Oh how I dread the tread.

There it is...teasing me...taunting me. Knowing that I think it is the most painfully mundane form of working out, it beckons to me on those days when my only choice is to use it...or just let the toxins build up. Look at where it's positioned. Up against a bare white wall and in a drab warehouse. And is that an old pre-digital era t.v. that only plays VHS?

What can I say. I am not an indoor runner. There is just something unnatural about it. I like to get out and feel the terrain, see the scenes change, and HAVE A DESTINATION!

Just or Unjust...that is the question.

I'm going to have to remember this point if I ever come across an atheist and find myself in a "discussion" with them. One of their arguments is "how can there be a just God when there is so much unjust in the world?" But here's a chance to answer a question with a question...who makes the standard of what just is? Who decides what makes a person just? How is Mother Theresa considered to be a better person than Adolf Hitler?

It comes from Moral Law and who wrote that law?

We ALL know the answer to that question...and it ain't no atheist!

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good."
Psalms 14:1

"The atheists are for the most part imprudent and misguided scholars who reason badly who, not being able to understand the Creation, the origin of evil, and other difficulties, have recourse to the hypothesis the eternity of things and of inevitability....."
Voltaire

The Fish Tanked!

The fish tank smells. I noticed it a couple of days ago, but I've been trying to ignore it. There's a fish floating on top, and one has fallen to the bottom of the tank. There just goldfish and we bought them for a science experiment. But...nonetheless...they must be disposed of and the tank needs a good cleaning. I knew it would come to this. We aren't even fish people. We spend months at a time in Wisconsin. We travel in our motor-home all over the place. What were we supposed to do? Bring the stinky little bowl with us? Living our life around the dog is one thing. We no longer fly from home to home (WA to WI) because we would have to leave him behind or forever traumatize him. So...we drive. And that means the fish would have to come, too. Part of me is glad they are "getting flushed", but the other part of me feels bad. After all, I took them into my care. They are God's creatures, too. But then I snap back from "Lala land" and realize life can be a cruel, cruel thing. Sorry little fishes. Thanks for filling in that corner of my desk where I had longed to put a plant (another impossibility for me these days).

Attack of the birds!

I used to like birds...and then they did THIS to my kitchen window! What did I ever do to them? I feed them, protect them from cats, admire them from a distance. It's like we suddenly have this love-hate relationship. I loved them and they clearly hate me. And I swear, every time I wash my car (which isn't very often) they wait until it's clean and dive bomb it.

So what should I think of this? If I retaliate, they will surely make me pay next time I BBQ out on the deck. Perhaps I'm starting to understand what the old saying means..."this one goes to the birds"!

Cool Water

When I was about six or so I starting this on-going prank with my dad. When he would be taking a shower I would sneak in with a glass of cold water, dump it over the curtain on him, and then run out giggling. He was always a good sport about it, so naturally, when I got married I decided to carried on the same tradition with my husband, who was also a good sport. However, payback did come... I've learn to appreciate the symbolism in that prank.

Like a cold glass of water in the shower, life can be just as startling. Imagine standing there under the warm flow of comforting water, lost in thought (some of my best ideas come from my time there), and then suddenly you're hit with shocking cold water. At first it takes your breath away and you might let out a holler. Then, surprisingly, there is a bit of refreshment, like jumping into a lake. It's that refreshment that I'm applying to life right now.

How wonderful a glass of cool water would be to someone traveling through the desert. That is just how life has seemed to Robin and me over the past few years. Many "shower scenes" have felt like a shock to the system at first and then have turned out to be refreshment from God. I love it when He leads us through these teachable moments. Now, nothing I say would have much significance if I didn't apply scripture to it. So here it is...

"Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land." Proverbs 25:25

So take that and put it in your canteen!