The Ultimate Healing.

Been thinking a lot about our niece Melanie and her family. No big surprise considering the seriousness of the situation. As much as we all want to see her restored to health in this life, its a very real possibility that she will receive the "Ultimate Healing" from the Great Physician Himself. I have done a lot of thinking about the whole matter of healing recently. Any healing on this side of glory is only temporary. Think about the two examples where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and also the daughter of Jairus the ruler. Yes, they were miraculously healed not just from illness but from death itself. This healing was only temporary. They still had to grow old and go through death again for the second time. The ultimate healing takes place when we are in the presence of our Saviour at last. What a God we serve that has come in the form of His only Son to provide forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Have you trusted Him as Savior and recognized Him as the only means of salvation?

I haven't heard this song in quite some time and didn't even remember all the words but it started ringing in my head the past few days. I was able to locate the lyrics online and actually listen to the song as sung by Wayne Watson. Powerful stuff as I thought of Mel and her family with all they are going through. Here are the words...

I'm trying hard not to think you unkind
But Heavenly Father
If you know my heart
Surely you can read my mind
Good people underneath the sea of grief
Some get up and walk away
Some will find ultimate relief

Chorus
Home Free, eventually
At the ultimate healing we will be Home Free
Home Free, oh I've got a feeling
At the ultimate healing
We will be Home Free

Out in the corridors we pray for life
A mother for her baby, A husband for his wife
Sometimes the good die young
It's sad but true
And while we pray for one more heartbeat
The real comfort is with you

You know pain has little mercy
And suffering's no respecter of age, of race or position
I know every prayer gets answered
But the hardest one to pray is slow to come
Oh Lord, not mine, but Thy will be done

Let it be...

Chorus
Home Free, eventually
At the ultimate healing we will be Home Free
Home Free, oh I've got a feeling
At the ultimate healing
We will be Home Free

Home Free, eventually
At the ultimate healing gonna be Home Free
Home Free, oh its more than a feeling
At the ultimate healing
Gonna be Home Free

Please continue to pray >> MLMILLER & FAM

Melanie's Updates.

Link to >> MLMILLER & FAM

I can see in the "stats" section of Marty and Lori's blog that a lot of you are using this blog to get the link to MLMILLER & FAM. I really don't mind but perhaps you could eliminate this step by adding them to your "favorites" in internet explorer or "bookmarks" in firefox. Just a suggestion.
Melanie has sure been through a lot. My heart just aches for her and the family. We continue to hope and trust in the Living God that He will provide the needed grace for this major interruption in their lives. I tried to imagine having a whole summer turned upside down by something like this! We plan to leave today on a little vacation to my brother Ben's place near Lynchburg VA. Its hard not to feel guilty considering the situation with Mel and the family. Our thoughts and prayers will certainly be with them even while we are gone.
Up to this point, this has to be my favorite picture taken from Mel's hospital room. Doesn't it get to you?

Mel and her youngest sibling Jana....

Please Pray...

How does one go about coping with illness when its pretty close to home and the person affected is so young? For those of you that have not heard, my brother Marty and his wife Lori have been facing one of the hardest trials in life. Having to deal with one of their 5 children having a brain tumor is way up there in the category of “tragedies”. Although the surgery went very well, we now have the agonizing wait to get the oncologist’s report on what type of tumor it is that they took from her head. My heart just aches for them during this time of uncertainty. I have thought long and hard about how fragile life on this earth can be. I am so thankful for friends who continue to care and pray. What would we ever do without such support at times like this? This post goes out as a request that you would continue to lift them to the Lord as they await the report. Our hope is for a miracle that the report ends up better than expected. More importantly that God would provide much needed continued grace for the days ahead. I have already sensed that “amazing grace” in the life of Melanie and the family.

We have set up a blog for them to post updates on Melanie. There are a few pics on there as well.
Click here> MLMILLER

THE NEW ROBLOG!

THE ROBLOG HAS MOVED! CLICK HERE> "THE ROBLOG"

Blown Up!

Check out the latest Blog update as of 4/28/07. Here> The Roblog

Dont forget to bookmark my new blog URL.

A Blog Change.

Here at the Roblog we are in a process of change. The words "clean" and "better" are what I like to see in a blog and/or website. I will admit that this blog service has been very good but when you find something even better why not go with it? I have made an executive decision to switch to "Wordpress" for all my blogging. For those of you that visit the Roblog often, don't get too concerned. I have imported all of my archived posts from this blog into my new Wordpress blog. Yes, all those exciting crabbing trips are still on there for your viewing pleasure! And yes, even the various wedding posts are still there. Just use the handy "search" tool to find just about any post. As far as my old xanga site goes, I will no longer be updating it. It will only be used to provide a link to my new wordpress blog.
How can I find your new blog? I am glad you asked! Click the link below and begin to enjoy a new, and hopefully, more frequently updated "ROBLOG"!
AWAY YOU GO! >> THE ROBLOG

Various and Sundry.

The longer it goes before I do an entry on here the harder it is to think of what to say. Oh well, this will probably be a bit disjointed.
A lot of activities coming up. I shall list a few:
1. Regional student convention this coming week in PA. We plan to stay up there to watch some of the events that Brendon and Andrew are involved in.
2. A wedding in VA next weekend.
3. Our annual school festival is next month.
4. Tax time is here. Oh joy!
Other news:
It snowed early this morning! What a wild beginning to this spring. In the past 2 weeks we have had temps around 80 degrees and a forecast over night saying as low as 28 degrees! They cancelled the sunrise service for tomorrow. I can't fault them for that decision.
Here is a quick picture of our beloved dog "Kibi".... (pronounced "key bee")
This dog looks very docile in the pic below but he has been involved in a rather disgusting activity lately. He drags the skeletal remains of a deer carcass out of the woods and on to the front lawn. Its not my idea of a nice yard ornament and he comes around smelling rather repulsive! Hopefully he will tire of such antics real soon...

Typical This Winter.

Here is the typical sort of weather system we have been having all winter. Plenty of snow just north of us in all of PA! Oh well, lets just forget it and get on with spring. I am soooo ready! I can hardly wait till its time to fire up the boat and start crabbing again.

Business and Bible Quizzing.

Have any of you been aware of the recent slow down in construction? I have been self-employed since about 1990 and have seen a few slack periods but nothing to compare to the way this winter has been. I know many guys that would probably say they have had the slowest winter ever. Someone said we are in the midst of a "correction" as far as real estate goes. It makes me realize how blessed I am to have had a fairly busy winter with electrical work. I am not sure why because I don't feel I deserve it any better than anyone else. I just want to go on record here to give all the praise and thanks to God. He really is the One that controls such things and I don't want to take it for granted. He may choose to take me through some slow times. Spring is nearly here and hopefully it will turn things around!
Today was the end of the big Bible quizzing event at Black Rock Retreat. Our students did admirably considering the competition they were up against. Brendon and Andrew both won "All Star" quizzer awards! They did great even though their teams didn't win any trophies. It is such a blessing to see the eternal Word of God memorized and imprinted in the lives of so many young folks!

Way to go Brendon!


Way to go Andrew!

MennoDiscuss

One of my favorite places to "hang out" online is here> MennoDiscuss Comps
You can often find me posting or replying on various computer related topics. I really enjoy the various discussions and they can be very informative and helpful.
Looks like a frigid week is coming up for us next week. I hope I can find enough inside work!

Today's Activities.

I got the idea for this post from here> "Random Pitches"....
Here is a summary of my day:
1. Got up at 7:30.
2. Made a quick pot of coffee before rushing to get Andrew to a friends house so they could go up to the basketball tourney in PA.
3. Came home and drank a cup of the coffee mentioned in point 2.
4. Continued working on a friend's PC trying to get Windows Updates installed on it. It was horribly behind on those!
5. Got dressed for a wedding about 40 minutes south of here.
6. Continued to struggle with the PC to get service pack 2 for Win XP installed on it.
7. Left at 10:00AM for the wedding.
8. Stopped at WAWA to fuel up the van with gas and me with more coffee.
9. The wedding and reception meal was nice and we left at 2:30 to come home.
10. Got home, changed clothes and continued working on the PC and got all Windows updates installed including IE 7. Also put the latest version of Firefox and AIM on it.
11. We continue to wait for Brendon to get back from the basketball tournament in PA. In the first game they played Brendon scored a game winning 3 point shot as time was running out! Andrew was there helping to cheer them on today.
Short delay...
12. Its now coming up on 10:00PM this Sat night and the guys are back.
13. Its time for me to wrap this entry up and get busy studying for the Sunday School lesson for the men's class I teach tomorrow.
14. I often start with some commentary found at this website> Christian Standard

Winter?

This looks more like the end of March...so says our daffodils!


What a warm day we have had! I guess winter is going to skip us this year. The record high temp at Philadelphia WAS 71 degrees set back in 1950. The new record, as of today, is officially 73 degrees. It seems that the prediction of a mild winter last fall is coming true.
I should have updated sooner since we returned from our trip to Alabama over Christmas. Yes we made it home. Getting back to the grind of work for me has been tough but at least the weather has been nice to work in. School has resumed and on we go to the business of schedules etc. Basketball games, Bible quizzing, to name a few.

Heading Toward Home.

We are on our way home! Its now 11:30AM and we are traveling north on I-65. We are soon going to pass near Birmingham AL. Sometime in the early to mid afternoon we plan to dine at a Cracker Barrel. The weather is sunny and traffic is moving right along. We are not yet sure if we will use Maynard's place as a motel on the way through. I figured if we got near their place by 9:00PM or earlier we might just keep on going home but if its after 10:00 we might just stay overnight at their place. Many thanks to Jon and Dawn for a very memorable Christmas away from home. The visit will certainly be remembered and your hospitality was wonderful. It was sad to have to say good bye. More updates to follow...

In case you are curious how I am able to update while traveling, I will copy the chat I had with a friend below...

Hey there Beka....

We are about midway through Alabama on I 65
I have your Verizon wireless broadband card in the other laptop and shared it out to my 2nd laptop through a network switch that I brought along.
This allows more than 1 laptop to be online at the same time.
Conrad is on the other one playing Rook online with other real people.
The website for internet multi-player rook is here> DuelBoard

Beka(10:28:20 AM): That's pretty cool. I'm glad it's working for you. Is it fast enough for you?

Rm65 (10:30:00 AM): Well, I have not found it to be much faster than dial-up but its certainly better than nothing and the portability of it is still worth a lot.

Beka (10:30:34 AM): That's what I like about it.

Rm65 (10:31:23 AM): I really appreciate the use of it on this trip. Being online sure helps the miles to go by faster...

Beka (10:31:35 AM): Enjoy it!

Christmas Day.

Christmas day has been very enjoyable. After a light breakfast we had a time of singing Christmas carols and read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Then it was soon time to begin preparations for lunch. A few friends from church were expected to join us. The meal consisted of deep fried turkey, baked sweet potatoes, collard greens, sliced ham, mixed vegetables, cranberry salad, pie, ice cream, and cake. After the meal there was more time for games, puzzles, and some playing guitar and singing.

Injecting seasoning and preparing the turkey.


Cooking underway...


Partaking of lunch...






Jesse found a new friend...


Another rook game...

A New Couple!

I know this is a quick post right after the last one but I just couldn't resist!
Here is the happy new couple. Click to enlarge the picture...

Katrina and Deaniel...

Christmas Away Part 2.

Sunday afternoon...
We managed to arrive at Jon and Dawn's arround 1:00am Friday night after leaving Maynard's at around 8:30 that morning. We certainly didn't break any records getting there. Frequent stops and a few wrong turns were part of the journey. The big holdup was a tractor trailer wreck on I-65 in AL. I think it even caught fire. No wonder it stopped traffic for about an hour!
The following day was simply gorgeous. Bright sunshine with temps near 70. We spent some of the day working on a big pile of trees that were destroyed during the hurricanes that took place around here the past few years. A big fire was started to burn up most of them.
We really enjoyed church this morning with the service being about Christmas. We enjoyed the message that spoke of Joseph cooperating with the plan of God that brought Jesus into the world. The challenge was given that we need to allow God to invade our lives to bring about His purpose. Sometimes our plans/goals can get in the way of what God wants to do in our lives. Joseph surely had ideas/plans that got interrupted or at least put on hold.

Here are a few highlights.....

Plenty of games to play...




Even a rook game broke out...


The traditional jigsaw puzzle was under way...


And of course plenty of great southern food! This was called "southwest soup".


The bonfire...




A beautiful sunset...

Christmas Away From Home Part 1.

This is the first official entry of our Christmas away from home. We arrived late Tues night 1:30AM (Wed morn) at Maynard's. We have had a relaxing and enjoyable time thus far. We plan to leave tomorrow morn for Atmore, AL. Hopefully we can get going at least by 8:00AM. It will be a 12-13 hr trip.
Below are some highlights from here at Maynard's.

Dinner is under way...


I bet grandpa and grandma back in DE would have loved this...




Brianna with grandpa...


Aint she a sweety!


Kristan lost a bottom front tooth tonight...


Brendon and Karl.


Maynard's have DSL and wireless router. Huraay!


One of their dogs recently had pups...

Christmas

Nothing puts me in the mood for Christmas quite like good Christmas music! I am making use of "AOL Radio". They have a beautiful station on it called "XM Classical Christmas". Yes, XM Radio is part of AOL's service and AOL is free if you have broadband or another dial-up service. You will find quite an assortment of artists on there. A couple you might recognize is "The Kings Singers" and "Choir of Kings College". For those of you still on dial-up it might still work but not sure. I guess you could try it and see.

Meetings To Remember.

How does one begin to summarize the week of meetings we have just been
through?  It was a week that will never be forgotten. Even our
evangelist (bro. Lavern Swartz) said "I will leave here different than
when I came". What a great job he did in reminding us that "God is
good...all the time!" and "All the time...God is good!". Some
highlights also included the reminder that God loved us enough to
provide a plan for our lost and helpless condition. Yes, our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ IS THAT PLAN! The Christian life is all about a
relationship. The most important relationship we will ever know. Our
walk with Christ and Him living in us and through us! His resurrection
gives us the power to be victorious over the bondage/grip of sin.
Praise be to God! "How can you set there like that?!" and "Are you with
me?" What a week it was indeed. So many lives changed. I was so blessed
when some dear people we have been praying for made decisions for
Christ on Sunday evening. Lets keep them in our prayers that satan
would be hindered in his attempt to discourage them and bring doubts.
Even though satan is still a real enemy for us, I am glad he is
ultimately a defeated foe.

powered by performancing firefox

Helpful Internet Tips.

Recently I have ran across some new internet related items that you should consider. I will list them below..



   #1. The new Internet Explorer version 7 is out! It is greatly
improved and includes a lot of features that Firefox has had for a long
time. The main reason to upgrade to IE 7 is mainly for the added
security. You can get the new IE 7 by going through the "tools" tab on
the top of Internet Explorer then click "windows update" then choose
"express".

   #2. Firefox version 2 is out! Firefox is largely responsible for why
Micro$oft has pushed ahead in coming out with IE 7. This of course
means that Firefox has been great competition against IE 7! Click here
to get the latest version of Firefox>  Firefox!

   #3. A Free Internet Filter is available! I have recently came across
a decent free internet filter called K9 Web Protection. Click here to
download>  K9

powered by performancing firefox