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