Garage sale was a huge success.  It's done.  Over.  Hallelujah!!   Never again.  That is a fact.  I feel like I have lost ten pounds due to stress over it.  I'll weigh tomorrow and see if I actually did!!!

Sunday, I asked the question, "What is authority?"  Then, "Who has it?"  They got the first question right and finally came up with the right answer to the second one:  "Only those to whom you grant it."  Authority is always granted from the bottom up.  Never from the top down.  Nobody has authority over you unless you personally grant it.

Yes, in many cases refusal to grant authority can cause serious repercussions, even pain.  But it can't make you comply.  You have to decide to do that on your own.

And that is at the heart of the Christian experience.  Christ bids you, "Come and die."  Die to your own will.  Come under His authority.  Make a decision that His will is your will.

I remember when I made a decision to put Christ in authority over my life.  Over seventy years ago.  They were singing the hymn, "I Surrender All."  I didn't have much to surrender at the time, I just remember that that was what I wanted to do. I walked to the front of the church and surrendered.

Later, when I was twenty-three, I realized that I was a sinner.  I confessed that to God and asked His forgiveness.  You would think I would have recognized that fact sooner, but I didn't.  I was one of those kids who always obeyed.  I always tried to do the right thing.

Then when I was twenty-six, I trusted Him.  I didn't know that I had never trusted Him.  Duh.  But I didn't.  I hadn't. I had given my life to Him, but not the lives of my children or my husband.  Where they were concerned, I was always trying to make a "deal" with God concerning their safety.

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," is what Paul said.  You are on a journey for life.  And at the end of your journey, that's what you get.  Eternal life.  Surrender, confess, trust.

Squig was sick during the night.  Every hour to an hour and a half, he had to go outside.  He had been throwing up all afternoon, so I am sure he ate something he shouldn't have eaten.  What it was, I have no idea, but he was one sick puppy.  He had never been sick before, so I wasn't for sure what was going on.  What if it wasn't something he ate?  What if it was something worse?

I felt so sorry for him.  He couldn't tell me what was wrong.  It was like having a baby all over again.  They cry, you feed them thinking they are hungry, but that's not what they want.  They keep crying and you try everything you can think of to do.  And sometimes, nothing helps.  You wait, and there is a fine balance between "How long do I wait to see if they get over it," and "Do I take them to the doctor now."

It takes you a couple of kids before you figure out the answer to those kind of questions.  By the time I had five of them, I pretty well had it down.  But a dog is another kettle of fish.  I've never been on my own with a dog before.  Ken was the dog person.  But Squig, he's not just a dog.  He is my constant companion now that Ken is gone.

I decided that if he wasn't better in the morning, we were going to the vet.  But in the morning, by the time the vet was open, Squig was coming out of it, so I waited...and he got better as the day went on.  But he is worn out.  So am I.  Neither one of us got any sleep.  I finally went to sleep at four in the morning, and my grandson called me at five thirty.  So much for trying to sleep.  He wanted to know what happened to our friend Beaux, if they had found out who killed him.  I told him that they arrested someone today.  A career criminal of course.  A man with a long list of offenses who shouldn't have been on the street.   So sad.

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.  Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."  Matthew 6:34  In other words, "One day's troubles are enough for that day.  Don't worry about what is going to happen tomorrow."  There have certainly been enough troubles this week.  You never know what tomorrow will bring--but God does.  He will be there with us through all of our difficulties.

Sometimes something happens that is so horrible that you just can't wrap your mind around it.  There are any number of those occurrences that have happened in my lifetime, but the latest is just unfathomable to me.

Our sweet friend Beaux McGlothlin--actually everybody's friend--who worked in the men's clothing store next to Edmond Antiques, left work Friday as usual, and went home.  When he was supposed to show up on Tuesday morning, as he had faithfully done for twenty-four years, he never came in.

When someone went to his house to find out why he hadn't come to work, he was found--murdered.    Sometime between Friday and Monday--in his own home--which was very safe neighborhood.  But somebody came into his house, killed him, took his car, and left him there.   No one who knew him can imagine who would do such a thing.  He had no enemies.  He was 79 years old and could have retired years and years ago, but he loved people, and loved being a part of the Edmond community.

One more random killing in America.  But this one is different for all of us who knew him.

He loved for us to bring him home cooked meals for lunch.  There is an open door between where he worked and Edmond's Antique store, and he wandered over on a regular basis.  Especially at lunch time.  Becky would tease him and say that he didn't know how to use a microwave.  The last time I took him lunch, he hid it so the other men in his store wouldn't find it and eat it.  He always bought Pam and Becky and me a Christmas present--his way, I'm sure, of saying thanks for the home cooked meals.  Always smiling.  Such a very sweet man.  Such a waste of a beautiful life.

Why do people kill?  What can possibly motivate such cruelty.  And yet, we know it happens.  God warned us with a specific commandment:  "Thou shalt not kill."

I hope they find whoever did this.   And I sincerely hope I am on the jury at the trial.

Last night I went to hear a Jewish speaker who discussed three ways to read the Bible.  As an example, he spoke on the 37th chapter of Genesis.  The story of Joseph's brothers selling him.

He said that the first way was to read the Bible was as literature.  It is interesting as a story in itself.  He took the subject of the hate that Joseph's ten brothers had for him--enough to want him dead--and expounded on how that came about.  Going all the way back to Jacob loving Rachael more that Leah and how that made the 10 brothers feel--and other incidents that led up to this story.  (There were 12 brothers, but Benjamin, the only full brother to Joseph, wasn't there for this incident.)

The second way to read it is devotionally.  What is the meaning of the story that God wants us to discover?  On this, the speaker told of the dreams that Joseph had, and how many many years passed before they were fulfilled.  Joseph was a brat, and had lessons to learn.  He was thrown into a well by his brothers, traded to passing strangers, and taken to Egypt to be enslaved.  Through everything that happened to him, he learned that God was in control of his life, and had a plan that was bigger than Joseph's life.

The third way that the speaker discussed was historically.  He noted the differences in the story as it unfolded and the historical implications of those differences to people who read the Bible as a historical document.  In one place it says that Joseph was sold to the Midianites.  In another it says he was sold to the Ishmaelites.  Perhaps that was because there were two written accounts that were fused.  Perhaps the Midianites sold him to the Ishmaelites, who sold him to Egypt?  But as you look at the Bible as a historical account, you don't always get an answer to the particular question you may have--because sometimes, things aren't explained in full.

The only thing I know for sure is that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.  He speaks to us when we read it.  In Hebrews 10:7, the writer says: "...Lo, I come in the volume of the book.  It is written of Me..." He is quoting Psalms 40:7.  Whether you are a Jew, or a Gentile, God comes through his written word.  As literature, devotion, or history.  It is all true.  Christ is the Messiah.

Even though I hated the loss of my electricity, it came with rain.  Blessed, wonderful water from God.  Oklahoma needs all of the rain we can get.  Last year was a disaster of a drought--and a few weeks ago fire burned up thousands and thousands of acres of grass in western Oklahoma which cattlemen depend on to raise hay for their cattle--many of which were killed in the blazes.

But by the time the electricity came back on, I was so far behind the curve of making breakfast and getting ready and dressed, that I didn't make it to church at 9:30.  Good thing that my class meets after church or I would have missed that as well.  

The garage sale was a huge success.  Becky donated a ton of stuff from her antique booths and one of my class members gave us 30 or so cookbooks that were practically new.  Everyone donated something.  Besides all that, we class members had a blast visiting with each other.  A number of people who came to the sale didn't buy much but made donations to our water-well project.  People can be really good.

We were only open for a few hours, and there was so much stuff left over, that didn't sell, we left it on tables--and we are going to do this again next week.  That will be easy since it is all priced.  Yes, I know, I said I would never, never, never have another garage sale, but this is just a continuance???

Someone asked me where the well was going to be drilled.  To tell the truth, I had never asked the women where it was going.  They had been working on this project for a couple of years before I took the job as their teacher, and I had never thought to ask.  All I could say was, "Africa!"

Someone else asked, "Why don't you help someone here in America."  We had an answer for that.  "We do, we give 10% of our incomes to our church which supports missions all over America--and each Christmas we take up a special offering for foreign missions.  We don't choose Africa over America.  We do both."   Like I said yesterday, we are so blessed in America.  Think how hard it must be to have to tote water for everything that you need because you don't have water in your home.

Got up on Sunday around five, reached down beside the bed for my robe and fuzzy house shoes that Becky bought me in Krakow last month, and flipped on the light switch.  No light.  Checked the thermostat.  No heat.  Found my flashlight and stumbled into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and console myself and of course, my instant hot water tap wasn't hot.  No use in putting a kettle on the stove--my stove is electric.  No tea. 

I finally found matches and candles and lit a few of them, and went out and got the paper.  I don't know what I was thinking, I couldn't read it.  No lamp light.  Frustration.  We are a dependent nation. I personally can't function without water, electricity and gasoline.  Neither can my any of my city friends.  If a terrorist wanted to knock us out, all they would have to do would be to hit a power grid.

I used to visit my grandparents on their farm.  They had a Jersey cow for milk, butter, cheese.  Chickens for eggs and meat.  Pork hanging in the smoke house.  A water well and kerosene lamps.  Gran canned every summer and the cellar was full of everything you could eat for the next year.

But we don't do that anymore.  We get our food in cans, or put it in a refrigerator.  And we are pretty helpless when we lose our water, our gasoline or our electricity.  God has been so good to us that we take it all for granted.

We had our garage sale on Saturday to help a village in Africa build a water well.  But even when they get the well, everybody will have to go tote water back to their home.  America has been blessed by God.  We are spoiled.

The electricity finally came back on.   It had been off for six hours.  I missed church at 9:30.  But made it to teach at 11:00.   I'd get some kerosene lamps, but I'd probably set the house on fire.  I had a big enough problem lighting candles in the dark.

Christ is our light.  We won't have to worry about electricity in heaven.

Before I began teaching this class at my church, the women in the class had decided that they would begin a mission project to build a water well somewhere in Africa.  A very lofty goal.  Since I have been teaching the class, they have made plans for a number of projects that had to be cancelled for one reason or another.

But Saturday, God willing and no rain, they are having a combined garage sale.  Everyone is donating their stuff to the cause.  I told them that they could have it at my house.  Becky--my daughter--had a sale last year at my house--because her homeowner clause wouldn't allow her to have one at her house--and had donated everything that was left over, and there was a ton of stuff.  She  had emptied a bunch of things from her four booths at Edmond Antiques (My favorite place in Edmond) and over half of it was left in my garage.

So.  Come Saturday, hopefully, I will get my garage back.  Whatever is left is going to one of those bulk-sale buyers that come in and put a price on everything left over.  I am pretty stoked because there was so much stuff in there I couldn't even sweep the floor.

It's going to be a "Hallelujah moment" when it is over.  At least for me.  I will never, never, never have another garage sale.  I'll let Becky use my house for one if she wants, but when it's over, everything left over is going to Goodwill or the Hope center.  Someone told me they would even pick it all up.  That would be even better.

We went to see the movie "Facing Darkness" last night--about the doctor who contracted Ebola--and looking at the background scenes, they can certainly use a water well.  So maybe this class of women will do some good.  This is my first experience with a group that took on a project this big.

God bless their efforts.  They are a great group of women.  I'm privileged to be their teacher.  They are teaching me.