Good Times!

Good times! This morning Jon went turkey hunting with Loren and Trever. I went to the movie "Rio" with Tabbi and the boys. Then we were together for lunch with Tom, Joanne, Erika, Shelby, Ben, and Scott. They are in Iowa for a few days and were able to fit us into a FULL schedule of visits. We got to spend a few hours with them, and it was great. It was SO good to see them all. They look great, and the kids are getting so big!! Of course, I forgot to take any pictures....grrr. We will see them again on Monday night, so maybe I can remember to take them then, but don't count on it!! This next week Kelli has movers coming to pack and load, and she and the girls will be coming down here on Thursday sometime before heading to Muscatine on Friday. They are so excited! And SO ARE WE!!!!!! Thought for the day "Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did. That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time---remember, you've been raised from the dead"---into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God." This is Romans 6:11-14 in The Message. There is such powerful truth in this passage. Is there ever a time when we grasp it fully and live in its blessings? I'm so impressed by the instruction do not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. It's so easy to excuse sin as being just personality, temperament, or circumstances. It is freeing to realize that I have a choice. I can choose to not allow sin to have its way, but let God live His life using me as a channel.