Fishing Report: River is blown out and it was 4 degrees F on Monday the 22^nd and 68 degrees F on the 27^th. No fishing but there will be soon, chrome (steelhead) start running in a few weeks and the Indiana Fly Fishing show is on the 10^th of January. In the mean time I will be sighting in a muzzleloader I am refurbishing.

It is finished. That is what Christ said on the cross many years ago. I think that is what a lot of us say after Christmas each year. That is a shame. My daughter came down Sunday morning and said “”Dad, I hate to see the tree empty with no gifts under it.” Her comment prompted me to think about how we work hard to prepare and it is over in a blink of an eye. The great thing about Christmas in my mind it is the beginning of eternal life for those of us who chose to open the “Christmas Gift”. My daughter was baptized, on Christmas Eve and so starts her journey in this Christian life. Christmas is a great time to reflect on where your walk with the Lord is and where it needs to go. As my family is reflecting this week on the 15 best things that happened this year (3 per person), we will begin to look to 2009 as to what we want to accomplish. Tops on my wife and I’s list is be more focused on others, mostly married couples that need encouragement but along with that we will be doing out reach in the city with our kids coming along so they can live out their faith. We would love to be more open and transparent with others but that takes some courage. Where are you being called? Could it be to give more or maybe just work on your own house? I don’t know what is in store for us this year but I am confident that the Lord has it planned out and as long as we are obedient in our walk the journey should be an adventure that we will talk about for years to come. Happy New Year and by the way I know that my grammar is poor my wife and N.S. have both pointed that out, therefore that is also on the list for 2009.

Christmas is Near and Anticipation is High

Fishing Report is hard water (ice for you non-fisherman) everywhere I look. Big Paul H killed a great buck 23.5 inch inside spread. Awesome deer.

Christmas is near and yet my mind is still chasing what needs to be done and did I forget anything. I have not look forward to Christmas in many years but this year my wife and i have started to enjoy the season again. In the past I have looked forward to the Birth of Christ but the rest of the things associated with the Holiday just brought me down. I had other things on my mind like, where is the next contract coming from and which client was going to hire me for next spring. Now that we have been blessed with a great job and stability like we have never known we are able to relax and share the wonder with the kids. This year we have tried to build the anticipation of the season by doing an Advent reading every night and also helping out in various ways in the community. We had a great opportunity to go and serve at an inner city church here in Indy. What a great experience, I found that people are no different they are just seeking to make it through just like the rest of us. The circumstances maybe different but yet they are still the same struggle to live the Christian life and make it through this life with out pushin'. Christ called us to love one another and to live it out. Have you lived it out this season? If you have great. It is easy to be in the giving spirit this time of the year but live it out in February and in August and every other time of the year when we are in the grind of like.

Barns and a Simplistic Christmas

Fishing Report: Are you kidding 7 degrees yesterday morning and then ice, sleet and snow.

Christmas is close so close I think my kids can taste it. I think it must taste like a fresh, warm, homemade sugar cookie with just a touch of lemon. But the reality is that the first Christmas must of tasted or better yet smelled like a dairy barn in the spring. Thick and musty with the smells of animals but with a touch of sweetness like that of alfalfa. I have always wondered why God chose the stable instead of the inn or better yet a home. I have been reading to my kids every night at dinner an advent devotion. What a good time to talk of God and His Gift as we sup together and share in the bounty that He has provided for us. Last night the focus was to limit distractions, I thought sure we already live pretty simply. The author went on to say that is we God chose the stable not because it was a humble beginning but because there were no distractions there. I thought about that for a good long time and have come to the conclusion that God could have led them to a meager home to give birth, that would have been humble but it could have still be distractful. But to have Christ born in a stable and laid in a manger was the best and here is why I think it is the best. Born in a stable Christ was born in a place where no one is born (he was like no one else), being born in a barn connected him to the least among us, the shepherds, they would not be comfortable in a home or an inn they were at home in a barn. Why were they comfortable in a barn, because that is where there work was, the sheep, that is where they live. The Great Shepherd came into this world in a barn where the sheep live. The shepherds are His sheep, we are His sheep, I think that is we all feel comfortable in a barn and love the sweet smell of hay in the sunshine in the summer. If you have ever been in a barn there are not a lot of distractions, they are a simple affair and they practical not a lot of distractions. That is why Christ was born in a barn it is a place of simplicity and the only focus when they came to see they Christ child was Christ not the surroundings not the beautiful place but the beautiful person of Christ. Not to mention where would a shepherd rather be but in the barn with familiar surroundings and smells and the things that are most dear to His heart. I think that sums it up a barn, the Shepherd and sheep really I guess that is all that was and is needed, just the Shepherd really is all that is needed by His sheep. Keep this in mind when you go and muck Christmas up with all kinds of distractions and busyness, remember a barn, sheep and the Shepherd.

Have Fun and be Satisfied

She is having Fun!

No Fishing or Hunting this week. Sad but true, although I got a new toy last week like I mentioned. What a great toy it is, it is a Gamo Varmint Hunter Air Rifle. Here are the specs, scope, laser sight, spot light and 1200 FPS. WOW what a lot of fun.

New Picture for the holidays it is a little more festive than the Pumpkin Seed picture. DEC 26 I will post a picture of warm weather and fishing as soon as I get up, because we all know after Christmas is over, spring is soon to come.

Well I have been talking about the hard stuff lately, so how about something a littler lighter. Christmas is near and it is time to take the DW out for a nice dinner without kids and maybe they won’t be back till morning. Re focus on her, learn about her, observe her. What does she like? Where would she like to go? Order for her, but first know what she would like, maybe go for a carriage ride if it is not to cold. In Proverbs it says “rejoice in the wife of your youth . . .Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; be exhilarated always with her love.” (Proverbs 5:18-19)

Here is the expansive explanation of this passage.

The original Hebrew is so strongly worded that in grasping for suitable words, a renowned Bible scholar decided that even the expression “love-ecstasy” was not intense enough. (1)
“Be exhilarated always with her love”
The word here rendered “exhilarated” usually means either to be intoxicated, or to go astray, to be deceived. The link between these diverse meanings is that normal, rational behavior has been over-ridden. Be it alcohol, passion, enticement, or foolishness, something has so overwhelmed a person that cautious, controlled thinking has gone out the window.
This passage is saying, within the sanctity of marriage deliberately intensify your passions until you can hardly think straight; regularly so inflame your feelings for your partner that you lose control. Husbands are instructed to bring themselves to the point where they are driven by desire for their wives; to so incite their passions that they are continually mesmerized by their wives’ sensual charms.
“Ever be captivated by her love,” says the NIV.
“Always be transported with delight . . .” is how the Amplified Bible puts it, and it renders the very same word in the next verse “be infatuated.”
“Let her breasts satisfy you at all times”
The word translated “satisfy” usually means to be saturated or to drink one’s fill; to have one’s desire fully satisfied. This line therefore seems to be saying Drink your fill of marital pleasure; continually find total satisfaction in your wife. According to a highly esteemed Hebrew dictionary, even this word can sometimes mean to be intoxicated. I haven’t found undeniable proof of that meaning in Scripture, but it would be ludicrous for me to imply I could match wits with Hebrew scholars. Moreover, since the word often means to drink to the full, it’s easy to imagine how it could sometimes be used to imply drunkenness. If so, for the original readers, the close proximity of this word to the one we examined above would presumably have intensified the thought of delirium. (2) The italic text was written by Grantley Morris, he put it so well that I thought you needed to read it.

So I guess all of that being said I think it means we are to go and have fun and drink deeply. It is easy this time of year to get caught up in the busyness off the season but please take the time to enjoy your wife not just in a physical sense, she is a gift from your Heavenly Father so treat her that way and “enjoy the wife of your youth and be satisfied.” There is no other for you, remember that she is yours and you are hers so respect that and look at her like you did during courtship. Have a great time and if you want to make it a double date for the dinner let me know.

References:
(1)Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes by C.F. Keil and F. DelitzschVolume VI: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon by F. Delitzsch, translated German by M. G. Easton Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, commentary on Proverbs 5:18-20
(2)Francis Brown, S. R. Driver and Charles A. Briggs A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament with an appendix containing the biblical Aramaic, based on the Lexicon of William Gesenius, as translated by Edward Robinson, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1951.

No Griping, Service Only

No Fishing Report this week it is cold and nasty but maybe if I get the courage up I will go if the weather breaks.

No Hunting Report from me although P & H have killed 4 or 5 deer this year.

OK time to quit griping about things. Have you ever come home after a long day, you know, you got up early and then worked all day, meetings and reports, then had an extra long commute because it snowed (white death aahhhh) and slicked everything up. You get home and you can tell your spouse has worked hard all day and dinner is almost done, but wait, the kids are playing yet they haven’t done their chores and they have left clothes, boots, mittens, hats and the like scattered throughout the house in various stages of drying, yet nothing is placed neatly by the wood burner where it would dry quickly. Oh yeah and there is no wood for the fire. I have never had an evening like this but if I did I think I might react with a grumpy spirit I may even bark orders at the kids and then go do all the chores myself with a “martyr-like” spirit. Well here it is Philippians 2:14 “Do everything without complaining or arguing”. That is a tough one. What are you as a Husband and Dad? Are you a Drill Sergeant? Captain of the Ship? Commander and Chief? Oh I know king of his castle? No not any of those you are a servant Ephesians 5:25 says “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her”, and I might add for them (His Children). Do you give your self up when you get home or do you want to be treated like a king? Maybe we should treat them like the King would. I was the guy last night that came home and things were nutty and I got nuts instead of kicking back and taking a few minutes to connect I chose to get grumpy and continue on in my day of work, with the wrong attitude I might add. Here is the prayer for each day, “Lord please prepare my heart and mind for my return home today, allow me to meet them there, each of them, my wife, son (s) and my daughter(s). Let my have your heart and use your example to give myself up for them. Amen”. I know this helps me to focus on what is to be done but you and I must be humble when we walk through that door and be prepared to join in the day with your family.

On another note I picked up a new “toy” yesterday I will report on that later after I get to “play” with it.