Stormy Morning

I woke up to another stormy morning, thunder and lightning. I am glad that I got all my yard work done yesterday. The boys spent the night last night; Tyler did not get here until almost 11 pm. Tyler was at a church function for the young group. I am glad that he enjoys that as in today’s world that seems to be the only safe place a kid can go.
While Luke and Pat played games last night I listened to the Manatee, Plant football game which Manatee won 49 – 33. I believe that the win is pretty significant as Plant has a returning club and they are defending 4 A state champs. It sounds like Manatee has a tremendous amount of speed. They start their home game run next week against Bayshore which won big last night also.

Speaking of football, the creature in the above photo starting to wake up this morning as day light peers through the sky. This feisty creature lives in the swamp garden of the Gallo reservation. Next Saturday he needs to really come alive as his season starts. We all hope it is a journey to victory in the Rose Bowl for another National championship.
Be a blessing to someone today and be Blessed. Today’s verse is “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”- Galatians 3:28

Yard Day

Today was the day to mow, edge and trim the yard. I was able to get an early start before the rains come again. We had 1 -1/2 inches of rain yesterday afternoon. Tonight Manatee High School plays Plant High in Tampa, I believe that it will rain so I am opting out to attend.

Have a Blessed day and be a Blessing to someone. Today's verse is replaced with some great reading that a friend sent me today. I enjoyed reading it and want to share it with you.

Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today- August 28, 2009
Test of Praise… “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but a man is tested by the praise he receives”. Proverbs 27:21 There is the test of praise to make sure our motives are pure. Why do I do what I do? If it is for the praise of men then I have misdirected motives. My faith has faltered, as I am more concerned about pleasing people than my master Jesus. “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God” (John 5:44)? Praise from God builds belief and activates obedience. Jesus did not receive man’s praise, “I do not accept praise from men” (John 5:41). He knew the danger of being enamored by earthly accolades instead of humbled by heaven’s honor. When the Lord leads you into a mission misunderstood by the masses do not be swayed. Stay the course with Christ, because His words of “well done” are all that really matters. Listen for the applause from heaven and let it drown out any ovations on earth. The test of praise makes you more thankful and less critical, more respectful and less condescending, more patient and less demanding, and more diligent to learn and less inclined to grow lazy. When praise and glory come your way make sure you reflect it onto your Heavenly Father. Proud Herod forgot this, “Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died” (Acts 12:23). Anything praiseworthy in life is because of God’s blessings. So when sincere saints offer you compliments quietly give them up to Christ. A courteous thank you and a private prayer of thanksgiving to God go a long way to passing the test of praise. Before long they will begin praising the Lord because of your service. “Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ” (2 Corinthians 9:13a). Do I let go of praise and leave it with the Lord? Do I praise God for His grace?

Related Readings:

2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalm 56:4; John 12:43; 1 Thessalonians 2:6

Over cast Day!

Not much going on today as it is an over cast dreary day. City Hall today was….”City Hall, not much going on. We have set a meeting for some final budget discussions for next week. Our Police Chief is trying to supply us with information about how short we are on Police officers. The graphs and studies are all great, but fall short of telling you how to pay for them. It does not take a genius to figure out how,,,Raise Taxes. Our Police and Fire cost us more then we take in property taxes now. I am sure that the public would love to have more police, but if they got a tax bill that was increased by $100 they would flip. I am not sure that problems can be solved with more police. The judicial system must be stronger and quit letting crooks go. Drug dealers and users, yes users must be dealt with more sternly. Oh well enough of that stuff!!!
Tonight Pat and I will be going to a meeting wrapping up our Gator Fundraiser project. We will be helping to make baskets and cut out name tags and etc. Then on Saturday night the party will be fun and I hope we make some good money. It all goes towards a Scholarship Fund that we do locally.” Gotta” go cook some good food…Jambalaya!
Take care and have a Blessed day and be a Blessing to someone today. Today’s verse is “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”- Isaiah 26:3

Sleepless night!

I did not do well last night sleeping, I am sure that when I get home today that it will be nap time. You know that I was rained out yesterday from doing my fence cleaning, it won’t get done today either.
The countdown for Gator football is really moving quickly. There has been a lot of jibber jabs with my friends via email. Yesterday was the final blow to my ego and my love for the Gator’s. Jack sent me a picture of Ole Miss blocking the last minute field goal. The caption read “hey Gene, remember this”? Oh my what a memory, one that I want to forget.
See you on Thursday till then have a Blessed day and be a Blessing to someone today. Today’s verse is “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”- Romans 12:4-5

Good Intentions

Well another day with good intentions gone to pot (no pun intended) I had planned to pressure wash the neighbors fence today after lunch. While eating my lunch I started to hear lot of rumbling in the sky. Yep, rained cats and dogs, well not really cats and dogs but really hard. I was thinking if it rained cats at my daughter Sandy’s house she would catch them all and keep them…She does love her kitties.

Yesterday I told you that I thought the rain gutter job cost me about $50. Mistake! It cost me $74 as the price has gone up. I went to Wal mart first and priced my drill there. I normally don’t buy tools there but I gave it a shot. (Glad I did) Home Depot’s price was $10 more and Lowes was $15 more. Same drill and Home Depot’s was package the same (2 – batteries). Good old Lowes who was the highest only had 1 battery.

As you can see I did take the old one apart to see if I could repair it. I found a broken piece of metal which got into the electric motor portion. This caused a real bad electrical short and smoked the motor, non repairable. So now I have a new drill and three batteries, Lord I hope I never work so hard as to run down three batteries in one day.
You have a Blessed day and be a Blessing to someone today. Today’s verse is “Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.”- Psalm 119:165

Cleaning Drains!

City Hall was the first thing on my agenda this morning. Not much going on but budget talk and it is getting down to the nitty gritty. I remember the days when I was fire Chief and I had to put a budget together. Just about the time you thought you were done another memo would come out of the clerk’s office. I would have to start all over again and try and make things balance and try to out fox them. I am sure glad those days are behind me, that’s for sure!

After lunch I decided to get off my butt and go outside a do some work. I knew it was going to be hot but this sitting around and snoozing is about to put me in the grave. I have no excuse for not getting outside and doing something, even if it is hot and humid.

All my rain gutters had plastic covers over them to keep the small crap, leaves and etc out of them. That worked pretty well except it did accumulate a little debris in them. That is when the problem was a pain, trying to clean it out was tough. Now that the big oak tree is gone from the back of the house I thought I would remove the covers. Shouldn’t get too many leaves and junk in it now. If it does I should be able to clean them out easily. So that is what I did, what a job. I forgot that I had screwed each one about 8 times to the drain and roof.

Besides heat exhaustion and being bug bit it was ok. But the real cost besides my valuable time was that my Black & Decker 18 volt drill burned slap up on me. So now that little job cost me about $50 plus my valuable time. Oh well its only money, surely there is a Stimulus Package for old drills, right?
You be a Blessing to someone today and be Blessed. Today’s verse is “I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.”- Psalm 116:1-2