obedience

Why is obedience important to my spiritual life?

Today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. You will receive a curse if your reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn from his way by worshipping foreign gods.
Deuteronomy 11:26-28 NLT

If you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all nations of the earth; for all the earth belongs to me.
Exodus 19:5 NLT

"Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them."
John 14:21 NLT

Countercultural Obedience
To speak positively of obedience today is be profoundly countercultural. The valid suspicion of talk about obedience is grounded in the experience of authoritarianisms, both past and present.
Obedience is confused with "blind obedience," which is normally odious. Obedience is confused with conformity, with going along, with asking no questions.
But obedience really means responsiveness; it is related to the Latin audire, to hear, to listen, to respond appropriately.
Obedience is not the surrender of responsibility but the acceptance of responsibility for what we respond to and how.

Richard John Neuhaus

Quoted in 1001 Great Stories and Quotes by R. Kent Hughes (Tyndale House), p 295

Hooray for Tuesday! It's office day and that means a long one with 10 patients scheduled this morning. I always love going into the office- it's a day I get to see my patients that I've been treating for sometimes years, and to see their progress. Sometimes really amazing.

Today is also the last day of June for 2009. WOW! Where did this month go? The older I get, the faster the days go by. I'd like a long summer this year. I don't want to see winter come too soon.

With Wendell's latest fantastic weight loss .. did I mention how proud I am of him?... I got to thinking just how much weight he did lose since March.. over 20#.. That's like 4 5# bags of flour- or a big 20# bag. Try carrying one of those around day and night for life.. No, thanks. In the mean time, he's been instructed to do 30 minutes of activity every day. We hope to hit the pool this week finally. It's been about 2 months that we haven't been able to do so. Traveling north, insulin readjustments, the abrasion on his knee, then cellulitis in that leg (typical slow healing diabetes), and then my allergies that show up in my eyes giving me that vampire look that is not healing in a chlorine environment.. all these things contributed to our not going to the pool. But we are feeling so much better this week so far. We both need the exercise, and it'll be good for Wendell's scheduled 30 minutes. We normally walk for an hour in the pool.. hopefully, if we don't get too tired, we can begin again at that point.

Time for me to get ready for work..

Enjoy the day- rain or shine

I will invite you all to view the DOWNSIZING blog on the right hand column of blogsites. Wendell had his weigh in today..

Facing the spiritual battle

Finally, dear brothers and sisters, I ask you to pray for us.
Pray first that the Lord's message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you.
Pray, too, that we will be saved from wicked and evil people, for not everyone believes in the Lord.
But the Lord is faithful; he will make you strong and guard you from the evil one.…
May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and the endurance that comes from Christ.
2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 NLT


In order to be effective on the battlefield a soldier must be both well trained and properly equipped.
The warrior must be alert for surprise attacks.
So it is in our spiritual battle with Satan.
Determined to destroy our faith by leading us into sin and discouragement, Satan attacks with blatant temptation and deceptive lies.
The Bible teaches that the best weapons for this warfare are the Word of God and prayer.
The faith of the Thessalonian believers was being tried by persecution. Undoubtedly some of them were wavering, even failing, as the surrounding evil put them to the test.
This was an important time for Paul to remind them that, no matter what happened, God's faithfulness would prevail over evil and strengthen them so that they could endure.

From the TouchPoint Bible (Tyndale House) pp1277,1059

I thought I'd just mention the death of Gale Storm...age 87. Anyone else remember "My Little Margie"? She was a much better entertainer than the King of Pop or the pin up girl..or the announcer too. I found the obituary quite by accident.. the media doesn't remember the good ones.

Birthday picnic

Sisters.. Annabelle and Joyce

Paul3 watching and waiting for cake..

Me..Daddy..me...daddy
Paul2 and Annabelle

Sharon on the left, Amy's sister;
Then Annabelle, Joyce,Marilyn, and David

The Z's got Joyce a beautiful dress for her birthday

Papa bought her a delicate and beautiful necklace

AND.. we got her a Webkinz Clydesdale

Da Boyz.. Keith and John

It was really special to have a cousin come today to the picnic..
Here's Daniel and his cousin Jeffrey

David asked for a Webkinz skunk..

and a chipmunk too

After we ate, the kids had a Frisbee game to play..

Of course, some assembly required first..

Joyce's cake

I decided to have an egg hunt later this afternoon.. just
something a little different.. So I filled 15 plastic colored eggs for each child
with a piece of gum or candy and a few coins.. and then herded kids inside
so we could hide them outside. It really was quite fun!

Everyone got into the act..

Paul3 had black eggs.. and a toad he found while he was
searching for his eggs.

We did have set borders for where the eggs would be hidden.
Try a black egg hidden under the wiper blade of my car.. ugh

Annabelle had yellow and gold and pink eggs

5 birds.. they are growing up fast..
Daniel,David,Paul3,Joyce, and Annabelle

David is 5

Today is David's birthday. He is now 5 years old

We plan to have a picnic for him today and also for Joyce who

will be 12 on July 1st.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID !!!

Today Wendell and I will be attending the Methodist Church where our son in law Keith will be preaching . Pray for a full measure of grace for him today.
More later...

It's a kind of balmy dismal day today.. the sun is up there, but not coming through the cloud cover.. As I think about it, it's really a relief from the past 2 days of the sun beating down on us..it was sooooo hot. No complaints here.. it could be snow and ice.. just taking note of the present weather situation.
Not sure what is on our agenda today. Dishes are washing, email is read, and I've taken a long walk around the perimeter. Breakfast is over, and we are now looking at lunch shortly.
Wendell mowed grass again yesterday and the place looks so nice with a new haircut..er.. grasscut. Not sure that's a word? He did well, no matter.
Office was very good on Thursday. 10 patients infused, one jag apiece, and no 'events'. Happy day! I came home sore, weary, and feeling like I just wanted to go to bed. I missed supper and just took it easy the rest of the evening.
I could work on the bedroom today, but I think I'll do that tomorrow....and Monday. I believe that since I'm feeling that 'it's gonna rain' soreness in my joints, today would be a good day to work on the picture project. It's not a heavy project, but it has to be done sooner or later.. but better to be done sooner.
Enjoy your day..

Faith doesn't isolate us from sadness

Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name. His anger lasts for a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may go on all night, but joy comes in the morning.
Psalm 30:4-5 NLT

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid.
John 14:27 NLT

Truly, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy when you see me again. It will be like a woman experiencing the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives place to joy because she has brought a new person into the world. You have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.
John 16:20-22 NLT

Bond of understanding
There is an immediate bond of understanding between people who have suffered similar hardships or losses.
Parents who have lost children, widows and widowers, and families of terminal-disease patients, all find comfort and encouragement in the presence of those who have known similar pain.
Paul urges believers to see opportunities for giving comfort as both a way to share the comfort of God and to use their own experiences of sorrow for good.
We rarely know why suffering or trials enter our lives, but we can know that God wants to do through our sorrow.
Who do you know right now who needs a word of encouragement or comfort that your experience has prepared you to give?

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

2009 Imm family reunion

It's getting to be that time again.. the annual Imm family reunion is planned, and you need to be making plans to attend too!

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2009
12 NOON
Same place as last year

.. give me a call or send me an email if you need directions
The message from Maureen says:
"All food brought will be put together so that we can share a buffet style dinner. We will supply the coffee, but please bring your own cold drinks. We will also have tables covered and supply plates, napkins, cups, and silverware.

For your gaming pleasure we will have a volleyball net, horseshoes, and ladder golf as well as a few games of bingo called by Uncle Babe.

We will have a 50/50 raffle to raise money for next years reunion.

Is God concerned about our pain

Is God concerned about our pain?

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.
The righteous face many troubles, but the Lord rescues them from each and every one.
Psalm 34:18-19 NLT

He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins!
But he was wounded and crushed for our sins.
He was beaten that we might have peace.
He was whipped, and we were healed!
All of us have strayed away like sheep.
We have left God's paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.
Isaiah 53:3-6 NLT

Crying ones
Through the pain and sorrow of Christ's experiences on earth, God has experienced the depths of human grief.
You that are called born of God, and Christians, if you be not criers, there is no spiritual life in you; if you be born of God, you are crying ones; as soon as He raised you out of the dark dungeon of sin, you cannot but cry to God.
John Bunyan

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

Hello Summer.. it was about 82* today and it's not a lot less right now at 8:15pm. The sun will go down in another 45 minutes or so, but I'm not waiting.. I'm heading for my bed.
I've had a long day. I woke up an hour before I needed to, and then figured I'd better not go back to bed or I would get up late. I went to the office, had 8 patients scheduled, but 3 canceled. It was a super good day!
Wendell and I thought we just might be healthy enough to hit the Y tomorrow and take about an hour in the pool. We shall see. He plans to try to mow grass, and that might do him in..
He's lost some weight and he is feeling more like himself.