Stories and other stuff

I was pretty upset as I stood there holding the mop.  But then again, when I saw the twisted door seal on the front of the washing machine, I suspected something was wrong.  Earlier, I'd mopped up some water but with the tribe here, you never know what gets spilled. The washing machine is broken.  And me being me, I tend to get upset about things like that.  A couple of weeks ago, though, when it kind of became evident to me that the ex had made her choice about what God had given her back, instead of asking God to change her, I asked God to change ME. Me after all is something I can control.  And with some sage advice from my good friend still seared in my mind from the day before, as I leaned on the mop I knew what I wanted to say, and asked God for something else.  That's not normal for me. My response would have been "You broke it."  And it would have been targeted at the last person to use said washing machine that wasn't me.  Those thr...

Today was a good day.  I was able to get the fuel pump changed on the Chevrolet.  It went pretty easy, for a Dale project.  I'm convinced I had some help from above, though, to get across the finish line. I had to tow the car to the street in front of the house to do the job, though.  My driveway is too steep and there wasn't a good practical way to get the car into the garage.  I did a dumb thing, though, and left the key in the run position so I had to charge the battery.  I should have known something was up when the burglar alarm kept sounding. Oops. From start to finish, including charging the battery, it was about four hours.  If I hadn't spliced the wrong wires together (to be fair, I spliced the black wire to the black wire, but that black wire was supposed to go to the black wire with the white tracer.  That was a 30 minute trip to the hardware store. Did I mention I dislike working on cars? There was also a very helpful YouTube...

My very good friend, mentor, fellow Bible study teacher, and all around great guy, Pastor Karl started a couple of new gigs recently.  Today was the first day for him as the temporary pastor of a Baptist church in Murray.  For all y'all that read this thing that don't live in "Idaho" (which means anything north of Hill AFB for some of my friends), you should take the opportunity to go hear him preach. Karl, among all the other things listed above, is a great preacher.  I miss him being my pastor, but so glad he's still filling all those other roles in my life.  Anyway... Last night, I felt led to pray for him to have an increase at the church he's pastor of these days.  Today, two people came forward and expressed interest in joining that fellowship.  God answers prayers.  It had nothing to do with me, except a friend praying for his friend, praying for that group of believers to increase.  It wasn't my idea to pray for that specifically, but ...

I'm sad.  I mean that.  There's so much going on around me and I sometimes feel stuck in the mud.  Or quicksand.  Tuesday didn't help much.  I was headed to work and the Chevrolet died.  I think it's the fuel pump.  I'm almost sure it's the fuel pump and the new one showed up last night about four.  I will get serious about changing it tomorrow. I found out today though that the old trick of hitting it with a hammer on the outside of the tank isn't going to get mine going.  I was hoping it would just so I could get it into the garage. No such luck for yours truly. I swear, if I had the money, I'd pay someone to do this job for me.  But fortunately there's some sort of flat spot in front of the house where I can try to drop the fuel tank.  I'll figure out something regardless.  I have to.  I can't afford to drive Chevron at $3 a gallon. The timing sucks, but what doesn't right now?  And it's not limited to just...

If you're a listener of Christian radio, chances are you may have heard of Dr. J. Vernon McGee.  While Dr. McGee went home to be with Jesus some time ago, his broadcasts still go on.  I was listening to one once when I was reminded of a simple truth found in Galatians 6:7-8 expressed by Dr. McGee simply and succinctly: CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST Mine have. At the beginning of January I was dating a lovely human being.  By the end of January there were some things in her life that I believed were pointing me someplace else and for her own personal safety and because I cared more for her own well-being more than my own selfishness, I thought it wise to not date anymore. Things would lead back to where they looked like and in February, I had the opportunity to have dinner with the Who not once but three times; the third time though was me taking myself out of the picture for a night and just listening to her talk about some stuff going on in her orbit.  I share...

I put an outlet in a cabinet last night downstairs for a microwave oven above the stove that's down there. I was kind of proud of myself for pulling that task off.  But with the help of the google machine, I found out the proper installation of said microwave required the outlet to be placed in the cabinet it mounts underneath. To accomplish this, I cut a 4" strip of drywall using my battery operated circular saw and set the depth of the blade to just under the thickness of the drywall.  I cut it, then used a drywall saw to finish the job and used said saw to cut the drywall at the wall studs.  I was able to remove the piece in one piece, run the new outlet, then reattach the piece in the same spot and mud and screw it into placee. I figured that part out on my own.  Google told me where  to put the outlet. Not how to do it. The basement looks like a war zone, but reconstruction is well under way.  I swapped out one of the fluorescent lights for ...

Sorry I haven't written much.  Life has a way sometimes of interfering with the best plans we make and that is the place you would find me these days.  One night, I'm having dinner with the Who, and the next I find myself headed in a completely different direction with my life. One that I'm absolutely positive is an answer to prayer that I did not expect, nor was it just an answer to my own prayer, but the prayers of three different people. Somewhere in there, I found the time and opportunity to see my beloved Oregon and the Pacific Ocean.  I needed that.  Even if it was only for just a hot minute. I am in the midst of learning something important about God; something I'm still having trouble understanding, but still fascinated by the concept of:  it's the idea that things are going to end well just because God sent me on the journey. I've seen the same thing twice now.  This time, though, it's much more evident to what God is doing; mainly because ...