Spent last night in two different emergency rooms.  So I didn't get to bed until 4:00 AM.  I will detail soon.  I'm alive and kicking.  But have to have a bunch of tests.  Bummer.  Too tired to write. 


Carotid artery.  Maybe it's an aneurism.  Nobody seems to be sure. CT scans seem to indicate that No--it isn't.  But it's something very similar.  Tests and more tests next week.  Which I don't have time for because I am teaching Bible School all week.

I do not like having my life interrupted by nonsense.  But this seems to be serious.  Oh, well.  

My only prayer was "Please God, let me finish this second book."  

Anything else would be gravy. 

The worst part was that since I didn't sleep for over 24 hours, I was too tired to go garage sale-ing with Ann.

The doctor said that my extremely high blood pressure was because I was frightened.  I told him that wasn't true because I don't, and didn't get frightened--which is true.  I am calm in a crisis.  I never did get excited.  Just tired.  He finally listened to me.

I want to keep my brain and my fingers so that I can type and think. 

God gets to decide what happens to me.  I just have a few requests.

My air conditioner quit.  I figured I was going to have to replace it, but my air conditioner guy, "Fred," came out, spent an hour on it, and Wa-lah! It was working agin.  He wouldn't give me a bill because he said he didn't do anything. I wasn't going to let that happen.  I gave him and his partner cash.  They didn't want to take it, but I told him I wouldn't call him next time if he didn't take the money.  He finally agreed. (The Bible says the workman is worthy of his hire.)

So since they were such a blessing to me, I told them that I was going to bless them.  I, asked them if they were Christian men.  They said yes.  (No surprise since they were so nice to come help me within an hour of when I called them and then didn't want to charge me).  I had them come into the family room and I played hymns for them on my BIG marimba.  ( I don't travel with it because it is so large and hard to break down.)

They loved it.  And when I finished, one of them asked me if I knew this Willie Nelson song.  I didn't, but he broke out his phone and played a line or two.  He said it was his favorite song.  It was "I'll Fly Away."  I had never played it, but I knew the tune, gave it a go, didn't make any mistakes.  He was happy.

I always try to play for the workmen that come to the house.  They always ask me to play more.  It's a blessing for me to be able to play.  It has been sixty-seven years since I took lessons, and I never stopped.  Who would have known that it would have lasted that long.

I have a small marimba in the trunk of my car--in seven pieces.  And when I go with the choir to sing for retirement centers, etc., all the guys in the choir bring a piece of the marimba in from the trunk of my car, and I put it together.  A couple of times in the program I'll play.  When we are done, I break it down, and they carry it out.  I don't know if I could keep it up if I didn't have help.  It's not easy to transport like a guitar or a horn.  To God be the glory.

I've seen some "firsts" in my lifetime, but this "first" is a catastrophe.  Water, water everywhere.  The Arkansas not just over its banks, but spreading over the  land.  People flooded who never dreamed of floods in their neighborhoods.  And didn't insure against them.  This is so sad.  People losing everything.

I am high and dry, but every night when the news comes on, it just gets worse and worse.  Oklahoma has never seen rain like this.  Tornadoes, yes.  This kind of flooding, no.  It will be a long time before we recover from this.

Every homeowner in my area has 100% hail damage on their roofs.  I do.  All my neighbors do as well.  And the roof damage covers dozens of square miles.

Oklahoma seems to be a constant disaster area.  If it isn't one thing, it's another.  Come winter, it will be ice storms that break trees and sleet storms that make the roads treacherous. 

That old saying that Oklahomans repeat has never been more true:  "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute."

I have a bag packed with critical items to take across the street when the sirens blow, and they have sounded off twice this week already.  All the TV stations are in "Weather mode."  You might as well forget about your favorite show because all you are going to get on TV is the track of the latest tornadoes.  Where they are going to hit, when, and what's coming next.

But I am glad we have such terrific coverage.  It sets your mind at ease when the sky looks ominous.  We've come a long way in weather forecasting.

You have to be tough to live in Oklahoma.  God bless us all.

Yesterday was the celebration of Memorial day.  Not only do I appreciate and revere the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice, but those who live in the aftermath of wounds that are unspeakable.  And those whose lives are forever torn apart by the mental wounds of war.  Wounds from each and every war we have sent men and women to fight. 

The reason Viet Nam was such a divisive war at home was because of the draft. The effect was that every family lived in dread of the draft and the war touched people across the board of the country.  Young people rose up in protest at the entire idea of being sent to fight a war they didn't want to fight.  They won.

We are in a peculiar military situation at this time in our history.  We haven't declared war this time.  Never before have we seen the kind of war we are in.  Undeclared.  And fought by mercenaries--people recruited to fight war.  This war has been going on for years and years and years.  No draft.  No equal exposure across America.  A war that only affects a few, not the whole nation.  People are irritated, but not at risk.  To be at risk, you have to sign up with the military.

It is unprecedented.  Nobody who takes part in this battle knows what the objective is--they don't know when they have won.  Or lost. They just keep going back overseas again and again waging war against Who?  What? Destroying but not conquering.  Trying to scoop up water with a pitchfork.

The people who are fighting this war--mostly young men--weren't called to serve a grateful nation.  No, they joined.  They walked into a recruiting station and took a job.  They go fight; return home, only to be sent back again and again and again.  It is no wonder PTSD is rampant.  

This will go on forever unless we declare war against somebody, something, somewhere, and institute the draft.  Then the people of America will speak.  

Friday, I had to drive myself to Tulsa for an appointment.  When I headed back to Okla. City on the Turnpike, I listened to a speaker who spoke from questions the audience called in.  The question he covered was:  "Can a Christian serve in the military."  He covered the subject in a way that was totally new to me.  He said that war is waged in three arenas by Christians.

1. On the personal level:  We are to render good for evil.  Turn the other cheek. Forgive seventy times seven. He quoted dozens and dozens of scriptures instructing individuals not to be violent.  To be peaceful.

2. On the church or congregational level:  We are to repudiate evil.  Stand up for what is right.  Spread the truth.  Defy liars.  Defend the weak and helpless.

3. On the national level:  We are to go to war against evil.  The speaker made the point that the entire Old Testament coverage of wars was about national actions.  Israel was ordered to go to war against nations that worshiped idols, that sacrificed their children on sacrificial altars, etc.  The nation of Israel was given instructions to conduct war--not the individuals.

I was surprised that I had never put all of that together.  But it is right there in the Bible in clear text.  Because the instructions to the individual were peaceful, I was fuzzy on the subject of being verbal in refuting non-truths in the world--but refuting non-truth is what you and I do as a member of a church.  A church is a group of believers who spread the truth of the Gospel.

And of course, I believe that as a nation there are wars--WW II as an example--that must be fought.  Ken said,"As a Marine, I serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States of America--who is elected by the people of our nation."  Ken was a Bible teacher, Deacon, Christian Marine.  God bless our service men and women.  God bless our nation and lead us to righteousness.  

My friend Jeanette came over and brought Squig some brown rice and Squig said, "I've been about to starve.  Why did it take you so long to get here?"  And ate the brown rice and asked for more.

Go figure.  His nose was turned up at canned food, dry dog food--which he has eaten all of his life--and baked chicken breast!!  He was waiting on Jeanette to come feed  him--it's the only thing I can figure out.  When she comes over she pets him the entire time.  Maybe he was just tired of me coaxing him to eat.  Who knows the mind of a dog.  Any way, the crisis seems to be over.

I've been reading the letters of Paul again.  I started with the first letter to the Corinthians, and have worked my way through to Hebrews--which no one knows who wrote.  I am amazed how many verses were permanently in my head.  I would come across a memorized verse and it was like finding an old friend.

I can't seem to memorize very well any more.  I think my brain is full of stuff that is no longer relevant and I've run out of space?  Things I want to remember don't seem to know where to go.  Short term memory, or permanent?  If I could clear stuff out of my permanent memory that is no longer useful, I would have more room for new stuff.

Stuff like using the shift bar on a manual typewriter.  And loading a reel to reel tape recorder.  And a million other things.  Four on the floor. etc.  My hand occasionally has a mind of its own as it reaches to do something like a typewriter shift to the next line, or put the car in second gear.

The only thing I wish I could remember at this point is the "addresses" of those scriptures I found.  But thank God for Google.  The scripture is memorized in my head and Google knows the address so I can usually find what I want to use.  That works.  The biggest problem with memory is finding where I left my phone.

It got worse before it got better.  Squig was listless all day long--unable to find his spunk.  I finally called the vet again and made an appointment for today because he wouldn't eat.  Anything.  Chicken breast--no.  He wouldn't even sniff.  I tried everything on his "approved" list.  He wasn't going to eat anything.  And didn't.  Which finally got me really, really worried.  I couldn't think of anything else.  Thank God for friends that kept calling to check and encourage.

So I cooked some rice.  He had eaten rice in the past.  So......maybe.  And last night before we went to bed, he ate a spoonful or two of rice and drank some water.  Finally.  I was so relieved.

When you are my age, you have lost so many people in your life (and Squig is people) that you know what the "Left Behind" feeling feels like.  I wasn't ready for that.  He is the one constant-every-single-day companion in my life.

They say that when you have a wonderful long life--into your eighties, you are like the last leaf on the tree as far as the people of your past.  You've outlived them all.  Which is good--because you are alive, and in good health.

But the downsize is that there aren't hardly any people who remember what you remember.  I am a child of WWII.  It broke out right after I was born, and wasn't over until I was almost ten.  I was surrounded by the people of the "Greatest Generation."  That was my normal.  Every day was "The War."

Korea and Vietnam and mid-Asia wars haven't touched the way we live here in America for the most part (excluding 9-11)  In WWII there were shortages of the necessities of life every day.  You couldn't buy anything if you didn't have a ration coupon.  Everyone experienced hardship--it was our normal.  I miss those people.  Times were really hard.  But people were good.  I'm here.  I'm tired of losing people.  But I have new people in my life, and I bless God for that.