Little Things Matter, Condo Style...

   When Mayre Lou and I moved back from Virginia in 2008, we decided to buy a condo instead of a freestanding home. We had never lived full-time in a condo and, in the back of our minds, wondered how it would be.

   You know when you sign up for condo living there are quite a few things that come into play.

   Sure, there is a pool in your back yard

   But there are other things also:

      You don't pick your close neighbors

      There are many more cars in your garage

      There are pets around, even when none belong to you

   When we purchased and moved in, we had our choice of units. Only one other had been sold, so there were 41 to choose from. There were 3 floor plans, and we decided not to buy the expensive one, and not the smallest one, taking the middle range in both price and space.

   That decided, we needed to choose which one. We took one on the bottom floor, near the elevator and the trash chute. The first floor of condo units is actually the second floor, because the garage is on the ground level.

   Seven years later, I found another reason to be where we are:

   Our garbage is picked up each Tuesday and Friday. The truck pulls in and stops at the side of the building. The driver gets out, moves the trash container out of the room on ground level, pushes it out on its rollers to the front of the truck, activates the "grabber thing" that picks up the container, hoists it over the cab and dumps it in the garbage collection area. After shaking it a couple of times, the driver lowers it and gets it back in the room before driving off to get the other building.

   This is a noisy process with a lot of metal-on-metal banging around. It also happens around 7AM on those pickup days. Luckily the master bedroom is on the other side of the condo, and we really can't hear it well from there.

   This is also a pretty rapid operation. Once you hear the truck, the garbage is out of the room and into the collection area and the container back into place in a very short time.

   It is good if you are trying to sleep in one of the front bedrooms, and it does goes quickly, but it is bad if you have something in your forgotten trash bin, and it really needs to go out, now.

   This morning, as I sat in my study area, I heard the truck pulling in. Oops, I realized I had not taken our garbage out last night and put it down the chute. I had a lot of stuff in my trash that did not really need to percolate in the container for another 3 or 4 days, so I rushed (slowly) into the kitchen and pulled the trash can into my room, got the bag out, tying it up without waking my wife.

   Then out the door, but then what? I knew if I put it down the chute and the container was already out in front of the truck, the bag would just fall on the trash room floor, and the container would cover it when the driver pushed that bin back into the room. Not good..

   I saw the top side of the truck on the other side of the landing. The driver was just hoisting the container up to dump when I had an idea. Going to the railing I noticed the open top of the truck body where the garbage had been spilled from our container. Without waiting to see if anyone would see me, I tossed the bag over the rail and down into the truck.

   Alas, I had found another advantage to living next to the trash pickup area, an added advantage to condo living that was not mentioned in the brochure.

   No way you could accomplish that task from your own house. The truck would be long gone.

   And I can still be in tune with that old Kazakh saying: (see 2nd blog post back)

   "If you ever have to rush in life, rush slowly"

   And I'll know the next time I hear that truck just how much time I have.



 

 

More This…More That

   I admit, I have enjoyed these political debates that have been on TV these last few weeks. Sometimes it has been pure entertainment, and sometimes I actually learned something about the various candidates, and that could be a good thing.

   Last night there was another Republican one, and I woke this morning thinking about all that. Eight candidates (down from the 10 of the last one), and, since we have had a few of these on the Right side of the aisle, I thought I might give them grades like this:

MORE (a simple grading scale)(Just put a MORE in front of each descriptive term)

Trump        Mild
Carson       Punctual
Rubio        Articulate
Cruz          Passionate
Bush         Passive
Fiorina      Feisty
Kasich      Interruptive
Paul          Constant

And to add one more MORE to one who was not on the stage

Christie     Missed

   I deliberately stayed away from any news or analysis of the debate on this morning's Internet so that these might be mine and uninfluenced by other's thoughts, so it will be interesting to hear what others have to say.

   And to think that we still have another whole year before an election.

   Will it be an entertaining 12 months

           or

   Will it be a LONG year

If You Ever Have to Rush in Life...

   In our family, when some or all of us are gathered together, we like to play games. Card games, board games, any games.

   I believe that it was during one of our family Christmases together, after the smaller ones had gone off to bed, the adults played a board game, one either given as a Christmas present or brought to the beach house by one of the families gathered there.

   Wise and Otherwise is a game of sayings. From around the world they have been gathered and put in a box. If you have not played, it goes like this. One person draws a card and reads the first part of the saying, or proverb, telling from which country it originated. The reading leaves out the ending, and each player completes it on his own. There is a right answer on the card that only the reader can see.

   Each person writes their completion on a slip of paper, and the reader writes the real answer on one also. They are shuffled and read out loud with all of the players voting for the one that they think is the correct one.

   At times, the answers come out so hilarious that the designated reader can hardly get them out from trying to stifle the giggles and outright laughter. What begins as a serious attempt to get it right turns into a "roll in the floor" adult silly party.

   Some of the answers become household sayings of their own. The right answer is quickly forgotten but the made-up one takes on the mantle of a legend. Take for example the beginning:

   "Darkness hides…….."

   and in the subsequent attempt to gather votes, a player writes:

   "the fools shoddy workmanship"

   Realizing that this inside joke may not seem outrageously funny, except to those who were there, you might think we had all gone nuts, as we could not stop laughing (all except the writer of the ending who was wondering why it was so funny, when he wrote it in all seriousness).

   It got zero votes, but the legend was born and is still spoken of today anytime the game is mentioned.

   That is a long introduction to a book I am reading:

   A story of an Australian man taking 3 years to follow in the tracks of the famous Genghis Khan on horseback, from Mongolia through Central and western Asia (i.e. the old USSR) and into Europe at the Danube River.

   As the author moves through Kazakhstan, interacting with the locals along the way, he is given some advice by a man named Baitak, sounding like a saying from our board game.

   "If you ever have to rush in life…"

   "Rush Slowly."

   Isn't it true, maybe especially for me, that when I am rushing around, it is because there is something else that I want to do, and I am about to lose any time for doing it?

   I do not have to look farther back than this morning, as I began to read some things in my quiet time. Near the end of one section was a link to a video that went along with it. When I clicked on the link, I realized that it was 34 minutes long.

   How would I ever get to all the other things I planned to read during that time if I stopped to watch and listen?

   But I did, and it was a message I needed to hear.

   A God Thing?

   I can't say for sure, but I knew it was for me.

   So I rushed slowly through it and was glad I did.

   An old Kazakh proverb, up to date in the 21st century.

We Are Blessed…For Sure

   I spent a lot of time this morning just thinking over the things I have seen and heard over the past few days.

   Each morning we listen to Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY. He has a podcast that tries to make sense of events in the world of today, in light of a Christian worldview.
(I would recommend it to anyone who wants a distinctly Christian take on current events). It is here:

http://www.albertmohler.com         (just click on The Briefing)

   At the other end of our daily spectrum there is always the evening news on the TV. In spite of agreement or disagreement with the bias in which it is delivered, it does let us know the things that are going on in our world.

   So this morning I thought about:

   Political Elections

   LGBT Issues in this country

   Virginia Tech and its legendary Football Coach, Frank Beamer, as he retires this year.

   And all of the above in a 30 minute walk in the neighborhood..

   Here is what a verse from today's reading has to say..Psalm 127:3

   "Children are a gift from the Lord;
    they are a reward from him."

   Now there is the important thing to consider.

   Mayre and I have been blessed by our Three (and their's)

   Dwayne in his Woodlawn School mode

   Donna with her daughter in "just look at that!" time

   Doug with his wife Dawn and their "circus troupe".

   We are Blessed (with a capital B)

   Thank You God

   And, lest I forget, They all could not do all they do without :

   Karen, Noel and Dawn

   3 winning combinations, and we are blessed to have them all.

   and I'll think on those lesser things tomorrow...

Ybor City, FLorida

   There is a transformation taking place right before our eyes. Brunswick, GA is becoming Ybor City, FL.

   No, they did not move the GA/FL state line farther north, but someone did decide to film a part of a movie here.

   The movie is Live By Night, and part of the film is being shot in downtown Brunswick. The time is Prohibition, 1930s, in the make-believe town of Ybor City.

   They will be filming this week, so last night we decided to go downtown and see what they had done to make it into the 1930s. The area used is blocked off, and security was everywhere, but this is what we saw.

   With the exception of a new cantina, all of the other structures were there. The only things changed were the dirt streets and the signage and window displays, on and in the buildings.

   I am assuming that, not knowing how many of the buildings will be used for indoor shots, most all of the views from the street are just a few feet deep, that almost all of the stores have their working contents hidden from the street, ready to be used once the shooting is over.

   The buildings are there to create an impression. They were one thing just a few days back, and now they are supposedly new, at least in purpose.

   Isn't that what I try to do sometimes. I look one way on the outside to all who would view my life, but inside I'm just the same old person. Just an old life with a new facade.

   I don't have the information on what they will do once the filming is over. Will all of these structures revert back to their old uses and looks?. Will the area become a tourist destination, or the same as it was? It will be interesting to see.

   The way it looks right now is for the cameras. It is only make believe.

   God wants my life to reflect His changes.

   Not just a facade to fool everyone else…

   Stay tuned...

 

I Have Plans...

   Most every day, I have plans.

   They may not be monumental, they may not be important, they are most probably mundane and not earth-shattering.

   They are simple, like getting up early, walking, reading and praying, making breakfast, dressing, playing, watching, and seeing what the day might bring. Routine plans that lend a structure to my day.

   Take today: I must have been anticipating the return to Eastern Standard Time tomorrow, because I woke up at 5am instead of my usual 6.

   My walking route was much the same, but the quiet and the wildlife were different. True it was a Saturday and people were sleeping in, but the raccoons were walking down the street under the street lights. I had not seen them lately.

   As I passed by a darkened house, I felt that someone was looking. As I looked up, there was a dark form sitting on the point of the roof. A new flag or something? Nope, it moved quietly then turned south and flew away with the sound of a heron. What in the world was he doing up there?

   The only automobile out was the paper guy, and the sounds of crunching acorns in the roadway as he smashed them on his route. That and the slap of the Brunswick News hitting driveways as he delivered.

   As I walked, I considered my plans for this day. I had an unexpected extra hour to work with.

   Then I was reminded of a previous day this past week. It was a "normal" day, and, in the back of my mind, there were things I planned to do.

   As I looked out on the back porch, watching the clouds turn color with the sunrise, between me and the light was a dark object. It was a new friend joining us from the outside. These creatures don't bother us, they may even keep the gnat population down, but my wife does not welcome them into our home.

   Knowing that we often leave our doors open to the back porch this time of year, there is always the possibility that these guys may decide to come in for a spell.

   So I got my glass jar and got him into it, for disposal out the front door of the condo and into the bushes below the first floor.

   Either he was really fast, or we had more of these guys outside our porch, because after the first episode, I saw another one on the screen.

   Before the day ended, I had captured and relocated 4 of them to the front door and out into that same bush.

   These were not in my plans for the day, but once they began visiting us, my wife made sure my priorities were changed to make sure they did not sleep with us that night.

   In a very short amount of time that morning, my plans for the day, whatever they might have been, were altered.

   It was a reminder to hold all my plans loosely in my hand. In a split second they could all change.

   I was also reminded of a verse that was on the wall of our church some years ago from Jeremiah 29:11

" For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. "

   Who might our visitor be today?

   Sometimes God may bring big changes to our plans, and sometimes He may just bring reminders to be ready.

   And I could use my extra hour to think on these things…...

 

"Let's Do It, Papa"

   I began thinking about a particular verse the other day..Micah 6:8, which reads in the NIV:

"the Lord has told you what is good,
    and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
    and to walk humbly with your God."

   Writing about "do what is right" here:

http://walkinganewpath-pilgrim.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-simple-thing.html

   Writing about "loving mercy" here:

http://walkinganewpath-pilgrim.blogspot.com/2015/10/two-faces-of-mercy.html

   But I have put off, not just thinking about, because I have really done that over the past few days, but putting my thoughts into words on this page, the words "walk humbly with your God".

   How do we do that?

   As I continued to think on that this morning, this thought came from my Psalm reading devotional:

Picture yourself running to catch up with your Papa. As you reach Him, you slip your hand trustingly into His. Walking along, you eagerly look into His eyes making your request, "Papa, open my eyes, don't hide Your commands from me... make me walk in Your paths. And Papa, help me to abandon my shameful ways... give me an eagerness for Your laws and the privilege of knowing Your instructions. I love You Papa!"

The Bible tells us to come to God humbly and trusting, like a child. We see this in the psalmist's trusting reliance in God to do the good work needed in his heart and his life.

   The analogy of God as Papa made me pause. Papa is my name to my grandchildren, and I have spent much time over the years taking them on walks, hand in hand, talking and walking. Those are some of my best memories.

   "OK, take my hand. We're going to cross this street" and the small hand takes mine as we walk safely across.

   When they are small, and not yet too big to want to do it themselves, they humbly and trustingly are glad to oblige.

   Isn't that the way to "walk humbly with your God"? Without pride in what we can do. Without a sense of shame in having to trust someone else.

   When my oldest grandson, Sawyer, was of the age that he liked his Papa to read with him in bed before he went off to sleep, we were lying there with one of his books when I asked him what he would like for us to do on the next day.

   Thinking about it for a minute, he answered, "I don't care what we do Papa, just so I can do it with you".

   No agenda, just a relationship.

   Isn't that a way to "walk humbly with your God"?

   "Whatever we do is OK, I just want to do it with You". Do we not think that God would like to hear that from us?

   Oh, that I might never grow too smart, or too smug, or too independent, or too proud, to reply to God in the same way.

   I want to walk humbly WITH my God, not only crossing those dangerous streets, but all the time.

   And Sawyer grew up: