Been a long dang time

Sorry, been gone. It's been a long week. On August 10 my mom called me and said she was feeling very weak and wasn't doing very well and could I please come stay with her.

This I did.

Mom died this morning - Tuesday August 17, 2010 at 1201 AM - she was 93.

My mom - DeNelda - was an adolescent during the first Great Depression having been born in 1917, she and her brother Neville lived what can only be described as a Spartan lifestyle, one that was very common then and making a surprising come back now. Her parents, Ray and Ida Gordon, were sharecroppers in the San Joaquin Valley of California - think Grapes of Wrath here - mom was a font of humorous, and some not so humorous, stories of growing up in that time. She told of long hard days working in the cotton fields and corn fields and orchards of the area, and of sleeping on pallets out in the open fields. She told of the closeness of family life, the honesty of even the most destitute people and the need for folk to have honor in what they do.

Mom always encouraged me - and my nearest brother - as we were growing up, to find the beauty of the day, to look for the unexpected things that can make your life wonderful. Mom was all about hope, she was all about love and dignity, she was all about taking responsibility for your actions - mom was... well, mom was mom. Mom loved us, I know she did - it just showed, nothing really flashy or ostentatious, just steady and quiet and consistent. You could look into her eyes and see the love, and you could also look into those same eyes and see the hurt, shame and the sorrow that never crossed her lips about something we had done, or not done. To me, mom typified what it meant to love.

As I got older and had children, I began to think I had her system beat, I didn't. I would talk to her and she would make what I thought was so smart and world shaking, not belittled, but "diminished" You could see how the effort you thought was so neat and cool really didn't meet the simple things she would always do. So she taught me integrity, steadfastness and honor. She taught me, but I didn't apply it.

As I grew older still, I came to meet Jesus - to Really Meet Jesus - and His message of love began to peel away the layers of my sin and stubbornness, I began to see more and more, the simple, beautiful message my mom was trying to teach me all along, love is - that's all - love is. It endures all things. In fact I found it in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 13 in fact

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and love is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love." (NAS Edition)

Paul wrote almost two thousand years ago what mom was trying to teach me two days, two weeks, two years, twenty years ago - love abides all.

Momma, it was my blessing to be there with you. To hold your small and trembling hand and comfort your brow as you passed from this place into glory, and momma - let me say this simply - I Love You.

If you don't understand what I wrote here, if the idea of love is something you see on TV or movies or magazines - please, read the Bible, please go talk to a pastor, minister or read the Bible! or call me - there's a link down at the bottom of the post.

Please, come to know Jesus! You really cannot grasp how much better your life can be.

Amen!

God is So Great! :)

Gordon Phillips

Call me butter

'Cause I'm on a roll - - - -
OK, I'll stop now -
Gee, I am posting two nights in a row...
Better? ;)
Hehe - Had a wonderful day - great Lord's day - nice service and wonderful lesson - the pastor has been going through Judges, specifically the story of Gideon - great stuff. I'm a big fan of Judges, wonderful "action" stories, my most favorite one is just before Gideon, in chapters 4 and 5 of Judges, that's Deborah and Barak - totally cool stuff - if you haven't read the story, or if you have but have forgotten it - do yourself a favor and read it again, or just read it.

Or how about Shamgar the son of Anath - this guys story is told in one verse - Judges 3:31 "After him came Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad; and he saved Israel." Powerful testimony to the strong right arm of God.

Which leads me to what I wanted to bring up - New Testament - The Gospel of John - Chapter 17 - this is sometimes called the "High Priestly Prayer" - In this Jesus asks His Father to bless us, to guard us, to give us His Holy Spirit and to bring us to where He (Christ) is (at the Right Hand of His Father) - I dunno know about you, but I simply cannot think of a better place to be, nor a better person to be there with.

Please, take some time and think about accepting Christ as your savior. He's always there, just waiting for you to call on Him.

Update and so forth

Hi, I know it's been a while, but I'm still around. Monday, September 7, was my Fifty Tooth birthday!! WooT!! ;)
Anyway - some friends and I went (on Sunday the 6th) to Oroville to a Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill concert. Awesome!! I managed to video the concert, fairly good footage for being a small hand held
Here's a song he did called Shades of Green: (sorry the video and audio aren't synched - darn compression engine...)




Anyway- On the eighth, my mom and I went to lunch to celebrate what would have been my dad's 92nd birthday and my mom and dad's 53rd wedding anniversary - always nice to go to lunch with my mom :)
Then on Wednesday, 9-9-09, Amber and I went and saw the movie "9" - and we were both sad :(
The trailers made it look like such a good movie, but we left thinking that it was more like a very long commercial for a video game - even though the movie was only 75 minutes - that's one long commercial...
Friday - September 11 - was Amber's 23rd birthday - she really didn't do too much as all her friends were either out of town or working... I felt bummed for her :(

What else... Not a lot, still loving and serving the Lord :) That's good. Oh, I'm not smoking! Yea!!! Yep, July 12th - gave that to the Lord and He has been totally faithful and took that from me! Praise Him!! Forty plus years, and trying to quit for the last ten... Such a blessing :) And this October - the 17th - will be one year since He took the drinking!!! November 7th will be 3 years since I accepted Christ as my savior, lets see, been saved not quite 3 years and He's taken the drinking and smoking and countless other vices that had me hung up for years - I'd say He has a plan for me and is actively working it!!

Well anyway - that's what I've been up to. See you all again sometime :)
In the meantime - Think on this:

"Come now, and let us reason together," says the Lord, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool" Isaiah 1:18

Trust in the Lord, Believe He is the Son of God, Ask Him to forgive your sins and you will be forgiven. Please read John 3:14-17 and Ephesians 2:1-9

Just passing

Hi - I was just passing by on my way to some where else and thought I'd drop in and say hi - Hi! :)
Hope you are well. Have a nice day - I might have some photos to post later - maybe not. Bye :)

You want to hear about my day?

Here’s a true story (it happened to me just this morning) – Yesterday afternoon (Sunday May 3) My mom loaned me her car as she needed me to put gas in it and check a few things on the car (oil, tranny fluid, etc) I parked the car in my driveway at about 730PM. It was still there at 930 when I went to bed, it was still there at around 130AM when my son went to bed. This morning about 515AM, I went out on the front porch – it was gone. I called my mom a bit after 6 and got the plate number and the make and model and called the police (this was about 615AM) – right after I hung up, I was on my knees praising the Lord and asking that He be glorified and that His will be done in this. About 715AM I got a call from my mom, she said the police lady was there at her house and that they had found the car and would give me a ride so I could pick it up and bring it home!! I went right back on my knees – again praising Him and giving Him glory!

But wait – it gets better – The police lady comes and picks me up and we go to where the car is parked – it is parked right in front of an outreach church!! The sign on the church says “Where Jesus Christ is changing lives”…

What an AWESOME and wonderful God we serve!!

Seriously - Good food

If you like good food - and who doesn't? I recommend Simply Recipes - really, this blog is the best. I have a binder of recipes that I have printed out and take into the kitchen when ever I want to create something outstanding. The instructions are simple, easy to follow and the ingredients are not really special order (well once in a while there will be something, but not too often) - take this for example:
Meatballs with Ricotta in Tomato Sauce

Like I say - good food made easy ;)

Alright, one more story then it's bed time!

Seriously... You kids would have me tell you stories all night if I let you ;)
(Update: To make more sense of this story, read the one before this one)
This was back in December, Christmas eve to be exact. It was nasty and raw here in Redding, rain, freezing rain, snow, wind - yep it was "winter in Redding" - oh, did I tell you I was walking? no? Well I was, on suffering feet. I have a skin "issue" that sometimes makes walking so very painful - like walking on broken glass in fact - well this night there was the Christmas eve service at church and I was going no matter how bad it hurt - after all Christ suffered for me didn't He? So what's my little discomfort. Well anyway, I walk to church, in the cold, rainy night. I did have on a nice rain suit and coat and water proof boots though so I was dry. After the service I go to Burger King and have a bit to eat, I had taken $40 with me to the service, I gave $20 and was going to give the other one too, but - again His small voice said "wait" - so I had $10 in my pocket. I'm walking downtown by one of the "darker" parts of town, and as I'm coming to the crosswalk, I see a man standing there waiting for the light. I step up to wait for the light and he says "nice suit, looks dry" I look and see that he is standing in a soaked down jacket, a ball cap and tennis shoes... In the freezing rain. He tells me that he camps in the park, but that it was so cold and wet, that he is trying to get up enough money to buy a cup of coffee at the doughnut shop and get in out of it for a while, "How much" I ask, "Buck fourty five" - we are across the street now and under the street light I reach in my pocket and pull out that $10 and hand it to him - and wished him a Merry Christmas and told him Jesus loves you brother - He took me by the shoulder and arm and lifted his face to Heaven and blessed me and praised God, thanking Him for that gift. I told him go, get inside and have a good hot cup of coffee - Coffee!! he said - I'm getting me something to eat! Bless you, he said, you are the first person in years to wish me a Merry Christmas and mean it. I left him as he went, a bit jauntier now, on his way. I walked home on feet that had up to a few minutes before, been in screaming pain, but now were strangly comfortable and painfree.

See, God puts you right where you need to be, right when you need to be there, to do His will.
Abraham entertained The Lord and didn't know it, Jesus said "When you share a cup of water with one who is thirsty, or feed one who is hungry, you do the same for me" :)

Well, that's my stories for tonight. I pray that you enjoyed them, and that maybe, you are a bit better off - maybe there's someone who's waiting for you to "call" ? Maybe He would like to hear from you. Confess with your tongue and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is God's son and that He came for your sins, and you will be saved :) And that's a great place to be :)

Blessings