Stories and other stuff

 I love it that my relationship with God is a real, tangible, and ongoing adventure.  I mean that.  I spent Christmas by myself, but not once did I feel alone.  I know that might sound odd, especially when I was planning on being with my family this year.  God had other plans and His plans for me were for us to hang out here in North Bend at Casa Bonita (you already know it's almost by the sea). As things go, our relationship is changing, evolving, and He's showing me how He uses His word to lead and guide.  Often, what I need each day isn't an answer as much as it is a verse.  God still moves very providentially in my life, but He's using that Providence to provide a Scripture verse more than an answer to a question.   I've needed those.  Being singe is difficult.  Especially when a beautiful girl with a puppy is waving at you on the beach two weeks before Christmas, when you're feeling alone.  I knew it was a test.  It w...

 I'm a veteran of the fast lane.  It's always been hurry, get this done.  Hurry, I need this done today.  That plane has to fly in the morning.  Hurry, hurry, hurry.  Schedules have to be met.  You're holding up so-and-so who always seemed to have priority over what we were doing.   It's that way in my chosen profession, but it's also that way in life these days.  Utah is terrible for this.  Hurry and get there.  Driven I-15 or I-80?  You know what I'm talking about.  I used to tell visitors to Utah that were in the Guard that if they're the first car at the green light, to make sure to wait a second or two before going into the intersection.  Once, I heard someone tell me that they found out why I said that. We get mad when we wait.  I'm bad about wait.  I will use the self-checkout so I don't have to wait long whenever I can.  I'm a product of my life.  And now, I live in a place where life ...

 Storytelling is an art.  Drop by any VFW club or American Legion canteen (pre-covid) and you will find any number of artists plying their craft of telling what are affectionately known as "war stories" on any given evening.  I've heard, and told, my fair share of these types of stories.  Back before "war stories", the stories of the Americas were told by storytellers.  Passed along by word of mouth, they became known as "tall tales" because lies is such an unpleasant word and as they worked their way into the fabric of America, they became known as folklore, or legends. If you've known me for longer than a day or two, you know that if I tell you a story, at some point I have to either tell you a story to tell you the story I want to tell you, or interrupt the story I want to tell you to tell you another story that sets up the finish for the first story.  As I said, storytelling is an art, and each artist wields his brush in a different manner. Ton...

For a couple of weeks, it seemed that the Holy Spirit was preparing me to have my Christmas plans changed.  A phone call from my mom the other day did just that.  I should be about half way between Bend and Burns, Oregon right now.  That was the plan.  Then my mom got Corona. I really see the wisdom in God's word which says when we plan, if the Lord wills, we will go and do this or that.  His will was that I not go.  He knew my mom was gonna get Corona.  So I made other plans, which include basically waiting to see what His plans for me are.  I think God's plans are higher than mine so missing a Christmas with family is part of it.  I've missed Christmas before.  I was in a place in 1990 where Christmas was just another day of the week and there were absolutely ZERO celebrations, let alone mention of the Savior of the World.   Having to stay at home isn't a hardship, and one never knows what exactly God is saving one from, nor ...

 I had a surreal experience at Bible study last night.  The pastor started out with these words:  God is good.  And God is good.  He went on from there as if the Holy Spirit was using him to speak to me about everything I was thinking and feeling last night. I have to tell a bit of a swiss cheese story.  God is up to something in my life, but it's not for public consumption.  I'm really going with the "If I can't understand it, how could you?" position so I'm keeping it to myself.  I can tell you that in this time of my life, He's asked me to do something: Wait. And a bunch of stuff that involves waiting, like not taking matters into my own hand, and trusting His plan is better than mine. I have a type.  I know what that is.  So does whoever arranged that little test I had the other day.  Because she was just my type, standing on the beach, playing with her puppy.  She waved at me.  Twice.  And then we talked about ou...

 I have heard the story of John the Baptist in 3 different places and the verses in Isaiah about him once.  Clearly thereou is something about preparing a path I need to understand.  What I don't understand is whether I'm the one going and/or where I'm going.  But I do need to know these verses for some reason.  Maybe tomorrow it will be clearer.  My new pastor is teaching on this tomorrow morning. My other pastor at my church in Ogden taught on them last week, and from his message, I understood them to pertain to our own highway, our own walk with Jesus as we journey together and become more like Him as we get to know God better.  I think part of me wants them to mean something personal that they may not and that's part of why I might be having a hard time understanding them. I think sometimes our walk is like that.  We hear, we want to understand, but when that understanding doesn't come, what then?  For me, I'm trying to juggle a bunch of ...

 To be certain I'm not who I was.  Aside from it being one of my favorite Christian songs, it's a truth about me.  I've changed.  I needed to and that change is not something I can take credit for.  I didn't change me.  God changed me.  He started doing it even before I started walking with Christ.  My story goes back to a Sunday drive from a place I should never have been.  As I was getting on the on-ramp back to Ogden, I just kind of felt like something was speaking to my soul and asked me what I was doing.  I now know that to be the Holy Spirit of God and by the time I hit the end of the on-ramp and merged onto I-15 North, I had made my mind up to go home and ask for some forgiveness.  My life changed course in the span of about 400 feet. I was thinking about that today.  Mostly because a phone call I missed (probably spam) came from a number in Beaver, Utah.  I was in Southern Utah the day my life started changing and ...

 If you're not a frequent participant in aviation activities, you might not be familiar with the "follow me" truck.  Most airlines have gates at airports and the planes taxi to the gates following yellow lines and gate signs.  At military bases, though, we have open ramps with designated parking spots.  Yellow lines lead to these but we use something called a "follow me" truck to lead them in.  It's literally a truck with a big lighted sign in the bed that tells the pilot to "follow me". I had the opportunity to drive the "follow me" a couple of times.  Once the real "follow me" truck literally died on the yellow line and I had to get out of my truck and push it out of the way, then jump back in my truck, hit the flashers, and have the plane follow me.  Another time, the pilot chose NOT to follow me and went his own way into the spot.  He got there.  It was all good. God promises that if we lean not on our own understanding, but...

 I stayed home today.  No beach.  No shopping.  No errands to run.  Nothing.  Just kind of felt the Spirit leading me to stay put and relax today.  I think if I had to find a word other than hurt to describe me, I honestly think spent would take first place. Hurt is kinda dissipating.  It seems this week is flying by faster than normal and I've pretty well come to terms with things.  Mostly because a person in my life would be nice, but it's not where my happiness comes from.  It comes from Jesus and I'm really leaning into Him right now. I love that I can do that.  I can't believe I get to do that.  I know me.  I know who I used to be and that the King of Kings would even want to have anything to do with me, let alone love and care for me enough to not let me have a pity party, is just mind-boggling. If you've seen my Facebook page, you know I've been rapidly making improvements to the house.  That's self-care. ...

One of the many ways God communicates with His children is through His word.  And sometimes He uses some teaching with that word to make a point with us. Keep that thought in mind, and you are definitely gonna want to read Acts 5:17-41.   Go ahead, I'll give you a minute. Are ya done?  Or do you need another minute? OK, now that you're done we can lean in.  The thing the article I read about this passage of Scripture tonight pointed out is that the first time the Apostles were arrested, nothing happened to them.  The jail doors flung open and out they went.  And what did they do?  They went back to teaching at the temple.  They got arrested again, then flogged?  And what did they do?  They went out rejoicing that they'd been persecuted for their faith like their Lord and went back to teaching in the temple. The idea is that they had a part in Jesus because they were persecuted for their faith.  To them, it was like a badge of honor ...

For once in my life, I'm gonna spare you the details of how the end came, but come it did.  At eight this morning a U-haul pulled out of my driveway headed to California.  There was a hug, and then that was that. I thought I'd take this harder than I am.  I mean, brother, am I spent.  I prayed over this thing hard.  I don't think I've ever wanted something to go the way I thought it would so badly and there was some praying without ceasing.  But with that, there were words that I genuinely meant:  "Not my will, but Yours be done." I'm satisfied that it was.  Here's why:   I never look at my Facebook memories, but I had an inkling to do that last night.  The memory I saw was from a page called Believe for One More Day.  Well, at that point, I had one more day.  The meme in the memory said something about God has a Suddenly for you. About ten minutes later, the suddenly showed up.  I was hoping for a suddenly, there was...

Life is kind of interesting here in Oregon and it's not quite how I thought it would be. You get used to some things, like not pumping your own gas.  Usually you're just sitting there waiting for the pump to shut off.  Today though, it was slow so I had a chance to chat with the station attendant.  I like it that I can't pump my gas.  It's not that I'm not capable, but that it gives someone a job.  It might not be a glamorous job, but it is honest work.  I respect the people that do it.  It's also a throw-back to simpler days. A lot of what Oregon is going to change into was kind of derailed by COVID and practicality.  The state is trying to get away from plastic grocery bags.  I think the corona kind of put a damper on that enthusiasm.  They do charge you a nickel a bag.  Well, Wal-mart doesn't.  I've learned to do without a bag unless I needed one.  I think it's funny though that I can self-checkout from the store but no...

 A few months back, I broke a crown and had to have it replaced.  Like a dummy, I didn't check with a dentist to see if he took my insurance.  The first one I called said they could get me in the next day and when I told them what insurance I had, they didn't tell me they weren't preferred providers.   Such is life.  I had the money to pay out of pocket but they did tell me they'd bill my insurances for me.  They only billed one and I sort of forgot about it after that.  I'm only gonna get a couple of hundred back but right now, a couple of hundred will come in handy with the holidays approaching and my retirement still in an interim pay status. About a month ago, I got the notices from my primary insurance that they didn't pay.  No surprises there; crowns aren't covered.  There's a lot of reasons I have the supplemental dental insurance.  But nothing from that carrier.  I tried logging into my account several times without suc...

 First off, if you old, you know what that number means.  If you're a country music fan, you might think it's a line from a Ronnie Milsap song.  For the rest of you, it's what Ivory soap purports itself to be... I shared that with you because I have a story to tell about Ivory soap.  Without going into too many details, I couldn't sleep last night and in the middle of the night, a hot shower sounded good.  In the first place, my back hurts so a hot anything sounds good, but I thought maybe a shower would help me relax and take my mind off of some things I was dealing with.   I'm a body wash guy, but there's a bar of Ivory in the shower in case I need it.  It's a good soap to wash one's face with and for some reason, I opted to grab the bar of soap instead of the body wash last night.  I know that's kind of personal stuff, but the thing is this....I felt better and as I was washing with the 99 44/100% pure soap, I got to thinking about somethi...

 I have Casa Bonita (almost) By The Sea to myself for a few days.  One of the opportunities that affords me is to enjoy Big Comfy Bed 2.0.  I'm camped out in the guest room most of the time.  One thing I've learned is that water is horribly expensive and as I was laying here last night not sleeping, I noticed the repair I tried on the toilet did not work.  I heard it running several times so I decided that today was the day to fix it. The sign by the toilet repair parts at the ACE hardware suggested that if I bought the universal tank repair kit, I would only have to make one trip.  I causally mentioned to the clerk that I was hoping for a one trip day.   When I started disassembling the toilet, I noticed that my toilet has three screws that hold the tank to the bowl.  I've never seen that before....  most toilets only have two.  The kit did have three screws in it, so I thought at least I had enough parts to do the job.  The t...

 I had to come back to Utah to vote.  Utah is still my legal residence although I am spending quite a bit of time out of town due to the COVID situation in the home state.  I'm planning on making Oregon my permanent home after the first of the year.  In the mean time, I wanted to cast my ballot in this election. I went to church today and got to see my friends there.  I also got something unexpected:  Answers to just about everything that was on my heart when I left Oregon on Thursday. Sometimes it's hard to understand, let alone do, what God asks you and as always, He's been so faithful.  I've not been knowing what to do with a couple of things going on at home, but He seemed to be telling me not to take matters into my own hands.  I got confirmation of that with a story the lady that prays for me told me.  I had to let her know that the thing she's been praying for finally happened, but not quite the way either of us had hoped.  She th...

 I made some rolls today to pair with a pot of chicken soup.  Someone at my house was under the weather and the chicken soup is my go-to for not feeling good.  Nothing else seems to work.  I once made some for the Wondermutt because I read online that it helps doggos too. I love that dog. I'm usually a Rhodes rolls guy.  They're good rolls and they require not a lot of attention.  I didn't have any in the freezer and I did have some buttermilk that needed to be used up because it expired today, so rolls got made.  I found the oddest recipe (odd to me, anyway) for rolls, written by some guy because the recipe flows terribly and the directions also kinda were hard to follow.  The rolls were, though, amazingly good. I've never been a big bread baker.  It's hard to get bread right.  The last few loaves have been really good, though, and so were the rolls.  Maybe it's the altitude (or, more correctly, the lack of altitude).  Anyway....

 One of the things I find interesting about my life is that, for good or bad, I never know from one day to the next what will happen.  Here's a little story or three about that: As some of you know, I have some house guests here.  On the day that I was going to pick up my mini-project, the Tahoe, my house guests had vehicle trouble and the plan to meet the sellers of the Tahoe went south.  With the help of the intermediaries, we were able to get the deal done;  just not as I'd planned.  I had to go back and have the sellers sign the title in the correct place though, which took a few more days to happen.  It all worked out, but none of it according to plan.   I'm learning not to hold fast to my plans.  Things never seem to go the way I think they ought to.  But as always, there's a Scripture verse to hang onto and it's from James 4:13-15 and it says: "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and...

 Earlier in the week, an Amber alert was issued in Utah.  The subject of that alert was a young boy whose non-custodial mother abducted him.  He was found with her, right here in Coos Bay/North Bend on Thursday.  I should have shared that Amber alert or paid a little more attention to it because on Thursday I saw a blue car with a Utah plate in the parking lot of the restaurant I was at. I was having coffee with a new friend on Thursday.  I'm glad I met her.  She's really helped me feel at home.  I know her from church and I thought it would be nice to hear her story; to get to know her a little bit.  One thing she told me really stood out and I'd like to share that with all y'all. Some blessings last the rest of your life.  I'd heard this before in a story a preacher told about not having to buy his own clothes.  Other people just buy his clothes.  I'd heard some negative things about this man, honestly forget his name, so I kind o...

I had an interesting day.  I had a nice chat with a friend of mine about the differences in our beliefs.  I had a chance to tell him it was always right to speak the truth in love, and then he gave me the opportunity to speak a hard truth, in love, to him.  It's amazing how God uses us. I'm assisting in the rearing of a puppy.  My houseguest feels that salve for her broken heart looked like a puppy.  You should try finding a puppy in the Corona.  They're hard to find, and they're going for upwards of $1000.  God provides.  She found a pup for a reasonable price and when she's at work, I get to puppy-sit.   Today, puppy and I were playing tug-of-war with a rope bone.  Bucky and I played this game forever but since he's gotten old, he's not much for that nonsense anymore...until he saw the pup and I playing and the light came on.  That used to be a him and me thing.  So we got to play rope for a minute.  It's about all ...

 I'd been wanting to try a restaurant I drive by occasionally and tonight was the night.  I got some yard work done before the rain this afternoon.  By yard work, I mean I mowed the lawn, edged the lawn, swept off the driveway and cut down some rogue branches and sticker bushes in the yard after cleaning up after my pets.  That sounds like work.  It took less than an hour, I'm sure. The joy of not having a big yard is that it's easy to do all that stuff.  Once it's edged, it's much easier to keep it that way and I haven't had to mow in probably three weeks.   Still, though, I didn't feel like cooking dinner.  I did defrost and bake some beef ribs but had a feeling they were going to suck.  About six, I got a text from the person in the other room who wanted to inquire about dinner.  It made me laugh that a text was necessary.  I needed the laugh. I expressed my desire to try the restaurant in question.  An on-line search f...

 I woke up this morning refreshed.  It's the first time in a long time I woke up not struggling with some things that have been trying to creep back in.  Lately, I've been reminded that the Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt when their journey got hard.  The book of Numbers, chapter 11 records the story this way: Fire From the  Lord 11  Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the  Lord , and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the  Lord  burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.   2  When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the  Lord  and the fire died down.   3  So that place was called Taberah, [ a ]  because fire from the  Lord  had burned among them. Quail From the  Lord 4  The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and...