Soakin' Up Life . . . at a 100 MPH!

Last night brought some much cooler weather to our part of the world. It enabled us to move from the living room (in front of the portable a/c) up back up to the bedroom last night. The weather was sooooo much cooler. It was great sleeping on our squishy mattress verses the air mattress. And we slept like a couple of peaceful dreams! Thank you, Lord, for a much cooler night. Mike

Reading through Daniel as Keith preaches through it. It's been really good. This week I've been reading through chapter 3 and something continued to catch my eye, but I didn't put all the pieces together until this morning. The key was verses 28-29. . . Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way." These two verses present two sides to the same spiritual issue - FAITH ! I define faith as putting trust in action . And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego put their trust into action when it came to ...

So I'm reading Psalms 30 today - yes, it's no coincidence that today is the 30th and I was reading the 30th Psalm. As I'm reading King David's words jumped out at me. . . 8 To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: I wrestle a bit with this notion of mercy, OK, I wrestle a lot with it. I honestly don't think I understand mercy the same way David understood it. I just don't get it. And I don't think we in America get it. . .this concept of mercy. Think about it, when was the last time you asked someone to have mercy on you? When was the last time you asked God for His mercy? So what is this mercy? I looked it up on dictionary.com here's what they had to say about mercy: Compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, enemy or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence The disposition to be compassionate or forbearing An act of kindness, compassion, or favor Something that give evidence of d...

It appears that all they hype about organic food being better for us is just that...just a bunch of hype! We're paying for overpriced food that doesn't provide any more nutritional value than non-organic food. Hmmmm... Check it out here I can't afford it anyway. Mike

It's Wednesday and we've been experiencing an unusual heat wave in the northwest. Yesterday it reached 105 (110 with the head index) up here. Today, it's supposed to reach somewhere around 107 degrees in the Portland area. Being from Texas I usually say something like, "It's already been 103 where I'm from." Then I have to stop and remember that just about every house built in Texas has air conditioning. Here, that's not the case. Most of the people here don't have central air. Maybe a window unit or two, but most don't have anything but fans. The town home Cindy and I live in doesn't have any a/c and they were built last year. We even looked at a new home built just last year and the builder said it didn't have a/c, but it was wired for it. We were fortunate enough to find a portable a/c unit to cool the living/kitchen/dining area. Believe me, it's working overtime!! So, when people say it's hot here, they mean it. N...

Slept in 'til 9:15 this morning. Haven't done that in forever. I was awaken by my sweet wife bringing me coffee! Then, as I made my way downstairs I realized she was in the middle of making breakfast - scrambled eggs & biscuits! Holy Moly!!! Am I a lucky man! Now I'm enjoying another cup of coffee and the momentary quiet. We may head to Gresham's Saturday Market in downtown Gresham. It's only a couple of blocks from our house and we enjoy getting out and walking. Got to head up to the church later, but for now...enjoy YOUR Saturday! Mike

It has certainly been a while since I last posted. . .almost 2 months have passed. I got out of the habit because at times I just didn't have the energy to formulate thoughts and I was struggling to put them "on paper". To be honest I was struggling in general. I had no energy, what little energy I had was used up by 10:00 in the morning. I wanted to run, hike, get outside, but even the things that was supposed to energize me was draining me. I was forgetting things, even if I wrote them down. It was like mental gymnastics for me to develop processes - something that usually comes very natural to me. I even went through a time where I just couldn't afford the energy or emotional investment in relationships that required very much of me. Those of you who know me know this isn't me at all! So. . .all in all, it's been a strange time for me. What made it doubly difficult was that I couldn't make sense of any of it. I kept thinking, " What's wr...