Well, today I had a chance to be encouraged by my good friend Jason Hill. He took me to the Japanese here in Portland, OR to take some pictures. So, I thought I would share a couple of shots. The first one was taken just north of Multnomah Falls and the second at the Garden. It's good to have friends. It's nice to know the the Spirit can work in so many lives and you could lifted by the same Spirit living in you but from another life.





peace.
johno~

It's amazing how much a person can have so much and yet still find themselves empty. It can happen to anyone if they are not careful. Busy, busy, busy. Save the world. I once heard a speaker say, "If the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy." True.

I have to admit, I have had a busy year. In a total of one months time I had driven 7,766 highway miles. This doesn't include the trips back and forth to Portland, Idaho, Seattle and Canada. Then there is the standard "normal" miles you put out on your family car running errands. All I can say is, "YUCK!"

What ever happend to, "Be still and know that I am God"? I somewhere missed a memo or have gotten to caught up in doing "good" that my pouring out of ministry has left a once "cup runnith over" into an empty cup looking for another refill.

I love refills... Free refills. I hardly eat at any location that does not offer this wonderful service. But where do you go to get a "free refill" of life? Jesus said to the woman at the well, "Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 14:13-14 A spring of water welling up is greater than a normal refill.

Have you ever busted a water main? I have and when you do the only way to stop the flow is to find the source and turn it off. Did you catch the key, "turn it off." I have to admit that I have gone to the source and turned it off. I think that is my problem. I have made God a "shut off valve" so I can manage the flow. The difference between a water main and a spring welling up is design by man and design by God. Man wants to contain the flow, God's design does not allow flow control and thus our cups runnith over.

When our cups become empty, we may need to go back and find our where we placed the flow control and remove it. Whatever, is damming the waters may need to be dismantled so the abundance can find it's way into our cup.

peace.
johno~

Well, I just finished with some post production of photos while down in Slidell, LA during the Kartina relief effort. It's tough to post pictures when so many have captured images from CNN and FOX News. I have to say it was hard to take pictures. What do you say when you see them? "Nice pictures?" No.

Anyway, here are a few images we saw while helping with relief work. I hope you don't enjoy them.


"Neverland"


"Looks like a hurricane"


"Lost Treasure"


"Not Shot... Killed!"

Anyway, if anyone would like to help in this effort, contact http://www.hilltoprescue.org

peace.
johno~

What has the Spirit done today? It can be difficult when your day has been set apart for getting your home ready for winter. The temp has dropped into the 40's at night and my wife has turned the electric blanket on. Next the heaters. Winter is coming.

Still new to this blogging thing, I tried to send a message from my email with a pic of my wife having an ultra-sound... My attempts were unsuccessful. So here I am at my computer trying to catch up. It's funny to think that everyday has its events and opportunities... Miss a day and you either put people to sleep reading your blog or you become overwhelmed in trying to edit life down to a few paragraphs as you journal how the Spirit leads you in your daily walk. So... here is what I tried to email last week.



Life. Can we really understand it? Science now has the ability to capture images of life in some of its earliest stages but it cannot compare to the awesome wonder of the giver of life.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
- Jeremiah 1:5

We are known and we are set apart. This is so God. It's not just the choosing you that He would send His one and only Son to reclaim us, it is that He knows us and has set us apart.

peace.
johno~