Meet Tony

There the local Agape team was hosting an aperativo English practice session. There were only two participants, one from Azerbaijan, and the other from Guatemala. Tony, from Guatemala came in after Tamer, so he sat down where Elisha, Matthew and I were chatting. Elisha and I introduced ourselves and we got to know a little about Tony. He was clearly a brave young man about 26-34 years old who had a lot of life experience and seemed to be a good thinker.

After we chatted a few minutes, the Gospel came up in the conversation. Tony wasn’t ready to sign on just yet, and the conversation continued about the KEY elements of the Gospel and some of what Jesus had said about it in some of His conversations.

At one point we began talking about Loving G^d, and our neighbor as ourselves (Lk 10). Tony shared that he struggled with loving Himself. With my bad hearing I misunderstood him. Possibly because for my generation the challenge is to avoid loving yourself too, too much. It turns out that his generation struggles with loving themselves at all. After I had gone off track about Jesus wanting us to the point of Loving Him first and foremost, and how if we did that the proper high- and low- self esteem issues fell to the background, Elisha got us back to Tony’s statement that I had missed.

Somehow, I had never noticed this struggle with low, low self-esteem—possibly because I had trouble conceiving of such a thing. But, in the future, I hope to be able to use this new knowledge when I talk to college students.

Hey old-timers, it’s a whole new, and very different, mindset out there.  But, it sure is good to know—now.

How about a little 12-hour nap?

It is Thursday afternoon.  Today is my first day back from Italy, which is 7 hours ahead of Northport. I arise at 0400 (it's 11 AM in IT) and feel pretty energetic. I shoulda enjoyed it more, because it won't last.

I spend two or three hours, or maybe five, catching up on emails, paperwork, etc. Around 1030 or 11 I start to go down to mow the grass, but Brenda requests my help with hanging two of the pictures we had bought for the Living Room. After that I hang a dozen more, give or take a few. as the day progresses, I feel worse and worse. After finishing the picture-hanging, I crank up the mower and cut the grass.

I am spiraling down pretty quickly as I sit down to supper at a little after 3 PM.  We like to eat supper early, but this is a NEW RECORD for us. Yay! After supper, I am doomed and about 5 PM I...go to bed of course.  Remember 3 PM local time is 10 PM Italian time.

I sleep until Brenda comes to bed about 9 and offers be a small benadryl. I agree. I awake briefly around 0200, and then around 4.  The next time I look at the clock it is 0525, and time to get up for Grace men's prayer meeting.

Wow! Twelve hours of sleep!  Amazing.  Ever done that?

And as I write this...I'm feeling a bit sleepy!

Fall of the Year

When Brenda and I left Northport on 22 September, it was blazing hot and dry and the thoughts of Fall were still distant. I returned late on 16 Oct to a coolness that tells me that it is indeed Fall, with all of its pleasures.

I mowed the grass yesterday, 17 Oct., and noticed that it had grown surprisingly little since we left. I note on my calendar this might be last yard-mowing of this year.  Hooray!

The October daises are right at full bloom. We didn't even realize they were there until they burst into bloom while I was out of town. The leaves in other parts of the USA are turning fall colors, but not here. I fear that our dry, dry early fall will stress the trees to the point of minimizing the fall colors.  Maybe I am wrong.

Fall is a time of joy.  Football is finally played in reasonable weather, with a diminished threat of heat injury. It's deer season, and that is one of my FAV times of the year. I get to sit quietly and read, contemplate, meditate.  A great time to enjoy.

Thanks be to G^d for these marvelous seasons. THis might be my favorite...until Spring.

Oldie but goodies

See these boots?  Guess when and where I got them?

Yes!  How did you know?  I got them from my friend, then CPT Charles R who was in Special Forces w the Army. I was visiting him, turkey hunting, in the spring of 1984, I think. He had these boots with which the Army was experimenting to try to minimize detection by UV radiation. They fit me, so he gave them to me.

I have worn them for all sorts of work. I have cut fire wood, painted, built stuff, and even hunted in them. They are now on their last legs, which isn't too bad after 35 years. They have been through some laces, but these are original soles and they are still in pretty good shape.

In the desert, the Israelites sandals did NOT wear out even after 40 years of wandering.  Go figure.

I read this and recognized that when stuff goes a long time you don't spend much money on it. We have 3 autos presently: a 1998 Maxima, a 2000 Tundra, and a 2001 Altima. They still run, so we still drive them. My fav deer rifle I bought used in 1977 or so. I wear a pair of loafers from 1984. Go figure.

Thank you L^rd for some good boots that are only just now wearing out. They didn't make it 40 years, but they still did well. Hey my body is 69.5, and it's still functioning!  Go figure.

Thanks be to G^d!

One of our favs

We have mentioned before how we like seeing the wildlife at the new home. We see green heron, domestic geese, Canada geese, wood ducks, green heron, an occasional hawk and owl, and I have written about the fighting hummingbirds. But our family fav is the Great blue heron, which is a bit of an odd name given that it is mostly gray.

Once we saw two of them at once, but the norm is to see a solitary blue. He often alights in the tall pines directly across the lake from our kitchen window. I guess his height makes him stand out, but we like him/her. As you might expect, we call it "Old Blue".

Of course our biggest thrill is when he lights on our dock, as you can see above. On occasion he has come into our yard to move down the lake shore looking for food.

Brenda has been seeking a painting of a blue to display. One of our CO friends has a Basil Edes of a blue, and one of our local friends has another by someone. Most folks who paint seem to chose, naturally, the most colorful phase of the male bird. Whereas I certainly understand this, it seems exaggerated compared to what we usually see.

G^d has gifted us, and everyone, with beautiful nature. Nature testifies to his eternal power and divine nature (Rom. 1:20). And Old Blue adds to the testimony.

Indeed.

So How do you get a BIG tree out of a tight spot?

Here's the rub: how do you get a 65-75 foot dead pine out of your backyard when it is surrounded by other trees?

Well, you start by getting a bucket truck into the back yard.

First you trim off any limbs on other trees that may hang up or interfere with the dead tree and its parts from falling into the designated space. Then you start at the bottom, holding a limb and cutting it from the trunk. The dangling limb is then swung into the designated space and released.

Once all the limbs are gone, you tie a special harness to the trunk, and tie the part being cut to this harness and to a line which allows them, with the help of the bucket, to lower it into the designated spot. This is repeated with ruck sections, until the trunk gets too big.

Once the trunk gets too big, the swedge cut is made then the trunk cut and at the end pushed towards the designated drop zone. Sometimes this works better than others.

Ultimately a little bobcat, with a skillful driver, scoops up ALL the debris and hauls it to the curb. From the curb, a BIG truck with a grabber, just like the city uses, grabs the pile at the curb. This team then used a leaf blower and rakes and cleaned everything up very neatly.

And, my friend, THAT'S how it's done!

Defining--Redefining Success in Ministry

Humming it up

One of the great joys of our new home are the hummingbirds. We had an excellent spot just outside the kitchen table lakeside bay window for a feeder.  After dealing with the raccoons who kept messing with it, we finally figured out a system that worked.

What many humming bird feeders have seen is that the hummers seem more interested in fighting than in feeding. Just as I am writing this, by the bay window, a hummer comes up to feed, but before he can get his long bill into the feeder, another comes by and runs him off.

Hummer friends, please recognize that THERE IS PLENTY OF NECTAR FOR ALL!!

Yes, Brenda refills the feeder when it nears empty. If they drank a cup a day, the next day there would be more.

I think there is a key lesson herein for humans. We get so greedy that we fight, even when there is an abundance. We could BETTER enjoy what we have, if we weren't so worried about what someone else has!

I'm gonna think about it. What can hummers teach us?