I recently found out that some of my grandchildren had not been to see sap boiled in a New Englandsugar house. So, I made the decision to take them.
A friend has a sugar house and yesterday after checking with him, I found out what time they would begin boiling. Determining that, we headed out a short time later. As we went up the hill to the small farm, my mind flashed to times in my life where I had helped to gather sap, get it to the sugar house and spend way too many hours to develop what many call “liquid gold”. (I love the taste.) Continue reading Without The Shedding Of Blood…→
“If you guys can go to the other side of Houston, I can have you on your way home”, the dispatcher said. Home…we had not been to Vermont for nearly 6 weeks. As we left the truck stop, with the idea of a load going home, everything seemed to be going right. I climbed into the passenger seat and began to rest.
I leave the big “discussions” about Easter for so many others. For me, Easter always represented a sense of hope long before I ever really knew about God.
As a child Easter meant many different things to me. Sunday morning my brothers and sister would run out to find Easter baskets filled with jelly beans, gold foil colored eggs and coins and these beautiful eggs that held all sorts of treasures. The smell of hot crossed buns, eggs, Canadian bacon and coffee came out of the kitchen. At some point we had a jelly bean hunt, running through the house finding jelly beans on mantles, window sashes and behind pictures. Following that we all sat down for breakfast and then it was time to get ready for church. There were the occasional years where we would go up the hill behind the elementary school at 6AM, climbing up to greet the sun, while singing hymns and thinking of Jesus. Continue reading Easter 2014→
Today we celebrate Jacob’s 7th birthday. (His birthday is actually tomorrow, April 20th.) He is already up and it is not quite 6AM. He wants to get the full treatment!
It is also the 1 year wedding anniversary of my daughter Amy and son-in-love Manley. Add in the fact that they are shortly (May 5th) adding a new baby boy to the household and it is a busy time in the Johndrow household. (Truth be told there are two new babies coming our way in the next few months.) Continue reading Joy Comes In The Morning→
I have lots of unusual dreams, but last nights was perhaps one of my most bizarre. It was over a few “dream spaces”, interrupted by awakening and still kept coming. I suspect there is a greater measure related to the “Easter weekend” but it still took me by surprise.
In the dream I was on an island in the middle of a large lake. I could hardly see the shore line. I thought the island “looked” familiar. There was security roaming the island. Despite the impression of it being on a lake, somehow I felt that we were encountering tides. Continue reading The Lord’s Hand Is Not Too Short→
I was in a car full of friends and we were driving through what appeared to be the Adirondacks. There were 6 of us in the car. We pulled off the main road and we headed down the dirt road to where we were going. The smell of the pine trees in the air, I could hear the water on the shore of the lake. We pulled up to a small house. As we got out of the car, I realized we had gone from street clothes to suits. Continue reading Six Of One, Half Dozen To Another→
While heading for the caffeine IV this morning I felt the nudge of the Lord. A simple word, overlook, opened up. It appeared. I began to think about it.
On a personal level, I felt the Lord saying there is an “overlook” or overlooked concept, application or method or action I had not implemented. I sat there for a moment and was reminded of my grandson’s prayer last night as he does with me when he is before bed. He often prays for his father, his mom to get work, all the people to be healed and such. Last night there was twist. He prayed that I would raise my mother and father from the dead. (Not really a stretch when you think Jesus’s death released people buried. Matthew 27:51-53) Wow! Teach them to believe for the impossible and… Continue reading The Overlook In Your Life→
Last night as were teaching Catalyst class moving from our study on the 6 important “stages” of Christ, (crucifixion, death, burial, quickening, resurrection and seatedness) I found myself thinking about how much “junk” I allowed in my life that spoke of something less than it “was done” or finished. The result of my “diet” was I encouraged others to engage in the same behavior or mixture.
Last night our sound guy, Chris though that the title of my message ought be “no more squishy gospel.” Perhaps that is truth. What I said was that I needed to lean on something that had integrity. I used the example of the difference between squishy “store bought air” bread and homemade bread. The difference is that one (the first) you could roll up in a ball while the second was so “thick” you could not “squish” it. I need, and so do you, a gospel that is not squishy. We need to be able to look at what we read or believe about Jesus and not be afraid. Continue reading The Cutting Room Floor→
I recently found out that some of my grandchildren had not been to see sap boiled in a New England sugar house. So, I made the decision to take them.
