Brain Surgery

I’m well on my way to recovery after going through brain surgery. The new arthroscopic procedure is experimental. They removed my frontal lobe and replaced it with a donor frontal lobe from a chimpanzee. 
I must admit my cognitive skill have dramatically improved...especially my problem solving skills. The only side effect so far is an insatiable appetite for bananas and an overwhelming urge to scratch in the most inappropriate places.

The Underwear Conundrum

After showering I went to closet to retrieve a clean pair of Underoos.  I was surprised to find only one pair.  Thinking it was a little strange to find only one…when normally the shelf is stuffed full with a variety of colors and styles in all stages of shabbiness…I shrugged it off and assumed the lady of the house had finally carried thru with her threat to commandeer my supply and use them as dust rags.  Anyway, washday was tomorrow and surely replacements would show up.  Well…washday came and went and only a miniscule amount of the clean essentials appeared on the typically full shelf.  As a mater of fact the wife even quizzed me about the whereabouts of my Fruit of the Looms.  

I was clueless and could not imagine what had become of my “Whitie Tighties”.  Days and weeks went by with no sign of the missing man wear. Finally, I broke down and purchased replacements.  Sometimes the only way to find missing articles is to buy new ones.  Another washday passed and we revisited the discussion about what had become of the boxers, the briefs, those designer shorts form Walmart.  Then in a moment of clarity I thought…could they still be packed in my saddlebags from last months motorcycle trip?   

And there they were…nine day of dirty clothes packed in with my rain gear…rain gear that went unused.  

It has to be either dementia, Alzheimer’s or old age…probably all the above.

Now, I have a lifetime supply of those essentials.

Where There Is Smoke There’s Fire

After scratching my head for hours, after checking each and every component with my trusty Fluke and after reviewing every formula in my Electrical Engineering Handbook from E = IR to e = mc2…I was without a clue.  I had no idea as to what was causing the catastrophic control voltage problem.  After burning though a box of fuses…the ole’ time honored, trusted and true “smoke test” proved to be the answer to solving the confounding conundrum.  Conclusion: If you have enough fusses you can start a fire…where there is fire there is smoke…and where there is smoke you will find the problem.

A cracked terminal block can be hard to find until you apply 480 volt to it. 

But when the smoke clears…it’s a “hallelujah” moment.

 

Thank you, Lord.  You always make me look more intelligent than I am…or will ever be.

 Amen.

Dogwood

I followed the ribbon of asphalt as it twisted and turned over hill and dale through the East Texas woods crossing the aptly named creeks like Dry Creek, Clear Creek and Big Cow Creek until I came to the Sabine. Amongst the piney evergreens the flowering dogwood displayed it’s violet, yellow and white blooms....the beauty of which assured me that there is a God and this is one way he shows us his handy work.  As I crossed over the Sabine River into the land of my birth...the land my cousin loved and lived in and now the land in which he would be put to rest I pondered the thought of his passing. 

It concerns me that I am now attending the funerals those in my generation...wondering when the next shoe would drop.  He was three years my junior...the second of the first cousins to go.

Funerals always bring up haunting thoughts of the Hereafter and the unanswered questions about where we will spend our eternity... more importantly where I will spend my eternity?  I can’t help but wonder if I will measure up to God’s expectations.

I must console myself with the faith I’ve come to rely on.  Faith in the promises God make to us.  The promises I find on each and every page of the Bible.

42,748,832,140 Miles

Today completes my 73^rd lap around the sun. That is over 42 billion miles. Mentally I am as immature as I ever was…but physically my body is starting to feel the miles.  I consider myself blessed to have rolled up that many miles with virtually no problems and very little maintenance.  I have never had a broken bone, nor had even enough stitches to count on one hand.  I’ve never had my appendix removed nor any serious surgery.  I don’t think my teenage acne, hang nails nor occasional bouts of hay fever qualify as major medical problems.

I don’t know how much farther I will go before the wheels come off...but, it has been a marvelous ride so for.

I promise to do a better job of taking care of myself in the future and work on getting some of these wrinkles out of my birthday suit.

Thank you Lord, One of Three,

For always taking care of me.

You are the key, You set me free

And fill me up with lots of glee

This will be my only plea

I pray that it will come to be

That down the road I hope to see

You, Lord Jesus, One of Three.

Amen.

Trip Around the Sun - Jimmy Buffett & Martina McBride
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaKqwvGa6Bw

Lubbock

For those who still subscribe to the idea that the world is flat…Lubbock is the last remnant of evidence in support of that argument. 

Looking in any direction you can see the ends of the earth…for there is not as much as a hill or tree to obstruct your view. 

Lubbock can be colder than the North Pole in the morning and hotter than Hades that same afternoon.  I love the calm clear winter days with unrestricted visibility but springtime can bring violent dark funnel clouds, sand storms and haboobs that will blast the chrome right off your bumper. 

So dry you can’t grow at sprig of grass but will flood when it receives it’s average annual rain in one afternoon.

Lubbock is a place of extremes; a place for which I have extremely strong feels.

There is something special about Lubbock even though it’s not the place of my birth; I consider it my adopted home.

You either love it or hate it, there is no middle ground.  I choose to be in the former category. 

Maybe it’s the people that make it special.  Complete strangers are friendly and the entire place has a “Happy Days” atmosphere.

It’s not necessarily the famous people…home of Mac Davis and Buddy Holly.  But ordinary people…nicest, friendly, real people…people who are not ordinary.  People like Elizabeth Owen top the list.  She was not an ordinary second grade school teacher…not hardly.  Ask any of her students.

May God Bless Lubbock and all the people.

Thanks A Ton

I struggle with understanding all the unbelievable stuff that’s in the “Good Book”.  Understanding the mystery of the bread and wine becoming the body and blood, the virgin birth thing, God asking Abraham to sacrificing his son and God actually sacrificing his only son...it is all beyond my comprehension.  In my tiny brain it just does not add up…I can’t make the math work.

But without fail everyday there is that moment in time when I get this unexplainable feeling…a feeling deep down in my bones…a feeling that reduces me to tears…a feeling that God is really real. 

Therefore is must conclude that God is God…and God can do anything…for nothing is impossible for God.  Regardless of whether I understand it or not.  After all I barely understand long division and have no clue when it come to  calculus…but I know it works.

So I’m OK with all those unbelievable mysteries of the Bible.  I hang on the promise God made to us and I wait in joyful hope for the deal of a lifetime…my undeserved reward.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for all you’ve done.

Because of you my freedom’s won.

God’s only son, You are the One.

And so I say…“thanks a ton”.

Amen