Stories and other stuff

Wow, I haven't written a post in over two months. I need to change that. Lots going on in life.  Since I wrote this, my pastor resigned, Cindy is not in my life, and my roommates are gone. And I have a different job. It's been a busy month. The thing with Cindy ended like this:  There was a dream, and in the dream there was a time for things to end.  It was in the fall of this year.  I had to see this thing through to the end.  Something told me it was gonna be a period of seven sevens.  I was thinking weeks when I annotated that passag of Scripture.  It was 49 months. Cindy turned 49 in late August.  In September it was 49 months that had passed since we met.  Cindy lives in Logan.  On the last day of the 49th month, Cindy, myself, and the other person were in the WinCo foods store in Ogden on a Sunday afternoon after church.  She saw me and hid from me. I didn't see her.  The Thursday after during a prayer meeti...

Here is the message I gave at church today. What unites us? Today, is men’s Sunday, and I’m very honored to represent the men of the church this morning by bringing you this message. I want to begin by telling you that I’m following in some large footsteps.   Thank you ladies for that wonderful and inspiring service.   Suzanne’s message really hit home with me.   Often times, the answers we need are so simple, and an hour after leaving here, I’d finally arrive at the other side of a storm I’ve been in, but that’s a different story for a different day.   So again, thank you ladies for being the blessing you are.   And thanks again to Suzanne for that poignant and timely word. So, What unites us? Because God kind of led me to this, and in terms of the day being Laymen’s Sunday, I found Romans 12:1-8.   And from that passage of Scripture, we can glean some things that unite us. Paul starts off chapter 12 by talking about o...

Stuff breaks.  I get that.  But hoo, boy.....it's been happening with a lot of regularity around here lately. The coffee pot won't drip a full pot. The shower head leaks. The handle to the lawnmower snapped off in my hand, in mid turn. The belt on the carpet cleaner is shot. And the list goes on and on. Hey, things happen, and I'm grateful for getting the use out of it that I've had, but it just feels like there's been a full-on assault on the checkbook lately. And that's not the only assault. I'm marching toward something.  That something involves a person, and I know it doesn't make any sense.  But still, I don't see another path. I do see, though, lots of opportunities lately to take the wrong path, and that has me worried as well. I've been with the wrong person before.  It was not a pleasant experience to have God intervene in that situation, all three times.  The last time wasn't my fault, and the minute she kissed me...

I am blessed.  Blessed to live where I do, to have the job I have, and to have the people in my life that I do.  I know that, so this isn't complaining.  I'm telling a story.  That's all. I have a lot of broken things.  My truck runs, but not well in the heat.  My computer works, but my profile on this computer somehow got corrupted.  Bucky ran away, and that busted my checking account some.  The carpet cleaner was broken.  I changed the belt but it still didn't work, and my bedroom carpet was a mess from Mr. Bucky's muddy adventure.  To top it off, a piece of plastic somehow found its way into the impeller of the pump for the washing machine.  When I cleared the jam, I reinstalled the pump and forgot to hook up the drain line for the washer, so my laminate floor has some warps in it from the water that got into the seams.  The pump doesn't work, either, so for the time being, no washing machine.  And then there was June...

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.      Psalm 119:105 I'm reading, albeit slowly, a book called Jesus Club. It's a book about how this guy started a ministry at the high school he graduated from and how it grew. Yesterday, I read a story about how he was passing a skateboard shop, needing $200 more dollars for something God told him to do and he heard God telling him to go to the skateboard shop.  After a brief argument, he gave in, flipped a u-turn and went in. Turns out, he'd met the lady who owned said shop before, while standing in line at an amusement park near their home and had enough of a conversation that she remembered him.  He told her of his need for $200.  She started crying because God had laid it on her heart that she needed to take $200 with her to work because she was gonna meet someone who needed it. Great story.  I love how God's people, when they yield to Him, get stuff done. I prepared today's Bibl...

I am not the smartest person I know.  I have not always held that opinion of myself, but seven years of God's refining fire have all but eliminated the high regard I once held myself in.  That's a great thing, by the way.  Anyway, with that said, I hold a high regard for learned people because often times I learn things from even those I disagree with My choice for news as of late is MSNBC.  I came to my own understanding several years ago that Fixed News (I really miss Keith Olbermann) aka Fox News is anything but fair and balanced. I can distinguish news from commentary. News is what gets reported on.  Panels discussing reported news is commentary. I work nights so I don't see many of their shows but I did tonight and what I saw on MSNBC frightened me.  I saw two grown-ups, two well established, card carrying Republicans Diana DelPerciuo, and George Will express concerns about our President. And I saw Rachel Maddow lay out the case that Mike Pence l...

I wrote yesterday about the pool.  I enjoy it but forgot how much work they can be.  Bugs are drowning themselves.  The pool is already dirty.  I have to find a leak. Welcome to summer. But that's not the bad part.  I like the pool.  I don't like alone.  And is my won't sometimes, I get tempted to do this or that about it.  Or memories of past summers bring up memories of things I am better served by not remembering. I've been kinda dealing with that lately. I love summer, barbecues, camping, swimming, picnics, an d a bunch of stuff like that.  I enjoy the pool but it's much more fun to have beers and enjoy it with friends or late night chunky dunkin' with that someone special. And now you know what I mean by stumbling block. The pool itself is a blessing.   But what I  do with that blessing is up to me. I would love to have someone to share it with but that's not in the cards today.  Soon, but not today.  And I cert...