Today, my wife Nancy and I celebrate 21 years of marriage.

I remember those first 23 years without her wondering, waiting, longing, hoping. But God was faithful He brought me the love of my life and I’m so glad He did.

Nancy is a beautiful woman who takes great care of herself, me and our seven children. She is fervent for the Lord, zealous to serve Him.

There is no one on this earth that I trust more that my wife. Her counsel to me is a safe place. God uses her mightily. Her heart of compassion for the hurting and the lost is amazing. She has the heart of an evangelist.

I love my wife. She’s my best friend.

Day by day we see new challenges and things we’ve never been up against before.
There’s no school that can prep you for this life.
The challenges we face can’t have been foreseen.
How can you prepare for what you can’t foresee?

The Lord spoke an interesting word to me yesterday, it might be good for all of us to hear it and take some time to ponder it:

Son, take comfort in My love.
There are many things coming on the horizon.
Get ready for them!
The way you prepare is

• draw close to Me and
• execute what I say to do.

Remember: hearing His voice changes us but only part way; doing what He said changes us the rest of the way.

See ya
Love ya
Joe

Hey Friends,

I wanted to mention to those of you who may come back daily for some more encouragement: take a listen to my daily radio broadcast. Although I may not blog daily, the radio broadcast is daily.

Let me know if it encourages you.

God bless you

Joe

Well, like the last post said, we all need to get away and get some rest sometimes.

We just got back from vacation, had a great time.

My daughter put up some slide shows.

Check out the fun. Sarah’s Blog

See you soon,
Joe

Monday’s my day off and I just got done playing a video game with my boys. We all fly around on different computers networked together and shoot at each other. My son, Mark is an Ace. I spent most of the time restarting after getting blown up by him.

But man after you’ve been playing one of those games it helps you to see how busy life is. You end up feeling so tired because of all the mental stimulation. Things flying at you from every direction.

Life is like that.

It seems like no matter what, we keep getting busier and busier.

Sometimes we just need to unplug.

Turn off the computer, the TV, even the phone(if necessary) and just go sit.

Maybe go take a walk.

Let your brain unwind a bit.

Take in the sunshine. Listen to the crickets. Watch the clouds go by or listen to the wind blow.

God’s mental stimulation, these things I’ve mentioned, have a calming effect on us. It refreshes us.

Take some time to refresh yourself.

You’ll be much more accurate when its time to return to the battle. (I AM GOING TO GET YOU MARK!!!lol)

Love ya
Joe(Dad)

You ever have one of those times when you’re not really sure what’s going on? You keep trying to make forward motion but you just don’t know why things don’t work out the way you hoped or thought they should?

Even though you and I have this problem from time to time, I have this friend who never suffers from this! Kind of strange, but he always seems to know what ‘s going on all the time. I don’t get mad at him about this, what I do is ask him to help me with my situation.

The Bible says there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. That’s what I need. Somebody who can tell me what’s going on when I just don’t know. Jesus said those who walk in the dark stumble, but those who walk in the light don’t because they can see what makes them stumble.

Psalm 119 says that God’s word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. The New Testament says that Jesus is the light of the world. He’s that friend I was talking about.

You see when we can’t see and we’re wondering what’s going on, we need to take some time and turn the light on. When you’re in a dark room, some times it takes some time before you can find the light switch. But its worth it to keep pursuing getting that light turned on.

If you’re in a spot, take the time to turn the light on. Turn to Jesus, ask the Father to help you in Jesus’ Name. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you some scriptures that will light your path. You’d be amazed what just asking can do for you.

Love ya
Walk in the Light
Joe

The other day I was reading
I John 5:4
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world;
and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.

When I’ve taught this in the past I focused on our faith helping us overcome the world, like Jesus said in John 16:33.

But this time as I read it, it seemed the Holy Spirit was having me focus more on the phrase, “whatever is born of God” that overcomes the world. I started thinking about things that are born of God and things that aren’t.

When we consider our actions, many of them we came up with on our own. We can’t claim that these were “born of God”. That’s why it seems we come up with mediocre results.

However, when we endeavor to do something that is God-ordained the potential for the final result on that action or endeavor is world-overcoming, earth-shaking, life-changing.

We may have mediocre results regardless of the originator because 0f opposition. But what makes something truly worthwhile is its potential outcome. If you’re doing something for God you should expect more opposition yet even more spiritual energy for completion.

What this gets down to is that if you have a choice to do something God said to do vs. something you’ve come up with on your own, do what God said. Ask, “Who’s the Father of this idea?”

The potential to change your life and the whole world is there for whatever is born of God overcomes the world.

This is a cure for spiritual short-sightedness.

See you soon, keep praying for us.
Joe