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In Christ
 What if I would smile...

Yesterday that phrase flitted through my mind. It wasn't a particularly terrible day, just hard to stand by faith. I kept struggling with attitudes and all that rubbish. From that fragment of a thought a song was born.

That is the beauty of Jesus Christ in me by the Holy Spirit. Oh, if we could see all that goes on in the realms of the heavens that cannot be viewed with our eyes. Battles are being fought for the souls of men, lives are being tested for faith, and through it all we have Jesus sitting beside the throne of God to intercede for us, if we will only have faith in Him.

Some time ago I read Colossians 3 and it became like my testimony, especially verses 1 through 17:
1Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in…

 I have an overwhelming sense  that I have been given a gift  in this, my daughter.

How quickly I take her for granted and focus on our struggles and that multitude of negatives we deal with in this thing called life. We all do it.  We see what we don't have and become discontent, complaining about our lack,  whether it be time, money, possessions, sons or daughters, husbands or wives... the list could go on and on.
But I choose to thank God for His gifts to me, and today was a time to delight in my daughter!
Our guys are gone for several days so we felt the need to take time off as well. It happens sometimes!

In downtown Canton there's a First Ladies National Historic Site  which includes the Saxton McKinley House (pictured above).  We found the tours of both places quite interesting, especially since we were the only tourists being guided through the sites and could pretty much set the speed!
The McKinley Memorial really is a lovely place to explore  on a sun-filled day like today!

There are wide s…

My Parents' Visit
 It has been nearly a year since Mom and Dad came to visit us and I've been missing them! I am accustomed to having them stop in several times a year. Is this in any way connected to the fact that we moved out of PA, where they have lots of family and friends?

After they were here, I discussed the matter with them and found there might not be any connection. Rather, they had an unusually busy year of traveling for ministry purposes last year.

In any event, they were a welcome sight last Friday! We also had the pleasure of having my brother Keith and his family for the weekend. Alas, I have no good photos to prove this point!

On Monday we were delighted with sunshine, so it was a great day to be outside. I found a bike trail and four bikes for Dad, Mom, Jacki, and I...

Living in a village, I now appreciate peace, quiet, and rural tranquility much more than ever before. This ride was soothing to my soul.

Jacki has decided the two of us really must go once a week. Whether it will happen…