Look what God does

5/24/10 Monday
There’s so much going on and part of that is I’m fighting this laptop so it may take a while to write it all. After the laptop crashed a friend offered to fix it. Unfortunately he erased everything so I ended up with a computer with nothing on it but what comes when you buy them new. All the software I’d purchased and put on was gone along with every bit of work I’ve done. That included the spyware program I’d just purchased so the computer isn’t protected. It didn’t take long for someone to invade it cause I already got a spam email sent from myself this morning. So I changed the password but am still unprotected.

We will take Gretchen to the vet this afternoon. Her leg is pretty chewed up and appears to be infected. I suspect this happened as she protected Ben from attack the day they disappeared. Perhaps they will not wander off as much now, at least we hope so. For the moment we have two three legged dogs between Ben and Gretchen.

Saturday we heard the dogs barking, the kind of bark we recognize as saying “someone’s here” so I got up to see. There was a white van in the drive that I didn’t recognize so I called Rascal and Trixie and put them in the house. We have to do this for they are somewhat aggressive with strangers. A woman got out and came up. She said “You’ve taken so many pictures on the blog that I recognized this place”. She is a regular reader who follows our story and has left a few comments. I recognized her name when she told me. She didn’t say a whole lot, just asked “If I gave you something, would you take it no questions asked?”. Cherie and I both said yes and she got her checkbook out and wrote a check. There’s no need to say how much it was, that doesn’t matter, but it was significant. What matters is the heart, the motivation behind any action. She told us that she has been touched by how I keep going despite difficulties. She also had some advice regarding those who think little of us and would rather spend time talking about us, tearing us down, than actually talk to us and get to know who we are. It is evident she has experienced a few difficulties in life too and thus could relate to some of ours. I wanted to give her a tour of the farm and tell of all the dreams and plans we had but she seemed inclined to get moving. After she left Cherie just cried, saying “I can’t believe it”. Thank you friend. I won’t use your name because… Don’t figure you did it for recognition anyway.

So once again our needs are met, miraculously out of the blue. “Use that money wisely” our friend, whom we’d never met before, advised us. That’s not a problem, we are careful about every penny we have. God is good, and takes care of us. We have met so many whom show the love of God and practice what they preach, instead of just talking about it. Our prayer is that they all be blessed and our knowledge is that they will be. Psalm 91 says “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord “My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust” for it is he who delivers from the snare of the trapper”. It goes on to speak of how God protects and cares for those whom love Him. Verse eleven says “He will give his angels charge concerning you, to protect you in all your ways”. Cherie and I had just read psalm 94 the day before this lady showed up at our door and I told her about it as we discussed those who spend time talking about us, how it tells of God’s vengeance against those who wish to harm His children. “They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly; All who do wickedness vaunt themselves. They have said “The Lord does not see, nor does the God of Jacob pay heed” Psalm 94.4. I am far from perfect and have made many mistakes, but tried to reach out and asked for forgiveness. So I leave things in the hands of God, who is the perfect judge and knows men’s hearts. As I struggle to believe and work to be pleasing to God things like this wonderful gift happen that reinforce my faith.

I must leave to take Gretchen to the vet so will finish this later.
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Gretchen’s gonna live. She’s got some infection and inflamed ligaments and tendons. The vet said it looks like she “took a slide” on some pavement. Perhaps she got hit by a vehicle. I don’t know but there is no question that she had tangled with some critters, whether dogs, coyotes, or something else I can’t tell. She gave us some medicine and a bill, telling us to let her know if the swelling doesn’t come down.

I’m still fighting to bring this laptop back to speed. Right now the Picasa picture program is trying to absorb the fifteen thousand or so pictures that were on the external hard drive we had backed the laptop up on. Unfortunately every time it runs into one of the many videos we had taken it crashes and loses everything so I must start it over. That’s happened over twenty times so far. I’m sure there’s a way I can program it to not do this but don’t have a clue. Each time it crashes and I restart it shows the particular movie that caused the problem and lets me “Hide” it on the disc.

Yesterday I spent seven hours on the tractor. Man was my butt sore but it’s stuff that has to be done. There’s a hint of rain coming and I desperately need to plant the hay Bermuda seed we bought, along with the regular grass type. Oops! The Picasa program just crashed again so hang on while I start it again.

With the gift our friend gave us I’ll be able to afford to hire some of the guys from the Stepping Stone halfway house to do some of the work that is so hard on me. Part of that is finishing tearing down the barn in Odessa. It will be so nice to be able to keep my word. Plus my hope is to use the material to build a greenhouse along the garage and building a barn where I can work on tractors and equipment is a big part of our vision for the future. Picasa just crashed again so got to fix it.


It’s exciting to be me, sometimes, when it’s not depressing. My life is a wonderful series of things just coming together in spite of the obstacles put in our way. As I struggled with my faith, struggled to believe and reconcile my doubts these events (time for another Picasa fix) show me that there is a God and that He is an active living being who cares and gets involved, who really does things. I’ll be telling my story, or at least part of it, this Wednesday morning at the First Christian Church that is on Louisiana Avenue (or street, not sure) for their prayer group who meet at 7:00 am. You are welcome to come.(Cherie called me after reading this. It's a mens only prayer group) I’ve got about a half hour to speak so that isn’t enough to cover the whole wonder my life is. (Crap, there goes Picasa again) So I’ll probably focus on what I consider the greatest part, how the marriage between Cherie and I was restored after 20 years, but I’ll certainly touch on the rest of it.

This Picasa thing is driving me nuts but it’s the way it is. I’ll keep plugging along till I get things restored. I heard thunder outside so that may mean rain is near. Here I am working on getting this laptop up and also to finish writing for the blog when I’ve got lots of work to do outside as well. It’s always that way, a balance of what is the most important thing to do versus what can I put off and for how long.

In the realm of our life is the lives of others we help. Cherie went with me Saturday to visit with the widow. Her grandson was put in a mental health evaluation facility where he is only allowed short visits. It’s kind of like jail. So she was headed out to see him for the first time and was glad to see us. I talked with her for a short time as other family members were there getting his clothes and things together to take to the facility. This family has seen so much difficulty and much of it is the result of previous problems. The widow had been molested as a child and was later married to an alcoholic so she had overcome much in her life but then saw the pattern repeat with her daughter. I’ve seen this so many times in so many lives that it’s a familiar story to me now. I offered again to speak with the young man and the widow said she’d convey that to him. Part of his problem is the abuse he received from his dad, who was sexually abusing the daughter and despising him at the same time. So the pattern repeats and that cycle must be broken. The young man is physically and mentally abusive to his wife, who is divorcing him now, and controlling and possessive. Pray for him, that his eyes open up and he can see himself. That’s the hardest person to see, you know, yourself. He treats his daughter like gold but his son gets little love or compassion from him. The little boy is only about three years old or so. What I know is that most of us learn our parenting skills and how to love our mate from our parents.

Enough writing. I’ve got work to do. God bless you all. The Picasa program finally was able to accumulate all the pictures so that’s done.