... and it just kept blowing

I agreed to meet two friends at an outdoor event for the homeless in downtown OKC last Saturday. I made the short drive to the location just off Broadway and 12th Street and parked. As I entered the gate I noticed that the wind had picked up significantly and was beginning to blow about 30 miles per hour. I thought, "Man, this is going to be a trip if it keeps up like this all day...."
Little did I know that it was just the beginning of our windy woes.
I have lived in Oklahoma for over 25 years now and it isn't news that the wind often blows at a steady pace on certain days, but this was more than just a 'usual' windy day to say the least. I took a few photos of some of the activities with my little digital and as the day progressed I began to notice that all of the pictures were taking on an odd similarity.
Everyone's hair was "pointing" in the same direction; straight out. Depending on which way they were standing, their hair was either in their face or straight back behind them. I have never experienced a wind so constant except for the times I was standing on the side of a mountain in Colorado.
The gusts were around 45 miles per hour for most of the two hours I was there and as I left it seemed as though the wind pressure grew worse rather than better.
I can't say for sure, but I think the weather is changing a great deal of late. The recent storm in the East put almost 3 million people in the dark for several days and I heard a scientist say that the Antarctic area he was studying had risen several feet in last five years. The same radio program went on to tell of how the ice has gone from 30 feet thick in the winter to only 25 feet thick and was often found cracking up into  large sheets of moving ice flow.
The Earth is groaning just like the Bible said it would. "...the rocks cry out..."
How can anyone not know that God is trying to get through to us in many ways and yet, for the most part our eyes are blinded from it all. Our ears have become dull of hearing about God and his principles and aspirations for us.The cares of this world supersede our judgement and we take the low road to the worst choices and even at that seem to be oblivious to it all.
I left the event with a sense of loss. The small turnout had disappointed the organizers but I knew why the homeless people hadn't come. They were wiser than the organizers. They had found refuge in some abandoned building or a friends house and stayed out of the elements, conserving energy and resources. They are prepared for the worst; we're not.
As I got into my car I realized that I too had been buffeted by the wind. I looked into the rear view mirror and had to laugh. My hair was standing almost straight up like a collar on a shirt.... and it just kept blowing.

... you want to do what?

I  was informed by a friend that one of his friends wanted to do a website. Good for me because I can always use the work.
We first met online , mailing back and forth and then moved on to the phone to talk about what he wanted in the way of a new site for his business/ ministry. I was happy to help and looked forward to doing the site because I had several ideas that I thought might make the site look really neat.
My first attempts were basically rejected and he went on to give me more details as to his wishes. It didn't bother me that my first work didn't pass inspection, I had been down that road many times. In fact it usually happens that way and I take it in stride, knowing that most people don't really know what they want until they actually see something on the page; then they get ideas and inspirations.
In this case the man seemed to have a good idea of what he wanted and explained it well. Again, I made every attempt to do my best.
Tuesday was our first real appointment to work on the site but I had given my phone to Dianna to use in a webinar. That made our communications a bit difficult in that we had to use emailing. I didn't get a sense of frustration from the man but after awhile he dropped out without saying goodnight or goodbye. I tried to email him a couple of times and then left it at that and went home.
Tonight as I arrived at the studio he called and asked if I had time to work on the site. I told him yes, but it would have to wait for a few minutes while I finished up on what I had begun on another project.
He called back in ten minutes asking if I had called and I said , "No, but I was almost done and I would call back in a few minutes."
The next thing I know he is sending me an email terminating.
This is supposedly a good christian man and our conversations had always been very casual. I had done everything I knew to do to accommodate him but it evidently wasn't enough to satisfy.
Where has patience gone; especially among christian brothers?
 I'm not trying to be difficult here. In fact, I was as helpful as I knew to be and felt like I had done everything I could to please the man.
We are going to have to learn how to get along a lot better than this if we are going to measure up to God's expectations of how we are to treat each other.

nonsense, I'm fine... you must be crazy

I have recently discovered the little known fact about 'being busy'; it's just not all that it's cracked up to, believe me.
How can one person get so involved in what's going on that he doesn't know when to stop saying "yes" to every opportunity that presents itself? I just don't get it.
I think I'm fairly intelligent, which is highly debateable at my house, but for some reason I find myself covered up with too much to do before "the bell rings" and I run out of time. Have you ever double booked yourself to be in two places at the same time? I mean how dumb is that? And how can a person of so called moderate intelligence do such a thing?
I know, you're going to give me some sage advice about writing things down or keeping a calendar or some other multitasking efficiency option that everybody uses to keep organized. I lose the book or I forget to look at the calendar and then someone asks that question; you know the one.
"Can you do such & such for me by next week?"
"Of course, I'm a multitasking Whiz! I can do anything!"
Balderdash. I'm the nut that always answers that way and for the life of me I just don't know why.
It must be something ingrained deep in my psyche that happened to me a long time ago when I was young and vulnerable. One night a Gnome probably snuck into my room and deposited a faulty set of brains in me and I have been hampered by the mishap all this time.... No, it must have been all that weed I smoked in the 70's and 80's.... No that must have worn off by now.
Something must of happened or I wouldn't be so..... "normal"!
I know, you could send me your take on the subject and between the two of us, we could probably figure this out. Of course you would have to be like me or worse for it to really work, right?

...lookin' for the rest

I have a really full schedule right now. The hours are long and I never seem to get done but I'm not complaining.... no sir, not me. I can recall the time, not too long ago in fact, when I didn't have anything happening and I was wondering when the next paycheck was going to come in because everything was due. I didn't have two nickels to rub together.
Times have definitely changed for the better.
I do miss the times here in the studio though, when I could pick and choose what I did. I answered to no one in particular, except the Lord, and I was always 'busy'.

I can honestly say that I don't simmer well. I always have to have something going or I stagnate rather quickly. The pace is swift but I like that as well.
When end of day comes around I always have more of the same to look forward on the morrow.
There is no lack of work, for the present and I'm liking it.
Does it seem to be that way a lot nowadays? I mean, is there just a lot more to do than there used to be all those years ago when we were younger and stronger and had more options; or so it seemed?

I'm still not gonna complain about bein' busy.

Harder or easier?

What makes things harder to do or easier to do?
I often find myself looking up and wondering, "Can this get any harder...?" Or, "Can this be any easier?"

Just what makes things harder for some and easier for others? Are we so smart or so dumb that activities seem to breeze by at a fast pace or slowly pass as though they will never end? 

I don't know about you but I wonder about these things more and more these days. My jobs are so varied that I never get bored with the same mundane task to do over and over like in a factory. I probably wouldn't last a week in a setting like that. My mind wonders and before you know it the assembly line would be backed up in both directions and the boss would probably be standing over me with a baseball bat.

I had a difficult job to do the other day. I tried one thing and then another until it finally came together, but not without a lot of effort on my part and some timely advice as to the best approach from an "old hand". It pays to have wise friends.

And as I sit here and type out the thoughts that come to mind from time to time I can only guess at what it is you think to be hard or easy. We all have our mountains to climb.

I only hope that you are having as good a time with them as I am presently.

... it was great.

I sat down to fix a few issues with one of the websites, thinking that I would be done in only a few minutes so I could go on to bigger and better things. That was not the case.
I looked at the clock a few hours later and realized that I had spent over four hours on what had started out to be a simple task.
Isn't that how it goes sometimes? You think that a job will be easy, simple and short lived but no, the other side of the coin surfaces and there you are, still at it several hours later.
Fortunately I was doing something I like to do and not an arduous task like crawling under a trailer to fix a busted pipe. That was the case a few days ago when I spent two long days trying to help a friend in need. He and his wife are wonderful people and I was happy to help them out but it wasn't the most enjoyable time.
As I sat back and looked at the nearly project I realized that I had done a lot more than I intended, but in doing so I had created something of worth and that in and of itself was very satisfying.
I don't purport myself to be any great artist or a big thinker or anything like that, I just do what I can and hope for the best; being self taught has its drawbacks as well as its benefits.
On this occasion however, I found that my efforts had paid off and the person I had done the work for was very happy with it, so...I closed up shop and went home with a contented smile on my face and a good feeling for having done something well.
There weren't any hitches in the get along for a change.... it was great!

...you just can't do it....

I was helping a friend with his new home when the unexpected began to happen.
I had promised to help get the water on so they could do some simple clean up after painting and have the ability to wash their hands as needed. The only problem with that was, every time we fixed one leak two more sprang up seemingly out of nowhere and "rained on our parade".
What was supposed to be about an hour of work turned into two full days crawling under the trailer time and time again to ferret out the broken pipes and make the repairs.
On the second day I was driving back to the trailer to try again to restore the place to working order when I began to talk to the Lord about it.
"You know Lord, I really don't have time to work on this place. I should be on my regular job but I gave my word so I'm going to stick it out and help get the water on. You're gonna have to help me out though. You know how badly we need our paycheck this week, especially after missing so many days last week helping Mom move. ...."
The prayer was short, as usual and I went on about my business.
After several hours of good, hard work on the trailer we still weren't within sight of our goal. It seemed like everything in the place had an issue of some sort and we would have to put in yet another full day of repairing leaks.
About mid morning my phone rang. I was expecting it to be my boss asking where I was and why wasn't I where I was supposed to be but to my surprise it was a wonderful Christian brother from Supulpa.
"Hello Brother John, how's it going?", he began.
"Oh, it's going", I replied with a little disgust in my voice.
"I have a friend that wants you to build him a website", he continued.
I stopped dead still in my tracks and listened as my friend described the project and then he added that he also wanted to do another music project within the next couple of weeks.
I was stunned.
Not only was I going to get to do the kind of work I love, I was going to get paid more than twice what I make on my regular 'day job'. I was going to get to work in my calling and get paid well to do it.
The thought came to me as I listened to my friend talk. The Lord had made up for what I had lost in wages and blessed me even further by allowing me to do what I love to do the most.
You can't out give God.... No sir, you just can't do it.