Puff's Story

About two and a half years back, a female stray cat began to hang around the house. It was obvious that it had never been petted much. After supper every night we began to talk to it and give it table scraps. After a few days, it would finally tolerate a hand rubbing its back, and I was able to ascertain its gender without doubt. We decided that we did not need a female cat having kittens all the time, and her life was spared when my grand daughter came to visit us and was able to pet the cat. Every few minutes of the day she would go outside to see about the cat. She and her grandmother settled on naming the cat KeeKee. KeeKee was a young cat, and I know she had been put out because she was female. We talked about having her fixed and were just about to do it when guess what?...you got it!...kittens on the way!

The days pass, and we know the time is near for kittens to be born. My wife has a big heart for animals, and she was hoping KeeKee would have her kittens in a safe place where they could easily be found...didn't work...one day the pregnant cat disappeared. A couple of days later my wife heard a cat crying insistently at the back door. She opened the door and there stood KeeKee as we say in the south, "justa squalin!". It was obvious that she was no longer pregnant, but, where were her kittens?
Time passed and my wife went to the door again and heard a kitten cry inside the storage room.  She located the kitten and placed her in a box inside the storage room and went back inside.  After a little while she opened the back door and saw KeKe running across with deck with kitten number two in her mouth.  The cat marched up and laid it down on the deck then took off again...in a little while she brought another...then another.. for a total of four, two males and two females.

KeKe was a good mother, and we enjoyed watching the kittens play and grow to "adoption age." They were pretty kittens and for once social media paid off. The two males and one female were taken by friends and family. By this time my wife had decided to keep the biggest, long haired black and white kitten. She named her "Puffy", "Puff" for short. We had already neutered KeeKee, and as soon as Puff was old enough, we had her "fixed" as well.

Puff grew and became larger than her mother. When Puff came home from the vet, KeeKee would have nothing to do with her. They would hiss and slap at one another until finally all out cat fights began to take place. Puff was the larger cat and soon chased her mother away. Most of the time we have had only Puff but KeKe would return occasionally. Puff has always been an "outside" cat, but she had access to the inside of the house during the day. On Wednesday night of last week we put her out for the night. The next morning I got up early and went to play golf. Usually, Puff would be waiting at the door and come bolting in when it was opened, but, this day she was not there. I thought nothing of it for there had been other days when she would be missing then show up a little later in the morning. I loaded my cart then drove to the golf course. I had played 4 or 5 holes when my phone rang...My wife said, "I hate to bother you while you're playing golf, but, can you come home and help me find Puff? I hear her meowing in the woods in front of the house, and she won't come out. She's crying, and I can't find her!". I'm thinking I don't want to leave my golf game so I try to reassure her  that Puff is all right. She doesn't buy it and insists that the cat is hurt or trapped and desperately needs help. A rain shower was approaching the golf course so, I loaded my cart and went  home to see about Puff!

When I got home, I found my wife standing out in the front yard calling Puff. I took my time, unloaded my cart, and walked down the hill to see what I could do to locate the cat. We both began to call and Puff answered "meow!". It sounded like the cat was somewhere near us up a little draw in the side of the hill that once was used as a "wet weather spring". The area around the spring is covered with  brambles, bushes, and trees of various ages and heights. The old spring emanated from the base of a huge sweet gum tree that has two trunks rising from the same root system. The trees are probably at least 80' high. The thickest part is along the edge where the smaller bushes and brambles were growing. "Puff is in there somewhere..She's hurt or hung, and we have to find her!  Listen to her crying!" said my frightened wife.

We spent hours looking for Puff. We would call, and she would answer. I knew that cats usually escape danger by climbing, so I spent a considerable amount of time looking up those two giant sweet gums. I could not see her in the trees and it certainly sounded like she was underground close to us. We came to the conclusion that the cat had somehow crawled into a hole in the ground somewhere and was stuck. I searched and searched the banks of the spring hole and finally found a slick looking hole which led me to think, *Well, she might have went in after a squirrel or rabbit or something and got lost in a maze of tunnels where she couldn't figure out how to get back out*. It sounded like the cat was in the bank just to the right of the base of those two sweet gums. I got my shovel and began to dig into the bank where we thought her cries were coming from. I must have dug a dozen or so holes finding nothing that looked remotely like a tunnel.  I decided that Puff's only chance was for her to figure out how to get out on her own..I had done all I could do.

The sad and forlorn look on a woman's face can stir a man to try stuff even when he knows it's pointless. So it was with me, and after sitting through the heat of the day, Thursday evening I got my shovel once again and dug more holes hoping to get lucky.  Late that evening my neighbors came to help us look. Now the search party consisted of two grown men and two women. We call, Puff answers "meow".  All four of us think she's here or there, but, no cat to be found. Finally dark arrives and things get quiet and still. Another neighbor came to help with a flashlight.  He shines his light up and down the trees and finally sees Puff's glowing eyes about 75 feet up the tree.  Jubilation is the best way to describe how my wife felt...the rest of us were relieved as well, although I was a tad aggravated that I had spent nearly all day digging holes and fighting through briers and brambles! Knowing the cat was in the tree and assuring my wife that she would come down, we went to bed that night thinking Puff would be at the door Friday morning.

We got up Friday morning earlier than usual expecting to see Puff dash in when we opened the door. Still no Puff! Her meows told us she was still up the tree. Intermittently all day long and into the night we called and she wouldn't budge. She would prance out to the end of the limb she was on, meow at us, look around a bit, then go back to her perch. Once during the day she actually came down one limb lower than she had been, but went back up. I'm thinking the cat can and will come down..eventually. My wife feared the worst, that the cat couldn't figure out how to back down and would stay in the tree till she passed out and fell. All this time, my wife had been on social media with her friends and neighbors and by now, the whole community was worried about Puff. Finally late Friday night we gave up and hoped for better results on Saturday.

My wife's fear was that the cat was in great need of water. She had been in the tree three nights and two days without any food or water and the days were mid 90's and very humid. Again we got up early and opened the door on Saturday morning...still no Puff. Nothing had changed, Puff was exactly where she had been the day before! We began to call as sweetly as we could and amazingly, the cat began to come down! With much coaxing from the both of us, she would back down the trunk from one limb to the next. Each time she reached a lower limb, she would walk out on it and look around for what seemed the longest time before going back to the trunk and sitting a while. After a couple of hours calling her, she made it to the lowest limb on the sweet gum tree. It was a long limb and stretched all the way out to the edge of the thicket. Puff would walk out all the way to the end of the limb then back.  Even though this was the lowest limb, it was a good 20' above ground and the cat absolutely would not get back on the trunk and back down. Finally she made a move...she climbed back up to her original spot! Now my wife is in a tizzy. She was afraid the cat would die from lack of water, and she looked at me with a pitiful face. I'm at a loss as to what I could do. She wants me to spray the water hose up in the tree...I know it won't reach, not even close. I had worked a ladder up the tree as high as I could. It reached to a point under the lowest limb but not high enough to reach the cat. Even up the ladder, the hose wouldn't reach.

What could we do to get Puff some food and water? Well, country boy ingenuity set in. I got my open faced reel and tied a good size weight on the line. I made my first cast at the limb that Puff was sitting on and missed. The weight hung on a twig, and I broke the line trying to pull it out. A second try ended the same way. The third cast hit my mark. The weight pulled the line all the way to the ground underneath the tree. I tied a  nylon line with a large pound test to the fishing line and pulled it over the limb and out to the point in the yard where I had made the cast. We tied a picnic basket to the twine underneath the tree then hoisted it up the tree with some food and water in it. We hoped the cat would actually get into the basket, and we could then lower her. I pulled the basket all the way up to the limb where Puff was perched. She walked out to the basket, looked into it, retreated, came back, looked again, then stuck her head down and drank some water. That silly cat then went back to her perch and stretched out for a nap! I throw up my hands and proclaim, "Well, I'm done! That cat will come down when she passes out I bet!". Again we are out of thoughts as to how to get Puff out of the sweet gum tree.

My daughters who live hours away from us were texting and calling my wife constantly wanting to know about Puff. They suggested calling the fire department, the phone company, the power company, or someone who owns a bucket truck. We live in the country...the fire department is volunteer and has no ladder truck, the utility companies just cannot do such things, and as far as I know, no one has a bucket truck. Besides, heavy equipment would ruin my yard!  Finally my oldest daughter told her mother that something just had to be done, so, she searched the internet until she found a person who would try to rescue the cat. He lived about 85 miles from us, but, said he would drive as far as three hours to attempt a rescue. She called him and gave him her mother's number. Early Sunday morning, he called and said he could be here by 10:30. The whole community and all of the Facebook connections are relieved. Finally, Puff is going to be rescued!...we hope!

I teach Sunday School so I went to Sunday school while my wife waited for the rescuer. My friends and neighbors in my class were well aware of the "Puff" crisis, and they wholeheartedly supported my decision to shorten the lesson so that I could be home in time to meet the cat rescuer.  About 10:45 he called and said that he had inadvertently placed the wrong address in his GPS but would arrive in about 15 minutes. Mr. Bob arrived around 11 and after papers were signed protecting us if he got hurt as well as protection for him in case the cat got hurt, we walked down to the sweet gum tree. He told me that he had made several hundred cat rescues, two or three dog rescues, and one drone rescue. His last rescue was about the same height as this one, so, the height didn't bother him.

After surveying the situation, Mr Bob decided that the line I had already worked over the limb was a bit too far out for the limb to safely hold his weight, so, another had to be secured closer to the trunk. He got his trusty Big Shot out of the truck. It was a giant sling shot. He tied a bean bag to a sturdy line and shot it up into the tree over the limb just above Puff's perch. It took three tries, but on the third, the bag hit its mark and pulled the line over the limb. Now Mr. Bob tied a heavy rope to the line and pulled it over the limb, then secured it to a nearby tree. The line had been shot from the yard over the undergrowth, so the rope had to be worked through the brush so that it hung vertically. We pulled as much as we could, then Mr. Bob said his body weight would do the rest. He donned his climbing gear and hooked to the rope. As expected, his body weight pulled the rope through the brush until it was a straight up climb. Now he started to climb the rope.

When he got to the lowest limb he paused to rest. All the while we are talking and pleading with Puff, still trying to coax her down a bit. Again he starts up and climbs to a point just under Puff's perch. She just sat there looking at him. He spent several minutes talking to her and even offered her a cat treat (this guy had everything imaginable). Finally he moved within reach and just as Puff had decided to move up higher, he grabbed her and put her in a cloth sack. After repelling down the rope, he handed the sack to me and told me to take her inside the house to let her out. Inside the house, I opened the bag and let her out. She seemed distressed and disoriented for a bit, but, soon settled down and took a little food and water. Puff was out of the tree finally and safe inside the house.

Word spread quickly over our little community and many people showed their relief by text message, phone calls, and Facebook posts. Many have said that this was the most exciting thing to happen in our community in years! Puff was a celebrity! Mr. Bob would take no pay for his magnificent work. He simply asked for a small donation to his humane society chapter. After collecting a nice contribution, Mr. Bob headed home. and we go inside with Puff...just look at where she decided to settle down!

After all the trouble we went through, now she gets in the basket! *rollin eyes*

How I grow tomatoes, aka 'maters

For most southern folk, the time period between mid-August till early June is a  little sad because we have to buy our tomatoes from a store somewhere.  Although better than nothing, we enjoy eating them about as much as we enjoy going to the dentist! They are often tough skinned, bland flavored and the fleshy part is... well...it's just a sad time if you like tomatoes! Here's how I grow tomatoes every year.

I set my plants in basically the same spot of ground every year because it seems to suit them very well. Once every 5 years or so I cut in some lime. This helps prevent the bottom rot  on the fruit. Other than that I just use commercial fertilizer (13-13-13) and ammonia (34-0-0).

I order tomato seed around the first of December each year. Better Boy hybrids are my favorite, but, Big Boy, Celebrity, Marion, and Early Girl are also good choices.  Beefsteaks hold up good in hot and dry weather, but have too much of a stem core to suit me. Heirloom varieties are good too, but, my wife likes her tomatoes red! I plant the seed one at a time in seed trays about the middle of January to have them big enough to set out by March. It's trouble having to move the trays in and out from the cold and keeping the plants watered, but once they get two sets of leaves on them, they are ready to go.

Here in the deep south, the weather usually agrees and the ground begins to warm around the first week or two in March. Sometimes (as it was this year) I have to cover the plants overnight to keep frost from killing them but those that survive will produce  by early June.  In the meantime I fertilize them generously, set a wire and stick each plant. As the vines grow, I tie them to their stick with jute string and prune out every sucker branch keeping only the main vine climbing the pole. Tomatoes really like ammonia, so about every week and a half or so, I pitch about a table spoon at the base of each plant, but not directly touching the plant. Ammonia causes the stems to thicken which makes the plant much more hardy and it also causes the plant to produce more fruit. I use a garden tiller to keep the middles clean and an old fashion hoe to work between the plants.

The next thing to consider is bug control. In my little piece of the world, I must defeat aphids, white flies, spider mites and horned worms. Aphids are stem and leaf suckers while white flies and spider mites ruin the blooms. Tomato worms consume the leaves and stems. Later on in the summer we are beset by stinkbugs. You can buy various products that supposedly will control each pest, but, that can get expensive and may or may not control them. You also must be a little concerned about consuming the chemical products, so, be sure to read the labels! I discovered by looking at a label for a certain pest control product that it contained 95% canola oil and sold for $16.95. Well shoot, you can buy a jug of canola oil for less than 3 bucks, so I bought some and found that if you mix a cup of canola oil to a gallon of water and spray it as needed, it will keep these pests off. I still use Sevin dust for the worms and I've also found that dawn dish wash soap mixed in water kills stink bugs. So there you have it.

This year I have around 225 tomato plants in my garden. I am getting some fine tomatoes now and I have about 90 plants that are just getting big enough to stick. A home grown tomato tastes nothing like one bought in a store or from a green house. The flavor and acidity make all the work worth while. We eat them every day while we have them fresh from the garden. Two pieces of loaf bread with mayonnaise  and a big ol slice or two of fresh cold tomato will make a fellow want to slap something!
They are also delicious as sides for other meals.  Sometimes we just peel and slice one, salt it a little and just eat plain tomato! Green tomato slices coated in meal and fried in hot grease are plumb sinful. They make salads taste totally different and tomato juice keeps several years in mason jars, so my wife puts up a lot of juice each year to make stews and soups for all my family.

It does take a little hard work and time spent to have good tomatoes, but, in the end when you taste one you will be glad. I also very much enjoy giving some away to my neighbors. Most all of us love tomatoes but not all are able to grow their own.

If you can keep the plants watered and mostly free of bugs, they will make until frost so, set out some tomatoes around your house somewhere and enjoy the fresh juicy taste of a home grown tomato. I promise there's nothing else like it!

Scary Moments

I realize that with age health issues may arise. I just expected that I would be the first to go down with something...not my wife! We both had colonoscopies at the recommended ages. Mine was clear but she had polyps. We were informed by the doctor that there are two types of polyps. The normal polyp grows outward from the colon wall and is generally benign. He removed them easily with the endoscope. He called these "tree" polyps. The other polyp grows laterally within the wall of the colon and because of this, he called it a "flat" polyp. These are more difficult to detect and remove than the others. My precious wife had one flat polyp and a couple of tree polyps. The first time, the flat polyp was small enough that he was able to remove it somehow with the scope.  I was told to have another scope when my insurance allowed, but, because of the flat polyp, my wife needed to be checked in a couple of years.

Time passes quickly and my wife goes in for her second colonoscopy. This time the doctor finds more tree polyps and wants to see her again in a year. I remember my wife saying, "I must be growing a forest in my colon!". We are concerned , but, the doctor assures us that all is well and she just needs to be checked within the next year. Ok...it is what it is.

The third colonoscopy revealed that she had two almost nothing tree polyps and another flat one. While waking up from the anesthesia, she overhears one of the nurses say "She'll need to see a surgeon." This scares my wife to death even though she's still not completely coherent from the anesthesia. While she's waking up, the doctor comes and informs me that she has one "unusually large" flat polyp that has grown so deep in the wall of her colon that he could not remove it with his instrument safely, so he marked it with blue dye and a gold marker. He assured me that it didn't look cancerous but he biopsied it just in case. At this point we get a medical term for her condition..."tubular adenoma". "I want to see her in two weeks." he said. Two weeks pass..two weeks!...and her doctor knew the day of her colonoscopy what we would be up against. Why he did not inform us that day is beyond me...makes a body wonder if he simply didn't think it urgent enough or knowing we were at his mercy, maybe he wanted a little more money before he turned us over to the next guy! Surely it was the former...still? *scratchin my head*.

Again at this visit, the news almost blows my wife away. The doctor tells her that he must refer her to a surgeon for a colon resection operation. This is startling news as she has no symptoms whatsoever! He explains to her that the polyp has grown deep into her colon wall and removing it by surgery is the only way. He then told her that the biopsy showed the polyp benign at the moment but it was precancerous and had to be dealt with. Six inches to a foot of colon would have to be removed. I suppose he saw the shocked, frightened and then despondent look on her face, then he told her, "Don't worry...Don't worry! You have plenty of colon. You won't even miss it!".  If he thought this would calm her down he was badly mistaken! Now I'm scared too!

Another couple of weeks before we see the surgeon gives us time to research the operation. We find that most are done with a scope and hospital stay is from 3 to 7 days. This is a MAJOR surgery. A section of the colon is removed with instruments that reach through small incisions rather than a single large incision. Because of this, recuperation time is much shorter...supposedly. We proceed to the surgeon's office for the initial visit and he begins to explain the operation. He says he plans to start with the scope, but, it might be necessary to open her up. It would depend on what he found when he got in. An x-ray had been sent to his office showing the location of the polyp in her transverse colon, but he had not looked at it yet, so, his explanation as to what he would do was not explicit at all. He told us that if the adenoma was left of her center line, he would take a 6 to 8 inch section out. If the adenoma was right of her center line, he would take her entire colon from the spot down to her appendix, then stretch the two sections together attaching the small duct at the head of the small intestine to the large intestine. The only other option was to plug out the spot, but, this would risk having to go back in with a much more invasive procedure should the polyp show cancer. Well?...what can you do? We set the date for her surgery on December 28 with the assurance of the surgeon that he would do whatever was necessary to make sure all areas that could be cancerous are removed. He tells us not to worry, he has done thousands of these operations, he is confident that he can fix her completely with no leaks. His confidence that all will go well gives us some peace of mind. He tells us that 3 to 4 days in the hospital after surgery is the normal because it takes a while for the colon to "wake up" after such trauma. Still, you can't help but worry.

During the time till surgery date, my gritty wife develops the "Well...the thing has to come out, so, let's get it over with!" attitude and I assure you that many prayers were offered by each of us and our immediate family. As the word got out to her friends and the community, she began to hear from some of them that they had undergone the same surgery. This eased her mind greatly that everything would be alright...mine too. Our church family gave us great support and encouragement and their prayers were truly felt. Now it's just count the days till the 28th. One bottle of magnesium citrate and a light dose of laxative is all the prep required on the 27th and she's good to go.

The day of the surgery arrived and we were to be at the hospital at 6AM. We park in the parking garage and walk down to admissions pulling and carrying luggage enough for a 3 or 4 day stay. We spend the next 20 minutes or so standing in line waiting to be admitted. A wristband is applied and we're off to the same day surgery center of the hospital. The nurse at the desk takes her papers and whisks us off to a room where we are told to wait till the surgeon and operating room is ready. She gets her hospital robe on and climbs up in the bed. Shortly a nurse comes in and after several questions about previous surgeries and medicine allergies etc, my wife is given a saline drip for hydration purposes.  We are told that it shouldn't be long, so, the wait begins. Next comes the anesthesiologist who explains how she would be put under. He was impressive with his plan and we were satisfied that he knew his business.  About 45 minutes later and after we had dragged her drip line and bag to the bathroom about a dozen times, *whew*, she is given two valium tablets. I know now that it won't be too long before they take her back. Within ten minutes she is really...I mean REALLY relaxed. She thinks that she can't open her eyes, so she jabbers with her eyes closed. She tells everyone that speaks that she loves them..even total strangers! My two daughters who were there with us told her afterward, "Mama, We've seen you on drugs now!".

Soon she is wheeled back to the operating room and I am told to wait by the phone to be updated as needed. About 30 minutes pass and at 10:35AM, the nurse calls and tells me they are about to start. She also tells me to expect an hour to hour and a half operation. I spend the next 20 minutes or so notifying friends and family via text message that the operation has begun. An hour passes and no word yet. I'm a little worried, but there's still a half hour to play with. Another 30 minutes pass and still no word...now I'm getting scared. "Something must be wrong!...What if they can't stop a leak?...What if he has to take the entire colon and build a colostomy? (He had assured us that no ostomy would be needed unless something went wrong)...What if she died!" are things that run through a semi-panicked mind. Finally within the next few minutes I get the call that they are finishing up and it went well. I am relieved of course but still wonder why it took so long. After several minutes the doctor comes in and tells me that he removed about 6 inches of the transverse colon. He said that it took longer because in the time since the last colonoscopy, the blue dye and marker had been lost, so he had to use the x-ray and pinpoint the lesion by measurement. Once the position was located, he found it difficult to reach due to scar tissue from previous hysterectomy and tubal ligation surgeries. He said he had to move a "lot of stuff around" to get to it and finally could not get the section out with his instruments. He explained that he had to expand the primary incision just slightly so that he could get his fingers inside her enough that he could get the section out. Once that was done, he said the rest was a "piece of cake" and that the polyp did not look cancerous to him or his associates at all. I asked if he had removed lymph nodes also. He said there might be two or three along the section removed, but he deemed it unnecessary to remove any others as he was confident that there was no cancer. The section would be sent to pathology for testing to make sure and we should hear from them in a few days. Great news!

A few minutes later a nurse tells me to gather my bags and report to room 336 in the hospital and wait about an hour for her to come out of recovery. I tell all our folks who are waiting in the lobby and proceed to the room. Finally after two solid hours they bring her up to the room. She is still under the effects of the anesthesia and pain medicines, so, she still loves everybody! I'm so glad the operation is over that I just about can't stand it! She shows us the incisions and I count 4 staples just under her breast bone, 16 holding together the larger incision from just above her navel to a couple inches below and small taped puncture wounds on either side of the center line of her abdomen. She says nothing hurts and she thinks this won't be as bad as the hysterectomy. The first afternoon and night were good. She slept from the medicines she had been given. I tried to sleep on a cot provided but wound up just sitting in a very uncomfortable chair thinking what in the world would I do if I had lost her.

The next day she began to hurt...not so much a continuous pain, but sharp pain when she tried to move. Moving from one side to the other hurt her, the process of sitting up on the side of the bed hurt her etc. A morphine pain pump had been supplied for her to use as needed but she determined that she would not because she was afraid it would make her gag and heave. That would really hurt. She bore the pain till the end of that day. Finally her nurse asked her about pain and she explained that she feared the morphine. The nurse said "We can give you Norco ( hydrocodein) tablets for the pain. This was great because she had used them before through the years with no side effects. Also her mouth was dry as a desert because of the nausea patch that had been applied on surgery day. The nurse removed it and promised to bring some kind of lemon flavored swab to help the dryness. Things like this are available to surgery patients, but, the average person(like us) wouldn't know to ask! Not long after the pain pills, she sleeps all night. I am exhausted by now and the body reaches a point where it has to rest, so, even on the most uncomfortable cot in the world, I slept most all night too. During the rest of our stay, short naps were all we could do.

Her doctor checked on her promptly at 8AM each day and told us everything looked good. All she needed to do to go home was have a bowel movement. Finally on the 4th day, New Years eve, we are allowed to come home. Yesterday we heard that the pathology was clear and no cancer was present. The cells tested precancerous as they had before. We still have a follow up visit to attend, but she's now on the mend. Perhaps this story will help prepare someone who is about to undergo a colon resection surgery. There will be some scary moments, but, the choice of not seeing a gastro specialist for a colonoscopy and winding up with colon cancer is much scarier! Get your colon checked..it saved my wife from the horrible experience of cancer treatment. It can save your life!

Praise the Lord who watches over us all!

The "eyes" have it!

My wife and I have reached the age where much of our casual conversations with friends concerns the latest procedure or surgery we've been through! "Did they put you to sleep?", "Did it leave a scar?", "When are you getting the other one done?", or " Is it hurting you?" are some of the conversation starters for us these days.

Our latest adventure was cataract surgery. My sweet wife (bless her heart) had been told she had cataracts a couple years ago. At that time the optometrist assured her that they were small and need not be addressed. On her last visit, he said "Gracious! Those things have really grown! You'll need to have them seen about!". With her vision seeming fairly normal to her, and knowing that Medicare will cover cataract surgery, she asked if she could wait until she reached Medicare age. He told her "Sure...you can wait, but you're already illegal to drive in one eye, the other is not far behind and they're only gonna get worse!" This convinced her, so, here we go...he set her up to see a specialist in cataract removal surgery.

The first visit to Dr. M's office involved meeting and greeting and a quick "see for my self" type eye exam. He said "Yep! You have some fine cataracts there!", then he moves over to his computer. My wife has a gift. She can talk to people and make them think that they are the best thing since sliced bread! She noticed how fast Dr. M was typing and, being a former business teacher, she said "My! You are fast! We need to give you a timed writing!" He grinned and said "My parents made me take typing in high school...hated it then, but now, I'm glad they did!".  Well, this opened the door to a variety of conversation topics and I guarantee that by the end of the visit, she had him feeling really good about himself!

The next visit was scheduled about a week later. We arrived at his office and the waiting room was packed. Worried that we might be in for a long wait, my wife asked the receptionist "What's going on today?...almost standing room only!" We were told that a V.A. doc visited Dr. M's clinic once a month and this was the day. Relieved that most of the people there were to see him, not Dr. M, we sat down and waited. This time it was a quick "Hello, how ye doin?" from the doc, then a technician took her and measured the lens in each eye. Not too many years back, the only option was to remove the cataracts restoring the vision a person had before. Now they remove both cataracts and natural lenses and insert an artificial lens. This amazing technology not only eliminates the cataracts, it also improves vision to the point that glasses are no longer needed except maybe to read. With measurements complete, we were given a surgery date a couple of weeks later and then instructed to go and register at the surgery center used by Dr. M. With all this done, it was time to go home and wait.

Waiting on a surgery date is certainly more stressful than waiting on a vacation. You think a vacation date will never get here, but, a surgery date gets here much quicker than you want. Anxiety nags at you more and more each day even though you know 99% of people have no problems with cataract surgery. So it was with my wife. Bravely, she got into the car on the morning of the surgery and we set out for the surgery center. She was scheduled for 10AM, but when 11 rolled by, we were both about ready to say "Forget it!". Finally about 11:15 they called her back. I'm thinking about an hour and then we'll be on our way...not the case of course! Three hours slowly drag by and I have just about sat a hole in my chair. I am now a little worried that something is wrong, but, I've heard nothing and I reason that they would tell me if something was up! I sat there nearly another hour and finally a nurse sticks her head out calling for my wife's family. I gather up her purse (which I had been complimented on several times during the waiting period by total strangers) and followed the nurse to the back. There she was sitting up in a recliner, still groggy from anesthesia, and still hooked up to monitors of all sorts. I greeted her awake and rubbed her back and shoulders a little, then asked to see her eye. She opened it. I could not tell that anything had been done to it. She told me that her eye did not hurt and that she could see very well. About 5 minutes later I am told to go get the car and bring it to the patient departure area to pick her up. I'm out and back quickly and we're on our way home.

The next day we head back to Dr. M's office for a follow up examination. Her eye now has 20-20 vision! Again she thanks and praises the doc on his amazing skill.  He told her that he had done over 40,000 cataract surgeries.  Her first eye is now fixed and healing nicely. Now for the second eye.

Having watched the actual surgery on her first eye from a video provided by Dr. M, my wife prepared herself for the second eye. Even though she knew what to expect, it still weighed on her mind that someone was going to poke around in her eye again! The anesthesia had made her sick at her stomach the first time, so, IV Zofran  was administered during the second surgery to alleviate the sick stomach. It did its job well. The second eye took about the same time as the first. The cataract on the second eye was much more involved and thicker than on the first. After watching the video this time, we both wondered how she could have seen at all from that eye! It's amazing how much different it is to her now.

The follow up on the next day verified what we had expected...she is now 20-20 in both eyes! Praise the Lord my wife can see clearly again! Now and for the next couple of weeks we are to administer drops in her eyes to make sure they heal properly and have no infection.  Hopefully we are done with "procedures" for a while, but, for now, she has another great conversation experience that she can share with all her buddies. I guarantee she will!

Explaining God.....sort of!

A professor asked one of his students, "You are a Christian, aren't you son?". The student replied, "Yes Sir."  Professor: So, you believe in God?  Student: Absolutely, Sir.  Professor: Is God good?  Student: Sure!  Professor: Is God all powerful?  Student: Yes.  Professor: Well, my brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.  Most of us would try to help others who are ill, but God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?  Student: Silence  Professor: You can't answer can you?  Let's start again, young fella, is God good? Student: Yes.  Professor: Is satan good? Student: No.  Professor: Where does satan come from?  Student: From--God.  Professor: That's right.  Now tell me son, is there evil in this world?  Student: Yes.  Professor:  Evil is everywhere isn't it? And God created everything, correct?  Student: Yes.  Professor: So, who created evil?  Student: again silent. Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?  All these things exist in the world don't they?  Student: Yes Sir.  Professor:  So, who created them?  Student: No answer.  Professor: Science says that you have 5 senses that you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me son, have you ever seen God?  Student: No Sir.  Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard, felt, tasted, or smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?  Student: No Sir, I'm afraid I haven't. Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?  Student: Yes!  Professor: According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that? Student: Nothing, I only have my faith.  Professor: Yes! Faith, and that is the problem science has.  Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?  Professor: Yes.  Student: And, is there such a thing as cold? Professor: Yes. Student: No, Sir! There isn't! (class becomes silent) Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, white heat, a little heat, or no heat. But, we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any lower than that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, just the absence of it. (Pin drop silence in the room) Student continues: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness? Professor: Yes, what is night if there isn't darkness? Student: You're wrong again Sir! Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, or even flashing light. But, if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness. In reality, darkness isn't! If it were, you could make it darker couldn't you? Professor: So what is your point? Student: Sir, my point is that your philosophical premise is flawed! Professor: Flawed? Can you explain? Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You view the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought! It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it. Tell me Sir, do you teach evolution? Professor: Yes. Student: Have you ever seen evolution with your own eyes? Professor shakes his head with a smile beginning to realize where the argument was headed. Student continues: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an ongoing endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion Sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? The classroom explodes in an uproar. Student continues: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain? (much laughter) Is there anyone who has heard, felt, tasted or smelt it? No one? So, according o the established rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, science says that you have no brain Sir! With all due respect Sir, how do we then trust your lectures? The room is again deftly silent. The Professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable. After a long pause, Professor: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son. Student: That is it Sir--Exactly! The link between man and God is faith. that is all that keeps things alive and moving.

The argument above took place in a time quite different than today. Even so, the points made by both the Professor and the Student are still common to arguments today regarding the existence of God. As Christians, we know that we cannot "argue" a person into heaven, but, we can defend our own faith just as the student did in the argument above. More and more scientists are coming to the realization of a "Grand Design". Evolution and Big Bang theories just don't seem to "measure" up in a scientific view, as science is in the business of measurement!

My hope is that someone somewhere might read this and better understand his relationship with God. Faith is the key and, by the way, the Student in the narrative above was____Albert Einstein! Have a blessed day!

Wait on it....Wait!

Have you ever thought about how much time you've spent in your life waiting on something? Most people, including myself, are not good at waiting. We live in a culture that expects instant gratification in all aspects of our lives. When we have to wait on something, we often whine and complain, even lose our tempers, our good sense, and our tongues sometimes!

I don't know anyone who enjoys waiting in a line. We don't like waiting on food at burger joints. We don't like waiting on stoplights (my Pastor says they are instruments of the devil). We don't like waiting on the good things in life such as the fish to start biting or for a good supper to get cooked! Now it's gotten to the point where we snarl and fuss when we click the computer mouse and the page doesn't instantly pull up!

"Have a seat in the waiting room and the doctor will see you in a few minutes."...oh boy!...waiting rooms! All major institutions in our society have designated areas for us to wait....waiting rooms or waiting areas. I don't like waiting rooms one bit! They are usually always nearly full, you have to sit down next to a total stranger, you don't know what sort of germ you might catch from those people, you may have to make conversation with them, and you wonder how long you will have to wait. Once I took my Dad to the eye doctor. My Mom went along as well and we got to the office a few minutes early. After signing in, we moved into the crowded waiting room to sit and wait. Mom and Dad were able to sit next to one another but I had to sit across the room. The nurses were leading people out and taking people back in their usual busy manner. Most of those coming out had dilated eyes from whatever procedure they had undergone, and, because they were nearly blind, the nurses would patiently lead them to the waiting room to deliver them to their family members. One fellow came out on his own and sat down next to a lady who he thought was his wife. He said, "Honey they dilated my eyes and I can't hardly see nothin!". The lady looked at him and smiled as she said, "I believe it cause, I ain't yo wife!....Honey!". I cracked up! His actual wife was there in a flash, gathering him up and both apologizing to the lady. Someone ought to write a book.."Tales of the Waiting Room"...might be a best seller!

Psalm 27:14  Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart; wait I say, on the Lord!

Why is it so hard for us to wait? Christians ought to be good at it for from the moment of conversion we begin to wait upon the return of Jesus. We wait on God all the time for His instruction, His direction, or His intervention in our lives. God can change our circumstances. The problem with us is that God's timing is usually different from ours and we must wait in our present circumstance when we want to move forward.

Even so, it is always wise to wait on God. We live in the "right now" society. Instant gratification defines it, but, we must hone our waiting skills. God gives clear direction to us but seldom quickly. We must wait till He
gives it. Wait on the Lord.

Psalm 32:8  "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye".

God uses our waiting time to prepare us for His purpose. Good parents do not give their children everything the ask for. Besides spoiling them, sometimes we know that the timing isn't right. Give them sugary treats or soft drinks just before bed time?...don't think so...the "timing" isn't right! How much more does God know this for us His children? Waiting also strengthens our faith. We cannot have too much of it for it provides us with hope when all else fails. Faith will sustain in whatever circumstance we find ourselves.

Finally, waiting allows us time to sift through our motives. Time allows a good thought process to play in our minds..."Why do I want this?"..."Do I need this?"..."Will I use this enough to justify the expense?"..."Will this benefit my family or just myself?"..."Will this cause a financial burden?"...etc. If we allow God to sift through our motives, the truth will come out, good or bad, and, we can better make a decision. If you need to make a life changing decision, wait a little, think through it carefully and let God direct you.

As I have gotten older, I find that waiting is not as bad for me as it used to be. I can tolerate it much better at my age now than I could when I was younger. A good word and friendly smile seem to expedite the waiting process. Still I must wait till Jesus returns or until God calls me home, we all do, so, let's just call it an "art" and wait on the Lord! He will sustain us.

Tweaking your high school catcher

A fellow coach asked me once, "Coach, what drills and such do you do with your catchers?".  He was a young fellow, just starting his career, so, I certainly wanted to give him some sage advice. I said, "Well Coach,  I just do basic blocking drills, fielding bunts and pop-ups, and throwing to the different bases.".  He said, " I do those with mine too, but, it doesn't seem to make them better!".  I said, "Maybe you just need to have a talk with them!".

I explained what I meant by "having a talk".  A catcher is usually a gritty kid who volunteered to play the position as a small child in little league or before. By the time he reaches high school, he's done more drills and caught more games than you can shake a stick at! The drills you do with him should be used just to remind his mind and body how to react, nothing much more. At this point, improvement comes through mental development more than physical, so, have a talk with him.

Talk to him about anticipation. A good catcher must anticipate a bad pitch on every throw, especially with runners on base. Knowing each pitcher he catches and what the ball does out of their hands can help the catcher. Location, count, and stance also come into play. Keeping the ball from going to the back stop or beating the Ump's shin bones to death is much easier if the catcher anticipates the block.

Instruct your catcher and work with him on catching every pitch he possibly can with his mitt up. This will often give the pitcher a low strike call. Many catchers turn the mitt down on low borderline pitches making it easy for the Ump to call a ball. Your catcher can make the umpire earn his money by catching the low pitches with his glove up.

Along the same line, have him work on framing the strike zone with his mitt, knuckles on top of the high or low strike,  outside on the corner pitches.  To frame the right hand side of the strike zone and get the knuckles outside, the catcher needs to invert the mitt. Framing the strike zone may be new to some catchers, so, bring it to mind early in preseason as the catcher is working the bull pen.

Finally, observe your catcher's foot work. Throwing a runner out is greatly aided by the catcher's foot work. We all know that most bases are stolen off the pitcher's action or the base runner's savvy at predicting an off speed pitch on which to run. How quickly the catcher can receive the ball and then throw it can overcome even a good base stealer sometimes. Many catchers need to be taught to position their bodies and thus their feet as if they were throwing a ball, right foot back and left foot forward.  When the ball is caught, weight should be on the back foot. As the catcher rises, he should shift weight forward, taking a short jab step with the front foot. During this time, he should bring the ball up to make a short arm throw to the base to get the runner. Again, anticipation is important here and a block may be necessary, but, if the pitch is good and the feet are in place, there is a greater chance to throw out the runner.

As a coach you are responsible for a catcher's physical condition, so, use enough drills and running with pitchers to condition him properly, but, don't drill him to death! He already knows what most drills try to teach, so, have a talk with him. Talk to them often, tell him what a good job he's doing, preach the three points above, and most of all tell him to have fun!

Could it be true?

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the polio virus affected many children in the United States and the rest of the world. In the 1950's, a man named Jonas Salk developed a vaccine to be delivered by mouth on a sugar cube. It was promised that the dreaded polio virus could be eradicated. Could it be true?

During the Cold War of the late 1950's and through the 1960's, the U.S. and the Soviet Union entered a competition for space dominance. It seemed that the Soviets were always a half step ahead until in 1961, President John Kennedy vowed that the United States would put a man on the moon by the end of that decade. Could it be true?

By 1880 the population of the United States had grown so large that it took seven years to conduct a census. The government needed a faster way, so, work began on a marvelous number crunching machine that could sort and assemble names and numbers in much less time. The early machines used punch cards and filled large rooms with equipment, but, the census was taken in three years rather than seven. It was said that someday we would all be able to have these machines in our homes, carry them with us, even wear them on our wrists like a watch. Could this be true?

In 1972 Home Box Office (HBO) took advantage of the developing technology and launched its network. The service offered current and past movies directly in the home. The business was formed on the premise that people would pay a fee for the service. Pay good money to watch TV when free TV existed for all? Could it be true?

Some two thousand plus years ago, a man called Jesus preached that He would tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days. He told His followers that he would be tortured and killed for their sake and for all humanity. He also told them that on the third day after his death, He would rise from the grave. Based on proven historical record, we know Jesus lived and was put to death by crucifixion. We have the eye witness testimony of reputable men and women of that day that the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty. They also testify of seeing and touching His body in the days and months that followed. Jesus also promised that one day He will return and all of us who believe will meet Him in the air, the dead in Christ shall rise first, then those of us who remain. Could it be true?

I hope you have a very fine and happy Easter. As for me, I believe that He lives and will come back someday. If you think about it, it's not a whole lot more incredulous belief than the things mentioned earlier in the post that have come to pass as predicted. So, could it be true?...I believe it could!

It is what it is

We couldn't put a finger on it. Something wasn't quite right with our grandson. He was born five weeks early but healthy. He did have a bad case of jaundice, but, so do many babies, and there is seldom any lasting effect. Having raised four children of our own and from our careers as public school teachers, my wife and I had been exposed to all sorts of behavioral, social, and mental disorders in children, and as we held him in our arms we just knew. His eyes never became fixed on anything, especially us! He didn't gurgle and coo as most babies do, nor did he often cry.

As he began to sit on his own and crawl, it seemed that he was oblivious to anything around him except for the one thing his little mind was focused on. Perhaps he could not hear? Tests showed his hearing was fine. "Oh well, he's just taking his time about talking." we thought. Finally he began to speak, well, sort of..he still would not respond if you called his name. It seemed that he just ignored your presence. You could put your hand on him and he would push it away, as if he didn't wish to be bothered. After a while he might get up and come give you a hug...just "out of the blue".

It became apparent early on that he was very smart. He taught himself to read by watching children's educational television shows. He absorbed information like a sponge absorbs water. He might suddenly walk up say something incredibly technical about some topic he had read or heard on TV. He became fascinated with Thomas the Train and could name every engine. Later on, Angry Bird and action figures took precedent. Again, he could name each one and even began to write his own stories about them, including crude illustrations. Still, it was very apparent that he would rather play alone, rather than with someone. Social interaction escapes him. He takes everything said to him literally. Picking at him is impossible.

Suddenly, we realized that he had always been aware when we spoke to him. He just had the ability to stay focused on whatever he was doing and hear every word said to him at the same time. It just never occurred to him to acknowledge our presence and our attempts to interact with him. He doesn't like loud noises or music. If you whistle or sing around him, he will say "Stop!". There was no doubt he was a bit different.

We all worried about him starting school. With our public school background, we understood how the system could help a child through various programs, but, at the time we still were not sure what or if anything was wrong. We had no objection when my daughter placed him in a small private academy. Kindergarten year went by with some problems. Soon after beginning his first grade year, he began to get in trouble because of "unusual " behaviors in the classroom. He acted as he did at home. His teacher could get little or no response from him. He would get up out of his seat and walk around, play alone on the playground, and just seem bored and uninterested in anything to do with school. Things began to mount, then one morning just prior to the Thanksgiving holidays of his second grade year, the principal of the school met my daughter at her car as she was about to drop him off. He informed her that the school board had met and decided that my grandson was such a problem that he could no longer attend school there. This devastated her. The next week she enrolled him in the public school...the best thing that could have happened to him.

My wife and the special education director had worked together and were great friends, so, she called her and informed her of our grandson's unusual characteristics. This gracious lady put her at ease telling her not to worry, they would figure out how to best serve him. Soon after enrollment, he was tested and the results pointed toward a condition called Asperger's Syndrome. On the other hand, they also indicated that he was a gifted child!  Finally...we had a direction. Appointments with psychologists confirmed that we had a child with Asperger's.

Now it all made sense. After studying about his condition, we realized that he did in fact love us all, he was not purposely ignoring us, he heard everything that was said to him, and he was super smart! We now know that Asperger's children must be taught social skills. Making eye contact is very difficult for them...again this has to be taught. Socially they may come across as arrogant, obnoxious, even disrespectful. They find any sort of change in routine or surrounding unsettling and it may cause them to become very agitated. An outburst may occur if a chair is out of place or something new replaces something worn out.

It is what it is. Our grandson is a great kid and we love him dearly. He will have Asperger's Syndrome all his life. He is now in fourth grade and doing well. He still has trouble with some things, but he is much better in general and we pray that he will grow into a happy and productive adult able to accomplish whatever he desires. God bless all children with Asperger's and their families!

Developing the High School Pitcher

Those of us who have coached high school baseball understand the importance of having solid pitching. A good smart pitcher can carry a team a long way toward winning championships and if you are fortunate enough to have two, with proper management that championship can be obtained. Of course, hitting and fielding are crucial in the scheme of things, but, a strong pitcher can often overcome poor fielding or weak hitting, so, in my opinion, winning starts with pitching.

Pitchers in high school are often the better overall athletes and coaches must use them somewhere in the line up even when not pitching, therefore, the coach must be careful not to over use his arm even if it means losing a game during the regular season. Kids at this age think that they (and their arms) are indestructible and as their coach, one must manage them to protect their future as well as the present.

To list every thing that I tried to do with my pitchers would be too exhaustive, so, here are a few things that I stressed to them regularly. During preseason workouts, I wanted every pitcher to throw no more than 50 pitches to a catcher after warmups. This allows him to work at other positions without damaging his arm, and it allows catchers to get their legs in shape to squat. I encouraged them to work on location and changing speeds, about 30 pitches from the wind up and 20 from the stretch.

I gave them this goal--hold the opponent to 4 earned runs or less. I wanted them to understand that win or lose they would be successful in my mind if they could do this. If we got beat by not scoring more than 4 runs, it was not the pitcher's fault at all!

I often used this statement with my pitchers: "You're not gonna throw hard till you throw hard!". It simply meant to practice as if you were playing a live game. Push yourself to increase velocity by working on mechanics daily, even at home.

You get batters out by a) simply overpowering them with fastballs, b) changing speeds, c) throwing a pitch he's not expecting, d) throwing a pitch he is expecting, but in a location he can't handle. In this age of pitching machines and batting cages where hitters can spend ample time in batting practice, the latter three ways of getting a batter out are of greater necessity.

Never give in to a batter. By this I meant, make him hit your best stuff even in a batter's count like 3&2 or 2&1. A walk is not the worst thing in most cases, and a single is better than any extra base hit.

I wanted my pitchers to come set in the stretch differently on every pitch with runners on base. Every pitcher is different in how they stand on the rubber to take the signs from the catcher. Some will stand up right with glove about chest high and ball in throwing hand behind his back, others will bend over and prop with glove hand on the knee and ball in throwing hand behind the back...either way is fine for what they do after taking the sign is what needs to vary. Teach them to come set with the ball and glove chest high and also with ball and glove waist high. Teach them to take a normal leg kick from both positions, and, teach them to slide step from both positions. Teach them to vary the pause between coming set and delivering to the plate. Teach them a standard move to first to set up their best move to first. Teach them how to step off the rubber to make an appeal to a base and how you wish them to react to first and third double steal situations. All of this may seem trivial, but, it will be beneficial in keeping stolen bases down during a game as runners cannot time the pitcher as easily when trying to steal.

I wanted them to understand that no matter how good they were, there would be days when umpires would squeeze the plate on them, or batters would seem to hit every thing that they threw and our fielders would make a lot of errors behind them. This is the game of baseball. The only thing that you really can control is your mind. Do not get discouraged or frustrated...just pitch!

These are a few things that helped me be successful as a player and coach and I hope they might help someone who wishes to give coaching baseball a try. It's a great game!

Smoke on the Bottle

Psalm 119: 83: For I am become like a bottle in the smoke, yet do I not forget thy statutes.

In David’s day, most people did not have houses as we know them today. The majority lived in small huts or tents, others lived in mud brick structures in towns or small villages. They were poor folk who didn’t have much. For warmth and for cooking, they would simply build a fire somewhere in the room and since there was no fireplace and chimney to hold the fire, the room would soon fill with smoke. They would build their roofs leaving a small opening in the top so that the smoke could escape, so, I suppose the women would light the fire, then leave the room until most of the smoke had a chance to rise and clear a little. 

Also, water was not readily available to every household. Most all of them had to walk to a well or stream somewhere to get water, so they would make bottles out of goat skins and bring it back to their homes. The best place of safety for these bottles would be to hang them on a nail inside the house or from the rafters someway. Of course, each day the bottle hung in the house, the rising smoke from the fire began to blacken it, even to make it shrivel above the level of what it contained. David lamented that he was like the bottle in the smoke.

God’s people have their trials and tribulations don’t they? Throughout the Bible we can read about Godly men and women who went through terrible trials and tribulations.  Jesus himself tells us in John 16:33...”In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”. 
  
What are the sources of the smoke in our lives? Many people will tell you that the main source of trouble in their lives is their job. A wise schoolteacher once sent a note home to the parents on the first day of school that read “If you won’t believe everything your child says happens at school, I won’t believe everything that he says happens at home! Being a retired school teacher, I fully understand the significance of this statement! Things happen on every job and the more salary you command or the more you can advance in the workplace, the more responsibility you have…smoke!

Often trials arise from the things that make us comfortable. Many people want the finest houses and all the modern conveniences of today to the point that they will take on more than they can handle. Think about the fire that warmed those people in their huts. Did it not also smoke the bottle and the warmer they kept the house with a fire, the more the bottle blackened. In today’s world, the more comforts we have, the more responsibility we have to take care of them---smoke!

Most of us have children and they certainly should be a comfort to us as they are one of God’s many blessings, but, they often do things or don’t do things that are against the way we tried to teach them…smoke!

Many people are losing their livelihoods because of economic conditions. It is very troubling when a company dissolves or moves to a place where labor is cheaper. People who have devoted their entire careers to a company are left out in the cold…smoke!

Even the church can be a source of smoke to the Christian. Have you ever come to church thinking that all is well, going good, and then the preacher delivers a convicting sermon that sort of bursts your bubble? Maybe you’ve come to church with a warm heart toward your brothers and sisters and then left with a heart blackened by something that happened during church or by what someone said. Perhaps you try to perform a Christian service for someone with your heart in the right place and the person you tried to help takes it the wrong way or seems unappreciative…smoke!

Personal health issues like high blood pressure or diabetes, caring for an elderly parent, sickness in a family, the death of a loved one, abusive relationships, terrorism, war and many other things are ever present contributors to the smoke in our lives.

A question: Does being saved mean that we should not feel the effects of our trials and tribulations? Think again of the water bottle in the hut. Does it feel the effect of the smoke? Of course it does, it turns black, it shrivels up because of the smoke. It is not a single puff that does it but rather a daily bombardment over a long period of time. So it is with us, we feel the hurt and pains of our trials and tribulations, often, to the point that we think they will get the best of us, and they never seem to let up on us. But realize this, although the smoke aggravates and damages the water bottle, it does not destroy it. It would take the flame of the fire itself to do that and the water bottle is kept safely away from the flame. A Christian will most certainly feel the pain of his smoke throughout his life, but the Holy Spirit within us will keep us away from the fires of this world and they will not consume us unless we let them.

Perhaps we feel as David did, a bottle in the smoke. What then can we do to make it through? David said though he felt like a bottle in the smoke, he would not forget God’s statutes. The smoke could harm the outside of the bottle, but, it had no power over what was on the inside. Could this be our source of strength and comfort in the face of trials and tribulations? Most people think of statutes as laws, the ten commandments, and we will do well to remember them in the face of adversity, but if you think about it, isn’t everything God says a statute? The Bible is God’s word and it is absolutely true, so, shouldn’t we remember His promises also as statutes? This seems to me the only logical way to withstand the smoke in our lives, remember His promise to those of us who believe. Jesus said “Let not your hearts be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3) Jesus is going to return for us. He promised! Well, “when?“ do we say. No man knows the answer to this, so, what are we to do in the mean time? Jesus says “If ye love me, keep my commandments and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever“(John 14:15-16) “ Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28) In the mean time, we are to keep Jesus’ commandments, i.e., love God with all our hearts and souls and love each other, the second causing all the other commandments to fall into place. If we do this, Jesus promises another Comforter, the Holy Spirit will reside inside us forever.

Although we all have smoke in our lives from various sources, as believers we all have one thing in common, that steadfast faith that God will not desert us. We must hold tightly to our faith even when we cannot understand why the God that we love allows things to happen to us His children. The promise that Jesus will return for us is our comfort, our strength is the presence of the Comforter-the Holy Spirit-within us, and our peace is the promise that there is a place of rest awaiting those of us who refuse to let the smoke in our lives cause us to forget God‘s statutes.  The future seems uncertain but God’s law and his promises will stand forever. If you feel battle scarred and wounded by life’s trials and tribulations, uncertain about the future, or beaten down by circumstances, remember the example of the bottle in the smoke, blackened and wrinkled on the outside but clean and safe on the inside.

God bless us all!

(adapted from a sermon given by C.H. Spurgeon, March 23, 1856)

Teach Your Children

My wife and I have been watching the TV series Once Upon a Time by Netflix DVD rental. I really like watching TV this way as there are no commercials. I'm spoiled. The show is full of fairy tale characters and it is interesting how the writers have intertwined the characters of the different fairy tales to make a progressing story line on the series.

So far, we've seen Snow White, Prince Charming, the dwarfs, and the evil Queen, Jiminy Cricket,  Pinochio, Rumplestiltskin, Captain Hook, Peter Pan, Belle, Frankenstein, Ariel, Mr. Shmee, Robin Hood, Tinkerbell, and now the Wicked Witch and flying monkeys from Oz.

We are now at the point where we try to guess who the next character introduced into the show will be.  In the current season, the Wicked Witch is the meanie. My wife keeps asking, "Why don't they just throw some water on her and melt her?".  I say, " Maybe they want to bring Dorothy in to do it.". Sure enough, Dorothy shows up, dashes water on the Wicked Witch and melts her down! (Doesn't put an end to her though, guess she plays the evil too good).

I don't think today's kids know nursery rhymes and fairy tales very well. Whatever they do know comes from an iPad or computer and that's sad to me.  They have heard of some of the characters, but, they don't know the stories very well, so, I'm afraid that eventually, this method of parent to children interaction will be lost, along with part of the way parents communicate to their children that they want them to grow up to be "good" rather than "evil".  The TV programs and computer games that they watch and play make the difference between good and evil a bit of a gray area. I mean, from what I've seen, the hero/ heroine contributes about as much to the violence and mayhem as the villain!

I realize that the world changes with every generation,  but, that change is controlled to a great extent by the people living in that time, and if the difference between good and evil is a gray area, what will life be like?  Teach your kids the difference! Take them to church, talk to them, let them know you want them to be good people, tell them fairy tales and nursery rhymes...be a parent!  They will love it and you will too!

Secret of a Good Marriage

My wife  is a fine cook. She can put a meal on the table that will make you want to slap something! Even while working, she would get up every morning and fix a pan of biscuits or something to get the day started right for all of us, then, after work, she would come in and make a fine supper of whatever we might have. Early on in our marriage and especially while the kids were growing up, money for trips to the grocery store was tight, so, we ate a lot of vegetables that I could grow and meat that I killed by hunting, or harvested off the family farm.  Quail, dove, chicken, deer meat or whatever all went well with a pan of her fine biscuits. Peas, butter beans, corn, tomatoes, greens and potatoes all seemed to taste good because she knew how to fix them.We thought we were eating like kings because of her cooking. I was always very appreciative of this and always bragged on her cooking...and her biscuits!   Hoo-eeee!

There's a lot being said today about obesity in young children...hey!...Parents, they'll eat what you feed them! Feed them a lot of vegetables and they will learn to like them. Mix in a hunk of meat once in a while and make them some biscuits! Cook their food at home and set down at a table as a family and eat! They will remember it as they get older. Cooking is becoming a lost art, but it's the best way to feed your family!

Although most of us would rather it not be told, southern men can cook pretty good too...especially using a grill or a pan of grease. Some of us can do very well with stoves too. I can hold my own either way and knowing this, occasionally my wife now walks by and says " You got supper buddy!", or, "I want some of your biscuits in the mornin!". I gladly oblige!

She likes my biscuits. I take a small sifter of flour and cut in a pretty good glob of Crisco shortening with a fork. Just roll the flour up on the grease and mash it through over and over until the mixture takes on a yellowish tint and becomes a little tacky.  Next, pour in some buttermilk and stir with a fork. If you want spoon ( catheads) biscuits, use enough buttermilk to make the mix loose, then use a spoon and drop the dough into a greased skillet. If you want patted out biscuits, use enough buttermilk to roll a pretty good ball of dough on your stirring fork, but also leaving a film of flour unmixed under the dough ball. Remove the fork from the dough ball and then roll the dough around in the loose flour coating it all around. If I think I'm wasting too much loose flour, I squeeze as much as I can up into the dough ball. Now, just pull off small pieces of dough and flatten them in the palm of your hand, then place them in the skillet. I bake at 480 degrees until brown.....they ain't bad!

She and I will soon celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary. I've never bought her expensive gifts ( don't want to spoil her *wink*). We usually go out to a good meal somewhere and I thank her for staying with me all this time. She sometimes asks, "What if I decided to leave you?". I say, " Awww shoot Dear, you ain't gonna leave....you still like me and I know ye like my biscuits!".

So there you have it. The secret to a good marriage...make each other biscuits!

"What is truth?"...Pontius Pilate

It's been a long cold winter. You can tell by looking at me that I have been pretty much hugging the fire all winter. Bet I've gained ten pounds and it's all right here! *patting belly* I guess I'll have to go back on the dog food diet again...lost nearly 40 pounds the last time...just load up your pockets with purina and eat a couple pieces every time you feel hungry. It contains sufficient nutrition to maintain the body without any fat or other additives that might cause harm, it'll make your hair slick and shiny, and you get used to the taste. Be careful though, I heard of a man that was on it who walked out of a store, saw a cat, chased it out into the street and got hit by a car!

As I told this yarn, before the cat statement, were you thinking that it was believeable and therefore truth? Why?...because there were some facts in it that you knew were true?...because it was me telling it in a “matter of fact” way? 

John 18:37-38

³⁷ Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
³⁸ Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

There are two prevalent views as to the question “What is truth?”.... the correspondence view and the relativistic view. The correspondence view is based on a statement being true if and only if it corresponds to or agrees with known facts, or objective reality. In other words it is a belief in absolute truth. What is absolute truth?...a truth based on fact or agrees with some known occurrence. Example: The human body will die without oxygen. This is an absolute truth which can be backed up by scientific fact and by occurences as well. Any clear declarative statement must be either true or false. It cannot be neither, nor can it be both true and false. This view promotes the testing of a statement to determine whether or not it can be backed up by fact. A statement can be proven false if it can be shown to disagree with objective reality. At one time in history, most of the educated world thought that the world was flat! They believed and accepted this as truth for years and years. They must have been very dissapointed when the theory that the earth was round began to take hold and the ships began to prove it. So it will be for those who refuse to accept that truth is absolute.

The relativistic view is that truth depends on views or cultures, not on objective reality. Truth for one may be totally different than truth for another. It allows each person or society to live by whatever they decide is true. You'll here a relativist say things like:

“Well, if that's true for you I guess it's ok.” or, “ we can't judge other cultures.”

People of this mind set do not believe in absolute truth, yet the statement that there is no absolute truth is in essence an absolute truth, at least for them! When truth is dependent upon the individual, one person might say Jesus is Lord while another might say Allah is lord. Both statements will be true to the one who spoke them, but, the very definition of Lord requires the title to belong to only one. Those who say there is no absolute truth make decisions every day based on things they believe are true or false. They turn on a light believing in the reality of electricity. They drive a car believing in the dependability of it. Not one of them would want to be operated on by a brain surgeon who did not believe that some things about the brain are true and some are not true! If there were no absolutes, there would be no right or wrong. I could kill someone and because I believe I should do such things, it has become my personal truth and who are you to judge me?

In the absence of truth, power is the only game in town.

The true Christian view is the correspondence view. We believe in absolute truth, because truth is what is real. We believe the Bible is God's word written down by men inspired of Him. There are many passages that tell us that God is Truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh to the Father but by me.” We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, He died on the cross, was buried and was ressurected on the third day and we take it to be an absolute truth. My Savior lives! He will return someday to take His followers home. 

Some may think” Well, how can you accept this as absolute truth?”...remember the definition..based on fact..what facts?..the factual evidence presented by the Gospel writers. How can you believe them? They were reputable men of their day, their stories matched closely even though they were in different parts of world when they wrote, and none of them ever wavered in their accounts! Think of a place you've never actually been...how do you know it's true that its there? You believe because of the testimony of reputable people who have been there. Several years ago, my Dad told me he saw a bear, my neighbor Charles said he saw it, the Motley boys said they saw it....I never saw it, but, I believe it was there because of the testimony of these reputable men. If I can believe in the truth of a place I've never been, or, the existence of a bear I didn't see, then surely I can believe in the truth of the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. My Savior lives! You say, “but, what if they're wrong just as the earth being flat was wrong?”. I say that the word of man is often wrong, but the word of God is absolutely true and has stood for all the ages.

You can't argue a person into heaven. In order to make an argument, one must accept the fact that some absolute truth exists. They can't see how illogical their side of the argument is, nor can they see how logical your side is. If a person says there is no God, the statement itself must be an absolute for him, else he has no basis for argument. His statement then by definition must be based on fact..no way..because all the historical facts that we have back up the existence of God.

So, to answer Pilate's question “what is truth?”, God is truth. Go back now to verse 37 above and substitute "God" for each phrase "the truth". Can you see why Jesus came? Pilate had no clue. A person can call himself whatever he likes, but, he can't call himself a Christian unless he holds the correspondence view of truth. Christians believe in the moral absolutes of right and wrong. Christians accept Jesus and His Word as the ultimate source of truth regarding morality and salvation. Because we know and speak the truth, the world hates us. We are often called bigots, hippocrites, and judgemental. Even so, we must continue to speak and demand the truth. Hold fast to the truth of God's word as we defend the faith. Speak it  when given the opportunity with tactfullness, compassion, and love for our fellow man.

 

 

For Christians only....not!!!

Knowing God's Will

One of the most difficult things in the Christian life is to know and do God's will. We hear sermon after sermon where doing God's will is mentioned at least once somewhere. We all must make decision after decision each day and many of them on the spur of the moment. How do we know we are following God's will as we make these quick decisions? Other times we make decisions on things where we have plenty of time to think and pray on them. How do we know in these cases? What is the will of God? It would be nice if God had placed a flashing neon sign in our minds that gave us specific directions on every decision, but, that's not the way it is! The thing is, God's will is not the same for every Christian...if it were, we would all be carbon copies of each other, with the same intellect, the same likes and dislikes, and the same gifts....no, it must be something different for every one of us. How then can each individual Christian ascertain what God's will is for his life?

Romans 12: 1-2    1.  I beseech ye therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and perfect, will of God.

A traveling salesman was headed to his next stop through a range of remote, rugged mountains when his car broke down. He was miles and miles from any help, but luckily, there was a monastery close by. He walked to the monastery explained that his car had broken down and he needed some help. The friendly monks took him in, gave him food and a bed, and promised to get help for his car. As he stayed the night, from deep  within the monastery, he could hear a hauntingly beautiful and very mysterious sound. He had never heard anything like it. It was pleasant to his ears and reached inside and grabbed his heart in such a way that he had to know what it was. He left his room and began to draw closer to the mysterious sound. Finally, he was standing in front of a huge wooden, padlocked door. The sound seemed to be emanating from behind it, so, the next morning, he asked the monks what was making that beautiful, mysterious sound. The monks said "We can't tell you, you're not a monk!". Smitten by not knowing what it was and desperate to know, the man replied, "Well then, how do I become a monk?". The monks answered," You must count all the blades of grass and all the grains of sand on the face of the earth and then you can become one of us!". The man left and 45 years later he returned to the monastery with two astronomical numbers that correctly met the requirements of the order. The monks accepted him and immediately he had to know what was making the mysterious sound. The monks provided him with a set of keys and said "Go..see for yourself!". The first key opened the gigantic wooden door...the sound was louder, but, now there was an iron door. A second key opened it. Next was a door of silver, then one adorned with jewels, and finally one of pure gold, each of which required a key. Finally, the man slowly opened the final door and looked inside...

You might ask, "What in the world has this story got to do with knowing the will of God and the scripture passage?". Maybe we can draw some parallels. To know the will of God, (vrs 1), we must present our bodies unto God. Just as the man in the story had to sacrifice 45 years of his life to become a monk, God expects us to sacrifice our bodies to Him. God can make this claim because we were bought with a price..1 Cor. 6:20, For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. Why does god expect this?...the body is the seat of our sinful desires and we tend to allow our bodies to affect our minds. Satisfying the flesh tends to cause an unrepentant mind. Paul calls this a "reasonable service" which simply means it follows logic. Christ sacrificed himself for us, we must give our all to him. This is the first step in knowing and doing God's will. If we are not willing to give ourselves to the Lord, we will spend a lifetime asking questions for which there are no answers from the world's standpoint. Jesus taught in Luke 9:23, And He said unto them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Secondly, we must separate from the world (vrs 2). This doesn't mean we should become hermits, nor does it mean that we should set some impossible standard to reach. Paul teaches, "Be not conformed to this world"...to be conformed is to shape one's mind and character after the pattern of another. We are not to shape our thinking or character after the world, meaning, not to be like he world in actions, words, and in example. Two reasons for this come to mind...1) because of what the world will do to us as a Christian. 1 John2: 15-16, Love not the world, neither the things in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world., and 2) because the world is enmity against the Lord...James 4:4, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.  How do we separate from the world when we must live in it each day of our lives? Paul says we do it by being transformed, that is, to transfigure our minds, and, the way to do this is to have a steady diet of God's word....study the scriptures, know the word! Without it we become more and more like the world, conformed in mind and body to worldly things. Don't you know that the man in the story had to separate himself from the world? Imagine what people thought as they saw him out counting blades of grass and grains of sand...they thought he was crazy just like they did as Noah took 40 years to build the ark on dry land. Well, what can the word do for us if we study it? It cleanses our minds from the filth of the world. Psalm 119: 9, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. It prevents us from sinning. Psalm 119: 11, Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. It guides us in the path of righteousness. Psalm 119: 105, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. There are many more things the word can do for us. Study it, live by it, heed its warnings, obey its commandments, count on its promises, and hide it in your mind.

The third parallel we can see concerns the understanding of God's will. Even after dedicating his life to the task of counting blades of grass and grains of sand, and separating himself from the world to do this, the man still needed a set of keys to open the doors hiding the source of the mysterious sound. What then are some keys that we can use to help us understand God's will? One key is the biblical examples of the Godly men and women of the Bible. One must not confuse God's will with His purpose for us. Our purpose is to glorify Him and increase His kingdom. His will for each of us, though different for each person, collectively allows us to accomplish His purpose..a marvelous mystery! A second key is prayer. Prayer is a powerful tool in understanding God's will when done with a regard for others rather than self. We should pray regularly...it always helps. The third key is a willingness to accept things that come our way as the working of God in our lives. I don't think we should agonize over all the decisions we make daily. I believe that we make them based on our Christian lifestyles and beliefs, guided by the Holy Spirit within us. When our conscience is clear, not troubled by a decision, I am confident that God is guiding us, even when a decision leads to trouble of some kind. Jesus prayed in Luke 22: 42, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. Accept the things that come your way as the working of God; have faith that all things are for good for those who believe.

So, there you have it. To understand the will of God, we must give our lives to Him, a living sacrifice, separate our minds from the world, being transformed, not conformed, and understand that the decisions, situations, and occurrences that present themselves in our lives are the working of God. Now, back to the story, the man sacrificed 45 years to the quest, he separated himself from the world by his actions, and he acquired the keys to the doors that protected the mysterious sound. Can you imagine his sense of fulfillment and excitement as he slowly opened that last door? What was making the mysterious sound?...Well...I can't tell you!...You're not a monk!! Neither can any man tell you what God's will is for you in your life...you have to search it out yourself, but, using the advice of Paul, praying regularly, and studying the Bible can help us know and follow God's will. God bless us every one. Amen