Don't Worry!

Don't Worry, Be Joyful! That is the title of the sermon this Sunday at Riverlawn. It is based on Jesus' words in Matthew 6:25-34. There is a lot of great stuff that Jesus reminds us of in that passage, yet I still have a hard time making sure that I don't worry about things. I know it is a spiritual issue and I need to surrender control, but it is harder to do than it is to say. I saw a church sign the other day that said, "Well done is better than well said!"
A lot of times my worry comes in the form of worrying about finances. This past week we had to spend $600 on my car, money on sprinklers, medical bills, dental bill, yard bill, and the list goes on.
As a follower of Christ I know that I need not "worry" about these things, but be diligent in paying for services rendered and honoring God in my finances.
I have been telling several people in counseling this week to "surrender" their will to God's and to leave Him in control.
The ironic thing is that Holy Spirit is trying to get that very thing through to me too!
So, here's to not worrying and to being joyful!
Jeff

Bragging on my 3rd born!

As a parent it's okay to brag on your kids a little bit, as long as it brings God glory!
I went to my 3rd grade son's awards ceremony today and was very proud of his academic achievements in reading and math. He got awards in both categories. . . BUT I was most proud of him for the class award that he received. The school does Character Counts awards in each class. The awards are voted on by the class. Eli got the "Fairness Award" for his class. I have thought about those awards today, as a follower of Christ, and I am most proud of the Character award. It is the award that is about caring for others above himself. (I am proud of the achievements in reading and math as well, but not in the same way!)

Congratulations Eli! Your earthly father is proud of you, BUT more importantly your Heavenly Father is proud of you!

Character Does Count!
Jeff

Rest of vacation

Well, the Isaacs are back from the West Coast! We had a wonderful time visiting my sister and enjoying the sites and sounds of Colorado, Arizona and California. The GPS said we drove for over 55 hours, and covered 3,545 miles. The only problem with the trip was that it ended up costing us more than we thought, and we had to pay for a new air conditioner compressor back home.

Here are some pictures of our worship service on Saturday night, the beach and the boys with Aunt Laura!

Grand Canyon

Here are some amazing pictures of the Grand Canyon. It really was amazing to see.

Wallyworld here we come!

I promised my sister in California that we would come see her this summer! As we all have been anticipating this trip for months, I kept getting flashes of Chevy Chase punching Wally the Moose in the nose. He drove his family across country in the original vacation movie, and it turned out to be quite different than he anticipated.

Well, we are officially at my sister's house in California, and so far I have not punched a talking moose, or anything else. (We did see some elk while we were at the Grand Canyon!)

We have had a great trip so far, and the boys are outside throwing water balloons with their Aunt Laura as I am typing this.

So far our GPS has done pretty well navigating us to Adventures in Odyssey (Colorado Springs), the Grand Canyon, and to my sisters house. The GPS did fail us one time, as we decided to make a quick little jaunt to the Great Sand Dunes in Alamosa, Colorado, and we had a crazy ride. Following Marsha's (the name for our GPS) instructions, we went through some back woods narrow dirt roads, that even had cattle on them. She said we had 4 miles to go when we came to a wood fence that announced only people could go past this point, no cars. We told the boys we were going to take a hike in the mountains, which ended up as a great lesson on God's creation, and they never knew we had originally planned the Sand Dunes. We hiked for about 40 minutes, didn't want to go too far, the boys had just heard about the tragic bear maulings in Montana, so they didn't want to go too far! We didn't see any bears, but Jen and I are pretty sure we heard a rattlesnake a few feet behind us.

Looking forward to going to Legoland tomorrow! It's not Wallyworld, but it will be a blast!

Dates w/ Dad

One of the things that Jennifer and I try to do is to have dates with each of our kids individually. Sometimes we do a good job at this, other times we don't! This past week we both took kids on dates and it was wonderful. Jennifer and Caleb went to the Underground Salt Mine in Hutchison. Eli and I went fishing and swimming. Joshua and I went to Sonic and the Museum of World Treasures. We all had great times spending some one on one time with each other. There was great conversation, great laughs, and I had a crazy memory moment with Eli that we said we would keep just between us. (But of course I told his mom!) Joshua amazed me at the museum as he asked for his allowance in the gift shop, and spent all of his money. The amazing thing was that he bought two things...one for Caleb and one for Eli. It was one of those warm and fuzzy feelings for dad.

The dates made me think of mine/our relationship with God. Have we taken time to have a date with our Heavenly Daddy? Have we made special memories in the time we have spent with Him? Have we spent our time and efforts in doing for others rather than ourselves?

I know time is precious, but I also know that there is no more precious way to spend our time than with our Daddy in heaven!

Mark 1:35-37 (NIV)

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. [36] Simon and his companions went to look for him, [37] and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"

Jesus knew it was important for time alone with His Daddy...what about us?

Update on Ezekiel Isaacs

Well, we have had our little Zeke in our house for about 3 1/2 weeks now and things are going well. We are still supposed to get him into a lung specialist to check things out, but he seems to like hanging out with us! He celebrated his first American Independence Day, and seemed to enjoy the fireworks! He smiles a lot more, enjoys the heck out of his brothers, and seems to enjoy food...a lot!

Just wanted to give an update on what's been going on in Zeke's world!