Stories and other stuff

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...