To all the graduates of H.S (public, private or home school) Jr. College, Trade College or University, I would like to say CONGRATULATIONS! You have put in long, hard years of study and made friends along the way. As you walk through this threshold and enter a new phase of your life, you can do so with confidence.

God bless each of you,

Randy

I heard this morning that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is to make an announcement today. He is expected to be leaving the race team that his father started. Seams that the company was left to his step-mother. It is reported to be common knowledg that they are not on good terms. He may start his own team or he may look for another team to drive for. If he starts his own team, we may not see or hear of him driving for a while. It has been reported that NASCAR makes it pretty tough on new teams to protect the existing teams.

I can hardly wait. I'm taking my oldest grandson fishing on Sat. Blake is 5 & this will be his first fishing trip. I had a place picked out where we could fish from the bank that is pretty wide open and safe. We've had so much rain recently that it's probably going to be too muddy for that place. My next choice is a catfish farm where they charge to fish. I frown a little at that idea because that's not really fishing, but I do want to be reasonably sure that he will catch something. I'm taking the video cam too. He will spend the night on Friday & just the two of us will go Sat. morning. I told him about it on Sunday and he wanted to go right then. It's going to be great.

They are down 2-3 against Golden State. I still think they will pull it out. They play at Golden State Thursday. These late games are killing me though. Last night's game ended just before 12 midnight. Oh well, it's not the first time that I've been thought of as being off my rocker. Most people hate the Mavericks because of Mark Cuban the owner. He is a jerk but I still hope they win.

Randy

One of my greatest joys in life is spending time with my grandsons. They call me Papa and they call my wife Mimi. I have always been fond of the name Papa; it is very similar to what the Bible refers to when it uses the phrase Aba Father. Proverbs 17:6 has become one of my favorite verses. It says, “Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.” Blake, the oldest is 5, and Morgan will be 2 on May 5th. We just celebrated Morgan’s birthday on Sunday afternoon. His mom (our oldest daughter) gave him a Thomas The Train party. We also went over Saturday afternoon to spend time with the boys while their mom finished getting ready for the party. I love to get down in the floor with them and let them climb all over me. We have a blast. I have always called Blake my “buddy-boy”. Now he insists that Morgan is my “buddy-boy” too. My wife calls them both “sweet pea.” My youngest daughter that lives about 6 hours away has just found out that she is expecting a girl this summer. We are sooooo excited. She will be our “little princess.” What a wonderful blessing and a delight it is to be able to love on them and influence them as they grow up. God truly is good!

Randy

Here are a few One Liners that I like.

If at first you don’t succeed, don’t try skydiving.

Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.

Never answer an anonymous letter.

Save the whales. Collect the whole set.

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

National Atheist’s Day: April 1st.

Work is for people who don’t know how to fish.

I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.

Campers: Nature’s way of feeding mosquitoes.

Eat right. Stay fit. Die anyway.

For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism.

Life is too complicated in the morning.

Corduroy pillows: They're making headlines!

Who is “General Failure” and why is he reading my hard drive?

Few women admit their age; few men act it.

HE LOVES YOU: In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1John 4:9)

God's love for us is far greater that our human minds can comprehend. He allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to come to this earth and live among us completely free from sin. Then the only man that knew no sin suffered and died on the cross of Calvary as payment for our sins.

HE DELIVERS FROM DARKNESS: God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1John 1:5) According to Colossians 1:13, God can deliver us from the power of darkness. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1John 1:8)

In the Bible, darkness represents sin and light represents righteousness (right living). We need to be completely honest and realize that we have a problem with sin. We can try to resolve to live better and that's good, but we do not have the ability within ourselves to overcome sin in our lives. Often we fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to those around us, therefore, we don't look so bad. We need to compare ourselves to God's standard. We can get an idea of God's standards of how we should live our lives from the 10 Commandments. Here are some examples. We are not to lie. Have you ever told a lie? We are not to steal. Have you ever taken anything that didn't belong to you? We are not to commit adultery. I know, you are probably thinking, "I haven't done that", however, Jesus said if anyone looks on someone with lust in their heart that it is the same as committing adultery with them. God's standards of right and wrong are much higher than ours. The Bible says that we will be judged by God's standards. In fact, the Bible says that we will all stand before God and give an account of our lives.

Maybe it's time to reevaluate our lives based on God's standard? It certainly gives you something to think about.
Your comments and questions are appreciated.

Randy