Stories and other stuff

Question: What do chicken wings from Buffalo Wild Wings, a very odd story about two football teams that didn't play tonight by the way (one in green and yellow uniforms, the other in orange and black uniforms) from two other co-workers, a stack of change found on the self-checkout machine that wasn't working ($1.06 for the missions fund!) at the Smith's, a radio program about a guy named Bob who found Jesus and the pastor in the story quoting from Joel 2, an empty house, and a three word text have in common? Answer: God is GOOD!

I'm looking at Christmas in a really different light this year. It started with the Christmas tree the other day.  I put it up but it was like a chore to do it.  I dunno.... it hasn't felt like Christmas time and maybe it's just the holiday blues.  Maybe it's a lot of stuff going on, which will work itself out in time.  Maybe, just maybe, though, I'm getting lazy about Christmas. Part of the fun about Christmas for me as a kid was decorating the tree.  And then decorating Grandma's tree.  It was always fun for me to unwrap the ornaments, and carefully hang them on the tree.  We had a Santa Claus light bulb and these big frosty GE light bulbs that came in their own yellow corrugated boxes.  It was always cool to screw that Santa bulb into the light socket and see him light up year after year.  Decorating the tree was a big deal.  Decorating grandma's tree was always fun, too.  My grandma saved the candy canes in the original Ike'...

I suck at this.  I mean it.  I'm kind of fighting a battle I wish I didn't have to fight and had I been less stupid and selfish, maybe I wouldn't have to fight it. I bumped up against some truth last night and the truth is this:  I am still very much alive and human and as such there are things I have to deal with and sometimes those things are going to come up in conversation.  I had an opportunity to clarify what I said to someone last night with the fact that while I have those feelings, under no circumstances, are they to be construed as an invitation to action outside of God's plan for my life. That's all the details you get.  My mom reads this thing. What drew my attention to this is a post from Christian Men's Network about missing out on great because we settle for good.  It seemed good at the time to say what I said.  But it wasn't my best.  I'm trying to fight the battle my way and I also ran into the truth that I don't know how to...

In the large scheme of things, we never know how God will use events in life to shape us. I've had an interesting weekend.  My friend from church is ill and I was asked to take him to the hospital yesterday.  I was only too happy. I wrote the other day about being in the waiting room.  I was, literally, for about a half-hour, while they moved my friend into the ICU.  He's not well.  We spent six hours in the emergency room waiting for a determination where they were going to put him.  He wasn't going home, to be sure. Here's a conversation you don't want to hear:  A nurse asking what your friend's do not resuscitate instructions are.  It wasn't polite conversation, nor was it routine.  They had an 85 year old man they revived, only to speak with the man's family and find out they'd have rather him just pass.  He did later on in the morning, before we got there.  It's part of their jobs to deal with death.  They go to work...

Short post tonight.  Not much going on.  All the words have been spoken.  The actions have accompanied them.  Now it's just time to wait and see.  In the waiting room though, I saw something really cool tonight. Waiting room by the way, is a metaphor for just hanging out and waiting to see what happens. I'm not at McKay Dee again. Anyway, about ten o'clock we saw a Great Horned Owl flying around the hangar.  Owls are so cool.  They're just fun to watch.  We were treated to see him twist his head backward and then see him fly to a couple of different spots before heading back outside.  Pigeons are frequent, albeit unwanted guests in our hangar.  To see a bird of prey was really kind of neat. Owls are just cool because you don't see them every day.  No, I'm not looking for any hidden meaning in it.  I just saw an owl in real life and thought it was cool. Owls are associated with wisdom, which is something I've been aski...

I'm seriously considering buying that lottery ticket. Today's post is about belief.  Do I believe that God can give me six numbers and I could hit it big?  You bet I do.  Do I believe He will?  No.  In the first place, I don't want the responsibility.  In the second place, there's a Scripture verse my pastor shared yesterday on Facebook that sums up what I want from God.  Just enough.  Not too much.  Not too little. I believe that God is and does control events.  It often doesn't look like it, so when I talk about belief, I want to start at the Christmas story, because it seems a good place to deal with unbelief. The Christmas story starts with the conception of John the Baptist.  This was a point in the sermon on Sunday which I loved because of what it says about belief.  I actually e-mailed it to someone else so she could read what I heard on Sunday.  John was born to a couple who were advanced in years.  Kind...

When I realized five years ago what an ass I was, I got some help for it.  I spoke to a therapist three times before she yelled at me and told me I was fine (that really happened), I went to her and told her that I never wanted to treat another human being the way I treated my ex. I thought I'd done a pretty good job of it until a bunch of stuff came colliding together that would change me life forever.  Nothing has changed my life as much as the little jolt of truth I got from someone who I happen to be very much in love with. Today's blog is about how I got to be this much in love with her, what I did, and about repentance in general. A while back, we talked about getting back together.  Some things had to change and as I found myself talking about those things, the finger I was pointing pointed right back at me.  I realize I'd had a ton of stuff I was hanging onto and needed to let go of.   I needed to change!   That's a tough thing to realize and ...

There is no storm here at Lark Circle.  Well, at least there isn't for me because for the time being, I'm in the eye of the proverbial hurricane.  Lots of changes happening here. I had a conversation with my houseguest yesterday before I went to work.  She doesn't want to be here anymore and I don't blame her.  Things didn't work out the way we thought they would.  It was the weirdest thing, but whatever used to be between us just isn't there.  I told her that when God wanted her to go, she would find a roommate; someone at church or a co-worker perhaps.  I know she belonged here.  I know why.  I also know that when the time came, God would order things accordingly.  Last night I found out she met a co-worker who is also needing her own place and they're looking for a place. My other upstairs roommate, who is also my former mother-in-law is also feeling the winds of change blowing.  Her future son-in-(common)law anyway, did some...

In the grand scheme of things, I'm not quite sure where today ranks, other than necessary.  I wrote a while back that my life was in a transition phase and I believe that with all certainty.  There is a lot I'm keeping close to the vest; not gonna tell my mom, my friends, the people involved....nobody.  Just me and God for now. To say I know but am not going to elaborate on things is not a lie.  I believe I do know.  The rest of it is just intensely private.  The what, the how, the things I see happening in my life right now are just between me and the Almighty.  We have a relationship and sometimes that relationship takes me to places that I don't understand.  The great thing is that one key word "relationship"... I have a relationship with God because I'm walking with Jesus!  And boy, has that relationship grown in the last couple of weeks. I have learned so much about God in the last couple of weeks.  So much that I'm not going to...

This story has absolutely nothing to do with money but if you don't realize that up front, this story could have everything to do with money. Today's story is about the promises of God to His children.  It's a story of a yielded spirt and a trusting heart.  It's a story of sharing and forgiving.  It's a story that couldn't happen without God's divine intervention. Julie, my ex was very kind today and shared with me some money that was left over from the house we used to own in Murray.  She didn't have to and honestly I had no expectation that she would.  But she showed me some grace that puts me back on some dry ground in regard to my finances.  This couldn't have happened, I firmly believe, without God softening her heart.   We'd agreed on Friday to share this money, but something she said in the tail end of this conversation made me realize she was under no obligation to do so.  Not giving her the entire check was not an option becau...

You're gonna want to read this thing on Monday afternoon.  I have a story to tell but just how the whole thing is going to play out won't be determined until Monday afternoon after a trip to Salt Lake City. Trust me, you're gonna want to read this story.

I had already made up my mind that I was going to break my own rule and give the young couple holding the cardboard sign some money.  I had some cash, which is inconsistent with what I usually have; an empty wallet.  When I have money, though, there is usually a reason to have it and sometimes it involves sharing. As we approached where the couple was, I started noticing some things I couldn't see from far off.  There was an empty gas can in front of them and they were there with their two young children, one being breastfed by mom.  To me, the child looked a little too big to be breastfed still, but the reality of the situation was that maybe that's all there was at the moment.  The couple spoke some English and asked that God bless me for helping them. He did. I have this jar and the only thing that goes in it is money found on the ground.  Lately, we've been finding a few more pennies.  Yesterday, though, it was dimes.  At the Smith's yes...

I am blessed. I really mean that.  I am absolutely blessed. Tonight, I was feeling a little bit sorry for myself.  I am ill.  If the doctors don't figure this out tomorrow and I'm praying they do, there is a chance it could turn into something serious.  I've lived through a lot of these symptoms about thirty years ago.  Stuff that you should never feel hurts bad enough that I took a pain pill.  I'm gonna take another one in a minute.  The first one didn't work.  I didn't expect it to. It's not that I hurt that bad.  It's what hurts.  One should never have to feel their giblets. Anyway, a co-worker gave me a box of apples from his private orchard.  He has eleven apple trees.  That qualifies as an orchard.  Anyway, as I was walking out to get them I found myself telling God that I didn't understand, that I did the good things I do because I love Jesus.  Because I love God.  Because that's what His word says...

If there's a simple way to explain something, chances are you won't hear it from me. In the past, I've been blunt about things to the point where I've been rude and offensive.  For that, I'm sorry because it does little to improve a situation.  Sometimes though, there are nice ways to put simple things. I saw a quote the other day that I shared on my Facebook page for someone who occasionally stops by for a peek.  She said something to me the last time we talked and tried to justify something that wasn't right.  Me:  I didn't 'splain it as well as this does: When you walk in the flesh, you look like an unbeliever.  Exactly like an unbeliever. Pretty much summed up a long reply to a short issue.  I hope she saw it. Things in my life are changing.  Nothing I can talk about but over the last week, the devotions in my Promise Keepers Bible have been right on the mark and perfectly in season with what I'm going through.  Today's though, ...

One of the things I enjoy about taking classes with the Vine Institute in Salt Lake City is that the classes are designed to be ethnically diverse.  Last year, I met a lady named Francois from Rwanda.  This year, it's some guys from Africa.  I enjoy listening to them and how they came to America.  And that's when I realize I have first world problems. The thing that bugs me about life is that if I only had what I once had, there is so much good I could do with it.  I've learned to live with worn out clothes and broken but still usable stuff.  I'm trying as hard as I can to fix the sucking sound that my bank account makes.  I buy discount meat.  I have learned to be thankful for whatever is put on the table in front of me.  I'm a far less picky eater.  I no longer yearn to have the best of everything and I haven't ground coffee beans for coffee since treating myself to a pound of coffee last Christmas. My favorite brand of everything ...

As the cameras panned to the Dodger dugout during the 7th inning, you could see Don Mattingly fight with himself about pulling his starter out of the game.  They carried a five run lead into the top of that inning, and by the time they took the bat again, the score was 10-6 in favor of the St. Louis Cardinals.  I like both teams, but the Dodgers are my team and the best pitcher in the game of baseball blew a five run lead, in part because the manager failed to take charge of his team when the bleeding started. When you're in charge, you have to make the hard decisions and this loss is on the manager.  His pitcher was getting shelled and he didn't make the change. There's a life lesson in there too but this is about baseball and not life. I flipped over to the Angels vs. Royals game.  I saw a player take advantage of a defensive shift and drop a bunt down where nobody was for a base hit.  You see stuff like that in October. I'm between innings.  I'm ...

Today's blog is about too much information.  Unfortunately, it's just a sign of the age I have arrived at and the circumstances I find myself in.  These days, when something is free, free is good and I get to have a free colonoscopy. Normally, I wouldn't share but hey, it's a slow news day.  Besides, I'm at the age now where talk has shifted away from talk of fast cars, fast girls, and fast food, to the topics commensurate with my 5 decades of life on the planet:  medical conditions and aches and pains.  I have my fair share of aches and pains.  The medical procedure described above is designed to protect the former from becoming an issue. The big day is November 10.  That's my mom's birthday. The free stuff good part comes in courtesy of the VA.  They've asked me to participate in a study where 50% of the participants do one sort of test (which I will kindly spare you the details of because you just ate), and 50% get the scope.  Guess ...

I opened up my Bible today and just happened to see myself in what I read.  I don't know how I'd never read that particular devotional in that Bible, but it was me to a tee.  So much so that I had someone else read it for a second opinion. Yup, that used to be me. The blessing in there is that it used to be me.  Finding and reading it may have not had the meaning I thought it did, but it did speak to my heart today about what used to be wrong with me. And then the blessings came. I don't smoke anymore.  I haven't for a very long time now.  But the Blazer has a cigarette lighter.  It didn't until today, but as I got out of it for my walk around the duck pond, I noticed it was attached to the magnet at the base of my retirement flashlight.  That sucker has a pretty good magnet and it found the missing cigarette lighter.  It works, too.  It doesn't stay pushed in like it should, but it does heat up. That's OK.  It just needs to be...

I sincerely believe only a fool would pretend to know what God is up to without God telling that person and as of today, I've received no such word from the Almighty.  But I can sense God's presence in my life and feel confident that things aren't going to be the way they have been. For some reason, I feel like things are turning the corner.  What that's going to look like, I don't know, but I woke this morning with a renewed sense that God is doing wonderful things in my life. I started to type this and changed my mind once.  I do honestly believe things in my life are going to be a lot different but I have no clue what that means.  I honestly don't; to the point I wasn't going to share this thought.  But something changed my mind.  It was that still, small voice saying "if you believe it, share it." OK, I do.  So I will. Things are changing.  Not just the leaves, not just the seasons, but things in my life are changing.  I can't wai...

This first story has two parts, but you should be used to that by now. Yesterday, I saw a car with a Utah plate on it on Riverdale Road on a little blue sedan.  It said "PIANO1"  I laughed, looked up to heaven, and told God if someone needed a piano that if He provided the piano, I'd move it. The front half of that story is that last month during our prayer for the nation time, my houseguest sat down at the piano at church and began to play.  She's not bad, by the way.  I had no idea she could play, let alone play as well as she did.  Our pastor asked her some questions about her playing. Shortly thereafter, we started noticing moving trucks with "piano moving" on the side and I told her that God kinda laid it on my heart that she needed a piano.  This wasn't a burning thing, but she needs a piano. Last night, God answered that little prayer.  Someone gave her a piano.  Now I have to move it. God is good all the time. _________________...

In the midst of feeling like poop and the associated drama around unrequited love, jail time (not me, of course), and trying to make sense of things that never will make sense (and as I wrote this sentence, the guy on the radio was singing "we'll tell the story of how we've overcome, and we'll understand it better by and by", I kid you not!) I missed out on international talk like a pirate day. RRRRRRRR......... I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I think I finally just wore myself out, emotionally and physically.  Then I got sick and that made me so stinkin' weak. RRRRRRRR....... I heard from Cindy. RRRRRRRRR............ I'm trying without fail to figure out where I'm supposed to be heading in life.  A lot of things have happened to me lately and more and more, I'm feeling like the bird in the cage I wrote about weeks ago.  Sometimes you get what you want and when you do it scares the hell out of you because of how fast it...

If I wasn't here, sometimes I wonder where I'd be.  Not often, but sometimes. The Oregon thing has been on my mind again lately.  I thought the whole thing was just Cindy but lately I'm beginning to wonder.  It was on my mind last Tuesday during my exercise time.  Walking around the duck pond is quite peaceful and for some reason my mind started thinking about it again. There doesn't seem to be this great burning desire to be there.  But it's still there.  Enough that I mentioned it to my houseguest on Tuesday evening before I went to bed.  When I woke up on Wednesday morning, there as a pamphlet for Central Oregon Coast lighthouses on my coffee table.  The old lady said it was in the laundry room.   She said it wasn't there a couple of days ago, then it mysteriously(?) was (her story, not mine) and that she put it on the table to look at it. Just sayin' it happened.  Didn't say it meant anything. Today was a little bit of a remi...

Today's post is going to be an odd one because it's going to tie up a whole bunch of loose ends in the story of my life.  Whether or not I am winning or losing is irrelevant.  It's not about me; something I'm learning to understand on a much deeper level. The topic of losing was on the radio last night.  It's not lost on me that the program is called "Running to Win", by the way, but the pastor pointed out that even in losing, we can bring God glory.  There are lots of people that didn't win in the Bible and yet, God was glorified even when they themselves lost. Losing is nothing new to me.  In fact, I'd earlier had to explain to Cindy what losing looked like from my vantage point.  She sent me a text on Sunday about me not wishing her a happy birthday.  I explained that because she chose Bob (you gotta laugh at that!) over me, I didn't get to wish her a happy birthday, call to just check in on her, or send her an e-mail every time my heart...

My houseguest and I just got through trapping cats.  I'd started to tell this story but it didn't quite have the outcome I'd hoped.  Instead of seven pussycats, I was only able to keep four caged.  They are four little kittens.  I would offer them to you but they are wild and very, very mean.  My houseguest was surprised; after all they're just pussycats, right? This ain't my first rodeo with feral cats.  I know how mean they are.  They bite and scratch, so leather gloves were used.  They're also very adept at escaping their circumstances.  Grandma kitty, who I wanted to get fixed and get back to keep the rat and mouse population at bay managed to force open and escape through the top of the cage while I was securing the lower latch.  Grandma kitty got half way out and I wasn't gonna try to push her back in. Another of the kitties was so small, it escaped through a smallish opening in the cage.  That opening isn't there anymo...

The wondermutt got loose this morning and so did my tongue.  I raised my voice about it out of frustration, not anger and my houseguest gave me what I gave.  I deserved it and had to apologize after searching for the dog for about ten minutes.  I came home to get some shoes and a leash in the off chance I found him and when I yelled, the neighbor told me he was still on the circle.  I retrieved him three doors down from mine.  At least he's staying a little closer to home and not roaming the campus.  Maybe he's finally figured out he doesn't like doggie jail. I had a productive weekend.  As I write this, I'm so full I could bust after eating homemade bread with homemade jam.  The jam wasn't made today, but six pints of apple butter were.  There is chili sauce on the stove right now.  It's made with more store bought tomatoes than garden tomatoes this year.  The garden didn't do well this year and with the cooler temps all of a sud...

Well, apparently I ain't superman and I finally had to (and brother I mean HAD to) take a nap today.  Two weeks of 4-6 hours of sleep a night and running full tilt finally caught up with me and I passed out on the couch while the peach pie I made was baking.  By the way, if the pie and the oven are 425 degrees, chances are the pie bird which fell over during the baking process is also 425 degrees.  Just sayin'. Yesterday was a work day and I needed Chevron to help me out just one last time.  She's still wounded and I'm wondering now if the problem is in the intake manifold.  But Chevron was good for just one more roadie...just one more, and she didn't let me down. My truck is starting to show her age.  She's 15 and never been garaged.  It's starting to show, especially on the top of the cab, where the sun has been a little brutal to her.  Things under the hood aren't so great these days either and as much as I hate to say it, the diagnosing is...

It seems that no matter what, I find myself very busy these days.  It's a lot of the reason I don't post much these days.  It isn't that there isn't stuff going on, but that I'm a lot of too tired to share it.  There are a half-dozen posts about this or that, started but not finished because the need and urgency to sleep were greater than to share what's going on in my life. Things here at Lark Circle are, for the most part, well.  Having my friend here has been such a blessing to me and it's nice to be able to be a blessing in return.  There's been a little bit of drama in the house, but I think that, with God's grace, I was able to put a stop to most of it.  Sometimes just saying sorry, even when you don't feel like you ought to be, goes a long way toward smoothing over hard feelings. You can do things in love; even offer a rebuke.  I'm grateful for that understanding.  It's God-given.  My human nature (and my big fat mouth) would j...

To say that I'm tired would be a bit of a misleading statement.  I passed tired a very long time ago.  I'm well on my way to worn out and there was nothing I wanted to do more this morning than to just sleep. I didn't get me out of bed this morning  I had some encouragement from my house guest and drive from the Holy Spirit.  Not going to church was an entertained thought but it just wasn't gonna happen. I mentioned to my houseguest that on days when I don't feel like going, there is usually something important to me for the circumstances I find myself in.  I don't mean to sound like church is unimportant or that I don't get something out of every Sunday service.  That's just not the case, but it seems like at times there are important take-aways from the message I need to get through the next week and they seem to come when I'm faced with reasons not to go, like being very tired. Today's sermon was about letting go.  Perhaps I need to.  I ho...

My boys and I spent some time in Yellowstone National Park over the weekend.  On the way out of the park and back to the campground on Saturday evening, we noticed several cars pulled over to the side of the road.  This, if you're not familiar with Yellowstone, is an indication that there is some sort of wildlife worth gazing at. As we got out of our car to see what the fuss was about, a tourist from another country told us that it was "just an eagle" and pointed across the Madison river.  There, perched high atop the tallest tree, which happened to be dead, was a very majestic looking Bald Eagle. We looked through our binoculars at the bird and as we did, my mind started to form some thoughts I wish I'd shared with the foreigner.  "Just an eagle?" As we talked about this later around the campfire, I told my sons this: I think the man we saw today doesn't understand what seeing a bald eagle means to an American.  This proud, majestic bird represe...

It's amazing to me how something so little as a rose bush coming back from the dead can change the mood around here.  This though wasn't just any rose bush.  It had a bit of significance and I kind of wrote about it in the last post.  What I didn't mention though is the hope of new life it brought with it. My home has been in turmoil since the day after Father's Day.  I mean that.  The brief re-appearance of Cindy in my life kind of set the stage for a bit of a pity-party on yours truly.  I can see that now, but for the last month, maybe not so much.  I was keeping to myself and maybe blaming it on just being tired from working so much overtime was only part of the whole story. In the midst of that turmoil, a friend of mine (yes, that  friend) had some turmoil, too.  In fact, I've never seen so much happen to one person at one time in my life.  That bit of turmoil spilled over into some extra-extra drama around here and it took that ...

Last year, the men of the church were involved with a landscaping project at the church.  I picked up two things during that project; one was my downstairs roommate and the other was a very old and established rose bush.  This thing was about four feet tall and put out the biggest, prettiest yellow roses you've ever seen.  It was happy living among the various things that tried to grow where the rose bush was.  Nothing really thrived but the rose bush did. It didn't do so well here when we transplanted it.  In fact, it died.  I left it alone over the winter, though, on the off chance that it would grow back.  It didn't, so about a month or so ago, I pruned down the dead wood on the bush, just leaving maybe the bottom foot in the hopes that cutting away the dead wood would spark some new growth in the roots. There is a very weak, very fragile, but very real yellow rose bush growing again! I noticed it today.  The stems are about two feet...

I do not like to work on cars.  I work on airplanes for a living and wrenchin' is wrenchin', right? Wrong. One of my co-workers and I were talking about cars last night.  The operating principle of a jet engine is actually simpler than the regular internal combustion engine.  The engineering and precision required is different but more simple.  And cars of old were easier to work on than they are today. My car problems may have been exaggerated by yours truly.  The way the car was acting, I wouldn't have thought so.  A can of head gasket repair which may have finally worked and a radiator cap made Chevron drivable last night.  I'm still going to throw the tester auto zone has for rent on the motor and see if there's exhaust gases in the radiator, though. The thing is, I replaced said radiator cap when I changed the radiator in the truck several months ago.  That may have actually caused more problems than it solved because the problems in ...

I have had some tough weeks.  I'm no stranger to seeing some pretty unusual things, too.  I've been around the block a time or two and sadly, I have far too many stories I can't tell anymore and the shameful memories of them.  That being said, I've never had a week like one of my dear friends had last week. Often times in life, we as humans think it's OK and somehow it's going to help someone to tell them in the midst of despair and hurt, why it is they're in despair and hurt.  It's why Christendom has a reputation for shooting their wounded and it's a real problem for us.  We live by some pretty high standards and God calls us to be not of the world, but far too often we find ourselves in the world, or at least being victimized by it.  When we stumble or fall, we don't need someone holding us down in the mud.  We need our brothers and sisters (or in this particular case I have in mind, parents and adult children) to lift us up and dust us off...