Been Thinking About! ~ Grace vs Law

BEEN THINKING ABOUT!  ~  Reading This Morning In The Book:  "Bible Answers For Almost All Your Questions" By:  Elmer L. Towns  ~  the two sections below really made me think.  I have long known that the Law was just a foreshadowing of the Grace to come in Jesus Christ, but it often shines a light of clarity on our understanding when we put it in writing.

That is also one reason that I have long suggested in my writings that every believer, as well as every local church fellowship, should make the effort to put their Statement of Faith, what we believe from the Bible and what we share from the Bible - in writing.  When you put your SOF in writing, it is like a light from God has added clarity to your faith.  It also makes sharing the Gospel with others much easier and more productive.

Believe it or not, a few years ago in my research, I came across the web site of a church in the Midwest, and when I could not find their Statement of Faith, aka Statement of Beliefs, on their web site, I sent an e-mail asking why I could not find this vital bit of information about their church on their web site.  Right away I had a response telling me, "We do not post our Statement of Beliefs because we do not want to offend anyone."

Whoa!  You are afraid that what you believe and teach about God - will offend someone?  Really?

I replied, "Well, you most certainly have offended me.  And I have no doubt that you also have offended God."

Yes, I realize that I may sometimes sound like a broken record.  But if we, as Christian believers, do not understand what we believe about God, salvation, and our Christian faith well enough to put it in writing - how can we say, or be sure of, what we believe?  When witnessing to a non-believer and they ask, "What does your church teach?"  What will you tell that person?

These are the two bright illuminations I found this morning in Mr. Towns' book "Bible Answers For Almost All Your Questions":

1.  WHAT DOES THIS PHRASE MEAN: “The Law Was Given By Moses, But Grace And Truth Came By Jesus Christ” (John 1:17)?

~ ~  THE LAW demonstrates that man is evil  ~  GRACE demonstrates God’s desire to save man.

~ ~  THE LAW shows how far man has fallen into wickedness  ~  GRACE saves the lost.

~ ~  THE LAW demonstrates blessings that can be earned  ~  GRACE is a free gift.

GRACE Is God’s Love Demonstrated In JESUS CHRIST! (John 3:16).

2.  WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EVERLASTING LIFE AND ETERNAL LIFE?

Those who believe in Jesus Christ will have “everlasting life” (John 5:24).  However, “he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life” (John 5:24, NASB). 

Technically, the words everlasting and eternal come from the same Greek word, i.e., ainois.  Both everlasting and eternal mean life without end. 

However, when the King James Version was being translated, the translators chose to use two English words based on the context of their translation.

When God saves you, from that moment on you have EVERLASTING LIFE.  The word everlasting means life begins and never ends.

However, ETERNAL LIFE means life that never began and life that will never end. Only God has eternal life.

Technically, when you get the life of God, i.e., ETERNAL LIFE - you get the life of God that has always been in existence. 

When you are saved, you have both EVERLASTING LIFE and ETERNAL LIFE.

I pray that these thoughts bring some clarity to your faith and that it encourages you to set aside time to think about and put in writing your personal Statement of Faith.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

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While Waiting For The Right Moment To Share

WHILE WAITING FOR THE RIGHT MOMENT TO SHARE my doctor's office experience from earlier this week, the video below with Mike Huckabee and Dr. Phil McGraw pops up in YouTube.  Wow, what timing!

Dr. Phil speaks about being willing to stand up and be heard, about what our children are being exposed to in our schools, and about standing up for our faith.

That rang a bell!  Last Tuesday I was in the Dermatologist's office to have what looked like a Big Beauty Mark removed.  I don't know what else to call it, for she said it was not a mole, nor was it a growth which might be malignant, but she did not tell me what to call it. 

And, hey, I don't need a beauty mark, I am already beautiful to the One who counts, Jesus Christ.  So she chose to use Cryotheraphy, a procedure using an extremely cold liquid spray to freeze and destroy abnormal tissue. 

While we were discussing this procedure, she asked if I ever had a similar tissue problem before, and I told her no.  Then for some reason I chose to share with this lady, whom I had no idea what her faith is, or if she has any faith, my experience with divine healing.

About 20 years ago, Pastor Ed from our CICF church, with Dory and me, led a Wednesday Bible Study at the Vintage Terrace seniors community in Corona, CA.  Pastor Ed and I would alternate leading the studies.  One week Frank, a senior living there, told us the moles on his face were malignant. 

About a week later, as I was combing my hair, there was a snag and blood on my right temple.  Dory and I were concerned, especially so soon after Frank's diagnosis, and my growth looked very much like those on Frank's face.  We agreed that I should see a doctor.

That night, as Dory was asleep and I lay in bed, I held my right index finger on the growth and prayed a simple prayer, "Lord, please heal or remove this growth."  That was my whole prayer.  Yet immediately I felt a warmth come over me and I felt such peace, somehow I knew He had said, "Yes."  So I rolled over and immediately fell asleep.

The next day, the growth was visibly smaller, the next even smaller - and on the fourth day, that growth, whatever it was ~ was gone!  How do I know it was really there, not my imagination, and gone in four days?  Because to this day, maybe 20 years later - the white discoloration from its removal is still there on my right temple for all to see.

Fast forward a few years and I had joined the Religion Forum on my hometown newspaper, the TimesDaily, to refute several atheists who had taken residency there and were flooding that forum community with their atheistic views.

During a discussion I shared on the Religion Forum about what I knew was my divine healing.  And our two resident atheists along with a few legalistic Christians, and a gathering of agnostics and vanilla-flavored non-believers - all were up in arms, several referring to Bill's Magic Finger.  As you can imagine, they all had a field day over Bill's Magic Finger and Bill's Divine Healing.  One Agnostic/Atheist Wannabe asked me, "Bill, do you have a Magic Finger?"  And I told him, "No, I have a mighty God!"

But laugh as they did - I still knew it was true.

Do I believe that God always heals when we pray?  I remember hearing Pastor Chuck Smith commenting about folks who asked him to pray for their healing.  His would tell them, "I will pray for you, but even then you have a 50/50 chance of healing, if that." 

What Pastor Chuck was saying was that no man can heal us, only God can heal us.  He may choose some man through whom He gives His healing, but it is still God and not man.  Nor is it those Prosperity Preachers with their "Slain In The Spirit" sideshows who are defaming the beautiful divine healing which comes only from God.

Do I believe that God always heals when we pray?  No, we most often cannot know why He heals one person and not another.  But in His divine wisdom, He does.  I do not now why He chose to heal me that one time, but I will proclaim it.

Back to my Dermatologist last Tuesday, when I shared about my healing of the growth on my temple - she made no comment and gave no visible reaction.  But still, for her and the nurse present - both heard and the rest I will leave up to God. 

Why did I choose that moment, that time, to share this with the Dermatologist and her nurse?  I have never shared with a doctor before, although I probably should have.  Maybe God wanted one, or both, of them to hear it at this specific time, for His own reason.

While living in Orange County, in our family doctor's office many years ago, - I was in her x-ray room waiting for the med tech to call me.  Sitting there I noticed a full body chart on the wall showing all the muscles, organs, and bone structure in the human body.  Looking at that chart, I thought to myself, "How can any doctor, with that knowledge, not believe in the God who created such a complex, beautiful life form?"  Yet I never overtly shared with her.

So now, let's hear what Mike Huckabee and Dr. Phil have to say about standing up for America, our children, our families, and our faith. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

EXCLUSIVE:  Dr. Phil on The HIJACKING of America
Mike Huckabee Show  -  May 8, 2023

Dr. Phil McGraw talks (about) what we need to do to get America back on track and he says it starts with the family unit.  Has our country been hijacked?  Don't miss his insightful interview, here on Huckabee!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOc903o_n4o

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

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Last Evening My Wife, Dory, And I Had A Discussion About Bible Studies

LAST EVENING MY WIFE, DORY, AND I HAD A DISCUSSION ABOUT BIBLE STUDIES  ~  And while we both agreed on the necessity for, and importance of, weekly Bible studies, we disagreed on how they should be, or could be, led.  She suggested that most Bible studies today use Pre-Written Bible Study Guides and I am strongly opposed to the use of Pre-Written Study Guides for leading an effective Bible study.

The funny thing is that we both agree that the most effective and most enjoyable Bible studies we have attended in past years have been Expository Bible Studies, where we take a book of the Bible and study through it verse by verse. Whereas most Pre-Written Study Guides are Topical studies. 

Typically the way our past studies have been led is that the Bible Study Leader will open in a short prayer, then give a very brief description of the book to be studied.  Then starting with the study leader, we each read a verse, or possibly a short passage when appropriate, and the that person will share what he/she believes God is telling us in that verse/passage.

At that point others may offer an expansion of the readers comment, or may have a different understanding of that verse/passage.  Others may offer agreement, expansion, or even another view.  The beauty of this style of reading, then discussing verse by verse is that everyone, from Youth to Senior, may participate in open discussion with no criticism of any participants views. 

Then the Bible Study Leader should bring the discussion back into focus, i.e., look again at what is written in the Bible.  That is why this person is called a Bible Study Leader and not a Bible Study Teacher.  He/she "leads" the discussion, but does not take the role of teacher, as in a sermon style study.

That is how a Conversational Bible Study is conducted.  True, if a group has been accustomed to having a Bible Study Sermon for a long time - it may take a few sessions for everyone to become comfortable with a study where we each participate and not just listen, while trying not to fall asleep.  Once the transition has been undertaken, your group will become a truly dynamic Bible Study Group.

Now let's discuss some of the pros and cons Dory and I discussed, or was suggested, last evening:

1.  Using a Pre-Written Bible Study Guide:  My main objection with this style of Bible study is that ALL Pre-Written Bible Study Guides are written to be a "one size fits all" guide.  That is rather like schools which "grades on a curve" - so that no one is left behind, and everyone gets a good grade.

That does not work in real life, nor does it work in effectively studying God's Word.  In such study guides the questions are dumbed down to the simplest form to include everyone, instead of causing everyone to dig deeper into the meaning of a verse or passage.

Do some, at times, get left behind in a discussion style Bible study?  Possibly, for a moment.  That has happened to me.  In 1991 I was a relatively new believer who had not delved into prophecy, especially End Times Prophecy.  In 1991 Iraq invaded Kuwait during the Gulf War and in their retreat, Iraq set the Kuwait oil fields on fire - causing the skies to be black with smoke. 

Those darkened skies caused Bible study leaders around the globe to jump into the study of End Times.  And our study did just that.  Our study leader, Tom Fletcher, began our study talking about the Rapture, the Tribulation, etc., taking us knee deep into End Times Prophecy, while I was still wading in an ankle deep understanding of prophecy.

That evening I was totally lost, having no idea what Tom meant by the Rapture, Tribulation, and other such teachings.  I kept my mouth shut all evening, rather than show my level of Biblical illiteracy.  BUT, I went home that night determined to understand End Time Prophecy.  And for the past 30 years I have been studying, and at times leading Bible studies, on End Times Prophecy.

That style of Conversational / Discussion style Bible study worked for me, causing me to dig deeper into Scripture.  And it can work for everyone the same, if given a chance.  Using a Pre-Written Bible Study Guide seldom, if ever, gives such an effective result.  One size does not fit all.  And a sermon style Bible study only helps cure Insomnia.

2.  Bible Study Guides help those Leaders with limited time to prepare:  Then they should step aside and let someone else who has more time lead the study.  I had a similar situation at our IBBC-Riverside church.  Danny Garcia and I were asked to lead the Seniors Sunday School Class which I was happy to do, not realizing I faced one big obstacle:  Filipino Seniors, even though they speak English, are more comfortable studying the Bible in their Tagalog language. 

We found that Danny leading in Tagalog was much more effective and had better participation than me leading in English.  I stepped aside and not to be a distraction in the Seniors Class, I went to sit, as a participant, in the Adult Sunday School Class led by Ben Gallardo. 

But that makes me wonder, are Seniors not considered Adults?  Just curious why Seniors, Adults, and Youth have to be segregated instead of studying together.  And many church fellowships break the study of God's Word into many more distinctive groupings.  I have seen some churches with as many as 20 different Bible Study / Sunday School Class groups. 

Dory get aggravated when I ask if God has authored a Men's Bible, a Women's Bible, a Youth Bible, etc.  But I feel that is a valid question.  Has God authored 20 different Bibles - or has man written those distinctions into God's Word?  Think about it!

3.  A Bible Study Leader Does Not Have To Be A Bible Scholar, only a person who will take the time to prepare for the upcoming study.  I am reminded of a seminar I attended in the early 1970s, presented by a large brokerage firm, I believe Merrill Lynch, to recruit new sales persons, aka, financial planners.  Several guys in blue suits were presenting the seminar, while a local vice president stood on the sidelines.

During the Q&A session I raised the question:  "Is it illegal for a Merrill Lynch sales agent, financial planner, to invest in the same investment properties he/she is recommending?" 

The vice president fielded my question, and with a laugh said, "You are suggesting that we have inside information.  If we did, we would be out on our yacht instead of in this seminar.  Right?  We do not have any more information than you do."   And of course, my first thought then was, "If that is true, why should I trust you to invest my money?"  Investing your money is one thing, investing in your eternal salvation is very much another.

4.  You Want A Bible Study Leader Who Has The Time To Prepare - using the only "One Size Fits All" book, the Bible - and does not depend upon a Pre-Written Study Guide as a crutch for not being prepared.  Would you take your car to an auto mechanic who is using an "Auto Repair For Dummies" book?  Studying God's Word is very important, for both the leader and the participants, meaning that both should prepare ahead of time.

No, Dory and I did not go into this level of discussion last evening.  But our discussion led me into deeper thoughts on the subject of Bible Study.  Your Bible study evenings should cause you to have deeper thoughts on the meaning of God's Word also.

In a Bible study, it is okay to disagree if we are discussing Non-Essential Christian Doctrines.  But we should never disagree on the Essential Christian Doctrines.  And prayerfully, at the end of a good Bible study, most disagreements will have been worked out. 

But if not, as long as the Essentials are correct - the Non-Essentials will not affect one's eternal salvation. They merely give good points for discussion - and they are important in digging more deeply into God's Word, which will make YOU a more effective Christian witness. 

Usually when a person holds a different view of Eschatology, i.e., End Times Prophecy, than me - I do not argue, I merely tell that person, "On the way UP, we both will know the Truth" - and leave it at that. That leaves us good Christian brethren, both looking toward that final promotion into eternity.

If you are not sure which Christian Doctrines are Essential to your eternal salvation - and which are Non-Essential, i.e., do not determine your eternal salvation, these two short videos will help.  Over the years I have created and refined them to be useful in personal studies and possibly in small group studies.  Each frame can be halted for discussion:

New Bible Study Intro Videos - Essential and Non-Essential Christian Doctrines
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_YT3Rttutri61xd6wmbOD7y0uibrt8KD

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

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The Amazing Computer Evolution - And I Was There!

THE AMAZING COMPUTER EVOLUTION - AND I WAS THERE!  ~  And what a wild ride it has been!  In 1958 I began my technology journey with Burroughs Corporation Electrodata Division in Pasadena, California, on a million dollar vacuum tube mainframe computer system. 

A photo in a recent Pinterest (image sharing and social media service) e-mail reminded me that the ASR-33 Teletype has been along on most of that ride with me.  Wherever I go, there is the reliable old ASR-33 Teletype of one configuration or another.

Like in any good story, we read "It All Began With" me working on the Burroughs B220 mainframe computer system, first as a Test Technician and then as a Field Engineer.  Then in 1967 I left Field Engineering and ventured into sales and finally, over a number of years, tried my hand at marketing.  In 1967, I joined Digital Equipment Corporation in their Palo Alto, California, sales office.  That was the time of the PDP-10 Mainframe and the PDP-11 Minicomputer. 

You may be wondering how that Telephone Acoustic Coupler snuck into the story.  Glad you asked.  That was the time in the late 1960s when time-sharing computers hit the market.  And the only way to do a time-share demo in the client's facility was to connect to the Time-Share Mainframe with an Acoustic Coupler via Ma Bell's 300 baud (bits per second) telephone line.

For purposes of sales demonstrations, the Acoustic Coupler was our lifeline back to the mainframe computer.  And for my young Friends, that black object with the circle of holes - is a telephone.  Really!  You will notice that it has a curlicue line connecting to the receiver/transmitter resting in the Acoustic Coupler - and another wire from its backside, no not a tail, but to a 4-wire line connection on the wall.  That was its lifeline back to the mainframe computer.  Those holes in a circle were used to dial a telephone number.  Amazing technology, right?

But this is where we sales people hit a real snag.  The Acoustic Coupler had a sound unknown to switchboard operators (ladies who helped up place long distant or special phone calls) at that time.  Believe it or not, we could dial "O" and speak with a real live telephone operator, a live person.

Every time before I would start a demo of our time-sharing feature with a prospective client, I would get the operator on the line and explain that the funny beeping sounds she would hear - were normal, for it was a computer talking to a friend.

Yet every time, without fail, after about 10 minutes - the phone line would be disconnected.  What happened?  The operator, having a short memory, would come on the line to see if all was okay - hear the computer beeping in his own unique language, and assuming the line had gone bad - she disconnected us.  Literally it happened every single time I attempted to do a remote demo.  Such was life in the computer world in the late 1960s.

In parallel with the PDP-10 mainframe computer system, Digital Equipment also had the PDP-11 minicomputer.  A minicomputer was a smaller brother to the mainframe - and a big brother to the yet to be born microcomputer.  But you will notice in the middle left photo - there is the PDP-11 with the reliable old ASR-33 Teletype.  In many PDP-11 systems, small like this photo and in much larger PDP-11 configurations - there was usually the ASR-33 Teletype, sometimes multiple units.

Then circa 1975, Ed Roberts, who many call the "Father of the Microcomputer," and with good reason, happened on the computer scene.  In the early 1970s Intel introduced its first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, a 4-bit computer on a chip.  That gave a gentle nudge to engineers that here was a device they could use as an embedded control unit in the products they were developing. 

Instead of building a controller out of individual discreet components - the 4004 could be programmed to do the control function.  Interesting, but no great leap ahead for we folks looking for a real computer, at a reasonable cost, that we could use in our business environment - and eventually, at home.

And Along Came .  .  . WHO?  At this point I will pause to share a beloved song from the Coasters released in 1958, "Along Came Jones."  One of my favorite remakes of that old classic happened on the Andy Williams Show in 1969:  Ray Stevens, Andy Williams, and Danny Thomas performing "Along Came Jones" with little Jimmy Osmond as Jones!!

Ray Stevens - "Along Came Jones" (Live on Andy Williams Show, 1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ippnMH2WwE

Now back to my story of the Amazing Computer Evolution.  As I was starting to say before I was distracted by another memory - Along Came Ed Roberts - who with a fellow Air Force technology officer, Forrest Mims, started a company in Albuquerque named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), a company formed in 1969 to sell electronic telemetry modules for model rocket guidance and control.

They later developed the Opticom, which was a device that transferred voice using light (I later worked for a company, Computer Transmission, which sold a similar transmission device designed to connect computers over a distance via an LED light beam).  MITS had its big break in 1971 when it started selling the MITS 816 four-function calculator, which sold thousands of units per month, but eventually faded due to competition from much larger companies like Texas Instruments, etc.

In 1974, when Intel began producing its newer and faster 8-bit microprocessor, the 8080, is when MITS made its leap into computer history - by creating and producing the MITS Altair 8800, the machine that brought Bill Gates and Paul Allen to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they, along with being the programming staff for MITS, co-founded Microsoft. 

The MITS Altair was available first in kit form, much like the old Heathkit products.  Heathkit began in 1949 and sold many products - radios, stereos, instruments, you name it, eventually microcomputers and provided them in kit form sold to enterprising technology folks.  In 1960 I had a good friend and fellow Computer Field Engineer, Teoman Yatman, in Virginia, who wanted a stereo for his upcoming birthday party.  He ordered a full cabinet size stereo kit from Heathkit and built it himself - in two weeks.

Like Heathkit, Ed Roberts and MITS sold Altair microcomputer kits.  When I first joined MITS in 1975, I was surprised to see large companies such as Hughes Aircraft buying computer kits and having their inhouse technicians build them.  I suppose it was a way to keep technicians busy and also let them become familiar with the microprocessor, while waiting for the next big contract to came in.  

At MITS my job was to contract and manage independent Manufacturer Representative companies who would sell the Altair Microcomputer.  And a way to help them sell the product was for me to present Microcomputer Seminars in their local areas.  That was a time when companies large and small were looking for ways to use microprocessors in their products. 

And the MITS Altair with the Basic compiler interpreter created by Bill Gates and Paul Allen helped the engineers use the microprocessors.  So my seminars were always filled with company engineers eager to learn about microprocessors.

Let me pause for a moment and share a real "egg on my face" moment.  After Intel brought out their 8080 microprocessor, a couple of Intel engineers largely responsible for the 8080, Federico Faggin and Ralph Ungermann, left intel, formed a company named Zilog, and created the Z80 microprocessor to compete with Intel's 8080.  And the Z80 microprocessor grabbed a major portion of the market rather quickly.  

At that time I was selling a microcomputer which used the Z80 microprocessor and I was at a local small computer show at the Cabana Hotel in Palo Alto. Folks would stop by my table to learn about our product and typically I would tell them all the wonderful features of the Z80 over the Intel 8080.

In mid-afternoon, two men stopped by and as we chatted, I went into my pitch about the Z80 - as they stood attentively listening to my pitch.  Then they introduced themselves - Federico Faggin and Ralph Ungermann - the two men who were involved in the development of the 8080 and who had started Zilog and created the Z80.  Once I realized who they were, I felt rather foolish - kind of like explaining to God how to create the heavens and the earth.  But there was no criticism nor corrections - so I must have given a pretty good description and comparison.

In 1974 I had signed a manufacturer's representative company, REPCO, in the Palo Alto area to sell my Control Logic modules and systems.  When I left Control Logic and joined MITS, I asked my manufacturer's reps, Paul Terrell and his partner, Floyd Wilson, to jump to MITS with me.  But since they were just getting up to speed selling Control Logic products, they chose not to jump. 

A months or so later, I gave two nights of Microcomputer Seminars at Dinah's Hyatt House in Palo Alto - and after the first night when the room was overflowing and I had to ask people standing ten deep outside the room to come back the next evening - Paul Terrell told me, "Bill, I am ready to make the switch to MITS."   I was impressed with the overflowing response of engineers and managers in the Palo Alto area who came to the seminars - and so was Paul.

Paul and Floyd made the switch in really big way.  A month or so after joining the MITS team, they opened the Byte Shop in Mountain View, California - the second computer store in America, most likely the world. The first being a man and wife who had a store front in Los Angeles and sold computer products on consignment.  Paul then opened another in Oregon with a brother, and then a third in Oregon with another brother. 

That was the beginning of the Byte Shop Computer Store Chain, the very first computer store chain in the world.  And I believe it was when the Byte Shop Chain was at 58 stores and with other computer store chains entering the market, they sold to another chain which had subsequently joined the computer store evolution and retired. 

Today Paul and his wife are driving around America in a large RV and enjoying life.  I stay in touch via Facebook - a technology we could not even imagine in 1975.   

And it all started with MITS!  The Altair was the rocket which truly began the microcomputer industry for industry and home use - and is responsible, in a large way, for the laptop I am using as a desktop computer with a large display to write this blog today.  And my HP laptop/desktop computer, gifted to me about ten years ago by my Christian brother and Friend, Tom Ford, is like the Energizer Bunny - it just keeps going and going.  Amazing technology.

Ed Roberts eventually sold MITS to Pertec Computer Corporation for $6 million in shares in May of 1977.  Meanwhile Bill Gates and Paul Allen had taken Microsoft north to Seattle, and Ed Roberts then fulfilled his true dream of being a small town doctor.  He went to medical school - and spent the rest of his life as a small town doctor in Georgia.  That is called living your dream.

In 1972-74, when I was selling logic modules and simple controllers for Control Logic, based in Boston, our products were logic modules which customers would use to build controllers into their products - and we had a type of small mini/micro computer/controller.  As usual, our demo input/output device was the ASR-33 Teletype like you see in my center photo, but without the stand.  Wherever I went to demo our products or train my manufacturer's reps, my trusty ASR-33 went along.  Hawaii, Texas, Washington, etc., there was the ASR-33.  To ship it I had to pack it in a large box about 2.5-foot cubed - and somewhat heavy.

To get it on a flight with me I would pull up at the curb, hand the porter a $10 tip (according to Google, equivalent to $50 today) and ask, "Can you ship this for me?"  That worked everywhere except Albuquerque, where the ticket agent took one look and sent it back to me.  That was the only time I had to pay excess baggage shipping.

For the past 25 years, since I stopped actively working in the computer industry - I have been using the products I used to fix and sell to do my writing ministry and other blogs.  So you might say I am still in the computer industry - only now as a client and user.  And I am still enjoying the amazing technology called the computer.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

Click on the image to enlarge: 

A Funny Thing Happened On My Way To The Cross!

A Funny Thing Happened On My Way To The Cross!  ~  Well, in hindsight, several funny things happened between the time I married Dory in 1977 and the time I became a Christian believer in 1987.   A couple of years before I met Dory, my favorite hangout was a night club in Garden Grove, California, called the Playgirl Club.  The club had good, almost Las Vegas quality, entertainment, dancing, pool tables, and a happy, carefree, fun crowd - almost like family for most of us knew one another.

One Saturday evening, as I was waiting for the entertainment to begin, John, the doorman, sat a young lady at my table, a common practice when it was crowded.  As we waited for the show to start, we chatted and she told me she belonged to a social group.  Nice. Then the show began and afterwards I asked if I could call her. Then she told me, my social group is the Adult Single group at the Garden Grove Community Church.  Okay, but I will admit that I did wonder why she was at the Playgirl Club on Saturday night - and in a church group on Sunday morning.  But not being a Christian myself, I did not fret over it.

The next morning I had nothing planned, so I decided to check out her group.  I found the group friendly and active - and even though my new friend told me I did not have to attend the service in the sanctuary, I thought, "Why not?"  I found Robert Schuller to be a dynamic speaker, so I enjoyed his message.  I attended that church for maybe a year, enjoying the Single Group and the messages. 

But by that time I had become disillusioned with Robert Schuller, for he isolated himself from the congregation.  In most churches I had known, the pastor would actively interact with the congregation, but not Robert Schuller.  But I did like the associate Pastor, Dr. Harold Leetsma, for he did not seclude himself from the people.  I attended the Garden Grove Community church for maybe a year before dropping out.

Skip a few years, 1977, I met a beautiful Real Estate agent named Dory coming from a Red Carpet Realty weekly sales meeting.  It was Wednesday evening and I was at the Saddleback Hotel in Santa Ana with that little old "gang of mine" - Marge, Lupe, and Dick - just hanging out in the lounge waiting for the dancing to start when Lupe looked toward the door of the lounge and told me, "Bill, there is Rita."  Rita was a Filipina I was dating, but not one I would take home to mom.  I looked over and told her, "No, that's not Rita - but I sure want to meet that one."

I wandered out into the hotel lobby and managed to meet this beautiful Filipina.  Turns out her name was Dory and she and her girl friend, Phil, had just come from the weekly Wednesday Red Carpet Real Estate sales meeting.  We chatted for a while and I ask if I can call her, she gave me her business card.  Two weeks later we had our first date - and the rest is history, 45 years and counting!

With my luck, Dory was a Christian believer and active in the Garden Grove Community Church.  I guess it was fate!  We dated for a few months and on September 2, 1977, that beautiful real estate agent became my wife.  That began 10 years of Dory's praying for me to be saved.  Being a stubborn type and enjoying my secular lifestyle, she never told me, only kept praying for me.

At first I attended the Garden Grove Community Church with her, but was not enthused, still noticing that Robert Schuller, in his sermons would tell us how, in this city he met folks and chatted with them - and in that city he met folks and chatted with them.  So I began to ask, "If he chats with folks in other cities - why doesn't he chat with folks in his own church?"  Wow, you would have thought I had blasphemed God, Schuller's loyal followers were ready to hang me.  So much for that church.

Somewhere along the way, Dory, who had been active in Schuller's church as a greeter, gave me a bronzed medallion from the church. I wore it, not because it was from a church or from Robert Schuller - but because my lovely wife had given it to me.  In casual dress or in 3-piece business suit, I wore her medallion on the outside of my clothing.

One day, circa 1979, I was making a sales call at Robertshaw Controls in Anaheim.  When I entered the lobby, the security guard was at the desk and a young lady was talking with him.  I went to the guard and told him who I was to meet - and then the young lady whom I gather had been witnessing to the guard, turned to me and seeing my medallion joyfully said, "You're a born-again Christian?"  And I curtly replied, "No, I am not a born-again Christian, I am just a Christian!" 

Now why did I tell her I was "just a Christian" when I most surely was not, not yet. I suppose because I was born and grew up in the Shoals of Alabama, the Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt.  So growing up there, I must be a Christian.  DUH!  I really had no idea what a Christian was - but it sure was not me.  But I set her straight, didn't I?  Wow, speak of dense, that was me at that time.

In the early 1980s I was Regional Sales Manager for Genisco Computer Graphics and after spending a day in the San Jose area, was on a flight back to Orange County.  I sat beside a very nice lady who turned out to be Lois Leetsma, the wife of Pastor Harold Leetsma, the man I liked at the Garden Grove Community Church.  We had a very pleasant time talking and when she saw my medallion, she, too, said, "You are a Christian?"  And I told her, "No, I wear the medallion because my wife gave it to me."

We arrived at Orange County airport and at the time we had to deplane and walk across the tarmac to the terminal.  As we started to leave the plane, the flight attendant smiled and said, "You are a Christian."  I just smiled and walked down to the tarmac.  As we were walking to the terminal, Mrs. Leetsma smiled and told me, "As long as you wear that medallion, you are a witness!"

One last Bill Medallion Tale:  In the mid-1980s I was on a business trip to the East Coast and stopped on my way home to see my mom in Sheffield, Alabama, before flying on to California.  It was a beautiful day so I decided to walk to visit my Aunt Ola and my cousin, Christine, in Tuscumbia.  It was a nice 3-4 mile walk which I enjoyed very much.  Walking in a town instead of driving, is rather like driving on state highways instead of freeways - it lets us see and appreciate the local community - to see the sights.  My first time to drive across America was in 1959 when there were no freeways, so I drove beautiful Route 66.  That is the way I felt that day walking to visit Aunt Ola in Tuscumbia.

When I got to their home, and after spending time with them - I decided to walk down and look around Spring Park, which had played a major role in my preteen life.  As I started to leave, my cousin Christine told me, "Be careful. Someone might try to mug you."  I laughed and told her, "Who would mug a guy from California who is wearing a necklace and carrying a purse?"  At that time I smoked a pipe and had a little leather bag in which I kept my pipes and smoking material - and I was wearing my Dory Medallion.

As you can see in my composite photo, at our 1980 Hawaiian Second Wedding and honeymoon, I am wearing my medallion outside my suit.  At that time I still was not a believer, but we had a church wedding in Hawaii because I knew it would make Dory happy - and I enjoyed it also.

Fast forward to 1987, Dory and I went to a Saturday evening gathering at the home of Lolita Mueller.  That is when I met Pastor Sam Lacanienta and really enjoyed talking with him.  Even though this was not a Bible study nor a church meeting - I still felt the love of God when talking with him and his wife, Ida.  The next day Dory and I went to the church he pastored, the Filipino-American Church of Irvine - and it seemed that the love of God flowed down from God, through Pastor Sam, and into the whole congregation.  I literally could feel the love surrounding me that Sunday.

The following Friday Dory asked, "Do you want to go to Bible study?"  And I had no idea what a Bible study was, for no church I had ever attended even mentioned Bible study - and I had been in and out of many churches, from many denominations.  No one ever mentioned Bible study, nor did anyone ever invite me to a Bible study.  So this was a new experience for me.  

We went to Bible study at the home of Ed and Ligaya Nibut - and I felt surrounded by love the same as I had the previous Sunday.  We continued to attend worship service and Home Bible Studies for six months before I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and my life.   Finally Dory's 10 years of praying for me to be saved was answered.

About a year later, on a warm Friday I had walked to a food court for lunch and on the way back to work, had an experience with an earth worm (I will save that for another blog). That night at Bible study, I shared about my earth worm - and Pastor Sam said, "Why don't you put that in writing?"  And that began my Christian writing ministry, about 34 years ago.  I always blame Pastor Sam when anyone complains about my writing.

But I will finish with this:  Pastor Sam & Ida Lacanienta are my Spiritual Parents.  It was through their love and guidance that I found my way to the Cross - and I will be eternally grateful to them.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

Click on the image to enlarge: 

What Is The Difference Between The Ten Commandments And The Two Ordinances?

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND THE TWO ORDINANCES?  ~  Have you ever given thought to that question, that comparison?  So, what is the difference?  Are the Ten Commandments real commands and the Two Ordinances merely suggestions?  NO!  And in this blog I will tell you why.

God the Father, through Moses, gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites, and through them to the whole world (Exodus 20:1–17).

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ, God the Son, breaks the Ten Commandments down into two easy to understand commandments.  The first and most important is our relationship with God the Father (Commandments 1 through 4).  And the others, according to Jesus Christ, is our relationship with our fellow man, (Commandments 5 through 10): 

(1)  Your relationship with God  ~  "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" - Matthew 22:37

(2)  Your relationship with your fellow man  ~  "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself" - Matthew 22:39

Jesus was not giving us new commandments to supersede the Ten Commandments given by God the Father.  No, the Ten Commandments are written in stone, virtually, and cannot be compromised nor changed. 

In like manner, in the 1960s Chuck Smith and Mike McIntosh created Maranatha! Music to give the hippies and all the seeking and lost young folks of that generation Christian music they could relate to, easily understandable to their drug fogged minds.  This simpler presentation of God's Word in terms of music and Gospel they could understand - and over the years that simple to understand Gospel brought literally millions to the Lord through Calvary Chapel.

"Bill, if Jesus only explained the Old Testament Ten Commandments in easier to understand language, did He leave no new commands to the church He created in the New Testament?"  Glad you asked!  That is a very important question - and one which I would bet most believers would answer no.  

Yet Jesus DID indeed leave us two new commands.  But since He did not label them as commands - are they merely suggestions - OR - are they new commands which all believers should view as just as important as the Ten Commandments?  We call them the Two Ordinances.

What is an ordinance?  This answer comes from the Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: "an authoritative decree or direction : (an) ORDER.   Example:  On that day the king signed three ordinances, three new laws."

We are given the words of Jesus in Luke 22:19, "And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body, which is being given for you; DO THIS in remembrance of Me.' ”

Paul tells us in 1Corinthians 11:23-24, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My body, which is for you; DO THIS in remembrance of Me.' ”

Then Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:25, "In the same way He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; DO THIS, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' ”

The English word "do" in Greek is poieo (poi-e'-o) which in Strong's Concordance means:   "to do, to act rightly, do well, to carry out, to execute."

The English word "this" in Greek is houtos (hü'-tos) which in Strong's Concordance means:  "this, these, etc."

In other words, the phrase found in all three Scripture passages above is:  poieo houtos - DO THIS!

So you tell me.  Does this sound like a mere suggestion?  Are the two Ordinances left to us by Jesus Christ only suggestions - OR are they commands? 

I suggest these are two new commandments left to the Christian church, the worldwide body of believers from the Day of Pentecost 33AD church until He comes again in His Second Coming in Glory to establish His 1000 year Millennial Kingdom on earth, as a precursor to taking all believer into never ending Eternity to live with Him and all other believers forever. 

I feel comfortable showing the ELEVEN Commandments in the manner shown in my graphic below.

True, this blog is only my understanding, but I am convinced these thoughts and references come straight from the Bible, God's Written Word.

Given this is true, is your church honoring both the Ten Commandments AND the Two Ordinances?  Does your church teach the Ten Commandments?  Does your church teach and follow the Two Ordinances:  the Baptism of new believers and the timely meeting Jesus at the Lord's Supper Table?

I once was at a church which I knew had only celebrated the Lord's Supper, aka Communion, twice in four years, and those times when an elder raised a question about its absence in worship.  I had a chance to chat with the pastor during fellowship, and I asked him, "Pastor, in Luke 22:19 Jesus tells us to celebrate the Lord's Supper in Remembrance of Him.  Does your church remember Him?"  He just smiled and walked away.

And to the best of my knowledge, that church did not even have the utensils to celebrate the Lord's Supper.  We have to ask ourselves, "Why would a Christian church choose to not meet Jesus in celebration at the Lord's Table?"

I can only think of one reason they would want to avoid or ignore Communion:  Confusion over who in the worship service that day should receive Communion, i.e., celebrate the Lord's Supper - and who should not be invited to partake of the Lord's Supper. 

I have written and posted a rather comprehensive blog titled: "Should Communion, The Lord's Supper, Be Open, Closed, Or Close?"  You will find it at:  https://billdory-christian-ministries.blogspot.com/2021/03/should-communion-lords-supper-be-open.html

Let me offer you excerpts from that blog:  It begins:

SHOULD COMMUNION, i.e., THE LORD'S SUPPER be Open, Closed, or Close?  ~  What is the difference?  Glad you asked.

Open Communion:  All Christian believers present at the time the Lord's Supper is celebrated, local church members or visitors, can participate in remembering Christ through receiving the elements.  The individual person determines if he/she is spiritually ready to receive the Lord's Supper.

Closed Communion:  Only members of that local church fellowship may participate in the Lord's Supper celebration.

Close Communion:  Local church members and visitors from other church fellowships in the same denomination may participate in the Lord's Table celebration.

Confusing?  I agree.  And I do not believe Jesus Christ meant to confuse anyone when in Luke 22:19 we read, "He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' "

So what is the difference between the three Communion practices?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And my blog concludes:

In a given local church fellowship, who decides who can participate in the Lord's Supper?  Is it the pastor, the deacons or elders, their denomination?  Who makes that spiritual decision?

I ask myself, "When Jesus 'took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me' -  who was He addressing when 'He gave the elements to them'?"   "Them" at that time referred to His apostles who were sharing the Passover Meal with Him in the Upper Room on that particular evening. 

But when He said, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me" - I am convinced His "you" was addressing all believers down through the ages.  Jesus Christ did not die just for His apostles - He did not die just for pastors, elders, deacons. 

He did not die just for Baptists, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, etc.  He did not die just for a given denomination.  No, Jesus Christ died on the cross to offer salvation and eternal life to ALL who will believe and receive Him as Lord and Savior.

Nowhere in that Luke 22:19 verse, or anywhere in the Bible, do I see Jesus Christ telling any denomination, any church, any pastor, elder, deacon - that THEY should judge who is saved, who is a believer, who is spiritually fit to join Him at His Lord's Table. 

Think about it.  A person, a church, or a denomination which tells a person, "You cannot take the Lord's Supper with us, because you might not be a real believer" - is placing himself, his church, his denomination in the position of being God, of passing judgment on another - just because that person is not a member of his local fellowship. 

I must ask that person, church, or denomination, "Are you that SURE that all members of your local church, the ones with whom you are willing to take the Lord's Supper - are they ALL true believers?"  If not, then using your criteria, you must deny them Communion also.  How will YOU judge which in your own fellowship deserve to receive Communion?

How can you be sure?  The solution is simple.  Offer the Lord's Supper to all who are attending your Communion Service - and leave it to that individual, and to God, to judge who is fit to sit at His Table.  In my understanding of the Bible, in over 35 years of study, that is what (I believe) is taught in God's Word. 

.  .  .   .

More about the Lord's Supper  ~  The Lord's Supper is NOT a one time event.  Jesus tells us to do this "in remembrance of Him" (Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24-25).  How often does your church remember Jesus Christ and what He did to offer us eternal life?   That is reflected in how often your church fellowship celebrates the Lord's Supper?

Should we call it Communion - or should we call it the Lord's Supper?  Either is correct, but let's examine both.  Calling it the Lord's Supper is probably most common and, for me, has a deeper meaning.  What is more personal and intimate than coming to the table to share a meal with friends and family? 

Jesus tells us in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine (or sup) with him, and he with Me."  That is the ultimate intimacy, being at the Lord's Supper Table. 

That implies we are in personal communion with Him - just as when we sit, pray, and eat with our immediate family.  It is a form of Communion, but I personally prefer to consider it dining at the Lord's Supper Table - with Him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Over the years, most Christian churches where I have been a participant celebrated the Lord's Supper once a month, typically on the first Sunday of each month.  And we did it as a closing part of our normal worship service, i.e., as we finish our worship service and are all preparing to go back into the world for another week, we partake of our "spiritual vitamins" to sustain us through the coming month, no matter what the world throws at us.

Why once a month?  Some churches celebrate the Lord's Supper weekly, others celebrate what they call the Eucharist daily, while many, if not most, celebrate Communion on a monthly basis.  Doing it daily or weekly, this celebration might tend to become more of a ritual or habit, which can make it just that, a ritual we do without giving any thought to what was paid on our behalf to make our salvation possible.

I will close with this very important question:  If your church is not celebrating the Lord's Supper, Communion, on a timely schedule?  Are you sure you are in a Christian church?  Think about it, and do what your believe God would have you do.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

Click on the image to enlarge:

 

Last Evening Had A Wonderful Walk In Our Local Corona Park!

LAST EVENING I HAD A WONDERFUL WALK IN OUR LOCAL CORONA PARK!  ~  This is a large, well maintained park which includes two full softball fields large enough that one end of each field can also be used as a soccer field.  And at the top of our park there are two basketball half courts, two tennis courts, and a large kiddie playground.  The park has two rather good sized parking lots, one on the south-western side and another on the north-western side.

And at the top of the park (eastern side) is a bench where I love to sit and greet folks, and when given an opportunity, chat with folks.  Walking to the park I get my walking exercise - 1/2 mile to the park and 1/2 mile home.  And in between I have the pleasure of people watching and often chatting.  Funny some of the things I have noticed.  Before the holiday season, as I watched people walk by, and unless they turn their attention away so that I know they do not want to greet me (which at that time happened very seldom), I would offer a smile and a greeting.

After the Christmas / New Year holiday, I noticed a number of people, both female and male, as they walked by would look away and were carrying a type of stick seemingly for protection. I never noticed that before the holiday - so I had to wonder why.  I recognize the purpose because for years I used to carry a fiber golf club handle when I walked. 

I joked it was to protect me from animals, 4 leg and 2 leg.  I had seen stray dogs in my walks, but when a time came that an angry homeless man began to stalk me, I could not use it.  I merely stopped and asked him if I could pray for him.  He stopped screaming and said in a meek voice, "Yes."  I held his shoulder, prayed for him, then hugged him.  He softly said, "That is what I wanted" and walked away.   So, yes, I recognize when a person walking is carrying a defensive stick.

The people I met on these recent walks is why my trip to the park last evening was so rewarding.  On the south-western side of the park, by the batter's box of each softball diamond, are the restrooms.  And in that area are several picnic tables.  The previous night as I was walking to my favorite bench, I noticed a group of young guy playing chess.  And last night that same group was there, so I stopped to watch. 

There was an older gentleman in a wheel chair, the grandfather of the chess player, and he and I started chatting.  Then pretty soon we all were having fun talking and laughing.  The older gentleman was a Vietnam vet, whose brother had been in the Korean War.  When I told them I am a Korean vet - that told everyone that I was the oldest in the crowd.   Darn, and I was so sure I hid that fact.

One of the young guys who joined us brought his girlfriend - and we found out that even though they both played chess, she could beat him.  Pretty soon we had her matched against the guy who owned the set.

One of the younger guys mentioned how ridiculous all this racial division in America is today.  Oh, by the way, did I mention they were all black, except for one other middle-aged gentleman who had been playing and was leaving as I joined the group.  The funny thing about that was that as he and his son were leaving I noticed that each had lots of tattoos on their neck and arms.  Noticing that all the others in the group were black, my first thought was, "Some folks would mistake these two for White Supremacist, but obviously they are not."

Big deal, who cares?  The people there didn't, nor did I.  One thing that really touched me was that when the older gentleman and I were talking and shared our time in service - each of the younger people stopped what they were doing and came over to shake our hands and say, "Thank you for your service."  That truly touched my heart, for coming home from Korea, we really did not have it bad - but our people returning from Vietnam were treated very badly.  That was thanks to the Leftist Socialist Movement in America during the 1960/70s - led by many college professors and Socialist rabble-rousers.

But I did share with them my story about my friend in Korea, Bob White, who for our whole year we there was my best friend.  We had our bunks side by side with his record player in between.  And we kept the air filled with good jazz music - except for when one guy decided he was going to drown our music out with his country/western.  That is when I pulled out my Mario Lanza album.  Guess who won?

Anyway, I shared with the group how when Bob and I were shipping out, coming home to America, we were at the terminal at Osan AB, Korea, waiting for our flight to Japan.  Since we were both being stationed at Bergstrom AFB, Austin, Texas - Bob told me, "Bill, you know when we get back to the states, we will not be able to run around together."  Suddenly I knew what he was saying was true.  And that made me angry, not at Bob - but at America and our American society of 1957. 

Imagine, here we have been good friends, one a white boy going home to 1957 Alabama, the other a black boy heading for 1957 Detroit.  And it was the black boy, Bob White, who realized and faced the fact that we both could serve our country in a foreign land - but we could not be free to be friends back in America, the supposed land of freedom, the freedom we were serving to protect.

Bergstrom AFB was a large base, so Bob and I did not run into one another, especially after I transferred from the F-86 Airborne Radar/Gunsight System group to another group where I was an F-100 Flight Simulator Technician.  Fast forward a bunch of years - and I found out that Robert "Bob" White was a founding member of MoTown's Funk Brothers band. You cannot imagine how happy that made me, to know that Bob had achieved his goal of becoming a professional musician - especially a founding member of MoTown's house band, the Funk Brothers.

Later I continued my walk through the park to my favorite bench on the north-eastern side of the park.  The park has several walking paths - one that circles the entire park, and two other that cut through and only circle the two softball fields.  My favorite bench is situated right at the point where all three meet - and allows me to greet lots of folks and, on occasion, chat with them.

That evening when I got to my "Bill Gray Greeter's Bench" - a gentleman named Anthony was already there.  And to be honest I could not tell if he was homeless or not.  He did not appear homeless, but today, in the Booming Biden Economy, that can happen so quickly that is hard to tell sometimes.  My clue was that he had several backpacks with him. 

Anyway we started chatting and I found that he had worked on the railroad, in the oil fields, and on the oil pipeline - until Biden put them out of business - with the same Executive Order which took away America's Energy Independence - which President Trump had given us following decades of our dependence on the fluctuations of the OPEC Oil Cartel.  Now Biden has us totally dependent again on OPEC oil and Russian oil.  Does that give you a comfortable feeling?

Anthony did not seem overly bitter, just somewhat disappointed.  And all I could tell him was to stick it out until we can vote President Trump back into office in 2024.  He and I must have talked for about an hour.  And I shared with him how in 1958 God's perfect timing had given me a lifelong career in the computer industry.

And after 12 years in the technical side of the computer industry as a Field Engineer, I moved into sales and marketing for another 35+ years - leaving me in later years to weigh that decision.  As a Field Engineer I was doing so well that I had to wonder how high I could have risen if I had stayed.  But on the other hand, even though often unstable, the sales/marketing side gave me many exciting experiences. 

Throughout my career, both in Field Engineering and in Sales/Marketing, I have worked with and been involved in so many challenging and exciting experiences and people.  As I weigh that long ago decision, I am reminded of a 2005 song by George Jones which I paraphrase slightly, "On one hand I count the reasons I should stay - but on the other hand."  And that is how I view my long career and my changing ships in midstream.

Yet I have learned over the years to not worry about what could have been, only to thank God for what has been.  And one great blessing is that everyone in my immediate family, California and Alabama, are believers and will be stuck with me for eternity.  God is good, and always right.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

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