He turns darkness into light

Remember an old song that goes "let the sunshine in do it with a grin" Lately I've been letting GOD's sunshine in thinking about GOD being all light and in him there is no darkness. He not only forgives us of our sins he forgets they ever exsisted and he turns their darkness into light. Also "all things work together for good for those who Love GOD" even our sins works for good.
It is the way he is, my problem I don't live what is. I live to whatever thoughts plauge my pea brain.
Satan desires to tear down my life with past sins. GOD says I will make them light and in light there is no evil.
ted live in the light,live enjoying the freedom of being thouroughly loved, accepted see the who you are in me.
Every once in a while we hear of an animal who adopts itself to a totally different animal and thinks it is that other species. I have to see that I am a new creation belonging to Christ. Do you think we will ever see the end of who we are in Christ?
I don't see how!
I feel like I know who ted is by how I know who my GOD is. In the process I feel safer to trust myself for I see how much GOD is a part of me, more known, more loved and easier to trust GOD with who I am and my life.
And in return so contented to trust ted.

Go Back Living Loved

It's the morning after the great Chinese buffet pig out, And oooooooh I'm feeling it, I ate way too many carb's for my diabetes and now I'm in carb headache land.
Make sure your sins will find you out, seems to be taking center stage.
Yesterday I was recovering from doing too much physical work the day before and today I'm recovering from the yesterday pig out.
During both incidents GOD had made it known I was out of sync with him, but I pushed him aside because I knew best and to accomplish my predetermined goals for the obvious good it will bestow. Wana bet?
Since when is ted's ways better than GOD's ways?
You can imagine right now I wish I had walked with him rather than apart.
Regrets go clear back to the beginning of time, with Adam and Eve casted out of the garden, even old evil lucifer will spend eternity in hell in the end.
A friend of mine was mentioning that life is made up of choices. Whether they are good or bad will dictate the amount sorrow or happiness that comes to your life.
Are ya following or leading?
If you are leading you trust in your self. If you are following you are trusting in GOD knowing best.
I've paid incredible dumb tax in my life. And yet my father hasn't rejected me.
Like the father of the prodigal son , GOD will love me no less because of my bad decisions. ted I will not condemn you, come on back home again. And so I do, currently paying the price for lousy decisions? you bet. Yet also sorrowful for the time I missed out being with him while I was doing my own thing.
When I walk up the steps of home to him. I get to go back living loved.
I remember a discussion I had with my brother in law years ago when they were raising their toddlers. He bemoaning the innumerable times he had to correct his children over the same offense. it was driving him nuts. How come they just can't get it?
Isn't GOD's mercy and love incredible, getting to go back living loved?

Life Together

The grey soft fog and overcast skies soften the morning as I silently sit here with my Father in Heaven. So much to be grateful for, so in silence I just sit silent grateful.
I don't need words or lists , I just enjoy grateful and his heart for this moment.
Treasuring GOD, loving him, enjoying how much he treasures me, my spirit rests so contentedly in our moment.
IT is spring time, nature is growing like crazy, new leaves sprouting their own new color codgers up ones need to tend to new life.
My sweet wife is frying up some eggs and I think back to the many places I have had memorable breakfasts.
I recall being out in the sand in a desert farming village in Mexico. No furniture, no running water, no electricity, 50 miles to the nearest paved road. Breakfast cooked over an open fire.
I remember the morning light and the village waking up and moving toward the duties of the day.
A different world in some respect but not as much as you would think. Husbands still kissed their wives and children goodbye as they headed out for work. Laundry had to be done and dishes washed. But in this village there was a family connection. You could feel the connectedness of belonging being a part of all the rhythm of life that made up the village.
This is the way GOD intended "church" to be , the inclusion of himself in our lives as together we live out our every days. There is a rumbling in me that says , lets get GOD out of the church building and into our homes. Not with programs but in simple genuine enjoyment of him with each other and with our children. Let's drop the structure of meetings and watch GODs spirit move naturally like we live life.
Jesus didn't come to set up meetings and programs he came with his spirit so that we might live life in real time with and with each other.
This doesn't mean we do away with bible studies and worship . What is different is the reason and purpose in what were doing. Our reason is to know GOD relationally more and our purpose is follow after him with ALLLL our heart.
Head knowledge only bible studies, was really what was going on with the pharisees and Sadducee's in Jesus time. In fact if you look at Jesus he didn't come to earth to reform the church structure , he came smack dab for the hearts and everyday lives of the people.
Just as that desert village had a natural way of sharing life together so also GOD desires his children to live in him in love.

Updateroo

It's been one week since I have written, There seems to be times when thoughts need to to simmer awhile. Thoughts that need an extra measure of life lived to be complete.
Such I hold.
I am happy, I reckon in many ways the happiest I've been in my life. And I credit it to my heart being set free in Christ.
It also doesn't hurt, that physically I haven't felt this good in a year!
I can now work all day, it feeels so good . Thank you Lord.
Yesterday the foundation was poured for the new coffee roasting shop we are building right by our house.
One of my spiritual gifts is being an organizer and the thought of having a place for everything is quite exciting.
I have built AnneBeth new planters and underground watering system for the yard. It was on the "before I kick the bucket list" to get done.
AnneBeth is officially out of school for the summer and will be going to Pelican for the month of July.
I already miss her but in my heart I know GOD has specific reasons why he wants her there.
Well that's all I have from my Lakebegone, just letting ya know I haven't fallen off the globe.
ted

54 YEARS YOUNG!

It's my birthday! 54 years old, I'm suppose to be a grownup but as my nephews and nieces can attest I aint and thar aint no way I want to be.
Inside me there are multiple ages that pop out at different times, sometimes I'm a :
eight year old flying a kite,
12 years old building forts,playing army,
14 years old ,so those are girls hmmmm,
16 yeras old NOW I KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE ALL KNOWING,
18 years old, Watch out world here I come,
25 years old Ahhhh the world didn't want me,
35 years old I'm married and building a house,
and the rest just blurrs.
I reckon I am pretty much a skitzo old geezer who refuses to be bound by age limitations of my mind.
GOD loves the whole of me which includes all the years I lived and He has no problem in showing me that through all the ages He was there for me and to recall them is just a gift twice given.

You think I got it bad you should see my OLDER brother Chris , he jumps on the trampoline with the kids and bulldozes with his grandson with tonka toys.
Come to think of it, maybe it's hereditary and then we can blame it our parents.
I think I'm on to something for my Mom who is 80 something still thinks hes 40 and everybody under 75 are just kids.
HEY, WHAT EVER, IT's MY BIRTHDAY AND I CAN BE ANY AGE I WANT, EXCEPT 54 BECAUSE THAT'S WAY OLD.

Ignore What One Will One Day Not Be

Try to ignore what will one day not be.
I can get easily fed up with the weaknesses of christianeze.
Fleshy politics that entangle my mind and rob it from the better gifts of life.
I once had a friend that was dieing and when I would go and visit him he made it clear he did not have time for the petty hidden agendas that buzzed around the church.
The same is diffidently true with GOD in fact they don't even phase him. He is who he is and those things aren't worthy of his concern.
Go love, go give, follow where I lead you, what I want you to focus on and that which of this earth will grow dim in the light of my glory and grace.

Ahhhh Barefoot With A Squirt Gun Eating Ice Cream

I can resist anything but temptation and ice cream.
A few years back it occurred to me that when we get to heaven we won't be able to sin and so I said to my mother we should be good stewards of our time down here and sin.
She asked what I had in mind I suggested we pig out on an ice cream sunday at Dairy Queen.
I remember it was at the end of the school year in High School and I wanted to go barefoot, but they had a" wear shoes " policy, so I took an old pair of tennis shoes and cut the soles off and waaa laaaa I am now legally barefoot.
As you can tell being bad still tempts me and Romans 8 where it says we have GOD's Spirit in us needs to be reinstalled more frequently.
It was here that I saw that our minds should be focused on what the Spirit is doing. Looking to see what GOD is doing right now, what does he want.
This is the way to steer a course away from ice cream, sole less shoes and chasing girls with squirt guns.
"Those who are led by the spirit of GOD are sons of GOD."
"The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."

Shared Spirit of GOD's Delight!

Children were sitting up front on the floor, the dear folk of his little church had moved to the back allowing relatives to have a front row seat. His sweet wife was there with towels reassuring their daughter who was a little nervous . He did alright getting into the baptistery, even watching his son get in, he had no trouble.
But then it struck him the fulfilment of his heart's dearest desire was taking place. And not only his son but his beautiful daughter as well.
Tears came from his bursting heart of love, gratitude and joy that his children, his family would be together for ever. For ever exploring Heaven, living in the presence of their Heavenly Father.
Words of acceptance of Christ were stated by his children ,he managed to say his part as he baptized each child, yet he was so full of GOD's Spirit how or what he said was overshadowed by the shared spirit of GOD's delight. Everyone could feel it, The place was alive with GOD!
Everyone left with his spirit marking this day as special to Nathan, Amy and their parents.
They also left knowing it was a day of delight to GOD's heart as well.

go dig a ditch!

I dug a 60 foot trench 9 inches deep in rocky soil. I did it sitting in a chair with a grubnhoe. Now to many that would be a so what, but to me, it was excitement. I haven't been able to work like that in almost a year, I felt young again, for in my youth. I dug a lot of ditches for Dad.
My back is getting better and the pain in my leg has decreased significantly. The sunny weather is invigorating memories of working for Dad putting in lawns and landscaping, it was all that character building stuff ya hear people talk so fondly about when you really wish you were out playing.
My father was a contractor with 7 kids and going out to work was as natural as breathing to him.
I don't recall him complaining, but I do recall him being frustrated over problems in his own (keep it to himself manner).
He has beaten the rest of us to heaven, it's been a number of years now, but I miss him.
Digging my trench, sitting at church, at my moms house in the living room, up in Pelican Alaska and just outside in general brings to life the part of him that I carry in my heart.
I live life apart from my Dad, life without him is not the same, it is more insecure, it seems wrong in a sort of subconscious way. However, who he was is still in me, and I hold that as a treasured gift.
The giver of all good gifts left us himself, and there will come a day that all we hold in part in our heart will be fulfilled in front of us.
Until then he gives us memories and his spirit that keeps our hearts connected to those we love, and he cherishes.
So go dig a ditch in memory lane because you can!!!!

nephew and niece baptism

Dear Nathan and Amy
Wow, wow and zowwwy wow! I am so excited about your baptism.

I love you two and to think my GOD that is so incredibly loving to me, you will have as well is just Zowwwy wow!
We are going to enjoy HIM and all the wonders of heaven together, we are going to laugh and explore and in awe, worship our heavenly King of Kings.

You will never have regret over the choice of accepting HIM.
At the end of your life when you stand before him face to face nothing you have done for him will seem enough, all the long trials and sacrifice , when you see those eyes of love and every part of you is at home to be thoroughly loved and to love ,this joy is beyond what we can only imagine.
For now since you two hold such an incredible gift within you. Follow his spirit within you, live in the relationship, enjoy Him, trust Him.

The excitement of following Christ is seeing and doing the things, he wants you to do. He is the most clever GOD, and he gets a kick out of so many things. You just got to look and see what he's up to.

So each morning when you wake up with him, just you and him talk. He loves to be with you, it's not everyone who has their very own Aslan in their bedroom.

And when you go downstairs for breakfast and out the door for school talk to him share your day, and you will have an extraordinary life.

Don't just read your bible but share it with him, listen to what he tells your heart. Stay hid inside him and he will shine out of you .

You are already so successful not because of what you have done, but you have all that Christ has done in who you are. Now that's way bigger than a bread box!

Because of Jesus, you are clean of all sin you have ever and will ever commit , which means for as long as you live your Father in Heaven will always be excited to love you and never condemn you. To help us down here. His spirit will lead us and show us the way to go as we let him.
Well there you be, my heart for you. My heaven is brighter now, my Father in Heaven is shinier because we share HIM together.

My joy is thanking GOD for you and being able to ask that he bless you two with all that he is.

And to say I love you two.
Your uncle teddy bear

Words of life from our soul

Most people go through their entire lives never speaking words to another human being that came out of what is the deepest in them, and most people never hear words that reach all the way into the deep place we call the soul.
We almost never hear words that stir life within us, that pour hope into those empty spaces deep inside filled only with fear and frustration.
We rarely hear words that draw our soul into the soul of another human being and, together, into GOD.
..........................................................................................................................................................

Above was a quote from Larry Crabb one of my favorite authors.

I have a niece that is graduating from High School and tradition states we give her a gift.
I'm not opposed to giving her a gift, in fact I am delighted to, but my hearts desire is to give not a cheap gift, but a gift that is symbolic of what she means to me, how I want her to have a fulfilled life in Christ and tell her all the ways I have been blessed by GOD by her life.

When I was graduating from high school all I wanted was 10 bucks for a tank of gas.

I'm sure she too is exited about that is around the corner , I guess I wanted to explain to her how I love her so much.

Don't put off today what you will regret tomorrow.

Hope

C.S. Lewis said you can only hope for that which you desire.

At age 9 there is nothing bigger in life than the next adventure. I loved to play, I still do but it has taken a different form. Back then it was all the imaginary games like army, pirates, cowboy and Indians.
Christmas was coming and at the Thriftway supermarket of my town they had a shelf above the door that held presents parents could buy for their kids.
It was there I saw the fulfillment of all life's pleasures. It was a Jungle Jim Rifle set.
IT was so cool a plastic rifle that shot caps and had a scope with different colored lenses you could flip down. There was a plastic canteen and a plastic belt. And it was a big present in a big box.
And I dreamed and desired. Just to go down at the store and look at it sitting there was a treat.
But I thought it was too big a dream to come true so I tried to suppress my desire.
But it was everywhere I went. I was shooting that rifle taking down lions that were attacking and bad guys all over the place .
If only I had it for real. I would certainly be respected as being ultra cool. Like DUH how could I not be?
Well, that Christmas I got it , I can't imagine how my parents afforded it, but there it was in my hands what a beauty. Wonders of wonders, miracles of miracles I was a completed 9 year old.

Now I would like to say that the rifle was so cool I never desired or hoped for anything else.
But you know better, by the end of the first day I do recall something breaking on it and sure enough the toy dissolved into broken toy land.
There has been one gift that has never, ever lost it's wonder, it sits not on a top shelf of a grocery store but inside me. The gift opening will last eternity, it will be the fulfillment of every type of desire and then more.
Broken toy land does not exists there, only invitation to come. The cool thing is the gift opening has already begun ,,,,,it is of course Christ in me (my hope) (My Glory)(My unbreakable) (My ever new) (My Father in Heaven).
Who he is , is my desire. Who he is, is my hope.

Come see, see if I won't open the windows of heaven to show all I have for you in me!

What and Who to Be..Me, Me, Me in He, He, He!

Trying to decide what and who to be,
I could never see the me GOD had for me.

Stumbling, searching, seeing not the forest for the trees,
I completely couldn't see me.

Until I let the only one who knows, show me,
The me I couldn't see.

For it is in him I find the real me,
an unfolding mystery smack dab in the heart
of the one who created me.

me, me, me, me, in He, He, He, is where I found me.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I have had a long quest for significance, where do I fit in? What and who am I?
My wrong thinking was I would find the answer by looking into myself.
How short sighted I am, We are so much more a part of GOD then when could ever imagine.
He limited our knowledge of this fact so we could choose him of our own free will.
If our thinking of who we are and our significance is just about ourselves, what a bum deal.
We know our weaknesses we know our past failures, if people saw those when they met us we would live in holes in the ground.
But when we realize our value is directly connected to GOD and how we were a part of his heart from before we were born and every moment he is with us, the sum of that whole is huge.

The more you look in him the more you will find the lost self of you , you always wondered about.