A Change of Pace

Well I certainly hope there are people reading my blog because yesterday's post was a lot of work! Funny, I never thought of writing as work before, but I was tired after my blog yesterday. And to think I always wanted to be a writer! So anyway, please, if you didn't get around to it yesterday, scroll down and read it. I went out on a limb and wrote my own opinion about something. I love to do that. I love to stretch my mind and my faith and explore different possibilities. The information that is under "About Me" isn't supposed to be there but I can't figure out how to get it to go away. It was supposed to be hidden and you'd have to click on it in order to read it. It worked fine until I decided to edit it a little bit. I realized I hadn't said anything about my son who lives across town and I wanted to add that since he's such an important part of my life. I clicked on "Edit" but it wouldn't add my new information and it came out on the blog page. Now I can't get it to go away. I'm not sure if it will come up on every blog but I have the feeling it will. Oh well, I'm still learning how to use this program. At least I'll know after I post this whether or not it comes up every day.

We had a warm night last night. Our high yesterday afternoon on the deck reached 110 degrees and we didn't really cool down all night. It was still in the upper 70s at midnight, but it did dip enough for me to pull up the sheet to cover my arms. The fan in the window blows right down on me and so it did eventually get cool. Today is supposed to be hot again. About like yesterday. Ugh! I hate the heat and there's still so much summer left. I mean, fall is not far off but the summer heat won't give up for another couple months.

I laid in bed last night trying to figure out why I blog. I guess it's because I love to write. I especially enjoy writing about my faith. One of these days I'll organize all my thoughts on my testimony and just sit down and write it all out. It's enough now to just say that I was brought to the end of myself and had no where else to go but to the Lord. I've heard it said that we should always write out our testimony and have it handy for whenever the opportunity presents itself but I've never really done that. No, I take that back. I did write it once about 17 or 18 years ago. I probably still have it in a box some where. All my writing is in a box somewhere (I hope). I had dozens of poems written and several short stories. I was always going to publish them but then never did.

We spent most of yesterday late afternoon and evening watching the coverage of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. What a tragic thing to happen! There you are, just driving along and suddenly, without warning, whoosh!, the bridge just drops out from under you. What a ride some of those people had! But those poor construction workers didn't even have a car to ride down in. How scary that must have been! But we live in a fallen world and bad things are going to happen. Jesus told us we would have problems in this life. He didn't say we might, he said we would. That's part of the Christian walk, being prepared to face bad things and taking them in stride. We always hope for the best but we know there are trials to endure.

Tomorrow is our big monthly shopping day so I may not post a blog until late. Or it may be Saturday before I get around to it. Or I may end up just skipping the day. It will all depend on how tired I am after doing all the shopping. We usually go to WalMart, the Dollar Tree, Longs, and Cost Less and I'm usually pretty wiped out by the time we get home. Especially when it's hot! I just wanted to give you a head's up that I may not post tomorrow. The problem with doing it Saturday is that I'm supposed to wash the car that morning. I think I'll probably end up just skipping it and taking a 3-day weekend. If I do that, I'll have extra time to think about what I want to write on Monday.

Sunday is Communion Sunday so that means I will need to be at church at 8:00 instead of 10:30. I help set everything up for the service and it sounds like I may be doing it alone tomorrow. But there's no problem if I am because I'll have plenty of time. I just hope I don't forget something important. That would be so awful. I'll also be one of the servers and help pass the emblems around. I love communion. It's just such a special time for me. Jesus said every time we take communion we proclaim the Truth of God. How Christ came, and died, and rose again giving us hope for the future. Without Him we would all be tossed about in every kind of confusion and pain we could possibly think of. Isn't it amazing that God came to earth in the form of a human to gather us unto Himself? But He did just that! We were hopelessly and eternally separated from God because of our sinful natures and He took it upon Himself to bridge that gap. He reconciled us to Himself. It was the only way we could be saved. On our own, we would never be able to draw near to the Lord. The Bible says that by our very nature we were without hope, alienated from God, totally lost, and objects of His wrath (Eph. 2:3). That means that there's nothing we could have done to save ourselves or make ourselves good enough for God to accept us. Just as we are humans by nature and there's nothing we can do to change that, we are objects of His wrath by nature and there's nothing we can do to change that either. It took an act of God so save us and brings us into alignment with our heavenly Father. He did it. He did it all. And to that we say, "Thank You, Jesus."

My Scripture for the day is Proverbs 17:14: "Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out." Isn't that the truth? How many times have you breached a dam of anger only to find out you can't stop the torrent rushing through the gap once it gets started? That current of anger and ugliness pours through the breach and, oh! how we wish we hadn't even started it! But it's too late. You just can't stop it once it gets started. This is a warning for us to take to heart. It's better to leave that dam of peace in place and just not make that harsh comment in the first place. Don't even start and the ugly fight won't take place.

I mailed all my cards to those in my "flock" yesterday. As a lay pastor I am responsible for nine families in our congregation at church. Most of the other lay pastors make phone calls but because I have such a difficult time talking on the telephone, I send out cards every 4 to 6 weeks to let them know I'm praying for them everyday and that I'm available to help them if they have any sort of need or question. What an honor to serve my church body this way! You never know when someone might be having a bad day and then a card comes in the mail and cheers them up and lets them know they're being prayed for. God blesses us, so we pass that blessing on to others. It's such a little thing to do but has the potential for such big rewards.

My cats must have had a bad night last night. They're all crashed in different places in my living room. They can get into the strangest positions yet always look so incredibly comfortable. Pepper, my dog, is asleep on the couch looking very much like an oversized potato. All they ever seem to do is sleep. Have you ever noticed that? They have life so easy, just eating and sleeping all the time. But, then, I think I might get bored if I just ate and slept all the time. One thing for sure, I'd get fat! Or should I say fatter?

Well, I'm sure by now you must be bored stiff so I think I'll end my blog for today. I need to run out to the bank and the store sometime this afternoon and I'll go ahead and swing by the Post Office as long as I'm out. I try to do that, group several things together every few days, so I'm not running around town every day. It save on gas and keeps a limit on the time I have to spend out in the heat. If I don't get back with you until Monday, have a good weekend and remember God loves you. He really does.