One Person at a Time...

Hotter Than...

I'm not really used to it being more than 100 degrees everyday.  In sixteen mornings of running and praying here, there was ONE morning when it was "cool." That's the morning I ran ten miles, and God provided both cloud cover and a few drops of rain during that run.  I did my part by starting half an hour before daylight, so I would only have to run the last half of the time in the sun.  We've seen 108 degrees on our warmest day here, and let me say that those who say, "Yes, but it doesn't feel that hot because the humidity is lower," either haven't ever been in 108 regardless of humidity, or their bodies are just strange!  Today it was a balmy 98, but it didn't matter all that much, since I've been inside except for lunch, since I finished my run/prayer time at about 6:20.  Any of you who really like the heat, I recommend El Paso.  Personally, I'm looking forward to Cabot where according to the weather channel.com it currently feels like 66 degrees and the ten day forecast isn't calling for anything hotter than 83.  83?  That's about the 8:00 a.m. temperature around here.  I've loved my time away, but I'm looking forward to a morning run when I might even feel a little chilly.  Here, the only time the word chilly is used it's spelled "chili"!

Locked-Out!

Sorry that I wasn't able to post anything yesterday!  I couldn't log-in to my blog. The frustrating thing was at the Typepad home page when I clicked on "Sign-in" nothing happened.  I tried everything I knew to do, and since I haven't yet been able to find an actual phone number for Typepad, which means you have to be signed in to contact them for existing accounts, the result was NO POSTS!  I'll make up for that over the coming week as God has been giving me a lot of "fodder" for the blog over the past few days!

Fabulous!

Fabulous!  One word that said it all.  Abby texted that one word to me as time ran out on Super Bowl XLIII last night.  I had stayed home by myself due to a late afternoon killer headache and nausea, and if I could have slept may have just by-passed the Super Bowl altogether, but decided to watch and I'm glad I did!  Up until recently I haven't been a big fan of texting, but I was able to stay in touch with Nancy, Emmy and Abby that way, without disturbing what I hear was a great Super Bowl party at the Gebharts.  While Nancy offered to take Emmy to the party and then come home to be with me, I told her to go ahead and go since I was not going to be good company anyway.  It turns out that with the occasional texts from the girls, and the opportunity to see a great football game, I felt a little better as the evening wore on. I've never watched a Super Bowl by myself, but it did afford me the opportunity to have a good conversation with the Lord--not about the game, but about my discomfort, and about all the good things He's doing in my life and New Life right now.  While I prefer to be around people, especially for the Super Bowl, the party of God and me was a blessing.  I didn't get the opportunity to follow through on the challenge I offered everyone at the end of my message--to focus more on the people around us than on the game, but even with no one around I actually DID focus on God and that was to coin a phrase:  Fabulous!

January's a Great Time to Wash Your Car in Western PA!

I decided to wash Nancy's car today, because it was SO WARM (About 48 degrees, which compared to the last couple of weeks is REALLY WARM!).  I had never washed a car at my house in January before.  I had some pleasant surprises:

• No bugs to wash off the grill and hood!
• No tar to wash off the bottom of the car!
• I didn't get sunburned or too hot!
• The car looked AMAZINGLY better, because it started out so dirty!
• The snow melted in the driveway where I washed the car!

Some of you know that Friday is my Sabbath and you're thinking, "Washing a car doesn't sound like a Sabbath activity."  Not making excuses here, but it was NANCY'S car, so I was serving my wife, and the activity was OUTDOORS, where I got to enjoy God's creation and the warm sunshine, AND the activity was satisfying, because unlike ministry which often has no observable "win" in the moment, when the car was washed it was OBSERVABLY better than it was before I started.  After all, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath!  I hope you had the opportunity to enjoy the warm weather, too.

Winter's Here!

Remember back in the day when it used to snow every day and be really cold for long stretches at a time---OH, that's TODAY, or should I say that's THIS WEEK!  It really messed with worship attendance this morning having five inches of new snow overnight, that wasn't really expected, along with what we already had, but those of us who were there really worshiped!

Cool thing happened at home-- our next door neighbor plowed out our driveway at 11:00 p.m. (I was already in bed, due to wanting to awake for worship!), and then plowed it again this morning.  That was really great, and unexpected.  When I thanked him, he said he was just being neighborly.  That sounds like we're "back in the day" too!

Stay warm and find a tv, because THE game is on in about 25 minutes!   My prediction:  Steelers 24  Ravens 10!

Champ is 10, and He is NOT Learning New Tricks!

The family dog, Champ, turned 10 on January 12th, and being the eternal optimist, I thought that he could still learn some new tricks!  The "trick" I wanted him to learn was to go outside without a leash, without running away.  Sounds simple enough, and when we got the snowstorm last Saturday, we were afforded the perfect opportunity for me to try this new trick, because Champ didn't want to go very far in the snow.  He likes snow (or at least it seems to me that he does), but he didn't appreciate the crust that formed near the top of it when the snow turned to rain, and then back to snow, so, I let him outside, and he walked about ten feet and turned to look at me.  I called him and he came back.  All right!  Success!  I decided to let him back outside, this time he "took off" but only in the tracks that were already formed.  He wouldn't venture from them.  I had been outside and he was following my footsteps.  I had been back to the wood pile, so I knew he probably wouldn't go past there.  I put my shoes on and ran after him.  I caught him and walked him back to the house.  A couple days later I had opened the garage door to carry something out of the house and, inadvertently let Champ "escape."  I thought, he'll come back.  He went about ten feet, turned to look, so I called him.  That was his cue--he took off at a dead run.  He ran down the driveway, across the road, down the neighbors driveway and then he came to a "dead end."  He had to go across the crusty snow.  One problem--it was cold enough that the crust held him.  So off he went.  I knew I couldn't catch him, and that he would either come back (which he has always done in the past), or he wouldn't, which may be the case some day!  Either way, there wasn't much I could do.  I went inside, but had to leave in a few minutes.  I told Nancy to be on the lookout for Champ.  He returned in 45 minutes.  The experiment now seemed to be officially a failure.  But I had to try it one more time.  This morning I let Champ out the side door.  He went ten feet and came back!  Cool.  So, I let him out the back door.  He went about twenty feet, tried to come back but couldn't get up the step because it was covered with stuff. He went to the front.  I opened the door.  He came around, ran to the door, and stopped.  Six feet from the door!  He looked down the driveway, and then he RAN down the driveway.  He was gone for 45 minutes.  Then he came back.  So, either Champ is NOT learning new tricks, because you can't teach an old dog new tricks, or because his teacher doesn't understand dog psychology.  Either way, he's only going out with a leash these next few days when it's going to be so "doggone" cold!

Thank God for a Second Hand Snow Blower!

At the end of last winter, Lee, my father-in-law said, "Hey, Marshall (he has always called me by my last name, but I don't take offense, because he calls every male by their last name including his brothers!) could you use an old snow blower?" I told him I sure could.  Since winter was ending and we weren't having any snows, I waited until this fall to get it.  Lee and I made sure it worked, then I loaded it in the back of our Sable wagon and brought it home.  It was about September.  It has sat there ever since......until this morning!  Last year I shoveled our driveway, which is a stone base and is 265' long, one time.  It was a BEAR!  Having been fasting for a week, doing that today would have been impossible.  But, I had the second hand snow blower in the garage.  I got it out and tried to start it.  It wouldn't start.  GREAT!  Then I thought, only three things keep an engine from running: air, fuel, spark.  The spark plug was working.  There was plenty of air, and the gas tank was full.  I thought:  We have the operator's manual somewhere.  Nancy found it.  I read through it.  There's a little valve on the fuel line that turns the fuel on and off.  It was OFF.  I turned it on.  The snowblower started, and VOILA!  About an hour later the driveway was drivable!  The great thing was even though it's a small snow blower, with about a 20" "cut," it only took 8 walks up and down the driveway to be done--and it has 3 speeds, plus reverse, so it was really pretty much like taking a walk.  I think with the rate of the snow fall, I'll have to take another "walk" later in the day, but THANK GOD for that kind of a walk behind our good old, second-hand snowblower!

Oh, The Weather Outside....

As night falls here in western PA, or at least in Cabot PA, snow is falling lightly, but nearly horizontally because of the strong wind.  The weather forecasts call for 1-3" of snow overnight.  Yesterday was ice and rain.  Tomorrow--  who knows?  Such is life--or at least weather in western PA in January.  One of the things that has always made me laugh inside is people complaining about the weather.  After all, weather is one thing that we CANNOT change (along with many others) by complaining OR applauding.  Since we live in a free country and the country hostsMANY different climates, if horizontal snow or rain aren't to one's liking, there's always Death Valley!  I'm not really crazy about 85 degree or warmer days, myself, but I take a trip to Guadalupe, Mexico every summer to do mission work and before I leave I KNOW it will be warmer than 85 degrees.  Why do I do it?  Because I'm not going for the weather.  I'm going to help complete an orphanage so children who don't know Jesus now, WILL one day.  I'd rather live in San Diego, if weather was the only thing to consider in life---but it's not!  For me it's not even in the top ten, because as my Mom taught me long ago:  I'm neither sugar nor salt, so I won't melt (for rainy days), Stay inside if it bothers you that much (for snow, heat, etc...).  Go outside if you don't want to be in here.  (Actually , that had nothing to do with weather.)  Maybe, I have Mom to thank for the lack of concern about weather, because she never let us use it as an excuse for not doing something.  So, what's the weather outside?  Whatever it is where you are--enjoy it.  And as they say in Denver, "If you don't like it, just stick around for 15 minutes, because it will change!"

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all!  What big things are you planning in 2009?  How will you make those plans become a reality?  I've been sitting in front of the t.v. "multi-tasking" with my new FranlinCovey planner and catching a down or two of the various bowl games.  I know that for me failing to plan is literally planning to fail, so it's PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!   I pray that this year of 2009 will be one in which each of us put Jesus FIRST in our lives, and thus makes great impacts for His Kingdom.  Enjoy the day!

Connecting With the Extended Family...

I called each of my brothers today, and got to talk with two of the three and one sister-in-law.  All are doing well and I get to see my younger brother, Kenn and his family for a late lunch in Indiana, PA tomorrow afternoon.  At this time of year more than any other I realize how much my mother was the "glue" that held our family together.  Although this was our 19th Christmas without her, this is the time that she either got us all together, or made sure that we all knew what each other was doing.  Mom and Dad's house at Christmas was a fun place!  Mom always had parties and invited new friends and old ones to join in the celebration.  I still remember the last Christmas party she had and there were folks younger than I was there.  I asked her, "What are THEY doing at OUR party?"  She reminded me that she had been helping the young wife learn to cook and "take care of a home," and that after all it WAS Christmas....Mom always had a way of making everyone feel welcome.  Talking with my brothers and sister-in-law today reminded me how much of her is in us even so long after she has died to this life and gone to be with the Lord.  I hear her in my brother Jim's voice.  I know that sounds funny, because it's not that he talks WITH her voice.  It's the way he says things that reminds me of her.  In my younger brother's plans to visit with some friends from Gipsy, and go to see Aunt Grace and cousin Sandy, after our lunch tomorrow is the evidence of her compassion and care for others coming through.  All of it is part of the legacy that Ruth Marshall left to us.  It's part of what makes us family, and that's a good thing!