2018 December 31 Monday

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2018 December 31 Monday New Year's Eve in Liberty Hill, Texas

38° and mostly cloudy start to the day.

Both of us woke this morning coughing and hacking and with a lot of nose blowing. This isn't a cold or the flue. This is Cedar Fever.

At eight o'clock Ella called and set up doctor's appointments for both of us, 9:15 & 9:30, at Liberty Hill physician. We were examined and prescriptions were ordered. So off to the pharmacy we went. We both have done codine cough syrup, antibiotics, and a steroid. We're just treating symptoms because there's no real cute for the allergies.

Here we are with the last few hours of 2018 circling the drain, ready to disappear into the past.

LOOKING BACK ON 2018

Jan. 01 When we got up this morning it was 49 degrees inside the trailer and 18 degrees outside the trailer. Just a might chilly for the Texas Hill country. There's a skiff of snow on the ground, ice on our porch and, ice on our truck. Our water lines were frozen, even though I had them dripping overnight. I guess 18 degrees was just too cold even for running water.

Feb. 02 I began a five week series of injections of a synthetic cockscomb into my knees. The hope was to alleviate some of the pain by building in a layer of lubrication within the joint. However, it did not work.

Mid March I created a new blog for my MUSINGS daily devotional https://musingsdevotions.wordpress.com. in the future the Musings will no longer be posted at the end of each blog. However I who include a link at the end of this blog each day.

April had us packing and planning for the trip back to Iowa.

May 01 we arrived at Cutty's Des Moines campground and quickly I was back at work at the fee booth.

In June we were back in Iowa. I found it discouraging when so few arrive for our worship service at Cutty's campground. There was a new rule this year that prohibits putting signs out in the campground to advertise our services. I'm sure that the lack of signs had made an impact. However, people inviting people had always been the best advertising in the past anyway.

Six years ago, I felt led to begin these worship services. Now I began to wonder if maybe that time is over.

September Our church men's group has a Hobo Dinner* every Fall. This year I hosted them at Cutty's. When I set this up I'd forgotten that that weekend was the annual Spooktaculer weekend (think Halloween one month early). Spooktaculer it's a BIG DEAL at Cutty's. People come to camp and decorate their RVs, campsites, and themselves. The kids, in costumes, go from site to site collecting candies. I was concerned that the Hobo Dinner would not be at the spot where we've had the dinner in the past. However it all worked out.

October found us back in Texas. Because of the rain and mud, It took about a week to get the trailer out of storage and on a site. We had two large splits in the rubber roofing on the trailer. Thanks to a friend from church I was able to get both areas patched. We also made the rounds of all of our doctors in October.

Nov. 9th we both began working at the Santa photography set at Lakeline mall.

Dec was mostly taken up with various Santa activities.

God bless you and have a great New Year.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

2018 December 30 Sunday

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2018 December 30 Sunday in Liberty Hill, Texas

33° (feels like 30) and rain. Not such a good combination. Temperature barely moved to reach a high of 39°.

I preached this morning. Ella recorded it and posted it on Facebook. In a perfect world the following link would take you to the video. I make no warranty about whether this is a perfect world. Try following the link and find out fire yourself.

https://www.facebook.com/100002864308265/posts/1961951384110957/

I don't know if it is the cedar pollen or the wet and cold that had me down. Whichever, I came home, ate lunch, and napped for three hours.

God bless you.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

https://rvingfulltimewithtomandella.com/

2018 December 30 Sunday in Liberty Hill, Texas

33° (feels like 30) and rain. Not such a good combination. Temperature barely moved to reach a high of 39°.

I preached this morning. Ella recorded it and posted it on Facebook. In a perfect world the following link would take you to the video. I make no warranty about whether this is a perfect world. Try following the link and find out fire yourself.

https://www.facebook.com/100002864308265/posts/1961951384110957/

I don't know if it is the cedar pollen or the wet and cold that had me down. Whichever, I came home, ate lunch, and napped for three hours.

God bless you.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

2018 December 29 Saturday

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2018 December 29 Saturday in Liberty Hill, Leander and Cedar Park,Texas

36° (feels like 29°) this morning and cloudy.

By was laundry day for the Williams family. So we loaded the truck and drove to the laundromat in Leander.

From there it was a short drive to Walmart for a utility shelving unit for the shed. No I haven't assembled it yet. Haven't even gotten out it of the truck. I ran out of steam. So after putting the clean clothes away, I took a nap. Still in recovery mode from eight weeks of Santa.

God bless you.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

2018 December 28 Friday

2018 December 28 Friday in Liberty Hill, Georgetown, and Cedar Park,Texas

33° this morning and topped out at 49° in the afternoon. No more rain and the wind has died down to an average of five mph with gusts up to 14. But be sure to have your allergy meds, inhalers, and eye-drops at the ready.

The whole family gathered at Adam and Leigha's to celebrate Tate's birthday. Do all of his grandparents were there. How cool is that?

On the way home we stopped at H.E.B for three items. Then it was next door to Home Depot for 16x16 rubber outdoor tiles. We need a dry path to our shed. I will purchase more so that done short legged people (I'm not mentioning Ella's name here) don't have to jump from tile to tile.

God bless you.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

2018 December 27 Thursday

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2018 December 27 Thursday Liberty Hill and Leander,Texas

47° this morning. Clear sky, bright sun, and still windy. Not the 40+ mph of last night but still a respectable 35.

We must have had around 2" of rain overnight. We now have hey boat around our castle.

I took our patio awning down this morning. I'm not concerned about the wind but I wanted to let more morning sunlight in.

With the Santa season over, I had time to go to the doctor for steroid injections in both knees this morning.

Both the Over The Hill Gang and senior center are closed today. So, other than stopping to pick up a prescription, we had no place to go other than home.

The tree in our yard has some new green buds. Sure, why not? It's at the end of 2018, why shouldn't the trees begin to develope new leaves? It's spring time in Texas.

Nope this not a brush fire. It is just tonight's sunset.

God bless you.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK AND ACT

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MUSINGS - December 29, 2018

CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK AND ACT

Matthew 4:12-17
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he went back to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. This was in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. So what the prophet Isaiah had said came true: "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, on the way to the sea, across the Jordan River, Galilee, where foreigners live! The people who lived in darkness have seen a bright light. A light has risen for those who live in a land overshadowed by death."

From then on, Jesus began to tell people, "Turn to God and change the way you think and act, because the kingdom of heaven is near!"

With his cousin, John, in prison, Jesus begins preaching the same message that John had begun. "Turn to God and change the way you think and act, because the kingdom of heaven is near!" This message had not changed in the last 2000 years. The only change maybe it's that the kingdom of heaven is nearer now than then.

The kingdom is here now but it's incomplete. The followers of Jesus declare him as their King, the Messiah, the anointed one. It is the duty of each and every person in the kingdom to carry that same message everywhere and everywhen, "Turn to God and change the way you think and act."

Visit my daily devotions blog

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Daily journal https://rvingfulltimewithtomandella.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

JESUS' TEMPTATIONS

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MUSINGS - December 28, 2018

JESUS' TEMPTATION

Matthew 4:1-11
Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Jesus did not eat anything for 40 days and 40 nights. At the end of that time, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread." Jesus answered, "Scripture says, 'A person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that God speaks.'" Then the devil took him into the holy city and had him stand on the highest part of the temple. He said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, jump! Scripture says, 'He will put his angels in charge of you. They will carry you in their hands so that you never hit your foot against a rock.'" Jesus said to him, "Again, Scripture says, 'Never tempt the Lord your God.'" Once more the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms in the world and their glory. The devil said to him, "I will give you all this if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Go away, Satan! Scripture says, 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'" Then the devil left him, and angels came to take care of him.

40 days and 40 nights appears so often in the Bible

God destroyed the earth with water it to rainef 40 days and 40 nights (Genesis 7:12).Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights (Exodus 24:18).
Moses interceded on Israel’s behalf for 40 days and 40 nights (Deuteronomy 9:18, 25).
The Israelite spies took 40 days to spy out Canaan (Numbers 13:25). 
Goliath taunted Saul’s army for 40 days before David arrived to slay him (1 Samuel 17:16).
When Elijah fled from Jezebel, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).

Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights (Exodus 24:18).
Moses interceded on Israel’s behalf for 40 days and 40 nights (Deuteronomy 9:18, 25).
The Israelite spies took 40 days to spy out Canaan (Numbers 13:25). 
Goliath taunted Saul’s army for 40 days before David arrived to slay him (1 Samuel 17:16).
When Elijah fled from Jezebel, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).

All of these 40 days had to do with times of trial and temptation. Because it is a recurring time if testing, some have said that it is not to be taken literally but symbolic. I see no reason to believe that it is both symbolic of testing and a literal time if trial.

Whether you take it symbolicly or literally the truth is that Jesus was tested by every sin that we are. He was both fully God (who can not be tested be sin) and fully human it was necessary that he be vulnerable to sin and yet remained sinless.

Hebrews 2:18
Because Jesus experienced temptation when he suffered, he is able to help others when they are tempted.

Hebrews 4:15-16
We have a chief priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way that we are, but he didn't sin. So we can go confidently to the throne of God's kindness to receive mercy and find kindness, which will help us at the right time.

Because Jesus understands sin from the human perspective, he is the perfect judge for our frailties and failures.

Visit my daily devotions blog

https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

Daily journal https://rvingfulltimewithtomandella.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

2018 December 26 Wednesday

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2018 December 26 Wednesday Liberty Hill and Leander,Texas

49° overcast start temperature climbed through the rain to 66°. Afternoon storms continued until midnight. Severe thunder and lightning, localized flooding, thirty mile per hour wind gusts, and tornado watch. What a day.

We purchased 56 assorted cookies and took them to Grandies.

Breakfast at Hobo Just before Grandies.

After Grandies we went grocery shopping. We'll be eating at home more now that we aren't working at the mall.

The plan was to come home and get caught up on house work. That didn't happen much. After groceries were put away, we napped. (I needed that nap). I sorted my medications for the next couple of weeks and recorded one that I'm looking on. Also made a doctor's appointment for tomorrow morning.

It's our anniversary.

Yesterday we had time with four of our kids their spouses, eight grandkids, and the the grandkids other grandparents. That was the best Christmas gift possible.

God bless you.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

2018 December 24 Monday Christmas Eve

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2018 December 24 Monday Christmas Eve in Austin, Cedar Park and Liberty Hill, Texas

We arrived at the mall around 7:30 and proceeded to the storage/dressing room. While I was getting dressed the malls alarms went off. They were quickly silenced. About fifteen minutes later they went off again and were quickly silenced.

KFC for lunch/ supper. We were off at one today so we were looking for lunch before returning home. We drove in circles for a while before landing at KFC. We are they and then just sat for a long time, decompressing.

H.E.B. has a gas station and car wash very near the KFC. We ran Rudolf the red nosed pickup through the wash.

Jiffy Lube was our next stop. With all the things happening for the last couple of months, I had let Rudolf's care and feeding slip a little. Soon I'll need to take him to Firestone for me shoes also.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve service at Cross Tracks Church this evening.

God bless you everyone, Merry Christmas to all. And to all a good night.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © q2018 Thomas E. Williams

2018 December 23 Sunday

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2018 December 23 Sunday in Austin, Cedar Park and Liberty Hill, Texas

40° overnight and clear.

I had been awake since five and was working on my daily devotional so I was surprised when Ella's alarm went off at six. Not only did the alarm go off but she actually rolled out of bed and got dressed.

I got up, showered, and got dressed. It was now six forty five. Ella was standing at the door and ready to go. I said, " Hobo Junction doesn't open until eight."

She said, "We have to be at work at eight."

I replied, "Yes. Tomorrow. Today we start at ten."

She got out of her clothes and into the shower. It's was an interesting morning.

We did make it to Hobo Junction for breakfast.

After work we went to Adam and Leigha's because Amber, Andres, and family were visiting there from Florida. There was puzzle assembling, and game playing as well as supper.

God bless you and g'nite.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © q2018 Thomas E. Williams

FAITHFUL JOSEPH

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MUSINGS - December 23, 2018

FAITHFUL JOSEPH

Matthew 2:13-15
After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel said to him, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and kill him." Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left for Egypt that night. He stayed there until Herod died. What the Lord had spoken through the prophet came true: "I have called my son out of Egypt."

It is a good thing that God had given Jesus Joseph as a father. Had I been his father, I would have tried to negotiate with God. "Why do we need to go all the way to Egypt? There are plenty of countries a lot closer where we could hide. Plus I've got a business to run with steady clients. If we go that far away, I'll have to try to make s living in a land where I don't even speak the language."

However, Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left for Egypt that night. He didn't argue or make suggestion to God. He woke from his dream, gathered his family, and left for Egypt.

We here s lot about Mary being chosen by God to birth Jesus. I seldom think of how Joseph was also chosen to raise the Son of God to manhood. What an awesome task and responsibility Joseph was given.

Visit my daily blog. https://RVingFulltimeWithTomAndElla.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWillia my ms.blogspot.com/?m=1

Random Thoughts Newsletter

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All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

2018 December 22 Saturday

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2018 December 22 Saturday in Austin, Cedar Park and Liberty Hill, Texas

46° overnight and partly cloudy. It's not the weather that is the real issue today, it's the high pollen count. A runny nose and ichy eyes is not a good look for Santa.

Good morning, Sunshine!

This graph of sleep shows that I woke around 2:30 this morning and went back to sleep an hour later. I'd swear I've been awake the whole time. Laying still and not moving doesn't really count as sleep.

It was another 9 a.m. arrival day but off at 2. We were there in plenty of time. Yesterday the set manager informed Elle that Ella was not to bring me down to the set. So today I sat and waited. About a quarter after nine one of the new hires came to get me. I asked if Jessica had sent them. She had. It took another ten minutes to get the set started.

We stopped at DQ for supper tonight. I snapped a photo that I was going to post here. However, when I enlarged it, Ella was caught in a very unflattering pose. I value my life too much to post it.

I was so tired that I came home, turned the AC on. Yes, it was that warm inside. I then last down on the bed with my phone in l hand. My goal was to work in this blog. Which I did when I woke at 6:30 tonight. Now that it's done, I may go back to sleep .

God bless you and g'nite.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

TRULY WISE MEN

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MUSINGS - December 22, 2018

TRULY WISE MEN

Matthew 2:9-12
After they (the wise men from the east) had heard the king, they started out. The star they had seen rising led them until it stopped over the place where the child was. They were overwhelmed with joy to see the star. When they entered the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary. So they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. God warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they left for their country by another road.

When the wise men visited King Herod of Judea and said that they were seeking the King of the Jews, Herod wasn't happy. He was man jealous of his power. So much so that Herod murdered his wife Mariamne, her two sons, her brother, her grandfather, and her mother because he suspected that they were plotting against him.

Then men from the east came seeking a new King. He told the wise men to find this new King and report back to him so that he might go and worship him.

They were not fooled and followed the warning from God not to return to Herod.

Visit my daily blog. https://RVingFulltimeWithTomAndElla.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWillia my ms.blogspot.com/?m=1

Random Thoughts Newsletter

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All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams

2018 December 21 Friday

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2018 December 21 Friday in Austin, Cedar Park and Liberty Hill, Texas

35° overnight with clear sky and 62° for the high

We started work at 9:00 today and worked until 3. To celebrate getting off work an hour earlier than usual, we stopped at a steakhouse for supper.

The next stop was Walmart for twelve small travel size packages of wet wipes. We are assembling packages for the homeless. The packs include microwaveable meals (they can be eaten without hearing also or dropped into hot water for a while), an individually wrapped cookie, a can of V8 Fusion, a bottle of water, a plastic fork, and the wet wipes. I feel better about giving them these packages rather than cash.

When I came out of Walmart the moon was up full and bright.

We were still a ways from home when Ella said she needed to use the restroom. I learned long ago that when she says she needs to stop, we find the next available restroom. This one happened to be at Leander Quick Mart.

Once we were home, Ella put together another half dozen or so homeless bags. We've given out 4-5 of them in the last several weeks.

God bless you and g'nite.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams