Welcoming the friend that is pain

We love to avoid pain. We have this odd notion that life should be free of pain.

What would happen if we came to know and understand pain as a natural part of life? Even when things are going really really well, there is pain. Pain of worry, pain of guilt, pain of wanting more stuff.

What would happen if we just resigned ourselves to the fact that we were going to have pain from time to time? Maybe pain would lose its power over us. Maybe we would no longer fear it.  You can be in pain and suffer, or you can be in pain and not suffer.

"Oh, ouch! Pain is here. Hello old friend. You are a pain. How long will you be around? Well, you will not dominate me. I see you, I know who you are. You won't be here forever, and I will still see the good while you are here. Mr. Pain, you can't stop me from being filled with hope."

The enemy isn't the pain. The enemy is how we think. If pain is an enemy, then hold your friends close, and your enemies closer. This too shall pass. Pain does not tell us who we are. On the stage of life we are actors, not reactors. Choose to live above circumstances. Life is still good.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

release the crazy

Release yourself from the craziness. When my Mom and Dad were young, Dad was drinking a lot. They went to a counselor. The counselor said that the problem was Mom. [her deep guilt led to unhealthy behaviors and reactions.] They never went to a counselor again. Mom would have none of it. And so for their entire lives together, and for our upbringing, Dad was demonized and Mom's issues were never discussed or healed. In fact, in our family, no issues were discussed or healed, the message that we got as kids was "just make sure that you do not embarrass your parents."

Somewhere along the road of life, a person must stop drinking the Kool-Aid. A person must begin to believe in a life that is greater than what was laid out for them. The programming in your head may be wrong. Don’t be afraid to question it. Don’t be afraid to set it to the side. We cannot fill our mind with good things if our mind is still full of crazy things.

Talk things out. It is not too late to change.

Release the craziness

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

witnessing death

In my previous life as a Pastor, I had many opportunities to be with people as they passed away.  I noticed something that changed me.

Almost all were Christian.  Some died in peace.  Some were terrified.  I noticed a common theme.  Those who believed in a loving God, walked the last mile in peace.  Those who believed that God was mad at them, they were terrified.

Looking back, I realize that this story plays out in life, as in death.  If you are terrified of death because God is angry, then it is going to effect every moment of your living.  Every encounter, every time you contact another human, they are going to get a dose of your fear and guilt.

On the other hand, if you are at peace with God in this life, his love will pour through you.

Being at peace with God does not mean that you are perfect.  It does not mean that you are sinless.  It simply means that you have learned to believe that God loves you, no matter what.

Choose how you believe in God and thus choose the tenor of your life, and the character of your death.  As we live, so shall we die.

I am glad to believe in a God of love.  I hope that you do as well.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

It could be worse

"It could be worse" is a piece of advice that is often used to help people adapt to difficulty.  Some poo-poo the "it could be worse" advice, saying that it downplays the suffering of a person.

I would agree that it can downplay the suffering of a person, and I don't want to do that, but often what we suffer with are first world problems.

There is an old saying, "I was sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet."  It is a classic "it could be worse" comment.

So I am going to tell you a story... The other day, I was in a hotel room in NJ and for some reason I thought, "I wonder what it would be like to be blind."  I determined to spend the next ten minutes with my eyes totally closed.

Trying to get out of the bathroom was a chore.  Wondering about where the bed was.  Would I trip over something.  Where is the desk chair.  Fumbling in the dark.  It was not fun.

I thought, oh my gosh.  I am so glad that I can see.  What ever is going on in my life, at least I can see.

The next time that you are feeling sorry for yourself for some issue or another, close your eyes and be blind for ten minutes.

It may just give you a new perspective.  Things could be worse.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Manager's special

 When I travel for work, I almost always rent the "manager's special."  You don't know what car you are going to get, you get what ever they have, what ever is not being rented.  It is cheaper.  It saves the company money.

Usually the manager's special is a Ford Fiesta with 150,000 miles.  Once it was the three wheeled vehicle that Peter Sellers drove in the Pink Panther movies.

A couple of weeks ago in Memphis, the manager's special was a Dodge Charger GT.  WOW!!!  Now I love muscle cars, but my experience of them has largely been Ford Mustangs.  

This car was fantastic.  Powerful, and tight.  Driving it made me want to buy one.

And so yes there is a point to this blog...  Sometimes in life you get what you want and sometimes in life you get what you get.

You can live a clean, healthy life and still get sick.  You can be loyal to God and have the faith of 1,000 humans and still have bad things happen.  You can get 10,000 people praying for you and your cause and it still may not go your way.

Life happens.  Sometimes it is what it is.

When you are feeling down because you are away from home, or away from your loved ones, or maybe that hotel room that you rented didn't turn out the best... when life brings you such lemons, always remember, that every now and then, you get the Dodge Charger GT.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

My name is Lowell

Today is Black Friday.  It is a big shopping day.  It is a big day for the American dream.    I thought it was timely that this story came in and to post it today...

My friend Kim volunteers for a ministry in KC called Uplift.  They deliver meals and necessities to the homeless.  I have asked her to share some stories...  get out the Kleenex box.

This is what Kim shared...

We loaded the trucks with needed supplies. We loaded our hearts with compassion, patience,
understanding, smiles, and love as the Uplift truck pulled away from the warehouse.  If you ask who we are helping, I would tell you: the hungry, sad, lonely people who carry all their belongings in a backpack and are OH - SO - GRATEFUL for the small things … that is who we meet.  

And so the other night, a man came up to the van.  He said, “Hi. My name is Lowell. I was released from the hospital today after being there for 3 weeks. I have cancer.  It is cold out here. I’m sure hungry. I’ll take anything you can give me. I have 3 prescriptions that I need filled … if you could help me, please. I have a daughter in Olathe and 6 grandchildren too.”  Clearly, when you enter the hospital a homeless person, you leave the hospital a homeless person … upon dismissal, the taxi takes you right back to the streets.  

We gave Lowell a hot meal and other supplies. He wore swim trunks on top of a pair of thin pants and
some slippers. We helped him with a belt and some suspenders. That’s when I noticed the colostomy
bag. How does a homeless person tend to a colostomy bag?  Lowell is on my heart. His safety. How will he survive on the streets with cancer during the cold days and nights ahead?

Lowell thanked us, smiled, and said, “God bless you all.” We drove away and left him to, somehow, find his way.  May we all show love and compassion to those whose paths we cross … even if all we have to give … is a wave or a smile.

Jeff adds this prayer... Dear Lord, the next time that I want to complain about something, please help me to remember about Lowell.  May his story make my heart more kind, more compassionate and more generous.  Even on, especially on Black Friday.  Amen.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

One of my favorite thanksgiving songs

Come, ye thankful people, come,
Raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in,
Ere the winter storms begin;
God our Maker doth provide
For our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come,
Raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God’s own field,
Fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown,
Unto joy or sorrow grown;
First the blade, and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear:
Lord of harvest, grant that we
Wholesome grain and pure may be.

For the Lord our God shall come,
And shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day
All offenses purge away;
Give His angels charge at last
In the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store
In His garner evermore.

Even so, Lord, quickly come,
Bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou Thy people in,
Free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified,
In Thy garner to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels come,
Raise the glorious harvest home.

It's a beautiful glorious day to give thanks in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Thoughts on thanksgiving 2022

Thoughts on Thanksgiving, 2022.

Sure there are a few things that I wish were different in my life, but I am not going to focus on those.  In fact, one of the keys to finding gratitude in this life is to just come to grips with the fact that there are always going to be those things that didn't or won't turn out the way that you wished them to.  Don't focus on the less than things.  Focus on the good.  As one blogger says it, "see the good!!!"

And so, let me look at the good.  I have so much to be thankful for.

I have a wonderful part time job that brings me much fulfillment.

I have lots of friends who love me.

My family loves me.

I am in very good health.

I am as happy as I have ever been in my life.

I am not sure that it gets any better than that.

It is a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good!!!

eye to eye... friends forever...

A long time ago, I lost a friend. He didn’t die, he was just done with me. I understood what had happened, and although I considered the situation resolvable, it was not to be. It was a very painful experience for me. It took me 18 months to work through the grief.

During that time, I decided that I needed to cultivate new friends. I looked out into my collection of guys that I liked and I picked three. One ended up moving away, but the other two, I remain good friends with to this day.

I met one of them for lunch at Patty O Quiglies. It was the beginning of our friendship. I told him what had happened to me in the prior friendship and that I never wanted to experience a loss like that again. We looked each other in the eyes and agreed that we would never throw each other away.

Friends should never be thrown away. Unless a relationship is toxic, please work at keeping your friend relationships intact. In this life, they are among our most valuable commodities.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Bobcat Attack???

I recently had a handyman job to repair a gutter downspout.  According to the homeowner, some months ago, a small animal, squirrel, rat or mouse ran into the downspout.  It was evidently running from a bobcat or some other large predator.

The bobcat bit, chewed and flattened the downspout about three feet up.

New gutter next to attacked gutter.

Note the puncture holes from the teeth.

Imagine how desperately hungry you would
have to be to gnaw on a metal downspout...

I have never seen anything like this.  It reminds me that God's world is a very cruel space.  Such attacks happen all the time as the created food chain does it's thing.

Seeing this also reminds me of our own fragility.  A bullet, a gator, a car wreck and who knows what else, could take any of us at any moment.

Savor this day that God has given you.  We never know what is around the corner.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Deep dark place

I was sharing a meal with a friend.  I made the mistake of asking them how a member of their family was doing.  This is what they said, and I write this with permission...

Pointing to their chest they said, "see this black hole?  Go ahead, crawl in.  Crawl down into the dark twisting, turning, slimy tunnel region of my heart.  See if you can find the place where this story goes.  Be careful not to get lost in the darkness and the pain.  Leave some breadcrumbs so you can find your way out.  And if you find any answers while you are in there, let me know, because I don't have any."

Wow.  Ouch!!!  The wounds that some people carry are hard to fathom.  I pray for this friend and their family.

I also remind you, them and myself, that there is a light at the end of every tunnel.

It is still a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

repetition

There is a value in repetition.

We learned our multiplication tables by repeating them over and over.  Most anything that we learn, we learn because we practice that thing until it becomes engrained in our being.

Love is the same.  I cannot apologize for speaking to you and to myself, over and over again about love.  We must repeat the lesson.  We must repeat and emphasize the point.  For the only way to get the principles of love to take root deep down in our hearts is to keep bringing them up to our minds over and over.

I believe that we default to selfishness until we finally learn to swing the pendulum the other way.  It can be done.  Keep loving.  Keep trying.  Keep practicing.  Keep challenging yourself.

Love is accomplished by practice.  Practice makes perfect.  Never feel bad because you are hearing about love again.  Never complain about another sermon on love.

When can we hear it enough?  When can we have enough love?

I love you.  Let's stay after it.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

toilets and taxes

There are three ways that God keeps us humble.  Death, taxes and toilets.

In my life I have experienced some toilets that were pretty bad.  In Nicaragua, it was an outhouse.  In Russia, in some places, it was a hole in the floor.  In all such places, toilet paper is a luxury.

We Americans are so entitled.  We are used to such high standards.

In my construction work, I have had to get pretty close to some toilets.  Nasty, old, broken toilets that I had to replace or tile around.  Yeuch.

But someone has come to our rescue.  In order to make us even safer, someone invented the toilet seat cover that automatically advances to keep your bum safe from the last one.

I don't know that I have ever written about toilets.  But it is a pretty easy department to see how spoiled we are.  We should be thankful for running water.  We should be thankful for toilets.  But the whole process is humbling.

Death, taxes and toilets.  God's instruments in reminding us that we are not the end all, be all.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Bella-D

Bella Donna is 2 years and 3 months.  I got to see her a few weeks ago.  I visited her mom and dad in Chicago.

Grand kids are the best.  You can enjoy them, then go home.  You can watch them teach their parents lessons.  The mills of the Gods grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.

One of my favorite experiences on this trip was to ask my daughter Alli, how she feels about her daughter Bella.  "OH HOW I LOVE HER."  That was the answer.  And then I told Alli, that is how we, your mom and dad have always felt about you.  The next time you feel down for any reason, just remember that there are two people that love you as much as you love your daughter!

Back to Bella.  She is now making sentences.  I want milk!  Where is Dad?  And so on.  It was a fabulous visit.  They are coming to see us in Florida in early December.  Can't wait!!!

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Sunday, October 30

On Sunday, October 30, I woke up. That [waking up] should’ve been in and of itself, enough to cause me to have a happy attitude. But for some reason I was still a bit grouchy and a bit down ... a bit off.  I am not sure why as there was no reason for it.

I drove to church and walked from the car to the door where I was met by June. June gave me a bulletin and a smile and I smiled back and I walked into the sanctuary. There, I saw one happy person after the next. They were happy to be in church, they were happy to see their friends, and they were happy to see me. In that moment I realized something very important.

There are many reasons to go to church. Being with friends and good people is at the top of the list. At church I find some great souls. At church I find people that I am connected to.

The Psalmist wrote, "I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord."

It makes me happy to see the people at church. They’re good people - - - I love them and they love me. Church is a happy place for me. I hope it is for you too. Go to church and smile at someone. Shake a hand and make a friend. You’ll be glad you did.

Just talking about being in church, writing this blog about it, brings a good feeling to my heart and a smile to my face!!!

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

In our dreams

In our dreams, the lame walk. In our dreams, we can fly. In our dreams, all kinds of cool things can happen.

I had a dream that I was the pastor of a church.  It was time for the service to start.  I was walking up and down the aisle in the sanctuary shaking hands.  The demographic was about 50% African-American which I found surprising, but also cool. 

Somebody had given me a set of car keys for Dr. Mckowski.   I didn’t know who that was but I kept asking everyone if they were Dr. Mckowski, or if they knew who he was so I could give him the keys.

When it was time for the service to start, I stepped up on the platform to the podium and to the microphone.  I didn’t know what to do!!!   It had been so long that I just didn’t remember what to do.  But it was cool and I was happy. 

I hear stories of people with no legs dreaming that they’re running.  I still dream of being young.  Sometimes it’s fun what we can do in our dreams.

Sleep well tonight my friend!!!

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

selfishness

I expect to see selfish children. I do not expect to see selfish adults. I expect adults to somewhere, along the way, to have grown up.

But oh my!!! There are some folks who grow older, but never grow up. Selfishness is a terrible thing. Selfishness is an ugly thing.  Someone said that selfishness is not a word, it is a sentence.

To know that there is so much good that could be done, but it’s not on the table, because someone’s life is only about them. May we all rise above selfishness.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

The world continues to frustrate me

Once again, the world has not aligned itself to make me happy.

I should’ve been in Kansas City at 3 PM instead I arrived at 9:30 PM.
I should’ve spent the afternoon and evening with my friends. But instead I sat on the tarmac in Chicago for three hours. And then in the Detroit airport for four hours. My flights were delayed and I missed my connection. It was that bad Airport day. I could have actually driven from Chicago to KC and back in less time. UGH!!!

I got to thinking about how things don’t always turn out the way we want them to. I got to thinking about life. Some of the things that I have hoped for have turned out. Some of my goals have been achieved. In a few things I guess I exceeded my goals in life. And in some things I fell short.

It’s been a journey and it’s been a ride. A person is never too old to keep trying to improve, we should always keep trying to achieve. We can’t get down when we’re stuck on the tarmac of life. Eventually we will make that connection and eventually we will get to hang out with our friends and loved ones.

And life is good Even with all the missed connections, life is good.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

The first

My new friend Laura shared this:

In this case, I think that being the first is best.  We often wait for someone else to apologize.  We wait for some day in the future to forgive.  Because of those choices, we can never forget.

In these categories, let's be first.  First to apologize, first to forgive, first to love.  Then we can move on.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Hurricane Nicole

Early yesterday morning, Hurricane Nicole made landfall in Vero Beach.  That is our home town.  Hurricane force winds of 75 mph sound like a lot, but the strong hurricanes have much higher wind speeds.

I was not able to get home because the airports were closed down, but my wife and son reported that the storm is passed and we have no damage.

Power went out at 2am but returned at 4am.

As much as we can worry about our homes and property, it is always healthy to remember that houses can be replaced.  People matter.

Everyone is safe.  We will clean up the branches.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

I was a stranger

A woman from out of state passed away.  Her family heard of the Woods Chapel columbarium.  They asked if she could be interred there as it was near their home.  They thought it was a beautiful place to come and remember their mother.  I could not agree more.

Up to this point, over the past seven years, only members were placing ashes in the columbarium.  But would we make room for a stranger?  Yes of course!

I was filled with joy, not that the woman passed, but that WCC was making room for a stranger.  She will henceforth, never be a stranger.  And that is one of the purposes of church, to invite those who are afar off, into the family.

I was a stranger and you welcomed me.  That is a pretty heavy, pretty true, pretty needful, Jesus thing.

Welcome every stranger that you can.  In so doing, you will entertain angels unaware.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

I was offended

Something happened.  I was offended.  We get offended too easily.

Too often, we take offense at something because it hurts us.  Maybe the hurt that I just received reminds me of an old hurt that has never healed.

There are still wounds inside from the past that cause me to be offended, still today.

What if we got healed?  What would happen if we began to see ourselves as strong and whole instead of broken and hurt.  What if I did not let todays hurts actually wound me?

I am strong.  You are strong.  I am ok.  You are ok.  This wound does not hurt.  You don't diminish Niagara Falls by spitting into it.  You are big!  The wound is small!!!  Let it go.

Don't let yesterdays wounds and insults carry into today.  You are good.  You are Niagara Falls.  Don't let the little things hurt you.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

How a relationship with God changes over the years

For some reason I had a brief vision the other day. I remembered myself being 17 years old. I was in a church service standing during worship time raising my hands and singing praise songs. I remembered how that felt and I thought about that for a few moments.

I thought about how naïve I was. I thought about how unprepared I was for the future. I thought about how my relationship with God back then was all about how that made me feel.  Back then, I was about being right. I was about convincing others to think the way that I did.

And then life beats you up. Although I hated the beat downs along the way, they all play a role in teaching us how the world really works.

The real world is not about singing and feeling.  The real world is about loving God and loving others.  It is not pie in the sky but boots on the ground.

I used to think that if you trusted God, everything would work out as you wanted. No pain, no cancer, no difficulty. I had no concept of the pains of adult life or of the transitioning into adult life. As my children like to say "Adulting is not any fun." I had no concept of marriage and divorce. I had no concept of trying to cover bills. I had no concept of keeping cars running, insurance costs rising, family troubles and the like.

Back then, I had no concept of loneliness or struggle and no concept of doubts and how our relationship with God changes over time. 

In my opinion, my relationship with God has changed for the better. I have learned to allow myself to have doubts and to work through that. Today I don’t stand in contemporary worship and raise my hands and praise the Lord. Today I sit in traditional worship and I say "thank you." That’s my prayer every day "thank you Lord!"

Today, I see church, no longer as something that I do on Sunday morning but as an every day part of my life. Everyday, every where that I wake up, I say thank you God. And for me, that prayer is enough.

Thank you is a real prayer. It is a prayer of submission. It is a prayer that sustains me no matter what is going on.

And so it is a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

And so it is a beautiful dya in God's world, be sure to see the good.

a warm welcome

I recently went back to a store that I had worked on with the construction company.  I had been on site for 5 days in June.

I didn't know if they would remember me.  Wow.  I was wrong.  When I walked in the door, the first employee to see me shouted, "JEFF!!!"

It made me feel like a million dollars.  We had a nice visit.  I asked them how things were going, we had a nice talk, and I went on my way.

- - - 

Let's talk about our response when we see a person:

Your long lost good friend walks in the door.  You respond with joy.  Yea Roger!!!  Your face gets a smile.  Your heart gets a smile.

There is a knock at the door.  You get up and go to the door.  It is a neighbor with mail.  You thank them and accept the mail.

There is a knock at the door.  You get up and go to the door.  It is a stranger.  You are suspicious.  What do they want?  You ask, how can I help you.

You run into someone who hurt you in the past.  You keep your head down and keep moving.  You say nothing.  The scab is picked... anger and bitterness seeps up to the top.

You walk into an establishment to place and order or pay for something.  The person on the other side of the counter is unknown to you.  You are ambivalent to them.  You conduct your business and go on.

- - -

What if we did something completely different?  What if we treated every one, in every encounter, as if they were worth a million dollars???  Yea Jeff!  Yea Joanne!  Yea Ginger!  Yea Kathy!  Yea you!!!

We have a chance in every encounter to make people feel valuable.  We know how it makes us feel when people are glad to see us, so  let's reciprocate.  Lets show them some kindness.  Let's treat them as if they are our new old best friend.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Air boat ride

 So I have lived in Florida for six years.  A few weeks ago, we finally went on an air boat ride.

I have to tell you, it was fantastic.  The ride part of it was great.  The speed of the boat, the air on your face, all were delightful.

We also saw some up close Florida critters.  Turtles, gators, and various types of birds.

long neck crane

ospreys-  sea eagles

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Work

When I am not travelling with my favorite construction company, I work around the house or do handyman work for others.  Over the years I have built quite a network of handyman clients.

They all expect that you do the work well, but there are other attributes that the customers really appreciate.

1. return their calls/texts promptly
2. charge a fair price
3. actually show up when you tell them that you are.

It surprised me that people were having trouble getting handyman types to return calls or show up.  Being raised by Lutherans, I did not know that there was any other way.

People ask what kind of work I do.  In the past two weeks, I have been swamped with handyman work.  Here is some of what I have done.  Hang a bird house.  Remove, clean and reinstall ceiling vents.  Change bad lightbulbs.  Move furniture.  Install kitchen cabinet racks.  Replace parts on a gas grill.  Put new LED fixtures into ceiling can lights.  Hang pictures and misc.  Fix shower door.  Repair/replace rotten fence boards.  Install closet door.  Install window air conditioners.  New door knobs, new t.p. holders.  On and on the list must go.

Here are some pictures from the fence job...  

Old rotten fence stringer, buried in dirt and grass.

Old board revealed... getting ready to come out.

New board installed!!!

On one section, I had to crawl back behind some nasty fan palms to reattach fence boards.  I crawled over this big snake skin.  Later, I saw the live owner.  Snakes freak me out!!!

Replaced old rotten post.  Note the square hold in the concrete where the old post was.

I love to work.  It makes me happy.  It gives me a sense of fulfillment!!!

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

From a transaction to a human

A person listed some tools on Facebook marketplace.  I thought that I could buy the lot, keep the ones that I wanted and sell the rest, still breaking even.  

We communicated electronically.  We agreed to meet, at his house.  It will be dark when I get there.  I ask him if he would prefer to meet at a grocery store.  He replied, "No worries, I am armed, I am safe."  I replied, "I am a retired pastor, I am safe."

If you feel the nervousness of these encounters they are common.  If I am selling something, who will come to my door?  If I am buying something, who is on the other end of the transaction?  

A nervous moment.  I drove 40 miles.  I found his street.  It was dark with very few street lights.  I had trouble finding the address.  I texted him.  Then a garage door opened, and a man in his late 40's was there in the light, beckoning me in.

I left the car lights on and the car running.  I walked up and introduced myself.  I am Jeff.  He said, I am George.

He showed me some other things that he wanted me to just take.  He said that he needed to get rid of the stuff because he was selling the house.  Couldn't afford to keep it.  I looked at him with a quizzical look.  He said, "my wife just died."

Boom.  

Boom.  A dark night, a long drive, a transaction between strangers was transformed.  Now, it is soul on soul.

I told him that I was so sorry.  I looked him in the eye.  I asked him her name.  Deborah was the answer.

We finished our transaction.  I walked to the car.  He followed me.  He said, "Jeff, can I ask a favor?  Please pray for me."

What started as a late night transaction between strangers turned into an encounter between souls.  Please pray for George.

And remember.  There’s an old saying "a stranger is just a friend that you haven’t met."  I would add to that and say, a stranger is a soul waiting to open itself to you.

It is not a stranger.  It is a person.  A soul.

It's a beautiful, soulful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

til you can't

I heard a country song the other day. The title was, "til you can't."  The singer is Cody Johnson.

Don't waste your life. Don't waste your days. Don't miss the really good stuff. One day it will be gone. Jump in and do it, while you still can.  Here are the lyrics.

You can tell your old man you'll do some largemouth fishing another time
You just got too much on your plate to bait and cast a line
You can always put a rain check in his hand - till you can't
You can keep putting off forever with that girl who's heart you hold
Swearing that you'll ask some day further down the road
You can always put a diamond on her hand - till you can't

If you got a chance, take it, take it while you got a chance
If you got a dream, chase it, 'cause a dream won't chase you back
If you're gonna love somebody, hold 'em as long and as strong and as close as you can
Till you can't

There's a box of greasy parts sitting in the trunk of that '65
Still waiting on you and your grandad to bring it back to life
You can always get around to fixing up that Pontiac - till you can't

If you got a chance, take it, take it while you got a chance
If you got a dream, chase it, 'cause a dream won't chase you back
If you're gonna love somebody, hold 'em as long and as strong and as close as you can
Till you can't

So take that phone call from your momma and just talk away
'Cause you'll never know how bad you wanna till you can't someday
Don't wait on tomorrow 'cause tomorrow may not show
Say your sorries, your I-love-yous, 'cause man you never know

If you got a chance, take it, take it while you got a chance
If you got a dream, chase it, 'cause a dream won't chase you back
If you're gonna love somebody, hold 'em as long and as strong and as close as you can
Till you can't

click here to listen to the song on youtube

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

On old dog

Why do they give you a key if
it is a push button start? 
 Oh, to open the door. 
Well, why not a push button
to open the door?

Old habits die hard.

You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Old habits die hard. I keep wanting to put this key in the ignition to start this truck. It’s a rental. My wife has a pushbutton start without a key just the key fob. One time, I walked away with the keys thinking I shut it off and left the car running while we were at dinner. 

Sometimes when I’m paying with a credit card I want to hand them the credit card so they can put it in the machine and run the press back-and-forth across the carbonized papers. 

I’m a child of yesterday.  In some respects, the world is passing me by.  But in other respects, I am more alive than I have ever been.  I am happier than I have ever been.  I am older, but I am living my best life for sure.

They can keep their push button starts.  I am doing great!

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

All Saints

Today, November 1st is All Saints Day. It is traditionally a day when Christians remember those loved ones who have gone before us.

On the night before, All hallows eve [Halloween] [yesterday] worshippers would have a party and remember the dead.  On November 1st, there were special church services.  

Today is a day to remember those we love who have gone on before.

Today, among many other things, I will think of my Parents. They were not perfect. They were children of the depression. They had a hard life. They wasted nothing. They did not tolerate anything that smelled like disrespect. Boundaries were kept very firm between a parent and a child. Questions were frowned upon.

But, they loved us, they cared for us, they fed us and they protected us. They got us through college and they survived our craziness. [we were children of the 60's and 70's]

They gave me a chance at life. I know that they loved us and if they had the chance today, they would tell us that they are proud of us.

I hope that you have parents or mentors that helped launch you. Although not perfect, where would we be today without them?

While I grieve the loss of family and friends, I savor their lives and I am thankful for them.

It's a beautiful day in God's world be sure to see the good.