There are many ways to help people that don't involve anything but your time.  One of my daughters recently helped a young boy, learning disabled, who was afraid of water.  His mom and dad were working on painting a house for her husband.  She offered to watch the boy every day--for weeks--and step by step, little by little, she taught him to swim.

He was a black boy, but I don't think she noticed.  His parents, who don't have very much were so thankful for the help she had given to their son.  I taught my children to be color blind.  And they are.
Jews and Samaritans.  Black and white.  Whatever.  It's all the same.  You have to offer to help and then be ready to put action to your words to anyone who has a need.

When I get moved, I am going to ask that mom and dad to help paint my new house.  I feel like I already know them.

That's how we make relationships.  By giving our time.  By giving ourselves.  I always told my children--when they were leaving the house--don't forget that your name is 'Jacks'.  What you do reflects on the entire family.  Make us proud.

I shared with you that over and over Christ said we should help the poor.  He doesn't say anything about how they got into the fix they are in.  He just says help them.  Find a good charity, but don't neglect those that cross your path.

My friend Carolyn came out of the beauty shop the other day, got in her car and noticed a woman on a bench nearby weeping.  Carolyn rolled down her window and asked if the lady needed help.  The woman must have walked a mile or two to get as far as she did--there was no car.  "I am just upset," she said.  "Things have gone really bad today and when I get home, they will have turned off my electricity."

"Do you need me to drive you to the municipal utility office?"
"No, I don't have any money to pay the bill."
"Get in," my friend Carolyn said.  "I'll pay the bill."  The lady started sobbing.
"Why would you do that," she asked.
"Because you need help.  And because I am a Christian."

Luke 10:30-35 tells the story of the good Samaritan.  A man was beaten up, stripped naked, wounded and left for dead.  A priest passed by and went to the other side of the road to avoid him.  A Levite did the same.  But a Samaritan (the Jews hated the Samaritans) had compassion on him.  He stopped, bound his wounds, put him on his donkey and carried him to an inn.  He gave the proprietor money, and said he would repay if he spent more.  In verse 36, Jesus asks, "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the wounded man?"

Jesus didn't ask how or why the man got beaten up and left for dead.  Jesus dealt with the man's need.
You have occasion to help unfortunate people from time to time.  Yes, they may not deserve it, but I like to leave that in God's hands.

The house I signed a contract on didn't pass structural inspection.  I had gone to Edmond to sign papers, but ended up looking at other places.  I am now waiting on disclosures.  But flustered (as Pat put it when she blogged for me) doesn't cover it.  I left Edmond without writing something, and forgot  my Mac, and Bo's pills--which I didn't realize until eight o'clock that evening after I got home.

I called my brother to fill a prescription for Bo and thought Bo would be alright until the pharmacy opened the next morning.  He wasn't.  He had a seizure in the night.

I had decided that if that happened again, that I would know that the time was here to put him down.  (He was fourteen years old.)  The seizures are horrific.  So Saturday, at 7:30 that morning, I took him to the vet.  It is one of the hardest things I have ever done.  When they gave him a sedative, he seized again.  It was really awful.  I spent the day crying and feeling like the whole thing was my fault because I forgot his medicine.  And then I spent the entire weekend so sad because he was gone.  He was Ken's dog and it was like another piece of Ken was gone.  But it was time.  He had suffered long enough and the medications made him very lethargic.   A lose, lose situation.

Squig is a little lost without him.  He keeps looking for Bo.  But I am not going to get another dog.  One is enough.  Losing them is too painful.

God designed a perfect friend for humans.  A dog doesn't ask for very much, and gives such devoted love and affection.

Hi everyone.   Pat here.

Mom got a little flustered and forgot her computer at Becky's yesterday.  She'll be a day or two without being online, so she called me and asked if I'd let her readers know.

She'll be back.  Thanks for reading her blog.  It is very encouraging to her to know you are out there.

After the wall was finished and the people began rebuilding their houses; after Ezra had preached such an inspiring sermon on the law, you can almost predict what would happen next.  Nehemiah went back to the king to report on all that had been done.  And the leaders of the surrounding clans and tribes turned to politics.

And who did they involve?  Eliashib, a priest.  Just when you think things are going right in the church, the devil himself messes up everything.

"...Eliashib the priest (these people have funny names), who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, was related by marriage to Tobiah our adversary (bad combination)."  When Sanballat (an Arab), and Tobiah heard that the walls were going up and the breaches were being closed, they were very angry. They plotted together to fight against Jerusalem, to injury and cause confusion and failure.

But the wall was finished so quickly, the enemies sent an emissary and said, "Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain."  Nehemiah answered, "Why should the work stop while I leave to come down to you?"  He knew they plotting to kill him.

Nehemiah 13:21 "...I reproved and warned them, saying, Why do you lodge by the wall?  If you do so again, I will lay hands on you..."   And he commanded the priests to guard the gates.

Can't you just picture this man.  He must have been six foot five and weighed two fifty pounds.  But since we know that he was a Jew, that is not likely.  Just goes to show what God can do with a common person when you listen to him.

 Nehemiah says in a very simple no fan-fare way, "So we built the wall."  He follows that up with the statement, "...for the people had a mind to work."  What he doesn't say is how he got them revved up to get going.  He must have had fabulous leadership qualities.

I can just picture him peeling off his t-shirt, picking up a shovel and asking, "Who needs another hand."  Or saying, "Bill, Bob, George, you're in charge of getting some guys to start organizing all those broken stones into piles so we can see what we've got.  Scott, Bret, David, get some of those men who have carpentry skills and let's start cutting timber to rebuild all of these gates."

Then, fifty-two days later, when it was all done, he faded into the background.  We wouldn't even know about all this but for the fact that he kept a diary about what happened. (The book of Nehemiah)  His book reads so differently from the book that Ezra the priest wrote.  Can't you just picture him sitting down at the end of each day, sweat dripping off his body, and writing about it all.

When the wall was finished,  "...now the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded.  And my God put into my heart to gather together the nobles and the rulers and the people that they might be reckoned...and I found a register of the genealogy of those which came up at the first, and found written therein..."

Now he went to work on "what family went where".  He went back to the temple's record books.  And when things were settled, he faded into the background.  His work was done.  Then Ezra steps up on a platform that they had built for him, and he begins to read from the law of Moses.  He preached for hours, and the diary of Nehemiah says that the people rededicated themselves to God and his laws.

I love Nehemiah.  He's my kind of guy.

Once Nehemiah got to Jerusalem,  he said, "I arose in the night with a few of my men, and didn't tell anyone what God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem...I went out in the dark and examined the gates in the walls that had been torn down, and the damage that had been done by fire and destruction.  The rulers didn't know what I did nor where I had gone.  I hadn't told the Jews or the priests, or the nobles or the rulers, or those that would be called on to do the work of rebuilding the wall." (My interpretation of Neh. 2:11-16)

So here this common man is--who doesn't have a degree in "wall building".  He has arrived at the spot with a mission from God and he is trying to figure out how to get this task done before he includes anyone else.  Everyone on the site is discouraged because the temple they are trying to rebuild keeps being vandalized by their enemies.  So Nehemiah goes out in the dark of night.  He doesn't want people asking him questions before he has finalized a plan in his own mind.

Then he thinks.  Thinking is an important element of doing God's work.  Of doing any work.  You aren't ready for discussion if you haven't thought through the problem.  God does not expect us to rush out and start building, teaching or organizing until we have defined exactly what we want to do, and how to get others to work with us.  And how to recognize the talents that other people have.

When Nehemiah finally got it all straight in his head, what he hoped would be a solution to get a ragged bunch of people on the same page and get their cooperation and willingness to work hard, he shared his plan.  He divided the destroyed wall around the city of Jerusalem into small lengths and enlisted people to work on the short portions next to their homes.  Good plan.  Looking at the entire wall as a project seemed hopeless.  But everyone could relate to a small portion close to home.

They got it done in fifty-two days.  Neh. 4:6 "So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together...for the people had a mind to work."  Amazing what a group of people can do for the Lord when they work together.  It's called a church.

This month at my church, I have been teaching from the book of Nehemiah.  It is so very interesting. After the book of Ezra (a Levitical priest) in which Ezra was told by God to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the  temple, we have the book of Nehemiah.

Nehemiah was just a regular guy.  Blue-collar. The cupbearer for the king--who incidentally was sympathetic to the plight of the Jews. (The Jews had been led into captivity by previous kings years earlier.  Jerusalem and God's temple had been totally destroyed.)  As a cupbearer, he was responsible to taste the king's wine and be sure it wasn't poisoned--a common occurrence in those days.

God laid a burden on Nehemiah's heart.  He wanted him to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall around the city because Ezra was taking one step forward and two steps backwards in the effort to rebuild the temple.  Enemies kept destroying their work.

So Nehemiah spoke to the king, and the king financed his trip to Jerusalem and also financed all the timber, stone, and whatever else was needed to build the wall.

Four types of people were involved in all of this.  1. A priest of the house of God.   2. A man who was willing to answer the call of God.  3. A non-Jewish king.  4. A community of people who were willing to come under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah's vision to work and get the job done.

God uses us all to accomplish His plans.  Even those who are not His people.  The church has a similar makeup of people.  Clerical.  People gifted to teach.  People who simply want to do God's will.   And people that aren't sure what they believe but are searching--like the king.

  Acts 20:28 "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood."                                                                                                                                                                                                          

  

My grandson comes in contact with people who are Islamists from time to time, and when the subject of religion comes up--as it often does, he asks them what they think about Jesus. (A conversation opener.)

"We believe that he was great prophet.  He was from the linage of Abraham.  We hold him up as a very great prophet."

And then my grandson says something like this:  "Well, Christians believe he was God, and I am a Christian.  And you have a huge dilemma.  There are only two possibilities.  Either he was who he said he was--God--or he was lying. And if he was lying, then you believe in a dishonest prophet.  Which do you think it is?  Was he God?  Or was he lying?"

Since most Islamists have not read the Koran they are stumped.  Christians have the same problem because most of them haven't read the Bible.

How can you possibly know what you believe if you never read the Bible?  This book traces history in a way that no other writing ever has.  It stretches over thousands of years and has a multitude of prophecies (I read somewhere that it was 72) that were fulfilled concerning the Messiah--in the person of Jesus.  If you run a statistical analysis--and you know I love math--the probability of it being Jesus according to prophecy is off the chart.  There haven't been enough people in the history of the universe to cover the improbabilities.

He was God.  In human form.  Come to earth so he could die for us.  Why would he do such a thing? He says it is because he loves us.  Because we are totally unable to become what he wants us to become without his forgiveness.  He has chosen to forgive us.  You.  And me.

In one of the boxes we opened on Sunday was an worn leather packet that looked like it was out of the old West.  Dating back to the 1900's were letters with one and two cent stamps.  It was the personal papers of one of Ken's aunts who had no children.  What do you do with stuff like that?  I hate to throw it out, it is the only remaining record of her and her husband's life.  But it is all useless.  There isn't anyone to give it to.

Ken's aunt (Betty) was married to a soldier (Clair) in Patton's army and served in North Africa during WW2.  It is amazing how all the memories of what they did and who they were are gone.  But that is what life is all about.  You live.  You do good, or you don't.  And when you are gone the only thing that is left is what you invested in the lives of others.

They invested in other people's lives.  They sponsored international students from a local college and fed them and opened their home to them.  They led many of them to Christ.  They didn't have any biological children, but they had hundreds that called them Mom and Dad.

I had three ladder back chairs that were hers.  I gave them to Pat.  Pat will give them to one of her daughters.  As they are passed down, someone will say, "These were aunt Betty's chairs."  Nobody will know who Betty was, but a sense of family will be passed on.

But the lives they changed will produce other changed lives.  You don't get to decide what people take from your life.  You share.  Someone learns.  And they share...and someone else learns.

I Thessalonians 5:14-15 "Now we exhort you brethren, warn those that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all people.  See that none of you render evil for evil to any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, (Christians) and to all men."   Do good.

The last time I moved, it took two hours.  Really.  I had packed all the boxes with our junk and labeled them during the weeks before.  So they were sitting there on moving day ready to go.

Ken and I were teaching a couple's class and they had volunteered to move us.  So the morning of the move, around 25 people showed up with coffee, donuts,  a U-Haul and pickups and SUV's.  Everyone took a room, emptied it and took off.  Each person put all of what they moved in the appropriate room in our new home.  Three of the women stayed behind and vacuumed the house and cleaned up all the trash.  Ken and I didn't have to do anything.

Two hours later, the old house was empty.  The new house was full.  And one of the members--Kathy Mitchell--served everyone lunch.  It was a party.  And was a lot of fun.  Everyone had a really good time.  And Ken and I were so very thankful.

That's what Christian friends do.  They help each other.  I think back on that day and am amazed that so many people volunteered to help us.  They were blessed.  We were blessed even more.

God is good.  He provides what you need when you need it.

The women in that group were discussing that I was going to move again and said they would help me pack.  I can do that myself.  But isn't it nice that they would volunteer to do all that again!!!  

Proverbs 17:17  "A friend loves at all times..."
Proverbs 119:63  I am a friend of all those that fear You, and of those that keep your precepts."

I am leaving all of those friends behind me in Pryor.  It is so sad.  But it is the right thing for me to do.

I am still cleaning out drawers filled with papers and stuff that haven't been looked at in years.  I had five plastic containers in my garage (which I keep pretty empty) that were from my mom and dad's house.  When they died, my brother Bill was in China.  My sister Lisa was working full time in Tulsa.  So I got to be the one to clean the house out.  What a mess.  There are so many things that I didn't know what to do with.  So I threw out what I knew no one would want.  I sent all the clothing to a half-way house, and all the furniture etc. to the Methodist garage sale for missions--a good cause.  What was left, I put in those plastic containers and never opened them again.  I didn't know what to do with it, but couldn't throw it out because Bill or Lisa might.  That's been at least fifteen years ago.

Well, Sunday, I cooked a turkey, (I am emptying the freezer) dressing, giblet gravy, etc.  and had everyone over for dinner.  And when we were done eating, I sent my son Scott to the garage to bring in those five containers.  And then I told Bill and Lisa that I was going to throw the containers out without opening them--not exactly the truth and they knew it--if they didn't go through them.  So they did.  They sat down on the floor and cleaned them out--and were both glad that I had stored the things that were left in them for so long.

There was a biography that my dad had written of his life.  Some Goofy comic books.  Pictures.  My grandmother's diary, and tons of other stuff.  They divided it up, threw a bunch of it out, and took their stuff home with them.  I was so relieved.  I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Matthew 6: 20-21 (My paraphrase) "Don't lay up treasures on earth where things rust and moths eat them up.  Lay up treasures in heaven where neither rust nor moths can corrupt and thieves can't steal everything.   Where your treasure is your heart will also be."  So give stuff away if you aren't using it.

In the meantime, I have a few things that give me joy because they cause me to remember.  They are worthless to anyone else.  I don't think that is what the scripture is talking about.

The other day, I stopped at a stop sign and Squig--who was in the back of the car--wasn't paying attention.  I heard a thud but no yelp so I figured everything was okay.  But when I got home and started unloading groceries, I noticed that there were bloody paw prints all over the car.  He had torn a paw nail loose and never made a sound.  No complaints.

And then he started licking his paw.  Over and over and over.  I sprayed it with pain killer and antibiotics to help it heal faster but he just wouldn't leave it alone.  It was driving me nuts.  This went on for days.  But he never complained a single time.  I think I was more upset than he was.

Animals and humans have this wonderful God-given ability to heal.  And sometimes, when they don't get better, the world--that God has made--yields compounds and plants that can be formulated into medicines that will do the job of healing.

And then there are those times that go beyond what the body and medicine can do.  Those times require Divine intervention.  That's when we start praying.

Phillipians 4:6 "...in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

 I don't have a clue what God is going to do at times like that.  But I pray anyway.  "For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, there with to be content."  Phillipians 4:11b

I have seen miraculous healings.  I have seen illnesses that you have to live with.  I am definitely not one of those people who think that if you don't get what you ask for that there is something wrong with your faith.  God is going to do what God is going to do.  Ask anyway.  There are times in the Bible in which He changes his mind based on the prayer of the people.

The entire East and Midwest are freezing.  It is miserable.  However, it could be worse.  We've had freezes in the past that came with rain, sleet or snow that broke trees down from the weight of it.  We've had snow so deep you couldn't get your car out of the garage.  So I won't complain.  I've turned on a space (electric) heater.  I've turned on the gas fireplace.  Surely this will let up soon.

There are people on the streets that will freeze tonight.  It is so sad that in a nation with such abundance, there are people with nothing.  It is a good time of year to volunteer at your local food kitchen.  Or help stock your local food pantry.  Go through your coats--I'm sure that if you are like me you have so many that you can't wear them all.  Take them to Goodwill, or a local shelter.  Along with blankets.  Don't be stingy just because you think these people should have planned their lives better.  Don't blame them for the condition they are in.  The situation is what it is.

Poor--really poor--people have lost hope.  They don't know how to get out of the mess they are in.  They don't have jobs, and even if they do, minimum wage hardly covers child care, much less a car payment, gas, food, electricity, water, gas, etc.  I have a lady that I know that works full time as an aide at a local hospital that no matter how many hours she works it isn't enough to subsist.  She lives in a trailer--which isn't insulated so her electric bills are twice what mine are.  She tries really hard to make it.  But she isn't getting ahead and probably never will.  She isn't irresponsible.  So I help her.

Help the poor person that you know.  You can't save the world.  But you can make life a little better for one person.  God has given us so much.

Psalms 82:3  "Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy."
Proverbs 21:13  "Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard."
Jeremiah 22:16 "He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him.  Isn't this a sign that you know Me?"

Yesterday, I said that I wanted to be prepared to answer questions that people might have about the Bible. This week I got to address a question that has troubled people throughout the ages.  Someone asked me:  Was Jesus really God?  Or was he just a great man.  So I got my Bible and reviewed some scriptures that came to mind on that subject.  If I hadn't ever studied, I wouldn't have been able to find anything useful.  Study is a critical issue for a Christian.  I challenged you yesterday to start.

The problem is that even though we accept the inspiration of the Bible, it doesn't ever say these exact words in this exact order:  "Jesus is God".  But here are a few verses about what it does say.

Philippians 2:5b-6 "...Jesus, who being in the form of God made himself of no reputation..and was
made in the likeness of men."  That verse says that at one time Jesus was in the form of God and made himself into the form of a man.

In John 10: parts of 30-33 Jesus is speaking.  "I and the Father are one"  The Jews start to stone him and he asks why.  They answer: "...for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."

John 14:8-9 "Phillip said, Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.  Jesus answered: Don't you know me Phillip even after I have been among you for such a long time?  Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father."

And of course there is the testimony of Thomas.  Who, having said he didn't believe Jesus was raised from the dead,  later saw Him and fell to his knees and declared:  My Lord, and my God.

Great men can't resurrect themselves from the dead.  God, in human form can.  And did.

I am to the point that I don't remember what I've told you, what I have told my Bible class, what I have told the church youth, and what I have told my friends.  So if I start repeating myself, cut me some slack.  I am on blog 531.  I have limited myself to six inches a day which is 3186 inches so far.  If you have read them all, you probably know everything about me, Ken, my family, and a lot of Bible verses that have meaning to me.  The whole point of writing is to share the Bible as it relates to real life.  To my real life.  I want to have answers for people about what the Bible has to say.

"But purify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always  to give an answer to  every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." 1 Peter 3: 15

You have to study to give answers like that.  You can't hope to be ready--when you have an opportunity to share Christ with someone--if you haven't prepared.  And you never stop learning when you study God's word.  Verses that meant nothing to me as a young person are full of meaning as an adult.  That is why it is called the "Living Word".  It is always fresh and new.

People have problems.  What Peter is saying is that you have the solution.  It is always the same solution--expressed in different ways.  There is a song that says, "Jesus is the answer for the world today..."  That has been true throughout the ages.  He came to change our lives.  To give us hope.

I can think of no better resolution for this year than to start reading the Bible.  You don't have to read much.  A little will do.  If you don't understand the part you are reading, skip it.  Maybe the next time you read it you will understand it.  That has happened to me a lot of times.

Put your Bible by your bed, or chair, or in your purse or pocket.  Start with the New Testament.  Read a short book, like 1 Peter.  Or part of it.  Or just a verse or two.  The important thing is that you start.  And read a little.  And January 7 is just as good a day to start as January 1.

One of the things about growing up in a small town is that you know everybody.  Randy is my plumber.  Kelly is my appliance guy.  Dusty is my heat and air man.  Rodney takes care of the electrical.  The man who mows my lawn is a good friend.  All it takes is a phone call and they come.

I was sitting in the tub with the hot water running until the tub was full.  I reached to turn the water off, and nothing happened.  I jiggled the knobs, tried again.  And again.  Finally I realized that it wasn't going to stop running!!!  Luckily I had my cell phone on the edge of the tub, so I called the plumber and told him I had an emergency--that I was in the tub and the water wouldn't turn off.

"Calm down.  I'll be there in ten minutes," Randy said.  "Pull the drain plug and see if you can turn the water off to the house.  And you might want to put some clothes on."   And he started laughing.

I've known him for his whole life.  I graduated from high school with his mom.   He did what he said he would do and came immediately.  Fixed the problem and was still laughing when he left.

I will never have those kind of connections when I move.  Friendships here go back seventy years.  I hope I can find a church.  I hope I can make friends.  I hope I won't be too much trouble for my daughters.  I hope I can find something useful to do.

Proverbs 18: 24 " A man that has friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend (Jesus) that sticks closer than a brother."

I'm going to take that friend with me.

Did you ever have the feeling that you let someone down?  In my family, getting a college education was the expected step when you finished high school.  My grandmother had an eighth grade education and was determined that her five children would get through college.  That was in the 1920's.  Unheard of back then.  But they all worked and sent each other.  One would finish and go to work to send the next one.

So, it was expected from the next generation (mine) that they would do likewise.  As a result of those high expectations, all of my generation graduated high school, were valedictorians,  and immediately started college.  Except me.  It didn't seem like a big deal to me.  I was never under any pressure,  It was just a silent expectation.  I didn't become valedictorian.  I made a couple of B's.  But that wasn't the worst thing.  I got married and had four children in six years.  

I was really happy.  And I would do it all over again--exactly the same way.  But there was always that nagging feeling that I had let them all down.  All three generations.  So when Ken left us to go to Viet Nam, I started college.  I would get the kids off to school, and head to class.  And I planned it so that I would get home an hour before my children did--so they always had a mom at home.  It kept me busy.  When I got my grades, I showed all my A's to the family.  "We're all proud of you," they said.   And they were.  I didn't do it the easy way, but I finished the degree.  

I don't think a college degree in itself is all that important, but because of the sacrifices my grandmother made, her children did.  You can probably make more money as a plumber, or an electrician or any trade where you know how to do something useful.   I sew.

II Timothy 2:15  "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that doesn't need to be ashamed, rightly doing the word of truth."  Study something.  Learn how to do useful things.  Become a workman of some sort or the other!!!

I am sorry I didn't blog yesterday!!  I lost my Mac.  It wasn't anywhere.  But when I got ready to go to bed I found it under the covers where I had fallen asleep.  I forgot that I took it to bed with me.  I had meant to do some writing.  Oh well.  

There is an owl outside my window.  He is a really big one and has been hooting all evening.  Squig is very small and I am afraid to let him out for fear that the owl will get him.  I don't know how many pounds an owl can pick up.  It is freezing cold outside, but I guess I am going to have to bundle up and go outside with Squig.  How many more days of winter are there?

I always deep clean my house when I move.  Since I've moved so many times in my life, it seemed like a good system.  I've moved  six times since we moved back to Pryor.  And a slew of times before that.  But when you settle in, (I've lived in this house for ten years) you don't empty out drawers and ask yourself why you saved all the stupid things in the drawer.

Since I am going to move again, I started cleaning things out.  Amazing all the stuff you can accumulate--even though I am really good about not keeping things I don't need.  I figure God gave it to me, so when I'm not using it there must be someone else that needs it.  So, I just give it away.  Yes, I could have a garage sale, but that would require a lot of work.  I'm done working that hard.

John 9: 4 "I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day: The night comes when no one can work."

I can still do that kind of work.  That's the kind of work you can always do.



 

Well that was quick.  I laid out the fleece--like Gideon did--by putting a bid on a house day before yesterday, and they accepted it.  So I am moving to Edmond.  What a way to start a new year.  When?  I don't have a clue.   My brother and his wife are here in Pryor.  Stacy and Scott and Megan and Greg and Hallie--my grand-daughter, spouse and great-granddaughter.  They all have guest rooms.  I'll be back.  And forth.

I feel like I've been run over by a truck.  I never expected them to accept my offer.  But like I said yesterday, It is all in the hands of God.  I have great relief that I know what is going to happen.

But I dread moving.  We moved sixteen times in ten years while Ken was a Marine.  He had to be on the gulf or coast to fly on a carrier, so it was California, Virginia, S. Carolina, Pensacola, and back to California for a couple of times.  I know how to move.  It's my body that has forgotten.

Now that the decision has been made, I want it done.  Becky says her favorite word is "done."  I bought a townhouse with almost no yard.  That is going to be wonderful.  Weeding last year here at this house almost did me in.  My yard is 3/4 acre and covered with landscaping plants.  It was a lot of fun ten years ago, but last year it wasn't fun.  It was work.  I'm done working.

Gideon was wondering if God really wanted him to go to war.  He said, "Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and (in the morning) if the dew is only on the fleece and everything on the earth is dry, then I shall know that you want to save Israel by my hand..."  Which happened.  Everything around the fleece was dry but the fleece was wringing wet--a bowl full of water was wrung out.

But Gideon was still not comfortable with what God wanted him to do.  He asked God, "...don't be angry with me...but...let the fleece now be dry only on the fleece and on all the ground let there be dew.  And God did so that night.  The fleece was dry, the ground was wet."

God understands our limitations in discerning his will.  He stays with us until we figure it out.