Sunday December 16, 2012

As we arrive at the end of another year one can only wonder how fast the days, week, months and years go by. It has been a year where there have been wonderful adventures and really good fellowship with fellow RV'rs. When we reflect on the recent events that occurred in Newtown, CT, we are filled with deep sorrow as we try to make some sense out of a senseless act that claimed so many innocent lives. I have tried to relate to it is the following blog. It is impossible to make sense out of such a horrible event and my heart grieves for the victims and their family. We can hope and pray that these events will cease to happen. Maybe if each one of us will strive to live a Christ-like life, the country will return to normalcy. Each one of us will have to do his/her part to make a difference.

God Bless America and the families in Newtown, CT.

Matthew 19:14 KJV

But Jesus said , Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

This is the verse that came to my mind as the terrible event in Newtown, Ct unfolded. I saw my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, with His arms open wide, welcoming the 20 young children of His into His arms. I also saw a tear in His eye as he took the suffering of the children and their parents and loved ones into His being. He cares for us. He cares for all the children of the world no matter their age.

I have always believed garbage in garbage out. Today our society is constantly exposed to violence and carnage. The video games that are played have one thing in common - what can be more violent and vile. Our TV programs have come a long way since “Name That Tune”, “Leave it to Beaver”, The “Hit Parade”, “Lassie” and other programs of the ’60’s. It is hard to believe that young people would pay hundreds of dollars to buy “paint guns” so they can “kill” each other in fun. Where does that lead??

I am sure each one of you reading this have noticed the great polarization that is taking place in our society. We face great times of peril. The debt will not sole itself. We need to agree on a course of action and work together to restore our financial freedom.

Twenty children brutally murdered and the nation mourns.

Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended; about 4 in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. Twenty-two percent of all U.S. pregnancies end in abortion. (AGI).

In 2008, approximately 1.21 million abortions took place in the U.S., down from an estimated 1.29 million in 2002, 1.31 million in 2000 and 1.36 million in 1996. From 1973 through 2008, nearly 50 million legal abortions have occurred in the U.S. (AGI).

The population of the US was 311,591,917 in Jul. 2011.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

50 million would be about 1/6 of the US population.

Who is grieving for these children? I am sure Jesus welcomed these children into His loving arms also.

How long will God allow our inhumanity to man to continue? How long will He continue to bless this great country as we turn our backs on all that is pleasing to Him?

I don’t have an answer. I only have sorrow in my heart for the loss of those twenty children and the loss they bring to our country.

This is the time of year for rejoicing as a King was born to us. A Redeemer to heal us and save us from our sins. Even saying “Merry Christmas” is restricted in our society. My Granddaughter took her school class out caroling. They were instructed to sing no songs that mentioned anything to do with the reason for Christmas! How much lower can we decend into the devil’s kingdom. It certainly feels as if we are as low as we can go.

I would like to think we have gone through periods in our history like this and came out the other side even stronger. If you have evidence that things are better now than they were even 50 years ago, please publish those tidings of great joy so the rest of us can sleep a little easier.

Genesis 6:5 KJV

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Deuteronomy 29

1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and thecurse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, 2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obeyhis voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; 3 That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hathscattered thee. 4 If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: 5 And the LORD thy God willbring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed , and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good , and multiply thee above thy fathers. 6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thineheart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thysoul, that thou mayest live. 7 And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies , and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. 8 And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. 9 And the LORD thyGod will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: 10 If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, tokeep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turnunto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. 11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say , Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say , Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. 15 See , I have set before thee this day lifeand good, and death and evil; 16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply : and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest topossess it. 17 But if thine heart turn away , so that thou wilt not hear , but shalt be drawn away , and worship other gods, and serve them; 18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surelyperish , and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have setbefore you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seedmay live : 20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayestdwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, togive them.

We do have a way that God has shown us. Do we go His way or do we continue to do it our way? I think we all know where our way has taken us and where this path will certainly lead.

Joshua 24:15 KJV

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve ; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell : but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Merry Christmas to all and may God continue to Bless the United States of America

Otis and Linda

Friday December 14 2012

Been awhile since I have posted on the blog. We have been here at our old stick house where my Granddaughter and her family now live. Been kind of busy with the great grandson doing some things around the house. Most of the time has been taken up with doctor appointments. After the heart attack there has been a new hospital stay to open up the blockages - another 2 stints and I am in the pink again. Linda has made sure that I have taken it easy and that we get our walks in daily.

I did take some time to write a little philosophical article on aging and I include it here. We all are getting older so we really need to make sure we are doing the things that are enjoyable and good for one another. I am already planning our next adventure but will need to limit the travels to areas of the good old USA that are nearer sea level.  

The LAST days

Hello, my name is Otis P. Lutz and I want to talk about the LAST days. Not the last days of the earth’s existence, but the LAST days of our lives here on earth.

People have talked as long as I can remember of the demise of the earth through all sort of disasters. From the sun exploding to an asteroid hitting the earth, to plagues, to alien invasions, to earthquakes to global freezing to wars. None of it has happened, obviously - but there is one certainty, we are ALL going to have our LAST day.

I pick up the paper and look at the obituaries and I notice most of the death announcements are for people that are younger than I am! Makes you wonder what is with that. You know that the number of years left are a lot fewer than the years that are already passed. We read the FMCA magazine and notice the “finale Trip” list and we know that there is a time coming when our name will be there.

Do people like to talk about dying? I am not sure but when it is mentioned in a group of elderly people no one seems to shy away from the conversation. In fact, there is often a reference to the conveyor belt we are on and we are near the end, about ready to drop off the end. I guess you would have to be really weird to think death was not the end that awaits you. I mean, we all know someone that lived to be over 100 but that is really not normal.

Now, are we terrified? Are we without hope? NO! We have a sure promise and hope.

A psalm of David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Sure we have health problems. They seem to grow more numerous with the passing of time. I count myself as really blessed as I was born with Cystic Fibrosis and the life expectancy of CF is less than 30 years. I had my first heart operation in 1986 and the doctor said I was good for 7 years! Been a little longer than that. Now my heart is really giving me problems. Have had 6 stints and 3 angio plastic in the last few years. In Sept. of this year, while enjoying our RV full timing lifestyle, I had a heart attack in New Mexico. They did another heart cath and said there was nothing more they could do for the heart. I also have COPD and now the PSA is getting really high. Cancer! But I am still happy and loving the Lord and life on this wonderful earth he has created.

Another great promise we have is found in 2 Corinthians 5:8

2 Corinthians 5:8 KJV

We are confident , I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

The wonderful organization to which my wife Linda and I belong, The Challengers, provides us with many opportunities to travel and camp together. The fellowship, food and games we share provide many opportunities to share God’s Love with one another. Sure we are all getting older and we regularly loose a member to their “home going” or to their inability to traveling in a motor home but we who are able continue on. We miss them and grieve for their partner who has gone on to their reward but we are sure in the promise that was given to them also.

Life is like a bank account. We make deposits and we make withdrawals. What we can withdraw depends on what we have deposited. We have all learned in this computer age: garbage in - garbage out. The same with the life savings account. If we have deposited “garbage” we can expect to withdraw garbage. It is much better to deposit good things and deeds into your “life” account. In addition your bank account includes time.

You can not add to the “time” account. Not only that but the account has an automatic payout. All you can do is determine how you will spend your allotted time. Time can be spent to buy happy memories or to purchase regrets. Once it is spent, for good or ill, it is gone. We know that as we get older, time passes very rapidly! We certainly don’t want to spend any remaining time in our account on anything that will bring sadness to ourselves or others. It seems that we older folks are spending too much of our time at doctors. I know I am. I guess we can look at that expense of time as an investment. Hopefully the interest on that time spent is greater than the expanded time. Since we have returned from our wonderful trip, we have spent most of our time at doctors. Hopefully it will enable us to head out again for our planned trip to Alabama and the Friendship Rally.

Family! Families are the mainstay of any group. When we are in a good group, we say it feels like family. I am most blessed with the best family in the world (I know we all feel the same way). We have a family reunion that we attend each July in Ohio. We have over 100 family members attend and the number is usually around 125! It is a wonderful event that is the result of my sister Patty. She works each year to see that this is the best one yet! I sure do admire her for the love she has for her family. But there is a cost to everything. The more we love the more the sorrow when the time for departure comes. The solution is to deposit as many wonderful memories of the “family” reunions as possible. Do not pass a chance to fellowship together.

Well that is my philosophy for life. I am more than happy with the life I have had. There are things I have done and said for which I have regrets and wish I could make amends. I have had a long life and have had the best wife in the world. I have known love and have been blessed. I wish Gods blessing on each and every one of you.

Otis P. Lutz

Still nothing on the Friendship Rally on the net. We have several of our friends that will be travelling with us to the Talladega, Alabama rally in June. Great location for a really friendly and enjoyable rally. It is in June right before the national FMCA Rally. From the rally Linda and I will travel to Ohio for our annual Family Reunion on July 20th.

The weather has been really mild. In March we are here for the birth of another great grandson. Also expect to have a mini family reunion with the arrival of my sisters and their husbands and also my sister-in-law from Colorado. Then we head out for our summer travels. I will be posting or agenda if anyone out there would like to caravan with us.

Until the next time - Otis