God's perfect timing!

Last May we put our house up for sale. After many months of being accused by our son that we are "cleaning Nazis" and after many showings and open houses...we think we have a buyer! We had some folks come by out of the blue last week...saw the house, next day made an offer, after a counter offer...deal!

So it looks like the house is sold! We are waiting to hear the results of the home inspection, finalize some paperwork...come mid next month we'll be closing the deal. Woo-hoo...

Our home that we've been building is almost complete...about 3 more weeks. Finishing touches are being done...Holly and I were out tonight at Loews picking out tile for the tub and new appliances. That's been a lot of fun to do...we picked this cool fridge that has the ice maker on the front (never had one of those!).

Through this process of selling and building our prayer has been perfect timing...not only the sell of the house, but only having to move once. Looks as if our prayer is being answered.

God sure has been good and faithful...and I don't say that just because everything is working out the way we wanted. If our house was still on the market...God is still good and faithful. But I don't want to act surprised when God answers a prayer, as if it were a first or something like that...you follow me? There are plenty of passages in the Bible that speak of laying your request before God...we shouldn't be surprised when that request comes to fruition. I just want to bring glory to God's name for answering our prayer.

I'll keep ya posted on the house...if you are in the Richmond area sometime around Nov. 20th-ish and have bulky muscles and like to lift things...give me a call.

Sinners saved by grace?

Alright, sorry so long with the hiatus...been a busy time of the year. But I wanted to throw my two cents in to my previous blog question. Don't know how many have given it much thought, but here's my response...

Is the following a good description of a Christian:

"We are sinners saved by grace"

My answer would be absolutely NO...it is not a good description...it's an accurate description, but not a good description. Matter of fact, nowhere in scripture is this idea (sinners saved by grace) taught. Yep, I was a sinner, and yes I've been saved by grace...scripture teaches that Christians are now "saints" which means "holy one". We may think of ourselves as sinners saved by grace, but then the emphasis is still on being a sinner, not a "holy one." Peter Lord says that such a mind-set results in a believer being enveloped in feelings of unworthiness.

Just a few thoughts about how we view ourselves as Christians...let me know what you think!

Is this a good description?

Growing up in the church most of my life I've heard many sermons and teachings. Of many of the pastors that I have heard or been under I've heard many use the following phrase:

"We are sinners saved by grace."

Is this a good description of a Christian? Or better yet, is it the most accurate description of a Christian?

Before I give my thoughts, I'd like to know what you think. Let's hear some feedback from ya!

Dad and Lad Night

This weekend Holly took several girls from our youth ministry to Knoxville, TN. for the Girls of Grace conference. Kinda odd this afternoon seeing everyone off and not going.

So since the girls are away...the fellas will play! Bryan and I had one of our famous "Dad and Lad" nights...some serious guy time. Here's the breakdown:

-Dinner at Johnny Carino's
-Went to Circuit City to look at BIG tv's (it's a guy thing!)
-Went to the dollar movies...saw Barnyard...hilarious
-Went to Barnes and Noble and looked at books and drank coffee
-Came home and played video games
-Getting ready to watch a few M*A*S*H videos and then go to sleep

tomorrow's schedule:
-EKU Homecoming Parade
-Brunch at the Baptist Student Union
-Going to BW3's to watch the Louisville / Cincinnati game (sorry EKU!)
-Going to Dick's sporting goods to look at stuff

Holly and the girls will be home around 8pm...I love dad and lad weekends because my "lad" is so cool and rawks the house!

PETA goes way overboard!

I love animals...I even have a cat that I'm very fond of...but this going overboard and crossing the lines of "get a life"...

funky stuff

Life for the past several months has been a bit different for me...I feel like I'm in some kind of a "funk" or something. Now, I don't disclose this info for pity's sake...so don't hear it that way. But trying to describe these past several months...I can only come up with the word "funk."

I have some suspicions why the funk...I think a huge part has been Bryan's medical attention. It's been tough watching him hurting and not being the typical full-of-life kind of a kid. In all of the suffering that he's been through I've been asking God to teach me something's through all of this. I've had several revelations...but the one that hits home more than any other is a question to God. In watching my son Bryan suffer I'm thinking..."God, how did you do it?...How did you watch your Son suffer the way He did?" And then to think...He did that for me. That's been very humbling and makes me very grateful.

Not real sure how long the "funk" will go on...now don't get me wrong, I'm not walking around constantly in a zombie-like trance, feeling really blue. No there's joy in my life...and that totally comes from God. That's life as a Christian...even during the "funky" times...God is still God and His grace definitely is enough.

It's raining, it's pouring...the old man is snoring

This morning I woke up to some serious rain coming down...as if we needed the rain. I think my backyard is still trying to recoup from the "Noah's Ark Type" flood that we had a few weekends ago.

Anyhow...I love a good rain, especially in the morning. I got into the office early today, about 7:20am...usually it's like 8:30am before I come in, but I have a handful of things to get accomplished today.

I began this morning with some personal worship time with God...man, it was some good stuff...the rain was tapping on the window...the thunder was rumbling my whole office...I decided to read some passages out of Psalms and I had one of those connect moments while I was reading and thinking. It was awesome time with God ...I look forward to what's in store the rest of the day.

Random stuff...

-Last week I called Bell South to make a change to our phone service..an hour later I had switched from cable to Direct TV, switched from cable to DSL, and changed my phone plan. We end up saving like $60 a month and we are getting like $300 for making all these changes...can you say Christmas Money? So that's why there hasn't been much blogging for a little while, we just got the "hook up" today.

-Bryan has been doing much better. Last Monday he had another surgery to fix some complications that stemmed from a few weeks ago. Dang I hate to see my son sufferering and in pain...but he's better and we really appreciate all the prayers.

-We are still trying to sell the house...we've had lots of prospective buyers, but no offers, yet. There are a couple of folks we are hoping will come through sometime this week. Talk about a s-l-o-w buying market! Our new home is going up well...see the pic below. They should be finished sometime towards the end of November.