Stories and other stuff

I've done a lot of things in my life.  I've been blessed to have opportunities that most only dream about.  For a very long time, I had opportunities to travel to places with my job that some people scrimp and save for years to be able to go.  For some, these places, like France, Italy, and the Greek isle of Crete will remain as dreams and pictures in books and on postcards.  I got to live in these places, albeit for a very short time, and got paid to do that.  Through those experiences I've built quite the resume'. Under what heading on my resume' does this title fit, though?:  Lion chaser OK, I just finished (finally) a book called "In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day". Took me six months to read the first six chapters and about three hours to read the last of the book.  At the end, I discovered that I'd been for the last 16 months, I'd been doing what the guy that wrote the book advocated, in a round-about way.  I'd been chasing a lion. ...

Ever had one of those really weird dreams that just seem to be full of all kinds of symbolisms and you're kind of stuck trying to figure out what it means?  Let me share this with you. What do two cars, three quarters, chasing lions,  a red light, a Bible verse, and "Running to Win" have in common? I can explain some of it. First off, chasing lions is about a book I've been trying to finish now for a while.  I like the book, but I've come to understand that some days I just get overwhelmed with things and forget what I'm doing.  The nice thing was that I picked up the book again yesterday and read something I really needed to read that would help me make sense of the rest of this. The two cars are just two cars that could have been from anywhere.  They weren't of course.  One was from Delaware.  The other from Colorado.  The cars themselves have no significance.  Let's face it though, it's not everyday you see a car in Utah from Delawar...

Today's blog is about the real war on Christmas.  It's not that little made-up one that right-wing talking heads like to grouse about.  It's a very small part of a real war on Christmas that continues day after day.  It doesn't stop when the tree comes down.  And, sadly, it's a lot more than just telling someone with a bit of defiance, "Merry Christmas". This happened to me at a store.  A lady defiantly told the customers in her line "merry Christmas".  I figured it must've been her last day, because the way she said it it wasn't sincere; it was defiance of the MAN!   The war on Christmas started over 2,000 years ago with the murder of innocent children.  The plan was to catch Jesus in the slaughter, but to be sure, Herod decided to kill all of the male children in the region where Jesus was born who were under the age of two years.   I'd say that made the war on Christmas very tangible.  Fast forward about three decades, and you...

I trust everyone had a nice Christmas.  We did here at Lark Circle.  It wasn't the affair it's been in years past but we had an unusual guest join us for dinner.  My mom's uncle, who passed away before she was born in 1943, had a daughter my mother didn't know.  She's LDS and serving a mission in Salt Lake City for a while and looked my mother up.  We were very blessed to meet this lady yesterday and to share Christmas dinner with her. The after-Christmas focus I think becomes over the course of the next few days, about putting things away until next year.  I got thinking about that earlier tonight.  June asked to leave the decorations up until New Year's Day and I agreed.  The tree is hanging in there, so a few more days won't kill us.  Then, the Santa figurines will go into boxes and be hidden until next year.  So will the nativity set.  It's a Christmas decoration to be sure, but among the most treasured of the ones I have. T...

Merry Christmas, everyone!  I hope you're enjoying a beautiful, peaceful Christmas day and hope you'll make time in the day to remember why we celebrate and remember to thank God for sending us His son, and thank Jesus for paying the ultimate price so our sins might be forgiven before our Heavenly Father. We're having a simple Christmas here at Lark Circle.  June and I exchanged gifts this morning and later on, we're having my family and a member of my family I've never met before to Christmas dinner.  We're all born-again Christians and my mother's cousin is LDS and here in Utah serving a mission for her church.  It ought to be an interesting afternoon.  I'm looking forward to sharing the meal we're preparing.  Rib roast has become our Christmas tradition and it's in the oven now.  It smells really good. I was hoping to see some of my friends at church.  Then again, I'm always hoping that.  I am happy to say that there was quite a large ...

Today's blog post is mostly for my friends that live in the Ogden area. I'd like to invite you to Christmas Eve candlelight service at Ogden FBC/NBCC on Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. If you're looking for a place to celebrate the reason for the season this year, we'd be pleased to have you join us for this special service. The church is on the corner of 25th & Jefferson.  I hope you can join us.

I heard the dogs barking but figured they were just playing.  Shortly thereafter, I walked outside to get something out of the truck.  That's when I saw what the dogs were barking at. At the bottom of my neighbor's driveway, there was a herd of mule deer.  Not just one or two, but an entire herd.  I watched them as they formed up and started walking down the other end of the circle. The largest one went first, followed closely in single file by the second.  Then there were three sets of two, in perfect formation, side by side, looking like they were lined up to pull the sleigh.  They were just does, and I didn't see Rudolph anywhere. I kind of stood there for a few minutes, I think with my mouth hanging open.  I just couldn't believe how they lined themselves up and in my mind's eye, I could see Santa, his reindeer, and the sleigh.  But it's only December 19.  I just stood there and watched them walk down the middle of the street and ar...

Each Sunday during the worship service at Ogden FBC/NBCC we take time to share our joys and concerns with the congregations and pray for each other.  It's an important part of the worship service and I was very blessed to be asked to lead the congregation in that prayer yesterday.  Before I did, I shared with the congregation my personal feeling that it's an important thing we do for each other in this time and read from the book of James starting at verse 5:13. In that verse, James instructs us about prayer and the importance of not only confessing our sins to each other but to pray for each other as well.  I thought it an appropriate verse of scripture to share with the congregation yesterday and Im so glad I did because... (at this point, I need to pause to tell another story) I was supposed to meet someone in Salt Lake yesterday but the person was ill and asked me if we could meet today.  I agreed.  That put me someplace today that I hadn't planned on ...

We had our holiday dinner at church this afternoon.  This year, as we did last year, June and I volunteered to sponsor and decorate a table.  We have lots of stuff to do this, so yesterday she and I went down and put the table together.  This dinner is a tradition with the church and I see lots of families share this meal together.  As it was just June and I, we share our table with whoever sits down.  I like that we're able to participate in this. The table was decorated simply, with a tablecloth and Christmas china.  It looked very festive.  All in all, there were nine of us at the table; June and I, three children and their father, another gentleman who was a relative of the small family (all of these folks were part of a larger family that filled the adjacent table) and two other gentlemen who were visitors to our church.  The man with the children was at the other end of the table from me, so I didn't have an opportunity to speak to him unt...

There are seven days left to shop for Christmas.  I've completed about half of this task.  The other half is still to go.  I'm not worried though because my kids are older, I've given just about every $40 gift you can give, and Smith's is giving double bonus points on gift cards.   Cash works too. I waited to see if Macey's would let me down and not put rib roasts on sale.  They didn't and there is a large roast in the freezer.  We will have Christmas dinner!  Wanna come?  There's enough... trust me.  We only have six crackers left though.  They're the British crackers that you pull apart and find a toy, a silly joke, and a paper crown.  They pop when you pull them like the poppers kids throw at each other. Maybe I should have been specific when I asked the butcher to cut the roast for me.  I told him I'd like about a five rib roast.  Usually that's about 7-9 pounds.  Nope.  Not this time.  The thing wei...

I don't look at things the way I used to.  It's a gift from God that I'm so very grateful for.  I had an opportunity this morning to reflect on the man I used to be and how I dealt with being confronted with my past.  I think something I saw on television last night helped me learn a valuable lesson this afternoon. A commentator was interviewing a pastor and asking questions about one of the candidates.  He made the point that we do have pasts we overcome, but saying it isn't enough.  His point was that if the man in question had changed a pattern of past behavior, he should start small and re-earn the trust of people.  I can apply that to my own life today in a very big way.  I didn't go looking for a confrontation today but found one anyway.  At the end of it, I had an opportunity to say something positive and missed it.  Shame on me. The who or what was said are unimportant.  Before I edited this thing, I put down  the last t...

I found out this morning that the doggy alarm clock does not have a snooze button.  I don't think I was anywhere close to done sleeping this morning, but when I woke up and looked out the window, it was snowing. Snow was not in the forecast.  In fact, we looked at the weather at work last night and it was supposed to be clear and smoggy for the next several days.  Today, though, the ground is covered with a dusting of snow and it's a welcome December surprise. The weather today was just a physical reminder of this verse in Ecclesiastes 10:14 (NLT) which reads: Foolish people claim to know all about the future and tell everyone the details!  But who can know what is going to happen? I'm not saying weather forecasters are foolish.  They're right more than wrong, but it is snowing outside today and it wasn't supposed to.  Today, the metaphor kind of fits. I read this verse this morning but that wasn't the one that was my little message today.  M...

The bedtime ritual at my house continues to this day, even though the Mrs. has been gone for almost two years.  If Katie was bugging me, Wendi would clap her hands and Katie would dive under the bed at bedtime.  You have to understand that our bed was kind of like an ark.  The two pussycats had their spots, I had mine, and Wendi just kind of had to fend for herself because she would not disturb the boys.  The dog, though was another matter. To this day, most nights Katie at bedtime will dive under the bed even though it's just me.  OK, me and her.  OK, me and her and Bucket. My dogs have pet names.  Get the pun?  "Pet" names?  Kaite is known around here as Kaite, or the "did" (short for Katie Did).  Dumb dumb also works as Katie is not the brightest K9 that ever walked the planet.  She's very loving, though. Bucket also has his pet names.  Like "Slurp".  Bucket, the wondermutt, is very affectionate and also very jeal...

One of the things I like best about the blog is it gives me an opportunity to keep sort of an on-line journal of the things that have happened in my life.  If I get to the point where I forget something, or need to be reminded of something else, a post has an unusual way of coming back to me.  Mostly that way is someone will go back in the archives and read something.  Equally important are the posts that re written and never published.  Right now, there are quite a few and I'm grateful for two things:  One that I wrote them because they are relevant to the things going on in my life and two; that I never published them. I heard a very interesting program on the radio today called "Insight For Living".  In his comments today, Pastor Swindall used the quote from AW Tozer I shared with the congregation in October.  He added another one, unsure whether I have it right or who to attribute it to, but it went something like this:  "When God does somet...

Well, I'm still alive but it wasn't because someone didn't try to change that for me today.  Maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but I thought either the person that cut in front of me or me, or both of us were going to get dead today. Yesterday a guy in one of those square bed work trucks decided he had to be in both lanes at once and almost wiped me out.  I'm not alone, and thankfully I'm unharmed. But the people in the accident I saw on the way home tonight are not.  It was bad.  Nobody was killed, fortunately (making that assumption on the number of police cars on the scene), but some folks had to be badly injured in the wreck.  It's getting dangerous out there. I know it's the holidays and we're busy and stressed and tired and all, but that doesn't excuse this little move I saw happen in front of my on 41st. Street and Harrison today.  The left tun light had just changed and through traffic also had a green light going north.  i saw a man in...

I do so love Christmas.  I ventured out today looking for the perfect budget Christmas tree.  I have a favorite place to buy trees but that wasn't in the budget this year.  What was, though was a lovely tree that meets my requirements.  It has to be bushy and taller than I am.  I'm 6'4".  I found a really nice tree for under $30. Christmas trees have good memories for me.  This Christmas though, there's a sad one.  June asked if we could enjoy a real tree this year.  Sadly, because of Simba's passing (Rip Simba & Snot), I could have a real tree this year.  I'm pleased with the tree; sad about Ba.  I guess it's just a bittersweet thing this year. I have the coolest tree stand ever invented.  You put the trunk into a sleeve, the sleeve into the base, step on a foot pedal and move the tree until it's straight.  This thing could have prevented so many holiday fights over the years!  The tree is in the middle of th...

Long about midnight, the lights came back on.  It was kind of weird to see the lights across the streets back on Thursday night but ours still out.  They were out for two days.  Needless to say, we have some things to replace in the fridge, but that's OK.  It's just milk and stuff.  The leftovers were finished anyway. We kept the house warm with the fireplace.  Surprisingly, it stayed at right about 50 degrees without the heat.  Not warm by any means, but not tooth rattling cold either.  We'd just stoked up the fire and I'd been in bed maybe 20 minutes and bang, there was light.  More importantly, there was heat. I gotta take my hat off to Miss June.  She figured out something so she could heat up some food over a grate in the fireplace.  I told her she could have used my dutch oven, that's what it's for.  But I'm proud of her.  She always keeps things stocked up around here and we were ready for a couple of days witho...

Dearest readers, So much is happening in my life right now that just isn't for sharing.  I'm still here, still well.  There's just not a lot that I have to talk about. I can say that God is at work and I praise and thank Him for what He has done to bring me to the point in my life where I am, and where I am now is just being quiet and thankful.  If the Christmas tree kicks my butt when I put it up on Saturday, I'll have a good story to tell.  Other than that, maybe just take some time to look at some past posts.  There's some really not so bad stuff in the archives. Coop

I had some fun today.  I put away the regular dust collecting china so the Christmas dust collecting china can have a chance to be seen.  The lights are officially "on"... well they're off by now, but they were on.  I have a few bulbs to change.  Hey, it happens. At least all the lights on the wreaths on the windows work.  I have two more to put up.  They're bigger and rest around the garage door lights.  I even broke out some of the Christmas records and listened to a tape of Fibber McGee & Molly  featuring The Great Gildersleeve .  It was fun.  I like old stuff like that.  The programs were very entertaining and had to be because they were painting pictures with words and sounds,  instead of colors and images. While taking things out, I found a treasure I didn't even know I had.  I found two Christmas records.  They're part of a collection I think Wendi bought at a thrift store.  They're not glass recor...

OK, it's time to turn on the Christmas lights.  First though, I gotta take down the pumpkins and put away all the fall stuff.  That shouldn't take too long.  Then it's time to haul the boxes of Christmas decorations up from the basement and get started on that.  It usually takes about two days to deck out the joint for Christmas. Miss June asked for a real tree this year.  Sounds good to me!  We gave up on them a few years ago because the pine aggravated Simba's (RIP Ba) asthma.  Last year, I think we were just happy to have the fake trees.  Nobody was really in the mood for celebrating Christmas last year.  A year later, and things are a little different. I kind of decided this year that I'm going to enjoy the holidays.  I'm getting lots of advice these days and I'm prayerfully considering what to do.  It's that fear of God that's keeping me from doing anything, though.  Like I said, I'm waayy past the point of fighting wi...

Today is a day for Thanksgiving.  We celebrate with football, an elaborate meal (you ought to see what's happening in the kitchen right now!), and times with family and maybe friends, too.  In some homes, there will be the traditional arguments over politics, or even over things that have strained relationships.  In other homes, there will be family football games, love, joy, and time together.  Either way, it's a day where memories are usually made. I said in the title this is about thankfulness, not Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is a day set aside for thanking God for the bountiful harvest, and everything in our lives.  Thankfulness is when we do that each and every day, despite the circumstances. I have a litany of things to be grateful for.  Each is a blessing.  But so are the challenges in my life.  I've learned thankfulness.  I've learned to live with a contrite heart and to find blessings in the worst of circumstances.  It'...

I don't spend a ton of time in the kitchen anymore and it kind of shows.  June and I spent a few minutes today finding things that we don't frequently use.  Sometimes it's hard to remember where you put something you only use once a year. I had to run downtown this morning to the kitchen store.  I only had one pie protector ring.  I'm baking two pies.  These things work great.  You make your pie then put the protector ring over the edge and the crust doesn't burn. I love playing with my gadgets, as I've said before and today gives me a good chance to do that.  A food processor makes quick work of onions, celery, carrots, and apples.  All of which are simmering now in a crock pot with two packages of frozen squash and some chicken stock.  I couldn't find the recipe for squash soup I wanted, but I did find this one instead.  I'm making this today so it can sit overnight and get lots of flavor.  It's the first course at the feast t...

You ever do that?  Decide that you know best and go your own way instead of follow that little voice inside you that's kind of telling you you're making some really bad choices?  I know I have.  Today's blog is going to be about that, and I'm going to tell a little story about Jonah from the Bible to make my point. Jonah is a pretty well-known character.  He ran from God's will and wound up in the belly of a big fish for three days to think things over.  Last Saturday, in my Our Daily Bread devotional book, there was a devotional about God shaking things up so we could get rid of the unproductive things in our lives instead of stubbornly hanging on to them and the accompanying verse is from Jonah, Chapter 1. I had to wonder to myself if there wasn't something I was stubbornly holding on to. I really took a look at this and through the weekend, even into last evening, I don't think I am.  I've had my opportunities to walk it alone, to go down my own p...

I actually found my car keys this morning so I was able to go to Sunday school this morning.  I'm glad I did.  Today's blog isn't about what the lesson was, although it very well could be if I thought sharing the really unusual things that have been happening to me over the last few days was appropriate. Today's blog is about something the Bible study teacher said.  He said we should let folks know that we're just a bunch of normal guys that attend the church.  I really find that's true.  We hunt and fish and talk about it when we're together.  Yes, we love the Lord, but we love our families and talk about them, too.  We have problems.  We're all sinners and we know it.  Maybe that's why I like my church so much.  There's not a lot of pretense and I really feel comfortable there. I was thinking about that this morning, about us just being "normal" because it's not a word I attributed to church going folks.  I know some of y'...

Pray.  Give thanks!  Give glory to God!  Praise Jesus!  Praise God in all circumstances!  And read the Bible. Here's what not to do... Waste $6 on a pack of Camel Lights, smoke three of them and realize half-way through the third one that it's not going to make the washing machine stop leaking or fix the dishwasher.  It's not going to change anything that's making you want to feel like you just want to scream. So, the count starts again tomorrow.  Praise God for that bit of wisdom, and hope tomorrow is going to be a better day.  I have a washing machine to tear apart.  The dishwasher is still broken but now at least pumps water OUT of it. And I'd be less than genuine if I didn't thank God for the things that DO work in my life.  And thank Him for Bucket.  It's awfully hard to have a bad day when a 75 pound dog is sitting on your head and trying his best to make you feel better. Church tomorrow.  If you're in Ogden, co...

Here's the smoking update:  I found a rogue cigarette on the kitchen counter on Sunday night and I smoked it.  I have not borrowed a cigarette from anyone or bought a pack in nine days, now.  I made it through not buying a pack today.   Praise Jesus!  Praise God!

So, what was I laughing about?  Just some of the weird things that have happened to me this week. I heard something worth briefly sharing on the way home from work.  In a nutshell,  I had something explained to me about how satan can do things to us without our knowing it.  Wanna understand this for yourself, go to oneplace.com and listen to the short version of today's "Running to Win" program with Dr. Erwin Lutzer.  I own what I did a couple of years ago, but as I listened to the brief, but systematic way Dr. Lutzer describes the M.O. of our adversary and I found myself saying "Hey, that's what happened to me!"  It's worth the time to listen. I want to share with you this, too.  God does work in our lives and when we get what we want, I think we acknowledge that.  But what about when things don't go our way?  Do we see the same hand of the Master at His work?  What about when he uses delays, roadblocks, and quite honestly, takes us...

I'm not shy about telling you about the weird things I cannot explain that happen in my life.  I'm sure a lot of you thought I'd lost my mind when I told you last year about the baby sock I found in the wife's side of the closet.  That was probably one of the most freaky things that has happened to me until yesterday. Here's my story for today: Last week, when I was at Lowe's for the second time that day, I thought to myself, I ought to have a spare key made for the house.  I don't know why I thought this.  I didn't do it.  The only key I ever had made after I changed the locks was almost two years ago.  When I bought the new locks for the house (had to change them because the front door lock broke about the same time the wife moved out), I bought the kind you can just re-key without changing.  This is going to be important in a minute.  Anyway, I made a key, gave it to her dad to give to her.  She sent it back. On Saturday, I found som...

I took advantage of the sunny day we're having today to start on a project.  OK, I started last night by actually plugging things in to see what worked and what didn't.  I have seven Christmas wreaths I hang on each of the windows facing the street.  As I mentioned before, my house is built backward, with the bedrooms and bathroom windows facing the street, so there are lots of windows on the street side.  I alternate colors of lights on the wreaths, starting with white, then red, then white, etc... All three of the red strands lit.  All four of the white strands did not.  I tried figuring out why, then realized sometimes, even as much as I dislike the throw-away society, with these little lights it's easier just to replace them.  A quick trip to the store, and viola' they're up. Up... but not on. And only part of the lights.  I could string up the rest of them, but it's getting chilly and there's not enough time today to do that.  They...

I was talking to my pastor this morning and telling him about the post I tried to post on my blog yesterday that didn't post.  Hey, I tried.  I even looked and it wasn't there.  That's OK because although I wrote it, maybe it wasn't for sharing.  That's just kind of my view on life because of the things I've seen God do in my life.  When I start down the wrong path, a little roadblock comes up. I noticed today, just a few minutes ago, that the post in question had somehow appeared.  That's great because although there are a few more details I didn't share with you that would have added a bit of conviction to the story I told, you can get the point.  God does work in my life. But don't take my word for it.  Judge for yourself these two stories:  First, I spoke to my youngest for an hour and a half last night and took him driving in Chevron (my F250 pickup).  It was great because he was nervous about driving the big truck and I just fi...

Interesting week.  Aside from feeling like garbage all week, it's been one of those weeks where I think I needed to pay attention. I mentioned I quit smoking last weekend.  Last Sunday, I was so ready to bite through a nail, so I broke down.  But I got right back on the horse and I'm proud to report I haven't had a smoke in three days.  What finally made the difference?  Listening.  It started a few weeks ago with a very obscure comment from an instructor who was teaching a class I was in.  During that time, I ran into someone who I used to serve with in the Guard who had also quit (and more importantly found Jesus!).  I heard part two of an "Unshackled" episode where the man who had become unshackled, had a problem with quitting and told how the Lord finally helped him.  My same friend shared with me his son had heart surgery and quit smoking.  That was earlier in the week.  The straw that broke the camel's back, though?  I ...