We made our second annual trek to Downpour Festival in Great Falls, MT on Saturday, August 15. Katie, Desire’, and Ana went with our church‘s youth group on Friday. The weather was very very cold and very rainy; but the presence of God was very very warm, and the title “Downpour Fest” was quite appropriate in both the physical and spiritual realms.
On Friday, the youth say KJ52, Sanctus Real, and Decyfer Down. On Saturday, we were blessed with Among the Thirsty, Lincoln Brewster, Plumb, Brock Gill, and Casting Crowns. WOW!
Alia was born with congenital cataracts. She had the lenses in her eyes removed when she was a few weeks old. Ever since then, she had to wear very thick glasses to compensate for her eyes having no lenses of their own. We tried contacts for a short while, but they proved to be too difficult.
We have been waiting years for her to get big enough to have surgery so artificial lenes could be implanted in her eyes. That time has finally come. On Tuesday, Aug. 11, Alia had a new lens implanted into her left eye, and a week later, she had her right eye done. When she is all healed up, she will still have to have glasses, but now they will be ordinary ones like yours and mine.
We praise the Lord for the wisdom He has given our scientists and doctors to be able to do this. Even a few years ago, children born with this problem grew up nearly blind.
Part of our family’s tradition, is to go to Glacier Bible Camp for our vacation. This year, camp started on July 3rd and went through July 10. We had a very good time. Here are some snippets and pictures of this year’s vacation. Click your Internet Browser’s “back” button to return here after viewing the slide shows. Enjoy!
John
Click the picture to see more of our 4th of July.
We spent July 4th at Ashley Lake, near Kalispell. We had lots of fun with lots of friends and lots of relatives. The kids got plenty wet, we did plenty of boating, we ate plenty of food, then we watched plenty of fireworks.
Click the picture to see our fireworks.
After the fun day, we set off a bunch of fireworks.
Click the picture to see more of Ana's Honor Star Crowning.
On Monday, July 6, Ana and several other girls were Crowned as Honor Stars. Each girl spent a couple of year meeting several requirements that include a lot of Bible reading and memorization. Great Job Ana!
Click the photo to see more from the fun NASCAR parade.
On Wednesday, July 6, the camp had a parade. This is about the third year for the parade, and it has become a fun part of family camp. This year’s theme was NASCAR. Here are some of the imaginative entries.
Click the photo to see more of our relaxing evening with family and friends.
Bible Camp is always a good time to relax with family and friends. On Thursday, July 9, we had some of both over to the cabin.
Click the photo to see more of our fun at Lion Lake
Our last full day at camp was Friday, July 10. We enjoyed a bit of time at Lion Lake, a small lake near Hungry Horse lake. It has become part of our time at camp and enjoy getting wet here most every year.
Click the photo to see more from "Spoon Lake"
Spoon Lake
A few years ago, we stopped by a small lake (pond?) on the way home from Glacier Bible Camp, to stretch our legs. While fiddling around, one of the kids found an old spoon. We took that spoon and buried it at the base of a certain tree, and christened the lake “Spoon Lake”. We though it would be fun to check in the future to see if the spoon was still there.
This year, on the way home, we did stop once again at “Spoon Lake”. After searching under the wrong tree for several minutes, we picked one last tree before leaving. Lo and behold, there was the spoon. It was full of pitch and took some time to clean it off. We got some pictures and once again buried it for a future visit.
Where is “Spoon Lake” you ask? We can’t tell you; you might go and find our bit of treasure.
Thirteen years ago today, on a cloudy night (actually early morning, or last night after midnight), on the dock at Ashley Lake, near Kalispell, MT, the Lord parted the clouds for a brief moment just for us. I dropped on my knee, took Carol’s hand, and nervously asked her to marry me.
With each of us in the other’s arms, God’s glory shown with the heavens ablaze. It was magnificent! A short time later, the clouds again closed up the sky.
Thank you Carol for saying yes; and I would do it again in a second!
A couple of months ago, Desire’ (my daughter) and I were playing with a program called “Fraqtive“. It is a simple program that enables one to crawl around in the Mandelbrot fractal. Over the past years, I have found it fascinating to be able to dive further and further inside the Mandelbrot Set as computing power increased. At this particular time, when Desire’ and I were exploring, Carol (my wife) was watching. I commented to here something like, “Fractals prove there is God”, or some such thing. Anyway, I believe these simple, infinite mathematical pieces of art show God’s workmanship. Look at what we found hidden deep inside the Mandelbrot Fractal (The Picture Below).
Recently, I gave Carol the book, “The Shack“. She became engrossed in it. I travel around the state a lot, so I purchased “The Shack” in audio form to listen to while I travel. Wow, what a book, and it sure makes you think. While listening to the book, Sarayu (the Holy Spirit) shows Mack (the main character) a messy, fractal garden.
Papa then arrives. Mack says how, though the garden is a mess, he somehow feels strangely comfortable in it. Papa and Sarayu smile at each other. Sarayu says, “And well you should, Mackenzie, because this garden is your soul—this mess is you! Together, you and I, we have been working with a purpose in your heart. And its wild and beautiful and perfectly in process. To you it seems messy, but to me, I see a perfect pattern emerging and growing and alive—a living fractal.” Mack crumbled. He looked at his garden and it really was a mess, but incredible and wonderful at the same time.
I encourage you to read “The Shack”. It will challenge your theology. What ever you think of the book, the fact is, God is passionately in love with you and wants the deepest relationship with you! For the real story, read your Bible.
Yes, when I see fractals, I see the fingerprint of God, and He has placed His fingerprints EVERYWHERE!
Click on the picture to see a larger view. Then, right click and select "save as" to download it for wallpaper for your computer desktop.
We just picked up “Come What May” from our local Christian Book Store yesterday. We have been anxious to see this film since before it was actually released.
“Come What May” was made by homeschoolers, Advent Film Group, and Patrick Henry College. This is their first film, and for being their first, it will touch your heart and challenge your convictions. Pick up a copy of “Come What May” and give it a watch. But get ready to be challenged.
We just got back yesterday from a busy Easter week-end in Glasgow, Montana. We put more than 800 miles on our Suburban.
Heather now lives in Glasgow, so we decided to visit her for Easter. Co-incidentally, some friends of ours son was getting married on the same week-end. The week-end was very busy but fun.
On Friday, after the long trip to Glasgow, we met Heather and Carol’s mother Myrtle. Myrtle came by train and we showed up just as the train was arriving. That evening, we were invited to the rehearsal dinner. We had a very filling taco dinner. On Saturday evening, we went to the beautiful wedding. After the wedding, we were served a full roast beef dinner buffet. Oh, the food! After a quite short night sleep, we got up bright and early for Easter Church Service. Since we were so far from home, we decided to have Easter Baggies instead of Easter Baskets. That worked out great.
After Church, we took a trip to Fort Peck Reservoir. The dam on Fort Peck is 3.8 miles long and is earthen. It is very large.
We got back from our little site seeing trip just in time for an Easter dinner pot-luck. More food! After Dinner, we went to some friends house and the kids played lots of games having to do with raw eggs! Take a look at the pictures to see some gooey messes.
On Monday morning, we were invited to our friends’ house for breakfast. We had piles of biscuits and gravy. Oh, my! We then packed up our Suburban for the long trip home.
When we got back into Helena, we met Carol’s sister and her husband Dave along with their daughter and her husband and their little boy at Pizza Hut. We ate a lot of pizza, then headed home. It was a great week-end, but there is no place like home, and no beds like our own.
Isn’t it neat when you go to church and God REALLY shows up? Today was one of those days. I feel sad for those churches that have such a small view of God that they don’t expect Him to show up there. He is so good, and He is healing lives, inside and out.
After church, we were invited to some friends house for brunch. We had all of the eggs, bacon, and french toast that we could possibly put inside us. Oh so very good.
Last Sunday, seven days ago, we received over 20 inches of new snow. It has been melting quickly, but we have enough left that Ana, Alia, and J.J. could have a fun time sledding on it. They tried sledding on it last Sunday, but it is almost impossible to sled in 20+ inches of snow.
Here are some pictures of the day. Click on them to see larger views.
A.K.A. – Where Is Global Warming When You Need It?
This morning, we woke to a LOT of snow on the ground and much more falling from the air. While everyone got ready for church, I started up the snow plow and plowed the road up to our house. There was a lot, and it was very heavy. After breakfast, we all piled into the Chevy Suburban and attempted to go to church. We made it about nine miles, and turned around. The highway had several inches of snow on it and there were signs of vehicles off the road in many places. We feared that we would not make it back to our house later if the snow kept falling at it’s current rate; and the heavy wet snow on the highway was a very dangerous place to be. I am glad we made the decision to turn around as we already had a very difficult time getting back up the road to our house. If we would have come home a couple of hours later, we all would have ended up walking home from the bottom of our hill.
Since we did not make it into town for church, we decided to hold our own church service. Carol played the piano, while we sang several hymns; then we read a portion of Proverbs 3 and I expounded upon it. We would have preferred to have made it to church in Helena, but our own was good too. God is good! All the time!
John
P.S. As soon as I got done posting this, I checked out the road report, and our area is now “Emergency Travel Only.” We already knew that!
This year, we were honored with the presence of Mark Lowry. Mark is a Christian Comedian, Singer, and Songwriter. He is well known for his thirteen years association with the Gaither Vocal Band, and has announced to us that he has returned recently to the Gaither’s after a several year solo career. Mark was accompanied by the very talented pianist Stan Witmire. That man can make the piano “sing”.
Mark gave us a very entertaining but thought provoking message. Our sides were splitting and we were gasping for breath from all the laughing that he caused us to do. What a great time we had at this year’s “Mens’ Advance.” Click the picture or HERE to see some photos of the Advance.
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