Personally, I believe in..  one God and He is the God of our Bibles.  I believe He is personal and His love and grace for each of us is beyond my comprehension.  I believe He is omniscient, omnipresent, and the creator of this vast universe that astronomers and Captain Kirk boldly pursue. 

I believe there is a way to God and it is through Jesus Christ the son of God (John 14:6), and that finding Jesus and accepting Him as our savior is the most personal eternity changing discovery anyone can make.

Jesus loves me this I know..  and Amazing Grace how sweet the sound.  The first is a classic children’s song/truth and the second is one of the great hymns/truths of our Christian faith.  To know these songs and to live them is life, and everything else is .. trivial pursuit.

​No, this email is not about Al Gore, Global Warming, or Big Al’s Oscar Award Winning Documentary.

But on an awkwardly ironically amusing side note there was a North Pole expedition in 2007 meant to bring attention to Global Warming but was called off after one of the explorers got frostbite. The explorers, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen called off what was intended to be a 530-mile trek across the Arctic Ocean after Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold temperatures drained the batteries in some of their electronic equipment.  -- read FROSTBITE.. but I digress.


But for me the real inconvenient truth America does not like to hear is.. THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD!  Our Oprah Winfrey-esk society passionately believes in respecting all gods (note the small g) at the expense of compromising honor and worship due to the one TRUE God of our Bibles. 

I checked Google last night and discovered August 14th is the birthday of a number of significant men.

Happy 33rd Birthday wishes to Heisman Trophy winning football player Tim Tebow! I have such admiration for this true man of God.
Happy 70th Birthday wishes to American cartoonist and creator of The Far Side cartoon series Gary Larson! As a cartoonist, The Far Side cartoons are simply my favorite.
Happy 118th Birthday wishes to my Grandpa John Ross! Grandpa Ross passed away a number of years ago at the age of 92?  But this true Northern Wisconsin character was always special to me .. as I was born on his birthday.. soooo..
Happy 63rd Birthday wishes to me! I am neither famous or infamous.. but it still is my birthday, and my blog so there.

Now while I am a nobody to most everybody, I am somebody to my wife Mary, my grown kids Curtis, Nathan, and Erin.  And my Grandkids Everett 9, Greyleigh 6, Leighton 4, and Reagan 2 think I am somebody, and they ALL are somebody to me.  I am even hopeful I am somebody to my daughter in-laws Laura, and Kendra.. even if sometimes I am just somebody who bugs them.  But hey, that's the job of this Father in-law.  No one told me I had to be a pest.. I just thought it was my duty.

So I am taking a day, today, August 14th to celebrate 63 years that have included watching Tim Tebow play ball, Gary Larson draw toons, Grandpa Ross smoke his pipe, and then 36+ years blessed with the best wife EVER (but don't tell her), three kids I am so proud of, grandkids I love to tiny bits and pieces, and my daughter inlaws to pester and tease. 

What else could a man want?   Oh I know.

I would want to be the football fan of 13 time NFL champion, and four time Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers  which is 4 more than let's say.. the Minnesota Vikings... just sayin'

Today, I am sharing a memory from a couple summers before all things COVID-19 when LIFE began FLASHING before my eyes.

(dateline: 8/13/2018)
Life Flashing before my eyes.. 
In 7 short days I have experienced highs and lows, laughter and tears, life and death.  I know most of all of us  have weeks like this, but  last  week was  my turn.

On Tuesday August 9th my Aunt Marie passed away unexpectedly at the age of 87. She was very special to me, Marie (known as Babe) was loved and will  be missed of course by family and friends.  We all grieve and are sad for our loss, but celebrate her arrival to Heaven where she is  reunited with family,  friends, and  most importantly JESUS. 

The ants go marching one by one hooray! hooray! The marching of the little people is what makes this world work.  You see there are presidents, kings, superstar athletes, CEOs of major corporations, and then there is me.  There are men of great strength, Hollywood celebrities, super models, great authors, and there is me.

So where do you fit into this world? Are you a superstar or a worker bee?  Do you run a major corporation or are you just part of life's ant farm?   Truth is I like it here on the farm.  Just another face in the sea of faces.. and you know what they say.. all ants look alike. 

I have not polled any ants or bees, but I think the message they have is being about the business that needs to be done, and not being jealous of the queen bees or the bossy foreman of your ant farm staff.
​
​So how does that fit in with the body of Christ?  Selfless service and simply doing what needs to be done no matter if you are the next Billy Graham, the next church janitor, or even.. a cartoonist! ​

Whether you are the head of a corporation, work in the mail room, or a server at the local pie shop.  What if you are a mom buried with the responsibilities of caring for your preschool children, or a teacher of 4th graders, or a senior widow woman slowed by old age?  All one body of many parts, and all parts important. 1 Corinthians 12

The list of possibilities go on and on.. , BUT.. 

• What if each of us were selfless?  Romans 12:5
• What if we really believed this life was only a stepping stone to eternity in Heaven then what would it matter the recognition, what would it matter our bank account balance?  1 Corinthians 15:52
• What if we were each faithful in the moment to our neighbors in need, and not worried about our status and recognition in this life?  Matthew 22:36-39

What a life this could be if we were all happy living in God's ant farms or being His little worker bees. A life not burdened with the status of man but instead living for the Kingdom of God.

 God's Bugs? what a high calling!  Maybe the bar should set a bit higher, lest the classic Hymns for us 'bugs' be The Ants Go Marching One By One, Hooray! and the Flight of the Bumblebee.

note: This is not a call to a life of underachievement where you settle for less than what God has called you, but simply a call to be useful and to serve as God leads in the moments that make up each day.

My prayer for each of today is to be true to who God made us.  This makes God smile, and leads us to a place of contentment and success.

Blessings

Jeff ( a bit buggy ) Larson

​So.. in conclusion.. Happy Anniversary to Mary.. and me-self! How time flies when you are marry the right woman. 

Proverbs 31:10 An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.

Jeff (I found a gem) Larson

​

Where do you think you are going or 'yer goin' for us rednecks at heart?  Honest question that can be asked of most of us.  And many times the answer is.. "you can't get there from here."

This question holds true on many a road trip where I became lost, or took what I thought was short cut. 
This is true for many a college graduate looking for a high paying job in Corporate America with a Masters degree in 'Cartoon Art History' with a minor in 'Bagpiping'. Or that
mountain climber aspiring to climb Mt. Everest, but afraid to leave his home state of Nebraska.  or
taking a road trip from California to Hawaii.

In all these cases and more.. the answer is .. you can't get there from here. While these may be absurd and hopefully amusing examples, there is a more alarming examples in today's culture. ​

If I remember correctly, today (August 8th) is the birthday of my good Richard (Dick) Ludzack, and Dick was 6 days my senior as I was born on August 14th. He was a lifelong friend as we grew up in the same home town and attended the same church, played sports together, and both participated in each other's weddings.  Dick passed away suddenly a number of years ago, and at that time I wrote my own memorial of his life.  I would like to share it again today about a life well lived.

THE ONLY CHOICE THAT MATTERS 10/12/2003
I traveled home yesterday to visit my mom and was greeted by the news that a life long friend of mine was killed the day before in a work related accident. This friend was Dick Ludzack, and his dad Karl Ludzack also passed away last January. Please pray for Dick’s wife Tammy, his kids, and for his 10 other brothers and sisters, and mom. It is kind of news that knocks the wind out of his many friends, and hits even much closer to home for his family.

Dick was a great guy, and though we have not talked all that often in the last few years.. I consider him a true friend. He was a good man who loved God and his family.

Dick was one of the guys that as a youth I sat with in the Back Pew of the church. He was also one of us guys that could not sing. NONE OF US COULD. We called it the sin of our parents. You know, when the people asked Jesus why a certain man was blind.. was it because of his own sin or the sin of his parents?? Well there was a core group of guys in our church, and NONE were blessed with the ability to sing. Some of us sang… but we pushed THE JOYFUL NOISE UNTO THE LORD concept to it’s limits. So the joke among a few of us guys was.. Jesus was it our own sins, or the sin of our parents why we can’t sing? The answer we have concluded.. was.. IT MUST BE OUR PARENTS. Lol

So back to the serious sobering point of these days. Dick was a good man, a good family man, and faithful to God. Though he will be missed.. Dick’s life was a success. Never to trivialize the loss to his family, and friends, but Dick lived his life right.. he loved the Lord, and is in Heaven now.  Dick who lived only to be 46 (same age as me) was faithful with the time he had on Earth.

None of us know how long we have here in this world that is a blend of joy and pain. Where there is so much good, and so much tragedy.. so in the end it ETERNALLY makes a difference the choices you make in life. Dick chose wisely.

I pray we are faithful in making the same decision. May the Lord protect each of you.. may he give us all the perspective that is only his.. may his comfort and love be felt by us all, and may we all know Jesus. 

Blessings!!
​
Jeff

​My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.  For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”  James 2:2-3

 James 2:2-3 This is how it looks for me in Minnesota-->