Share Your World 2016: Week 11

Posted on March 17, 2016 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun

It’s time to SHARE OUR WORLD’S WITH CEE!

Every week Cee asks five questions, In answering them her many contributors share their worlds with the blogosphere. You can find all their answers by clicking the underlined link above.

This weeks questions and my answers are below:

How many siblings do you have? What’s your birth order?

I have one sister, Brenda. She is a missionary to the Netherlands. I am the oldest. I am a pastor here in America.

This is me and Brenda at Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse

In a car would you rather drive or be a passenger?

I would rather be a passenger. I love riding. That said, I almost always drive as I am generally alone in the car.

When you lose electricity in a storm, do you light the candles or turn on the flashlight? How many of each do you own?

Usually both. I have a vast supply of candles in the house and at least one flashlight on every floor…except the cellar which I try to avoid at all costs in a black out.

List at least five of your favorite types of animals? (any animal to domestic to wild to marine life)

I love dogs, especially my little dogs.

I love cats too. In fact my daughter is moving in with her cat Picasso on Saturday. That means in my house there will live four people, three Maltese and one tabby cat who outweighs all the dogs by at least double.

I love birds. The property I live on is covered in wild roses and that attracts the wild birds throughout the winter. I love going out and seeing the waxwings and the chickadees and the robins and the cardinals in the trees. I especially love birdsong in the spring.

I love mountain lions, not like in a cuddly way, that’s just stupid. Those people who go out and live with giant carnivores and try to be their friends and be accepted in their packs are just crazy in my mind; But as a concept I like mountain lions. One was spotted in the town next door about a month ago.

Finally I love bears…in the same way I love mountain lions.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful that at last week’s bowl-athon fundraiser for special needs the ministry brought in almost $4,000.00! This week I am looking forward to a fun-filled Saturday at C.cada. Ray Parker will be giving a lesson in basic camera use in the afternoon and I have a new camera I am dying to work with.

My Daily Walk 3-9-16

Posted on March 10, 2016 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun

These photos are from yesterday’s walk. Today promises heavy rain. So I’m thinking this afternoon might just be a washout. That’s O.K because I am supposed to meet Jody for a Korea Trip planning session. I probably won’t have time for walking anyway.

Weekly Smile 10 #weeklysmile

Posted on March 9, 2016 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun

I haven’t smiled with Trent for a couple of weeks. This week I was determined to put a new smile on my face and here is what did it.

There is nothing like a walk through the woods with one of my kids to put a smile on my face. Thanks Amanda for humoring your dear old da’.

Weekly Smile #WeeklySmile

Join Trent in smiling by clicking the underlined link above.

Share Your World 2016 Week 10

Posted on March 8, 2016 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun

We just crossed into double digits with SYW 2016 can you believe it? Only 42 more weeks to go until 2017. Click the underlined link to be transported to a great sharing space at Cee’s Blog.

This week Cee has asked us five sharing questions and given us a warning. The warning is

With your answers, please remember we are in the SYW world which may not always match our reality.

The questions are:

What would you ask for if a genie granted you three wishes?

I think I would ask the genie to make me strong enough to cover all the bases that need covering in my section of the human sea of need. I do realize however that genies are quite literal and I would probably be given a huge baseball diamond in the middle of an ocean along with super speed so that I could run on top of the water and thereby cover all the bases. I think I will just continue to ask God for the strength. He gets the metaphor.

What experiences are most meaningful to you?

I love our times around the altar of the church. There is nothing like being in the presence of God.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

As a young child I wanted to be a zoo keeper, a naturalist, an ornithologist or something else that would keep me near animals and the natural world. From the eighth grade on though I pretty much knew I was going to be a pastor. It was an innate sense I guess you could say…a calling I couldn’t deny.

Complete this sentence: The best day of my life was….

the day I received Jesus as Savior and Lord. The second best day was the day I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am so grateful that our lead pastor, Pastor Risto was back to lead staff meeting last week. He had been away and then had Network staff meetings in Sturbridge . So I was running meetings for a few weeks. This week I am looking forward to ministering in two concerts.

Share Your World 2016 Week #9

Posted on March 4, 2016 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun, Uncategorized

It’s past time for me to

Every week Cee invites her contributors to SHARE BITS OF THEIR LIVES.

You can discover how the rest of the world is sharing by clicking the underlined link. Here are the questions we are all answering along with my answers.

Have you done something you truly want to do today?

I get to do lots of things I want to do everyday. I love my job of pastoring and while there are pieces of it that get pushed to the back burner because of the craziness of everyday life I do really enjoy it all. Today is a day of office cleaning and administrating . I am finally getting to organize my desk and my office and that feels really good! Currently it looks like my desk blew up and that makes me sad.

What can you help the world with?

I believe I am called to help the world by bringing them to the knowledge of God.

If life was ‘just a bowl of cherries’… which fruit other than a cherry would you be..?

I would be a kiwi. Sweet, fuzzy and a little odd.

Quotes List: At least three of your favorite quotes?

I have so many favorite quotes narrowing it down to three is really hard, but I shall try. Here are three quotes on joy I really like shared by my friend and fellow artist Betty Knowlton:

What a witness to the world Christians would be, if only we were evidently very happy people
.
Our sense of joy, satisfaction and fulfillment in life increases, no matter what the circumstances, if we are in the center of God’s will.
Joy is NOT the absence of trouble, but the presence of God.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am so grateful that last week I got to preach at Cornerstone and that four people came to Jesus. This next week I am looking forward to leading worship at Cornerstone!

My Daily Walk 2-22-16

Posted on February 22, 2016 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun

It’s another glorious day in North Central Mass. Since I had errands in Gardner anyway I decided to walk the Crystal Lake portion of the North Central Pathway.

My Tie Resolution Pt. 2

Posted on February 22, 2016 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun

You may remember that I made a resolution to wear every tie I own at least one time in 2016.
Here are the ties I wore from the holidays through the end of January.