care for others, in peace

For my Christian brothers and sisters, a timely message that I encourage you to watch to the end, and share the message.

Christians in Crisis - How to Respond to the Coronavirus Outbreak - March 15 - Scott Christenson

trust god

Yesterday the world changed, our lives changed, we were “put on hold”.

Everyone, everything, entered a paradigm shift; we have a new reality.

None of us like it, but here we are.

Now what?

For me, I was on the last steps of starting a new life, a great adventure that I had formed in my mind for years, the fourth quarter, goal in sight, ready to score.

Flag down, play under review.

Millions of you, billions of us, can say the same thing. Now what?

Shelter in place. What the heck is that? What just happened?

Reset the clock.

“Hey, Coach, what’s the next play?”.

That’s the hard question. What is the next play, for me, for you? What’s next?

Most of us, I think, are scrambling. The playbook has been blurred, the next play obscured, and we look around us to see confusion on the faces of our team, the other team, the fans in the stands, the folks watching remotely.

No one has a clear answer, at this point, no one can diagram a clear path to the end zone, at least not to the score we anticipated yesterday, because the opposing team just became something new, something different, something unanticipated, something we’re not ready for.

What now?

The past few days, I’ve been reaching out to my oldest Friend, asking that question repeatedly, expecting an answer, and getting nothing in response.

I try to work in logic, weighing alternatives based on facts, historical knowledge, anticipated results based on structure, design, planning, steps to achieve a desired goal, a given outcome following that course of action, a play book.

Out the window.

What now?

Take a break, gotta take the trash to the curb for pickup. Are they coming? I can't say for certain that they are, my city's on lockdown. Lockdown? What the heck is that?

Get the mail out of the box, go back inside, close the door, toss the mail in the corner (for at least 7 hours), wipe down the door knob, the light switch, my glasses that I touched, (Did I touch my face?) wash my hands, sanitize, wash, rinse, repeat, repeat, repeat. What the heck is this?

I have (had) plans, I have (had) a goal, I was right there! What now?

The A/C repairman came yesterday, looking like, and sounding like, Darth Vader, massive respirator on his face, gloves on, for his safety and mine. We had to go outside so he could talk to me, I could understand nothing he said with the respirator on, so he had to remove it, six feet away, fresh air, safe distance, for both of us. What is this?

Hundreds of movie scenarios are flashing back, we've seen this in the movies, fantasy, science fiction entertainment. "Wait, wait, this can't be real!" It's real.

I retrace the repairman's steps after he leaves, wiping down everything he might have touched, might have coughed on, might have sneezed on. Did I get it all, did I miss a spot? Missing a spot could be deadly.

My Friend is silent, unanswering.

But I had a plan! What now?

"Ask a different question."

Ok, "What would You have me do?".

"Now you're getting somewhere."

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 NASB

Oh, ok, so, my first step is to trust God. What's next?

"Get your house in order."

My house.

Body. Mind. Spirit. Borders.

"God has our days numbered, how we live them out matters, that's on us"

A dear friend just layed that on me. Dead on.

OK, I have my next step.

Step One - Trust God
Step Two - Get my house in order

"Then what?"

"See steps one and two."

Got it.

old dog can learn

Good morning; it's laundry day!

A few years ago, my mom was visiting, and while I was at work one day, she was tidying up about the house, scrubbing my floors, cleaning my kitchen, doing the laundry etc., being my Mama. One of the things she did was roll up all my T-shirts in their drawer while putting them away. I asked her later, “Why?”, and she told me they fit better that way. I chuckled and after she left I went back to my normal way of stuffing them in the drawer.

I have too many T-shirts (a blessing), and when all the laundry is done, that drawer is hard to close. It only takes removing three or four before the door closes normally again, so I haven’t paid it much attention, or any. In the back of my head, I kind of know that when the drawer becomes easier to close, that I either need to do laundry, or buy more T-shirts.

Fast forward to this morning, I’m finishing my laundry, I thought, “Why not roll up the T-shirts and see if they fit better?”. They did. “Huh”, I thought , “I should roll up my T-shirts so the drawer closes easier.”. Once again, mama was right. At 66, I can learn new tricks.

Mama also taught me, that when doing my normal grocery shopping, if I see something on a good sale, that I normally use, and I can afford it, go ahead and buy it. I’m going to use it anyway, the dollar is worth less tomorrow than it is today, and I save a buck or two today.

That works. I don’t need to rush out and make a mad attempt at hoarding supplies, because my pantry, over time, is fairly well supplied. I have enough laundry detergent, bleach, salt, spaghetti, dried beans, rice, toilet paper, etc. to last me a while. I’m sure many of you shop the same way. If you regularly use mustard, and you see mustard on sale, buy an extra mustard. An old kitchen manager once said to me, during my foolish twenties, "It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.". Words to live by don't come often enough.

I learned a few other lessons about shopping from prior generations, from stories about the depression, from past fuel shortages, from the panic buying that occurs every four years (Presidential election years), from societal shifts, from history books, from past recessions (It is coming, get ready now), about global situations, from friends and relatives that live in hurricane zones, from Jaycee projects, from my prepper friends, from the firearms community, from so many sources there are an abundance of repeating lessons that warrant close attention. These lessons are common, regular, real, and we shouldn’t be caught short, we shouldn’t need to panic, we shouldn’t need to elbow our friends and neighbors out of the way, to get that last chunk of meat. The generations before us learned these lessons hard, we are wise to listen.

I know; there are millions of Americans, millions, billions of people, all over the world, who simply can’t afford to stock up, for whom day to day, week to week, paycheck to paycheck, is a reality of survival. I understand that, I’ve been there myself a few times over the last 66 years, and filed those memories in my mental cabinet for later.

This current crisis, like all crisis's before, will pass away, that's the nature of a crisis. We'll be living in a, hopefully, different world. We learn from this one, to be ready for the next. We make a decision today, that tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow, we buy an extra cans of beans, an extra can of soup, or toilet paper, jug of soap, and we're ready for the next crisis, over time, little by little, step by step. We repeat that behavior week by week, and a year from now we have enough. We put back that bag of chips, high dollar coffee, designer socks, and we instead invest in tomorrow, not only for ourselves, but maybe also sharing to someone in real need. Fill your gas tank when it is 3/4 full, save $10 out of each paycheck, eat a sandwich from home one day instead of eating out, save a few empty water jugs, cancel Netflix, keep using that older computer (television/radio/tablet/phone/car) till it dies, super glue ($1) fixes a cracked $20 pot, read a book from the library.

Or, we can ignore the lessons of the past, count on someone else to "save" us, throw our hands up in despair, and point fingers. I'd rather be ready.

The same thing is going on in the firearms community. Over the past week we've seen a flood of posts, "Where can I get more ammo?", as the local store shelves were stripped, about the same time the TP rush was on. I've been buying an extra box or two, here and there, when it was on sale, when I could afford it, and my needs were met before I "needed" it. I could stop here and write a book about this paragraph, but, you've already heard that message; you either received it or didn't.

We learn from each other; old dogs can still learn. In my 60s, I discover that I’ve still got much, much more to learn from the generations before me.

"It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it."

I'm back to the laundry, or to the t-shirt store.

May Almighty God bless you, your family, and the path before your feet.