I was checking the weather and found an article about the 6 hottest cities in the US. We dream of being hot like Washington DC (average June-Aug high around 86 degrees). All time high of 107. According to our current 10-day forecast, we will almost reach that high every day for the next ten. We have had five straight weeks of, approximately, 100+ degrees.

We would love to average 86 degrees for June-Aug. We are not nearly as humid as East Texas or Florida, but extremely hot. An 86 degree day would be an answer to prayer, as well as 20 degrees cooler than we will be.

Visiting Houston next week. Will see how much difference real humidity makes in my heat index.

Nothing like parts of the Middle East, where we know people doing missions work. Now, that is real HEAT!

In my infirmity I cried out to the Lord
And He heard me
He calmed my beating heart
And breathed relief to my soul.

When my sorrows overflowed
I cried aloud to the Rock of my salvation
When I was slipping into the depths
My voice was raised unto the Lord.

Blessed is the man who may turn to the Lord
As unto a cherished friend
It is He who fully understands
All the frailities of our humanity.

He suffered for our transgressions
And was bruised for our sins
He fully understand our pain
And comprehends all of our weaknesses.

Though my suffering is in part self-produced through anxiety
Ye is He ever with me as my Rock
The Comforter who is a King
Reigning in glory forever.

I lift up a song of praise to the Lord
Who hears my cry and responds with love
I stand amazed at His marvelous kindness
Towards a sinner such as I.

I certainly don't deserve His blessing-
Quite the contrary
I fail Him many times every day
Though I sincerely pledge to serve Him better.

May all the glory
Go to my Lord Jesus Christ
Who heard my prayer and gave me relief
He is worthy of all honor and glory.


Even though I'm certainly a failure as a poet (even with my own rules), I wrote the preceding as a prayer of thankfulness to the Lord. I have been having heart-rhythm problems this week, which have been compounded by Kathy being gone all week to her work.
As I felt the problem recurring around 5:00am this morning, I was hit by a wave of despair. I cried out to the Lord for help and the rhythm problem immediately stopped.
My most recent rhythm difficulty had lasted about forty minutes, so I attribute the latest relief to the hand of my Lord. I cried out and the relief was immediate. I pray for many things and don't often get to see an immediate answer to my prayer.
The Lord is teaching me much through this "trial":
1. I fear death and overly cling to the world.
2. I respond much better to the chastening of the Lord than to His blessings.
3. My family loves me...Colin has stayed up with me all night.
4. The Lord requires that I live a holy life, set apart for His service and Kingdom.
5. Only through the power of the Lord can I overcome areas of temptation.
I don't know the path that this is leading me down, but I do know that my Saviour reigns supreme. This, in spite of my many failures and weaknesses.
I hope that anyone who reads this will be encouraged that the Lord is gracious and loves His children. He is there for us in time of need.
May God receive the glory, great things He has done.

Too long again since I have posted!

Following up on my previous post, I did have the opportunity to share the gospel to my student using the Navigator's bridge illustration. We had a pleasant conversation and she was willing to talk about salvation in the Bible. She was raised Eastern Orthodox, which has similarities to the Catholic church, though some important distinctions. We are to be faithful and let the Lord accomplish His will.

Next, we are excited because my brother David is moving to Texas at the beginning of July to finish up his teaching certification requirements. He is a very hard worker and has simply found it difficult to work (he works more than full-time) and complete his coursework.

Finally, it's hot as a torch here in Central Texas. We are doing work on the house resulting from the storm. We have removed most of the siding and are awaiting a bid on that. In-the-meantime, we are going to replace the exterior windows. My neighbor is going to give me a hand (well, he's going to show me exactly what to do!), being an excellent carpenter and cabinet-maker. After that, we are going to re-roof the house ourselves. We'll do that after we get back from a couple of weeks visiting family in Colorado.

Serve the Lord with gladness, come into His house with thanksgiving!

Hello!
It's been a while since my last post...The Storm!

I am teaching a May Term Conference Course...which means one student only. I would like prayer for my student (Valeriya). She is from the Ukraine and went to HPU in the Spring (her first college semester). I am praying for her and am going to present the good news about Jesus to her next week. Why else would God have me teach one student a class in 2 1/2 weeks that others have a hard time with over a whole semester (Macroeconomics).

The Lord is great and greatly to be praised for His promises to us through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
In His name and for His glory only,
Mike

Caleb is smiling this morning but was bit nervous during the storm last night. 

We have sycamore leaves and limbs everywhere. 

Good bit of accumulation from last night's storm 

The Lord showed who is boss last night. We had a powerful storm blow through the area. We had golfball sized hail, though there were reports of tennis ball sized hail a quarter mile away. The winds got up to 70+ mph and it rained extremely hard. There was also a report of two tornadoes in the area. We've got a bit of cleaning up after the water recedes.

The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth His handiwork.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised...

Our friends, Melody and Jerome had a baby boy this evening. They were over last night and Melody was having some contractions. The baby WAS due in July! Well...things got going and they delivered at 10:01pm this evening. The baby is initially doing well enough to not be shipped to a neo-natal intensive care unit in Fort Worth. Pray that will remain the same tomorrow.

His name is Geosue Giovanni. He was 3 lb. 14 oz., 17 inches, and scored a 7&9 on the Apgar test.

Mother is doing well, all things considered.

I'm not complaining...oh, yes I am! I just checked the weather and the temperature is 103!!! Yes, 103. The good news is that our electricity was only out for about 30 minutes this afternoon. We weren't over using the kilowatts...don't know what happened. Maybe TXU is mad that we are switching to Reliant. Ken savve! Oops, sounds like we're at WalMart. Who knows, I mean.

Excellent lunch at the park with Millard & Cindy and Jerome & Melody. Luckily it was only around 100 when we were enjoying our time together. I wish that all of us had more time to spend together...at least the hamburgers were almost cooked :-). Also, we fed most of the population of a bee hive without a single sting.

The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty!