The Keys to Unlocking Infinite Potential

There are two keys to unlocking the infinite potential in the child of God who is created in His image. One is the right key. The other is the wrong key.
The first key is two words but one key: Praise and thanksgiving. Praise is directed at the person. Thanksgiving is aimed at the action.
Praise has the power to connect you to the person you are praising. Begin to praise someone and the word gets back, and soon you find yourself being watched by the person you are praising. This is especially true of Almighty God. King David said that His God inhabits praise!
Thanksgiving clears our thinking, and especially the windows of the heart, which have the ability to see beyond the physical world. The ancient writer Paul said the windows of foolish hearts were darkened when they refused to give thanks to God, and the opposite is true also. Thank God for what he does, and Praise him for Who He is, and He will draw close to you, and you will sense Him more than before.
The other key is also a two word key, that limits the potential of the child of God. Blame and complain are the opposite of praise and thanksgiving. Blame God for the condition of the world, or your world, and/or complain constantly about how hard your life is, and you risk the anger of God. 
The Hebrew children were almost cut off from the Promised Land because of their constant complaining to God. 
The man who buried his investment because His Lord, in his words, "was a hard hearted Lord" was sent away to everlasting punishment.
Use the key of praise and thanksgiving to open your infinite potential. Take the key of blame and complain and flush it to where the sun never shines.

Hell and Infinity

To understand Hell, we have unplug from the finite and begin to stretch our minds around the Infinite.
In this world All punishments are finite. It may be painful, devastating, limiting, crippling, but in this life it is always FINITE. The punishment will end, either by the length of the sentence, or by death.
Punishments are also limited in capacity. Go so far into pain, and the human mind overloads, and we sink into unconsciousness. Our human bodies have only so many nerve endings, and there is only so much time.
But in the spiritual world, because we have INFINITE potential, to be punished in Hell means an ever growing capacity for pain, not limited by our physical being, and not limited by time.
The pain of those we injured or mislead becomes our pain. The rich man was fearful of his brothers coming to Hell because he knew he was being held accountable for their lack of salvation.
God always pays back more than was paid in. For the giver, this is great news, for God has promised reaping 30, 60, and 100 times what we have given to others.
But He has also promised to double the punishment of the unbeliever. Double, quadruple, and even 7 fold are the terms of His payback. Every pain that the lost sinner has inflicted by intent or neglect will be heaped onto the already infinite punishment for turning his back on God's great Gift.
The spirit, soul, heart, and even the resurrected body of the lost sinner will continue to grow, to make connections, to begin to realize it's infinite potential. Even the number of nerve endings will grow.
But there will be no grace and beauty in Hell. Instead, there will be an infinitely growing realization of the pain the sinner has cause to others by neglecting his or her duty to share the good news of Salvation.

The pain of others will become the pain of the lost sinner, not in some fuzzy sense of regret, but in a FEARFUL total compassion that will never end, or lessen. but increase moment by moment throughout ETERNITY.

Capacity, Potential, Infinite

There is a difference between capacity and potential. An (most?) adult(s) has(ve) the capacity to drive a car. A child has the potential to drive a car someday. Couple this thought with infinite, and you may begin to grasp the spiritual world. 

We are created in God's image, therefore we have infinite potential to accomplish and be great in the spiritual world. 
There is only One Being with Infinite Capacity. To try to assume any of His duties of judgement, salvation, lordship, wisdom is a thousand times more dangerous than a 2 year old child driving a car on a rush hour freeway!

Grand sons, Transformers, Imagination

In 2009 Allie videod her brother Zach and cousin Mathew showing off how they would be Transformers.

Multitasking, Potty Training, Baking Muffins

My daughter Wendy was and is so good at multi tasking. Here she is baking muffins and training Mathew on the potty at the same time.

Caterpillars, butterflies, homeschooling

My daughter is homeschooling her children. An on going science project is the study of butteflies and caterpillars. We are looking at a Monarch and a Black Swallowtail caterpillars.

Bass Lure Video, Fishing Stories

My son in law was in a rare talkative mood about a subject he's passionate about - fishing. He was so eloquent, I thought I'd video this rare moment.

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#rmdo Blankenship Reunion

First meal was at Smokey Bones! Yummm!

When I married into Mary's family I married into the tradition of going to the Blankenship Family Reunion every summer in Sprinfield, Illinois. Mary's mother, Almeda, is 86, and this year her children Dave, Lois, and Mary escorted her to the Reunion. I tagged along.

The Reunion centers around the 13 children of Elizabeth Blankenship, who mas married twice.

Almeda and Denzil, her half sister.

Almeda and her children, David, Lois, and my wife Mary, all had a delightful time at the Blankenship Family Reunion. Almeda was one of 13 children, the oldest sister and surrogate mom for the younger siblings. Mary remembers coming to the Reunion for perhaps 30 years.

David has been coming for 5 years, taking Mom and sometimes Mary with him. Last year was my first year, since I joined the family by marriage.

Saturday night Almeda's clan met at the motel, then walked over to Smokey bones for our first meal together.

Sunday at noon we all met one of the Springfield Parks for the reunion.

Bill is the spotlight of the Reunion!

David, Lois, Mary, their mother Almeda, and myself finished the day at Applebee's just across the road from the Comfort Suites here in Springfield. We ate light, had salads, took half of it home, but couldn't resist the deserts. Mary and I had the apple pie al a mode, Dave had the triple chocolate melt down with ice  cream, while Lois and Almeda had the warm brownie bites with ice cream.

Bill sings to his sister Almeda while
sister Denzil listens

Monday we had breakfast at IHOP, the Almeda's clan joined me as I searched for my Mom and Dad's grave site. Imagine our surprise when we discovered the two clans burial plots, Dittmer/Sinclair and the Blankenships, were at the same cemetery, and separated by only 50 yards! (Remember, Mary and I met on the interenet in our 60's, after our first spouses had passed away. She is from Michigan, and I am from Indiana.)

Linda, the youngest Blankenship sibling,
is close to Mary's age, her niece!

The Blankenship family met on Monday night at Ryan's Steak House. Bill sang a very touching song to Almeda at the end of the dinner.

"A good time was had by all!"

Mary's family visiting
 my families grave site.

Breakfast at IHOP

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Feverfew for Headaches

Have you ever heard of the herb Feverfew for untreatable headaches? Works 80% of the time, but must be taken daily, and sometimes takes two weeks or LONGER to see results. My late wife Lynne would get control of her migraines by taking it and then quit, then after a while the migraines would come back and she'd start up again, each time the headaches would quit sooner, and stay away longer. The last time she quit, they never came back.
Some Facebook friends commented on Feverfew:
Renee' Barnes: I take it and it works for me like nothing else. As your wife, I started out with a daily dose. Now I just take it at the first sign of an occular and the headache (usually) never even comes. If I find I'm having issues, I just take it for a week or so, then go back to the "as needed" schedule. Great stuff!
Daniel Guzman: Thanks Mike, I will pass the info to someone I know that has had really bad headaces for the last 8 yrs.
Mary Tonis Bencie: Indeed it worked for me!


I don't mean to brag but.... well, maybe I AM bragging. My Amazing Amazon estore has 217 selections of feverfew, an effective herbal relief for constant headaches!
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Pray for Selena

Selena Dittmer Boyts, her husband Christopher
and the newest member Annabella Christine

Continue to pray for my niece Selena Dittmer Boyts who was recently put back in the hospital with hemmoraging. She recently had her first baby, a beautiful girl named Annabella Christine Boyts.
To deal with her continued bleeding, the doctors performed a heart breaking surgery on Selena. She waited so long to have a child of her own, and Annabella will be her first and last child. Thank God for Annabella's good health. Keep Annabella Boyts, Selena Boyts, and all of my brother Ted Dittmer's family in your prayers.

Thoughts On Home Schooling

If you help a child discover their passion, as God helped me with mine, you don't work hard to motivate them, you work hard to keep up. Every child has a passion, because God is a passionate God about life, and we're created in His image. Of course, before I helped my children discover their passion, I had to discover mine.
Just thought I'd add that there is the hard work that comes with trying to stay ahead of your children's passionate interests, and there is also the hard work of keeping up with the expectations of others. The latter is totally unnecessary. Have faith in the process that God Himself designed, and trust in the image of God built into your children. You are doing better than you know, and when you relax in Him you'll do better yet. Hope this helps.
Been there, done that, heard it (about the flack you get when you decide to home school your children) Homeschooling was viewed much more skeptically over 20 years ago. I lost several school teachers that attended my church at the time. Now they are our biggest fans.
When we started homeschooling the children, we didn't have the money for tuition at even a low cost school. Lynne had started her battle with cancer, so her endurance was limited. We had to pray through until God revealed the answer to us, that parents don't teach, children learn. In fact, God warns all of the church about every one desiring to become a teacher, which displaces the Holy Spirit as THE TEACHER (see James). We must have an aptitude to teach, but always remember that whatever we can do, God can do better, and He should always have the first shot.


I also had some thoughts on home schooling in this blog:
My Home Schooled Sports Freak Grand Daughters

What Parable Promoters Need to Know

What Parable Promoters Need to Know!

Very early I selected both Amazon and Google as the organizations I would like to have support my blog, because of their stellar reputations. I was delighted to find out they were willing to sponsor my blog.

Click and buy on any of the Google ad links and Google supports my blog. Buy anything from my stores, 
including the endless shoe and clothing store with free shipping US and International, and free return shipping USA, 
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If you're going to shop anyway, shop here and become a Parable Promoter! 
Remember, you have go to the stores through my blog, so that The Shepherd's Heart Journal receives credit for the purchase.  Click on any of the banners here or on my blogs and you'll be directed to the appropriate store. Remember to bookmark the page!
Thank you, and God bless the Parable Promoters!
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A Note to a Soldier

A young friend of mine, James Hittle, (the boy from The Parable of the Snowmobile ) is going into the Marines. He invited me to his farewell party. Of course, I wrote him a note.
James,
God is at work in your life. let Him also work in your heart. Let Jesus be the only One you surrender to.
Mary's prayers, my prayers, and God's Presence will always be with you.


Can you read? Thank a teacher. Can you read English? Thank a Marine!! -unknown
Marines are soldiers with a shepherd's heart. Shepherds run towards attacking wolves, lions, and bears. Marines run toward the attacking enemy.
Jesus ran towards the Cross.
Follow the Master Shepherd, the Warrior-King Jesus!

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