Paul Menard

One recent Sunday, a young boy arrived to his Sunday school class late. His teacher knew that the boy was usually very prompt and asked him if anything was wrong.
The boy replied no, that he was going to go fishing, but that his dad told him that he needed to go to church instead. The teacher was very impressed and asked the boy if his father had explained to him why it was more important to go to church rather than to go fishing. To which the boy replied, “Yes, ma’am, he did. My dad said that he didn’t have enough bait for both of us.”

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”

2 Timothy 2:2

There is such a great feeling of accomplishment and pride when your children grow up to be adults and you see they have a bit of you in them. One of the things my Pop impressed upon me was his belief in Christ and he also allowed me to be myself and encouraged me in the different pursuits of sports and fishing. I don’t know if I did as good of a job as he, but I have really been excited about Jason and the direction he is going. I love the fact that he still fishes, but more than that, I love how he continues to grow in his relationship with the Lord. The best day I can imagine spending with him would be to fish and talk about Jesus, two things that we can do for a long long time to come.

My Pop’s sister recently passed way and is now with him in heaven. My Aunt Dorthy will be surely missed by all of us who knew her. Her warm way and great sense of humor always made me feel welcome when we visited. I guess it is this season of  life when our relatives are getting older that we begin to realize the brevity of our existence and we witness many of our love ones passing on into eternity. For me it began in 2006 with the loss of my Pop and my mother in law Karma. These reminders of our mortality are often good because we learn to appreciate our relationships more and focus on more important matters of life, love, and the good news that God loves us. I will miss my Aunt Dorthy’s smile, but I can only imagine how big it is right now as she is in the presence of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I think I’ll call some family tonight that are dear to me… 

A Texas farmer was touring England. He happened to meet an English farmer and asked him, “What size farm do you have?”The Englishman proudly announced, “Thirty-five acres!”

“Thirty-five acres?” the Texan scoffed. “Why, I can get in my truck at 8:00 AM and start driving and at noon, I am still on my farm. I can eat lunch and start driving again and at 5:00 PM I am still on my farm.

“Ah, yes,” the Englishman nodded in understanding. “I had a truck like that once.”

Taken from the Servant Quaters website…One of my links

I take great pains to craft my flies so they closely resemble insects so the trout I fish for will go after them. Yet no matter how hard I try each one though similiar to the next one is slightly different.

As I thought about this it reminded me of how us humans are formed. Each one of us is unique. No two finger prints the same. DNA found in a single hair can link a person to a crime! This is fascinating to me.

And when I think about this I can’t help but be reminded of the words of My Lord Jesus who said, “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Matthew 10:30 I find this more incredible than the fact I am created so uniquely… That my Lord in heaven cares so very much about me. These thoughts led me to psalm 139 where King David spoke of how God knew him intimately. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”

These are great thoughts for me to remember as I cruise into another busy work week, commute traffic, high gas prices, inflation, war, disease, etc. That even in the worst circumstances my Lord Jesus Christ cares deeply about me and I can trust Him with my life. I have learned to trust Him with my eternal destiny so everything else is just fluff in comparrison! May God bless you my friends, and keep you, and may His face shine upon you this week.

“Lord, Make me the kind of person my dog thinks I am.”

Welcome to the first day of the rest of my life! Thanks to the help and encouragement from my friend Dave Parker and family I am beginning my blog again on my old domain name of pmenard.com. I hope it will bless and encourage you as well! On a short note…This has been a busy weekend! Friday we enjoyed taking Jason out for his birthday(He turned 27!) We love you J!! and I spent the Saturday with my friend Paul Banke at The Northern and Central California Calvary Men’s Conference. It was an inspiring day as Paul and I listened to Ken Graves and Gayle Erwin speak along by some rocking music and killer BBQ! Great day! oh yeah, picked up a couple lp’s on the way, garage sales, heh, can’t resist.