Stories and other stuff

 This morning, I was kind of wondering to myself about the church I attend, in that I was not sure that it was the right place for me to be.  Any doubts I experienced were completely erased after this morning's service.   God moves very providentially in my life.  Some people I know don't see it that way, but I think the fact that I'm where I'm at right now speaks truth to that statement.  I did not pick the house, nor did I choose the circumstances of how I arrived at where I am today.  I'm very mindful of that.  I'm also mindful of the first Sunday I spent at Shoreline Community Church.  I'd been camping out, in a spiritual sense, in Philippians 4 for the previous few months, so much so that I annotated my Bible to that fact and put a date on it.  The first time I heard the Pastor speak, I could envision the same sermon he gave would to a very large extent, have been the substance of a private conversation between he ad I if we had bee...

 How did I ever find time to have a JOB?!  I joke, of course.  Today I actually thought about the people I used to work with as I was driving down the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway.  That's Oregon's name for US 101.  I still cannot believe I get to live here.  It's so unreal to me. Glory to God for that!   Bucky and I thought we needed to be out and about today.  Well, I did.  Buck is just jazzed to be anywhere these days.  He's adjusting to things the best way he can.  He's sporting a flea collar these days.  I think a few of the little buggers got to him.  He doesn't like it.  He'll get used to it.  He gets glucosamine cookies once a day, too.  He's got a little more of a spring in his step these days.  And he survived bye-bye in the car with his old pal today. We drove up to Lincoln City.  We went to the beach.  We stopped on the way home for gas station food.  He had chicken fingers...

 I saw some sad news about Jerry Falwell, Jr.  I've not ever been a fan of this man.  Maybe I'm a bit to cynical or maybe there's still some lasting damage from the PTL thing with the Bakker clan back in the 80s.  I honestly think that when church leaders fall, it's a very sad thing because of the damage it does to Christ's church.  It makes a skeptical world that much more-so.  People will judge Mr. Falwell instead of seeing him for the broken human being he is.  He fell.  He landed hard.   He needs Jesus.  We all do. It's not that he's some sort of pretender.  Maybe he is, but I'd hope not.  I hope he's just one of the thousands of men in history who let a little power and prestige get to him.  I don't know the whole sordid story.  I don't want to.  The part of it I read was sad enough.  But I can empathize with him because without power or prestige, I had my own battle with an "indiscression" There's...

Simon and Garfunkel performed a song about a young couple riding a bus and looking for America.  My friend and former commander mentioned today on Facebook that there's a bit of an exodus of people leaving California (and other states, potentially) and he mused that he thought they might be looking for the America they remembered when they were growing up, or that their parents told them about. Those words stuck with me today.  Maybe it was because the first thing I saw this morning in my neighborhood was the guy across the street teaching his son to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  My neighbor and I had a quick chat this morning about that, about church (he invited me to his), and about chairs, which I am building for my deck.  He said to me that you had "start 'em off young".  My reply was that "We were." and we were.  The pledge was the first thing we did in elementary school.  By junior high, we didn't do that.  By high school, I'd not heard ...

 I'm a desert kid and the humidity is killing me today.  That's the tradeoff; on hot days (and it's hot for here) then I'm gonna feel sticky.  Sticky is just part of the deal and it's not a complaint.  It's just a thing I have to adjust to. I have to adjust to a lot of things.  I asked God for two weeks to rest up from the turmoil and He kindly gave it to me.  And then, suddenly, things changed again.  It's like that sometimes.  When I woke up yesterday I did not know I'd be sitting in a dentist's office at 3:45 having a crown replaced.  I lost an argument with a sour apple Jolly Rancher.   At home, I had a dentist.  I knew my dentist took my insurance.  I got comfortable with that arrangement.  I'd show up.  They'd bill my insurance and about two months later, I would get a bill for the rest.  Sometimes there wasn't a bill.  Other times, there was and it wasn't as bad as I thought.  Same way with ...

 I was sitting out on the deck a while ago enjoying the start of the day with a freshly brewed cup of coffee.  The sea air is just wonderful to me and when it's quiet, like it was this morning, you can hear the roar of the ocean.  This morning, I could actually hear the waves crashing into the shore.  It was just so  peaceful and it gave me time to think about some things that are going on around me. I often times don't understand God's plans for my life.  I found myself kind of wrestling with them for a minute or two yesterday, but I'm mindful of one very important thing in this season of my life.  The last time I was here (and there was a last time!) I let my feelings and the feelings of others get in the way of what God had in mind.  I made a decision on my own and expected God to bless that decision.  Clearly, He did not and I spent a long time learning some very hard lessons. I'm not in the mood to fight another battle I can't win. ...

I've been out here now for about five weeks.  There are still boxes of photos that need to be hung up, but the place is starting to feel like a home.  I really do have a deep sense of belonging and I'm trying to figure my way out in the COVID world we live in.  I'm trying my best to be friendly to my neighbors when I see them.  I offered my next door neighbor a jar of blackberry jam.  She knew she knew me but couldn't remember where I lived.  Next door, I told her.  She laughed but I'm thinking she has some stuff going on in her life.  She told me she had some stuff going on in her life the first day I met her.  I'm guessing that it's still a thing. Buckaroo and I still go for our walk.  I need that time.  But in the midst of everything, I just kind of wanted to talk about some things I see God doing around me and it's just cool to be a part of.  Love is hard.  Hating someone, well, that's pretty easy to do.  It's kin...

I never could get why HBO and other networks had two feeds; one for the East Coast, and one for the West Coast.  Now I get it.  My TV watching schedule is all goofed up.  Without that West Coast feed, having everything delayed an hour, I never know what time it is to watch my live shows. I'm trying to get used to living on the coast.  I mean, I love the sea air.  I could listen to the ocean all night long.  It's chilly in the evenings here, even though it's summer, but cool is still not cold.  I can live with cool.  I'm in the house writing this though.  It was too cool for shorts.  My wounds are healing up nicely from the blackberry adventure, though.  Thanks for asking about it though. I bought some lumber today.  Here, if you want lumber, you have to go to the lumber store.  I hadn't seen a yard ticket since before Sutherland Lumber burned down.  Man, that was a spectacular fire, though!  I'll never forget tha...

 What I would like to write about is how to understand the difficult things that God sometimes asks us to walk through, but I think that post will wait for another day.  Instead I will write to you about the delightful berries that grow on the meanest brambles you've ever seen.  I mean, I've tangled with rose bushes that had more mercy than these things. I made some blackberry jam last night.  It was delicious.  Blackberries grow wild near Casa Bonita (almost) by the Sea so I picked some.  Yesterday I wore jeans.  Today, I wanted to make just one batch of syrup for pancakes, so I picked some more.  I didn't wear jeans today.   I have contusions on both legs.  I got stung by a bee on my right ankle.  I look like I walked through a plate glass window.  Not that the legs were good looking to begin with, but now, I look like I need some medical attention. And I have to go back out to pick two more cups so I can make the syrup....

I'm pretty sure I found my new church home.  I still feel like an outsider and probably will for quite some time.  COVID is not the best time to try and make new friends, and there's still the creepy tall single guy in the back thing to overcome, but I know the preaching is real.  The pastor is travelling and the person that filled in for him today brought the mail. This kid was real.  He didn't mince words.  He touched on a touchy topic of salvation and he brought Truth.  Not his truth.  THE TRUTH.  And it was good.  Also it was something again that I really needed to hear. I got reminded today that when we wake up, we have a choice to make.  A devotional I read suggested we post the truth to the calendar of our phones.  I don't need to.  That truth sits on my mantel piece and it's Joshua 24:15.  Choose this day who you will serve.  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I got reminded about worship this mor...

One thing I've learned is that sometimes we don't pray big enough prayers.  I read a book about that called "Gangster Prayer" by Autumn Miles.  It's a good read if you're looking to add some meaning to your prayer life.  I don't say that lightly.  Sometimes the prayers we pray are too small and not bold enough.  One thing I've learned is that I don't pray prayers I don't expect God to answer.  I've done that, I think.  Prayed for someone and not really expected God to do the thing in the person's life. I don't do that anymore.  My expectation is that God is going to answer prayers, even if that answer is no.  I have learned to accept God's no in my life, not as a spoiled child who didn't get his own way, but as a mature Christian that now understands that no sometimes is for my best good and the thing I asked for might not be in God's plan.  I've also come to understand that in God's time is the best way.  I lear...