JESUS CHRIST IS ALIVE TODAY.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

CHRISTMAS IS COMING.

The above image is our only outdoor Christmas 

decoration this year.  That suits me just fine because 

I know who would have (had) to put them up outside.

The cross these lights are on is visible in the image

 below, up the hill on the facing end of the house.  

A few years ago my wife and daughter decided I 

should make them a cross and put at that end of the 

house.  The first thought that came to my mind was 

one of my favorite songs - The Old Rugged Cross.  

So, I built the cross out of some old rugged rail 

road ties.

O yes.

There are some inside Christmas decorations.  They 

are in the truck above when we took them out of 

storage for this years decorations.  Everything on the 

truck in this image is Christmas decorations. [That 

even includes my wife.]

As you guessed, I cannot look anywhere in the house 

without seeing some Christmas decorations.  But that

 is fine because we cannot help but celebrate the fact 

that God the creator in His mercy came down to

 earth as a man (Jesus Christ) and died as a sacrifice 

for my sins.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only

begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall 

not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did 

not send the Son into the world to judge the world,

 but that the world might be saved through Him.  

He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does 

not believe has been judged already, because he 

has  not believed in the name of the only 

begotten Son of God."

(John 3:16-18 NASB)

THANKFUL

"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

always give thanks for everything to

God the Father."

(Ephesians 5:20 TEV)

THE CANNON

This is the

kind of

cannon my

son-in-law

would like.

But if you

ever checked

the price of

one. You know

why he will not

get one. Even

a replica.

He thinks one

would look good

on this retaining wall.

You know what?

I think he is right.

So, grandpa gets

to build one.

This one is coming

from the factory with;

Wheels, hubs and

spindles - courtesy

of a Ford Escort.

Axle and elevation

adjuster from an old

satellite dish. Spade,

from an old truck

trailer hitch. Breech

bolts from an old

Ford recall. Spark

plug from an old 60's

Ford. And the rest

from the scrap metal

pile. That's the way I

do things.

I know, you just

wave a credit card

and get one.

This cannon is not

complete by any

means. But it is at

the stage where we

wanted to test fire

it. Then if changes

are necessary, they

can be made while

it is still under

construction.

You guessed it.

It would not fire.

I was planning on

using the igniter

from a gas grill to

fire the plug. And

the way you see it

in the last photo, on the bench it would fire

every time.

But put that plug in the cannon and

then try to get it to fire. Well, just

forget it. Why, I do not know. It would

work just perfectly on the bench. But

put it in the cannon -even wired like

you see, and it will only fire if it wants

to.

I even tried the firing thing

that came with the igniter.

When I would get the gap right

it would fire every time - on the

bench. But bolt it into the barrel

of the cannon. And it would just

fire once in a while.

After lots of frustration and wasted

time I had to give up in desperation.

For me that means prayer time.

So pray I did. And several hours later

the Lord gave me the answer.

Yes I can make it fire now. It is not a

sonic boom, yet. Just a loud belch. But

that problem is the next step.

(Before I got this published. The Lord

helped us learn how to put the "boom"

in it too.)

The point I want to make is that God

answers prayer. Even on little things.

Some time you are going to be at the

end of yourself on something. Then it's

time to turn to Jesus Christ. He has

the solution to your problem.

THE OLD MOTORCYCLE

I made a mistake. See, I even got the images all mixed

up. Of course you don't know what a mistake is. But

if some one will not tell you, it is in the dictionary.

I "had" and old GS550 that I had tinkered with until it

would scream. I took it off the road and used it to ride

around the house and field.

Tinker with it and ride it. But then we begin to clean up

around here and I made the mistake of getting ride of it.

It did not bother me until this spring. Then bam. It hit

me hard. I wanted an old bike to tinker with and race

around the place on. My street bikes are fine just the

way they are. They are for riding - not tinkering with.

A dirt bike would do all I wanted. But I wanted to strip

it down the way I wanted. Half the fun is in the tinkering.

The the other 90% is in the riding. (You add it up.)

My conscience would not allow me to spend much on it.

The major priority was, CHEAP. You know, just a little

more than I would carry in my wallet.

For about a month I searched ebay. Yes there were

several there - in Main, California or Washington etc.

But I did not want to travel more than about two

hundred miles to get it.

A month of following ebay, craigslist, the newspaper

and all the local shoppers resulted in nothing.

Next step. I ask some of my online friends to pray for me

and my situation. That was a Friday morning.

By Friday after noon the Lord let me understand the

part the motorcycle was to play for me.

The next day, Saturday, a friend just happened to come

by. I mentioned my search to him.

He just happened to need gas.

While getting gas an acquaintance of his just happened

to come out of the store.

His brother-in-law had passed away and he just

happened to have an old motorcycle setting in his shed.

It just happened that he was trying to sell it for his sister.

On Sunday I went and looked at it. It just happened to

be exactly what I was wanting. Even one of the favored

brands for this project.

It just happened to be in the correct price range.

Oh! and it just happened to be between two and three

miles from my house.

So on Monday I just happened to go to the bank and

get him the cash.

And before the week was out it just happened to be mine

and setting in my shop.

As you can see, I'm changing both the style and the brand

of it.

Of course these are only external changes.

It is not like when a persons turns their life over to the

Lord Jesus Christ and He changes them from the inside

out.

Now you can go on working things out with your own

"smarts" if you like. But as for me. I like it best when

God begins to work it out for me.

You can call this old bike junk, ugly or a rat bike.

But I call it fun.

THE FISHERMAN'S PRAYER

Found POKING AROUND in Buckeye, Arkansas

I just trust that he was the Lord Jesus Christ's fisherman.  May he rest in peace.