Well, Carla and I will be spending most of the day at the hospital again today, I will be once again, having urinary surgery – we hope that this time it will be the last for THAT issue.  Poor Carla, she is spending more time in the waiting rooms than her garden this past year.  Art :-)

The Sergeant reached Shaniko while I was making these calls and called me.  By that time it was obvious, to me, that we would not be the investigating agency.  I told him we lost the investigation because the ‘death,’ according to the doctor, took place in Jefferson County and it was ruled an accidental drowning.

I instructed him to go back down to the ranch, learn what he could and view the body to see if there was any sign of injury, including a syringe mark, bruises, etc. that would indicate foul play.

I would be in the office until I heard from him.

I told Dr. John that the Sergeant would do the best he could to see if there was any problem, but, neither of us was hopeful.

The Sergeant got back to me a few hours later and said he couldn’t see anything on the body that would arouse suspicion and those people he talked to said it had been an accident; no one had done anything to cause it.

Our thoughts were not only physical foul play, but we wondered if someone had slipped something into his drink or food to cause him to not be able to take care of himself and drowned.

Only a blood screen for alcohol and drugs would prove that, and to my knowledge no blood was take for analysis.  We were all very frustrated.

I was scheduled to take my family down to Carla’s folks’ farm just out of Redmond for the 4^th of July weekend.  We had a late start, but we headed down there.  I had told the Sergeant that he didn’t have to go down to the ranch on the 5^th, I would be doing that.

The 4^th of July went fine.  We sat under the stars and watch a fireworks display that was a few miles north of us.

Friday morning, the 5th, my Father-in-law and I headed out early to go to the ranch and make some rounds in South County.  He had never been to the ranch so he was looking forward to the drive.

We arrived at the ranch a little after 0900 and I met up with the Chief.  She said this was the first body she had ever seen.

She described him as young – he was about 25 if I recall right – but not a good swimmer.  She said he looked ‘so peaceful’ as he lay on the gurney in the clinic.

We talked for a while, everything on the ranch was going well according to her and there were no obvious problems that I saw.

We left the ranch and headed north up to Antelope.  It was quiet there so we passed on through, continuing north to Shaniko.  In the middle of the switch backs going up the hill we met the OSP Lieutenant in charge of The Dalles office coming down.

He had another Lieutenant with him and they were heading to the ranch.  After a couple minutes talking we decided to go down to the little café/General store in Antelope (renamed Zorba the Buddha by the Rajneesh) and have some coffee.

We got down there and found out it wouldn’t be open for another hour or so.  That was a huge relieve to my father-in-law, he wasn’t looking forward to having anything from that little café.

The Lt. said that fireworks had caused a fire on a hill side in The Dalles, it took a bit to put it out.  While we were discussing it two ‘Peace Officers’ came up to talk.

I mentioned that the Lt. was telling me about a fire caused by fireworks and one of them started laughing and said “we had our own 4^th of July fireworks.”

Thinking that they probably shot off some over their lake, I mentioned that.  She said “No, the boy that was drowned on Wednesday was cremated Thursday night and sparks were just shooting out of the chimney.”

She thought it was great fun.  I didn’t.

I was still not comfortable about how that death was handled.  But, even if I had thought it was funny I wouldn’t have laughed.

The Rajneesh were fond of making jokes and then taking offense if you laughed.  The Lt. and I just looked at each other.

I said I had to head out and the Lt. said they did too, and we left.

We had lunch at the Oasis Café in Maupin.  I had met the owner while campaigning.  I like him, his food was good and reasonably priced and he was a good conversationalist.  During the summer he augmented their income as a Deschutes River guide and had clientele from as far away as New York City.

The rest of the 300 mile patrol went off without incident, and we headed back to Redmond.

Proverbs 13:11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.

As I read this today my mind went from the obvious reference to material wealth to that of personal abilities.

We all know those that just seem to be able to say or do the right thing.  They don’t think much about it, they just do it.

Then there are those of us who have to work hard at doing the right thing, keeping a watch on our tongue so we don’t say the wrong thing.

When we look at our talent and think we are special and rely on that ability we will not be able to grow, we will find ourselves falling down and being less successful as we go on through life.

When an athlete thinks he has the skills and the ability to compete in his sport without practice, without studying his craft he will be overtaken by the athlete that may not have all the skills he has, but, knowing that, he works harder.

As you know I am a football fan, both College and NFL.  As I watch these men participate in the sport I know that some of them are incredibly gifted; some aren’t.

I enjoy watching a good quarterback who smoothly guides his teammates down the field.  Whose actions are poetry in motion. 

I enjoy watching the receivers making incredible catches that show not only rough athletic skills, but grace and beauty in their motions.

I enjoy watching the backs, the linemen and defensive players  that know what they are doing and have diligently practiced plying their trade with expertise – and practice.

There are many gifted and talented players that come to these higher levels of football and fail.  Sometimes they just cannot match those they play against – and while they try hard they don’t have the ability to play at those levels, and there is nothing wrong with that.

When you see a talented player come into the NFL and act as if he knows and has it all, they set themselves up for failure.

They are relying on their gifts to play the game, and don’t try and improve.  It isn’t long before their opponents find their weaknesses and exploit them.  They may start out okay, but if they don’t take the sport seriously and knuckle down to learn and improve, they are relegated to the bench and eventually they are out the door.

A person cannot rest on his laurels, on his given abilities. While he may have the talent to do well and seems to have the wealth of personality and abilities, without hard work and practice on honing his skills he will eventually be discarded.

It doesn’t matter what type of work we are in, what level we are at, if we are not improving and growing we are stagnating and all the abilities we may have will go by the wayside.

It is very much so with our Spiritual well-being.  We have seen the new Christian come in with a great personality and ability to get his point across, but if he doesn’t study God’s Word, if He doesn’t strive to grow closer to God on a daily basis, he will eventually be relegated to ‘the bench.’

People will stop listening to him; because he hasn’t grown, he cannot take others past where he stopped growing.

We have the ability, here in America, to have great wealth in our Spiritual lives.  We have His Word freely available to us; we have men and women of God who can help us grow as they teach us the truths of God’s Word.  We are able to meet, publically and share with others this great love.

We are able to proclaim Christ and His love to others so they, too, might come to find Him.

It is there for the taking, however, if we don’t use this opportunity to grow, then we shall find ourselves one of those Christians that cannot process the meat of the Word and must be on Pabulum all the time – an ineffective servant to God.

Indeed one who needs to be constantly fed because he is incapable of feeding others, a child who refuses to grow; thus becoming a drain on the Church instead of an active warrior.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

² I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

³ For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Lord, help us grow; help us to use our natural skills to serve you.  May we remember we cannot rest with the skills we have but that we need your Help to improve our ability to use the talents you have given us; so that we can bring others to your Son.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again