Busy Day in April

Busy day. Had my annual physical with Steve Havens at 2 this afternoon. Got the cleanest bill of health I've gotten in years. On the kidney disease mix-up, he said that if I die from kidney disease it'll be at least 35 years from now. I said at the age of 93, I ought to die from something anyway. He said, let me change that to 50 years. You're not gonna die from problems with your kidneys. And then he took any reference to my kidneys off my chart. My BP was 120/80. My blood work was clean on any possible colon problems. He said come back in six months if you want to, in a year if you don't want to...

After the annual physical, I went by the AT&T store. They've been running a TV ad for about a month with a family plan that includes 10 gigs of internet and unlimited text and talking, which is the same plan we signed for back in August for $85 a month more than they're advertising it for. I thought I'd be there all day trying to renegotiate the contract, but the sales rep changed it for me, shook my hand and sent me on my way, in about two minutes, with a plan that's $100 a month less than it was...
They might get my business again in 18 months (he didn't even extend the contract). Heck, I may even toss out the cable, and bundle TV, internet and the land line phone with them. I'll at least consider it...

Done at the AT&T store, I drove down the road to the Sears store to see if I could get new glasses and discovered their optometry department is going out of business. They were packing it up. So I drove back down Veterans to Bizer's, had my eyes checked there, picked out some new frames and ordered the new glasses. The pet store was in the same parking lot, so I bought some cat food. And since I was in the same neighborhood as the Krispy Kreme store, I got a half-dozen chocolate-glazed donuts.

After that I came home, picked up Kelly and met Alice at Culver's for dinner. I ordered the pot roast with mashed potatoes and cheese curds. Having tried everything on the menu now that I wanted to try, I can say the Cheddar Butterburger still rules, but the pot roast dinner was a pretty good second choice. I've been to or had food picked up from the new Culver's every week it's been open, and I've yet to have any ice cream from this location. Seems we always have some at home...

Maybe next week...

Torn Rotator Cuff Repair Surgery

Dick Zuberer met Alice and I at the hospital registration desk yesterday morning, walked us through the process of signing in, led us to the lab for tests, and accompanied us to the heart center where I had an EKG.
Then he went with us upstairs where I signed in for my torn rotator cuff surgery...
Bro. Russ was waiting there, and after I got led back to the room where they stripped me of my dignity, and everything else, they put me on a gurney, and allowed Alice and Russ to come into the room with me. He prayed for me and the surgeon, William Sligar, then they had to go back out to the waiting room and I was wheeled into surgery.
The anesthesiologist came running down the hall, the surgical team gathered, and shortly after being blasted in my hand by a hot coal, I was under...
I did come out of the surgery having a dream. Don't remember what about.
They wheeled me into a recovery room where I balled up in pain and started groaning and crying out. I could hear a woman at the other end of the room in the same fit of pain, so I then tried to suffer in silence as much as I could.
Don't remember much of how I got to my private room. Kelly came by to see me, Alice's mom Opal dropped by while I was eating supper, but whatever medication I was put on after the surgery kept me pretty groggy and pain-free.
Alice spent the night on a cot, and I called the nurses in about once an hour for help throughout the night. They weren't always prompt in coming. I was glad to get out of there and back home this morning. I spent most of the day asleep. At one point I realized I had dozed off with my chin on the computer keyboard. The pain has been worse in my shoulder today than at any point before the surgery, but I have a few prescriptions to help with that now.
The doctor came by this morning and told me the recovery time would be frustrating for me. My arm will be in a sling up to four weeks. Rehab after that will take up to another two months. It could be mid-February before the shoulder gets back to some normalcy. And I'm told it could take longer than that till it's completely pain-free. But we've taken the first few steps toward recovery, and hope it's all better soon...

Fall Festival Chili Recipe

Cook in Crock Pot on low setting for 6 hours:

2 cans chili.

1 can water.

Add ingredients approximately every 15 minutes:

Sprinkle with pepper.

1 spoon yellow mustard.

1 can corn.

Swig of Pepsi, Coke or Dr. Pepper.

Pinch of brown sugar.

1 lb. fried ground beef.

Sprinkle paprika.

Sprinkle Himalayan Pink Salt.

A-1 Sauce.

Scoop of Real Bacon Bits.

Garlic salt.

Weber Original BBQ Sauce.

Dale’s Sauce.

Heinz 57.

Shredded cheese.

Montgomery Inn BBQ Sauce.

Worcestershire Sauce.

Country Bob’s Sauce.

2 cans tomato sauce.

Ingredients used in previous years that might be worth using again: sprinkle season salt, spoon of Hershey Syrup, margarine, Smoked Salt, maple syrup.

The World Celebrates Sin

Sat here yesterday thinking how this (former?) NBA bench player announced to the world that he’s living a sinful lifestyle, and the world celebrated. Tim Tebow, on the other hand, is vilified because he’s a Christian, gets cut by the Jets, and right now an NFL team won’t touch him, and I’m convinced it’s because of that. I know it’s not a lack of talent, ability or the will to win. He led the Broncos to the playoffs just a coupla years ago...

 

And yes, the liberal media and the architects of the homosexual agenda are masters of making us feel like we’re doing something wrong if we deny them their “rights.” They’ve attached their cause to civil rights, and the civil rights movement has embraced them. But we’re not talking about the color of someone’s skin, we’re talking about a perverse lifestyle they’ve chosen to live.

 

Would everyone feel the same if an alcoholic demanded “rights” because he feels the need to drink? Supposedly alcoholics are born with an inclination to drink. But you don’t see winos marching with signs that proclaim, “I’m a drunk and I’m proud.” Yes, it is sin, and the world celebrates...

 

We're expected (by the world) to tolerate it. But that's contrary to what we as Christians believe, IF we abide by what the Bible says. We don't have to tolerate sin. I know what I'm saying won't be appreciated by some people I care a great deal about. May even lose some Facebook friends. Know that I love you, but I felt it needed to be said, and nobody else seems to be saying it. Love the sinner, hate the sin, don't celebrate it...

Help Me Understand Humiliation

I'm trying to understand why people think humiliating others is funny. What does the person making fun of someone else gain from doing so? How does that make you a better person? I've had people make fun of me all my life because of my name, my dad's name. Why is that funny? I've had people make fun of me because of my favorite sports team, as if I have something to do with whether or not they win or lose. I've had people make fun of me because of my weight, because of my accent, because, well, just because...

I'm not talking about strangers. I'm talking about people I love, family members, people I consider to be friends, people at church. So when these things happen it hurts, a lot. And I don't even understand where it's coming from. And half the time I wonder if they realize what they're doing? Do they even think about what they say? Would they like it if someone did that to them? Isn't that what the Golden Rule requires of us? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Isn't being kind, and loving each other, significant of being a Christian?

Am I alone in this? Does this happen to you too? Or are you the one making it happen? If so, please stop. We don't think you're funny. We don't like it, or you, when you do things like this. And we don't want to be around you anymore...

JWs Give Up on Me

The Jehovah's Witness I've been having Bible study with every week for the last 27 months just came by and broke up with me. They knew at the beginning everything about me as far as what I believe, and I told them up front I wasn't interested in becoming a JW. Last time they were here one of them asked me why I kept letting them come over to my house if I didn't believe what they were teaching. "I was hoping eventually y'all would get saved," I told him.
Seventeen members of the local Kingdom Hall came to study at my house over the last two years. Several times they left saying they'd have to research a subject and get back to me. They rarely got back to me on it. I told him this afternoon it had been my intent to keep the Bible verses in the context of what they were saying, and to keep them in line with what the Bible as a whole has to say. I don't believe it contradicts itself but you can take a verse out of context and build an entire religion on it.
We parted as friends and I believe the guy who came by every week, Keith (who always brought someone else with him) respects my viewpoint and knowledge of the Bible, but he also feels his time will be better spent elsewhere. I did take a few hours out of one of his afternoons every week, until they gave up on me today...

A Day in the Life, Wednesday, July 11, 2012

9:42 a.m. – Feed and water cats. That encompasses four feed bowls and four water bowls, half upstairs and half downstairs. Four cats eat a lot. One of them weighs 25 pounds, okay, 24 ½. I generally check their food three times a day and change the water twice.

10:20 – Brush teeth. Finally found a good dentist. I wanna keep her happy…

10:30 – Shave.

10:45 – Shower and get ready, finish packing, head to church and help load van. Kelly and I are going on a mission trip today along with about 20 other folks from the church. One of our former members, Rodney Mileski, is now a church planter in Carmel, a suburb of Indianapolis just on the north/northeast side of town, and we're going to work with him. Of course Indy is about a 110-mile drive north of us. I’ll drive the new church van, along with luggage and equipment. I'll also be pulling a trailer for the first time in 31 years, and only the second time I've done that. John Borengasser, our minister of music and administration, will be driving the new mini-bus. Neither are brand new, just new to us…

12:57 – Head for Carmel. Stop in Seymour, the home of John Cougar Mellencamp, because the bus is running hot. Pit stop at a service station/mini-mart there, make a few phone calls to seek help and advice. Dan Fidler tells us to idle the bus and let it cool off, then don’t drive as fast. If it gets over 58 mph it begins heating up. So the second half of the trip on I-65 to Indy is a lot slower than the first half.

Check into hotel about 4 p.m. We’re at the Staybridge Inn and Suites in Fishers, right next to Carmel. Got a good rate on the rooms there.

Along with a free breakfast, the hotel also serves a free dinner between 4 and 7 in the evenings (during the week, not on weekends). First night is burgers cooked out in the hotel’s courtyard, and they are delicious.

After dinner, went to the park we’ll be working out of all week, Meadowlark Park near downtown Carmel. We’re told to canvas the neighborhood and promote the “VBS in the Park” we’ll be doing for the next three mornings. We can’t knock on apartment doors but we can approach people who are outside. Dick Zuberer, my Sunday School teacher at church who I’ll be rooming with, is with me as well as 17-year-old Rebecca Woolsey, who probably kept people from yelling at us with her presence. Truth is though, the people are very polite and friendly, and one woman tells us she’s living with her sister, who has four kids that probably need to be in the Bible School. That contact might yet pan out for Rodney, but those kids were not at the VBS. We walked a very busy bike/hiking trail which led downtown, and talked with several people along the way…

Our room would be Grand Central Station at the hotel, the meeting place for devotionals in the morning and lunches two or three days during the week, plus other meetings. We went to a nearby Meijer and picked up some groceries, loading up the fridge and buying some pork I would cook the next morning for lunch that day. Got 48 bottles of water for 6 bucks. They lasted about two days and we had to go back for more later in the week. Also had soft drinks in the fridge. One night our door got knocked on about 25 times, but it was hot up there, and we were all tired and thirsty…

Stayed up till about 1:30 talking and fellowshipping with Dick, which would be about average for our bedtime. Set the wake-up call for 6:45, he took the couch in the living room and let me have the kingsize bed. I didn’t argue with him about that…