Coincidence? I think not.

cousin?

God working

I have lived in Cornelia at our home for about 3 1/2 years. For all of that time I have had the same neighbor. His name is David and he owns 3 car audio stores, one in our town and two others. He is a 42 year old non-Christian.

For the entire time I have lived here, I have known that I was supposed to / needed to witness to him. Like most people, I have had a hard time getting that done. I do better when I set out to do some sort of evangelism somewhere. Talking with people I know is very difficult.

However, I have always felt like I was supposed to talk to David. We have developed a relationship over the years by talking ocassionally. I have in previous conversations tried to bring up God in some form or another.

He has recently put his house up for sale, and I was worried that I was about to fail the task I felt like God had for me. I was afraid he was going to move away without my ever really witnessing to him. That really bothered me. For all I knew, I would be the only Jesus he ever knew....and if I didn't share the good news with him, no one else might ever either. I have prayed that God would give me the opportunity and the courage to take it.

Today, I pulled up in the driveway and went inside for a minute. When I came back out to go to the truck, he was in his little tool shed, and he said hi. We talked for awhile, and through conversation where he basically told of being in a rut in life and wanting more material things; we began to talk about how God gives me peace and meaning and what I desire in life rests in Him.

In another reminder that evangelism rests not in our meager abilities but in God's dealings in the hearts of men, I found that David was hungry for meaning and true fulfillment in life, and although he lives in the Bible belt and is surrounding by so many churches, David did not know, that Jesus Christ was God's Son and had died for his sins, and he could recieve forgiveness through repentance and faith in Him.

It was so amazing to me, but after learning of the good news of the forgiveness of God, question after question began to pour forth, wanting to know more and more about God. Who He is. What He is like. Why He loves me. Can he fix me.

For about 2 1/2 hours he listened and asked questions....the very same questions that have been asked for thousands of years. Luckily, I didn't not have to answer too many. Jesus did. I found that many questions he asked, Jesus was also asked. So I was able to answer many of his questions, not only with Jesus direct answers, but with the very parables Jesus told to illustrate the point. How exciting it was to me, to know that Jesus answered those very questions, and then to be able to tell him the parables and explain them, knowing that he was hearing his questions answered by the words of Jesus himself. It was so amazing to me, how he kept asking those very questions Jesus was posed with in the Bible.

I can't remember everything we talked about, but we pretty much talked about everything. He wanted to know if he accepted Christ later in life (42), would he only get a smaller percentage of what God gives to people, since most people accept him when they are children. I told him the parable of the man who paid workers at the beginning of the day 1 denari to work in their field, and then another group of workers 1 denari in the afternoon to begin working in the field, and how the first group grumbled because the later group got paid the same as the morning group. And how the man said he paid them what he owed them, and what is it to them if he wants to be generous with own money towards others. And how God could give him His full measure of grace and mercy and love, even though he may accept him later in life.

We talked about people who claim to accept Christ and then do not live that out in life. And I told him the parable of the sower. He is a yard man, and he really grabbed on to that. I explained to him about only a smaller percentage of people in church being true believers, and how going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. Hearing that helped explain alot that he had thought about to him. It helped explain the money making TV evangelist, the hypocrites in churches. I told him about the hypocrites of Jesus day and how Jesus despised their actions and called them a brood of vipers.

He listened to / or asked me about everything from Satan, to divorce, to why Christians go to church, to why believe in Christianity instead of another faith, to how would I deal with persecution if I accepted Christ, to becoming a Christian won't make life a bed of roses, but it will give you peace and reconciliation with God, to how God enables Christians to forgive those who have wronged them, by recognizing how much God has forgiven us for. I told him the parable of the man who was forgiven much, and then didn't forgive his servant little, and how then when the rich man found out, threw him into prison as well. And how God says if we don't forgive others, he won't forvie us. And on, and on, and on.

He basically admitted that God must be tugging on his heart. While we were talking (in my front yard, ....sitting on my old wooden picnic table he doesn't like), a giant, beautiful and full rainbow appeared across the sky. He pointed it out, and said he believed that he thought it may be a sign to him that basically this gospel was truely from God and for him. We talked about how God reveals himself through his creation. We talked about what makes man different from animals, being made in the image of God. I explained to him what that meant, and he really grasped on to the idea of the characteristics that separate us from animals and mirror the personality of God.

We talked alot about not putting off the conviction of God, and what doing so could mean. He understood fully. I wanted him to accept Christ's forgiveness right then and there. But he was pretty overwhelmed with it all. He actually had no clue about the gospel. What a travesty it would have been, if he had moved away, with me living next to him and never sharing Jesus. Thank God, he gave me the opportunity....and the guts to witness. How it paid off.

He told me he wanted to think about what we've said. And that he might have more questions for me later. He said he might want to go to church with me sometime. I don't know now if he will accept, if God will continue to pull on the strings of his heart, of if that plant will grow and be choked out by the worries of this life. ....but I do know......I am now at peace with my responsibility. If David dies tonight, he will without a doubt, have known and felt that he was a sinner, and that God has provided for his deliverance. Now it is up to him. When you say your prayers, ask that God will not let the words he has heard, leave his heart. But that he will respond.

How amazing. I've been waiting for that to happen for over 3 years. It was definetly all God and not me. Because I felt like God had been laying that on my heart, because it was going to happen....and sure enough, he wanted to know everything I could tell him. God had beeen preparing his heart for today. Now I will find out, which type of soil will he be?

Let the comments begin!

Inmate #32280. Name: Julio Nonhuevos Valdez. Crime: Being a skinhead and beating his wife [see shirt]. Secondary offense: Dumbo (tm) copyright infringement.[see ears].

?Hola, como estas? Mi tengo cancer.

What?!!! You mean YOU DON'T have a trap door on your butt where you store different sets of eyes and ears and noses?!!

Can you say claustrophobia?!?

NEW YORK -- Magician Criss Angel, center, is seen shortly after being sealed inside an airtight chamber submerged in a tank holding 2,000 gallons of water as he performs "Oasis" in New York's Bryant Park Monday July 18, 2005. The objective of "Oasis" is for Angel to escape the chamber and tank before his oxygen runs out, which is expected to be approximately 33 hours after submersion. Angel's new entertainment series "Criss Angel Mindfreak" will make it's world premiere July 20, 2005 on A&E network. (07/20/05 AP photo)

Nigel

I was on the way to work today, and I stopped at a local gas station to get some breakfast. As I'm pulling into the parking space in front of the store, there is a guy there, smoking a cigarette, half standing in his car's spot and the empty space I was parking in. He moved out of the way.

I got out of the car, nodded at the guy and started heading for the door. I hear behind me, "Mr. Kelly." I turned around, looked at his face, and recognized him as Nigel. A guy I taught in Banks County when he was in the 7th grade. He would be 17 or 18 now.

I talked to him only for a minute. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade. He has a baby, and two more on the way this year. (And I don't think by the same woman.) He response to that was "I gotta straighten up".

That was a real downer. Even though he was heading for that life when I had him, and he was in a group of the roughest boys I have ever taught, it still hurts my heart to see that previous life forecast come to fruition. I cared about that kid, and I hate to see it turn out that way. Now he's working doing roofing, and he's got child support ahead of him that his foolish mind can't even begin to imagine. That was tough to see. I pray that someway, somehow, God will pull him off the path he is blindly heading down, to a place I wish no one to go.

JESSICA SIMPSON UPSET ABOUT MISSING IRAQ FOOTAGE

I didn't read the article. I don't need to. I don't want to. But that is sooooo retarded.

Trade?

I've posted my truck for sale on AutoTrader, right.....this guy has emailed me asking me to trade my truck to him for his '98 blazer and some cash. What is this? Lets make a Deal?

go ahead philip. run. run, but you cannot escape. i am searching the internet. i am everywhere. you cannot resist the internet. you will come to it. you can hide. but i will find you. i w i l l f i n d y o u. . . . . . . . . .

Lincoln, anyone?

Well, I finally got around to listing the two vehicles. I accidentally listed the Lincoln in the $6000 and OVER, instead of $6000 and UNDER. I recognized it immediately and sent an email, so hopefully they'll change that for me. I listed the truck in the Truck magazine. I created a website for the Lincoln, like I did for the dakota. It's www.towncar.blogspot.com.

gettin' gone.

I'm gettin' gone to Pigeon Forge for a couple of days.

Coco Crisp

There is a Major Leagues baseball player whose real name is "Coco Crisp". Click here if you don't believe me.

Chainsaw on steroids

Arrggg....me use big bladed thingie. It even has a cool name........"ditch witch". Here's a little summary of what my dad and I have been doing today.

My crawlspace has moisture in it. After rain, it has had standing water in one very low point. I have helped to remedy this by using gutter extensions. My dad suggested running a drain pipe from the area under the house and running the drain pipe under ground in the yard. To do this, we rented this cool machine. The blade is cooler and more massive than this picture shows, but you'll have to take my word for it. Anyway, we dug the ditch, bought 3 pieces of PVC pipe and connectors, put in in. All this was after a long time of digging with a shovel near the house and chiseling away at the concrete blocks, inside and out. We got all this done, but my job's not done yet. You will see in a picture below the inside part. I have to get the water to go into the pipe. So I will have to put dirt around that area and make a v-shape type funnel area and put plastic over it, to make the water funnel into the pipe. That part isn't going to be very easy, but I don't know any other way to do it. It was hard work, and I'm beat now, but at least that part's done.......and I got to operate heavy duty machinery. That's always a bonus. :-)

This is actually my secret escape route after using my emergency "Honey, I shrunk the kids" miniturizing device. Is this what it is like when someone's favorite pet giant python dies?

I'm...to sexy for my muddy shorts....to sexy for my muddy shorts.......so sexy......mud is my cohort. (Honey, does my butt look big in this?)

My dungeon. Now I have to make a v-shaped dirt area that will funnel any water to the pipe. This is where I got my muddy posterior sitting and chiseling away at the wall. Also notice the main water line coming into the house just a little to the left. I was doing risky business by doing anything around that.

For those who doubt the mighty Lesser Panda's existence...

Lesser Panda (Red Panda)



Class: MAMMALIA

Order: Carnivora

Family: Ailuropodidae

Genus: Ailurus

Species: fulgens
STATUS

Vulnerable - population numbers in wild not known, but specialised diet, low production rate and low population density make this species vulnerable to extinction locally when environment changes.

COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN

Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Nepal.

DESCRIPTION

The lesser or red panda is a medium-sized bear-like mammal with a thick rusty to deep chestnut coloured coat. The muzzle, eye patches and the fronts of the large pointed ears are white and there are broad white cheek patches. The tail is long and bushy with broad brown and ginger rings. The nose is black. It walks like a bear with forepaws pointed inwards. It has long white whiskers and an almost cat-like face. The forepaws have an extended pad on the sole and on the first digit to assist in climbing and grasping bamboo. The claws are sharp and partly retractable. The broad teeth and strong jaw muscles, an adaptation to chewing bamboo, have resulted in a relatively large head.

Head & body length: 510mm - 635mm

Shoulder Height: 273mm - 283mm

Tail length: 280mm - 485mm

Weight: 3.0kg - 6.2kg

HABITAT

Steep forested mountain slopes with bamboo thickets, giant rhododendron and oak, at 1800-4800 metres. The lesser panda tolerates colder temperatures than does the giant panda. It rests and shelters in trees and rock crevasses.

DIET

The diet consists mainly of bamboo, plus grasses, roots, acorns, berries and lichen. It sometimes takes insects, eggs, young birds and small rodents. Because the lesser panda has the digestive system of a carnivore it cannot digest wood fibre. It therefore has to eat large amounts of bamboo every day in order to survive.

BEHAVIOUR/SOCIAL ORGANISATION

The lesser panda is active between dusk and dawn, sleeping in trees during the day. The adults are generally solitary, but sometimes travel in pairs or small family groups. They mark their territory with scent from an anal gland, urine and faeces. Their trails are also marked automatically with scent from glands on the soles of the feet. They feed mostly on the forest floor but are excellent climbers and they are able to escape predators by climbing high into trees.

REPRODUCTION

The mating season is from January to March. During this time each female comes into breeding condition (oestrus) for about 14 days. The males fight over the right to mate with females in breeding condition. When the males meet they arch their backs and lower their heads, then stand up on their hind legs and beat each other with their paws. The gestation period is 90-150 days, with births occurring in May and June. There is a delayed implantation period, as in bears, and embryogenesis is probable about 50 days. Before giving birth the female lines a tree cavity or rock cleft with grass. Between 1 and 4 cubs are born. They are blind but fully covered with hair. Their eyes are open on the 18th day and they leave the nest for the first time at 90 days. They begin to eat solid food in autumn and are weaned before the onset of winter. They become sexually mature at 18 months. Infant mortality is very high. To produce enough milk for the cubs the mother has to eat three times the normal quantity of bamboo.

VOCALISATION

The usual communication call is a series of short whistles and squeaks. When frightened or angry they stand on their hind legs and give sharp spitting hisses (like a cat), or a series of snorts.

PREDATORS

Snow leopards are the main predators of adults, yellow-necked martens often take cubs in the nest.

LIFESPAN

Up to 14 years in captivity, but probably a lot less in the wild.

CAPTIVE LESSER PANDAS

Lesser pandas survive and breed well in captivity in many zoos around the world. They are seldom aggressive and are relatively easy to tame and handle.

REFERENCES

Schaller G.B. (1990) in Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals, Vol 3.

McGraw-Hill. pp.469-471

Nowak R.M. & Paradiso J. C. (Eds.) (1983) Walker's Mammals of the World, 4th Edition pp. 977-978

MechCharlie

I want one. I just do. ...I want the one on the far left. ...I would so put weapons on that thing.

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp.'s new concept vehicles, i-foot, left, and one-seater i-units line up during their unveiling ceremony. The two-legged i-foot, operated by a rider mounted on a seat with a joystick, and the i-unit that resembled a wheelchair, both designed to help people get around, will be displayed at an exposition in Aichi, central Japan, next year. (12/03/04 AP photo)

David, back me up on this....this thing looks just like something out of the "Jade Empires" game! CHIBA, Japan -- In this picture released by Chiba Zoological Park, Futa, 2-year-old male lesser panda, stands on two legs at the zoo in Chiba. He can keep standing upright more than 10 seconds and looks around when he gets attracted by something, even though he has not trained to stand on two legs. (05/19/05 AP photo/CHIBA ZOOLOGICAL PARK)

Need a hand? ....er....hoof?

TUCUMCARI, N.M. -- This photo provided by rancher Shane Jennings shows a 5-legged, 6-hooved calf that was born last week on a ranch. The calf, a Limousin heifer owned by Orlando Romero of Sapello, N.M., was delivered naturally and is in otherwise good physical condition. (05/19/05 AP Photo/Shane Jennings)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) member Chris Link of Norfolk, Va., top, adjusts the cellophane covering on the costume of demonstrator Dezeray Rubinchik of Philadelphia, top right, during a protest in front of the Statehouse, in Providence, R.I. The protest, in which three people placed themselves in containers resembling supermarket meat trays, was meant to compare eating meat with cannibalism. PETA member Karolina Colwill of Sioux Falls, S.D., appears center. (06/06/05 AP photo)

CHICAGO -- This photo provided by Wired Nextfest shows Rob Innes skimming across the Chicago River in a bionic dolphin to call attention to Nextfest, a futuristic technology show in Chicago on June 25-26, 2005. The dolphin, a submersible developed by Innespace, can power two people to 40 m.p.h. on the surface and 20 m.p.h. below. (06/23/05 AP photo/Wired Nextfest)

CHIANG KHONG, Thailand -- In this photo released by World Wildlife Fund-National Geographic, two Thai fishermen show a 646-pound giant catfish they caught from the Mekong River in Chiang Khong district of Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand Saturday, June 11, 2005. Thai fishermen caught this giant catfish, believed to be the world's heaviest living freshwater fish, but it died after environmentalists and officials negotiated for its release to allow it to spawn, and then was eaten. (06/30/05 AP photo)

Corpse Falls Into Traffic in Texas

This is humorous enough to read. Click here.

Can the author get a "doah!!" from the congregation!?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

No, I didn't drop off the face of the earth

I tried posting several days ago, and blogger wouldn't let me. I'm at Tori's parents house right now, and they have dial-up, so I'll post more when I get home (maybe tomorrow). Just know --> Micah had gone back in the hospital...thought he had meningitis (sic)...but he didn't...stayed there a few days because of fever....is better now....that cancelled our Colorado trip...bummer...just am getting back from an "alternate" vacation to Orlando.