Stories and other stuff

Shortly before Christmas, a couple I'm friends with were telling me they wanted this new kind of picture frame.  It's one where you upload the pictures to it and you can invite people to be able to upload their photos online to your frame.  I thought that was a good idea, because like me, they have family all over the place and then I didn't think about it anymore. Until:  I opened the front door shortly after Christmas and opened the cardboard box that had shown up unannounced.  I was expecting a present from #2 son and his fiance' so I was thinking it was probably that present.  I was really surprised to find the box contained the very frame my friends were telling me about. My soon-to-be daughter-in-law had pre-loaded it with lots of pictures of her and my son.  I can't call my sons kids or boys really anymore; they're grown men now and they're decent, upstanding men.  Anyhow, I have this set so it flips pictures every two minutes and my family can,...

 It's been a simple and productive day here on the coast.  From walking the dog to washing and vacuuming out the rig, it's just been a day of simple chores.  Laundry is being done.  Garbage is on the curb as is the recycling.  I cleaned up after the dog.  I blew the pine needles off the deck so I don't track them into the hot tub.  Most of the day's dishes are done.  As always, you'd find my bed made, floors swept, and thanks to the new thing I bought, the doggy drool spots on the wood floor are cleaned up. Bucky drools.  Always has.  That's why I call him slurp sometimes.  It's who he is.  Lately, it's been worse.  There's a tool for that though.  I love that dog.  Cleaning up after him is just a labor of love. I'm finding these days that my walk is getting like that, too.  More simplified.  I had my faith tested literally to the break point one day last week over a thing in my life.  I'm finding ...

 Hey, y'all(?)... Judging by the numbers of people who still read this thing when I write it, y'all might be a stretch, but, undaunted by that, and realizing that God gives the increase, here we go.. I was thinking a bit ago about how I wound up here in Oregon.  A facebook memory reminded me that I guess I wanted to come to the coast ten years ago but couldn't for whatever reasons.  A couple of years later, I'd meet a woman who was born here that would forever change the rest of my life.  Shortly after that, I couldn't go anyplace without coming across Oregon license plates. My pastor friend and I were having coffee outside one morning at the Einstein's on Harrison Blvd. in Ogden when I pointed out a car with an Oregon plate in the parking lot.  I told him that for the last week or so before that, I'd been noticing them more and more.  It was kind of my first little taste of God's Providence and how He kind of used things like that in the early days to k...

 I got reminded today of the words that saved my life almost 11 years ago.  Maybe I needed those words again today, but hey are still just as important today as they were then.   When Life Gets To Be More Than You Can Stand....Kneel. It did.  I did.  And honestly, sometimes it still does.   I've had a lot to think about over the last few days and sometimes the things that happen to me just bewilder me.  There's a word you don't see very much anymore...bewilder.  Life can be hard and understanding mine is not an easy task sometimes.   What I do understand though is that I have an incredible, active, and abundant relationship with Jesus, and because of that, a restored relationship with the Father.  Kneeling is a daily practice in my home and prayer without ceasing happens all throughout the day.  I got thinking about that.  I spend more time talking with Jesus than I do watching TV.  I talk about my day....

Over the past several days, I have seen the same sets of Scripture three different times, from three different places, all with an emphasis on one single point:  God sometimes teaches the lesson twice. The stories used to illustrate things Jesus did twice:  He fed the 5000, then the 4000.  Then there were the two different times Jesus calmed the storms.  Once, He was asleep in the boat.  The next time, He walked on the water out to the disciples.   I have seen these things,, as I said, used in three different places, to illustrate the same point.  Jesus taught the disciples something twice because it was important. Having the point driven home three different times, I'm listening.  And I'm reflecting on the lesson I had to learn twice over the last three years.  I think there's some significance in that.  I got reminded by a photo I took that it was three years ago this week that I went to Washington to get the ex.  That didn't...

 In my last post, I described a little bit of an ongoing struggle with the DMV here in Oregon.  It's not the only one I've faced.  I've been trying since I moved here to straighten out my healthcare with the VA here in Oregon.  The VA Hospital is in Roseburg.  There is a clinic here in North Bend but it, like many other healthcare providers, is not accepting new patients.  Trying to get things fixed so I have the right authorization so I can get the billing straight and get my prescriptions filled has been a challenge. On Sunday, I started asking for God's favor over the situations I had to deal with this week and listening to the prompting of the Spirit, to deal with one on one day, and one the next. To show you the struggle is real with the DMV here in Oregon, I need to explain how I finally got an answer to my problem.  The DMV office opens at 8 a.m.  I called at, I think, 8:04 a.m.  I was on hold for 47 minutes before I got to talk to a p...

 I knew the plates on my Toyota would expire at the end of January, so at the beginning of November, I mailed off the paperwork to get Oregon plates for it.  For the longest time, the DMV has been closed to appointments for renewing registrations.  I had to fill out the paperwork, actually take the car to the DMV to have what's known as a VIN inspection done.  That's where someone from the DMV verifies the VIN on your car for you, gives you a form with said information on it, and separates you from $7 of your hard earned money. You cannot register a vehicle that's not titled in Oregon, in Oregon.  Because my car has a Utah title and the Credit Union still has possession of said title until the loan is paid off, I had to mail my application, my VIN inspection, and a check for a lot more than $7 to the credit union in Utah with a letter explaining that I needed them to send the Utah title, all the paperwork, and the check I enclosed, to the DMV in Oregon so they c...