Billy's Captures

Prayer…Why do I not practice it more?

2009-07-06T22:19:00.001-04:00

"Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" Genesis 18:17

Its Delights. This chapter brings out the delight of real friendship with God as compared with occasional feelings of His presence in prayer. To be so much in contact with God that you never need to ask Him to show you His will, is to be nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you are rightly related to God, it is a life of freedom and liberty and delight, you are God's will, and all your common-sense decisions are His will for you unless He checks. You decide things in perfect delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will always check; when He checks, stop at once.

Its Difficulties. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He was not intimate enough yet to go boldly on until God granted his desire, there was something yet to be desired in his relationship to God. Whenever we stop short in prayer and say - "Well, I don't know; perhaps it is not God's will," there is still another stage to go. We are not so intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as He wants us to be - "That they may be one even as we are one." Think of the last thing you prayed about - were you devoted to your desire or to God? Determined to get some gift of the Spirit or to get at God? "Your Heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him." The point of asking is that you may get to know God better. "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Keep praying in order to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.

Oswald Chambers

That God should hang in the thought—atmosphere like a windmill, waiting till men enough should combine and send out prayer in sufficient force to turn his outspread arms, is an idea too absurd. God waits to be gracious not to be tempted. A man capable of proposing such a test, could have in his mind no worthy representative idea of a God, and might well disbelieve in any: it is better to disbelieve than believe in a God unworthy. More from this text

George Macdonald

Anna Maria Island

2009-07-02T08:43:00.006-04:00

The beach has been lovely so far this week. There have been plenty of storms and The waves have been fun to play in!

Bees Again!

2009-06-25T11:38:00.004-04:00

We have had bees on and off at out home for more than 5 years now. At first it was a bit frightening but I have grown to cherish having a hive or 2 around. They are a constant reminder of how great our creator is!

I have a friend with an HD camera but I cannot get him to come over and get some truly stunning video of these guys.

Tiny Harvest.

2009-06-23T09:03:00.002-04:00

Brett, Mikhail, Jake & Cade on wheels

2009-06-21T22:33:00.002-04:00

It Got A Little Raccoony Around Here

2009-06-20T20:22:00.002-04:00

VBS Dinner and Presentation

2009-06-20T07:51:00.001-04:00

Wow what a production. They were not just going through the motions. As pastor Craig Rees mentioned they had passion.

The dinner was great as well. Very cozy like an outdoor cafe along the water at Sydney Harbor!

The drama was preformed excellently and the message was simple and profound!

South Tampa Fellowship VBS Has from the very beginning always been a special blessing. It has all the elements conducive to Kingdom living. Everyone has great motives and attitude and every one is volunteer. Surely one of the reason it is always such a success has to be all those mothers from church who give there all for not just the children God has placed in their own homes but all the children of the church and community!

Glory to God for His truth that makes times like these in our lives possible!

Craig mentioned a visit by Ken Hartley during our Frontliners event. I googled him and here is a sample.

South Tampa Fellowship VBS Day 5

2009-06-19T13:05:00.001-04:00

Well day five was a delight for sure! So let’s celebrate the little people who might not have made this event possible but were at least honest enough to always express there true feelings about this years VBS.

You are going home.

2009-06-18T23:55:00.001-04:00

I sit at the base of an old Oak with a funny little four year olds face not six inches from my own whiskered face. In no time at all I am heading toward old. The lad says, “you are going home”. I reply, “I will when it is time to but that is not for a while”. “You are going home”, he repeats. He makes this statement at least ten times with a few variations. “You live in an apartment”, I am not sure if this is a statement or a question. “ I live in a house”, I say. “A big house”, he says. “No a medium house”, I say.

I do not know for sure what he wanted to hear me say. He repeats the statement again but adds that it will be midnight when I go home. I consider what the Lord would have me say when he finally says, “ I will never see you again”. This is a wise child. It is the kind of wisdom that comes with tragedy but I do not know what he has experienced. I tell him that for every one of us looking into the eyes of another it is a true statement that we may not see each other again. It was decades ago that I considered this for myself and made the decision to treat each meeting with another as if it would be my last. It has helped me with those who would be my enemies and those who are true friends. I touch people and encourage every chance I get.

Home is brotherhood with Jesus. Home is the presence of God our Father in every moment of our lives. Home is not a place alone but a place together with God. Home is being the family of God.

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 14:1-6

An hour before this encounter I drove by the house of a couple who is breaking up. The sight of the structure brought to mind the emptiness that a divorce brings to a once husband and wife. I also consider the profound insecurities experienced by any children they share. The dwelling place is not the home it is the relationship within the dwelling that makes it home.

I want to always be at home and if I look to the Lord each day that is exactly where I stay. An added blessing I have experienced is realizing that when you are at home with the Lord no matter where you are you find yourself at home with others. So much so that they might even wonder what home is and ask you about it.

South Tampa Fellowship VBS Day 4

2009-06-18T14:24:00.004-04:00

Day four is the day when everything is firing on all cylinders and everyone is fully loving this gift of life God has given. Tomorrow it will all be over. I am amazed every time at the week of genuine Christian fellowship that VBS sets into motion.

The volunteers work tirelessly.

The little people have a joyful time.

Everyone is the best of friends.

The most unlikley characters can be seen carefully holding a newborn baby.

We had a visit from some rare creatures from Lowery Park Zoo. They were a huge hit and really hammed it up for the kids!

One of our fishers of men netted his male offspring. See you all tomorrow!

South Tampa Fellowship VBS Day 3

2009-06-17T13:23:00.002-04:00

Get the picture.

South Tampa Fellowship VBS Day 2

2009-06-16T15:25:00.006-04:00

It is getting wacky in the Outback I tell you and we are all loving it!

Check out the VBS label for past events

Here is the Recreation gang

Vacation Bible School at South Tampa Fellowship

2009-06-15T15:31:00.002-04:00

We are off to a roaring start at STF Ballast Point! We have tons of enthusiastic little people and plenty of volunteers. Here is what I am talking about!

I am looking forward to another four days of this blessed uproar and I am so thankful to all the mothers at our church who dedicate days and days of their time to see that this event happens. May the kingdom of God see many new sons and daughters added this week!

Out back Jack and Sydney Harbor make everything authentic Outback.

The bye bye buggy is a life saver.

They did not let the heat stop them.

Scott is not Fat and has an amazing woman to be his wife.

Mrs. Cathy is an amazing artist

Our church dances for the Lord like you would not believe. We just call it choreography.

Children are born evil but we keep them around because they are just to cute!

Are you married?

2009-06-13T18:51:00.002-04:00

They ask me this right out of the blue and as many times as it has happened I never see it coming. I have been around for a while and they know me pretty well. Still they do not seem to understand that I am not married. None of them are more than eight or nine years old. Many of them are no more than six. None of them are boys. Boys do not seem to care, in fact I may be a man but I am a boy too and I still care very little.

Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Adam did not have a clue. The sons of Adam still do not believe it. God said it was not good for man to be alone. Man did not decide this. Strangely the verse that precedes Genesis 2:18 is this verse.

Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Correct me if I am mistaken but wasn’t it the woman God made for Adam that was the first to partake? It was mans beloved that the serpent targeted for deception. It was Eve that Adam sacrificed the garden for. It was the church that Jesus left paradise to reclaim by being subject to the same curse of sin His beloved creation labored under.

These little women are indignant that a man should reach my age and not be attached to one of their kind. Their lovely little faces showing all the signs of bewilderment when the answer to their question is no. God made man and man had no idea he needed anyone. God made woman from man and for man and she demands to be wanted, desired, and needed. This is God’s plan. God made an `ezer and God expects that any man who makes a covenant with an `ezer of his choosing, to love her as Christ loves the church. He is to love his woman in the same way that he is loved by Jesus.

The man who thoroughly loves God and his neighbor is the only man who will love a woman ideally--who can love her with the love God thought of between them when he made man male and female. The man, I repeat, who loves God with his very life, and his neighbor as Christ loves him, is the man who alone is capable of grand, perfect, glorious love to any woman. George Macdonald

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

STF VBS 2009

2009-06-12T17:22:00.001-04:00

It is that time of year again for Vacation Bible School at South Tampa Fellowship Church. It is also the time of year I remember all the dear people who have moved away far from this church family and me in particular. VBS makes me miss them. Check back for updates on the happenings!

There Motto Is “ More In Return”

2009-06-09T09:55:00.001-04:00

This morning I went to my bank (grow financial) . The last time I went I chronicled here. I usually use the drive through but I went inside to make the deposit because I wanted to close one of my accounts. I was greeted by smiling faces and even called by name from memory at the reception desk. What a great bunch of people who have taken care of me many years.

This morning was also the first time I entered the bank with an awareness that I could not rely on them to secure my money. I knew deep down that everything had changed. My long held expectation of a bank committed to protecting and growing member assets was shaken. The bank had used a scheme I was unaware of to attempt to take $164.00 from me by allowing me to spend beyond my means. When given the opportunity to return the money they kept $84.00 as a penalty for using a service I was unaware even existed. They called the whole thing a “Courtesy” to me. Do the individuals in the organization who perpetrate these schemes believe an individual wants to pay $28.00 a transaction on debit purchases when they do not have sufficient funds to pay for the purchases to begin with? What ever they believe they know for sure the they will profit greatly by using these penalties to take money from people who have entrusted them to secure the very same.

I have had time to contemplate this series of circumstances. I though about the statement the assistant manager of the Gandy branch made that in essence Grow Financial was now looking for ways to get money because the banking industry was hurting and I would have a hard time find any other bank that was not doing the same. I have gone from being confident that my bank has my money safe and secure to the realization that there will be an ever increasing campaign to get what little I money I have from me by any number of fees and penalties. It is an uneasy feeling and I get it with every transaction I make and every piece of mail I receive from the bank. It is a sorry state of affairs. It is more evidence that Americans want personal wealth over freedom and they will end up with neither.

Pixar’s UP 3D

2009-06-06T17:32:00.002-04:00

Oh Joy !

An honest movie about something we can all relate to.
The adventure that is the life we live!

I highly recommend the 3d it was quite stunning!

Homeless Chickens Out In The Rain.

2009-06-04T22:06:00.001-04:00

One of the most oft repeated utterances around our home during the evening wind down is the phrase “are the chicken shut up”. The girls always put themselves to bed by climbing the ramp into the coop. Itty Bitty,the old lady of the bunch, goes up first, then the youngest Lulu follows some time after, the last is the big gal herself Pot Pie, who I believe waits till last ever expectant that she will discover some morsel of food hidden in the yard the others have over looked. Tonight I say “are the chickens shut up.” “No”, is the reply and it is already well past sundown. I go out expecting to see them inside the coop making their little night time clucking and squeaking noises only to find this!

The door had blown shut and they found themselves out in the rain. We opened the door and the sleepy with much grumbling amble in to take up their chose roosts. We swung the door closed latched it and now here I am at the key board blogging the whole mess.

Night Blooming Cereus

2009-06-04T07:40:00.002-04:00

I called it by the wrong name and do not want to have to redo the video but this flower by any name is a beauty.

The night blooming cereus is also known as the lunar flower, moon flower and luna flower. This plant is native to the Sonoran desert. The plant grows as a thin, almost dead looking stick from a single stem in the ground. They bloom just on one or two nights of the year--typically around May 30th. Beneath the ground is a large tuber--often the size of a watermelon--that was eaten by Indians and early settlers because of its nutritious content. Pack rats often eat these blossoms before morning, so catching a glimpse of them can be fleeting. They often stay open until the early morning hours, but then close up for another year.

Get Ready It May Only Get Worse!

2009-06-03T09:33:00.006-04:00

About 17 years ago I opened an account at the only bank I have ever had. Back then it was Macdill Federal Credit Union now Grow Financial. In all those years I have been thrilled with their services and the friendly people who have served me. Year ago I opened a second account with them and have a debit card for both. In the last five days something happened which I have not experienced before. I mixed up the two accounts in my mind and spent all the money in one using a debit card. It turns out that banks now provide you as a courtesy the ability to spend money you do not have for $28.00 a swipe.

courtesy payment fees

After discussing this with the assistant manger at the Gandy branch of Grow Financial here in Tampa Florida I was told this was to prevent me being embarrassed while standing in the checkout line. I do not embarrass easily but what is embarrassing is finding that I am doing business with an institution that claims to protect my assets when in reality finding opportunities to profit enormously from any slip up that I may make. Think about it who wants, who wants to pay $35.50 for a Yaya’s chicken combo meal? After chiding me about what I needed to differently in the future to prevent this from happening she warned me that bank were having a hard time and this is how they are choosing to continue to make the massive amounts of money they are accustomed to making. I asked her if there was a way to stop the bank from making the “courtesy payment”.She reached into her files and handed over a form. Presto the bank will now decline transaction when there are no funds in the account. I wonder if this is not to there liking?

The grand total for 6 of my careless expenditures over five days was $168.00. The assistant manager very reluctantly refunded half after remarking that 6 was lot, from which I gathered that being refunded $84.00 was a huge concession and I should suffer more loss for my crimes. I guess I should be more grateful for this benevolence because when you have very little you have next to no power in these situations.

I share this experience partly in mourning for the loss of the once civilized society America enjoyed. I am a huge fan of capitalism and the free market but if the citizenry becomes complacent and ceases to exert its enormous influence on the market we only have ourselves to blame. It has truly become greed driven country we live in and the very tactics we use on each other to gain what we have not earned through honest labor are the ones that rob us of what we seek to gain in the first place.

Be careful out there dear people for so many institution you are nothing more than resource to be tapped and discarded. Much like the government using the population’s assets to temporarily prolong the death of mismanaged business, the banks are only going to get money from those that have therefore those who have been responsible will be paying for the deficiencies of the irresponsible. Do not believe that things cannot change for the better and simply surrender to the current system.

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12

There, I think I have almost gotten my moneys worth.

Mobile Vegetable Garden Update 2

2009-06-01T21:22:00.001-04:00

Yes Red Fish!

2009-05-29T23:31:00.001-04:00

I caught a Red Fish this evening Yippie!

Observations Made In May 09

2009-05-28T15:41:00.001-04:00

Thoughts have been growing like weeds in the fertile soil that is my brain matter this month of May. These thoughts have have grown from the manure deposited by the circumstances in my life and others that I have observed, and I am going to attempt to describe them in single sentences with a minimum of detail so as not to cause any incrimination most importantly to myself.

You cannot save money by spending money no matter what the advertisement says.
If you habitually put yourself first you will quickly have only yourself to keep you company.
If you spend all your time in the pursuit of happiness you will rarely experience that fleeting state, but joy is your frequent companion when you spend your time walking with the Lord.
Jesus spent a lot of time on the water in the company of fishermen; therefore it is a sin not to go fishing regularly.
7 out of every ten people who get married do not know what it is and are miserable.
I am part of a church that is an absolute delight to me.
God blesses the single parent who gives Him influence in their lives.
If you have an air compressor that runs on 12volts and a tire plug kit a flat caused by punctures not in the side wall and smaller than a quarter inch will never cause you to be stranded as long as your battery does not drain in the process of inflating the repaired tire.
Those with a common touch only produce common results it is uncommon effort and expectations that yield satisfying outcomes.
Being cold, wet and far from home is character building and can be thoroughly enjoyed so you should be so on purpose every so often.

Clip on wide angle rear view mirror!

2009-05-26T19:33:00.001-04:00

This is the K source RM010 I purchased from Advance Auto Parts. It increases your field of view dramatically. It was under $11.00 and works so well I had to tell you all about it.

Memorial Day Trout!

2009-05-25T14:08:00.002-04:00

Bill Carl called me up last night and asked me if I would like to go fishing. I said yes and we decided to start at 5:30am. It was a beautiful morning that lead to a great afternoon.

We put Hullabaloo in at Picnic Island Park and motored around the the base side to fish the flats. I caught one large trout before we decided to head north the the Legion flats.

We had a catching good time on the legion flats and creation was looking it’s best. Bill Carl caught this huge Speckled Trout!

I caught a good trout too but not as good as Bill’s!

I hope all you beloved people are having a very pleasant Memorial Day!