Sunday afternoon delight

My father could recline like this for hours, see the dog finding a moment of intimacy. I would for years try to match this TV posture and end up with my hands asleep and my body aching, I eventually gave it up but always admired my fathers favorite TV watching mode.

Church is concluded, friendships renewed, covenants remembered, weekly cycle begun, as for me I try to think that Sunday is the first day of the week not the tag on at the end of the week. Points made, applications stated, people are on their own to work out their journey, or walk it out day by day.

These few hours of relaxation after performance, of rest after effort have become to me a great delight. I am not a strict Sabbath Keeper, so the finishing golf tournament of the week provides pleasure and excitement. I often nod off and on during the tournament and must be poked or prodded by Laura who threatens to turn in off, and just does not understand that though I am sleeping I am still listening to the play.

Then perhaps, a 20 minute nap, very therapeutic.

My granddaughter speaks of the frustration of the life she is living in highschool, the daily schedule, get up, dress, class, homework, sleep and then at it again. Yes dear one, life is routine sparked by special moments and occasional high spots.

There is nothing very exciting about my week to week life, but I am living with a sense of exhilaration, peace, grace and love.

My my time flies

College me, early 70s

Twenty years ago I left my faith tradition where I had been nurtured. My denomination, my theological framework, my network of mentors and friends all lay in the decision to quit trying to heal a bad church situation in Tucson. We moved back into the first home we had ever purchased and I began to seek ways to survive.

One hot afternoon I slipped alone into a theatre to watch "Forest Gump". It was a masterpiece that told the story of my own life growing up in the south and watching the drama of the sixties and seventies. I am amazed how quickly the time has passed since that movie made such an impact on me that summer. Every song, every political clash, every attitude that existed in those decades helped make the person I am.

I would experience a different faith tradition over the next seven years. One where I was able to function but one that lived in constant fear of the end times. That fear would mark their lives as the century changed, and become a sickening reality on 9/11/2001. Hard to believe thirteen more years have passed since that day, and how we continue to live in the dark shadow of terrorism and religious warfare.

I have managed to stay alive and keep the core faith that initially drew me into discipleship, but I am less captivated with the answers and approaches to the world that both faith traditions continue to practice. I am increasingly living in the evangelical wasteland, longing for a better way to see the future.

Trovi trashes my online access and I resent the intrusion

I love this combination of natures trees and manmade skyscrapers in NYC.

It looked like a legitimate request, like the ones that suggest updates on Windows. When I gave permission to supposedly update google video capabilities I ended up with five crappy programs loading on my computer that I had no interest in, advertising requests, and the replacement of my search engine with a trashy trovi.com search engine begging me to buy something or try something and hiding my email access. I resent the deception and the intrusion. Do these losers think we are going to buy this bait and switch.

Helpful internet nuts had videos on how to get rid of its hidden keys, but they were moving too fast for me to follow and I ended up buying a malware program for my laptops and found several hundred programs sitting on my hard drive passing all my browsing history to a myriad number of advertisers, and I resent the intrusion.

This with all the bold moves of facebook to take over your options on that program, and with this latest expensive intrusion into my convenient use of an internet gateway, I am feeling quite unnerved by the hidden uses and abuses of the internet.

Run for your life!!....yeah.....really

This is a Morton salt facility at the great Salt Lake and the great Salt Flats, where they harvest great salt, which is not good for me.
I have switched to Himalayan Sea Salt for my personal use, full of minerals, very tasty, very expensive.

I survived my annual nuclear stress test yesterday. The treadmill part, where your heart is monitored, your bp is checked and you get your heart rate uncomfortably high and then have to hold it there for two minutes while they inject your with nuclear tracer stuff.

It remains the best way to tell if your heart arteries are properly supplying the heart with blood or are beginning to clog up and create the potential for heart attack.

This is, believe me, a love hate affair for me and all who have heart conditions. I know it must be done, but I work myself into a state of dread for the days leading up to it, and a state of uneasy anxiety till the test is interpreted back to me several days later. Of course, if something had been really bad in the EKG they would not let me leave the office but would send me to the hospital. That did not happen, so now I wait. Grateful, and aware that life is tough for lots of folks.

Duck Dynasty Wisdom?

A happy moment in our young married days

Phil to a reporter, "Well those terrorists are like street thugs on steroids, we will either have to convert them or kill them."

Is'nt that what they plan to do to us? Are we then making the same offer as they are?

Giving away books

The Prattville Presbyterian Church 1974. When my library was fitting on one set of shelves. They had to tear this historic building down when the shifting Alabama Clay made it unsafe to occuppy.

I have a plan for passing my library on to younger leaders. I grew that library with joy and with surprise gifts from others who were letting go of their libraries. Books have called to me from my shelves when I needed the input of others and scholarly advice.
Two large groups of boxes left during the year to bless others. I have shelf space for the first time in a long time.

My New Testament library goes last, if at all. For Lord willing I will use my teaching gift going forward.

I remember pouring over the Book offerings on Christian Book Distributors and planning my purchases. This morning I got one in my church mail and glanced through it and I was reminded how much things have changed in the publishing industry. The whole book was divided into sections by popular authors. Like most of our culture we have fallen into many camps following many ideas.

We are pleased with our new master bathroom

Well, this shows you that we did a complete redo, a tear out and create something new in our 25 year old bathroom. I feel like I am in a hotel somewhere getting ready for the day. We are grateful to get this done and to enjoy.