Got up to a golden sun lit Cherry Heights as I look across the valley – both Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams were gleaming white under a blue sky – what a great beginning to our day!

Before I get too far along, today, and forget, I want to first thank a couple of local businesses for their professionalism, honesty and ability to get the job done.

I see, on occasion, people ask, on Facebook, about local mechanics, and I am sure they probably have asked, in the past, for a good body shop.

Cascade Motors have worked on all of my cars for over 25 years.

Rich and his men are careful, knowledgeable and get the job done right and quickly.  He is fair and dependable.

He is also honest.  Carla drove our 1989 Lincoln into the ground, but she wouldn’t give it up. 

Finally I thought I had a way of getting her to let go.  It appeared the alternator gave up and there was just no point in replacing it, again – but she wasn’t real sure about that.

I asked Rich to tell her the car had finally died, he looked at me and said, “I can’t tell her that!”  He got the car back to his shop. 

I told him that if it was indeed the alternator there was no point in replacing it – then he called back, “Art, it is under warranty – you get a new one!”

She drove it for a few more months before she finally allowed me to get rid of it.

Rich had kept that thing on life support for years.  He does a good job, his bills are more than fair.  He treats his customers as friends and he won’t let you down.

The other business is Fix Auto The Dalles, the owners are Sky and Kathleen, another friendly business.  That same 1989 Lincoln was rear ended several years before I could get Carla to give it up.

That was my first experience with Sky.  The insurance company was going to total it, but after discussion they had me take it to Sky’s where he and his guys fixed it and made it as good as new. 

Since then we have had a few other minor things done over the years and have never been disappointed.

Yes, there are other mechanic shops and body shops in town and I cannot speak for their quality, I just know that whenever I have a vehicle problem, these two businesses get my business!

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“When a person makes a mistake and has to be forgiven, the shadow may hang over him or her because it is hard for other people to forget. But when God forgives, He begins the new page right there, and then the devil runs up and says, "What about this person's past?" God replies: "What past? There is no past. We started out fresh when he came to Me and I forgave him”  AW Tozer

Isaiah 43:25  I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.  KJV

Satan absolutely hates this. He does all he can to dredge up our memory of our sins as often as possible – usually in the 0-dark-thirty hours of the morning when we can’t get back to sleep.

Just because God has forgiven our sin and will no longer remember it doesn’t mean that others have forgotten or forgiven, even ourselves.

Sometimes we have destroyed other people(s)’ faith in us, and they feel they can no longer trust us.  Sometimes we give people pause to think before they will speak up for us.

Sometimes the sin was a crime and we still have to face the consequences of that sin.

And then, there is our own memory, our own conscience.  Satan will use that against us as long as we allow him.

I have had many 0-dark-thirty moments where I can’t get back to sleep and satan hammers me with my past.

But God HAS forgiven us.  He HAS given us a new start.

He has given us the Blood of Jesus to cover our sins.

Colossians 1:12-14  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

¹³ Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

¹⁴ In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Amen!!

Later, Art (-: