Haiti!

Got back from Haiti last Saturday night.  An amazing experience.  As much as we tried to help and train the LSM vehicle repair staff, they helped us realize the Haitian perspective of complete trust, love, and faith in Jesus Christ, with absolutely zero earthly possessions.  Words cannot explain how little, and yet how much, the Haitian people have.  Part of our heart was left there, no doubt about it.

Gun!

Jayden's first gun! A 10 pump BB gun. Compliments of GCC spaghetti supper ticket sales. He loves it. :)

Snow fort!

Ice/snow fort compliments of the Church parking lot!!

"Pencil"

A customer brought this pencil in today. It says "life without Christ is like this pencil.....there is no point to it".

Great "point" don't you think (pardon the pun).....

"Glorify Hymn"

Last night our men's group "Glorify Hymn" had the privilege to sing with Derek and Leann Sauder. What a blessed evening worshiping The Lord in song! Sauder's, God bless you for your amazing faith a midst physical trials of this life!

God's amazing creation---Outer space!

Good Sunday School teacher material right here. 1 light year = 6 trillion miles...... times 100 million light years.... times 13 billion light years.......times..... I give up.... The created cosmos is an amazing amazing thing! Praise God!

Perception

So, in the last week, I have been told the following:

1.  Dad, myself, and my 2 younger brothers were somewhere together.  An older man that we had just met looked at Keith Grimm and Matt, and exclaimed "there is no doubt you two are brothers".  He then proceeded to look at dad and I and said "and you two are no doubt brothers also".

2.  Another man that I had not seen for a long time, told me at the dealership "boy, you sure filled out into quite the man".  Thinking he was joking, I said "yeah pretty fat huh?"  He then tells me "it's ok".

Not sure what to deduce from these recent experiences.  It is either:

1.  Being 6' 2", 180 lbs, and having a bald spot on my head makes me fat and 50 years old.

or

2.  Some of us are better judges of appearance than others.

or

3.  Maybe both 1 and 2.... :)

It made me thankful that the Lord is pure, holy, and righteous, and that His judgments are always correct.  For that we can be eternally thankful.  2 Timothy 4:8.

Mike

"Who Missed Christmas?"

Thankful for an inspiring Sunday School Christmas program this afternoon.  Their message was "Who Missed Christmas?"  Are we like the inn keeper too busy with daily business or Herod too full of self?  Or are we like Mary, the wisemen, and the shepherds who didn't miss out?  Let's not get too wrapped up in Christmas plans, cards, baking, etc and miss Christmas!  A good reminder to us all!

Thanks!

"Give thanks unto The Lord, for His mercy endureth forever"

Ancestor funeral card

Sorry about doing another blog post about my great, great, great grandpa (Henry Grimm Sr), but cool things keep coming up.  Thanks to Mark Grimm (Morton, IL) for giving me this "funeral service" card from 1904.  This is about 3" wide and 6" tall and must have been handed out at his funeral service.

This is the man who fought Indians at the end of the Civil War, and was wounded twice with arrows (which are still on display in Topeka Kansas, see previous blog post).  He later gave his life to Jesus, and was a successful farmer/rancher in Volland, Kansas (where his farmstead still stands to this day).  See previous blog post.

Church!

Quick snapped a few photos of the kids playing "Church". As usual the boys couldn't agree on anything so they decided to both be the preacher. LOL.

Did they kill someone?

Last night we did the East Peoria bike trail and then ate supper at Avantis. 

We were sitting there eating, when Buzz looked over at the restaurant fountain. He turns to Amber and asks "mom, did they kill someone?".

What a guy.....

Jeep ride!

A Saturday afternoon jeep ride to Lily. 

Great times!

Thanksgiving!

I'm sure Nate and Laura Wiegand feel the same way, but Amber Grimm and I are so overwhelmed with thanksgiving to our Goodfield Apostolic Christian Church family. What an amazing body of believers! Thanks for your support and love as we begin this new chapter serving in the pulpit ministry. While we feel unworthy and weak, we know that God's will is perfect and that He never fails! I pray that my thoughts and desires will always be pushed aside, and that the Holy Spirit will work mightily in our Church (and in all Bible believing congregations), as He has so many times throughout history. Our God is indeed an awesome God!!

Treasure moments!

Lord help me cherish these moments!!

Pictures of arrows that wounded my Grimm ancestor.

Many thanks to Jody (Grimm) Baum for supplying these pictures of the arrows that wounded my great, great, great grandfather in 1865.  They are on display at the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka, KS.  A quick call I made to the museum confirmed they are still there.  I can't wait to go to Kansas to do some good old fashioned family heritage touring...... :)  

Salmon Dinner!

A while ago we auctioned off a salmon dinner at a local charity auction with Kurt and Joan Plattner. Last night we hosted the winning bidder, Bob and Ellie Pflederer from Morton, along with their Zimmerman siblings. What a great night with some amazing mentors and Christ filled souls!

Before iPads

While sitting around enjoying the evening tonight, Jayden asked me what kind of iPad I had when I was little. 

This led to very interesting thoughts and reflections as I told him that not only did we not have iPads but we also did not have Ipods, laptops, cell phones, or cd's.

He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity. I could tell his "wheels were spinning" up in his head.

Finally, in a completely sincere voice, he asked "what did you do back then?".

This eventually led to an insightful conversation about pay phones, cassette tapes, hardback books, paper magazines, landline phones, green screen computers, and other extinct or almost extinct technologies. 

Thankfully, our God and His Word does not change!  For that we can be so grateful!

Creation Museum!!

What a great time with some awesome friends visiting the Creation Museum. 

Thanks Corbin and Katie Stoller and Troy and Tenille Stoller for some fantastic memories!!

Grimm ancestor heritage update!

My great, great, great grandfather, Henry Grimm I, fought Indians at the Battle of Platte Bridge Station in 1865. Just found out that the arrows he was wounded with are on display at this museum, less than 60 miles away from the stone built farmstead he built in the 1850's. A gold mine for a history buff like me! Looks like a trip to central Kansas is in my future.

http://www.kshs.org/museum

Grimm family homestead in Kansas!!

For all those Henry Grimm Sr. decedents out there, check out this link. Great job to my friend Matt Wyss for researching his wife's heritage, and taking action to find the original Grimm family homestead in Kansas. Very cool blog post with great photos.