Stories and other stuff

So, I have me some internets again, and I decided to write a blog post yesterday, which apparently, wasn't one of my best efforts.  I read it again, and unless you were either at both places I was over the weekend, it read like a bunch of random thoughts from your drunk uncle. The point was good at the end.  How I got there, well, sorry about that.  I was tired.  I'm always tired lately.  I think the pain is starting to take a physical toll on me. At any rate, my point was that as weird as we find church, no matter the setting, the point isn't the atmosphere as much as it is about worshipping God.  Sometimes it involves theater.  Sometimes you just notice things that seem odd, but probably really don't matter.  And sometimes, the carpets and drapes clash. Such is life. I woke up today with other things on my mind.  I have been counting down the years to retirement and this morning, I found out that "Make America great again" wants to ...

I went to a little thingie yesterday at a church here in Ogden.  The sanctuary probably isn't the original sanctuary, there, and I was struck by something I hadn't been before. It was like being in a bar.  Except there wasn't any booze. There was a stage.  There were lights, colored lights, and a stage.  The drums were in a booth, I'm guessing, to keep them from drowning out the other instruments, and I dunno.  It was dark.  And it was weird to me for some reason. One of the ladies in the worship band was wearing a 60's style open shouldered jumper.  She had a sweater on, as well, but I thought it an odd choice for worship band attire. It was dark, presumably so the words to the songs could be seen and for the theatrics of the lights to be felt, and at first, the whole thing just seemed really weird to me. But who am I to judge?  We sang, we made a joyful noise to the Lord, and then the guy from Colorado got up and spoke.  And it as a...

According to Rasmussen Reports, 30% of Americans knew a murder victim.  I am among that 30% and I was reminded of that in an unusual way today. The other day, I was wondering when the trial for the alleged killer was going to take place.  And in the midst of that, something else during the week reminded me that God hadn't forgotten a promise to me that more and more, I'm understanding is real.  He, the way the reminder put it, has that promise on the FRONT of His mind all the time. Perhaps that's why this story unfolded the way it did.  There is more there than I understand about it, and sometimes writing helps me make sense of things. Wendi is from Richmond, Indiana, which is a small city located on the Indiana/Ohio border along Interstate 70.  It's so close, you can drive to New Paris, Ohio to buy beer on Sunday and be back at her dad's without even needing to buy ice to keep the beer cold. And so was Willie.  Willie has a last name which I forget...

Some days I know, and I mean I just know.   And there are days I think I know.  And then there are days when I know I wish I knew and sometimes I just quit trying to figure it out and go where God leads. And some days, they're all in one. My day yesterday kind of started out with a reminder of a promise I believe God for.  I hadn't forgotten it, but it was just kind of in the back of my mind and while I won't talk specifically about it, it's just a reminder that God hadn't forgotten. It's something I'm counting on Him for so something bigger can happen.  And I wrote it down someplace so I wouldn't forget what that promise was.  It was nine months ago, tomorrow, to the day, and I'm still waiting. And believing.   And knowing. But nine months.  When I heard the promise, and believe I got confirmation, I thought it would be days.  And then the days turned into weeks; the weeks into months, and still....... So did God make me a promise? ...

I don't believe anything happens by accident.  I do believe accidents happen, but usually they're caused by not paying attention or some other thing.  If I don't see the car in front of me stopping and hit it, it was an accident caused by not paying attention or following too close, etc.... So accidents have causes and sometimes we have little divine appointments that are arranged for us. I believe that, too.  I see it often in my own life but sometimes those divine appointments don't lead where I think they will. I read about that today.  A guy my roommate follows on Facebook is one who is same-sex attracted and has renounced that lifestyle for one of following God.  He's one that thinks, as do I, by the way, and most Christians, that those two things are mutually exclusive of each other.  He was talking in a post I saw how he thought his ministry would be to the LGBT community but God had other ideas. I think about that too.  I thought I woul...

Sometimes I wonder. Today's wonderment comes from yesterday's post and has to do with the crux of why I don't write as much as I used to about the things that go on in my life. Quite frankly, I wonder if I should. The two stories I told really happened.  I didn't make up, nor embellish a word of it.  If anything, I left a couple of the details out; things that happened that I figured were just better left between me and the Lord.  But I wonder in hindsight if it weren't better to leave the whole thing that way. God does some and allows some things in my life that I just don't understand and sometimes I'm torn between telling them and keeping them silent.  If all you read yesterday was some crazy story about a pizza then it was better left unsaid. If you, on the other hand, saw how God appoints a task, leads, or in my case, prods, you into doing that task; how when a door closes, God finds a way to open it again (for that you'll just have to tak...

I'm kind of hesitant to tell this week's stories.  OK, last  week's stories.  But sometimes the stories in my life write themselves, so here is just a bit of what happened last week. I used to have a collection of shot glasses that Wendi gave me when she came out here all those years ago.  I put them away at Christmas and take them out afterward, mostly just to take up space in the china hutch that runs along the wall of my dining room.  By wall, I mean about 20 feet of china hutch shelves.  It's a built in thing.  I was dusting them the other day and a thought popped into my head: "I really should get rid of these." I don't know why.  They're just there.  But the thought was there enough that I actually thought about putting them away in a closet. A few days later, a friend on Facebook who is a childhood friend of my sister, posted the oddest thing on said Facebook:  She was looking for some state shot glasses. Ask, and ye sha...