"He's Alive! - Don Francisco"

Snow!

These are the scenes outside our house at 6 o'clock this morning.  Spring time was here, the snow was 80% gone, we were boiling sap and this week spring has disappeared, its back to winter again! 

This is the weather advisory that was posted on weather.com for our area. 
... WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 AM CDT THIS MORNING...
* SNOW... HEAVY AT TIMES... WILL GRADUALLY TAPER OFF ACROSS FAR NORTHERN WISCONSIN BETWEEN 8 AM AND 10 AM... THEN TAPER OFF.
* ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES WILL BOOST STORM TOTALS TO 8 TO 14 INCHES... WITH 14 TO 18 INCHES IN NORTHWEST VILAS COUNTY.
* REDUCED VISIBILITIES AND SNOW COVERED ROADS WILL RESULT IN HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS FOR THE MORNING COMMUTE.
* THE HEAVY SNOW WILL CAUSE SOME DAMAGE TO TREES AND BRANCHES... LEADING TO POWER OUTAGES IN SOME LOCATIONS.

I measured the snow on our deck and it appears we got at least 8 to 10 inches so far.

I was disappointed that I missed the lunar eclipse the morning of the 15th.  I was keeping up on it and was planning on seeing it but I got the time wrong.  I had in mind it was April 15th so in my mind I was thinking night time on the 15th but I was too late, it already occurred in the early morning hours on Tuesday.  I did see a great big full moon setting in the west when I got up, that's what tipped me off that I missed it.  However I did get to see the lunar eclipse from years past and that was neat seeing the eerie red glow, some called a "blood moon". 

But, I guess I'll get a few more chances to see it again later this year and a couple times next year as I hear it's supposed to happen 4 tines in 2 years.  Some are saying the it is a sign of possible calamities that could be coming like a bad omen, signs in the heavens type stuff.  While I believe if we look around us there are plenty of other indicators to tell us things in the world are shaking up but I do believe the bible when it says that God made the celestial bodies for signs and seasons. 

Here's a picture someone made to indicate the dates of the four lunar eclipses and apparently a couple solar eclipses as well and how they supposedly land on certain Jewish holidays.  It would be remarkable if this is exact, but I don't know, I'm not well versed on the Jewish holy days.   



Some are saying that what the bible describes in the last days as the moon turning to blood is nothing more than a lunar eclipse.  I've been a student of end times prophecy practically my whole life and I know people have jumped to a lot of conclusions over the years so I am always cautious what I believe. 

I believe the bible say that the "sun will be darkened and the moon turn to blood", but I always imagined much more of a super natural scene than something like this with a naturalistic origin so I don't know about this current theory that's going around and catching like wild fire.  However I certainly keep it in mind pondering what it all means, while trying not to be caught up in other peoples over active imaginations.  I just want to know and believe the truth. 

We've had a pretty tough winter here in the Northwood's of Wisconsin.  It was cold and snowy and everywhere I've gone people have been complaining about it.  On Monday I was picking up someone's garbage and we had just gotten some snow, this old fella who often comes out to say hello greeted me with a "Happy Easter" and in the next breath he cursed saying "Jesus Christ isn't this ever going to end!"  I wish I was the type of person with a quick whit but I'm not and afterwards I wondered how I could have used that moment to represent the Lord.  The Easter Holiday and Jesus Christ certainly go hand in hand but this old timer didn't quite have it right when he combined the two in such a way!  I always cringe inside when people use the Lords name in vain.

But it seems the world is experiencing unusual weather everywhere.  For us it is common to get some snow toward the end of April but this kind dumping is very unusual.  Usually we have green grass by now, and the winter was unusually brutal as I indicated already.  So I take these kinds of things to heart, what is God telling us in all this I wonder?  When things are difficult lots of people everywhere want to curse about it.  This reminds me of what the bible says about the end times how people will curse God because of all the calamites rather than to repent of their sins.  I do believe that in Gods grace he is giving us all time to repent of what ever it is we need to be repenting about.  This is a theme that has been heavy on my heart for some time now, and that is to repent.  I mean some unprecedented things have occurred all around the world, some very serious stuff, like earthquakes and tsunami's, floods and fires, violent storms and economies of nations crumbling to dust and still people curse God rather than repent.  When it's all over it's back to life as usual, but what is it going to take to wake people up?

I believe that God is calling everyone everywhere to repent.  I won't take the time here to list all the vile things that people  are doing in this day and age, we all know what is going on but whatever it is we need to repent of this is the time to do it. Now is the time of salvation.  After we take our last breath it's too late, for "it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment".

Until Next Time

Interesting goat business

I've heard of "brush goats" practically my whole life.  That's where people take a herd of goats and put them in an overgrown area to clean out the weeds and unwanted brush.  Here is a link to a website of some folks who have made a business out of it which I thought was really interesting and informative.  http://werentgoats.com/  Their business and website is called "We Rent Goats".