72 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 9-9-17”

  3. Kim. What is the elevation of your house?
    My parents lived in Hanihan, a northern suburb of Charleston, It was about 15-20 miles from the ocean. But there was a tidal creek about 100 yards away from them.

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  4. Chas, funny you should ask. They have upgraded our MLS system with a lot of shiny new tools so I can look there for my house and find that I am in FEMA’s Flood Zone X which is and area of minimal flood hazard.
    I am also just a few miles from Ecor Rouge which is the highest coastline point between Mexico and Maine. Beyond that you have to take a few steps up into my house. We did have a bit of a drainage problem in our yard but installed drains to help so that all of our neighbors water now flows under our back yard and into a retention pond.
    I think we will be OK. I don’t trust this storm. It is shifting to the west somewhat. If it gets into the warm waters of the Gulf it could build again and go anywhere from Florida to Mexico.

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  5. My Baby Girl is TWENTY today. How did that happen? Most of you have been praying for her most of her life. Thank you for that. You also all know her story. She was prayed into existence.
    Last night she, her Nana, her cousin (the former Worthless Nephew), and I went out for Chinese dinner. We had the BEST time laughing and telling stories. We have planned a trip to New York in January of 2019 (We have to get Niece married in May first).
    I gave her the set of completed pearls. The original 5 pearls on the necklace belonged to my mother when Add-A-Pearls first became a thing. Since BG was born 9/9/97 for her first birthday I added 9 pearls. Over the years her Nana and I have added more. Back in February I took a pearl bracelet that ex-husband gave me the 2nd Christmas we were married and had them added to finish off the pearls.
    When BG was born a woman at work who was a wonderful mentor and helped me realize that like could be wonderful and I could find other people who needed me to mother then if I never had a baby gave her a beautiful baby cross made of enameled daisies. (just realized that this woman, Bobbie has the initials of BG). I had the cross attached to the clasp of the pearls. I think last night was the first time my BG heard the story of that cross. Bobbie’s birthday is January 8th. At the office we were planning a big birthday party for her. It was also the day I went to the doctor to see if the procedure worked and if I was pregnant. I got back to work and Bobbie’s husband was hidden in another part of the building with cake and balloons. HE was the first person to hear my news, so Bobbie’s birthday also became my celebration.

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  7. I bet you fed her–that’s what seems to happen with these kids. They just get bigger and bigger all the time!

    A friend of Kizzie’s posted a photo on FB this morning; L looks great.

    My Coast Guard widow friend made it to Atlanta last night and is safe; her kids are hunkered down and they’re praying for the granddaughter in the Keys. I’m not sure what else you can do at this point beyond watching and waiting.

    Life seems pretty trivial out here in California this weekend. 😦

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  8. Morning! And here I am heading out to watch 12 yr old grandson play football…..they all grow up!
    Except for my husband…I am convinced he will never grow up😀He is running Run Rabbit Run in Steamboat…he is at mile 75 or so…he started running yesterday morning…nuts! He continues to amaze me❤️

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  9. It’s weird. The TV has the hurricane tracking up toward Atlanta once it hits land.
    That isn’t the way weather travels in this part of the northern hemisphere. It always travels from west to east.
    They have it going northwest.

    Hurricanes hate mountains. I hope it dissipates before it comes to the Appalachians. It causes horrendous mudslides and flooding.

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  10. It does seem trivial, doesn’t it Michelle?

    I went out to dinner with a friend from down the street last night, nice to go out for a change. She’s still wishing to buy a house (despite all my warnings of a single woman owning a home) and has been looking out of state. Her latest foray was into Mississippi where an HGTV show was offering people a deal — they buy the fixer-upper there and they’ll fix it up on their show.

    She looked at a few houses they had on their list but there was little more than a Walmart and Piggly Wiggly around, she decided that wouldn’t be for her. I talked up Fairhope to her. 🙂

    The photo posted last night of Lee looked great, don’t know if it’s the same one Michelle saw this morning or not. Praying — and grateful this was caught so quickly and is being treated. It helped that he’d been in the hospital so recently, doctors have the head start by having had all those needed tests and assessments done, they can hit the ground running going forward with treatment.

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  14. I told her, wine tastings, artsy stuff, cute town. 🙂 Sent her a link after we got home.

    She didn’t like Mississippi much, said it was just all very “odd,” a very isolated feeling to her.

    For the past few years she’s been to Tennessee, South Carolina, other places (she’s a warm-weather girl, through and through) in search of a house. But she’s still working (nurse) at a hospital here w/no plans to retire real soon and has super-cheap rent in a 1920s four-plex that is owned by the family of one of her high school friends. I think the TV people were excited about the prospect of a California resident priced out of her state buying one of their featured fixer-uppers for the show but they were wanting her to buy something like this month, immediately. Deadlines and all.

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  15. I’ve also heard those TV house shows use cheap, corner-cutting methods in their “fixing” up the homes. She’d still have to pay them for all the work and materials, of course. I think she’d do better buying something move-in ready.

    But after all I’ve been through, I keep telling her … Be careful what you wish for. (I love her little 1920s apartment and her rent is dirt cheap considering what prices are around here.)

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  16. Happy Birthday, BG! I can always remember her birthday now, because she’s exactly 50 years younger than my brother-in-law, who turns 70 today. I’m so glad you had such a wonderful time last night.

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  17. My little baby girl just turned ten a few days ago. And my first little baby girl turned thirtyfour, I think. And I will turn sixty. I do like to remind my dad of that, his baby girl is turning sixty.

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  19. My brother made it home yesterday. Because of all his pharmaceutical sales work, he knows his way around Georgia on all the back roads and through small towns where he may have seen doctor’s or pharmacists. That was a great help. I do worry about his high mileage car, but he knows cars and keeps it going. Next time I won’t get so concerned.

    I did ask my brother if the storm gets real bad if I could bring Bosley and stay in his basement with her. He said she can stay in a cage in the carport outside or in the back of the covered truck. He won’t let her be inside even in the basement which is basically unfinished concrete with lots of things stored, nothing in good condition. I told him I would make other arrangements. It makes me sad. But God is a good Father who takes care of His children who care about animals in special ways.

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  21. Did you win a car?

    Always interesting to see people’s take on the hurricane — so far, climate change themes are big — but I’ave also seen second-coming (as in, it’s imminent) predictions popping up.

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  23. One of our dogs showed up on our doorstep in Okinawa but we had already determined husband was allergic to dogs, or at least the things they carry. She stayed outside. We had a big hurricane coming and the neighbor’s let her stay in their house. Good thing as her dog crate blew off and went down the street several houses. Would have been rather terrifying. But I would understand not wanting an animal in the house. I don’t know where I would draw the line, though I did not let fourth daughter bring her puppy as I knew she would not keep it in the kennel but it would find its way onto the guest bed.

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  25. Michelle @ 12:24
    I don’t know at what point it changes.
    But hurricanes always seem to travel west up to a certain latitude,
    At some point, they turn north.
    At some latitude, the weather always goes west to east.

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  26. Going through more family stuff. Found a Navy pin with a dangling (but empty) heart locket, probably WWII.

    And a very ornate antique thimble but looks like that’s only worth about $25. Sigh. I keep hoping to find my kitchen remodel in all of this …

    Now it’s off the the e-waste site to drop off a bag filled with old phone chargers, old (landline) phones, broken lights.

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  30. Mumsee- I won’t know who won until after all the games are played, which won’t be until late tonight.

    And there is no car to give away, unless you want my 2001 Malibu with 313,000 miles on it. I put new tires on it this summer and just changed the oil last week.

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  34. Okay. If you win I’ll drive it on over to Idaho when I’m done with it. Let’s see. I want to get it to 500 thousand miles, at 20,000 miles per year. So in 9 or 10 years you’ll get it. If it doesn’t rust away first. 😀

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  38. It’s all so hard, I’ve decided to join my fellow Californian in a state of denial. So, I’m writing blog posts of imaginary interviews with Biddy. She’s pretty clever and I’m now in trouble with her mother, aunt and grandmother, Victorian women who are not amused I wrote a biography! LOL

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  39. I do need to give a shout out of thanks to my friend Cheryl who has apparently solved a problem that has stumped me, friends, my teenage doctor and even my husband for years. She gave us the trick to fall asleep!

    It has worked for the last week, not only for me, but also for my friend J–and for both of us the nights before we flew.

    I cannot thank you enough, Cheryl. Who knew thinking up words to match a letter of the alphabet would corral/distract the squirrels in my brain long enough that my body could actually fall asleep when my brain was distracted?

    Truly, I feel amazingly happy and better in the morning. Totally blessed. I should post this on all four pages today!

    Thank you, Cheryl.

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  40. Do not, I repeat, do not take seriously anything the news says Rush Limbaugh said. They routinely take what he says out of context. He said that there would be a lot of fake news connected with Irma not that Irma IS fake news. The same goes for Glenn Beck. Every time I’ve heard something outrageous they reportedly said and look into it, I find that what they actually said was not what was reported. I don’t even bother to check any more.

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  41. Michelle, I’m so glad it helps! I’m one of those people who has “tried everything” and most things help sometimes and not others. I wish I remember where I read about the study that came up with this one, but I don’t, but it seems like it was based on brain research and not just “hey, let’s try this.” The first night I did it, I think I went to sleep on the first letter and slept for hours. I was shocked–nothing puts me to sleep within half an hour of going to bed, nothing. And I usually wake up several times. The next night I tried it and got through all four letters and it didn’t work. I don’t use it every night, but when I do use it now, except that second night, it has always worked. When I sense that my brain is going to be especially resistant, then I mix it up a bit–which I didn’t know to try that second night. A couple nights ago, my second letter was E, so instead of just thinking of any words that begin with E, I went through the alphabet: eAch, eBb, eCho, eDdy, etc. In the last half of the alphabet, I couldn’t think of any for two or three letters, so I just moved on. By the time I got to the third letter in my original word, I was sleepy and ready to succumb.

    Occasionally I start it, and 45 minutes later I realize I have been lying awake with my brain going in all directions, and I need to get back to my word, and so I do, and I’m soon asleep. If I wake up during the night and know I’m going to be lying there a while, I go back to my word or start one, and it puts me back under. It’s extremely useful, and I’m happy to have found it.

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  42. I just have to start reading in bed and I’m “gone” within 10-30 minutes.

    I did use the “first letter” tool for meditation (naming God’s attributes) some years ago. I remember using it as I rode my bike along the beach.

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  43. Met someone at the dog park tonight whom I’ve only texted and talked to by phone for stories, fun.

    Now I’m steaming some frozen veggies & I have a pre-cooked roasted chicken in the fridge to add to it.

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  45. I am proud of my fellow Fairhopians

    http://local15tv.com/news/local/baldwin-co-residents-cook-for-evacuees-stuck-in-traffic-while-fleeing-storm
    The Robertsdale Colloseum has been turned into a shelter for up to 2,000 people. Last night a call went out on FB for items that were needed. A group is meeting at Winn Dixie at 1pm to buy what was called for and deliver it. The one person who said something snarky about the need for diapers and baby formula was shut down quickly. “This wasn’t a planned vacation” .
    I have read some really good things that people have been doing.

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  48. I got text form a cousin from the Bradenton/Sarasota area who is now staying in Georgia with her family, way up by the North Carolina border. She went and got my aunt first, then drove most of the day yesterday. Her sister and husband stayed behind.

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  49. During the evacuation of Ft McMurray, one person frantically packed their car and, when they were safe, discovered she had packed Kraft Dinner and snow pants! It’s hard to think clearly at such times and we should all probably have an evacuation list – we don’t yet, although we could easily be forced out very quickly by a forest fire.

    Our friends in Naples are out of the surge area and are still okay – their house hasn’t even creaked but the storm shutters are rattling quite loudly!

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  50. Kare, I have an box shaped, expanding file folder with a snap and handle in the top of my closet. I have important papers in it. In an emergency I can grab it.
    There are emergency lists you can follow to know what to take in an evacuation. I have never had to leave. I am not sure what else I would take.
    At the colloseum I have heard there are six newborns. I don’t know about the rest of you but when BG was a newborn, if I got my teeth brushed by 10am it was an accomplishment

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  51. We live in a high fire zone and I’ve always had a list inside a cabinet: Take these in this order including directions of where to find said items.

    Now that I think about it, however, I never put that list together here . . . something for today since I can see the dry hills a block away . . .

    Today’s Utmost was perfectly apt. I’ve got my response it posted on my FB writer page along with the Utmost FB Group page, but here it is for your interest:

    As I write this from the safety of the west coast on September 10, 2017, Hurricane Irma is making landfall on Florida. Today’s reading is particularly fitting as we’ve watched those who have prepared themselves to handle a crisis marshal forces for what happens tomorrow.

    OC reminds us of a basic truth of Christian living–every day requires us to live as a branch of the vine of Jesus Christ. We draw our sustenance, grace and spiritually keen eyesight, wisdom and understanding from that time we spend individually with God.

    We can’t shirk that spiritual time alone–because that’s where we learn to recognize God’s voice and the Holy Spirit’s way of leading. That’s where we fully grasp what Jesus’ death on the cross means for us and how we can extend grace upon grace to the (Biblically defined) “fools” around us as a result.

    “If you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions, when you get involved in God’s work, you will not only be useless yourself but also a hindrance to those around you.”

    Do we really want to be in the hurricane’s outer rings of wind without someone protecting us who knows what s/he is doing?

    Do we really want to trust our spiritual life–our eternal life–into the hands of someone who doesn’t know God because s/he doesn’t spend quality time alone with God?

    Especially in a desperate situation?

    I think this is a wonderful passage. What about you?

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  52. I have been reading and praying about all the challenges the people here are facing, but haven’t had much to say for myself the past few days. My brain was too tired.

    Last Sunday and this Sunday, using different passages of Scripture, I have listened to two different pastors, the interim one at the tiny church and the one at the city church, preach the same basic message. The interim pastor, last week, used James 1 to point out that when James talked about the good and perfect gifts from the Father, he was talking about the trials and testings mentioned earlier in the same chapter. He challenged us to recognize that when God sent trials our way, he was giving us a gift that would help us to grow in maturity.

    This week, the city pastor preached on Psalm 19, talking about the character of God, pointing out that since God was so powerful to make and maintain the universe, He was not impotent in the face of natural disasters. Rather, He controlled all things. The pastor pointed out how God told Pharaoh that God would use Pharaoh to show God’s power, and challenged us to praise God even in the middle of trials, because, quoting the Catechism, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The sermon was made more effective by the fact that this pastor is the one who lost his wife to cancer in the spring.

    I was thinking yesterday about Paul’s description in II Corinthains 4:7-11:

    But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
    We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
    Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

    As I reread the passage, I was struck by that last line, “For we who live are always delivered unto death.. that the life of Jesus is revealed in our mortality.” Paul said ‘we’, meaning all believers. We are the ones who are alive in this world, and yet our calling is to die daily, for Christ.

    The middle section of that passage in II Corinthians 4, where it talks about being “troubled, but not distressed…” is an interesting word study. The Greek word translated ‘troubled’ has the idea of pressure, like grapes being trodden in a press, while the word translated ‘distressed’ has the idea of being hemmed into a small space, like being crushed into a wall corner by a mob of people. The words are similar in meaning, but they present two different pictures. The words ‘perplexed’ and ‘despair’ also have a similarity. The Greek for ‘perplexed’ means “to be without resources, to be uncertain of which way to go, to be in doubt”; while ‘despair’ in the Greek means “to be completely at a loss, destitute of all resources.” Again, almost the same meaning, but presenting a different picture. Essentially, doubt and destitution are an expected part of the Christian life, but there will always be a way of escape. We apply the promise of I Corinthians 10:13, about not being tempted above our ability, to temptations to sin, but the Greek word for ‘temptation’ there refers to any kind trial or testing:

    There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

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  53. Our pastors must all be thinking alike these days. This morning mine preached from John 15- the vine and the branches, but he also referenced the II Corinthians passage above. It was a good sermon, and he didn’t even mention politics until afterward. Trump got a pat on the back for negotiating expedited funding for hurricane damage, even though he had to work with the Democrats to do it. We had a couple dozen evacuees from Houston and Florida in the congregation, so that went over well. :–)

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  54. It’s in the 60’s and very windy. The sky has an eery look. When my brother called after church, he was without power. A tree may have snapped a power line.

    I just got home from delivering a meal I made for a family at church. I hope they like my spaghetti. Now I need to fix food for us.

    We voted at church on the merger. We don’t know the other church results yet. Our result was 95% in favor of merger. Since the other church building would be sold, it is a harder choice for them. I hope to hear something later today.

    We had a nice communion service today. I hope everyone else has a nice service.

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  55. Our Sermon was on “Striving in Prayer” from Rom. 15:30-33. We sang some new-to-us songs today — “Before the Throne of God Above,” “Amidst Us Our Beloved Stands” (for communion), and “Blessed Be the Name.”

    Looks like the hurricane is living up to its advance billing. Our denomination is taking donations for hurricane relief.

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  56. We missed church today…Paul returned home this morning ready for a nap…he finished his run…it is promoted as an ultra 100 mile…they give them 102 mile credit but in actuality it is 107 miles…he finished in 32 hours and was the first old dude (over 60)…the other two old dudes were 2 and 4 hours behind him….I am glad he is home 😊

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  58. No, Chas. You didn’t. No surprise in Columbia. Many are awaiting the day that Mizzou fires the coach.

    Oh, and congrats on the 57.

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  62. I love “Before the Throne of God Above”
    Went to report to the missions committee. I waited outside one door for 35 minutes while they kept looking for me out the other door. I could hear them talking, so didn’t knock. Oh, well, I did finally come in and had a good time with them.

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  63. Hubs here. I was so surprised to see what was in Kim’s letter to me and the kid. THANK YOU for your generosity. Bless you all. All of the messages……I can only read them one at a time because I am tearing up. Chris is starting to come to terms with what happened. He is in grief counseling and it seems to help. My heart is broken and I’m still hurting.
    Taking care of the kid is job one, so that keeps me busy.
    Her funeral was crowded. She was so loved. The minister (George Weeks, who had known her for years) started the eulogy this way: “I have tried to find something biblical to apply to this situation, but I can’t really find anything appropriate. So Tim, let me just say this: THIS SUCKS.” Yes he is a Godly man and he really said that. It made us laugh. He was commenting on our life for the last 2 years. He summed it up. Chris and I remain believers, but we are still asking “why.” Time will surely tell, either on this side of life, or the other.

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  64. Here is something she wrote that was in her eulogy. It sums her up perfectly.

    Memories

    One night when I was in Nicaragua on a mission trip, one of the ministers brought a local man he wanted us to meet. He gave us all Spanish names and told us how he could only afford to bring one child a week with him to church. Then by the light of the lanterns, he sang hymns in Spanish.
    I’ve worshiped God in the most beautiful Cathedrals in the world, under a tree in Nicaragua and an elevator in a psychiatric hospital (I wasn’t the patient.)
    Having always been healthy I had a serious misconception of what it was like to be sick. I pictured myself lying in bed while people brought me things. Never thought it would involve an 8 hour work day, a little rest, then getting up to do laundry.
    I once caught a softball 2 inches off the ground.
    When Tim and I were in Europe we visited some of the most beautiful cathedrals: West Minister, Canterbury, Notre Dame, to name a few. Sometimes, someone would come over a loud speaker and invite everyone to join in prayer. Later, we visited a little church in Edinburgh. When we walked in there was a small choir practicing for a concert. The acoustics were amazing. It was one the most beautiful things I’d ever heard.
    I swam in a Mexican lagoon so clear and full of colorful fish, it was like swimming in an aquarium.
    When I was young my friends and I flew out west and stayed on a working ranch. We got hats and those cool coats with the slit up the back. One time, we helped move the cows from one field to the next. There was a little calf in my section who didn’t want to go. Every so often he would stop, bellow a while, then move on. Afterward we rode up into the hills and saw the tiny cabin where the family’s ancestors had raised 14 children.
    The other picture of being sick is in Tim McGraw’s song Live Like You are Dying where you climb mountains, ride bulls and go fishing. The reality is you have no energy to climb a mountain and you have no time to ride a bull. What energy you have goes to making a living, taking care of kids and cleaning things. And of course money. The deductible for a scan can cost over a weeks salary.
    I’ve ridden a train up the California coast and under the channel between England and France. I’ve ridden snowmobiles in Yellowstone Park and through the mountains of Colorado. I’ve been on a ship in the Caribbean, and a bike to the Georgia line. I ‘ve hiked through Isle Royal in Lake Superior within view of Canada. I’ve swam in the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacfic Ocean and both sides of the Atlantic.
    I was one of hundreds who helped bring the Pope to the world, one of dozens who brought the gospel story to the Birmingham area and one of six who told a dozen children about Jesus with puppets.
    Finally……
    When Chris was a baby he and I were sitting on a blanket in the yard. I was a little bummed out because I had missed a movie I wanted to see. Then, Chris crawled to the edge of the blanket and picked up a pine cone. As I watched him look it over, I realized that anyone can see a movie but not everyone gets to see a child discover a pine cone for the first time.

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  69. Tim we are so thankfully blessed that you stopped by. You and Chris continually are in our thoughts and prayers…and thank you for sharing what Kathy wrote in Memories…she has touched so many lives for the glory of our Father….❤️

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  72. Tim, my heart goes out to you. I have been so wrapped up in caring for my spouse, who was spared, that I failed to reach out to you. You and Chris have been in my thoughts and prayers. Praying that you grow towards each other.

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