I am writing this blog on January 23, 2019, in the early morning hours, 5:42 A.M.   It is quiet and very peaceful in my office which is located in my home.  There are 5 inches of fresh new snow lying on the ground with more big flakes silently falling.  Everything it is completely silent all around the space I am presently occupying.  Not a creature is stirring…We believers in the Lord Jesus Christ call this special time of day—quiet time.  It is a time of personal reflection, prayer, and serious thinking.  It is an especially designated time to express our thanks, and display our reverence and gratitude for all that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has provided to us.  Quiet time is indeed a most special and valuable time invested in preparation for the new day that is just beginning.

None of us have all the answers to all of the questions and circumstances that arise as this new day unfolds and runs its course.  But,…we do have the “power” to persevere and overcome any and all obstacles that may arise during the ensuing 24 hours. Perseverance….It connotes strength, and courage, and power to last.  Endurance is one of its greatest off-shoots.

It has been said that “If you don’t know where you are going in life, then you will not like where it is that you wind up!”  That is what “quiet time” is all about.  It is a preparatory time to get things lined out in your life as you begin a new day so as to make it highly productive and beneficial to and for you and your loved ones.

I learned so much from my family and friends as I grew up in the sagebrush deserts and mountain country of Southern Idaho in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.  The powerful life lessons seemed to be taught through and by word and deed from family, friends, relatives, and even complete strangers.  In those days most homes had front porches on which hung a fairly large swing set,…at least big enough for two people.  After meals in the warmer months of the year, the family would retire to the front porch and talk, discuss, teach, and share valuable information about what was going on in the world, in our community, in our neighborhood, and in our family.  We all got to really know one another.  We communed.  We learned from one another.  We listened to each other.  We really cared for one another.  It was truly a “binding time” and we all came out the better for it.

I have recently discovered a wonderful little book written in 1997 by Pastor Philip Gulley.  It is small in size and content, but it is powerful in word and instruction.  I had misplaced this book sometime ago during one of my three moves over the past three years, but “as if by magic” it popped up again and re-blessed my life.  Please permit me to share some of its content with you in hopes that it too will bless you.  The book is entitled, “Front Porch Tales.”

“Home,” “Roots,” “Foundation,” “Anchor Points,” all are terms that connote a person having a solid strong foundational base for the building and maturing of a human life.  I certainly hope that is the way that you were raised.  I sure was.  Parents who are wise enough to know and understand how important it is to give a child a solid foundation on which to build their own lives are light-years ahead of the rest of the masses, and for sure ahead of their peers.

I am sharing this new found treasure trove of information and guidance through www.davesevern.com hoping that some of you folks will catch the message and nurture it, and spread it through to your own family and friends in an effort to help make our world today a little bit better than it is.

We were all created by a loving, generous, and totally reliable and trustable Creator God.  He loves us all no matter how much sin and/or transgressions we have or have attempted to create.  I exhort you to learn from these articles of discussion so as to prepare you for doing your fair share to make our world better for those now living and those coming behind us.

An now back to “Hearth and Home.”

I have a friend who is just like I used to be many years ago.  In my youthful and energetic capacity I was a dynamo of work and accomplishment.  No price was too high,…no effort too demanding.  All it took for me to do what ever it took to achieve my planned accomplishment was for other people to stay out of my way and not argue with me.  I was indeed young and oh so foolish.  Time cannot be saved, invested, or re-used.  At the end of each day, everyone  has to start over,…begin anew,… because you have used up all the time you have been given for any particular day that has ended.

The sooner in life that a person learns this valuable lesson, the happier he or she will be and the more productive he or she will become.

Well now, back to my acquaintance…….

I have a friend who is always gone, always traveling, away from his family for both work and play.  He is just gone,…away from his family.  Permit me to add a point of importance….this type situation is more common than not for the person who relies on self rather than on His Creator God to meet and fill his or her needs.

My friend is in Canada one month, Florida the next and back to Southern California the next.  He is always talking about where he has been and where he is heading next week or the week after.  His shoes are not worn out but his suitcases usually are.  He is indeed a fine man, though he makes me wonder why staying home has such low appeal for him personally.

I am unusual.  I admit it.  But I am not a homebody,…or at least I am not one of these type people who always wants to stay home,….at least since I lost my precious bride, Jany in September 2011.  Prior to my bride’s passing, I enjoyed both travel and staying home.  I was what I would term ambitiously lazy.  I would rather work a little harder now so that I could take more time off later to spend with my loved ones.  Whenever I did travel so frequently I would call home at least once a day, usually twice a day, so as to stay abreast of things and events or activities of my busy family.  Now I must admit to you that Florida as a geographic area is fine, for sure.  But home and hearth is always much better.  Home is where my wife, my family and my children are.  It is where I planted the ivy that is next to the lilac bush that is next to our porch swing…..Which is where we all sit in the evening when the shadows are long.

Home is where my wife was.  She would always get up a half hour before I did to make me and the kids a fresh cooked breakfast.  She did this not because she was my wife and had to or was fully expected to, but because she was a loving, caring, and giving person and she truly wanted to serve her family.

Home is where I watched my daughter and two sons every afternoon whenever my wife had some errands to run, appointments to attend, or extended shopping trips to make.

Home was where I put my children down for an afternoon nap, played with them on the floor, and read “bear” stories to them just before putting them into their beds.  It was where all three children could and would build huge Lego figures and projects and gather pine cones or acorns for the science class projects.

Home, that oasis of quietude, is where I’ve learned patience, what little I have.  And love.  And just about everything else that is really worth knowing.

I have included a few stories about my church and church family too.  In my nondenominational Christian Church not too far from my hearth, I have a whole other support system to commune with and grow from as we all move and grow to a higher level of faith and living.

When you think about it….I am indeed a very blessed man.  And, because of my faith in Jesus Christ, I know without any question or doubt that no matter what happens or fails to happen to and for me and my family, everything will always work together for my own good,….because I know Jesus and love Him.  And I know I have been called to action by and for Him.  I sincerely hope that you do too.

All things are possible.

Peace and Love to all of You……………….Poppa Bear