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 ...