Stories and other stuff

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...

 I had guests over the weekend.  I had a chance to talk to one of them for a minute and told her the story of why I don't date anymore.  She knows part of the people directly involved in that story and when I told it to her, the look of disbelief was priceless.  I told her twice that the story I told her really happened to me and I asked her:  "So what do I do with that?"  She got her wits about her again and looked at me in all seriousness and shouted "Run!" I explained to her that's exactly what I did. There are reasons I'm single.  But single, I am.  And that sometimes presents problems.  I was telling the associate pastor at my new church about that.  I finally filled out and turned in a contact sheet and he was kind enough to give me a call on Thursday.  I mentioned to him that it's hard for a single guy to fit in.  I also know that the opportunities I had for ministry in Ogden aren't going to be here for me because I'm th...

I learned a little lesson last night.  I have friends visiting and one of them got upset at me for something I thought was a bit trivial.  As with most things, sometimes what we can't see drives a response to the things that we do.  It was resolved quickly and later on in the evening, my friend explained the why.  Had I understood the why up front, the very small thing I did to upset this person wouldn't have happened in the first place. I started writing this yesterday.  We went out to see the sea lions but the fog was so thick, you couldn't see offshore to where they were.  We could tell they were there.  We could hear them, but we couldn't see them.  It's kind of a metaphor for things we know but can't see. There's a word for that:  faith.  We can't see God, but we can see evidence of His presence.  Believers can feel it.  Sometimes, we can hear that still, small voice.  Other times, we can smell flowers, or the air aft...

 I have a kayak trip planned for later today and will be on the road tomorrow for most of the day.  I planned the paddle for today because it's supposed to be HOT here.  Hot here is in the mid 80s, but 40 miles inland the temps go up about 15-20 degrees.  It's not cloudy today.  But, brother, is it smoky today.  The east winds my Utah peeps are experiencing are blowing smoke to the coast and when I woke up this morning, it smelled like a campfire in the house. Fire, wind, early snow, you name it, and the West has it.  California is on fire.  There was a fire just North of Florence last week.  I saw it when I went to Eugene last week.  I have to do that periodically just because that's where the big stores are. I'm gonna have a house full of people for the weekend.  I'm good with that.  We could have 24 and all eat off the same dishes using matching silver.  I like that my house is set up to entertain.  I do enjoy it....

Life isn't easy for anybody these days and I'm mindful that even in the chaos, God's peace is available to all of His children.  I'm badly in need of it today.   Who isn't, though? One of the problems I have is that I tend to over-think things sometimes.  Something happened to me the other day that I'd been spending way too much time trying to figure out just exactly what was behind what happened.  I'll never know and thanks to a friendly reminder from above today, I don't need to.  A little Facebook post brought me back to reality.  The gist of the post was that some of y'all need to quit trying to understand everything and just let God.   I stood among the guilty.  It's not that I don't have faith or trust God, it's just that the thing kinda messed with me a little bit and I was trying to figure out just exactly what it meant.  In reality, it probably meant nothing.   There are all kinds of things that mess with our peac...

Do you ever stop to think about what God saves you from ? I think it's a good thing to reflect on, which I was just doing.  God saves me from a lot.  A Facebook post a friend shared today reminded me of just one story:   We were on our way to Paris for the weekend when we were TDY to Germany.  We decided to stay in Germany at Spangdahlem AB as a kind of half way point for a couple of nights.  On-base billeting is a lot less expensive than a hotel in Paris and we were asked to return a piece of equipment to the base that was borrowed by the base we were at for a time (the why involves a deadly airplane crash, which is a story for another time). We found ourselves at the NCO club that Friday night, and as things go in my life, this woman comes in with a friend and sits down next to us.  I learned a bar rule very early in life:  never ask the woman next to you to dance because if she says no, then you gotta sit there and feel stupid all night.  ...

My life, sometimes.   I know a terrific woman.  I met her on the train last year.  She asked on Facebook yesterday what pepole's impressions of her are.  My choice was the word "unforgettable.  The day I met her, she was jokingly protecting a bag of m&ms she and her son were sharing.  She heard KP mention that he wanted to reach into a large bag of skittles someone else at another table was eating.  She was fun.  She was wearing funky socks.  I couldn't figure out if she was mom or the kid's GF.  She looks younger than she is, but then again, so do I.  She's a neat lady.   She's also not for me. I'm careful about what I say to other women.  Part of it based on what happened the last time I tried dating.  Part of it understands that God's plan is unfolding in my life and I don't want to mess that up.  Part of it is something I didn't understand I do these days.  I try not to be selfish.  I ...