Broadus X - DPP

I was attending Bible College at Trinity Bible Institute in Jamestown, North Dakota, and had completed my Sophomore year. The Institute had just closed a deal to buy the Ellendale Branch of the University of North Dakota, and decided to move the school to Ellendale. Audrey and I rented an insect infested house in Ellendale to hold it for the the fall semester. Then we went on a tour holding children's crusades. One of the places we held a crusade was a Hill City, SD. We were there during the Rapid City flood. Pastor Ron Masters lost two of his children in the flood, and almost lost his own life. Miles City, MT is another place we held a children's crusade. Pastor Gradey Chenny asked us if we would be interested in starting a new church in Broadus. We were.

After meeting with the presbyters at Hungry Horse, MT we were assigned to begin this new church. We drove from Hungry Horse to Broadus and rented a house. We went back to Jamestown, loaded all our things into a four foot by six foot Uhaul trailer and moved to Broadus. We moved into our house. Then we were warned that this was not a very good house in the winter, so we rented the house from Mr. Rogers and shared it with the skunks.

The first several weeks were tough going. We were assured that there was a core of people who wanted this new church. But none of them ever showed for services, or even contacted us. We were pretty discouraged and lonesome. Then one Sunday, two children from across the street came to Sunday School. That's all we had for about the next four weeks. Then, all at once people began to attend and our front room church filled up. We were elated. But there is always someone to spoil the fun.

One day we were visiting the Grants. The Grants were not faithful attenders. While there Mrs. Grant told me a story about someone who had come to the town years earlier, but he couldn't make friends because he was so different from the rest. She called him a DPP. Some might call him a DP, or displaced person. I caught the drift. The story was her way of telling me that I was a displaced person. Her message cut to the soul. I wouldn't believe it at the time. Why would God send a DP to a mission field? Why would district presbyters add their approval?

Many years later, looking back, I can see many of the elements Mrs. Grant probably saw. I was a Minnesota boy that grew up in a small city. I wore city fashions and had the haircut of the day. Most of us remember the Beatles. My only suit was a double breasted brown polyester jacket with brass buttons. I wore bell bottom dress pants and wingtip shoes. I topped this off with a paisley necktie. I looked like a blonde mop-headed Beatle. I didn't know what western cut clothes were. 

The people who attended the church wore western cut suits, cowboy hats, cowboy boots, and bolo ties. Others wore bibbed overalls with greasy pliers hanging out of the pockets. And others wore blue jeans and flannel or denim shirts. I had no idea what Rocky Mountain Oysters were. I declined to eat them because I told them I didn't like oysters.... and.... I didn't. I still don't. 

Needless to say, there was a big divide in our cultures. I liked their way of life but I definitely was not one of them. Perhaps I was a DP. That just shows you that God can use whoever He wants to accomplish his purpose. There is still an Assembly of God church in Broadus. The initial group that I met with was the beginning. I am not listed as the founding pastor, but I was there at the beginning. Today, they meet in a building just south of Broadus. I do not know how many attend. But this DP has moved on. 

Broadus IX - Turning Point

By now the little church was beginning to pick up momentum. Attendance was always between 25 and 40. This meant that our front room was full. Two of our bedrooms were being used for Sunday School, and our front yard looked like a parking lot. Mr. Rogers didn't like this at all. He wanted us to quit holding church in his house. So we had to find another location. I had been looking at lots in town on which we could build. I located an excellent lot for $12,000.  That seemed like a lot of money, but I was confident that we could raise it among church attendees and in the district home missions program. 

By now we were holding Bible Studies at Belle Creek, where about 15 to 20 attended. There was a lot of excitement about our new little church being born.  The meager offerings were also helping to pay some of our expenses for being there. Every now and then we would hold the Bible Study down at Mr. Bob M's house near Biddle, which was actually in Wyoming. This is where the turning point came.

Mr. Bob M's family consisted of 9. Some of them were grown, still lived at home and helped run the many thousands of acre ranch. The Adult kids did not attend our church and seldom came to the Bible study. But even if seven of them came regularly, that was a pretty good percentage of the church group. So when they were absent, we felt it. 

Bob liked to be in charge of things and control the direction things went. He was also our biggest critic. We sang the hymns too fast for him. Audrey's chicken wasn't tender enough for him. We didn't visit them often enough. And there were other things. He kind of asserted himself as the lay leader of the church, although I sensed that others didn't quite go along with this. They were of the ranching community while the folks at Belle Creek were oil people. Our people in Broadus were truck drivers and other occupations.

So, we were holding a Bible study at Mr. Bob M's house. There were about 25 of us there as all the folks from Belle Creek had also attended. We slowly sang our songs, Mr. Bob M's style. We took prayer requests and prayed over them. We conducted our Bible study. Then just before we left for the night, Mr. Bob M had something he wanted to say. 

So just before we returned to our homes, Mr. Bob M told the little congregation how much opposed he was to buying the property in Broadus for the church. How we just didn't have the money. And on and on. In five minutes time he undid what it had taken months to build. The enthusiasm of the congregation melted away.... so did some of them attending. I felt like I was hit in the gut. The remainder of our time there, I felt as though the rest of the congregation felt wounded, hurt, and discouraged. This being my first assignment as pastor, I didn't know how to handle it. I felt angry and discouraged. We soon moved back to North Dakota.

Several weeks later I had a conversation with Mr. Bob M. He told me that he had his eye on that lot to possibly open a new gas station. I'm sure that a gas station is infinitely more important than the church. I hope Mr. M gets his gas station in heaven. And I hope they sing slow enough for him. And I hope the chicken is done. Or maybe the chicken will be really done where Mr. M is going. I'm sure, that where ever Mr. M ends up, he will try to be the boss and alter the course and determine the events. Or, maybe not. Can you imagine what a gas station in hell would be like?

I'm glad I'm not the judge.

Next time I will tell you about the DPP.

Broadus VIII - The Unfair Mayor

Broadus, with a population of 800 was bay far the largest town in the county, and therefore, the county seat. This meant that Broadus was the location for the county fair, which was a really big doings. They had all of the 4-H barns and display buildings. Our church decided we want to sponsor a Christian literature booth. So I went to the county agent and signed up for the booth and paid the fees. Piece of cake!

On opening day of the fair we set up our literature table, and we were in business. Quite a number of people stopped by to look at the literature and to chat with us. We were able to tell them that we were beginning a new church in the town. We also invited them to the gospel sing in the city park that evening. 

Early in the afternoon a gentleman (cowboy) came up to the booth asking who was in charge. I said that I was. He said, "I want you to take your booth down and clear out immediately." I guess he got right to the point. I told him that we would not, and that we had gone through the proper channels to get the booth. He got huffy and raised his voice and insist that we take it down. I said "No." By now a crowd was gathering around to see what was going on. So, he looked around at the crowd, and in even a louder voice ordered me to take the booth down and get out. I said, "No."

Then this cowboy said to me in a voice that he knew everyone could hear, "Do you know who I am?" Being provoked I said, "I don't care who you are, we went through the proper channels and the booth stays."  He said, "I'm the mayor of this town." I said, "this is a county building, so the booth stays." And the booth did stay.

Then he said, (and by now I could smell the alcohol on his breath) "I understand you intend to have a gospel sing in the park." I said, "That's rights." He said, "Well, I'm mayor and I'm not going to let you have it." I said, "We have the right to assemble. We'll have it."

And we did have the gospel sing. And it was well attended. I think the mayor and his loud voice helped us out. Even more interest was shown in our church as a result of these events. But these were nervous times.

Our front room (church) did fill up. But Mr. Rogers, our landlord didn't like it. Next time I will tell you about the "turning point."

Broadus VII - Big Country - Small World

Broadus is located in southeastern Montana. Miles City is 80 miles to the northwest. Belle Fourche, SD is 110 miles to the southeast. Sheridan, Wyoming 80 miles to the south. And the North Pole is to the north. There are little tiny towns scattered around. By towns, I mean intersections with names. Some of these intersections have a post office and/or a gas pump. All of them have a run down building, dust, and sagebrush. There are millions of acres like this, and thousands of square miles. You can seldom see a house from the main road. Every so often we would drive to Miles City just to be in civilization.

Well, I told you about our trip to Boyd and how we went off the road at a cattle gate. Well, that kind of messed up the car. So while we were in Miles City we pulled into a dealership. They had a nice white, '65 Pontiac Bonneville for $900. They gave me $300 for my old car and I drove away with payments of $43 per month. This was 1972, and that was a lot of money. We had faith. This was a beautiful car with strato bucket seats, four seasons air conditioning, power seats, and a 421 cubic inch engine. It used ethyl. That was no problem because ethyl was only 32 cents a gallon. And believe it or not, I got 21 mpg on the highway. This was sheer luxury. 

So, we bought the car and drove it straight home. Entering Broadus from the west was the residence of one of the families that attended our church. We decided to stop there and show off our car. When the lady of the house came to the door (Mrs. Grant), she said, "How do you like your new car?" I said, "How did you know we bought a car?" She said, "The postman was here a few minutes ago and told me about it." I said, "How does the postman know we bought a car?" She said, He was delivering at the dealership when you were in there buying it." I thought that the Pony Express was never that fast. I wondered what else everybody in town knew about our lives.

This is kind of the way it is in these small towns. Somebody knows about every breath you take, all the groceries you buy at the store, whether or not a skunk lives under your house, whether or not you shot the skunk, and if you did, they know exactly where you buried it. They even know where the empty shotgun shells landed. I think they all work for the CIA.

Next time I want to tell you about the "unfair mayor."

Broadus VI - The Roads

When the major city for hundreds of square miles has a population of eight hundred, not too much attention is given to the quality of roads. US Highway 212 was a good road..... well..... kinda. It was blacktop, but it was rough. At least there were no potholes. The road to Miles City, eighty miles to the northwest was also paved and okay. The road going south to Biddle was paved, but you had to drive around the potholes. And they did, going about 85 miles per hour. There was no speed limit in Montana at this time. It was on this road, going south to Biddle that I had a deer leap over the hood of my car at night when I was traveling about 70 miles per hour. There was no time to be scared. The deer missed and we kept going. Such an idiot I was. But I didn't learn. And this wasn't the worst of it.

Shortly after we moved to Broadus, a lady took me to Belle Creek, a little oil town about thirty miles to the southeast across the gravel. The road was rough, twisty, and hilly and she had her foot on the floor. I was hanging on, sure that God had brought me out there to die. But she taught me how to drive on these gravel roads. So I learned by her example. I was no slowpoke and no wimp.

So one day I took Audrey and our daughter, Rana, down to Belle Creek in our '57 Dodge. This car had it all: push button transmission, V-8, and was pink and white. So I am motoring along as fast as I dared to go (not quite as fast as the lady in the previous paragraph). So I'm flying over the gravel and coming to the crown of a hill. When I got to the top of the hill, the road disappeared. The big, long hood on my pink Dodge blocked my view of the road, so all I saw was the hood of the car and sky. So instinctively I felt that the road went to the left, so I turned left. And sure enough the road was there. But now I was going down this hill going about 60 miles per hour, and at the bottom of the hill a flock of sheep stood on the road. So now I am pushing my foot through the floor trying to stop. I'm thinking, what will I do if I kill this rancher's sheep. But God was with us, the sheep started jumping out of the way as the car came skidding toward them. You'd think I'd learn my lesson.

It was just a few weeks later we were going to a place called Boyd to hold a Bible study. Boyd is actually a place where something used to exist. This, too was about 40 miles over a gravel road. Audrey was holding Rana, our baby, in the passenger side of the front seat. The Lutheran pastor and his wife were in the back seat. I was driving slower now, well, a little slower. A cattle gate is a series of pipes laid across a road that is in line with a fence. It is intended to keep cattle from escaping over the road where the fence gaps open for the road. Anyway, I was going about 50 mph when I went over the cattle gate. The car didn't touch the ground again until we were in this field. We bounced up and down and rattled around and kept rolling over the rough field until the car finally came to rest just a few feet from a cliff. I looked over at Audrey and was relieved to see our baby still sleeping. I looked in the back seat and the Lutheran pastor and his wife hugging each other. His glasses had been knocked off. But they, too were okay. Well, maybe a little shaken. We made it to Bible study on time. I paid more attention to cattle gates after that.

Wait until you hear about our car. Next time.

Broadus V - Easter Sunday

I mentioned in "Broadus I" that our front room was the church and our kitchen was the fellowship hall. Well, now it was Easter Sunday and we were expecting a pretty good crowd of about forty people. By now our little church had grown and several families were attending each Sunday. We had pews in the front room that had been donated by the church in Miles City, MT, only 80 miles away (the closest city). We also got a pulpit from somewhere. When we had forty people, we were packed in. But this didn't happen very often. 

So this Easter Sunday we were to have the service followed by a pot luck dinner in our fellowship hall. This meant that almost everyone had to sit in a pew holding their plate while balancing their drink on their knee. 

Well, the only problem was, it was earlier this week that the skunks had stunk up the house. Although the odor had faded quite a bit by now, it was still quite prevalent. But this was the only place we had to hold church. I was almost hoping that nobody would come. But they did come. We had record numbers. Our front room was full.... and.... and.... it was getting warm in there, which brought out the skunk smell even more. When people came in, I pretended that everything was okay. So did they. We started the service and began to sing. It was really hard taking those deep breaths between phrases of the songs. I nearly gagged. I could taste the skunk smell on my tongue. I gagged through five or six songs. Preaching was no better. But, surprisingly, Everyone seemed to sing very spiritedly. I guess they were just happy to have a church.

Afterward we had our pot luck dinner. I'm telling you, fried chicken just doesn't taste the same when everything smells like skunk. I noticed that several people took their plates outside. Yet, through all this, no one mentioned the odor. Believe me, we didn't store any left overs in Tupperware either.  All-in-all, it was a pretty successful Sunday.

I hope you weren't reading this during lunch. If you were, be sure to wash it all down with a good strong cup of hot coffee. Maybe scalding your tongue will kill the taste.

There is more tomorrow.

Broadus IV, Solving the Skunk

Having a family of skunks live under our house was a little unnerving. I knew it was a family because I saw them out and about at night. Two large skunks and three little ones. I don't know if the cat got any of them or not. But we did worry about another cat getting under our house and having another episode of the skunk smells.

So I called our landlord, Mr. Rogers, and explained to him that we had a family of skunks living in the crawl space of the house, and they kind of stunk up the place. Mr. Rogers said, "I've got something that will help get rid of them, I'll bring it in tomorrow." So the next day Mr. Rogers showed up with a 4-10 gage single shot shotgun, you know, the kind where the barrel breaks away from the stock. He said, "Do you know how to use one of these?" Fortunately, I did. (Hunting with my dad and military training did have some value) Mr. Rogers also handed me six shotgun shells. Five skunks, six shells, that should be enough. 

So for the next several nights I stood by the back door to watch for them to come out. That's where they burrowed in, next to the back door. My plan was to see them come out, flip the back light on, step out of the house and open fire. The first and second nights went well. I shot one adult and one kitten (baby). I buried them in the field next to the house and they didn't smell. 

The third night was a little complicated. I saw them come out of their den under our house, run alongside the house and head for the highway. So I grabbed the shotgun and quickly followed. These little critters can really run. I chased them out to the highway and then along US Highway 212 to the south east. I chased them for a couple of blocks when suddenly the adult stopped, turned around, aimed it's tail straight at me. Luckily, I was out of it's range. I pulled up with the shotgun, but it was too dark to see clearly. But I fired anyway. I missed. Now the skunk chased me back to the house. I must have looked like a fool running lickity-split with a skunk on my heels  and a shotgun in my hand. Well, I made it to the house with no special perfume on me.

Two nights later I shot her and buried her in the field with the rest of her family. I didn't put any crosses up either. I had no shotgun shells left. This chapter of our lives was over. Well, maybe not quite over. I have to tell you about Easter Sunday...... next time.

Enjoy your coffee and stay away from the skunks.

Broadus III, Smelly Tupperware

The house we rented in Broadus had no basement, but it did have a crawl space, if you could call it that. There was no way to get into this crawl space, and once you found the space, there was no space to crawl.

One night, Audrey and I both woke up to some weird sounds. We heard real loud and high pitched, "eeeee - eeeee - eeeee" that last for out a minute. Then we hear real loud "meeeeeoooooowwww." You know the sound of a cat fight. This repeated itself a couple of times. We knew that a cat and some kind of animal were having a fight, but it sounded like it was coming from inside our house. It was kind of unsettling.

Soon, we were to know exactly what had happened. A powerful skunk smell invaded the entire house. Audrey and I began coughing and and nearly choking on the smell. We quickly got up to check on our daughter, Rana, who was sleeping in another bedroom. She was less than a year old. And, even though it was winter, and cold out, we opened all the windows in the house to air it out. But for a while the odor got stronger and stronger. There was only one thing to do. Since Rana was sleeping so well, which was unusual for her, we put on our winter coats and went for a long, cold, in the middle of the night walk. When we got back, Rana was still sleeping, and the smell had only slightly diminished.

The next morning I inspected around the foundation and found where a family of skunks had burrowed under the foundation to live in the crawl space. I wondered how many were under there. Unfortunately, a stray cat thought it would be a nice place to get warm, too.

There's more to this story, which I will tell you later. But over time (several weeks) the house did air out. But my wife's Tupperware was ruined. We washed it over and over. We scrubbed it. We tried to air it out. But it had absorbed the skunk smell, and that smell would not go away. I don't remember how many years we kept that Tupperware hoping the smell would go away. But every time we checked, the smell was still there.

Well, this is enough for one day. I'll write some more on this tomorrow. And just so you know, this is a true story and nothing in in has been embellished. 

Enjoy your coffee, and have a good night.

Broadus II, Rain in Our Bedroom

I told you in "Broadus I" about our house. We had this huge master bedroom that was actually an addition to the house. There was a big picture window that gave us a wonderful view to the junky back yard that was all grown up in weeds. Of course, we had no lawn mower. So the weeds stayed. 

Although, in the summer, temperatures reached into the 100's, in the winter it did freeze. When building the addition on to the house, our bedroom, they forgot to install any type of heat. And, the wall heater down the hall did not work. So, we woke up many mornings with our bedroom freezing. It was kind of like camping out in the winter. Then during the day as the sun shined in through the window the temperature would rise above freezing. We spent most of our time in the kitchen next to the wall heater that was working. 

One morning, I woke up to ice cold water splashing on my face. It was quite a shock. Then Audrey woke up experiencing the same thing. As we looked around we could see rain coming down inside our bedroom. The roof was there, the sun was shining, but it was raining.

During the night it got so cold that frost had formed on the nail heads that fastened the sheetrock to the rafters. When it warmed in the morning, the frost melted, and it rained. I guess they forgot the insulation, also.

I approached our landlord about getting the heater fixed. He loaned us a little plug in heater for the bedroom.

I'll have to tell my grandkids that these were the "good old days."

Broadus I

Back in the early days of my earliest career, we lived in a little town called Broadus that sits along US highway 212 in the south east corner of Montana about 110 miles from Belle Fourche, South Dakota. There I was starting a church for the Assemblies of God. Ya, believe it or not, I used to be a preacher. In this case a "DPP" which I will explain later. My pay was $50 per week, which was to cover all living expenses. This came from the district office. I also received offerings from our new church attendees, which at first we had none. Every now and then a check was sent to us from someone, somewhere, who knew we were there and somehow knew we were close to starving. God knew we were there and that was enough. 

We rented a house at the southeast end of the city (Pop. 800) along UD Highway 212. This is when we first discovered semi trucks existed. At night the trucks coming down the hill above our house from the east would go through a whole array of gears downshifting to slow down for the city. Going east, the trucks going up the hill would go through their gears getting out of town. Many Semis travel US 212. Many sleepless nights. 

The house had been added onto several times. It had a huge front room (church). It had a nice sized kitchen (fellowship hall) with a breakfast nook where I set up my office. It had a back entrance which led off to a large master bedroom, a bathroom, and two more bedrooms (Sunday School rooms). The house had a crawl space (which I will talk about later). And it was a ranch style house. The house was heated with two wall heaters, one between the big front room and the kitchen, and the other in the back entrance (which didn't work). We paid $75 per month rent for all of this.

The landlord, Mr. Rogers, (no, not the Mr. Rogers) (no, not Roy either) wanted to paint the trim of his white house orange, so he gave me a gallon of orange paint, a paint brush, and loaned me a ladder. I worked off a month's rent. When I realized I wasn't going to have enough paint, I thinned it out with water. The miracle of latex. Everybody in town thought the house looked pretty good. Another lady in town asked me to paint her house. The neighbor across hwy 212 decided to paint her front door orange. She also started sending her kids to sunday school. Two of them, a boy and a girl. They were our first attendees and brought our first offering, 25 cents each. We had 67% growth that day. So we taught Sunday school to two kids for about three weeks.

Did God really know where we were?

More later.

French Press

My daughter, Amy, and her husband, Nik, gave me a French coffee press for Christmas. All I can say is that it makes fantastic coffee. I make and enjoy two pots a day. It makes even bad coffee taste good. And only once did I get a bit jittery due to too much coffee. Maybe Nik will drink my coffee now. 

This morning I am at Starbucks waiting to go out to a job to install a fireplace door. These doors, custom made, are expensive. $800 and up. I sure hope it fits properly and that I don't scratch it during the install. (Prayers going up to God)

Today, the stock market will bounce back a ways. $350 billion from the government will do that. Included is a $20 billion guarantee to Bank of America. Citigroup is splitting itself up. We split from their stock. Yesterday, Exxon Mobil lifted the Dow Jones Average. Chevron followed. Conoco Phillips did not. Maybe today.

Stocks are cheap once again. A buy yesterday or early this morning will bring yields today. Oil is at $35.00 per barrel. Do you think it will go lower before going back up? With oil prices this low, gasoline should go down again, but it might not due to anticipated crude oil prices increases. With gas at $1.50 per gallon, I say, let the gas station owners make a little for a little while. I sure don't want to pay for a bail out for them, too. Ha!

Tonight we have a special dinner with our granddaughter, Amber. She's 10. She wants to go to Chillis and not McDonalds. There is a merciful God in heaven! Anyway, we're looking forward to this.  But, do you know what? The other two grandkids that live close by are going to insist on their turn, too. May God extend His mercy. It's not that I don't want McDonalds to survive, it's just that I want to survive.

This summer our granddaughter, Tori, who lives in Michigan, is going to fly in for a visit. I think the number one thing that she wants is a camp out with Amber and grandpa, and...... and...... grandma. Ya, I think our tent will hold the four of us. But, don't anyone say the word "bear" or grandma will be sleeping in the Sequoia. 

Well, I'm done rambling. 

The 3 Kick Method

A lawyer was out duck hunting when suddenly a flock of ducks flew over. He pulled up and shot one and it fell in a farmers field. He was in the midst of crawling through the fence when the old farmer drove up and shouted out, "What are you doing?" The lawyer said, "I shot a duck and I'm going out into the field to retrieve it." The farmer said, "That's a problem. This is private property and you are about to trespass." The lawyer said, "Look, you don't know who you are dealing with. I will litigate this and when I am through with you, you won't have anything left!"

The farmer said, "We don't settle things that way around here. We use the 'three kick method." The lawyer asked, "What's the 'three kick method?'"  The farmer said, "I kick you three times, then you kick me three times, and we keep on doing that until one of us win's out." The lawyer looked at the old farmer and thought, "this will be a piece of cake." So he consented to settle the issue that way.

So the farmer kicked the lawyer hard in the shin. Then he kicked the lawyer in the stomach, and while the lawyer was bent over he gave him a swift kick in the seat of the pants and sent the lawyer sprawling. The lawyer got up just furious. He said, "When I'm through with you, you'll wish you'd never been born!"

The farmer said, "Just hold on. I've reconsidered and decided you can have the duck."

This story as told by our Pastor, Dr. Stanley Reeder

The Girl and Grandpa

The six-year-old girl felt her grandfather's rough and wrinkled face, then with the same and she felt her own. Then she felt her grandfather's again, then her own. This went on for a couple of minutes. Then the little girl asked grandfather where he came from. The grandfather replied that God made him a long time ago. Then the girl asked, "Did God make me, too?" Grandfather replied, "Yes, but not so long ago."

Then the little girl sat silent for a moment. Then she said, "You know what, Grandpa? God does a better job now than he used to!"

This story as told by our Pastor, Dr. Stanley Reeder

Cheap Gas

Gas is really cheap! It's been going down almost daily. But I saw something different today. Today gas went up a nickel. That's not much but it is the beginning of a price reversal. Crude oil is up over $13.00 from it's lowest point. It now sits at $48 and will edge up higher the closer we get to Spring. 

These higher prices are also reflected in energy stocks such as drilling companies like Pioneer Drilling, Noble Corporation, and TransOcean.  Also, oil service companies such as Halliburton, Schlumberger, and Weatherford International.  Some of the smaller companies like Kwik Silver have had their stock rice by as much as 60 percent over the past week. These stocks will dip, level out and then rise again as oil prices once again increase. Look at their charts, they are still pretty much at the bottom of the curve and have a lot of room for growth. 

The bail out of the auto makers and builders will also create growth in the market. I believe that the Dow Jones Industrial average will rise from 9,000 to 10,000 by Spring. This is partly because the market had been oversold because of panic and because investors are slowly regaining confidence in the market and are coming back to it.  right now is the best window to buy stocks.

Coffee at Home

My daughter, Amy, and her husband, Nik, gave me a French Press coffee maker for Christmas. It makes really good, rich coffee. Come on over sometime and I will make you some. This is every bit as good as Starbucks' if not better. 

Time to buy.  For the first time analysts are encouraging people to invest in stocks once again. They are really cheap, especially energy stocks. As the market slowly rises most stocks will also rise. Right now there is very little down side potential and a lot of up-side potential. Buy the right stocks and you still may be able to retire early. 

Cade Kesic thinks that the pastor of our church, Dr. Stanley Reeder, is cool. He and pastor Reeder had about a five minute conversation in the foyer of our church Saturday evening. And, do you know what? Pastor Reeder is cool. And..... so is Cade.

Shares Going Up

Energy and steel shares are going up. Many of the energy shares went up from 5% to 11% today. Analysts are upgrading energy shares. The conflict in the Mid-East is influencing these shares as well. Halliburton, Noble Corp., McDermit International, Shlumberger, Pioneer Drilling, all have been on the rise lately. Mc Dermit and Pioneer are nicely priced. So is Weatherford International. BJ Services is also another great buy. 

AK Steel and Gerdau American Steel both went up by 11% today. Gerdau (GNA) has increased 67% for me in the past three weeks. US Steel had risen over 100% in the past six weeks. 

I am excited about the markets potential. Many stocks are still near their lows but will soon rise. Especially energy stocks that will rise with world conflict and the forthcoming spring when oil prices usually go up. Now is the time to position yourself. Margin accounts will do better. The Dow Jones closed over 9,000 today. The market is a lot less volatile than over the past sever months.