Life As I Seize It

I had quite the wine collection back in Florida.  Some very fine vintages that I had collected or been gifted with, others . . . well, I'm not quite sure how they ended up in my wine stash.  Possibly bottles that people had brought to dinner and left . . . I do not have a wine cellar on the QEIII.  She is quite a comfortable highway-sailer, handles well, has all the comforts of home, a decent sized galley with a side-by-side fridge/freezer, a convection micro-oven, an adequate head, but there was no provision for a wine cellar. (What were these designers thinking?) For those of you just dropping in, the QEIII is a land yacht, chosen for her three separate living areas, which makes it appear that I have more room than I really do.  I mean, how much room can there be in a 40' motor coach? There is a media wall between the dining area and salon, and that visual break gives one a sense that there is more going on back there than there really is. I like the fact tha...

My niece is in town visiting from England.   She is one of five children, all are girls, and each and every one of them is completely different from the one before.  Five children, all raised in the same home by the same two parents, yet five totally different personalities with totally different views on politics, religion, love, and life.  How can five children raised under the same influence be so totally different? My sister and I are twins separated at birth by an undisclosed number of years.  We would tell you but then . . . We are now asking "the girls" to lie about their age.  They are now the age we say we are.  She jokes that the first two are from her husband's first marriage . . .  She and I are in deep denial.  When did we turn the age of our parents?  Whatever happened to don't trust anyone over thirty?  When did we even turn thirty? She and I were raised by the same set of parents and assorted relatives, and somehow ...

Working on a project for a client, I knew that we needed a breakthrough.  Two years previously this had been one of the client’s best revenue streams, but through a series of events, which included a failing local and national economy, major job loss in the sector that had supplied the majority of customers for this product, last year the clients found themselves with a stalled business entity.  One day recently, we had a little success.  A sale.  The first one in months and months. “How did they come in?” I asked, expecting to hear the source of how they found out about the product. “I prayed them in,” she replied in all seriousness.  I prayed them in. I was expecting to hear newspaper or internet but instead I got God.  “Awesome,” I replied.  “You keep praying them in and I will too!” In a roundabout way, God put the idea for the way to the breakthrough into my head, so I called up my associate and presented her with the plan. “God is telling...

There is a direct correlation between our obedience to the Lord God’s faithfulness and the way things will go for us, yet somehow we continue chasing our own desires instead of His.   We will bend and break the rules however we need in order to have our way . . . I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul  . . . Disobedience is one of Satan’s best tools and he is happy to lend it to us.   In fact, that’s a tool he hopes we don’t return as he’d like us to keep trying to do things our way and not God’s in order make us miss the blessings God intends for us.   When I was working seven days a week, day in, day out, occasionally I’d think about skipping that early Sunday morning church service at MPC . . . but then God would whisper in my ear . . . “Miss church and miss the blessing”.   I knew it wasn’t my mother whispering in my ear.   My mother was not the type to whisper, nor was she the type to shout . . . she used a mother’s best tool: guilt ...

Anyone who has ever been behind the wheel of a car knows that in a split second we can lose control of the vehicle.  One minute you’re confidently cruising along, but hit a patch of ice or oil, and suddenly you’re in a tailspin. Round and round we go . . . Highway driving is pretty predictable.  The route is fairly well-marked, fairly well-lit, especially in the congested areas, and as long as you follow the signs you can pretty much stay on course and get where you're going with little difficulty. Driving on back roads and country lanes is a totally different experience, isn’t it?  Half the time the signs are knocked down or hidden by brush, and it’s easy to miss a sign and the next thing you know you are seriously lost. Back road driving also requires a bit more skill, especially out here in Texas where we have a lot of country "farm to market" roads.  Often narrow and twisting, these back roads are filled with chuckholes that seem to lay in wait and rise up ...

When bad things happen to us, our first reaction is "why me?" When good things happen to others, often, in our flesh, our initial reaction is "why not me?" Oh, we are happy for the other person, for their good fortune, but inside, in that secret place, we think to ourselves: "Why not me? After all, I'm a good person, aren't I?  I mean, Why not me ?" It's a wail, a plea to 'the universe' because of the 'unfairness of it all'. We might even tell ourselves, I'm a  much  better person that he (or she). Why not me? In our humanness, we want the good, but not the bad. It's only natural.  Who wants to just "get by" when the alternative is wealth?  We see wealthy people who win the lottery, and say, "You have to be kidding!" Someone who didn't need "it" won the big payout, and we ask . . . why not me ?  Why can't we hit the jackpot or be the surprised heir of some distant relative...

If good people go to heaven . . . then how good do they need to be? I suppose if you don't believe in God, and think that after you take your last breath that you cease to exist, then for you heaven doesn't matter because it doesn't exist.  For you, this one life is, well, this is all that there is.  Live life and enjoy! Some day your number will be up and that's that . . . that's all there is. It's interesting to me that some people believe in heaven, but not in hell.  In trying to think through why we would have a heaven but no hell the only sound conclusion is that we simply don't like the idea of hell.  " It's not fair!" We whine. Why should some get to go to Heaven, but not others? It's just not fair!"   So what happens to the bad people?  I mean, if there is a place for "good" people . . . shouldn't there also be a place for "bad" people?   There are bad people, aren't there?   Yet most peopl...

Since my return to Texas from Florida, I had been thinking that I don't fit in very well over at Stonewater - the church that I had been visiting for the past two or three months. For one, I am not a couple . . . I am a single . . . which in a church geared to families kind of leaves me at loose ends.  If you are a frequent reader then you know that I am quite content with my "singleness". Secondly, the "single" groups are broken into baby-boomers and non-boomers . . . and they have defined the baby-boomers as anyone 50+.  I have to be honest with you . . . I do not see myself as a baby-boomer, nor do I act or think like one.  I may be a Presbyterian Deacon, but I am certainly no old f*rt, and although I am 52  36 there is no way I am going to admit to being 52 !  I don't care HOW much of a savings I can get through AARP or at Kohls, I am NOT going to join or admit to being eligible to receive a discount! I would rather pay the full price and call it a d...

I have a terrific girlfriend whom shall be nameless, but she knows who she is . . . and guess all you want but I will never tell and you will never guess . . . who, under just the right moment and circumstance, says that although she loved her late husband dearly . . . she has become quite content with living life on her own schedule and terms. I am paraphrasing a tad . . . but she likes sleeping in and rising when she darn well feels like it. She is not a morning person, although for years was one because she was a good wife and mother. I think that, if she still had the opportunity, she would be quite happy to pop up at the crack of dark and cook her most wonderful and handsome husband a full Southern breakfast . . . if only she still had him, but she doesn't . . . and so she has learned to "take life as she seize it" and appreciate simple things that for so many years would have been . . . selfish. As a 'single' woman, she won't eat tuna fish, (he loved...

The month of January flew past so quickly that it seemed to only last for day or two at most.  I can't seem to hang onto weeks much less hours in the day. In my last post I shared with you that during a routine mammogram a small mass was detected in one of my ducts that required surgery. Everything went great, I had great care . . . and my life was saved due to routine testing.  How often do we skip routine tests thinking that we can skip it just this one time? What would it hurt? Even if there is no history of breast cancer in your family, take those routine mammograms and monthly exams seriously.  I had no history of breast cancer in my family, but there I was having surgery to remove a small mass . . . a mass that was still contained to the duct . . . a mass that, had I blown it off, could have eventually taken my life. So I was finally able to leave Florida and am now back in Texas . . . finally!  Do yourself and someone you love a BIG favor . . . make it a...

Somewhere over the course of my lifetime it dawned on me that life is a journey. I am heading to a destination, drawing closer and closer every day.  Back in the '60s someone started singing about stopping and smelling the flowers along the way. I am totally loathe to admit that I remember the '60s, but I was a very sad and quiet little child who soaked in everything I heard or saw like a sponge . . . keeping it inside until just the right time.  I have a ton of useless information stashed in my brain, and some good stuff too! I can still vividly remember things from when I was a tot in my high chair . . . but I digress . . . as usual . . . Okay, stop and smell the flowers.  Good advice.  Take time to enjoy life along the journey, and realize that it is during the ordinaries of every day that many of life's most meaningful moments - our most memorable moments - the ones we talk about years later as we stand around eating potato salad at a funeral - occur during t...

I had this written back Thanksgiving and am now just getting around to posting it.  I know that the purpose of a blog is to blog and then post . . . obviously I had to amend a paragraph or two . . . I have had a lot on my mind lately . . . other than the change in latitude . . . Every day, periodically through the day I have begun unconsciously doing a spiritual check-up, and have been asking myself: When people see me, do they see Christ?  Do I reflect Him?  Am I giving the non-believer, the unsure, those seeking something more from life, a glimpse of Christ?  Over the past months I have been spending more time with the Lord and less time with the distractions of the world.  I am in the world, yet somehow I feel as though I am detached from it, especially from things that steal my inner peace and time with God.  I have an incredible hunger for more of the Word that seems insatiable. It's a thirst I cannot seem to quench. God has put it on my heart ...

Written December 12th. 2009. In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior.  ~ Sir Francis Bacon For some time God has been interrupting my life.  When God interrupts it is usually unexpected, often unwanted, and generally poor timing . . . at least on my part. Lord, I'm kind of busy at work right now . . . Lord, I just can't take time . . . Lord, I am not the one who should be apologizing . . . and on and on I go, arguing with God.  When does arguing with God ever accomplish anything? A few months back someone in my family acted in an inappropriate, mean, and most un-Christian way towards me; I was hurt and surprised, but considering a lifetime of selfish behavior from this person I have no idea why I was caught off guard.  In retrospect, I think I was stunned because I am generally the peacemaker in my family; besides, we are orphans, all grown up and beyond past misconceptions and hurts, or so I t...

Today three boxes from "home" greeted me at my front door, two expected, one not. I dug into the smallest one first and pulled out a gift from my best friend.  She sends me "hugs"from time to time to remind that she is thinking of me.  Warm thoughts from "home" and a reminder that we will be BFFs regardless of the relationships, miles and years between us.  Every woman needs another woman to make certain that she doesn't run out and do something drastic, like getting a tattoo and a Harley or trading in the mini-van for two-seater convertible when she is a soccer mom with triplets, without first talking her down from "the roof" and suggesting that she think on it over night. Today's "hug" was a new book: she knows me well.  Going Rogue: An American Life, the story of the remarkable Sarah Palin.   Tucked inside the book was a charming card - the "lamb of God" in a ten gallon hat and cowgirl boots acknowledging my lov...

Okay, in one of my recent blog ravings, which by the way was started at 4:30 AM in the morning, God showed up and interrupted. When God interrupts . . . well, if you are a practicing Christian, you'll know what I mean. If not, well, there's no point in my explaining.  Just read on and enjoy God's joke on me . . . part 3. In the first two installments of this conversation, I was telling you about my narrow escape from the Baptists and how I found my way to Stonewater, a non-denominational church in the heart of Texas. At the first of November, I went to Stonewater's membership meeting because I wanted to understand what they, as a non-denominational church, were all about.  I had already determined that they were a biblically based church, which was my first requirement, but imagine my surprise when, during the membership "discovery" meeting, the pastor stated that they were all former Baptist ministers and the church was supported by the Southern Baptist...

Nine and a half hours to make the dinner, twenty minutes to eat it. Thanksgiving is a gastric 3,000 calories behind Americans with the only after effects the unspoken recognition that we need to take off those extra few pounds after the first of the year. Yesterday it was Thanksgiving. Today it's Black Friday. Morning has broken across the nation, and for the majority of Americans, with only 28 more shopping days to Christmas, it is the start of the Christmas yuletide season. It should be no surprise to anyone that today, of all days, heralded the announcement that a state government in this nation, the one nation under God with liberty and justice for all, is under fire from Atheists regarding traditional Christmas, i.e. Christian, symbolism. The state of Washington has caved into (the clearly minority) Atheistic demands and ruled that there will be no nativity scene inside the state capital this Christmas. So what should Christians do about the anti-Christian attacks on Chr...

In my last post, an eon ago, I mentioned that I had moved across country and was in search of a new church home so that I would feel as though I really had a home here in North Texas. What I didn't mention in that post is how God encouraged me to make the move. I know people talk about wanting a sign from God, but God was so determined for me to come out here that He was making it nigh on impossible for me not to get the message that I was to pack and GO! NOW! As I was saying in my last post, I ended up visiting my niece's Baptist church for three weeks because she asked me to attend with her. Now, the fact that she had been saved and dunked like a donut by the Baptists is especially funny to me because it reminds me that when praying to God, be careful what you ask for because you just might get it . . . but not in the way you imagined! I forgot to ask God to make any non-saved relatives Presbyterians, or Lutherans, Methodists or Episcopalians, so He dropped her down among...