I started that first business with my dad back in 1961.....really thought I was some kind of hot stuff. We were selling materials handling equipment. In 1964 we started manufacturing the smaller overhead traveling cranes we had been trying to sell that had to ship in from Chicago making them very expensive. It was just too competitive locally with all the iron shops around and this seemed the only way we could get any of that area of the business. It worked.... really went well for 2 years.

The temptations never stop.

"and when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.”

The temptation is finished when we make the right choice.... it simply just goes because we refused it.....but... Satan returns the next opportune time. I promised you some stories to illustrate. I'll start with this one and see where we go.

Updated July 4, 2008

Did you ever get an impression that somehow you were destined for greatness? That you are a very special person? There is just enough truth to that, to make this a very powerful temptation to that old first Adam in each of us. Each and every one of us is actually very special. We are created in the image of God. We are very special to Him. He sent His Son to die so we would once again be able to walk and talk with Father in the gardens of our lives!

It was a valid offer. He offered Jesus the kingdoms of this world. They belonged to him...... they had been handed over to him by Adam's disobedience..... until the second Adam (Jesus) refused the same offer and took them back by His obedience to Father. And now......"The kingdoms of this world, they have become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ". Jesus took them back, making it possible for us, by His life in us, to make that same choice, refuse Satan's offer by choosing to obey Father as well.

Got into our busy mode for the past week, so I haven't had time to post anything. Darryl and Martha were here from Impart Ministries. They input one of the local churches.... and stay with us here in the B&B..... they have been doing this for several years now and we have become good friends. Had some great discussions about how we see the church, how it functions (maybe some things about how it should function.... :)

I've done quite a few fasts over the past 40 years....spiritual ones.....health ones..... weight loss ones..... the one common denominator was that at the end of the fast whether it was 3 days, 7 days. 10 days. I was hungry! I agree with Mumford's saying that "my stomach was ready to eat my shirttails" :)

See.... the problem is...... we really, really want to control everything around us. Every situation, every circumstance, our future, our destiny, every single thing that goes down in our lives as well as all the things that we would like to have go down in our lives.

Way back during that Adam/Eve/Serpent thing, something very significant happened. There are a bunch of lies Satan tells them.....but they appeal to Adam and Eve. Things really would have been different if they had made a different choice. Here they were, walking and talking in the garden in the cool of the evening with the creator of all things.... them and God.... chatting away....enjoying their relationship. All they had to do was what God had told them to do and humanity would have been a completely different experience. Instead...

I hope it is obvious by this time, that I am determined to live openly and say what is really happening in my life and not play et's pretend Philip is wonderful every minute of the day! :) I believe it is very important to live openly. I think it is also just as important for me to live accountable to some people ..... people I trust.... that I've asked to speak into that openness at any time ....... I don't want anything to fall thru the cracks. :) You are also welcome to take a shot at it!