Stories and other stuff

You know the story.  Abraham is promised a child by Sarah.  She's old, way past child bearing years.  They take matters into their own hands.  Abraham has a child with Sarah's handmaiden, Hagar named Ishmael.  Bad things happen.  And then God ultimately makes good on His promise and Isaac is born. God's plans can't be thwarted. Bucket is my dog.  He's not always been my dog, but long before I knew God as I do these days, something told me to spend the last $136 I had to my name to adopt him.  He's run away several times; he's friendly and curious.  I gave him to the ex-wife, who gave him to her dad, who gave him back to me, so he's been on two road trips....one to Indiana, one home from Indiana. Bucket is my dog, because he's supposed to be my dog.  No matter what has happened, Bucket has been from the time I adopted him, my dog. He ate a hole in my brand new bedspread and I wanted to murder him, but he's still my dog.  Alwa...

A week ago, we were very blessed to have a missionary, the Rev. Katie Longkumer, deliver a message to us at church.  She and her husband, the Rev. Taku Longkumer, are missionaries (not called that anymore, there's a different term used these days for their safety, something like development coordinator or something...I forget) but they're working in India and the church there is seeing some serious growth.  I think that's a great thing...especially in a part of the world where you can't just throw up a church building on every corner.  I listened intently (as much as I could....these six day weeks are killing me) as she explained what they do, where their area they work in is, and the progress and difficulties they see and face.  It was interesting, so much so that I decided that I need to help support them. Well, pretty sure the Holy Spirit had something to do with that, but it's one of the things that's a core belief of our church that we send and support ...

For background, here's what I know about angels: They exist. And I'm not really sure, but I think I may have just met one.  It's not out of the realm of impossibility is what I'm saying. And without bending or twisting Scripture, I want to share this story with you. I'm off today.  I need to be, for a plethora of reasons, not the least of which is that I'm freaking exhausted.  My life is hard for me and I have the strength of ten grinches plus two.  The intended reason for being off tonight fell through, but it could be that I just needed to be off and I'm too stubborn to know when enough is enough, so the circumstances of my day unfolded as such that I am off, albeit not for the initial reason. I was going to go to work, be an hour late, when things changed and my evening wasn't going to go as planned, but in looking at how the day unfolded, it may be that off is exactly what the original intent was.  Even in that, though, God answered a prayer ...

I posted some pictures on Facebook of the sitting room I put together for the future.  I read something about leaning hard into your future so I did.  I'm trusting God to not let me tip over. I have had two beers.  I am working on number three.  It's been that kind of a weekend.  Having beers is not a habit I plan to return to anytime soon, but I enjoy a cold one while working in the yard and I worked in the yard today.  I will be working in the yard for the next several months.  The yard is still winning. I did manage to get peas, potatoes, and carrots planted.  Will they grow?  We'll see.  We had the seeds.  They are leftovers from whenever.  We'll try them and see what grows or doesn't.  We're really scaling back on the garden this year, mostly because the yard is still winning.  Not next year, though.  Next year, there will be grow boxes and brand new dirt.  And grass.  Lots and lots of grass....

On a good day, my life doesn't make sense.  On a GOOD day.  I'm not so sure what kind of day today is going to be, but I know there's direction.  One of the things I'm looking for these days from Jesus is some clarity about where we're headed and I think I may have gotten that this morning, from, of all places, a conglomeration of posts I shared on Facebook. My ex, Wendi, explained to me once after I posted some stuff on her Facebook page, that it was like her virtual front yard, where friends walked by and waved.  That made a lot of sense to me and I took down what I said.  That was years ago, by the way.  But the analogy stuck with me.  It's why I only have people I know as friends (with one exception).  I like that we can walk by each others' front yards, and sometimes stop and say hi.  On days when it seems I'm oversharing pictures and memes that have a Jesus theme, there's usually a reason for it, and often it's that they're tellin...

Yesterday afternoon, I received a very sad telephone call from one of the ladies at church.  Brady, a young man who was disabled, went home to be with Jesus yesterday morning.  A couple of famous people died yesterday.  There was a bombing in Brussels that has us preoccupied.  /There were lots of things going on yesterday, and someplace in there, a young man who wasn't any of those things left the pain and sorrow of this world. Brady was wheelchair bound.  He had a feeding tube.  He was a part, and an important part of our church family.  Brady had an infectious smile, and over the last couple of months, I had a few chances to interact with him.  I got to give him and his mom a ride home in Chevron about six weeks ago.  I was blessed to be able to help put him in the car from his wheelchair.  Brady couldn't speak but that didn't mean he didn't understand when he was being spoken to or what was being said.  And that smile...... I...

What I've learned lately, I'm trying to apply to the oddest thing I've ever faced.  I mean that.  Over the years I've learned that when you lose, it's best to lose and walk away.  But this time, walking away seems to be not part of the plan.  It's like being forced to watch as the decision you made has consequences you could never imagine, and having to watch them as they play out. Running away isn't in the cards. I deserve that.  I mean that.  It's a blessing because it will keep me from being stupid tonight. And tomorrow.  It kept me from being stupid yesterday, etc... You get the idea. Whatever your opinion about where I'm at, where I'm at is where I am.  And this is what the Bible has to say:  Psalm 127 v1:  Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. From Jeremiah 10:23...Lord I know that peoples' lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps. From Proverbs  16:1  To huma...