As most of you know, my earthly father passed away in April of 2025. I greatly miss him. Other than Jesus Christ, He is easily the greatest man I have ever known. I am incredibly blessed to call him not only father but friend. Now that he’s in heaven with the Lord, I wish I had given even more of my time to spend with him in person, on the phone, or even playing more cribbage. He truly loved to play cribbage, and thankfully, he passed the love of that game on to me. My father always wanted to preach and desired to share the truth in love with those he knew and didn’t know. I think deep down, he always desired to do something as a father and son in this realm. We did do a little bit together, but not at all what it could have been.
So I am pleased to announce that my oldest son, Ezra, and I will be starting a new podcast in 2026. It will be titled “Falling Apples” – hence the title of this blog post. My son mentioned while recording these editions that, “It sure would have been nice to have Grandpa here to do this with us so we could have the perspective of three generations on what we are going to discuss.” And that brings me to part of the reason for this blog post.
My mother has given me two incredible gifts. One is my father’s Bible. It is loaded with highlights and his own personal notes and cross-references. LOADED! The second gift is one of his personal journals from 2002-2003. There are so many writings in this journal that it is going to take me years to read through them and compile what he has written. This is where my son and I are hoping to receive a gift from him, but also to share with people, like you – a gift that we didn’t know we could give. On “Falling Apples,” we are hoping to not only share what we believe the Lord is leading us to share with you, but also share much of the Godly insight, wisdom, and passion from my father through his writings. We are hoping this podcast will just be organic, real, raw, and very transparent. We currently have a Facebook page for this podcast, so please be on the lookout for new information coming out about this new endeavor.
To finish up this post, I’d like to share one of the writings from my father so you can get to know his heart better.
“CHOICES”
Deuteronomy 30:11-20
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Cherries fruit tastes wonderful, but at the same time, the PIT contains deadly poison – CYANIDE.
Our life and choices we make are not much unlike this fruit; if anything, life is like this fruit. We must choose daily between good and evil, like choosing to read God’s Word and praying (talking with Him). BUT it’s when we choose to do otherwise that we slowly poison our souls, and so slowly that over time we begin to think and justify that what we are doing is OK. Like the cherries, life doesn’t have to be the pits; you see, my choices make the difference.
Choice.
Colossians 2:6 states, “as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” “JUDGMENTAL” ME.
We want to have our cake and eat it too. What a saying. A lot of the time, no. Way too often, we attempt to establish our relationship with God by the feelings of mountain-top experiences and move dramatically from one to another. What happens is if these tippy top happenings aren’t a part of our lives, we believe that our faith is weakening (a feelings-centered faith).
Didn’t verse Colossians 2:6 say, “Walk in Him,” a Christ-centered faith?
We need Him in the highs AND lows of our lives. When we do, our lives will become rooted and grounded in Him. Like those things that grow from the earth, their roots need to grow deep to give stability to the plant. Those mountain-top experiences can and are beneficial, but nothing will profit each of us more than our ongoing CHRIST-centered life of faith.
James 1:2-3
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
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