Mr. Lonely 11/9/2018

Good Morning,

Happy Friday to all who read this. May your java taste as good as my Door County Highlander Grog Coffee.

Last night while attending a funeral I could not help but notice a man who sat in the back of the chapel when the eulogy was given. He sat with no one and said nothing to anyone. You could tell he was grieving, yet he interacted with no one. The man just seemed like he did not belong.

After the eulogy I stood near the door to talk to some friends and I went out of my way to say hello to this man and wish him safe travels. He avoided speaking with anyone and did not acknowledge my "good night". I took into consideration that he was grieving, but what I saw him miss was the comfort others were receiving by just chatting and giving each other some support.

We all grieve in different ways. We all live differently and it is not my place to judge this man. He just seemed lonely and for whatever reason did not want to associate with others. I wasn't the only one who noticed this. Others approached him to say hello and introduce themselves. He shunned every attempt.

I can only imagine what it must be like to not talk with people for whatever reason. To me the loneliness would seem like a weight around my heart. I did notice that after being rejected by this man, the outgoing people who tried to include him walked away.

We have to be careful.  When we need time alone it should not cause  us to withdraw from being friendly. People only reach out so long before they grow tired of rejection. If you find yourself feeling lonely ask yourself if you are perceived as being friendly. Friendly people seem not to be lonely. In many cases we are as lonely as we choose to be. Can you be friendly without expecting anything for being friendly? Can you be a friend? If not, why not?

Proverbs 18:24 New King James Version (NKJV)

²⁴ A man who has friends ^[a]must himself be friendly,

So reach out to someone who needs a friend. If you need a friend, reach out by being friendly. It is a give and take solution.

Marty

Right Decisions 11/8/2018

Good Morning,

A big mug of Door County Turtles In A Cup Coffee is right next to me steaming away. Now it's time to write.

Funny. We will all make choices this week. How do we know if the choice we make is the right one? Read on.

— Proverbs 19:3 —

A person’s own folly leads to their ruin,

yet their heart rages against the Lord.

We hardly notice we’re doing it, although some of us do it often. We get mad at God for whatever hardship we find ourselves in. Yet when we dig down to the root of the hardship, we often find that we brought it on ourselves, either by an unwise decision or by unwisely avoiding a decision that could have prevented it. The finger we point at God could easily be turned back at us. Not all hardship is our own fault. We face many trials that we did not cause. In any hardship, we should not embrace the attitude of many guilt-ridden individuals who, whenever something bad happens, assume they did something to deserve it. But we also shouldn’t be like the fools who rage at God for the ruin that resulted from their own folly. We have to own up to our decisions (and our indecisions), learn from them, and ask God to teach us better ways and move forward in his grace. It’s called personal responsibility. And it produces wisdom.
THE TEST FOR CHOICES
1st. Does your choice exalt Christ?
2nd. Is your choice in line with Scripture?
3rd. Do other Christians confirm your choice?
4th. What kind of fruit is your choice producing?

Use that check list. If your choice does not line up with the test. Back out, get out, pray out, but don’t keep going ahead with it.

God bless,
Marty

Lessons From Hunting

Good Morning. 

Door County Blueberry Cobbler is the coffee flavor of the day.

— Revelation 1:8 —
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Most of you who know me, are aware that I like to hunt. I like to be ready to go at a moments notice. In order to do that everything that I need has to be available. Everything I need has a place. The most important item is my shot gun. Without it, all I can do is holler "bang". So it needs to be the first item available and the first item packed. Without it my hunt would be worthless.

Too often we pack God away into the closets of our hearts and minds. He isn't always the most important item on our list each day. But He should be. Without Him, we are missing out on having the Most Important part of our life with us as we walk through our days.

In today's Scripture we are reminded that He is, was and shall be God Almighty. Without Him life is worthless. He is to be the first thing we look for each morning and the last thought on our minds before sleep.  Make sure He has the proper place in your heart.

Happy hunting,
Marty

Marriages That Last 11/6/2018

Good Morning,

Time to wake up and down that first cup of Door County Highlander Grog Coffee and then head to work

Rene and I have two good friends that were blessed to celebrate 50 years of marriage. Our church, Faith Bible Church Greenfield Wisconsin, along with their family, celebrated with them.

Ephesians 5:22-33                  
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

         

Ephesians 5:31         

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

They don't know this but I have been watching them for a long time. It did not take long for me to figure out that this was a couple that would last. Here is what I observed,

1. They attend church.
2. They publicly express a love for Jesus Christ as a couple and individually.
3. God is the ultimate leader of the home.
4. Gary loves his wife as Jesus loves the church.
5. Penny is a strong woman yet submissive to the leadership of Gary and God.
6. They still hold hands and use endearing names for each other.
7. They both serve the Lord and the church.
8. They never talk down about each other.

I guess that is their secret. They must be a special couple. We know God was there that night and they also had a guest appearance who highly endorses this couple.

God bless,
Marty

Who's Holding The Earth? 11/5/2018

Good Morning,

Deep are my thoughts today and hot is my Door County Dublin's Delight Coffee. So let's get right to the point.

I was looking at a picture of the Earth taken from outer space and I was surprised that the picture did not show the Planet Earth hanging in space from something. I looked the picture over quite well and I saw no structure built to hold the earth in place.

Psalm 19:1 New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 19:1

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;

    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Rene and I have a globe of the Earth at one of our other desks in the house and the Earth is held in place by mechanical means. But our Earth spins on nothing that can be seen by the eye.

It really makes me appreciate just how awesome God is. He created the Earth and He set in in motion without anything mechanical or of substance to hold it up.

Now if God can do that, can't we trust Him to lead us through our difficulties? It only makes sense to let the One who can hang the planets take us through life. What is your answer to Him?

Food for thought on this Monday,

Marty

Chicken Soup. It Makes You Stop And Think 11/4/2018

Good Morning,

My usual routine finds our dog Gibbs sitting at my feet and a cup of Door County On the desk next to me. Today is "usual". The only thing that changes from day to day is my coffee flavor.This morning I filled my cup with Door County Highlander Grog Coffee. The wind is howling outside and I already have a pot of chicken soup simmering slowly in the kitchen. The fire place is spewing out light smoke from the chimney.

I usually write every day. Yesterday I missed writing out my thoughts. It wasn't that I didn't want to. I just had nothing to say. I took a day off to unscramble my head and have more quiet time alone. I apologize to you if I let you down.

Some of you know that I do 99% of all the cooking in our home. It's a chore of love and cooking is something that relaxes me. I find that I do some of my best thinking when I am in the kitchen. As life would have it, my wife Rene is a woman who never asks for much. I do however ask her each week if there is anything she would like for me to cook for our dinners and lunches. Her answer is always "whatever you make is fine with me". I know not to make anything too spicy for her and cabbage is not a favorite for her. But yesterday she looked at me from across a table and said "I think it is time for some chicken soup. It's going to be cold. The soup will taste good and it might just be what we need".

When I was chopping the carrots, chicken, onions and celery this morning I dropped a carrot on the floor by accident. Our personal floor cleaner Gibbs was there to make sure that carrot did not stay on the floor too long. I laughed out load. That dog would walk a tight rope for a carrot. As I placed the chicken soup ingredients into a kettle of water, I watched the carrots, land next to the celery, the celery sit on top of the chicken, and the onions floated to the top. The pepper seemed to look like a pile of dust.  Friends, all those ingredients except for the pepper had been neatly arranged in their own respective groups on a large cutting board. The board loaded with chicken soup ingredients looked rather impressive. In one swoop of a butcher knife they were all mixed up and it really looked like an unorganized mess in the kettle.

We go through life and we have our neatly bound routines and then all of a sudden "whoosh" something changes and our lives are now different. The "whoosh" isn't planned and not always welcome. But it is there and we have to deal with it.

Friends I know that in a few hours my chicken soup will be complete and it will taste good. I have seen it before. I also know that I have spilled a pot or two when I transferred it to bowls. I didn't plan on that happening and the mess needed to be cleaned up and we were short on soup.

I also have faith in God, that when life's "whoosh zingers" come along I can go to Him for comfort. When there is fear and we have to go through something, He doesn't always make it go away as soon as we would like it to, but He gets right into it with us and walk us through it. I have seen this before and like the soup I use for comfort I go to Him for a hand of comfort. Just like a little boy holds dad's hand when crossing a busy street. That hand is a source of strength, comfort and assurance that we will make it across that street, even though we are afraid of the oncoming traffic.

Friends. I am not only writing this to you, I am following my own advice. It's the advice our Father gave to me.

Isaiah 41:10 New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁰ Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Marty

What's In Your Closet? Sharing Is Caring. 11/2/2018

Good Morning,
Drinking a little Hawaiian Hazelnut Coffee this morning from the Door County Coffee Company.

It's fall in Wisconsin and it is my favorite time of year. Winter would be next on our list. My wife and I chose to take a room or a closet and go through it looking for things that need to go!!! I am sure we all save things thinking we will use them again and it just never happens. This always seems to be a fall and winter project

Recently while going through a closet we found 6 winter hats that have not been used for ages. We are blessed in our community to have a "Goodwill Drop off". You can drop off clothing, furniture, baby items and food. It is given or sold cheaply to those who can use them. We will be bringing those hats on our next trip.

I think we can all look into the closet and share with someone out of our abundance. If you are reading this and cannot share it's OK. I pray that God will open the hearts of others to you that they might share with you. All you need to do is share a smile.

Hebrews 13:6    

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

God bless,
Marty