First Day Alone: Dress in Black?; Devotion

This is a good picture of Mary's condo. Just add 24 inches of snow!

Mary and I enjoyed our first day in her condo by ourselves. Don has moved to California. Actually he is still on the road. Just called in from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I went out to get a haircut, picked up some Valentine’s Day cards for the grand kids and others. Mary worked on her bills then took a nap while I was out. Buster is living the dog’s life, lounging as close to Mary as he can.

Other posts from today...

I've noticed there are cycles on the Facebook/Twitter world, with surges of chatter followed by even longer periods of quiet. I enjoy everybody's posts!

I started dressing all in black when I worked in a factory where black stains jumped on me. Kept the style when I found it looks good, easy to coordinate,  it's cheap, & it fits my avitar, revmaddog. Two problems. I get called Johnny Cash. Mary throws her black clothes in my pile.

Devotional thoughts...

We are fiercely reliant on God's sustaining grace for even our recognition and our being remembered by others.

God sustains our memory of our life in the hearts of others &, if He so chooses, He can wipe our memory from the face of the Earth.

It is justice if we reject God & ignore Him in this life that He ignore us & blot out our memory in Eternity.

If I blot out God from my life, God will eradicate any memory in eternity. No loved ones will shed a tear for me as I suffer eternally, alone, & forgotten.

Psalms 1:6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

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The Football Game Parable

My life seems to be divided into 20 year quarters.

The first quarter was mostly good, except for early struggles with bullies, and my depression, which seem to be aggravated by screaming teachers. I attempted suicide in the third grade, but was obviously unsuccessful, and I never told anyone or tried it again.

Meeting, dating, and marrying Lynne and raising our family and pastoring churches from coast to coast and border to border was the second quarter, and very enjoyable. 41 years ago I received a phone call from a beautiful young lady from Chicago asking me to go to a turn about Hay ride. We were later riding in a car when she laid her head on my shoulder, told me that she loved me and gave me a kiss on our first date. 15 days later, I finally responded, by saying I love you, and I asked her to marry me. We were married for 40 years.

Lynne and I moved to Colorado Springs in 1969 to attend Nazarene Bible College. With Dave and Jane Smith we formed the Insights, a sort of unofficial college quartet. We would accompany Dr. Strickland, Dr Williamson, Ron Lush, or Dr. Newenschwander when they spoke at different churches on Sundays.

Later we re-formed with Dave Royer, and toured the Colorado area. For a brief period we traveled full time, and toured coast to coast.

I became a youth pastor, then a pastor, then a youth pastor, then back to the pastorate again. The girls joined us in singing and we became The Dittmers. I pastored in California, North Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, and Georgia.

The third quarter was a lot of work and some hard times, but God drew very close to Lynne and me and our girls, Becky and Wendy, which made it all worth while. I started a nondenominational church in Walkerton, Indiana, and had to supplement my income by working in a factory. I did both to keep the family together.

About 8 years into the 3rd quarter, Lynne was diagnosed with bladder cancer. I worked many extra hours to keep up with the extra medical bills, while our health insurance went through transitions and actually became excellent.

The girls married good men, Tim, a police officer, and Chuck, a pharmacy tech. They settled close by, and gave us incredible grandchildren, all of which Lynne enjoyed immensely. We worshiped as a family every Sunday in my Thomas Kinkade like country church, and had a Walton like Sunday dinner at our house every week.

Lynne had cancer of the bladder starting 12 years ago, and had her bladder removed, and later had her vagina removed. Around Christmas of 07 she had severe pain and swelling, almost non stop.

When the cancer doctor got involved again in Feb., 08 we began to manage the pain much better, and involved hospice in August. They were angels sent from God. My sister came for 2 months, another angel, and I took a lot of days off. Her last 6 days were bad, but God was really with us, and we had lots of help from our friends, and my girls were there constantly.

Wendy, Chuck, and Mathew moved in to help with Lynne, and later stayed to economize. I took out all of my 401k and spoiled her rotten 2 years before her death. The entire clan took a trip to Wisconsin Dells shortly before our fortieth anniversary, thanks to some generous friends who loaned us a cabin. I leaned on Him day after day, moment by moment, while the love of my life slowly withered.

Here is the strangest thing! My heart did not go numb. If anything, I hurt worse than ever, as she slowly died day by day in front of my very own eyes. God was doing miracles for others, but my own Lynne was fading, dying. But strangely, the joy of the Lord was so much greater than my grief. It was like a supernatural Chinese buffet, where the bitterness was overlaid with a deep satisfying sweetness. Lynne passed away October 12, 2008.

The 4th quarter of my life has been kicked off exactly the same way as the 2nd quarter, with a nice warm kiss in April 09 from a beautiful woman from Chicago. I met her on a Christian dating site when I asked if there was a woman out there who shared my passion for worship. I thought it was a sign from God.

She was a godly woman, but soon into our relationship, we began to struggle with compatibility issues. It was more than just personalities, but also careers, children, and in addition, I was still dealing with grief and anger issues.

I reluctantly went back to the same internet site at the very end of 09. In early January, I met a lovely lady from Michigan. Her mother had just moved nearby to Mishawaka, Indiana. On our first extended date of 4 days, I had more fun that I had had in 15 years.

One month into our friendship, we had a second longer extended date, and we found out that we were so compatible, that my daughters thought we were clones. Favorite movies, favorite foods, even our way of thinking made it a perfect fit. I proposed, and she accepted. We were married March 4th.

Mary is sweet, funny, romantic, and can be as cute as a bug, or a knock out beauty, whatever her choice is for the day. We are still looking for something to argue about, and she makes me happy 24/7. The girls, the grand kids, the son in laws, the in laws, and the church have adopted her as one of their own, for which I thank the Lord.

Mary and I are retired. We celebrated our 1st anniversary in March 2011.

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Overlooked Spiritual Weapons in Spiritual Warfare

I do understand that God is not a puppet, and prayer is not a button that we push and it always gets results. Asking God is asking, not commanding. God is the one who commands, not us.

But I do observe that we miss out on bundles of unclaimed gifts, simply because we do not ask, for if we ask not, we have not. 

And just as importantly, we often ask amiss, we miss the target, because we are asking for the big gift. We forget about God's penchant for defeating big enemies with little weapons.

Goliath, the 9 foot tall, possibly 500 pound, professional mercenary was defeated by a slight young boy barely past puberty, who was armor was the heart of a lion, a sling, 5 well picked stones, and awesome hand eye coordination.

The fiercest and most majestic military force on the face of the earth was defeated by an over qualified, eccentric shepherd who needed a long class in anger management, and possessed only a shepherd's staff and a speech impediment.

All the forces of hell and all the momentum of millenniums of social decay, and even death itself was defeated in a single day by a solitary man hanging on a lonely cross.

If you have read The Dingy Gray Locker Parable, you will know that all of the education and experience and training that I received was piddly compared to the little white box in the bottom of the locker that said I could pray for a rain of grace. That lesson, because of my lust for bigness, took me 30 years to learn.

God ask us all,"What is in your hand?" Is it a staff, a sling, the jaw bone of an ass, a stalwart right hand man, a prayer, a hymn?? That, and the Spirit of God are all you need to open prison doors, fell a giant, stop the mouth of a pride of lions, part an ocean, and send the enemy packing! 

From Southern Gospel to Worship: The Journey

My late wife Lynne and I moved to Colorado Springs in 1969 to attend Nazarene Bible College. With Dave and Jane Smith we formed the Insights, a sort of unofficial college quartet. We would accompany Dr. Strickland, Dr Williamson, Ron Lush, or Dr. Newenschwander when they spoke at different churches on Sundays. 

Later we reformed with Dave Royer, and toured the Colorado area. For a brief period we traveled full time, and toured coast to coast. 

I became a youth pastor, then a pastor, then a youth pastor, then back to the pastorate again. The girls joined us in singing and we became the Dittmers. 

We were fervent, perhaps rabid Southern Gospel fans, and for worship I played an evangelistic style with octave melody notes. I despised recorded and electronic music, until they came out with triple voicing, making electronic music more luscious than the "real" thing.

Rick, a long time friend, had become my song leader, and began to get me hooked on the new worship music. What finally reeled me in were the words of the songs. "Enough" by Chris Tomlin, as sung by the Barlowe girls became my mantra.

During my last days in the ministry, (I'm now retired!) Rick and I did a blended service combining the contemporary worship music with a couple of hymns played in the old fashioned evangelistic way (which if done right is an exciting style!) at the end of the service. Our children, whom we call worship leaders, help with the end of the service by leading the congregation in prayer from Psalm 119 and the Lords Prayer and the benediction.

I do hope you will enjoy the little walk through history. And, no, Abraham Lincoln was not one of my classmates!

A Worship Adventure: Long Black Train!

We made it to worship on time and the church building didn't collapse! This is a picture of the guest choir from Life Challenge before they sang Long Black Train!

Cause there's vict'ry in the Lord I say,
Vict'ry in the lord,
Cling to the Father and His holy name,
And don't go ridin' on that Long Black Train  

(sung this morning in the 3rd worship service of The Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brighton by The Life Challenge visiting choir)

Notes from today's sermon:

Bless his heart.  Ted Turner told a reporter If he could KNOW Jesus was God he'd become a missionary.

Missionaries are our heroes! He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain what he can not lose- Jim Elliot 

Bless in Hebrew means to kneel. Abraham both received and gave blessings, and God assures us with His word that those same blessings are both ours to receive and to give away!

If you walk into a room and see a need, meet it.

The special speaker noted that little old ladies in church can be missionaries too. Letting a child know in a small way that they are loved is a mission they can meet.

God has shown us from the beginning that He has a mission. In the beginning God created...

When we share the light of the gospel to a person in the darkness, we are helping God create light out of darkness.

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And finally, this profound thought.

Who put the bompIn the bomp bah bomp bah bomp? Who put the ram In the rama lama ding dong? Who put the bop In the bop shoo bop shoo bop? Who put the dip In the dip da dip da dip? Who was that man? I'd like to shake his hand He made my baby Fall in love with me (yeah!!)

Good night Mrs. Callahan, wherever you are!

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Want a Passion for the Word and Prayer?

My great need is to pray more and to get into God's Word more, and Psalms 119 is a powerful tool that I rely on over and over.

The structure of Psalms 119 is unique. Almost every verse is both a prayer and a comment on The Word of God, and can stand alone. There are 8 verses per grouping and each grouping starts with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet as a memory aid. 
The verses are supremely motivating to DRAW ME INTO PRAYER AND THE WORD OF GOD SIMULTANEOUSLY!

I come back to this chapter repeatedly for my meditation. I can not say enough about how motivating this chapter is, if you will pursue it like a lifetime treasure hunt!

 ¹Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

 ²Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

 ³They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

 ⁴Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

 ⁵O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

 ⁶Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

 ⁷I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.

 ⁸I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.

 ⁹Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

 ¹⁰With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

 ¹¹Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

 ¹²Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

 ¹³With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

 ¹⁴I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.

 ¹⁵I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

 ¹⁶I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

 ¹⁷Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

 ¹⁸Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

 ¹⁹I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.

 ²⁰My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.

 ²¹Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.

 ²²Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.

 ²³Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

 ²⁴Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.

 ²⁵My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

 ²⁶I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.

 ²⁷Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.

 ²⁸My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

 ²⁹Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.

 ³⁰I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me. (Psalm 119, King James Version)

Our Valentine's Day Adventure

This was originally posted February 14, 2011

 What a wonderful Valentine's Day! Woke up in the arms of the woman I love (and married!) We exchanged Valentine's Day Cards. The one I gave her played the Righteous Brother's The Unchained Melody.

We went to Palio's Italian Dining  in Ann Arbor, MI. http://www.paliorestaurant.com/

Genesis 12:1 - 7 - Passage Lookup - King James Version - BibleGateway.com

Now the LORD had said unto Abram,

God is speaking to me about this passage, that there are insights in it that will shatter some false notion(s?) that I am holding on to. I'll be looking at this passage in Genesis 12 verses 1 through 7 this week.Of course, this passage strengthens the truth that I am already holding on to. One truth I cling to is in the first verse, and God spoke to Abram. I know this to be true, FOR GOD HAS SPOKEN TO ME!

Wonderful waitress!

Second course, LaSagne for me

Cheese filled Rotini for Mary

First course- Soup for me, Salad for Mary,

Pinot Noir for both of us

Third Course - Tiramisu and coffee

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Our Ice Driving Adventure

This blog was originally posted  February 23, 2011

God was very good to us yesterday. The surgery went quickly and well, and Mary's recovery seems to be on a fast track. She took me out to Applebee's last night to celebrate how well things went.

I want to thank everybody for your prayers for Mary and the doctors. It is obvious that you prayed & your prayers were answered!

The trip in was exciting. The roads were sheet ice covered by slush, and it was difficult to stop even going at 5 mph. The traffic was bumper to bumper. 

A nice guy in front of me with all wheel drive stopped on a hill to let another driver in. I couldn't move after that for several moments because of the steepness of the hill, the slickness of the ice, and the inertia of the car.
When I did start, it took perhaps a minute to get up to the fantastic speed of 20 miles per hour. I thought I was doing badly, but when I looked behind me, no one else had moved at all!

I am so glad my dad gave me extensive lessons on driving on ice! Thank you Jesus, and thank you Dad. Even though you're in heaven, I know you're hearing this.

Besides, I told him several times on earth, right after his lessons saved either either my life or in one case, the life of a little girl. But that's another story.
By the way, all my Ad links are monetized, which means that if you click and buy, I get paid. I put in the ad about Keurig coffee because I love our Keurig coffee maker. It always makes an exceptional cup of coffee, so exceptional that I don't drink coffee outside the home, even in the nicest restaurants. Their coffee tastes poorly in comparison, including Starbucks. You will have to try it once to see what I mean.
It must be the fact that the Keurig coffee maker only brews one cup at a time, which makes it completely, totally fresh, without even a moment in a flask on the burner, because there is no burner. The coffee is brewed in less than a minute, and it only takes a few seconds to easily load a new K cup. It is, all in all, an incredible experience.
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God Speaks to Abraham!

This blog was originally published February 23, 2011

God has been compelling me to look at this passage repeatedly.

 ¹Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

 ²And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

 ³And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:1-3, King James Version)

From reading the ancient writings called The Scriptures it is abundantly obvious that God from time to time speaks to man, ie US!*

How does God choose those to whom He speaks? He speaks to those He seeks to teach.*

God speaks to those who need a lesson, or will end up being a lesson. Remember He spoke to Abram & Satan!* 

How does God choose those to whom He speaks? He speaks to those who will OBEY AND BECOME A LIVING LESSON!*

Jesus, flood my heart with You and Your grace that I might obey Your Words & glorify Your Name!*

Thank You, #Jesus, for making my life into a living #parable, patiently teaching me Who You are!*