Tuesday.  They come around so fast.  I feel like time is dripping through my fingers. It was January just last week.  And summer flew by.  We finally had a tornado warning Sunday night--this has been a year when we didn’t have but a couple of those.  Which is good.

Scott called on his way to work to agree with me that the book of Job is written like a drama.  Like Beowulf.  ( Did you have to read that in high school?  They say it is the oldest drama that we have.  People stand up and speak, sits down, then someone else speaks, etc.)  

I think Job was about a real man who met real tragedy.  But I think someone wrote it down to present it as a play and they did it in Beowulf style.  One person speaks, stops, and another speaks, stops--and so on.

I have a problem with the play director introducing the play with Satan coming to the throne of God and having a discussion and God giving Satan permission to test Job.  Satan and his angels had been cast out of heaven and damned.  How could a holy God let evil come before His throne?  

I think the writer of the play (about a real man, Job--and it is a true story) wanted to introduce the story and chose that way to do it.  In Isaiah, it says that, “...the Lord’s ear is not heavy that He cannot hear you...but your sins have separated between you and your God and he will not hear you.”  How could God listen to Satan.  I believe the Bible is true from cover, but since that “Job” intro is about Satan bargaining with God, I think the story was put in the form of a drama.  I could be wrong...it won’t be the first time. 

If if hadn’t been for brown beans, I would have starved to death when I was growing up.  My mom was a big roast, meat and potatoes cook.  I don’t like meat very much.  But once a week, she made brown beans and cornbread.  Along with, fried potatoes or okra...or greens with bacon.  I ate leftovers off and on all week.

I put beans on this morning.  With ham...but I won’t eat much of the ham.  I don’t like sugar or milk products either.  I love brownies with pecans, but that’s about it for sweets.  I guess you would say I am picky.  But I’m really not, I’ll eat anything rather than cook.

But this Thursday, Kathy is sending me homemade rolls!!!  My favorite thing in the world. Becky Bacon is coming for the weekend (hopefully) and bringing them.  And Becky picked up the Ken-ken puzzles from Carolyn.  She saves them for me.  I love puzzles.  Carolyn cuts them out of the paper every day for me.  Puzzles and yeast bread---all in the same day.  Becky, Kathy and Carolyn are three of my BFFs.

The girls in the church office have gotten excited about the book I wrote about my brother Bill.  They are getting the Southern Baptist Press involved.  Maybe it will come to something.  The preacher praised it...so that may help.  All I can do is hope.  He is the writer of current Sunday educational lessons.

I doubt--at this point--I’ll ever get a book published.  The print company that was printing the book went bankrupt.  The publisher is having a meltdown and I am stuck in the middle.  I think this is what life is all about, one thing after another.

I am teaching the book of 1 John; my preacher wrote the material for the denomination.  He presented six things we can be sure of, because John, an eye witness, tells us what he knew.  He starts his letter by saying that he (John) saw, heard, and touched the risen Christ.

The book is written to Christian believers that John had discipled.  He calls them “Children.”  You can tell he loves them.  He reassures them of the truth, the reality of God’s promises and Christ in whom we believe.

In the last chapter, he says that he is writing to those who believe, so that they can know--so they can believe.  The stages of Christian growth.  We believe, the evil one wants to make us doubt, we reassure ourselves by reading a letter written by an eyewitness, and our belief is strengthened.

The Biblical account is a marvelous piece of eyewitness testimony.  Think about how many things you believe that don’t have an eyewitness.

My poor little dog coughed and rasped all night after he had his teeth cleaned.  All I can figure is that they intubated him and his bronchial tubes have been scratched.  He was miserable.  Yesterday I held him all day  Today he is better, but has no energy.  They pulled at  least four teeth so his mouth is sore as well.  I feel sorry for him.  I knew it was going to be tough and put it off as long as I could. 

Today I bought groceries which I am able to do, but unloading and putting them away is a killer.  I eat most of my meals out, so I don’t buy that many things, but getting it all into the kitchen and freezer is still difficult.

Have any of you ever tried to cook for one person?  I end up putting leftovers in small containers when I do cook, but when I take a container out of the freezer, I call it “Surprise a meal” because I don’t label any of it. And that gets old.  So I share it with my neighbors.  That works.  They share with me as well.

I wouldn’t have made a good Israelite.  Can you imagine eating manna for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Ugh.  When Joshua went into the promised land, God stopped the manna.  They had to live off the land from that point on.  No turning back.  I bet the food was the biggest motivator that they had...they were probably sick of manna.    

Squig is going to get his teeth cleaned this morning.  I’m nervous.  He is 93 in dog years.  But his gums are sore and a couple of teeth need to be pulled.

Bad part is that he got up at six thirty and wants breakfast--and of course, he can’t have anything to eat before surgery.  He is sitting at my feet making squeaking noises.  Telling me to get with it and get his breakfast.

Which makes me feel really bad, because he trusts me to take care of his every need.  He’s just a tiny bit spoiled.  Tiny bit.

I called my friend Kathy last night to tell her I have a half-pan left of the rolls she made me.  When I am really, really hungry for something special, I go to the freezer and get one and pop it in the micro-wave.  I love hot bread. She cooked 3 full pans of rolls for me when I went to Pryor on July fourth.  Yeast rolls are my love language.

I have to get dressed and go to the vet.  I am nervous about this.  God knows I love this dog.  He is my best friend.  We spend every moment of every day together.  He is agreeable, does what I tell him to do, and loves me.  What more could a person ask for.

 

Today they were supposed to install my last two blinds.  One went up, the other was broken beyond repair.  I ordered them at the beginning of the year and they have come out four times.

First...wrong order.  Second, wrong sizes.  Third, incomplete order.  And today, broken blind.  The company I got them from is national, reliable, and competent.  The manufacturer hasn’t been able to get parts, supplies, workers and so on.

Amazing what a virus has done to us.  Groceries prices have almost doubled because workers got sick, died and nobody could prepare the chicken.  The chicken couldn’t get to processing because farmers couldn’t get chicken feed.  All the way to the consumer like me, the food chain fell down.

This week in Reader’s Digest, there was a story about tractor problems for the farmer.  They can't repair their own tractors.  Manufacturers have made it mandatory that they are the only ones who can do repair a tractor.  Making it impossible for a farmer to control his own equipment.

The Oklahoma paper had an article a few weeks ago about how many acres that China now owns in America.  It is startling what is happening to our country.  It’s a good thing God is in control of the world.

I have difficulty convincing myself to try and give a restaurant that I’ve never been to a chance.  I want to know ahead of time that I will like it.  Obviously, that is not possible.

Today some friends were going to Joey’s in Edmond for lunch and asked me to join them...so I did.  Good Grief!!! It’s very close by and I’ve been missing out on delicious food because I didn’t want to take a chance.

 I’m an “In a rut” kind of person.  I’ll do the same thing over and over again just to keep from experiencing the unknown.  I don’t like change.  You might think it’s because of my age, but it isn’t.  I’ve always been like this.  It makes me feel secure.

I’ve never enjoyed adventure.  No wonder why people ask me if I am really Scott and Becky’s mother.  Those two were always into something.  I once told Becky not to stick her finger in a light socket, so she stuck our sterling silver butter knife in the socket and melted part of it.  I can’t begin to enumerate the things Scott did.  It is an endless list of crazy.

Six Flags was difficult.  But I went. And Ken had me cover my eyes up to get me off the Texas tower.  I don’t want to do the “Tickle-your-tummy” rides either.  Maybe I am just a chicken.  But I like calm and secure.