Introduction - We are God's image

Hello Children,

To begin our talks, I would first like to talk to you about God. To understand me you need to understand

my view of God: God, THE GOD, God the person, God the trinity, God your creator, and God your lover. Now I do not know all there is about God, no one does. However, I have been around a while, and I believe I know God; I talk to God, I praise Him, and I worship Him.  I have been to many churches and I have discussed God with many people whom I believe also know Him well. So while God is loving, eternal, awesome, powerful, and all-knowing; He is also a lot like us. He is perfect and we are not, but when we were created God said let Us make man in Our image. (And when He said man it is inclusive; God has made women just as important as men. Don’t let anyone tell you that there are womanly traits that God does not possess. Sex and all that male and female mean are part of God and He understands it all, even in the tumultuous transitional teenage years.)

“In Our image” is a big mouthful; understand that it entails being eternal, being responsible for making decisions, becoming more God like as we mature and become adults. He said, “Be ye perfect as I am perfect.”  It also makes us responsible for our sins. But since we cannot be good enough to be sinless or strong enough to take the resulting punishment ourselves Jesus, the Man-God, took that punishment on Himself. God loves you, all for yourself, just as you are, and he has great plans for you. Remember He is strong, once you accept Him, confess Him, and get baptized, you are His and He will not lose any of His people. You are safe with Him. You might make some mistakes, make bad decisions, hurting yourself and others, but you will not accidently lose your salvation or change God’s love for you.

I will not be preaching at you, but you must know that I believe in God and it defines my life. He said to tell our children about him and his mighty deeds and I hope to do that.  When you think about Him and I pray it is often, remember, He is the great:

I AM

School year starting again 2016

Hello Children,

In “Notes to my Grandchildren” I would like to talk to you about school this year.  In Church this morning the pastor recognized the teachers who are about to enter this next school year.  He asked them to stand, had the congregation recognize them, and we prayed for them.  And then gave each a bag of little things to use in the classroom.  He had been a teacher and wanted to acknowledge the teachers and encourage them and then encourage the congregation to support them.  I agree with him that we should thank God for the good teachers who bring their love and dedication to school each year to teach our children the things they need to know to become good productive citizens in the USA.  

I am impressed by the good teachers I know in the North Country.  I had a couple of good teachers who impacted my life and still remember them and wish I could personally thank them now.  Please take this as a personal thank you to all the teachers I have known.  And children, be respectful to your teachers this year, learn from them, and try to make their job as pleasant as possible.  You will benefit in the long run.  Remember, they are not prefect, anymore than you are perfect.

Grandpap,

Keeping in touch with each other.

Hello Children,

I would like to tell you that getting myself an iPad mini was a great buy. It is so nice to see you as we talk and be able to see things you want to show me, and show you things you want to see from my part of the world. This Android and Apple thing is fine, but I wished it was easier to get together. We need the Star Trek teleporter we do.  I have started to lay out my blog with the things I want to talk with you about. It is important for all of us I believe, but especially important as you move into the teenage years. I would like to talk about God and many of his wonderful personalities. He is awesome. I would also like to talk with you about our family it is the most important factor, besides God, in all our lives.

I guess my hope is to help you become successful adults. People who can look at life, make their own decisions, and by making good decisions move into a future that is abundant and happy. But, if we make bad decisions, which we all do, know how to fall back on God who has promised to help us in all things.  And hopefully the family is there to help when needed.

Last weekend, Uncle Tim and Aunt Margie helped me photograph some of the simple things I enjoyed as a young person. They are still good activities and they are still good to do. Note there are no electronics involved in any of them. (Except the photos were digital taken with our smartphones, how electronic is that?) We visited Uncle Tim's new tree house, I did not sleep out in it, but the nephews did the week before. Perhaps this could be the magic tree house.

Starting out

Hello children,

I am starting this blog as a place we can share and store our thoughts about growing up and family and God. It has been a wonderful experience getting to know you as you joined the family and started to grow up. And I am very happy with the people you are becoming. So this open discussion is just to encourage you along the way and provide a place to share ideas. Perhaps a bit more than common as your Daddy is not here to interact with you. I have very definite ideas about the world and how we run it. And very definite ideas about God and how He runs things.  However, I am not sure I always see things as clearly as I should. Your Grandmother and I have many discussions about life’s events and sometimes I wonder if we experienced the same event.

This is open to the cousins and aunts and uncles, as family interactions are a large part of family affairs and they often have a different view on things than I and your Grandmother do and you need to know that. Many times there is no one right answer or one correct way to do things. And as you mature you will find that my views and our family’s views are at times significantly different from those of your school mates, college friends, and other people you meet and work with. You are growing up, you have to choose. Who will you be and what will you believe? Today is the collection of choices we have made in the past, and you are choosing your future self one little decision at a time. Decide wisely, and I would suggest you pray about almost every decision.

Love Grandpap,