in 2012.

          It's that time of the year when our schools send out      another wave of graduates to face the world.  Hopefully they have learned their lessons well. 

           But so many of the important lessons in life are only learned through experience.  Recently somebody sent me a list of things that are learned with time.  I thought it was so good that I am passing it on to you.  I only wish that I had written it.  

          Here goes. 

(1)  I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life."  

(2)  I've learned that, regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll  miss them when they're gone from your life.  

(3)  I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.  

(4)  I've learned that people will forget what you said ... people will forget what you did ... but people will never forget how you made them feel. 

 (5)  I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.  

(6)  I've learned that life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.  

(7)  I've learned that we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.  

(8)  I've learned that money doesn't buy class.  

(9) I've learned that under someone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.  

(10)  I've learned that the Lord didn't do it all in one day. What makes me think I can?  

(11)  I've learned that to ignore the facts does not change the facts.  

(12)  I've learned that the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.  

(13)  I've learned that no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.  

(14)  I've learned that one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.  

(15)  I've learned that a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.  

(16)  I've learned that it is best to give advice in only two circumstances; when it is requested and when it is a life threatening situation.  

 And finally,  (17)  I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

Fwd: Sleep

          SLEEP – a vital part of a healthy life.  Something that we all need and something that we crave especially when our bodies and minds are tired.

          But sometimes we folks find it very hard to sleep.  Maybe we have had too much caffeine or have eaten too much food too close to our bedtime.  Maybe our mind is clogged with problems and worries.  Maybe there is too much noise or other distractions around us.  Or maybe we have genuine physical problems confronting us.  And we may turn and toss and watch the clock, but sleep just doesn't come.

          There are numerous medicines that can help such a situation.  There are sound machines which can provide relaxation.  And doctors can provide suggestions which may help.

          But others face the opposite problem – they can fall asleep easily and quickly, especially at times when they don't want to sleep.  Physical problems can be a source of this problem.

          I am a diabetic and one of the results of a high sugar level is that I can suddenly doze off and not realize it.  It is very embarrassing when this happens while you are talking to someone or are in a conference.  It can be very dangerous when this happens when you are driving.  I have a friend who totaled his car when he fell asleep while driving.

          I am embarrassed to admit that this sometimes happens to me when I am praying.  But I have a feeling that I am not alone with this problem.

          Now I feel sorry for those who must work night shifts and must be wide awake and attentive during the long night hours.  It must be hard at times to not doze off or slumber.

          Thankfully we do know one who never slumbers or sleeps no matter the time or the situation.  He is always there to hear us and help us.  In Psalm 121:4 we are told, "Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."  So we don't need to worry night or day for we are always in His care.

          Don Moen put this truth into music by writing the following words:

 

When you've prayed every prayer that you know how to pray

Just remember the Lord will hear and the answer in on it's way

Our God is able

He is mighty

He is faithful

And He never sleeps He never slumbers

He never tires of hearing our prayer

When we are weak He becomes stronger

So rest in His love and cast all of your cares on Him

Do you feel that the Lord has forgotten your need

Just remember that God is always working in ways you cannot see

Our God is able

He is mighty He is faithful

And He never sleeps He never slumbers

He never tires of hearing our prayer

When we are weak He becomes stronger

So rest in His love and cast all of your cares on Him (repeat * 2x)

So rest in His love and cast all of your cares

So rest in His love and cast all of your cares

So rest in His love and cast all of your cares on Him

 

Maybe this is a reminder that we all need.  Sleep in peace because our protector never sleeps or slumbers.

 

You can listen to it here as sung by the author. MOEN

Or you can listen to my favorite version as done by the Derric Johnson Vocal Orchestra.   ACAPELLA

 

   

A Very Special Brother

This is another of my writings for my grandchildren.  This is in memory of my brother who would have celebrated his 77th birthday on June 4 if the Lord wouldn't have called him home 13 years ago.  And I still really miss him.

         My grandfather used to sing a song that said, "We are going down the valley one by one, with our faces toward the setting of the sun ..."  And the reality of this has certainly been in my mind recently.  During the past four years four of my closest friends have walked down the valley of death and been taken home to heaven.  First it was Norm Zellers, then Gary Varner, then Ralph Michel and now yesterday, my brother, Terry.   While I know that all four are in heaven, it is so hard to lose real life-long friends.  

          Their deaths were all so hard to take, but Terry's is the hardest.  It hurts.  We were always close.  We enjoyed being with each other. He was always so positive, even when he was suffering in his final days.   He had a strong Christian testimony and encouraged so many people.  He had wisdom and always had ways to solve problems.  He was always willing to help me. 

          I have so many memories ... sharing the mumps in Elizabethtown  ... enjoying our dog Frisky ... Christmas trips to Bethlehem ... walking to school with him up N. Queen St. in Lancaster ... stitches and broken bones ... playing baseball in the backyard ... trying to nail together a broken tree ... enjoying Cho-Chos in Sunbury ... waiting in line together to buy a television for nine cents ... camping at Mizpah Grove ... coaching his Teener baseball team ... getting pinned by him when we wrestled ... watching his football team win the league championship ... cheering him on as he wrestled in tournaments and in college  ... working together picking cherries ... laying down a squeeze bunt that scored him from third to win a church softball game ... taking our kids to Long's Park ... using his car to take a trip to Indiana when we were having trouble with our car ... working with him in Awana ... serving on the elder board together ... trips together, especially to Williamsburg  ...  going to a Penn State football game with him ... spending New Year's Day together at dad's ... Sunday lunches at Wendys ... dealing together with mother's sudden death ... checking on dad for us at times when we couldn't find him ... and so much more.  Good memories are so important, but there is now a void in my heart that will never again be filled.   

          I do thank the Lord that he took him peacefully yesterday while we sang hymns around his bed in the hospital.  We were singing "When We All Get To Heaven" as he breathed his last breath here on earth and was ushered into the presence of the Lord.  And I hope that he had the chance upon his arrival to wish mother, "Happy Mother's Day!".  I thank the Lord for the 63 years that I had the chance to have him as my brother and I look forward to sharing again with him throughout eternity.  For it is true, we are going down the valley one by one.

 

TERRY'S FAVORITE BIBLE PASSAGE – PSALM 16

Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.  I said to the LORD, "You are my Master!  Every good thing I have comes from you." The godly people in the land are my true heroes!  I take pleasure in them!  Troubles multiply for those who chase after other gods.  I will not take part in their sacrifices of blood or even speak the names of their gods.  LORD, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing.  You guard all that is mine. The land you have given me is a pleasant land.  What a wonderful inheritance!  I will bless the LORD who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the LORD is always with me.  I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.  No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.  My body rests in safety. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.   (New Living Translation) 

 

A SONG SHARED BY TERRY IN HIS LAST E-MAIL UPDATE TO FRIENDS

 Oh I know you are never unkind, But Heavenly Father

Since you know my heart,Surely you can read my mind

Good people underneath the sea of grief, Some get up and walk away

Some will find ultimate relief

Chorus:  Home Free, eventually, At the ultimate healing we will be Home Free

Home Free, oh I've got a feeling, At the ultimate healing, We will be Home…Free

 

Out in the corridors we pray for life, A mother for her baby, A husband for his wife

Sometimes the good die young, It's sad but true

And while we pray for one more heartbeat, The real comfort is in you

Chorus:  Home Free, eventually, At the ultimate healing we will be Home Free

Home Free, oh I've got a feeling, At the ultimate healing, We will be Home…Free

 

Pain shows little mercy, And suffering's no respecter of age, of race or position

But I know every prayer gets answered, But the hardest one to pray is slow to come

Oh Lord, not mine, but Your will be done

Chorus:  Home Free, eventually, At the ultimate healing we will be Home Free

Home Free, oh I've got a feeling, At the ultimate healing, We will be Home…Free

 

Lord, Let it be... Home Free, oh, I've got a feeling, At the ultimate healing we will be Home, Home Free, oh, I've got a feeling, At the ultimate healing we will be Home

We will be Free

 

50 Years (LB)

This blog was posted ten years ago on our 50th anniversary.  I'm reposting it for our 60th anniversary which came on June 2.

          50 years sounds like a long time.  A half century sounds even longer.  But to me, the past 50 years of married life have gone by so quickly.  And I would not trade them for anything.  

           Dianne and I were brought together by the Lord who has guided us with His faithfulness and presence.  We may be unusual because in 50 years we have never had a major disagreement or fight.  On our honeymoon the Lord gave us Psalm 92:13, "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God."  We have tried to follow those words for 50 years and we rejoice in God's goodness.  

          Now how do you describe 50 years?  Well let me make an attempt by listing 50 things for which I am especially thankful.  

1-3  are Craig, Ken and Tim, our three sons.  They love and serve the Lord and are great fathers.  What more could we want?   

4-6 are Kisha, Sandy and Wendy, our three daughter-in-laws.  We love them like daughters and thank God for them.  

7-13 are Zach, Josh, Taylor, Noah, Chloe, Lexie and Brodie, our seven grandchildren.  All have asked the Lord to be their Savior.  

14 -17 would be our parents.  All four loved the Lord and modeled Him to us.  All four are now with Him in heaven. 

18 would be our extended family.  We have been blessed with grandparents, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters, in-laws, cousins and nephews and nieces who love the Lord.  

19.  Friends - we have been blessed with numerous friends who have enriched our married life over 50 years.  Many of them are now in heaven.  

20-23 would by the four homes that we have lived in.  Each were special provisions with special stories about them. The present one has now been our home for almost 42 years.  

24-25 Two estates settled, at the same time.  I'm not sure that I ever want to be an executor again but we learned much and saw so many special answers to prayer during that time.  

26 - My special job as a teacher/administrator for 39 years.  Few people can stay that long at one place and say that they enjoyed it all.  It was God's special provision to us and a definite answer to prayer when I had to choose from four job offers nearly 50 years ago. 

27 - Many part-time jobs over the years that supplemented a teacher's salary and enabled Dianne to stay at home and be a full-time mother.  These included writing questions for Educational Testing Service, teaching adult ed, doing homebound instruction, coaching, working for the Sunday News for 25 years, Books In Print editorial staff. chief statistician for PIAA basketball play-offs for 25 years, Cherry Hill Orchards, software prep for ISC, consultant for an Addison Wesley geometry textbook and working with my wife for the Lancaster County Election Bureau for ten years.  

28 - The opportunity for us to travel and visit 25 major cities in the U.S. and Canada as part of my job responsibilities.  This included speaking at five major national conventions.  

29 - Having a family ministry for 25 years including and presenting almost 100 programs a year.  We won't know until heaven how many families were touched by the Lord, but we do know that it taught our boys many lessons and developed in them special strengths and skills which they use today.  

30 - Over 40 years of ministry at Pinebrook working with children and music.  For most of those years it was a ministry in the summer but for the last ten it has been with hymn sings and retreats throughout the year. 

 31 - Multiple opportunities to serve, often side-by-side, for 50 years in our church.  This has included Sunday School (teachers, department leader, superintendent), music (piano, organ, solos, duets, choir, administration, Christmas Eve program leadership), adult Bible studies, elder and committees, prayer chain coordinators. 

 32 - Awana.  What can I say about the opportunity to lead for 30 years, to minister to children, and to provide training for adults.  Together we have now completed all three levels of Awana college training in Hershey, Pittsburgh and Chicago.  These years with this great program have been very special. 

 33 - 50 represent 18 operations and procedures under anesthesia.  They include numerous biopsies, only one of which has shown cancer.  In addition there have been many dozens of other tests.  But through all of this we thank God for the health and life that He has given us.  

          We don't know what lies ahead, but God is faithful and He goes before us.  So there are 50.  I could easily list another 50.  We just say, thank you Lord for 50 great years together.  Our desire is to continue to live for Him and to serve Him here on earth as long as He gives us the health and strength to do so.  And, by the way, 50 years goes faster than you can imagine.  So use your today to live for Him.

            Well 10 years have passed since this list was written and published, so I should try to add to it.

51 - 53  Three new additions to the family - Daniel, husband of granddaughter Taylor; Baby Cetnar, son of the Cetnars scheduled to join us in October; Corrine, wife of Joshua.

54 - 55  Two doctorates.  Daniel, chemical engineering; Joshua, chemistry.  Both at Penn State.

56 - 57  Two working on doctorates.  Noah at Salus University (eyes), and Chloe at the University of Maryland (English).

58 - 60 Replacement of three doctors that served us so well.  One was our outstanding dentist who cared for us for decades, another was Dianne's pacemaker surgeon, and the third is Dianne's family doctor, replacement yet to be named.  Actually, over the years there have been several other doctors and specialists - that happens when you live this long.

          Will there be another list ten years from now?  If there is it might begin with:    61 - 62 Enjoying a spectacular home here in heaven.