Stories and other stuff

The older I get, the more I understand why "old" people drive cars like Buicks.  I spent 3 days in my little Saturn, which is great to run around town in, but for a long haul trip, UGH!  I missed the comfortable seats of my truck but couldn't afford to drive Chevron across the prairie and back this time. I paid $3.09 for gas someplace in Missouri.  What are we doing wrong here in Utah? I was in St. Louis about four hours before the start of game 7.  I drove right stinking past the stadium!  Oh, for some more time, just to go find a bar and hang out and watch the game.  I imagine that would have been a story to remember.  I kept right on driving, though. I think Bucket missed the truck, too.  There wasn't much room in the car on the way home.  Bucket is a little bigger than the front seat of the Saturn and when I have a minute, I gotta clean the fur off the seat. Yup, Bucket is home. He seems to be happy about the whole thing.  He was...

Hi, everyone!  A week with no posts and then two in one day.  I don't have that much to say, really, but for those that missed it, here is the message I shared at church today with the congregation.  It was a humbling experience, to be sure and although during the process of writing the message and giving it, some wounds not healed were re-opened, I do know this.  What I was is not what I am, nor ever want to be again.  Not that I'm where I'd like to be, but I'm getting there. I didn't title the message, but in the title for the blog post, I thought this was appropriate.  I'm not proud of the past.  Sorrow and remorse are too small of words to explain what I feel about the things I've done, but through knowing Christ, I not only found forgiveness, but I found if I allowed God to work in my life, He can do things I can't. I pray a little prayer most days that goes something like this:  "God, glorify Yourself through my life, at my expense." ...

Today's word of the day is the Greek word "Agape"; translated in the following  article . That question has been on my mind a lot lately and it's one I had an answer for, just not an answer that I could explain well.  I heard a sermon on the radio last night talking about 1 Corinthians 13, often called the "Love" chapter in the Bible.  As I was looking for a definition on the word to share, I came across the article I linked to. Someone asked me a question last week and I think this article will explain why I answered the way I did. I've had a very blessed day and I'm so grateful to God for this day, for sharing with me, for allowing me to share with others, and for the lessons learned during the week.  To God be the glory for the great things He does in the world and a special praise for the end of a war! It's my prayer for our nation today that our servicemembers come home and find a country they can be proud of.  One that meets their n...

I noticed it had been a week since I'd posted something today.  Can't believe Ba has been gone for a week(RIP Simba).  There still seems to be a little bit of sadness in the house.  Hard to believe something so small and furry can touch your heart. I've had a busy week.  I had a class at work.  I finished up and polished up my talk for church.  I'm very humbled at this opportunity and if you'd pray for me not to mess up, I'd really appreciate it.  I'm sad that my friends have their UTA weekend this weekend.  I was hoping to have some of them come up to church. Other than that, things are the same in my life.  I had free tickets to todays game but need to work more than enjoy an afternoon of football, so it's off to the hangar soon and there's a program on the radio I'm looking forward to. Just one more thing:  God still is at work in my life but not everything is for sharing.  But I do want to take the opportunity to praise Go...

Dear readers, It's with a heavy heart I write to you today.  About six weeks ago, I told you about Simba  the geriatric pussycat coming to live with us.  This morning, just after eleven, Simba quietly slipped away.  Whether or not pets go to heaven, I don't know for sure but I'd like to think that the little people trapped in fur suits that bless our lives will be waiting for us when we arrive.  I'm reminded today of the story of the "rainbow bridge" and that thought brings peace to an otherwise saddened soul. Simba and I were enemies from day one.  And I knew exactly where I stood when it came to Wendi and the "boys".  Boys first, then maybe me.  I told you about his loathing for me.  Simba never tolerated me, not one bit, until I changed.  He'd occasionally let me pet him if nobody else was around and sometimes I'd try to pet him just to antagonize him.  We lived in the same house, slept on the same bed, but Simba never that I...

Hey gang, Gonna take a couple of days off from the blog.  I have the weekend off and there are some things that need finishing and doing around here. Be in touch later on next week. Don't forget Church! Coop

I got asked about celebrating halloween as a Christian.  Gotta tell ya' that the question has been in the back of my mind, so I found a quick answer.  It was easier to just write a new post than to comment and I have a  link  to an article that I read about it online. We live, we learn, we grow.

I didn't know our former Governor had a sense of humor.  I saw Governor Hunstsman quipped that he thought that Herman Cain's tax plan was the price of a pizza.  Funny.  Very funny. The tax plan, though, isn't.  At first glance, I thought it would be a good idea.  Personally, I think this game we play every year with taxes is a joke and a flat tax is a good idea.  You make X, you pay Y. In a nutshell, corporate tax rates go from over 20% to 9%.  Everyone's tax rate would go down to 9%--and I'll get back to this in a minute, because it's important.  And, we would all pay a 9% sales tax.  I had a pay statement on my computer so I did a little math.  I'm assuming social security and medicare taxes would remain unchanged, so here's the nuts and bolts of what the 9-9-9 plan would do for me. I would have had $95 less withheld from my paycheck, in round numbers.  That's $2600 a year I wouldn't be paying.  To pay that in sales tax...

Today's blog post is an open letter to the person who posts on my blog under the name 'Xander'.  It's in a response to a comment left on my blog which spawned some other stuff.  I was going to let it go, but random being random, that's just not going to happen.  Read on and you'll understand what I mean. Dear Xander, If Jesus is your Lord and Savior that makes you a Christian and by that association, we're members of the body of believers the Bible calls the Church.  Praise God for that! I looked up the definition of the word 'church' on my computer's dictionary and like many other words in the English language, it has many meanings. A 'church' can be a building.  It can be an organized religion, for example, the Church of England or the Catholic Church.  It's also a word to describe Christians as a collective group; the Universal Church. The term church for a building is used to describe a building constructed where Christi...

It's probably a good thing I work nights.  I used to get wrapped up in the evening political shows and I think it's important to listen to the rhetoric and how things are covered in the media.  Fair and balanced went out the window a long time ago.  If you listen long and hard enough, though, you can sometimes get though a commentator's agenda long enough to find some useful facts. Just a for instance.  I was flipping between baseball, football, and the commentator shows last night, and as much as I hate to admit it, some of the commentary shows were more interesting than the football or baseball games.  There's a lot of rotten stuff going on in our country right now, at a state and national level. Out of all of it, though, voter suppression and people who claim to love this country hiding behind the flag and trying to coordinate any effort to register voters and allow them to vote really makes me upset.  We are starting to hear a lot about the 1% in th...

F a ll baseball is in full swing.  I'm flipping between the Cardinals/Brewers game and the San Francisco/Tampa Bay game.  Nice to see Alex Smith not running for his life on every down and the 49ers having some success.  Sad, though to hear of Al Davis' passing.  He was a weird duck to be sure,  but he did a lot for the NFL. I guess I don't feel very well today.  Miss June told me my face was flushed today and I woke up aching all over.  Hot water does wonders for that, though, and so does Ibuprofen.  Still, I was torn about attending services today.  My church has an older congregation and I'm hesitant to go when I'm ill because I don't want to share an illness with someone that might have a harder time dealing with it.   On the way to church, I heard the start of a program on the radio that I would have really liked to hear today and had to make a choice:  Either go to my church or listen to the program.  I chose my church...

I had this whole blog post written about why we believe what we do about God.  Mostly it was just a bunch of questions I have, mostly for myself, mostly about why I was such a fool for so long.  When I cam home last night, the headline on the local news was that a pastor of some mega-church called Mormonism a cult. I thought a lot about that today, not in the context of my view on the subject; rather the larger view of what we believe, collectively, or as individuals.  We get a lot shoved at us.  We have to accept this, we're haters if we don't support that.  What do we believe?  Why? I shared with you two Scripture passages this week that hopefully made you stop and at least look at why you believe what you do and ask yourself if you do believe, but don't live like it, to think about the consequences of that behavior.  I know this doesn't apply to everyone who reads the blog, but I know there are those that were like I used to be, believing what t...

Dear readers: In typing today's blog I referenced the wrong chapter of the book Titus.  I had the Bible open but must have looked at the big 2.  The last verse I suggested you read for content was the first verse in chapter two.  My pastor was kind enough to point out the mistake to me this afternoon but I had no way to fix it until now.  My humble apologies. Anyway, The verse in question, Titus 1:16 will lead into tomorrow's blog, due in part to some comments I overheard today.  Thanks and so sorry for the confusion.  I like to link to the verse or type it out in its entirety when I can to avoid these kinds of mistakes.  I'll try to do better in the future! Coop Good morning, readers.  Short post today, sorry about that.  I'm running a bit late and have to leave for work.  Last day of overtime this week and I'm really looking forward to three days off. I was thumbing through my Bible the other day and came across the boo...

Today is the day the Lord has made.  Let's make the most of it. Today is Thursday.  One more day until Friday!   Today is the last day before a four day weekend for some of my friends.  If you're going hunting, take the snow stuff. Today is October 6. I didn't forget.

I'm not in love with my internet connection.  I'm grateful for what I have, but my DSL connection worked so much better.  Such is life, though. Anyway, if it were working better, I'd have passed this bit of scripture from Galatians 6:7-8 with some friends:  "Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.  The one who sows to please the sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction, the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life". I'm just sayin'.  Not judging.  Not offended.  I'm just sayin. Here's another bit of wisdom from Solomon:  Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Again, I'm just sayin' that maybe, just maybe there's a little bit to be learned from some of what I've been through to realize that maybe, just maybe it's wise to have a bit of fear of the Almighty. That goes fo...

I didn't take the thing out of the box last year.  Maybe I should have so I would have realized a lot sooner that part of it was missing.  Then I could have maybe at least either asked the wife where it might be or even what it might look like. I can't seem to find the light and sound box for the haunted mansion, nor the little figurines or tree that go with them.  I found the boxes for the figurines and tree.  They just weren't in the boxes.  I found the boxes for the haunted mansion and the mad scientist lab.  The cord for that was in the box.  But not the noise and light box for the haunted mansion.  I can't even find what the thing looks like on the internet so I don't have the first clue where to look. I'm getting old and sometimes forgetful.  I cleaned out the garage a while back and found a lot of things I hadn't put where they go.  It's a good thing.  I needed to vacuum out my truck yesterday and everything was right wer...