The Great Gift of Clarity

God has made my life into a living Parable, and your life also. I see this clearly. Some day God will give you this great gift of clarity also.
You can not be saved unless you can first clearly see that you are lost.
You can not receive Jesus as your Savior until you can clearly see that He, and only He, can save you.
Never underestimate the amount of trouble we can get ourselves into when we ignore God, and remain in stubborn, ignorant darkness.
Do not be ashamed or afraid of the Name of Jesus.
The Name of Jesus brings light.
The Name of Jesus defeats the Enemy.
Embrace the foolishness of preaching which brings the Name of Jesus and light to the worldly wise man who walks in ignorant, stubborn darkness.
Clarity, Threads of Grace, and Riding Shotgun With Jesus

Salad Win-Win

This post is actually 3 Facebook posts combined, since they seem to speak of the same subject.
The last time I had a salad obsession I ate salads at every opportunity for 6 months. I lost interest when I didn't lose weight and when I didn't gain weight on large portions of meat.
Recently I've tweaked the salad regimen by adding wakame bits and sun dried tomato slices, which cranks up the enjoyment (like I needed that?!) I also add bacon bits to counter the light seaweed taste of the wakame. The chewability gives it a meat like feel. My salad obsession has exploded back.
The main motivations of eating salads, besides just the crunchy factor, is the feeling of well being, similar to the intermittent fasting. Since I accidentally trained my body to burn fat instead of carbs, my hunger pangs are very mild, unnoticeable if I am busy or occupied. A salad is one way to keep myself joyfully occupied, even when others are eating other things in front of me. 
The wakame and dried tomato slices are also surprisingly filling. If I should find myself in the unlikely dilemma of losing too much weight (knowing how my body tenaciously, with kicking and screaming, holds on to every globule of fat, I think it unlikely) I will have to drag my self away from salads intermittently and load up on double whoppers. with bacon. For me, it sounds like a win-win.

Next post: After two big meals on Friday and Saturday (thanks, Pablo Montez for last nights delicious dinner!) I am down 4 pounds. The difference to my latest salad obsession is Wakame sea weed flakes, which are reputed to help with weight loss. I think the Wakame flakes have calmed my body into not panicking when I eat less. 
To help with the mild fishy odor, I sprinkle a teaspoon of flakes on the bottom of a bowl. I put in dashes of soy sauce, sriracha, liquid smoke, and Ranch, and sprinkle bacon bits in, then add salad ingredients. including sun dried tomato strips.
I realize I am not normal. I get obsessive and compulsive. I really, really love this salad. I will be able to take the Wakame flakes with me when we eat out and add it to a soup or salad when I need to eat light, for a long nights drive ahead.

Final post: God is good.

My body's weight loss mechanism has 2 very stubborn set points, 305 pounds and 300 pounds.

Last week I broke, for the umpteenth time, the 305 set point. But I was delighted to see that my body did not take emergency fat building powers. I hovered as much below the set point as I did above.

4 PM is my low point for the day. Today at 4 PM I weighed 299 pounds, a historic low, since I've been married to Mary and retired, two simultaneous and life changing events.

Wakame sea weed, my latest change to my diet, has a reputation for aiding weight loss. My experience seems to verify that. It appears to help set points. 

It also helps with my main goal of eating and not eating to feel better. (I practice intermittent fasting). I am also enjoying other benefits, such as more available time and less expense.

May I say it again?

God is good.

I Am What I Am

Sometimes my sermons are stories and my stories are sermons. I am what I am.

Useful Quotes from Abe and Will

I sent a friend a couple of useful quotes: 
I never met a nap I didn't like. - Will Rogers. 
Don't believe everything you read on the internet. - Abraham Lincoln

Thought's About Future Book

This is rough draft material that I'm working on to put in my blog and future book Clarity, Threads of Grace, and Riding Shot Gun With Jesus. I thought you might enjoy it as is. Some of it has been posted separately as wisdom poetry.

If we would know who we are, we must know who Our Father is. If we would know Our Father is, we must look to the Cross. 8/26/15

When I clarify who God is,  I glorify Him.  8/26/15

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
    I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
    I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ Isaiah 65:1 NIV

Never underestimate God's ability to orchestrate the smallest detail. 9/18

Pray for specifics. God has an eye for detail.

Pray for the impossible. God doesn’t mind a challenge.

Women were made in the image of God, as well as men. Women are not alien creatures.

God can be a fierce warrior as well as a gentle shepherd. His children are made in His Image. Men who callously ignore this fact about women risk injuries that are life changing, or even life ending. Ever heard of the scissors of Lorena Bobbitt? the burning bed? the tent peg that ended Sisera? as Willie Nelson learned, before he was sewn up in the sheets and beaten with a broomstick, you have to sleep sometime.

God is not a puppet, nor is He a button that you push to turn on the power. He is not a Force to bend to our will. He is a Person with a Plan. You are part of that plan. Learn what it is, and don’t try to take over.


Find out what He would delight in giving you, the gifts that would further His plan rather than hindering it. Talk to Him. Find out Who He is, and what He is doing. He has a warehouse full of gifts with your name on it, but you haven’t asked for them.

(this next section are about VW Bug adventures.)

From my Facebook friend Jim German: Hey Mike Dittmer....scrolling thru and saw your post about a vw......I seem to remember....vaguely...10 college kids in your vw one night at ONC 3 in the front....u drove, your brother in the middle..not sure who was in shot gun. Don Sutherland, Bob Duteau, Galen Bennet, me and 2 other guys in the back Gambrelski was behind the back seat.....stopped traffic when we got out ar the ham and Egger downtown K3.....good times great memories

Michael DeMint was not there, but he was there for the time the freshman decided to challenge Hill's Hall, but first they personally recruited all the guys from Gary, which somehow included Phil Gambrel who said he was from Gary to avoid initiation. Michael was there because he tried, along with several other guys, to give me a swirlly. Didn't succeed, but it put him on the Call list. Funny thing, when the guys came roaring out of Hill's Hall, the only guys who didn't bolt were the guys from Gary, including Michael, and it wasn't our idea. Hill's Hall did a lot of chest beating, but nobody was touched except me. The guy who was wrestling champ took me down in half a second. I gave up, but when he wouldn't let up, I used the same technique that I used when they tried to give me a swirly, pinching extremely painful pressure points (nuts, ears, Achilles heels, solar plexus) The wrestling guy jumped away like a scalded cat and said I cheated. I saw Michael, Joe, (from Gary) and Phil all surrounded, but after the wrestling guy walked off, the event dissipated.

Thank you, Jim German, for that recollection. It confirms that Tim Dittmer was on the stick shift. You left out the part where we all lined up beside the car outside the Dunkin Donuts while two Sheriff's Deputies counted (we could read their lips) as the 9 of you guys got out, then scattered before we could be arrested. The deputies were laughing so hard they almost fell of their chairs. The average weight of the 10 guys was 178 pounds. It was 4 in front. I like math. (boys and girls, do not try this at home!)

Editing the Internet

You may notice I revised today's post I Forget That. The beauty of the internet is it is so much easier to edit and revise than paper, carbon ribbon, and Whiteout. The beauty of Twitter is it forces me to shorten the post, and I notice that shorter versions have more power.
These insights, from the Lord, are what made me into a leading anti social social internet leader who seeks grace but struggles with pride, because I'm so talented and good looking.

I Forget That!

Sunset picture by Mary.

You, Lord, are my Teacher. I forget that. Lead me, step by step, into Truth. Keep me from deception. #rmdo #wisdompoet