Friday – 06/27/08 June 27, 2008

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Spend a lot of time on FB and checking out other apps. Pretty tired here at the end of the week. Pleased with being able to get a lot of things done at work this week. Guys prayed for me last Sat about that at Panera. Pam and I decided on which tools to give away last night. Think Mike will be excited. Ready to live in the presence of the Lord today.

Devotions

Spurgeon -If we would follow the Lord wholly, we must go right away into the wilderness of separation. [I need to really consider this because I would not think of myself in those terms. There are many things I would not do but I am more of a mixer than a separatist. I need to be on guard so I don’t rationalize the things of the flesh and try to justify being carnal.]

1 Peter 3:10 – 12

1. v10: Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. [I need to be careful today about what I say.  Whatever the motive, (life, good days) I know a whole lot rides on my conversation.  Let  me remember that and be empowered and transformed today.]
2. v11:  He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.  [This is an active choice.  Not passive.  I have to avoid it; do something.  Seeking and pursuing are action words.]

Wednesday – 06/25/08 June 25, 2008

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Was up earlier and checking out Facebook and twitters. Time consuming. I want to engage and have some good devotions.

Yesterday was full, productive and very good. Had friends drop by at the back yard and we talked a lot. Also connected with people at work, on twitter. Very good day. Praise Him.

Devotions:

Spurgeon: When we first believe in Christ we see but little of him. The higher we climb the more we discover of his beauties.

– I am so thankful today for how God has really helped me the last few days. I see myself being more productive as I approach the end of the month deadline with four or five things at work. Praise His Name. Also the twitter thing is taking off and has some potential as far as RV lifestyle and being connected.

Help me discover your beauties today, dear Lord.

1 Peter 3:8 – 12

1. v8: Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. [Tough words to live in the flesh. The Holy Spirit is the only one who enables me to do that.]
2. v9: Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing because to this you were called. [Same thing goes for driving. When that changes and my attitude toward others on the road, I know I am changing. Likewise at work, I get irritated by my OM yet it is my pride. Instead, I should remember I am called to be a blessing. If I want to be obedient, I need to do this.]

Tuesday – 6/24/08 June 24, 2008

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Very productive day yesterday.  I felt God’s presence throughout.  Got a lot of work done.  Then to top it off, I won my match for the first time in a long long time.  Actually, it felt more like a gift than a win because he missed a 2 footer on the last hole.

Devotions

Spurgeon – blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” {#Lu 11:27,28} . 

• He really spoke of Mary and how she had no more insight as a believer than we do.  Praise his name that he gives us access to Himself and enables us to walk with him each day.

1 Peter 3:1-7

1. v3-4:  … your beauty…should be of the inner self.  God doesn’s have issue with looking as good as one can, but he values the heart, what you are on the inside, your character.  My prayer is that I understand ‘working out my own salvation’ and realizing the importance of growing in character and Christlikeness.  
2. v7:  In the same way, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect.  Help me never take Pam for granted and be kind, polite and courteous.  Help me give her grace and be helpful to her each day.  And help me nurture and love her like she likes to be loved.

 

Monday – 6/23/08 June 23, 2008

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Checked to see who won the PGA tournament yesterday. Glad to see that it was Stewart Cink.

Had a great weekend.

– Thursday night after work Roxanne and Pete stopped by and took Pam for ice cream. Then they pulled out the telescope and set it up in the back yard. It would not set up and we called customer service. It didn’t work so it is ready to be returned. Pam will probably send that out today.

– Friday they came over to help us transplant some flowers from there backyard to ours. And Pete and I tried to get the gas hedge trimmer working to know avail.

– Saturday I rode my bike over to Panera to meet with Gary, Dan and Tom. Had a good time. Then Pam and I drove down to Safford’s RV and test drove an Itasca. We decided it was not a good candidate for us after all. We really like the floorplan but felt it was overpriced at $215k. I also did not have a Jake Brake which deaccelerates the DP when you take your foot off the brake. On the way back we stopped at Tiffany and Jeff’s and spent 3+ hours with them. It was a great time. Jeff was into explaining Twitter and we had munchies on the back porch.

– Sunday we went to church and then did a lot of yard work. The lawn looks good but I was pushed. After a quick nap I started writing letters to those we support to let them know we are reducing our financial support at the end of the year. Then Roxanne and Pete stopped by and we talked for a while on the back porch. Adam called and we talked for quite a while and I also talked with Brad about retirement income. It was great.

Devotions

Spurgeon:

‘there must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another’ – great words of sanctification. Help me Lord be consistent today in my zeal to be obedient and pure before you. Let not sin reign in me. Help me praise you and be productive and I will be thankful.

1 Peter 2: 13 – 25

1. v13 – ‘Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men’ – I should submit to authority and do it graciously. I am thinking of those at work but it may mean something like the speed limit also. I get frustrated driving and am better than I used to be but other peoples’ driving habits usually bother me. I don’t usually have a problem submitting to authority. I just need to do it with grace and in humility.
2. v15 – ‘For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. – I think the issues I am dealing with now are not in this area but it is a good reminder not to seek revenge. If others in authority have an issue with me, I should not try to put them in there place or be defensive. I serve God, not them, so I shouldn’t get too caught up with them.
3. v17 – ‘Show proper respect to everyone. Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the King.’ – I should show more respect to my office mate. Help me do that today.

Prayer –

– I have five deliverables this week. Help me be productive with them.

-Praise praise praise! Thank you Lord for great fellowship this weekend and renewed friendships with Pete and Roxanne. And for a wonderful time with Jeff and Tiffany. And for being able to talk retirement with Brad. And for Adam returning next month and for Kelly getting acclimated in Richmond with new friends.

Thurs – 6/19/08 June 19, 2008

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Got up early, printed out and read Workamper News which is an online subscription to jobs throughout the US for RV campers.

Also did some good praying. Maybe not good yet but more than I have been doing. I have to increase my productivity to get some taskings done in 2 weeks at work. If I finish them I am in good shape. If I don’t it won’t be good.

Devotions

1 Peter 2:1- 12

1. v2:2 – Like newborn babes crave pure spiritual milk, so by it you may grow up in your spiritual salvation. I am glad I am interested in going through this book. I have always liked 1 Peter. I want to look forward each day to reading and contemplating the Word. God help me do that tomorrow too.
2. v:2:6 – the one who trusts him will never be put to shame. That is my hope: that I trust him daily (for today and for our future and for our kids future) and that I do not have anything to be ashamed about. Help me be strong today, tomorrow and in the coming weeks. Help me have a growing confidence and dependence on you, dear Lord to get my work done.
3. v2:9b – that you might declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Help me today declare your praises. Thank you that I have hope that I will not be in the dungeons of darkness in my own flesh and sin. Help me instead live in the wonder of being godly, character-filled middle aged man who loves more each day. Help me gain more strength and power to be obedient, wise, and full of grace to others.

Tuesday – 6/17/08 June 17, 2008

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Got up early because I wanted to work a bit and put in some time so I don’t have so much at the end of the week. Also – I am looking forward to going through 1 Peter.

• Met Chris yesterday and it helped to talk through where things with the people I am intentionally reaching out to. I have five people at work: Jim, Jean, Lynne, Marti, and Merilyn
• I need to be praying for each person to have an impact. I should also be praying for opportunities at EDS intramural golf every Monday.
• I don’t need to be too concerned with guys if they decide they don’t want to get together anymore. Can’t get a return call from one guy; I have struggled with another I haven’t seen for a year so it is a bit uncomfortable when I talked with him last. Maybe it supposed to be.
• I am still going on the idea that Mark raised last week: we should be praying for peoples Spiritual growth and looking for ways to encourage them and for them to reach out with their faith.

Devotions

1 Peter 1: 13-25

1. v13 – Prepare your minds; it requires intentional work. My mind wanders and is looking to quench the flesh. Instead I need to think about and purpose by God’s power, through His Holy Spirit to resist and be different.
2. v13 – Be self controlled; it can’t be sustained by willpower. I am weak in the flesh. My tendency to criticize, judge, condemn those around me in my mind; as well as my continuous desire to do interesting things during each day instead of high-value things shows me how little self control I have over my flesh. Help me today dear Lord.
3. v14 – Do not conform to evil desires; they sneak up on me. I can be feeling pretty good about my thought life and it seems as if I should succumb instead of resisting; fighting; believing God in the moment and seeing Him work. I need a real and daily dependence on Him to have Character Change so that I do not conform to evil desires.
4. v15 – Be holy in all you do; this is so foreign to me. I need to pray to desire holiness. Help me do this today dear God.
5. v24 – Purify yourselves by obeying the truth. Help me today to follow-through on items I should do. Help me know and obey your truth in my heart. Not the lust and carnality in my heart. Purify me. Thank you for your grace and forgiveness.

To God be the glory to day. Let my day be pleasing to him in all I think and say and do.

Monday – 6/16/08 June 16, 2008

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Just decided I was going to do this more and got up early to have a quiet time. I also decided I was going to work an hour before I left to get together with Chris Mogensen. He and Judy came by yesterday afternoon for a little while for the first time in probably a year.

It was nice to have Kelly home. Adam called and we talked for quite a while. He may take some money I sent him and get health insurance which would be nice.

I decided I need to get serious with the RV praying and really commit it to the Lord. So I am starting ‘afresh’ with that today.

1 Peter – Ch 1:1 – 1:12

1. v1. ‘strangers in the world’ . I need to be a stranger to this world and the things of this world. I am a child and citizen of heaven. That is where my hope, affection and thoughts should be more often. Right now the majority of heavenward thoughts are in relation to my sin and my rationalization.
2. v2. ‘chosen for obedience to Jesus Christ’. I know Jesus chose my for a special role in this life. The initial one is that I be and become more obedient to Him.
3. v8. ‘filled with an inexpressable and glorious joy- Lord help me remember what you did for me and be different today. In how I speak and what I think about.

Time is up, and I need to spend some time in prayer about these things as I start my day. Do a work in my life Lord, and help me to want to walk with you closely. I pray for my kids, my wife, our RV plan and a ministry among the men you have helped me befriend.

Sunday – 6/15/08 June 15, 2008

Had a great day yesterday.

Pam and I went for a hike on the C&O Canal again. We started at the end of McArthur Blvd at the Tavern. Great hike – we will have to take Mike & Joan and the kids there in Oct when they are here in Oct.

Adam called late Friday night and we had a good chat. He is anxiously anticipating coming home next month (July) for a couple of months. He was excited about getting a job 3 hrs/day as a substitute. It pays well so he should be able to make some progress on bills.

Kelly surprised me and arrived yesterday about 1:00 in the afternoon. She brought her roommate Katie. I mowed the lawn, talked to Marty about blogs and then we went to a pretty good service at McLean Bible Church. Lon talked about a good father vs one that was not engaged: The prodigal son’s father vs Eli.

We went out to Olive Garden in Tyson’s. Food was good, don’t like the place or clientèle.

Devotions

Spurgeon: read the daily from 6/15 – AM

Other: Prayer – I need more of it.

1 Pet 3:3-4 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and or wearing gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

– this is a little contorted in the KJV but it is a great verse on character. I need to be real concerned about my inward spirit and those things that I value most should be internal, character wins—not things.

I think of last night at Olive Garden and one of the strongest memories I have is how the people behind us were load, unconcerned about those around and just rude.  Instead of forebaring, overlooking and giving people grace I see where I judge.  I have a problem which them where THEY messed up; THEY are wrong to act that way…

I know much of my day I spent doing that–judging others.  Especially driving.  It is such an easy thing for me to get wound up about.  When I thing about it, I am reminded about how my spiritual life is not where it should be.  The farther away from where I should be; the more I judge.

– I need to cultivate more praying for other people.  I want to continue being involved with other people on a spiritual level.  I think I am called to that.  Yet it is of no consequence unless it is a spiritual encounter.  Whether on the phone or in person.  I need to be in a right relationship with God on a daily basis.

God, help me do that today by the power of your Holy Spirit working in my life.

Friday – 6/13/08 June 13, 2008

Today I got up and did some emails and was prompted to check this blog out for my devotions. Now that I have squandered my time, I have only a few minutes left before I need to shower and meet Roger.

Spurgeon Morning and Evening:

Rev22:17

Whosoever will let him take of the water freely

1. I need to come to Jesus this morning as I am, not after I have cleaned up my life and mind today through confession and repentance. Those are good things but I should come to Him and spend time now–not later when I am in a better state
2. It doesn’t cost me anything but relinguishing my time and pride

Maybe tomororow I will be motivated to add to this and not be distracted.

Prayers:

Kids – they both are seeking and living for God today;

our RV plans – that we would be doing the right thing.

Making the RV Full timer leap — 6 Choices that Changed Everything June 7, 2008

We have thought about where we want to ‘retire’ for years. We haven’t had much success in finding the ideal place. So over the course of a few months last summer the idea of becoming RVers made more and more sense. Early last fall (Aug 07) we decided to chart our course and go for it. In the process of deciding to become RV ‘Full-Timers’ we have made ?hundreds? of decisions. Here are six I wanted to share with you.

The process has been fun, invigorating and challenging. I have tried to highlight some of the many things we have worked through. Maybe you have been thinking about some of these same decisions.

– Decision 1 – We went to an RV dealer just ‘to look”. That got the ball rolling in our head. Two years ago we looked at model homes in Florida. Looking a new homes was fun but we couldn’t really get excited about it. So a little later, when we were on a drive and passed an RV dealer it was no big deal to stop in. We were used to looking a model homes. Only these were different. At first it was interesting, but we thought people were nuts who paid such big money on a depreciating asset.

– Decision 2 – Then, we went to another RV dealer ‘to see what they have’. We became more and more interested. We decided to check things out and see how people did this RV thing. We spent over three hours this time and drove a Class A for the first time. It was amazing. We had a lot of questions. Now the wheels really started to turn. We were almost hooked.

– Decision 3 – We decided to ‘really’ learn about RVs. We went to bookstores and scoured magazine racks and the travel section looking for information. It was not very productive. After three or four bookstores we were pretty disappointed and determined that wasn’t the place to find out about RVs.

– Decision 4 – I decided to look on the internet. Bingo. My first significant find was http://www.RV.Net/forum. What a wealth of information. And people actually returned emails and answered posts. That is where we really started to get some good information. We began to personalize it and see ourselves doing this RV thing. Maybe. Again one of our biggest questions was, ‘how did people pay for these things’? After three or four months of jumping from one site to another, some things started to come together. Then I found http://www.rv-dreams.com. If there is a better site out there I haven’t found it.

– Decision 5 – Next we decided to put a real gameplan together and said ‘what if’, and ‘when’. Those thoughts grew into a commitment and a serious set of steps we hope will put us on the road in the Summer of 2009. So far we have considered a number of things: selling the house first; being debt free; working (workamping); and volunteering while we are ‘out there’. Plus a whole lot more.

– Decision 6 – We decided to be debt free. We will need to sell the house and buy the RV outright. This decision helped clarify a lot of choices and reduced some financial stress on our planned monthly budget. We have shaped our plans around this idea and given ourselves some boundaries on the RV price we are willing to pay.

As you can see, we have decided on a number of choices while other ones are still options. We continue to visit RV dealers to consider possibilities. Everytime we go to a dealer we learn something or clarify something. We always try to learn and ask a lot of questions about things we have heard of or don’t understand. Gaining more knowledge is giving us more confidence. And we are daily talking about aspects of our gameplan and working on something to achieve it.

These six decisions have brought some clarity and definition to our pursuit of becoming RV full timers. And they point to more decisions which we look forward to making in the next nine months.

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com