“Gramps…”

A friend used to call me that. He did so before I was really qualified to be “gramps.” I don’t feel like it…but that is who I am. When my grandchildren call me “Gramps” I tell them I am grandpa. It’s OK for my friend to call me that…more respectful for the grandchildren to call me Grandpa. That’s who I am now. As God gives us life we grow old. God may even choose to bless us with becoming a grandparent.

I’m a farm boy who became a teacher for Fergus Falls Public schools long ago in 1973! My teaching service was completed in 2009. In that year I became a teacher for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service at Prairie Wetlands Learning Center in Minnesota.

Best for last…I am the husband of Barbara and the dad of Michelle, Jennifer and Tim. God has blessed my wife and I with 17 much loved grandchildren. Now in the early part of retirement from teaching, my desire is to share God’s creation with you. Expect me to invite you to take time to go outside. Search for God’s hand in creation, it will make your personal life more fruitful.  Do you know what my prayer for you is? That God will open your eyes to His eternal love for you and your family as you look at the world He created. When you look and think about what you see, God will also show you His infinite power. He is really all powerful. Look at the wind. Watch a thunderstorm or blizzard…or every morning get up and watch the sunrise. You will see His power.

In the beginning, He knew me. There God saw my unformed body, He numbered my days-before one of them came to be.

I am 72 this year. Jesus went to the cross for MY sins 1,955 years…before I took my first breath.

He called me as a boy of 11. He did not forsake me or turn His back on me in my sinful teens. He put people in my life to lead me on the path to Him. My aunt encouraged me to go to college-I was not planning to. God put the Pastor in the college town my wife and I lived in. He taught us God’s Word and prayed with us. When I graduated with a teaching degree, the same aunt told me apply to for a teaching job. There were no jobs listed for the school district she suggested. God led the Elementary Director to hire me.

Today, the faithfulness of God is real. I know Jesus loves me. What has God patiently with love taught me during my life? He is always near. He is faithful. His ways are not my ways. His ways are always best. Jesus is my Savior. He is what I need for life on earth and for eternity.

All earthly things will one day pass away. Yet, He is the same, yesterday, today, forever. They say we live in the information age; this is the most important information you will hear in your life: God loves you too. We are sinners; He will forgive our sins…daily. Sharing Jesus with you is the most beneficial “information” I can give you. He is the light…of the world…the Way, the Truth, the Life.