I am going to Pryor on Saturday and will be signing books between 11AM and 1 PM---The new book about my brother, “The Macau Mavrick.”  I hope to see you there.  I probably won’t be back to Pryor again that I know of.    

Because....I have to get someone to drive me.  Friends and family don’t want me on the road in case the car breaks down.  I understand that, but I don’t like it.  As you age, you lose more and more of your freedom because you can’t handle the consequences.

I don’t particularly like it, but I accept it.  I’ve always heard that youth is wasted on the young, and I think it is true.  Not because young people are at fault in any way, but because there is no way--when we are young--that we can appreciate our freedom and health.  We take it for granted because that is all we have known.  

Maybe aging is God’s way of making us accept the next step in our journey.  Maybe that’s why the promise that he gave us was that, in heaven, we would get a new body?  He could have promised a zillion other things, but when your earthly body is growing feeble, a new one is a rather attractive enticement.  And no---I am not depressed.  And I’m not ready to check out.  I’m just irritated with old age.   

Well, I missed blogging yesterday.  Monday.  So I repent.  I am doing all of the exercises that physical therapy has me doing.  And am sore.  Every muscle that hasn’t been used in the last three months is sore.  I am counting my steps.  And I do feel better.  

This Saturday, Feb. 3, I will be in Pryor at the bookstore to sign books.  “The Macau Mavrick” is out.  Reviews from all of you that have read it have been exciting.  I have even convinced my brother Bill Swan to be there as well---since the book is about him.  

I spent three years writing and rewriting it.  And every thing I wrote, I had to rewrite and edit at least a dozen times.  I went to bed every night thinking about how to say something about what he had told me, and I woke up every morning re-thinking it.  Three years.   Writing something that someone will enjoy reading is a lot of work.  When I started, I didn’t know that.  I learned. 

Nobody will probably remember your grandparents if you don’t write about them.  And the generation before them...gone.  My great-grandmother’s name was Sarah.  She was left to raise five children by herself when her husband was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. (It is a long story--he really was innocent.)  He died in prison.  My grandmother--as a result--was an orphan when her Sarah died.  My grandmother married at fourteen (she always said “almost fifteen) and she and my grandfather also raised five children and put them all through college in the twenties.  Unheard of at the time back then for anyone to go to college. As a result, all five of them stressed education.  I was the only one in the next generation that didn’t go to college right out of high school.  I got married, and didn’t start higher education until I was 27 and Ken had gone to Viet Nam.  I was the family failure because I didn’t immediately go to college.  All of my aunts and uncles kept after me until I enrolled.  When I got my first set of grades, I remember that I brought the report in,  plopped it on the kitchen counter and said, “There.”  Of course it was all A’s.  I may have been late, but I wouldn’t have dared made a B.

I’ve got this song stuck in my head since  I’ve been listen to the Gaither Hour.  Do you ever get a song stuck?  I like this song a lot:

“They baptized Jesse Taylor.....  In Cedar Creek  last Sunday......  Jesus gained a soul and satan lost a good right arm. ........They all cried Hallelujah, when Jesses’ head went under...cause this time he went under for the Lord.

Of course it helps if you like country music.  And when you combine country with gospel, it’s even better.

I record the program and leave it on in the background when I’m doing other stuff.  I’m not a big fan of the constant praise and worship music at church without some hymns.  I like my music to tell a story like they did in the old hymns.  I do the praise and worship on my own.  The music is a big part of going to church for me.

The physical therapist gave me exercises to do three times a day.  I’m doing them, and if the soreness I am experiencing is an indication...it’s working.  I admit, I needed a push.  I had gotten so weak from all of the things that had happened to me...ending with covid, that I was down--which is a place that we get to--that we don’t want to be.  Everyone says I am going to get better if I will get off of my butt and start moving.  But when you don’t feel like moving,  you can think of a hundred reasons to stay in your chair.

I did experience something that we face when we are old.  That is “Why bother if you aren’t going to get better.”  The therapist was a great encourager!  She assured me that I wasn’t done yet.  That I could recover and have many years left if I would get my body back in shape and get some strength back.

So.....I’m doing what they tell me to do.  I finally believe I can get stronger.  I’m going to do the exercises to strengthen my flab.  I can’t get out because it is so cold so I am walking 1000 steps a day and increasing it.  Amazing what an encourager can do for our attitude. 

I don’t know about you, but I am really tired of the cold weather.  At least the wind isn’t sweeping down the plain.  Nobody can match Oklahoma for wind.

I’ve been reading the letters that Peter wrote.  It is interesting the different styles of the New Testament writers.  I know the Bible is inspired by God, but the men who wrote the books are identifiable by their writing style.  Or women?  The book, “A Conspiracy of Breath” by Latayne Scott approaches Hebrews from a possible female direction.  

I still haven’t figured out who wrote Hebrews.  I know what all of the scholars say, but they haven’t figured it out either.  It doesn’t fit any of the other styles in the New Testament and has a soft tone.

Of course, Paul has the most educated, elite, Jewish approach.  He studied at the feet of the most brilliant educator of his day while he was growing up.  John has a more loving approach.  And then there is Luke.  Precise.  As a doctor, he wants the exact prescription when he speaks.  It doesn’t matter who your favorite is.  We just need to read God’s word.  And read. We have to have a habit or we won’t get it done.  You will plan on it....but....

I went to the doctor this morning and he told me that I had to get moving.  That sitting all day wasn’t going to cut it.  Problem is, after being sick so many months, my energy level has gone kaput and I don’t want to get moving.

So...I have to do what he says if I want to do better.  A physical therapist is going to come and get me going...the doctor says I won’t like it, and I already know that.

Seems like anymore, everything good for me is something I don’t want to do.  And to be honest, I don’t want to do what I don’t want to do.  I don’t imagine any of you are like that????

However, I am a rule follower.  Once I make a rule, I will do it.

This is going to be hard.  My mind is willing.  My body isn’t.