YOU CHOOSE
But before we get into that I should tell you all about Jackie's legs. We just got back from a bike ride (yes, she can ride again!) and I told her that her legs were looking kind of striped, sort of like candy cane legs with a blue/greenish topping on the shin. She missed her cats that had adopted us in Thailand so her sister gave us one about 6 months ago. It's a bit on the insane side as most cats 
I guess that's the irony of owning a cat. I mean I get along with it but cats, seriously, they'll never replace a good dog! The blue/greenish topping, you wonder. One of her little darlings at school chunked a chair at her and knocked her pretty good so she has a yucky looking bruise. She isn't going to win the leg beauty contest this week!
What about the monster kid? The Director wants to allow him to grow and fit in. Me? I'd fit him in somewhere--like in a locked room with our cat. Hmmm, anyone need a good pre-school teacher?
I'm feeling OK. No bruises, stripes or anything. I tell Jackie all the time my health just scares me because I am so healthy. I don't even work out anymore. Surfing? Sure, but that's a bit sporadic and comes with a few days on and a week or two off. You need waves to surf.
Not much to report on the kid front. The grand kids, Leah and Nathan are all fine and well. Jake is playing football and we enjoy going to the games to see him play. That's him on the left getting warmed up. He really enjoys playing and his team is undefeated so far. They practice 3 nights a week and he doesn't get home, with Leah the football team mom, until 9:00 PM. I don't know how they do it. I guess being young helps.
er so much it hurts and we can't figure out how to just pop back over to Thailand for a visit. She is very happily married and doing well. She still works at the church we went to in Chiang Rai. Glynn, her husband, is still going to the university where I taught and we first met. He's planning on graduating from there and then teaching. What a blessing he and Bum will be to the students. They already are, actually. Here's a photo of Bum from a friend of mine showing how she is suffering for Christ in the dark, foreboding land of Thailand. She''s that cute Thai girl on the right. You knew that!Do you remember when Elijah was fighting it out with the Baal guys and he said to them, "Choose this day whom you will serve." What a challenge that is to me. When I get up in the morning I choose who I'm going to serve by my actions as well as by my thoughts. That ties in with the "pray without ceasing" verse in 1 Thessalonians. An Orthodox Bishop in Russia a couple of hundred years ago said this:
Do not gravitate to the earth--it is corruptible. Only the happiness beyond the grave is eternal, unchanging, true, and this happiness depends upon how we spend this life of ours!
then Saturday it was fair at best. Oh, but Sunday morning it was very big and glassy and looking like way too much fun. Here I was, faced with a choice. Go surfing or go to church and miss the waves. As a rule, what you get in the morning is the best you get all day long with afternoons more often than not being not worth the paddle out. It was so good.... I thought about it for a minute and then I realized that in a few hours I would be at church and we'd have communion and I'd partake of the bread that came down from heaven and drink the cup that gives me life. Confronted with either going surfing or partaking of Christ, it was an easy choice to make. We went to church. Besides, after church Jackie and I were asked to be a part of the mission committee and help plan some things for the new year. I certainly didn't want to miss that.
Here's what the waves looked like on Friday after work. Sunday afternoon it was about 3 times as big!
We didn't get home until around 2:45 and I just happened to notice that on the way (35 minute ride) the wind wasn't blowing at all. That meant the surf was probably still good. Just as we pulled into the driveway I saw the trees in our yard blowing back and forth and it was not looking so good for surfing anymore. "Oh well," thought I. "I'll go on over to the beach with my bike and surfboard and see what's up." It only takes about 5 minutes to get there so when I pulled up on the beach and started looking around, much to my delight the wind stopped blowing--just like that. So I paddled on out and had 2 of the best hours of surfing I've had in a loooooong time. Big old waves folding over in long lines that allowed for lots of turning and screaming along at 100 mph (maybe not that fast). There were only about 6 guys out where I peddled to and they kept yelling for me to take the waves so I didn't want to hurt their feelings so I did. ha. Some days are just like that. No matter what you do it all works out wonderfully.
So next time I have a choice like that to make will I come home and find the best waves ever? Maybe not. One thing I've learned is that life is preparation for the next life and whatever it takes to ready us for the one that's really more important than this one, God is more than accommodating to supply us with really good waves or something not quite so pleasant. But it is all working together for our good and it's all a blessing from above and it's always good and right to say "THANK YOU LORD JESUS!" Pray without ceasing? Yes, you can. What does it take? I'm working on it. Maybe next update.