51 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 11-14-16”

  1. Good morning! That is an adorable kitten!
    Lindsey had a sleep study last night. I have to take her breakfast –so I’m leaving the house at 6:30–very early for me. They are also doing a daytime study to check for narcolepsy–I’ve been diagnosed with it and it evidently has a hereditary component .

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  3. Yesterday afternoon, I violated a vow that I once made. The vow: “I’ll never go to Cracker Barrel for Sunday lunch again.”. I was really headed for the Golden Corral for lunch. But I found myself in the Cracker Barrel parking lot next door .. Rather than go around, I decided, “I’m here, we’ll eat at Cracker Barrel”. We waited 45 minutes for a table. But we finally got one. And I renewed my vow.

    We had ordered and I was just sitting there. I noticed a woman across the way. She didn’t notice me nor know that I existed. There was nothing special about her. Not pretty, not ugly. Not fat, not thin. About 30 years old. For some reason, I prayed, “God , give that woman a blessing.” I didn’t define it. I’ll let him figure it out. Strange thing.. I had never done that before. Never.
    ………………………..
    It was about 9:15 last night. TSWITW was already racked out. I was tired of playing free cell, so I turned my computer off to avoid temptation. They were talking about Trump’s 100 days on Fox News, so I had the TV on mute. So, I sat there and started thinking about things.

    I thought about Mumsee’s daughter. “Am I coming back?” And thought of what is probably in a mind that would say that. A mind that thinks there is really no “safe place”. Nobody can fix that but God. He knows how, but people can’t. They can alleviate some of the problems, but they can’t fix the problem. He knows how.
    So I said a pray for her. A couple of times God and I talked about that. It’s a complicated thing.
    Then. I thought about the woman in Cracker Barrel. I don’t know why. And I thought about the vow I broke. I don’t know why that came to mind.

    Then I wondered if maybe God had decided that he wanted to bless that woman somehow and arranged for me to be in Cracker Barrel at that time to jog his memory.

    ?????????????
    Nah Charlie, now you’re being silly.
    Nothing like that could ever happen.
    Could it?

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  5. Good morning, all for whom it is morning. Afternoon, Tychicus, and evening, Jo.

    Chas, reading your post blessed me this morning. You asked God to bless the woman in Cracker Barrel, you shared the story here, and the blessing had a ripple effect all the way over here to me. Thank you seems so little, but thank you anyway.

    Almost 8:00 a.m., the time 1st Arrow starts at his new job. I’m going to text him tonight to see how it went. Might report on it here, and then I’ll quit with all the talk about him that I’ve been doing lately. 🙂

    Blessings on your Monday.

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  7. Sorry Charlie…You are just confirmation of what I have been re-reading.
    Debbie Macomber is an author of those sappy love stories I like to read. In 2009 she wrote a book entilted One Simple Act. Discovering the Power of Generosity. I have had the book for a number of years but needed some quite time in the tub over the weekend. Because I now read most of my books on Kindle I needed something to read so I took this book with me.
    She has many stories in it about nudges from God she and other people have received. In one she tells of going through the grocery store line when the woman ahead of her didn’t have enough cash to pay for her groceries. She told the cashier to hold it while she went to the ATM. Debbie told the cashier to put the total charge on her bill. The cashier started listing all the reasons not to do it. “You know she is probably too embarrassed to come back” and the list goes on. Debbie told her it was OK she wanted to do it anyway, God had nudged her too many times for her to ignore Him (or however that conversation went). The cashier did it and then asked, “Tell me more about this God”. Debbie realized she wasn’t in line to pay for the other woman’s groceries. She was in that line to tell the cashier about God. She goes on to say that she had never had that cashier before and she never saw her again.
    In a nod to Michelle, in one of the stories she tells of being with a group of authors, and one referring to her husband as her “patron of the arts”.
    She also tells of a friend taking someone on the 100 mile trip to the San Francisco airport when she realized she didn’t have cash for the toll. When she got to the toll booth the attendant told her the car ahead had paid her toll.
    It isn’t just the cash that we as Christians can spend to show our generosity. She told of her grandson taking his plastic army men and forming a battle plan. He asked his mother to take pictures in case they met someone who could get it to our soldiers fighting over seas. Her daughter took the pictures and some time later the two of them were at a party when they met a retired General. Her daughter laughed and showed the photos to the general. He took the time to write a note to a child and compliment him on his strategy and ask if he could share it with his friends at the Pentagon. Sometimes generosity is of our time.

    There are so many stories she shares in the book that obviously I cannot write them all out here and I am bordering on copyright infringement anyway. If you would like a copy of the book to read yourself let me know.

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  8. It pleases God to include us in as a means by which He moves — through prayer, sharing the gospel, doing good to our neighbor and strangers alike. 🙂

    I don’t think I’ve ever eaten at a Cracker Barrel. I think we have them out here, but I’m not sure, really. The after-church gathering places here are Denny’s, Hoff’s Hut and Mimi’s. At least that’s where I’ve been on the rare occasion when I go with someone to eat out after church. A group of us used to do that at my former church, but not at this one so much. Many also don’t like to break the Sabbath by eating out (and making others work for you).

    It’s Monday but I have the day off to get ready for tomorrow’s bathroom demolition derby. It’ll all get worse before it gets better, but I think I’m ready.

    Since Tuesday I’ve been talking a public school teacher friend down from her anti-Trump anxiety and panic via FB private messages. She’s Catholic but doesn’t know the Bible or the theology that comes from it well (though she is a believer). I’ve been mostly sharing with her about God’s sovereignty in these matters and she seems to be “getting” it — though yesterday she mentioned she was listening to Joel Osteen on the TV. Cringe. Not the same thing, of course, but I won’t mention my thoughts about Osteen. 🙂 She’s trying. My sense is that she doesn’t receive a lot of consistent spiritual instruction at her church though she attends Mass every week. She’s hungry, she just doesn’t know where the most nourishing meals are to be found.

    She’s a Republican but had a very bad reaction to Trump as a mom and school teacher — and, like me, she’s in a profession where she’s surrounded by people who are horrified by any Republican winning an election, ever. 🙂 Heaven forbid!

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  9. Good Morning….sweet kitten on the header and a precious reminder from Chas that our Lord is truly in control of our lives….to be His instrument of blessing in the lives of others…even though they be unaware is to bring glory unto Him….to be obedient…to pray for others quietly…to trust that He draws us to intercede for others….thanks Chas…I do so love this blog and those of you “in the room”! ❤

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  10. Chas, narcolepsy is a health condition in which you fall asleep at inappropriate times during the day. It isn’t the same as just being overtired; although it isn’t fully understood, in narcolepsy the brain’s ability to stay awake and alert is malfunctioning.
    Ann, isn’t L the one who had the head injury?

    6, thanks for asking. The concert went OK. I made a few mistakes that I shouldn’t have and missed notes in several places. During the Mozart, my stand mate crowded really close to the music stand for some reason (nerves probably), so that I couldn’t see the second pages of the music clearly (I’m on the inside seat). I whispered to her between movements that I couldn’t see and she started and moved back, but by the end of the piece she was crowded up to the stand again. Later today, I have to play some excerpts from the music as a practical exam and be marked on my performance.

    I’ve posted performances of three of the pieces we played. This is the fourth:

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  11. Buy her some glasses. 🙂

    Glad the concert went well.

    My friend also is not very political — she responds more to personalities and character, her emotional or instinctive impressions of a candidate, than she does to policy issues. And Trump really rubbed her wrong.

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  13. So, the semester is gradually winding down, in preparation for the final exams, but tomorrow we have a large group project that we have to do in class, worth a very large percentage of the final mark. We were randomly assigned into small groups at the beginning of this particular class, and several of my group are proving to be difficult to work with. Before anyone says anything about the younger generation, the most difficult is over a decade older than I – the very nature of this program means that all of us are classified as ‘mature’ students, but that also means that some feel that they don’t have anything new to learn from being in class. So, between today’s exam and tomorrow’s assignment, I will glad to get through the next 36 hours.

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  14. My dad had narcolepsy, though I don’t remember whether it was ever diagnosed. Late in life Mom realized he had sleep apnea (connection?), but somewhere in there one of us heard the word “narcolepsy” and realized it was what Dad had. Basically if he sat down he was likely to fall asleep (and snore), even during a conversation. He fell asleep in church quite often, Mom would nudge him with her elbow, and in a stage whisper he’d retort “I wasn’t asleep!” So the whole church regularly heard him snoring and then saying “I wasn’t asleep!” There’s probably a book character in there . . .

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  15. That’s funny cheryl. 🙂

    So I had to call in Roto-Rooter today, I can’t seem to get the spare toilet to turn back on & the tank is full of rusted parts. I know, I should have checked all this sooner, but with the main bathroom going down first thing in the morning I really need this spare toilet working (the sink in there works fine, thankfully). But if they can’t repair the toilet, I may be looking at replacing that one on the fly today.

    It’s an ancient toilet, a plumber some years ago broke out laughing when he saw it.

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  18. Noooooo! I was looking at the vanity in there, though, could use a new one …

    It’s a weird little space, was a closet I was told, now has just the toilet, vanity & medicine cabinet with barely enough room to squeeze through the space (with the door open). It’s one of the mysteries of this house, the room looks original (with craftsman molding around the windows and doors and some cute inside wood shutters). It has a big built-in closet but no doors on it (I put a curtain across the space).

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  19. But this all has really spurred me on to do more — If I can get the garage cleared out (mostly), there will be space for all the Christmas and other stuff that clutters up that spare room … One thing at a time though. Right now I just need a working spare toilet!

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  21. Oh! Let’s put a cool vanity that looks like a piece of furniture with a sink either dropped in or resting on top. Let’s paint is a deep, rich color, like chocolate. We can put a Roman Shade on the window. It will look Fab.

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  22. “Oh man.” — said when technician saw the old toilet.

    Older than the ’60s, apparently.

    They (there were 2 of them) are off to try to find the parts to make it work again. 🙂

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  23. I asked about the vanity, but it’s attached to what is a plaster wall so we may not want to go there. 🙂 Maybe I could find a new topper & fixtures for it, though. The hot water knob leaks.

    There’s It also really old carpet in there (maybe hardwood underneath, like the rest of the room?) that needs to be ripped out … I ordered extra floor tiles, maybe enough ??? to do that tiny space, too?

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  25. Brick pattern linoleum under the carpet. I think that was in the kitchen, too, but they swapped it out for something much lighter before they sold the house.

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  28. In the toilet world, it’s pretty ancient Kevin. 🙂

    Yeah, the carpet was torn out in the rest of the room when I moved in, they probably left it in the bathroom when they got a peek at the linoleum underneath 🙂 I’ll deal with that later, maybe tile guy can give me some thoughts …

    I found a cute (small) free-standing vanity on Home Depot way back when I was going to use another vanity in the main bathroom being torn up — before I started researching 1923 bathroom looks and figured out it was a pedestal sink I wanted and needed.

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  29. Kim, when I first moved to Nashville and was looking at renting for a while before I bought (I ended up renting only the first summer, then buying, but was initially planning to rent about two years), I looked at a basement apartment. The lady’s husband had died, but I think he knew he was dying and had done most of the work to fix up a space she could rent out for income, and as I recall she did the rest of it herself. The whole place was carpeted with new white carpet. Including the bathroom. I don’t remember for sure, but it seems as though the kitchen even had white carpet in it. Clearly she had no idea what she was doing as she put in the finishing touches on the place.

    The house I ended up buying, the second bathroom had apparently been given to the man of the household. It was carpeted, and then a second “bathrug” had been cut out of the same carpet and cut around the toilet. It was absolutely vile. My sister-in-law was a God-send as she tore up that carpet, did what work she could to the rotten wood around the toilet, etc. Never, never, never carpet an old man’s bathroom, even with more than one layer of carpet. No offense meant to old men. (Never carpet a pre-menopausal woman’s bathroom in white, either. Some things you just don’t do.)

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  30. Oh, how I love this group. Chas and his wisdom and caring and sharing with us – setting an example for me. Others sharing their family struggles and health issues of loved ones. And we all get to pray for each other. Thank you, Lord for these people, my online friends.

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  32. I am reading a book, not one I would have chosen. I had seen it mentioned in the paper a number of times as the author was doing a tour and was coming to our town. It is about the West and about the building of a dam on Indian sacred ground so already I could see and environmental extremist view. One afternoon, fifteen year old asked if he could go to the library to hear the author speak as they were required to do that or to read the book. When I learned seventeen year old was also going, I approved as did husband. Seventeen year old bought me a copy of the book as a gift. It is pornography and a sex manual. It is extremely graphic. It discusses the attempted rape of an eleven year old boy and the way he mauled his attacker with a meat hook. It discusses in depth the relinquishing of virginity to a boyfriend. This is not something I would want my children reading, especially disturbed children. And the teachers think this is okay? This is why we are where we are in America today.

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  33. How is it that you can be having a perfectly happy day and one phone call from just the right person can wipe all of it away?

    This year has been good. I have made more money than I have made since the market crash. Guy has been adding it up and is now backing out of some agreements we had. I don’t have a formal contract with him, just our conversations and email confirmations. He is wanting to renegotiate my commission split with him. He is wanting me to recatergorize some of my my commissions as bonuses so he will not have to pay the promised bonuses through the end of the year which made me make a financial decision over the weekend based on what I thought he would pay me today.
    I just can’t get ahead without some sort of angst being involved. I just want to go crawl in the bath tub and cry. I wish I could find a different job but none will pay me what I need and I have been let go from other times I have tried to leave him that I have no confidence to do it again. I’m just tired. Tired of fighting to get anything,.

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  34. Hugs, Kim. 😦 He sounds difficult, to say the least

    Plumber “technicians” fixed the toilet but it leaks (from the galvanized pipe connecting the bowl to the tank). So I have to keep a bucket under there. Will have to see if the guys doing demo can maybe put in a new toilet back there while there here. 😦 Argh.

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  36. And the real heart of what upsets me so much is that I start feeling secure. I can take a breath. I have money in the bank. There were years where I struggled. I think I have told you before that even when I was married the first time there was never any money for anything I wanted to do. I have managed to put a little aside. I am going to have to use most of it to pay taxes but there was just a little so that I could show love to others by paying it forward.
    If you notice my first post this morning was about the book and my last comment was if you wanted your own copy to let me know.
    I know I have issues where money is concerned. It comes from not having any for so long. I still can’t even trust Mr. P about money.

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  37. Ah, a port a potty. 🙂 A perfect look for the shape my house is in right now, I think.

    Yeah, I shoulda just asked if they could do that, but they had a full schedule and said also that one never knows what they’ll find once they pull that one up (with regard to flooring, etc.) and it’s kind of weird shape at the bottom, they said. I dunno. If I could do it over again, I’d start out just saying I wanted it replaced and let them go at it.

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  38. If I had more money I’d hire Kim to manage fixing and beautifying my house and property.

    This is what always made me vow I’d never “remodel” (in this case it was forced on me).

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  39. I’m told the “roofers” (who are doing the demo and who fixed a prior bathroom leak for me) can look at it and do what needs to be done.

    Honestly.

    I’m sure this is just the beginning of what can and will go wrong. 🙂

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  40. OK, I think it’s safe to say my body clock is completely messed up. Unusually for me, I slept well most of last week. But last night I lay in bed and my body wasn’t ready to sleep; I got up and went back to bed about 3:00. Got up 9:00 or so. Just now (about 4:15) I ate lunch . . . and until I ate lunch I’d had a mandarin orange (clementine) and a bagel with butter. Oh, I guess I also had a mug of hot cocoa.

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  43. Checking in to say hello. I have not read the other posts, but probably agree with others that the kitten photo is absolutely the cutest!

    My thumb is suffering today from all the chopping of veggies and fruits for our Thanksgiving meal. I suppose many people suffer arthritis in their hands during the holiday meal prep phase.

    Karen seemed better today when I spoke with her. She said that she and her husband got excited last night while listening through the stethoscope which indicated a lot of improvement.

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  44. Anonymous/6 arrows here. Kare, 1:47, well said. My sentiments exactly.

    I got to thinking of you all last night as I was reading a book I have checked out of the library. It’s called When Strangers Meet: How People You Don’t Know Can Transform You, by Kio Stark. Mainly, from what I’ve read so far, the emphasis is more on striking up conversations with strangers in your physical presence, but I got to an interesting part last night where the author talked about associating with people on the internet whom you’ve never met.

    She wrote of the challenges associated with relating to people without having the benefit of seeing body language, hearing emotion, etc., and mentioned how little success she’s seen in such a situation (online community) because of the lack of affirming glances, emotional connections, and the like.

    And yet here, in our little community in this corner of the web, I see something a lot different. There IS affirmation. There ARE emotional connections. We pray and are prayed for in this community. We rejoice with those who rejoice; we weep with those who weep.

    Even when I’m away from WV, on my media fasts, or even on the days I just don’t have time to get here, the community here crosses my mind.

    The Lord is doing wondrous things here, I believe — no, I KNOW — and I count it a great blessing to be part of this scene.

    God bless, everyone.

    6

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  45. Many years ago way back when we were on world Magazine Cheryl used to make me so mad with what I interpreted as her sanctimonious posts. Somewhere along the line…I think it was when I used OMG in a post and she explained why it offended her…I began to see her in a new light. I began to REALIZE she posted from deep in her heart.
    Every now and then when I am having a hard time expressing exactly what I want to say I will make the comment that Cheryl will be along in a little while to tell you what I mean. 🙂
    I have come.to love her and really enjoyed the few days I got to tour her around my little slice of paradise.

    I love you Cheryl

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  46. Kim, I love you too. I was wishing that week could have been a bit different for both of us, so we could have had more time together . . . but seeing you twice was a great big blessing. And you know, I think both of us know we won’t always agree on everything, but we trust each other’s motives and that’s huge.

    How many online communities dream about one another, and meet one another in person whenever possible? As for me, I married someone I met online, and he is just as real as he would be had I met him at church or at the park!

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  47. I will have you all dreaming — or having nightmares — about my bathroom.

    I still can’t get a confirmation from real estate guy that demo starts tomorrow. He hasn’t answered my latest email about it yet (he earlier said he still had to confirm with the workers).

    So.

    Here I sit …

    I’ll call him if I don’t hear by 6 p.m.

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  48. Does anyone remember when ladies dyed their hair, and tried to make it look natural? I am on grandma duty at little league basketball practice. 🙂

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  50. Rkessler, what’s funny is I had a “henna” mishap that turned my natural red hair a horrible brassy orange color (I was around 30 at the time). I was horrified.

    I remember visiting my mom’s house that weekend and a very short, elderly German woman who lived down the street came marching over to me (I was in the front yard), stopped right in front of me, then said judgmentally ‘YOU’VE DYED YOUR HAIR.” I kept protesting it was “natural” henna and an accident, really, but she marched away, shaking her head.

    Mortified.

    It eventually washed out & wore off (my boyfriend at the time insisted he thought it was great). But, yes, I laugh now at how blatantly dyed hair is a “thing” to strive for. 🙂

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  51. Donna’s bathroom issues are an example of my friend’s addage that home improvements take twice as long and cost three times as much as estimated. Or maybe 3 times as long and cost twice as much. And there is no such thing as a “quick fix”. It ends up causing more problems down the road.

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