I Believe 1/17/2025

 Good Morning,

I am sitting at my desk and my favorite mug is filled with Door County White Christmas Coffee and it is time to write. 

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. 

I have been logging some thoughts into a book that was given to me by one of my nephews. It is meant to be given back to him and when I leave this world he can read it and know more about me, and my thoughts, and the particulars of my life. 

If I were to share anything from that book of thoughts it would be this. In 1981 during a stressful time I found my faith in Jesus Christ. I made a promise to God that night to serve Him as long as I am physically able. I adopted the motto. My God is first. My family is second, and I am third. I experienced the saving grace of Jesus and forgiveness that night. My life has changed and evolved every day since then. I wish to be remembered that way and that I was a man of prayer. Not just a guy who hunted wild game and missed a lot of shots. I hope he gets that message by reading the book he lovingly gifted me with. 

I hope that in my writing he can understand my calling to serve the Lord and that I always did my best to keep my word to God. I am sure that it is frustrating for my family  to have to alter plans for get togethers because I have a service to perform at church. Here is my thought on that. If God is first in my life, my family will always be a very solid number two. They will never have to be number three or four. I believe in church service and attendance and I  will never change the order. 

There are a lot of questions in this book that I will do my best to answer, like what was the weather like on the day you were born? I had to look that up in Google, but I hope that amongst all the trivia my message of my walk with God is the one that stands out to him. 

Hey have a great day, and walk with God. He wants to hear from you.

Marty

Being Humble Enough To Learn. 1/16/2025

 Good Morning, 

I just filled a large mug with very hot Door County Black and Tan Coffee and it is time to write. 

Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

There are many times when most people will have to be humble enough to admit they were wrong about something. So in humility you can also say that you are wiser today than you were yesterday. 

When we humble ourselves enough to admit when we are wrong, we open the door to wisdom, by learning from our mistakes or by being corrected. True humility does not really concern itself with who was right, but more as to what is right and true. 

So when you are at an impasse of disagreement as to who is right, look to what is really right and surrender your pride to setting your course to achieve and support true right.

Food for thought,

Marty 

The Less You Say. The More Your Words Will Matter 11/15/2024

 Good Morning, 

Door County Irish Cream Coffee has decorated the inside of my mug today and it is time to write.

Job 2:13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. 

We all have a tendency ( usually men) to intend to listen to someone during their personal crisis or issue but we ruin the moment by deriving a solution to their problem before they even finish speaking. We want to solve before we know all there is to know and very often we frustrate the one who is confiding in us. 

When we are listening to someone in need of advice or just to be a sounding board, our job is to listen. We should listen so well that if we had to repeat what the troubled soul said to us we should be able to do it word for word. The less we say and listen more, our words might have a better impact. A true friend listens and waits on sharing an opinion or just continues to listen without jumping in with a half baked solution. 

Food for thought???

Marty

Reach For Greatness 1/14/2024

 Good Morning, 

I will be with friends today hunting, and my Door County Irish Crème Coffee will be considered to be my friend. It is a cold one today. 

Matthew 25:40 And the King will answer and say to them. Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me. 

 

In life, people will perform many acts of "greatness" on any given day, including you. You just took a look in the mirror and said "I don't see myself doing anything great in this world today or any day in the future." You are wrong. 

I am here to argue with you. If you prayed for someone today. If you reached out in friendship to a stranger. If you fed a hungry person. If you consoled someone who is hurting, you preformed an act of greatness. You did something to alter someone's life in a good way. No one said what you said. No one else did what you did for that one moment in time.

My thought for the day is this. "You don't have to be great to start. But you have to start to be great. 

Reach out for greatness today. Impact a life or two today. Don't keep a tally, just make an encounter with you a great day for those who need it.

Marty

Calling God Is A Free Call 1/13/2025

 Good Morning,

One hot cup of Door County Country Morning Blend Coffee is at my side, tugging at my taste buds and it is time to write. 

I am old enough to remember the rotary phones and party lines. Back in the days of my childhood when there was just one phone in the house and it was wired to the wall. If it were a party line several homes could be on one branch line and you had to wait to make a call after others were finished with their call. Calling outside of our immediate area would require that you paid long distance fees. Phone calls tended to be few and far between and were generally shorter in time spent between two parties.

Not like it is today where there are many phones in one home, some still called land lines and cell phones galore. Calls across the nation and world are much cheaper that they were "back in the day". Text messaging and emails are sent over telephones now, with photos

What hasn't changed and has always been convenient and accessible is calling out to God. You don't have to dial anything. You are never placed on hold. Calls can be placed 24/7 and you never have to look up the number. The Bible tells us that when we call out we call to God, not some answering service with an operator who does not speak your language.  You are equipped with a mouth that can place calls to God without an Apple, or Android, phone, or Verizon or Walmart services. 

If God advertised directions on how to place a call to heaven it might look like this. 

Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will and will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. 

The emergency service can handle all the calls that come in at anytime. The circuits to God are never overloaded. 

It's time we all spent less time on the phone with those on earth and spend more time speaking with the One who loves us most and is the expert in all things. 

Food for thought. 

Marty

When You Pursue Anger ??? 1/12/2025

 Good Morning,

My Door County Country Morning Blend Coffee will be traveling with me to the woods of Southern Wisconsin today. I plan on sitting and hunting some squirrels for a pot of stew later this week.

I am convinced that when your heart and mind allow you to pursue anger, all that happens is that you get more to be angry about. 

Anger is like cancer. Left unchecked it spreads and begins to consume more territory of your mind, heart and soul. Satan likes to take our not so beautiful traits and overfeed us with more opportunities to fail and become less than God intended us to be. 

When I was first learning to play football our coach taught us this. A running back cannot advance the ball when he is laying on his rear end.  Zero in on the ball carrier and put him down with a shoulder and two arms wrapped around him. I noticed that when I did that repeatedly, the ball carrier ran away from my side. They would avoid running my way. 

We need to treat anger like cancer and a run away halfback. Stop the anger with a hard stop. Avoid it and make it run from you. Treat issues with a calm, direct answer or solution measured with Biblical characteristics. 

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore  to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 

Psalm 37:8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath, it only causes harm. 

Food for thought!!!

Marty

I Believe It Is Saturday! Let Me Verify1/11/2025

 Good Morning,

I am sitting at my desk with a very hot cup of Door County County Cherry Crème Coffee and a message on my mind. 

On Thursday of this week I received a phone call from a young lady. When I answered she addressed me as "Dad". I was expecting a call from an attorney. I replied with yes. She went on, explaining that she had been in an automobile accident  and needed money for a tow truck. I asked again 
"who is this? " The reply was "your daughter and I need help. I need your credit card number". She used our daughter's first name. I have caller ID on the phone system in my truck and it showed the call to be a local one and the name did not match our daughter's ID. The area code was local and our daughter lives elsewhere in the United States with a much different area code. 

The hard cold fact is that I was being scammed and fortunately I caught on quickly and shut down the caller toot sweet. I did report the incident to the police and as I expected there wasn't much they could do about it. The officer asked me if there was anything going on in my life that would make me be an easy target. I told him that recently we were mourning the loss of our grandson. He asked if there was a published obituary and I responded yes. 

He went on to explain that people read the obituaries and prey on the hurting, especially older folks (which I qualify for). They use the sad news and try to trip people up in a time of weakness. 

 My point for the day is we all need to be aware of these scams and keep your wallets closed. There is a time to be generous and ways to do it that are safe. Unfortunately this world has way too many people willing to work at crime instead of an honest day's work. Verify, verify verify and then verify again. 

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 

Food for thought!

Marty