Journalling and Defining

One of the most powerful tools available to every parent, leader, and influencer is the process of defining.
Jesus used this when teaching His Disciples. "Whom do men say that I am?!" is THE question Jesus asked that became a turning point in their understanding. It's a good question to ask each other today. "Who is Jesus?"
The first teaching assignment given was when God the Father asked Adam to name all the animals. By naming them, Adam defined them.
Journals, and it's cousins, oral storytelling and also scrap booking (including Facebook?!), force the mind to focus on definitions.
Learning the language of music, science, and math is the foundation and the heavy lifting of each of these fields.
"What did you see, my child?" sounds like a kung-fu cliche, but it explains the power of these disciplines, which, coincidentally, uses the same root word as discipleship. 
This is also why I use Facebook as a journal. I know my interests are broad,and not everyone is interested in what I am interested in, but I journal as much to clear my own mind, forcing me to focus on defining what I see.
Words are power. Nothing is more powerful than the Living and Written Word. Nothing defines God more clearly than the event called the Crucifixion and Resurrection. It explains why I, too, am a disciple, a disciple of Christ.
And nothing gives me more joy, than when I can encourage you, my fellow disciples and friends in Christ.

Normal

In my family normal is relative, and my relatives aren't normal.

BOM BOM BOM BOM

Me: I'm looking for..?
Mary: TROUBLE??!!
Mary and I in unison, singing the bass guitar solo: BOM BOM BOM BOM!!
(well, you've come to the right place!)
Great minds..

The Infinite Potential of Simple Tools

The infinite potential of simple tools: (‪#‎homeschool‬, ‪#‎grace‬ ‪#‎christianworkers‬ ‪#‎worldchangers‬)
Imagine the delight and surprise of Moses when the staff he had in his hand turned into a serpent. He was sent by God to the greatest military power of the time, Egypt, on a mission.
LET MY PEOPLE GO!
He was doing what humans do best, whining. But God asked him a question that I will also ask you now.
WHAT IS IN YOUR HAND?
Never underestimate the power of the simple tools God has given you.
Moses used that staff at the command of God to reveal to Pharaoh that God's power is greater than the power of any nation. 
The staff turned to a serpent in front of a skeptical Pharaoh. When the counselors of Pharaoh duplicated the trick with their staffs. the staff-serpent of Moses ate their serpents!!
When Pharaoh thought he had the Hebrew children cornered against the Red Sea, Moses lifted the staff in prayer, and the sea parted! When Pharaoh pursued, Moses again lifted the staff and prayed, and the sea consumed all the chariots, the horses, the soldiers.
Ever hear of David's slingshot? Samson's jawbone of an ass? Gideon's fleece? The wicker basket that saved baby Moses? 
God delights in using the small, the despised, the overlooked to reveal His strength. The BEST example is the baby Jesus, Who went on to destroy the forces of Hell and Death.
When Lynne and I started on the journey of homeschooling, back when almost everybody disapproved, when it was questioned by friends, family, and the law, these stories strengthened us to move ahead. 
We didn't have the money to participate in private schools or homeschool organizations. But we knew we had a powerful tool in our hands. That tool was the children themselves, made in the image of God the Father, with built in tools that have infinite power in themselves. Every child has the power of observation, the power of comparison, the power of connection, the power of language.
The power of language is the basis of music, the basis of code for computers, and part of the power of math.
The power of comparison, along with language starts everyone down the pathway of math, algebra, trigonometry, calculus. One is more than zero, another word for nothing. One is less than two. Again, these simple comparisons and language lessons called math have INFINITE POTENTIAL.
Find what excites your little living, breathing, curious, energetic, question asking child made in the image of God and you will have all you can handle to keep up with them.
Be encouraged, brother and sister in Christ. There are great days ahead for you. God has already placed in your hand the weapon that will give you victory!

Best Spot

Once I lost my 2 coolant testers, so I went to the auto parts store and bought another. After I was finished I thought, "Where is the very best place to store this where I'll be sure to find it?" When I went to that spot, I found the other two testers.

The Pablo Montez Junior Story

The Pablo Montez Junior Story

by Pablo Montez

What I Was

When I was 8 years I started smoking.

At 10 years old I was molested and ashamed, and at 11 years old I started sniffing glue.

At 12 I was stealing cars, breaking into homes, and having sex. I started running away from home, skipping school, and having sex. I was locked up in juvenile homes and put in a foster home.

At 16, along with 6 other teenagers I was in a car accident at the speed of 120 mph. Five were killed. Only two survived - the driver and me.

At 17 I was arrested for breaking into a place of business while carrying a gun. This was my first time in an adult institution.

I got caught selling and doing drugs, and was again locked up in the Detroit House of Correction.

At 21 I began a long addiction to heroin, then cocaine, and then for 20 years I was addicted to crack cocaine.

By the time I was 50 years old I had lost everything - my wife, my home, my job, and most of my family.

I was $25,000 in debt. I was broke to my knees. I was missing something in my life and I had nowhere to turn to but God and His Son Jesus Christ. My life was empty.

What I Am

On a July Sunday morning in 2006 I went to a church.  I started attending faithfully. I got into the choir and started working in the food pantry, feeding people less fortunate than I. Like Paul the Apostle, I felt that I was the biggest sinner of all.

As I kept attending church and doing his work, I felt changes within myself. I no longer needed drugs to find satisfaction. I now had a joy that was springing up from within.

As Jesus was changing my life, my mind, heart, and soul, and my thoughts, the Lord me led to Fellowship Baptist Church. As I attended church the Lord directed me into doing the bus ministry - picking up children to bring them to know the Lord.

I am not where I should be, but I am not where I was. Each day I feel the Lord changing me as I pray and read His Word.

Christ Made the Difference

Jesus Christ made all the difference in my life. Since I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and let Him take control of my life, my life has not been the same. My life is worth living now.

If I wasn't walking with Jesus Christ, I would either be a drug addict.. 

or in jail..

or dead and hell bound.

With Jesus Christ in my life, I wake up happy with joy and peace that Jesus Christ gives me.

All the drugs in the world could not replace the joy, happiness, and peace that Jesus Christ gives me.

There is ONE WAY to have Eternal Life.

You must be BORN AGAIN. 

No Priest, Pastor, or Preacher, not even the Pope can get you into Heaven.

You must be BORN AGAIN.

How can you be born again? Know this:

Eternal life is a gift. We don not deserve it and we can not earn it.

"the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23b

"for by grace are ye saved through faith.. it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8,9

All are sinners and under God's judgement

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:10
"For the wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23b

Christ paid the penalty for our sin

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

We receive eternal life by receiving Christ

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." John 1:12
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Contact me at 313-748-2070. To listen to a dramatic presentation of my story, go to
http://unshackled.org/media/2013/pgm_040713.asx
http://unshackled.org/media/2013/pgm_041413.asx

I wrote this down, with Pablo's permission, from his tract by the same name.  Mary and I met Pablo at the Big Boy Restaurant in South Lyon Michigan and became friends. - Mike Dittmer

#rmdo Johnny Depp, Tonto and The Lone Ranger, and Rick Van Wechel #humor #inspiration

This post is in appreciation of my friend Rick Van Wechel, who ministered by my side as my Minister of Music for 2 decades and worked along side me, then as my boss for over a decade.
He was the Tonto that came to the rescue of The Lone Ranger, me.. repeatedly, quietly, almost supernaturally.
After recently watching The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp, (a movie I am moving into my special list of THE TOP FIVE MOVIES OF ALL TIME), almost everything applies to Rick and I except that the insanity of Johnny Depp's Tonto and the straight thinking of Armie Hammer's Lone Ranger are reversed.
I am certifiably insane, but his thinking is always reality based.
From music to mechanics, he is gifted in all things.
He was always there at the right time with the right stuff.
He has a sense of humor that would make Johnny Depp seem dull witted.
However, he never used the word kemo sabe.. but I could say it of him now.

In Potawatomi it means FAITHFUL FRIEND.

Rick leading the music at Family Bible Fellowship, the church Lynne, my late wife, and I founded. That's me at the keyboard.

#rmdo My friend Pablo's Story #inspiration

Pablo Montez, along with another of our favorite waitresses, back in the days when Big Boy had a restaurant in South Lyon. Pablo now works at Brighton's Big Boy, and Michelle Johnson, another dear friend of ours, works at The Red Robin next door.

My friend Pablo Montez , who worked at South Lyon Big Boy, has a wonderful story, a testimony that gives Glory to God. It was made into a play on Unshackled, a ministry that takes the true stories of redeemed Christians and makes them into radio dramas. Here is a link to Part One which played on April 7th. Please share this with your circle of friends. 
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/unshackled/listen/program-3247-pablo-montez-part-1-328577.html
Here is Part 2 of Pablo's Story:
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/unshackled/listen/program-3248-pablo-montez-part-2-328573.html

Pablo won The People's Choice Award
for Wait Staff in South Lyon, Michigan, USA. Way to go, Pablo!!

#rmdo Michigan: Weird #fringe #alternateuniverse #humor

Poor Peter Bishop! He has to cross to an alternate universe to find Olivia Dunham, the woman he loves. 
I only had to go to Michigan to find Mary, the woman I love. 
To a Hoosier boy, Michigan IS an alternate universe. #rmdo