Oh Christmas Tree!

We went to dinner last night and then worked on the Christmas tree when we got home.You know they actually have plastic Christmas trees now. They're hard to tell from the real aluminum ones. The last time we set up a tree we used our old artificial tree. The tree was so puny we had to use orthopedic bulbs. We bought more bulbs this time and got a real tree! I have to water it every day!

Our neighbor decided Christmas is too expensive. He went outside and shot off three blanks with his gun, then told his kids Santa Claus just committed suicide because of the election.

Now I'm looking for a gift for our oldest grandson Andy. I found a war game made in the Middle East that has a rocket launcher on it. It comes with a bayonet attached, in case you miss. This is really a nice gift but it takes batteries. While I was looking around I saw that they came out with a battery-operated battery. But the batteries aren't included.

Kids today walk taller

Kids today walk taller. That's because at home, everything they own is on the floor. Eli, pictured below knows where everything is though. I had asked him to find me a ball to throw around and he had it to me in 5 seconds! He's a pretty smart little guy too. He wanted me to take this ladder home so he could use it as a chair.

Men are God's masterpiece, but don't bet money on it!

Nancy and I saw this in Tombstone last week and had a few laughs. The reality is, men are what women marry! Nevertheless, as the saying goes, "for every woman who makes a fool out of a man, there is another woman who makes a fool out of a man."

So, I think when God made man, he didn't make the spine so that man could pat himself on the back! Yes, being humble is the right thing to be. In 1 Peter 5:5 you should read, "clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

Desert Museum

We saw lots of animals at the desert museum. Below is a photo I took of a Coatimundi. I think he's looking at the mess someone made. These friendly creatures end up as pets sometimes. Not sure that's a good idea. They are pretty smart animals, I'm told. At the zoo in Denver they have a donkey with the IQ of a genius. Unfortunately, he has no friends. Who likes a smart ass?

A museum is a lot better than a zoo. At five in the evening the visitors to a zoo go home. Watching them leave, the head ape will say to the little apes, "I think they feed them now. We'll come back in the morning!" I for one, will certainly come back to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.

Arizona Desert Musem

We had a good time visiting the Arizona Desert Museum during the Thanksgiving holiday. As we walked up to the entrance we saw this guide holding a barn owl. My grand kids were amazed at its ability to turn its head all the way around and look behind it. Twice as many vertebrae will do that I suppose.

We also saw a mountain lion, wolves, many rattlesnakes, king snakes, big horn sheep, a coatimundi (I'll show a picture of one of these later), hawks, a sleeping bear, and many other desert wild animals. I would highly recommend this wonderful museum to anyone.

Thanksgiving

We had a great time at Thanksgiving this year. Of course, I ate too much. I always eat too much of everything on Thanksgiving. If they have a gas war the next day, It'll be me!

We sat around the table talking about all the things we were thankful for like our family, our relationship with God and much, much more. Afterwards, I got to thinking that this has really been a trying year, what with the election outcome and all. But in spite of that I have to say, this is the first Thanksgiving we had a turkey that volunteered! Just what does he know?

Playground

Thanksgiving this year proved to be more than just turkey and dressing. It was play time with granddad and grandma! Since the weather was so nice we went for walks, rode bikes, and spent time doing this. They can do this over and over and still have fun doing it. A simple life can be pretty nice.

The scary part about this photo is that I had to be up on the top of the slide. I doubt the engineers had really anticipated a big boy like me standing up there. It held though!

Tombstone

On our way to Tucson, we stopped and spent the night in Tombstone. It's like walking into the past. We had a great time meeting people and enjoying the nearly authentic town (except for the telephone pole in the background). The horse hocky was definitely authentic. The photo below was taken in front of the O.K. Coral where the famous shootout occurred.

A Banded Gecko

The other morning I heard a scream coming from Noelle's garage. She and the kids were out there getting ready for an afternoon bike ride. I went out only to find this creature hiding behind a box. Our first thought was we were seeing an immature Gila Monster!  But no, further inspection told us is it was just a a Gecko. I knew for sure when he looked up and said something about, "GEICO insurance..."

I walked down the street near an open space area and let him go there. He scampered off the sidewalk and into a rocky area near an ironwood tree. I figured he and my daughter were a whole lot happier now.

Silver City, NM

We visited Silver City, NM on our way out to Arizona during Thanksgiving week. While we were there, we visited Santa Rita Copper Mine. It's the biggest mine I've ever seen. Maybe a mile and a half across and about 1,600 feet deep, it's one big hole.

Looking across I took this photo of one of those great big trucks with wheels about 15 or 20 feet high that haul ore from the mine up to the processing center. It was nearly a mile away from me at the time I took this photo.

A few minutes later two tucks came around a hill inside the trench. You can get some perspective on the size by seeing them next to the road grater. As we waited for them to go by us, they could easily see us standing on a cliff above them. They honked at us and of course we waved back at them.

Revenge vs. Forgiveness

First of all, let me say something about Christianity. Christianity is founded on the idea of grace. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, and whoever believes in him shall not perish but will have everlasting life." John 3:16. There you have it. God will forgive you and it's free. Just believe it. That is God's grace. He was willing to forgive our sins past, present, and future and love us just as we are. He forgave the thief dying on the cross right next to him, and he will forgive you too.

The best argument I can offer for believing in the grace of God is to look at the alternative. When you look around the world today, you will see a world of "un-grace." For example, think about forgiveness for a moment. What is the alternative? Well, I guess that would be a world where no one forgives anyone right? In a world like this, "un-forgiveness" lives and breaths. When you look around the world and even here in the U.S. that's what you are seeing more and more. "Un-forgiveness" Essayist Lance Morrow said, "a Newtonian law comes into play: for every atrocity there must be an equal and opposite atrocity." Does that sound familiar to you? Probably, if you watch the news.

The problem with getting revenge is that it never really settles the score. What's done is done. Forgiveness may be unfair and I suppose by definition it really is unfair. But it does provide a way to stop the train of revenge moving down the tracks. What we really need is a national climate of forgiveness. Phillip Yancey wrote in his wonderful book What's so Amazing About Grace, "Politics deals with externals: borders, wealth, racism, crimes. Authentic forgiveness deals with the evil in a person's heart, something for which politics has no cure."

Guns

Mark took this photo of me and my pattern on target #1 at the gun club. Not bad for 25 feet, but there is room for improvement. I've enjoyed shooting more lately and Nancy and I have been going with several other people as well as Mark and Teena. It's a great way to get good fellowship and practice.

Law of Love

There are so many New Testament books in the Bible where Paul begins by summarizing to his readers the riches we possess in Christ. Ephesians is a classic example. The entire first chapter is full exclamations describing what we as believers have "In Christ." If we really grasp the wonder of the things that Christ has done for us, the surely  we will respond with a sense of gratitude, making every effort to live a life worthy of this kind of love. We would want to please him as a lover pleases the beloved, not out of compulsion but out of desire.

We strive for holiness not to make God love us but because he does. Paul told Titus, it is the Grace of God that "teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and Godly lives." Trying to please God by following laws and regulations misses the point. Don't you realize, Paul said, frustrated that people squabbled over small things like eating meat and circumcision.

Yancey wrote somewhere, "I think that the idea of Grace is something that presses us to higher motives of morality." It's a child that wants to know what he can get away with. An adult understands that boundaries (rules and regulations) exist for his own good; a parent voluntarily sacrifices his and her own freedom for the sake of others, which goes beyond just obeying the rules; it's a higher calling and is the "law of love."

Snow in Colorado

We got a little snow last night. I woke up the morning and went out on the back porch to see this. I went right back in, made some coffee and curled up on the leather chair with my book. We go to church on Saturday nights now, so we don't have to go out on the slick roads this morning. I think I'll watch the Broncos play Carolina today. It's so entertaining to watch eleven men spend hours trying to move a small object a hundred yards. Reminds me of the post office!