The Pressure Cooker

It has been quite a run up to this week.  The pressure has been building for the last 5 weeks for a project we are doing at one of the local timber mills owned by a national timber supplier.  We have two weeks to go and a LOT of work to get completed during the Thanksgiving holiday season. 

As the pressure builds I’m finding that tempers get a little shorter and decisions are made much too quickly resulting in some regrettable decisions.  It is hard to slow everyone down enough to not slow production but to allow for better decision making.

My crew is 75 miles away working in a very noisy environment.  Phones ringing are not heard well with ear plugs inserted, logs clashing with the machinery and all the noise it generates.  Email works but I don’t want them checking it too often…work needs to get done.

I sit here in a somewhat quiet office and fret!  I have confidence in my crew and in their ability to get the work done but I’m nervous with their handling of the pressure and the resultant decisions.

Time to pray.  Well, I have been since the project started.  Time to pray again I guess.  Perhaps God likes to hear my voice…that is the conclusion I have come to.  Are you listening?

You Alone Are My Hearts Desire

During my hour long commute to work this morning I found myself humming and singing the words to a song we sing at church – “You Alone Are My Hearts Desire”.  This in itself is not too unusual since I regularly make the drive with the radio off.  What was so disturbing is the images that were flashing through my mind as I sang the song.  A new sports car, tools, play things, even a skimpily clothed woman.  These are not the images you would expect while singing a praise song.  The words of the song say, “You alone are my hearts desire and I long to worship you”.  Are these the things I long to worship?  Heaven forbid that they are!

I spent the remainder of my drive asking for forgiveness and making some feeble attempts at cleansing my mind.  The big problem for me is that once some of these images are seen they cannot be unseen.  Where is the “reset” button!

Father, please forgive me.  Forgive me Lord, well, for being me.  Not the me you want me to be but the me “I” sometimes want me to be.  Help me change and desire to be the me YOU want me to be.

Prayer for Little Brother

This was my Facebook post today:

Many of you know my youngest brother Dana Maxwell. He is having surgery today after suffering a heart attack. He had 5-way bypass surgery just a couple of months ago and we thought all was going to be well from there on out. Looks like one or more of the 5 stints have plugged up.

With all that said, we (Dana's family) would like to request your prayers for him today especially. We serve a VERY BIG God who can and does heal. God does not need our requests in order to act but He does lead us to prayer as a way for us to worship and praise Him. After that, prayer provides a way for us to stay in tune with and hear His heart.

"Lord, we praise and honor you for who you are and for what you have provided to all mankind...your son Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. It is though Him that our, my, sins have been forgiven. Thank you Lord. Now Lord, we ask for your hand of healing for Dana today. Bless him and touch him. Guide the hands of all who are charged with his safe keeping, and Lord, bless them too, today. May all his caregivers go home wondering about the miraculous events that they saw unfold today. Amen."

I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for Dana.  Many of our friends and acquaintances have actually posted prayers!  Not just a promise to pray but actual prayers.  Oh how I needed to see that.  I’m going to send them to Dana when he gets well enough to spend some time with electronics again.  Maybe in a few days.

For those of you who did actually write something…thank you…from the bottom of my heart…thank you.  It has uplifted me probably more than Dana.

Blessings on you all. 

The LONG short Weekend

The Memorial Day weekend is now a memory and most of us are back to work.  Not a bad thing in my book. 

It was not a very restful weekend.  Kathleen and I did get to spend time with out son and granddaughter however.  It is always nice to have a little bit of 10-year old screaming in the yard.  Fun with the chickens and dogs and more fun with the  bubble wands we purchased at Walmart.

Jon and I went fishing on Sunday afternoon.  We found a really nice section of river to wade and both of us enjoyed our time on the water.  When we got home dinner was waiting – chili!  Nice end to a day of fishing.

Monday I spent most of the day in the barn.  Cleaning and cleaning and more cleaning.  It needed to be done and I truly do enjoy working in the barn.  It is my place to go when I need to be alone.  I could hear Jon and Sheri on the tractor.  Jon was teaching Sheri to drive!  Lots of giggles and yelling going on.  I did pray that they would miss the Jaguar but that was just about all.

The long part comes from looking forward to a long weekend with it just being K and me and then finding out that there will be other people around.  It does not matter who is around – that is not the issue – it does mater that someone is going to be around.  But, such is life.

Many times there are others in our lives who need to spend time with us.  Not so much that they need time with us as they need time with someone.  Someone with whom they feel safe and somewhere they can feel loved.  Life throws a lot of daggers and arrows at us and we just want a safe place to hide out. 

Me, I have a barn to go to.  Others need family.

And there in is the Long short weekend.

The Wonder of Worship

“It is beautiful to contemplate the nature of deity and to bask in His glory. This is really what worship is -- the adoring response of the creature to the infinite majesty of God.

While it presupposes submission to Him, worship, in its highest sense, is not supplication for needs, or even thanksgiving for blessings, but "the occupation of the soul with God Himself." Whatever the means -- preaching and hearing of the Word, celebration of the sacraments, singing of hymns, offering of prayers, quiet meditation -- the end of it all is the pure joy of magnifying the One who alone is worthy”.    Words by Robert E. Coleman

OK, there is not much more that I can add than to say that these words seem to really resonate with me.  So often – almost always – I forget to get lost in the wonder of the infinite majesty of God.  Why?  Why is it so easy to forget?  Is it because of all the distractions, the life events going on around us all the time?  Is it our preoccupation with “me” things?

Somehow I need to find a way to distance myself from the “things of life” and start spending much more time being preoccupied with the “things of God”. 

“LORD, you are the one whom I want to be occupied with.  I just don’t know how to make that happen.  Will you help me learn?  Will you help me find a way to excise out all the junk and distractions of my life and fill me with You?”  

Yes, I believe you will.

It Has Been A While

Wow.  I did not realize that my last post was in 2011.  I need to do better!  A lot has happened in the last few years.

My cancer scare is over…at least the surgeon said that they are confident that they got it all.  No chemo or other treatments needed.  Just regular checkups and lots of lab work.  They seem to want my blood every 3-4 months.  I told them once a year is fine with me.

I’m now on insulin.  Wow do I feel better.  Never imagined that one simple change could make me feel so much more like doing things.

Still doing my 2-3 fishing trips a year with Loren Ford from California.  We have been fishing together every year since about 1972.  That is almost 42 years.  Just about how long I have been married.  Oops, don’t let my wife see that statistic.

I should have some new stories to tell soon.  I will try to get them up in the next week or so.

In the mean time – Blessings on you!

Back To Work

Well, after 8 weeks off it is time to hit the road and become a producing part of society again.  I was offered a job working for one of the suppliers that supplied electrical parts to us for so many years.  I have never done outside sales before and am just a little bit worried that I may not have the personality for it.  However, I have made up my mind to give it my best attempt.

It will be nice to be productive again and have a daily focus that is not the “honey-do” list but helping our customers do their jobs more efficiently and better.  It sounded like they wanted me to spend about 1/2 my time in the field with customers and 1/2 in the office helping as I can.  I’m really looking forward to this new vocation.