10-15-16 Sat.

Can we talk? Do you remember my Oriental barber? That was a couple of blogs back. Well he finally finished remodeling and repairing his barbershop. I went in and you probably can guess he's raised its prices. I should of took a picture of him when I was there is he's really a nice guy. Can't understand the things he says, but still a nice guy.

We had Family Night at church last night. Sometimes when there's a really good movie out we play it and we showed the movie it's called The War Room. I will tell you it's one of the best movies I've seen for a long time. I highly encourage you to get a copy and watch it.



Last week I put a picture in of Harriet and I in Hawaii in 2001. Today I have a picture that was taken in 2003 which I've not put on this blog.

 This picture was taken in the Family Room at Sonrise Community Church. 2003, That was the year that I hurt my back so bad that I was in a wheelchair and did not know if I was going to be able to walk again. It was New Year's Day weekend when I hurt my back, lifting a large television set and throwing it into a dumpster. I decided to sell our home in Del Mar and we moved to Santee. I remember that I was in a wheelchair when we came and we where looking at mobile homes. When we found the one that we are currently living in, the previous owners had died and they were very old. They probably had not done anything for 15 years. I remember. Harriet couldn't believe I was moving her into The Dump. That's actually what I called it and I made a video of what this place look like before we upgraded everything. I told Harriet that I would spend whatever amount of money it would take to make it nice. We stripped it down to the bare walls and rebuilt the entire thing. I remember years later Harriet Saying that this is the nicest place we've ever lived and I agree.

November 2003, the big fire! It burned all the way from Julian to Tierasanta. I remember that when we came out of our mobile home there was fire all the way around the perimeter of Santee. We lost electrical power and I decided to pack the essentials into our van and we drove over to our church.

Here are a few pictures as a reminder.


 
Those were some tough days. If I remember correctly over 1500 houses burned and that's just in the San Diego area. As you can see there were fires burning north of us also.




The message I will be preaching tomorrow is taken from the Book of Revelation chapter 2. It is the letter specifically written to the church at Ephesus, but we can learn from their mistakes. They had lost their First love. I hope you will make the right choice and be in the house of the Lord tomorrow. All choices have good or bad consequences. It's time to start making good choices.

Maranatha,
Frank

Sat. 10-8-16, 9/11 2001

I wanted to give you a little background on our 1st trip to Hawaii in 2001. We're supposed to fly to Hawaii on September 21, 2001. Of course, you all know what happened on 9/11. The terrorists attacked and brought down the twin towers in New York.

This was our 1st trip to Hawaii and I was going through a travel agent. What's a travel agent? Are there any travel agents around anymore? If there are, there can't be that many. Pretty much they are gone the way of the dinosaur. Our travel agent had scheduled us to fly from San Diego to San Francisco and then to Hawaii. I had contacted her and asked her why we don't just take a direct flight? Of course, there are the standard answers, which really were unacceptable. I canceled the flight that she had scheduled and rescheduled taking Hawaiian Airlines directly from San Diego to Honolulu. It cut off at least 3 hours from the flying time.

When we got to Hawaii it was deserted. Not really, it's just that a whole lot of people had canceled their vacations because of 9/11. I probably didn't mention it, but we were celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary which would've been on September 4, 2001. I made hotel reservations at the Outrigger Hotel which is part of the Ohana chain of hotels. It's right on the beach in Waikiki and Duke's restaurant is on the ground floor of the hotel.

So when you look at this picture you will know that it was our 1st time and the picture is taken at Duke's restaurant. This is always been one of our favorites. It has the proverbial million-dollar view. You can see Diamondhead in the background.

Now I want to tell you about my shirt. We bought it at one of the 76 ABC stores in Honolulu. There seems to be an ABC store almost on any block and sometimes two on one block in Waikiki. This was not a terribly expensive shirt, but the reason I'm bringing this up is because I still have this shirt and will wear it today to Bible classes. What is amazing about it, it has retained its beautiful colors. That's what I find amazing!
We had a really nice time and we were able to go back to Hawaii many times.

I hope you have a wonderful day!
Maranatha,
Frank

Sat. 10-1-16

Can we talk?  I have some good news and some bad news. I am going to rant about haircuts. By now you have seen that I am follically challenged. But, Harriet used to convince me that I need to get a haircut once a month, so at least things are trimmed up nicely.

So after Harriet died I thought I could stretch it out and get a haircut once every two months. Here is where the problem starts. I have a Vietnamese barber that has his barbershop approximately 1 mile from my house. I've been going to for many years and all of you know both men and women, that when you finally get your hairdresser trained to do your hair the way you wanted to, not too short, not too long, you hate to switch.

So, earlier in September, I stopped off at the barber shop, to get a haircut and there was a sign in the window that says that he will be closed until September 16 because of a water line break. Then I come back on the 17th and the sign has been changed to 26 September. Yes, you guessed it, I come back on the 27th and he's in his shop working doing a complete renovation. He  said it will be a few more weeks before he has completed his project. So that's why I look like the shaggy dog.

Now the good news. I want to thank everybody for your suggestions concerning baked potatoes. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read last week's blog. I appreciate all the help. It seems that there is a number of ways to cook a baked potato. If you recall last week I said I'd look up to find out if there's a special machine for baking potatoes and guess what? Yes, there is. The one I was looking at gives you the ability to cook 80 potatoes at one time and you can keep 40 more potatoes in a warmer. No price was given, but I think that was way more than what I needed.

I received an email from my friend Victoria who I've known for about 30 years. She said that she cooks her baked potatoes and yes she likes the skin crispy like I do, for an hour and 15 minutes at 425°. You know how it is, it's one of those things you get the email of the exact time you're thinking about preparing for dinner. So I followed her directions.

I've documented my potato cooking. The 1st picture you can see that it's a small to medium size potato. Scrubbed clean.

I turned the potato every 20 minutes and yes I use a timer. When I took the potato out and plunged a fork into it, it went in really easy so I knew the potato was cooked.

  It turned out great, thank you everybody, for all your assistance.

This will be kind of a long blog post because I have so much new information. If you recall a few months ago I said that a couple of the little plants of Harriet's are dying. I kept forgetting to water them and we had some hot weather. So I decided to water every day and it seems that there's little green leaves starting to show up. But, we'll see in a few weeks if he gets even greener.

I was watching Blue Bloods, which is a TV program about a family of policemen in New York City. One of the main characters is Tom Selleck, who plays the police commissioner. In the program, I was watching, he is a widower. He was married for 40 years and the program episode takes place on Valentine's Day. He was commenting that he found a box that had all the old Valentine's Day cards that his wife was saving. I stopped the recording and I figured that Harriet would do the same thing. I went to her nightstand and in the bottom area, there was a shoebox. It had a lot of different cards in it, pictures and letters that were very important to her. I took some of the pictures out and scanned them so I will have some new pictures for this blog.

The 1st picture is of Harriet and our son Joseph taken on October 31, 2004. I'm sure glad that she wrote the dates on the back of the pictures. She always liked to have hardcopies that she could hold in her hand as opposed to viewing on the computer screen.

Today is Harriet's birthday.

 This next picture was taken in 2008. Our friend Pastor Mike Spees, came over to Hawaii while we were there. So he and I went on an Outrigger canoe ride. It's the best attraction in Hawaii. For about $10 a person, you get in the canoe and paddle out and catch a total of 3 waves and then come back in. Yes, and they do work you like a rented mule. You have to paddle hard to catch the waves. If I can remember I will try and include a link next week to an adventure that Pastor Mike and I had in Hawaii. The waves were so big on the South Shore that none of the canoes were going out. I finally talked to one of the captains into taking us out and he charged us $50 a person. No, Harriet did not go out. I will tell you more about it next week and I have a slide show and it will  show you the size of the waves. They were Bombora! By the way, I'm in the number 1 position in the front of the boat and pastor Mike is seated right behind me. I sent him a copy of this picture this week.

 I think that would be it for now. I hope that you all have a great weekend. The message I'm preaching on this Sunday morning is, "Jacob Wrestles with God". I hope that you'll be able to make it or you'll be in the house of the Lord that you regularly attend.

Maranatha,
Frank

Sat. 9-24-16

Can we talk? So this past week I sally forth and head over to Walmart. I actually did a little bit of shopping. I purchased some Mountain Dew, English muffins, Mountain Dew, bread, Mountain Dew (a man has to know his priorities) and I saw the potatoes and picked up a bag of them. I'm not sure why the pricing structure is the way it is but if you buy one potato it's a $1.50 and if you buy 10 pounds of potatoes is less than $5. Of course, I will never be able to use up all these potatoes. I think the potato's start growing legs or something after a while.

So I get the potatoes home and I decide to have a baked potato for dinner. Many of you that have been following this blog for a long time understand what I'm going through concerning backed potatoes. Just to refresh my memory I looked it up on the Internet to make sure I cook it properly. Set your oven at 425° cook for between 30 to 45 minutes, after you've scrubbed the outside of the potato and perforated the skin to let the expanding gases escape.

I did all these things and I really scrubbed it well. It also said to turn the potato every 15 to 20 minutes which I did. I decided to leave it in for 45 minutes to make sure that it was really cooked. Well, you know where I'm going with this. I take the potato out and I have everything ready on the counter and I cut through the potato and it's still hard as a rock inside. I immediately go into the fetal position and start going into depression. Just kidding, but I was very disappointed, to say the least. When you're preparing a meal, don't you sort of prepare your appetite for that specific item? You know I wish there was a little device I could just put the potato in and push the button and it would cook it perfectly. Maybe there is, I will have to check. I ended up having to throw the potato away even after I put it in the microwave oven for a bit. The reason I cook it in the oven instead of the microwave is because I want the skin to be crisp. There must be a way to do this consistently and end up with a good baked potato. I know, I'll go to a restaurant.

Now that I got that off my chest, we can move on. I get to take the grandkids out today for an outing. I'm going to take them over to the family fun Center this morning. It opens at 10 AM and if you get there when they opened it's virtually empty and we have the run of the place. Then I will take them out to lunch and probably feed them some chick chick (KFC). I sure wish Harriet was here. She would love to go out with the boys and we always had a great time together. I know that the time will probably come when it will not be on my mind so much, but I miss my girl.

Since I'm talking about my wife. I get a tell you that it's really interesting that I'm doing the vacuuming and laundry and dusting and stuff. I think I'm starting to get a little bit pickier . I mean really what is dust? If you will Google that question you will find that a lot of dust is dead skin. Since I'm the only one here, that means that a lot of me is on or in the dust. So I'm wiping myself up when I dust, what a crazy thought!

I'm still trying to revive the plants out front that seem to be dying. I hope I'm not over watering them. We had rain this past week which was so unusual. I remembered hearing the noise in the middle of the night and trying to figure out what it was? It was the rain on the roof and it's been such a long time since we've had rain that it was a surprise.

Tomorrow's message will be, "God Is in the Restoration Business". I will be using the life of Samson as a springboard for the message. Most people know about Samson. Did you ever think of why did God include some of these stories in the Bible? I believe these are true events, real people, and real life adventures. I will tell you why they were written.


"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." 1 Corinthians 10:11



Tomorrow I will explain how Simpson's life is an example for us. I believe that we can learn a lot from his life. You don't want to miss tomorrow's sermon.

Regardless of where you live, I hope that you'll be in the house of the Lord on Sunday morning. So many people today that call themselves Christians have time to do everything but worship the Creator of the universe, Our redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ. The Bible specifically says do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. I realize that's probably not proper grammar for this day and age but that is King James English. You know what they say about excuses, yes that's right and everybody's got one. Don't be an excuse maker, do what God asks us to do and do it with a joyful heart!

Maranatha,
Frank

Sat. 9-17-16

This past week I went to a new restaurant. My friend Lynn from church, had invited me out for a birthday meal and since I was sick the previous week we had to postpone it to this week. The name of the restaurant is Barrels and it is approximately one block north of the Imperial Beach pier.

They have a second-story in this restaurant and from there you have a great view of the ocean. We had a really nice time and the food was excellent. I had the hamburger, as usual. Very good! So if you are ever down that way you might want to check it out.

When I left the restaurant, I'd only driven approximately one block North and a mural on the side of the building caught my eye because it was of the ocean and a perfect wave. But what really caught my eye was there was writing in the upper left-hand corner and it was quoting from Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. You know when you first sees something like this as your driving you're not sure if you really saw what you saw so I had to drive around the block to make sure. I'm attaching a couple pictures so you can see what I saw.

Very Nice Barrel

I realize this is gonna sound bad. But I'm gonna tell you anyway. So yesterday I was having lunch at McDonald's, yes a Big Mac.(Hamburgers are a main staple of my diet) And I ran into a group of really super nice friends who previously went to Sonrise when Harriet and I did. So, I took a picture and here it is.

You will probably recognize a number of people in the picture.

Tomorrow morning's message at church will be: "Why Does God Love Me (and You)". When you know the depravity of man and as the Bible says the heart of man is desperately wicked who can know it? It does beg the question why does God love me?

I hope you will be in the house the Lord tomorrow morning to worship the Creator and our redeemer Jesus Christ the son of the most high God!

Maranatha,
Frank

9-10-16 Sat.

I just realized while putting the date in the title line that it's my birthday today. 70 years old, my how time flies! I don't want to do a life review here, but it's hard not to reflect on years gone by and all the things that have happened, mistakes that were made and of course the good times too.

Finally got over the nasty cold I had this past week or so. I'm glad of that. I felt my head was in a pressure chamber.

I guess it's been pretty boring around here this past week because I was sick. It seems like I managed to kill 2 of Harriet's plants that were out on the walkway into our house. I don't know if I should just buy some plastic plants to put in there? I know that sounds terrible all of you who are so good at gardening as was Harriet. I will have to think about this.

Tomorrow's message at church is, "Have Faith in God". Chapter 11 in the book of Hebrews is called the faith chapter. If I remember correctly in verse 6 it says something like this, "Without faith it is impossible to please him, for those that come to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him".

You hear so many people today say that they are spiritual but they're not religious. That's like me saying I'm a vegetarian, but I don't eat vegetables. The reward comes to those that seek God in a diligent manner. It's so easy to not have time for God because of all the things we think are more important. Are you taking time to seek after God? I hope that you will be in the house of the Lord tomorrow to worship the Creator of the universe and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Maranatha,
Frank

 Its Hilda's Birthday today too!

9-3-16 Sat.

I'm late putting out the blog this morning because I got sick this week. Daniel comes over every Sunday morning about 6:15 AM to cook a big breakfast. He usually cooks potatoes O'Brien, scrambled eggs and sausage links. He actually does a pretty good job and cooking all these things.

When He  came over last Sunday he was sick with a cold and I know that he should not have been in my home because of the contagious factor. My son Joe and daughter Hilda, we have an agreement that if there's any sickness we don't get together. We don't want to infect each other. So, Wednesday night I started getting sick. You know the usual, headache, runny nose, sore throat, coughing, aching joints and so on. What a drag. I was thinking about this yesterday that with all the advancements in science, they still have not figured out how to cure the common cold.

I do not know if when you have a cold you have this same type of response but I always get this tickle in the back of my throat that causes me to cough and cough and cough. I think that is the hardest part of the cold because it's hard to sleep when you have to cough all the time.

Sorry about my ranting and raving about having a cold. It's probably the most exciting thing that has happened this past week. Fortunately Pastor Mike will be preaching this Sunday. This was scheduled a month ago and it's very timely. I always enjoy the challenge of the message that Pastor Mike brings to our church. And of course he and his lovely wife in attendance. The title of his sermon is, "We Don't Have To Worry".

I think that's it for this week I'm going to go and rest my weary head.  I hope that I'm well enough to go to church tomorrow morning. I don't want to contaminate everybody so if I go I will be cloister and myself in some remote corner.

Maranatha,
Frank

Lee Ann and Harriet. Sister and really great friend.

Harriet, Timothy and Little Joe, when he was still little.