Sometimes things go kaput and you throw a hissy fit

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

Sometimes things just go kaput. 

I had said my goodbyes to the staff and was off to our corporate headquarters for yet another meeting, at least this one was  in person so I did not have to ZOOM. ZOOMing around gets tiring. 

I had been on the road for about 5-minutes when all of a sudden I noticed something.  I noticed that my motorcycle wasn't running anymore. Uggggggg, I coasted to the side of the rode; called the staff at corporate told them I would miss the meeting as I was on the side of the road broken down. I called my "Y", Eddie and Norm were in a meeting so Jennifer got the short straw to come get me. 

It is good to have family, just sayin. 

It is better to have family that likes you, just sayin.

It is best to have family who will come and get you when you are broken down on the side of the road, just sayin. 

The team at Corporate made a Team meeting so I could ZOOM from the side of the road. 

I was too busy being broken down, talking with the tow truck driver, dodging cars that tried their very best to kill us. Frankly, I was not in my best place at the moment.

Yes, it is true, even chaplains have bad days. 

Later, someone asked me, "What do you think God is trying to teach you in all of this?" 

Good thing I am well trained. 

Inside my head my mind is screaming, "Bad theology, bad theology, My bike died. things happen. God did not cause my bike to die so He could teach me a lesson. that is right up there with 'God needed your baby more than you did." 

On the outside I said, "I don't know."

Sometimes things just go kaput.

Here is what I do know, "While God did not cause my bike to die, He can use it to help others if I allow Him to." 

I will learn how to trust in Him even more. I will know that He was there with me in the moment, even though I did not feel Him at the moment. 

I know He loves me and cares for me, even when I am throwing a hissy fit, which by the way I was. Just ask Jennifer. See she even took a video!

As you can plainly see I was not being my best at that moment. 

God understands.

Sometimes things go kaput and you throw a hissy fit 

I am glad that God is big enough to watch me throw a hissy fit and then give me comforting words when I am done.

Have you ever thrown a hissy fit with God?

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Roger

 

The Check Engine Light of Life

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

I was driving along just fine the other day when my check engine light came on. I drive a 1999 Jeep Cherokee classic, it has over 300,000 miles on it so having the check engine light come on is not uncommon. The car has been paid off for almost 20 years and I have grown accustom to making a car payment in the form of a mechanical bill every so often. 

So when the check engine light comes on I take my jeep to my mechanic. 

The funny thing about a check engine light is that it does not tell you what is wrong, it just tells you something is not as it should be. 

It could be a big thing or a little thing.

You just do not know.

You have a choice you could ignore the check engine light much like Penny did.

Or you could take it in and have it checked.

As I drove my jeep to the mechanic I began to think, "How often our check engine lights come on in us." We have the option of ignoring our check engine light or paying attention to it.

The funny thing about our check engine light is that it doesn't say what is wrong with us. It just says that something is wrong and we better get it checked. 

Sometimes we need a medical doctor.

Sometimes we need a psychological doctor.

Sometimes we need a spiritual doctor.

When our check engine light comes on it could be any of those things, we do not know.

The most important part of this is to even notice that the check engine light is on. 

Take a quick moment and look, if you see 

Oh sure you can ignore your check engine light, much like Penny did. But the problem won't go away just because you ignored it. In fact a small thing can become a big thing if you don't do something about it. 

You should get it checked.

Just sayin

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Roger

Old McDonald had a farm e-i-e-i-oh.

Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

Old McDonald had a farm e-i-e-i-oh, and on this farm he had a ZOOM e-i-e-i-oh.
Here a ZOOM, there a ZOOM, everywhere a ZOOM, ZOOM.
Old McDonald had a farm e-i-e-i-oh.

Am I the only one, or is there anyone else out there that is getting tired of ZOOMing?

It seems as if all we do is ZOOM meetings. Now don't get me wrong, I love the people that I work with and enjoy our time together, but do we really need all these meetings? 

I remember when I was a kid and watched space movies, or better yet Star Trek. Captain Kirk would talk to somebody from the Gamma quadrant on his big screen on the bridge. I thought that was pretty cool. 

Captain Kirk on yet another call from the Gamma Quadrant.

Now we do the same thing, all the time, from our phones, computers, in our offices, at home, from the car...

It doesn't feel so cool anymore. 

Maybe if I had a big captains chair and an entire star ship bridge in front of me it might be a bit cooler, I bet that even that would get old after a while; I don't know, I will have to ask my wife if I can have one, just to be sure. 

Maybe it is the whole wherever I am I am available thing. 

Actually, I am just being human. God reminded me of this in the middle of my star ship captain Kirk rant.

If I am to help people I need to be available. Not only do I need to be available, I need to be present to them as well. Not only do I need to available and present, I must also be in my new creation self and be Jesus' hands and feet. 

So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ-that's where the action is. See things from His perspective. (Col 3:1-2 The Message)

Time for another meeting.

I guess I will live on Old McDonald's farm  a while longer.

Here a ZOOM, there a ZOOM, everywhere a ZOOM, ZOOM.
Old McDonald had a farm e-i-e-i-oh.

How are you ZOOMing?

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Roger

The Grace of the Mind

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

Words are important, so is proper phrasing.

I was talking with one of my work mates the other day. She has a kid in college and she was telling me about the dorm her daughter was going to go into this fall. She said, "The kitchen is so big it has a dorm in it."

I said, "That must be quite a kitchen."

She replied, "What?"

I responded, "You said, the kitchen was so big it had a dorm in it." 

She gruffed, "You know what I meant."

I laughed, I did know what she meant. But then I began to think, "How often do we say something backwards, or inside out, or incomplete."

I remember taking a reading test a long time ago and the test showed how our brains will actually correct misspellings and grammatical errors as we read.

I call that the Grace of the Mind.

I often wonder how many arguments or broken relationships have occurred because of a misunderstanding based on how we said something.

Instead of asking a clarifying question such as, "This is what I heard, is that what you meant?"

We instead believe the worst in the person and end the relationship, or at least tarnish it by not getting a clarifying thought. 

Why can't we give verbal communication the same grace we give written communication?

If we kna corrcet inn r minds waht we read wyh can't we corrcet what we here?

smothing to pnoder   

Blessings,

Roger 

Don't fall asleep with an 8-year old granddaughter in the room

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well. 

Laurie and I had the grand kids spend the weekend with us. We had a blast.

We:

Played in the river that is behind our house.

Hiked around round lake.

Went to garage sales and bought stuff. 

Stopped off at the local hamburger spot and got milk shakes.

Watched movies.

Painted rocks.

I fell asleep on the couch and woke up to:

Don't fall asleep with an 8-year old granddaughter in the room!

BTW-those are not my toes! Esmeralda took the picture and those are her toes. Mine are a deeper shade of pink, just sayin. 

Laurie and I had fun with our grand-kids. I was too tired to take the finger nail polish off last night and so I went to the "Y" with them painted.

I am reminded of a couple of things:

First something Paul said:

to the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. (1 Corinthians 9:22)

Then something Jesus said:

then litlle children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but  the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And He laid His hands on them and departed from there. (Matthew 19:13-15)

As I ruminated on their words, I became less focused on me and more focused on those I can help. If letting a grandchild paint my nails makes her happy then so be it.

If helping a homeless person makes me late for a meeting, then so be it.

Something cancer has taught me.

I don't know how much time I have so I will make it count.

Do you know how much time you have?

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Roger