Stories and other stuff

 This morning, I was kind of wondering to myself about the church I attend, in that I was not sure that it was the right place for me to be.  Any doubts I experienced were completely erased after this morning's service.   God moves very providentially in my life.  Some people I know don't see it that way, but I think the fact that I'm where I'm at right now speaks truth to that statement.  I did not pick the house, nor did I choose the circumstances of how I arrived at where I am today.  I'm very mindful of that.  I'm also mindful of the first Sunday I spent at Shoreline Community Church.  I'd been camping out, in a spiritual sense, in Philippians 4 for the previous few months, so much so that I annotated my Bible to that fact and put a date on it.  The first time I heard the Pastor speak, I could envision the same sermon he gave would to a very large extent, have been the substance of a private conversation between he ad I if we had bee...

 How did I ever find time to have a JOB?!  I joke, of course.  Today I actually thought about the people I used to work with as I was driving down the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway.  That's Oregon's name for US 101.  I still cannot believe I get to live here.  It's so unreal to me. Glory to God for that!   Bucky and I thought we needed to be out and about today.  Well, I did.  Buck is just jazzed to be anywhere these days.  He's adjusting to things the best way he can.  He's sporting a flea collar these days.  I think a few of the little buggers got to him.  He doesn't like it.  He'll get used to it.  He gets glucosamine cookies once a day, too.  He's got a little more of a spring in his step these days.  And he survived bye-bye in the car with his old pal today. We drove up to Lincoln City.  We went to the beach.  We stopped on the way home for gas station food.  He had chicken fingers...

 I saw some sad news about Jerry Falwell, Jr.  I've not ever been a fan of this man.  Maybe I'm a bit to cynical or maybe there's still some lasting damage from the PTL thing with the Bakker clan back in the 80s.  I honestly think that when church leaders fall, it's a very sad thing because of the damage it does to Christ's church.  It makes a skeptical world that much more-so.  People will judge Mr. Falwell instead of seeing him for the broken human being he is.  He fell.  He landed hard.   He needs Jesus.  We all do. It's not that he's some sort of pretender.  Maybe he is, but I'd hope not.  I hope he's just one of the thousands of men in history who let a little power and prestige get to him.  I don't know the whole sordid story.  I don't want to.  The part of it I read was sad enough.  But I can empathize with him because without power or prestige, I had my own battle with an "indiscression" There's...

Simon and Garfunkel performed a song about a young couple riding a bus and looking for America.  My friend and former commander mentioned today on Facebook that there's a bit of an exodus of people leaving California (and other states, potentially) and he mused that he thought they might be looking for the America they remembered when they were growing up, or that their parents told them about. Those words stuck with me today.  Maybe it was because the first thing I saw this morning in my neighborhood was the guy across the street teaching his son to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  My neighbor and I had a quick chat this morning about that, about church (he invited me to his), and about chairs, which I am building for my deck.  He said to me that you had "start 'em off young".  My reply was that "We were." and we were.  The pledge was the first thing we did in elementary school.  By junior high, we didn't do that.  By high school, I'd not heard ...

 I'm a desert kid and the humidity is killing me today.  That's the tradeoff; on hot days (and it's hot for here) then I'm gonna feel sticky.  Sticky is just part of the deal and it's not a complaint.  It's just a thing I have to adjust to. I have to adjust to a lot of things.  I asked God for two weeks to rest up from the turmoil and He kindly gave it to me.  And then, suddenly, things changed again.  It's like that sometimes.  When I woke up yesterday I did not know I'd be sitting in a dentist's office at 3:45 having a crown replaced.  I lost an argument with a sour apple Jolly Rancher.   At home, I had a dentist.  I knew my dentist took my insurance.  I got comfortable with that arrangement.  I'd show up.  They'd bill my insurance and about two months later, I would get a bill for the rest.  Sometimes there wasn't a bill.  Other times, there was and it wasn't as bad as I thought.  Same way with ...

 I was sitting out on the deck a while ago enjoying the start of the day with a freshly brewed cup of coffee.  The sea air is just wonderful to me and when it's quiet, like it was this morning, you can hear the roar of the ocean.  This morning, I could actually hear the waves crashing into the shore.  It was just so  peaceful and it gave me time to think about some things that are going on around me. I often times don't understand God's plans for my life.  I found myself kind of wrestling with them for a minute or two yesterday, but I'm mindful of one very important thing in this season of my life.  The last time I was here (and there was a last time!) I let my feelings and the feelings of others get in the way of what God had in mind.  I made a decision on my own and expected God to bless that decision.  Clearly, He did not and I spent a long time learning some very hard lessons. I'm not in the mood to fight another battle I can't win. ...

I've been out here now for about five weeks.  There are still boxes of photos that need to be hung up, but the place is starting to feel like a home.  I really do have a deep sense of belonging and I'm trying to figure my way out in the COVID world we live in.  I'm trying my best to be friendly to my neighbors when I see them.  I offered my next door neighbor a jar of blackberry jam.  She knew she knew me but couldn't remember where I lived.  Next door, I told her.  She laughed but I'm thinking she has some stuff going on in her life.  She told me she had some stuff going on in her life the first day I met her.  I'm guessing that it's still a thing. Buckaroo and I still go for our walk.  I need that time.  But in the midst of everything, I just kind of wanted to talk about some things I see God doing around me and it's just cool to be a part of.  Love is hard.  Hating someone, well, that's pretty easy to do.  It's kin...