Good Saturday morning to you from our corner of the world where the climate has us confused on where we live! Is it The Philippines with heat, heavy humidity, storms with high winds and monsoons, or is it Iowa??? UGH! Again, we are so grateful for air conditioning.
You may wonder why we say that so often, but you see we never lived in a house with air conditioning until we moved here in 1996. There were many hot summer nights where we were challenged by the weather. I remember one night in central Minnesota that Joel was sooooo hot he went out on the upper deck and slept on top of the picnic table to get a cool breeze. Not kidding. As kids we would sleep on the living room floor on sheets with windows and screen doors providing a breeze in our 1950's house. So, just saying? We are grateful for A/C!!
Recently I heard someone talking about their "bucket list" and I pondered that title. I decided we have a list titled "More Adventures With God". I expect it is a bucket list, but I like our title better! Life is so unpredictable and at the same time so precious. Those lists give us hope and move us forward! Have you ever seen that movie, "The Bucket List"? It is okay...........worth watching although not centered on God for sure. Our list is not cuz we are dying, like in the movie, although I guess we all are going to.....but cuz we are still living!!!!
I am still reading more than usual. The surgery for melanoma caused some muscle concerns in the middle back, which caused my lower back to go out around 10 days ago. First time in 7-8 years. I had to resort to using a cane to walk and spent a lot of time reading. I think in the past month I have read 10 books, 9 being fiction. Nothing worth mentioning, except for the nonfiction book, "The Seer's Path" by Ana Werner that speaks of the prophetic. Joel and I read it aloud together and it was very insightful. Amazing in fact. It seems our passionate pursuit of more of God is our new normal.
Speaking of normal, there is really no definition for it except through our own experiences and perceptions. Who gets to define what is normal? The Bible tells us right and wrong and certainly the Word spoken gives us a definition for many circumstances, but normal is often in the eyes of the beholder. Say you grew up in a chaotic home......that will seem normal to you until you experience how others live. A commercial on TV defines it somewhat....a couple drive out into a national park to camp and in their tent that night they rant and rave about how quiet and peaceful it is.......but it is so extremely quiet to them, they can't sleep....and end up turning on an ap for "city noises" so they can get some rest! Normal for them. And getting back to the Bible ~ in the New Testament miracles and casting out demons are normal, but how many people see the miraculous as "normal" today?
Speaking of today, we grilled chicken and at the end of the grilling all of a sudden the crud on the bottom of our electric outdoor grill caught on fire. It made a whosh sound and burned all the hair off of Joel's right arm before he could jump back. What is up with that?!? He had just cleaned it recently so it is a bit confusing. We were going to grill peaches, but had to cancel that until later. And, yes, food on the electric outdoor grill tastes as good as on a gas one!
Speaking of outdoors, our youngest daughter got caught in the bad storm that went through north Iowa on Wednesday afternoon. She saw a tornado in front of her on the drive north and then it touched down briefly and debris was flying....then straight line winds hit. She called us asking whether she should get into a ditch or stay in the car. She saw a nearby farmhouse so Joel told her to drive in there and she slowly made her way in. A truck with a man in it was following and drove in behind her. No one was home so they rode it out in the yard. A tree was across the road after the storm passed so the police came out. Our youngest was pretty scared and so were mom and dad, but we kept praying. All ended well, and we certainly are giving thanks for that.
Giving thanks. So important and so I end today giving thanks for family, for friends, for a cool house and comfy beds. For the One who was, who is, and is to come. For sunshine after the rain, for books and the libraries that house them. For life and all the adventures it holds. For Saturdays.
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