Cummins_Music's Xanga

Four months ago... Five days ago... The sixth...

Mon, 12 May 2008 08:31:01 GMT

God has been doing great and wonderful things! It all started back in Genesis when “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” I have discovered what God said to be true, “It is not good for the man to be alone….”

I have spent the last several years grappling with these thoughts, and endeavoring to follow Jesus’ leading along the way. There have been times of questions and wondering, times of direction, many deaths of vision, and many rays of hope. There have been times of joy, times of pain, and much time with Jesus. Through all these things I have cultivated contentment, learned tons about life, and drawn closer to Jesus.

All of that to say, Jesus has led me down a new path full of changes. But so many things remain the same as one travels down this path: Jesus and His character, His principles, and the glorious ways that people understand each other’s hearts.

With a heart full of joy, I am glad to say that my good friend Amy and I have been traveling a path that has led us closer together for some time. Neither of us recognized it for several years. But through an extraordinary set of events our friendship has rapidly become a wonderful exploration of the possibility of marriage, beginning in mid January.

Here are some pictures that might lend a hint as to our thoughts on the matter:

We were engaged 5 days ago, on May 6^th!

I appreciate Amy so much for the heart she has to love Jesus and all the people He brings across her path. There is a long list of things I appreciate about Amy: character, ideals, personality etc etc… but that can come in a later post.

For you dear friends whom we have not called personally, I deeply regret our lack of time and forethought to get in touch with you; our schedule has been exceedingly full. Please accept our apology as we now use the modernity of XANGA in our endeavor to let you all know what the Lord is doing in our lives.

Blessings to y’all!

Sir John the Mysterious

A post? Nah, a post on the fly!

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:58:02 GMT

Spring has sprung,
Sun versus Xanga;
Stepping up the next rung-
Life is full of dange-uh!

Things are busy-
Lots of work and fun;
Sometimes I'm dizzy,
Anywho, I'm on the run!

I'll try to post something on a slow day - just wanted to let you know I'm doing well!

Here are a couple of pictures from a recent photo op:

Sir John the Mysterious

Workin'

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:40:55 GMT

I guess its time to post a bit of John's life! Somehow when he is doing contracting work, his computer time diminishes... sorry he has not even found time to comment and hang out with y'all!

Stained glass windows are a spectacular sight in many churches, and ours has probably more than its share of them! It is a wise thing to keep them protected from the weather, and the storm windows are badly deteriorating!!! This is the bottom of a window in comparatively better condition than the rest:

I don't know if I have much skill in storm window work, but hey, the people who built them used various dimensions of lumber in the same window, so I guess I am allowed to make it up as I go. This window used to be one piece - 12 feet tall, and 4 feet wide. When we took it down, it was light enough to handle because almost all the glass had fallen out of it. When I rebuilt it, I made it into 3 sections for ease of handling. The bottom section is all new construction:

Me working in the shop (which used to be a nursery - nice mural, eh?):

Washin' the window at about 20* F before hanging a finished storm window:

Encourage your hearts in God our Savior! He is at work, even in the mundane things of life. Some days it is hard for me to remember that, but He is faithful:

"If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him;
If we endure, we shall also reign with Him;
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
If we are faithless, He remains faithful;
For He cannot deny Himself."
2Timothy 2:11-13

Die to self daily! Allow Jesus to resurrect you daily! Grow in faith!

Blessings~
Sir John the Mysterious

It is Super Tuesday!

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:57:22 GMT

Greetings~

I have put off my decision of who to vote for until just a couple of days ago – I wanted to weigh out all the up to date information before deciding. So who is my candidate?

Ron Paul

Here are a few bullet points for why:

He is pro life: As an OBGYN, he has delivered over 4,000 babies, and has never performed an abortion. He believes that life starts at conception, and should be fully protected by law.

· He is pro family/home education: From his own website… “I support giving educational control back to parents, who know their children better than any politician in D.C. ever will. The federal government has no constitutional authority to fund or control schools.”

· He stands firm for the right of Americans to own firearms.

He understands the constitution better than any other candidate – the very rule of law that all presidents swear to follow: He consistently makes decisions based on the Constitution; He demonstrates a working knowledge of the Constitution.
Some of his “odd” views (i.e. not supporting a Federal Marriage Amendment) are because he sees that the federal government has no jurisdiction in those areas according to the Constitution. In the example of the FMA, and many others, he is right.
Most of the arguments I have heard against him are that people don’t like his personality. Since when is personality the sole deciding factor for choosing a President? I agree – he could use to develop some amiable personality traits. But when you are trying to speak long-forgotten truth in modern day sound bites, you don’t have much time to spare for winsomeness. We the people have forgotten so many basic principles laid out in the Constitution that we take error for granted. We assume things are supposed to be this way because we can’t remember when they weren’t.
Concerning the war in Iraq: He is against the war for the right reasons:

It is an unconstitutional, undeclared war
We are selling ourselves to China in order to fund our “war on terror”

National debt is up to $26,000 per man, woman and child
We are becoming China’s slaves in order to fight this war

I would like to add here that I have a high respect for those of you who have chosen a different candidate, and the research that I have done is not exhaustive.

But from what I am seeing Ron Paul is the only one who comes close to representing what I believe about the role of the federal government. He is not a perfect candidate, but he does stand for principle. For those of you who say he will never win, I wish I had written down every person who claims to agree with his philosophy, but said they would not vote for him because he won’t win. If that is you, I ask you to consider that your way of thinking is the reason he won’t win. There are enough people who have said, “He won’t win, so I won’t vote for him” to swing the election in a big way.

Thanks for reading – Happy Voting!!!

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/

Sir John the Mysterious

P.S. I'm sorry about the font colors - something seems to be goofed up here - hope you can read it alright.

Ever find yourself in a jam...

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:52:52 GMT

...session? I have - and quite recently! I mean, sitting on a couch, squished between two people, and trying to play the recorder is quite the jam. Surprisingly, my recorder occasionally knew exactly what note to play, and we had a grand time. When my turn came, I requested the song "Life's Railway to Heaven." That was when the real jam started, since I had no clue how to play it, and could not recall the words. Many of the others did not recognize it either, but those who had some fuzzy recollection of it did a splendidly fine job of playing. Here are the words, for my review and y'all to enjoy. Oh yeah! I also got to play a homemade washtub bass... this thing had four strings, a fingerboard and an awesome sound... I need some time to really get acquainted with that instrument! Thank y ' a l l for a great time!

Life is like a mountain railroad,
With an engineer that's brave:
We must make the run successful,
From the cradle to the grave;
Watch the curves, the fills, the tunnels;
Never falter, never quail;
Keep your hand upon the throttle,
And your eye upon the rail.

Chorus:
Blessed Savior, Thou wilt guide us
Till we reach that blissful shore;
Where the angels wait to join us
In Thy praise forevermore.

You will roll up grades of trial;
You will cross the bridge of strife;
See that Christ is your conductor,
On this lightning train of life;
Always mindful of obstruction,
Do your duty, never fail;
Keep your hand upon the throttle,
And your eye upon the rail.

You will often find obstructions;
Look for storms of wind and rain;
On a fill, or curve or trestle,
They will almost ditch your train;
Put your trust alone in Jesus;
Never falter, never fail;
Keep your hand upon the throttle,
And your eye upon the rail.

As you roll across the trestle,
Spanning Jordan's swelling tide,
You behold the Union Depot
Into which your train will glide;
There you'll meet the Superintendent,
God the Father, God the Son,
With the hearty, joyous plaudit,
"Weary pilgrim, welcome home!"

May YHWH bless you as you bravely chug through life! Enjoy every minute of it with Him. Even in the stressful times, He is joyfully your Superintendent, helping you make your run successful!

Sir John the Mysterious

Humble pie is a just glorious dessert!

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:30:21 GMT

“But let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position; and let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.” James 1:9-11 NAS (emphasis added).

When I first memorized this passage (and for years following) I understood the main themes of these verses to be “rich vs. poor,” “it is better to be poor” and “it is good to be humble.” However, yesterday as I reviewed it, I saw a focused theme…. Yes, it talks about the rich, but the one central point is humility! I find it very interesting that whether rich or poor, humble or exalted, we are to glory in humility – whether it be humble circumstances or humiliation (humility imposed on us).

The Lord has been leading me through several humble circumstances recently. I am rejoicing that He is teaching me as I listen! When doors close, sometimes it feels like humiliation, yet I know that God is at work.

YHWH gave and YHWH has taken away. Blessed be the name of the YHWH!

In other news, we had a splendid Christmas together as a family! It was a fun day of enjoying each other’s company and delighting in Jesus. What a relaxing day – and the phone only rang once!!!

The Lord provided three deer for me during hunting season this year. None of them had antlers; they were all doe. Here is a picture of the biggest one, it was 330 yards (that would be 3 and 1/3 football fields, or 990 feet) away when I shot it with the handgun pictured. That is a new record distance for me. I used every bit of skill for it, and God blessed.

Also, here is Niagara Falls with blue (with white transitionioning in) lights on them at night. There are several colors in the display including red, orange, green, yellow, and purple. Pardon the slight blur:

Happy New Year!!! May Yeshua bless you with His best!

Sir John the Mysterious

This site has been kinda inactive...

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 20:32:17 GMT

...for too long! I hope to do a post finishing our vacation trip soon. So much has happened since I last posted, I think it'll take a couple posts to catch up. I am sorry I have not been commenting on y'all's sites, I have tried to skim your posts, but my watch goes faster than I can read, and I find myself running to the next important thing before I can comment.... Here is a letter that I wrote to quite a number of my home educating friends a few weeks ago.

Dear Friends~

It has been a while since I have written. I have been doing some large projects and taken on some side work, so it has been a busy time and God has been faithful!

In the coming year, there are many serious matters to deal with. There are matters in each of our families and churches. Nationally, we have a major election (with no easy answers), continuously expanding government, and growing confusion about right and wrong. In contrast, take courage that you, your children and your grandchildren are going to be shaping this country for righteousness!

You have chosen a path that relates all learning to Scripture, that seeks righteousness in all things, and that desires on a heart level to walk with God. Yes, things look bad around us, but we have yet to see the full impact this generation of Godly young people and like-minded believers will have!

During this time when we give thanks to God and celebrate Jesus’ birth, let’s run to Him “all who are weary and heavy-laden and He will give us rest. Take His yoke upon us, and learn from Him, for He is gentle and humble in heart; and we shall find rest for our souls. For His yoke is easy, and His load is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 NAS personalized). Let’s keep it as simple as possible: delight in Him and do the next right thing in the jurisdictions that He has given to us.

Forging ahead,

Sir John the Mysterious

Ketchup... er Catsup... no, I mean Catch-up!

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:44:51 GMT

Oh rejoice in the King of Heaven, for His lovingkindness is everlasting!

Two months and no post… ya s’pose its time to let you know what is going on in my life? Here is the table of contents:

Truck

Vacation

Finally Found Her

God at Work

Truck:

There are many pictures of all the work I have done to my truck in the last six months, but here are a few of the most interesting:

The freshly painted engine oil pan – I put a new gasket on to seal up oil leaks.

The bent fan and mangled radiator – see July 1, 2007 post for the story.

Dad and me (Gloria helped too!) using heavy artillery to reshape the front of the truck so that the fan will never eat the radiator again. BIG hammer and Dad’s van were both utilized.

After all of this work was done, the truck (incidentally I still need to name my truck) successfully passed a major milestone to which few vehicles aspire!

However, the head gasket on the engine felt that it had put in its time, and as if on cue decided to kick the bucket!

Top of the engine with the head removed.

The head sitting on the work bench - yes we left the exhaust manifold on. Very heavy to lift? Yep - we used the shop hoist to lift it off the engine.

The cylinder walls still have cross-hatch hone markings on them, even after 300 thousand miles! Just barely broken in.

Me torqueing the 26 head bolts to about 130 foot pounds each. (the closest smiley I could find to exertion)

Praise the Lord, the truck has worked flawlessly since! Including for the following…

Vacation:

Sharon and I took a 3 ½ week working vacation, covering 4800 miles, entailing 3 seasons, 1 wedding, battlefields, friends and more friends, Eternal Impact Summit, work, not much sleep, and over all a great time! I added Florida and Georgia to the list of states that I have visited.

While we were visiting Matt, we saw the battlefields of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.

L-R Sharon, me, and Matt on Lee’s Hill aspiring to learn artillery.

Me wishing I had a gun to pose with at the sunken road/stone wall.

We had a great time – thanks Matt!

Next we visited a co-worker and her family. Thanks for letting us borrow your office so we could call this a working vacation, Cynthia! We had a great time meeting her family, trying a Carolina Concrete at Goodberries (yum-ummy!), talking guns, law enforcement, and military with Mr. and brothers (I guess that was mostly me, not Sharon), and staying up late to strategize on work priorities and methods.

We got to see our recently married friends Jarod and Anna . It has been a while since we have compared notes on reformation in America, right Jarod? Unfortunately our time was very short here – we’ll have to come back to bug ya again sometime! It was great catching up and visiting you in your newly founded home!

Well, I am going to make you wait for the rest of the vacation narrative, until I find the pictures that make it interesting! Much more to come - stay tuned!

Finally found her!

While we were traveling, mysterious things were happening at home. Since we were so busy, it was not hard for some details of what was happening at home to miss our attention. Not that anyone was intentionally hiding them from us either – more like we were selfishly occupied in our vacationing and deserting our poor family. Dad told me a few things from time to time, but little did I know from what he said how significant the negotiations were, or what God was going to do! Having said that, I would like to introduce via a picture…

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Dad now has a “new” vehicle! She only has 242,000 miles on her, and has a diesel engine. I am so grateful for the Lord’s provision, and that all the hard work of shopping paid off. Now all we need to do is learn the million new things about this vehicle and fix all the broken stuff.

To sum it all up…

God has been at work, and has been blessing me through difficulty as well as fun. I know, I did not include all the difficult things in here, but you can probably see some of them in various posts. The trip was really encouraging to me, as the Lord wanted to care for and minister to me through many people along the way. I have been enjoying Scripture study and meditation now like I have not in some time. I have been learning to rest in Jesus by limiting busyness to what He gives me as priority. That is not to say things are easy, just that I am blessed to walk with Jesus through life.

With a heart full of gratitude to God my Savior, rejoicing in his bountiful goodness and everlasting lovingkindness, I encourage you to look forward to the Thanksgiving season and set aside time to reflect over the last year, in fact many generations, to see God’s faithfulness and blessing to us today! Give thanks to the King of kings, for His lovingkindness is everlasting!

Sir John the Mysterious

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:49:22 GMT

Well, not much has changed since my last post: Work as much and as hard as I can, fix the truck, go on trips, and God working in my heart! He keeps bringing up more areas in which He would train me to be faithful.

I have done some roofing: Sweat dripping off my nose, ears, chin, getting in my eyes, darkening skin, hot weather etc. Yep, it is kinda fun, but it gets old fast! Did I mention sore muscles, aching back? Adam! Why did you eat that fruit???

My sister and I traveled to the ATI training conference in Indy. What a whirlwind that week was! God was at work there, and it was awesome to be a part of it! We talked with soooo many people, and the weather was exceptionally warm. It was a really good time, and I was encouraged that God continues to refine a remnant.

On the way home from that trip, just as we were almost home, the truck turned over the 300,000 mile mark! Whew, it is kind of an adventure driving old vehicles, but God has blessed and the truck has worked well. But, as you know, I have put a lot of work into it to keep it running. That will not change, since I discovered that I need to replace the head gasket – the gasket between the top of the engine and the bottom of the engine. Please pray that I will be able to get it done on Monday, so I can work Tuesday.

I have been reading about the construction of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament for my devotions. Some challenges have been running through my mind: “Am I diligently preparing a beautiful dwelling for God in my heart and life?” “Am I keeping the lamp trimmed and fueled, incense on the altar at the appointed times, and all things in order?” “Am I bringing everything in my life to Jesus for atonement, dedication and holiness?” Such a loving Savior to keep my focus on Himself!

Well, there would be pictures, but it is late, and much work to do tomorrow! Hang in there; look to Jesus; I’ll try to post pictures when I can, but I feel I am headed into battle!

Blessings to y'all!

Sir John the Mysterious

All work and no...

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 00:20:55 GMT

...play, makes Jack a dull boy. Well, good thing my name's not Jack. But say, I have had a little fun thrown in with the work too. Not so bad.

Well, I got to do a little side work as a contractor this last week, and that was fun indeed. Sorry, no pictures, but I helped remove the burned out parts of a garage and re-frame it. Mostly the roof and front wall were damaged. Once we got it framed up with new rafters, we put steel roofing on it. All in all, it was tons of fun working with my good friends and the contractors I used to work with.

The Lord has been working very much in my heart lately. It seems that He has purposely put a blindfold on me, and wants to refine my sensitivity to His cues and leading without the added understanding of "seeing" what He is doing. This morning in Family Fellowship, we watched a video of Lew Sterrett, and at one point he blindfolded one of his stallions, took the bit and bridle off the horse, and proceeded to ride it around the arena. First a walk, then a trot, then a canter. He gave the horse direction through a number of cues, but not through the use of the reigns or the horse's understanding from sight. I feel that the Lord is teaching me how to trust in the same way. Not easy, but I perceive the Lord's blessing and smile through His work!

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. (John 9:39-41)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.... (Hebrews 11:1)

Well, I have some pictures somewhere I am sure... but I am out of time. Probably have some of the completed work on my truck, and miscellaneous other things. Anywho, well, I have one here that will be quick.

This is my truck towing my uncle's flatbed. We hope to bring home a reliable vehicle for Dad on that trailer one day soon. Please pray that we get the right one...

Summer is busy! Many blessings on y'all!
Sir John the Mysterious