Josh and Deed plowed the garden for Carla.  The garden space is starting to show the years of gardening, the soil is so much better from all the mulch through the years.

In our neck of the woods we started out with sunshine, low 60’s with a wind that is stirring the trees as they dance as it blows its own tune.  AND has blown in some dark clouds.  But the critical outside work for today has been finished and we will be consuming some pizza here shortly.

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“Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them. Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, "Speak, for thy servant heareth." Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Thy voice, that its tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy speaking voice. Amen.”   AW Tozer

1 Samuel 3:10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

Can’t really add to the comments of Tozer on listening – and since I seemed to be finding my devotions dealing with that requirement for the past few days, I do believe the Holy Spirit is telling me to listen, MORE.

It Tozer, a devoted Christian, Pastor and author, needed this reminder, then all do; and me in particular.

“Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them. Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, "Speak, for thy servant heareth." Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Thy voice, that its tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy speaking voice. Amen.”

Later, Art (-:

Getting’ some sun in our neck of the woods, still a bit chilly, but can’t have everything this time of year.

Busy time for Carla and the ladies at Joanne’s getting ready for inventory; so lots of hours on the floor for all.

Depending on the weather, Josh is planning on rototilling Carla’s garden tomorrow.  She is happy about that, she will get to play in the dirt for real soon.

Transplanting the tomatoes and peppers into the yogurt containers where they will continue to grow for another week or two and then the half milk cartons ready to give away.  “Only” did a couple hundred tomatoes this year.

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Reference Prayer:  “The Quakers had many fine ideas about life, and there is a story from them that illustrates the point I am trying to make. It concerns a conversation between Samuel Taylor Coleridge and a Quaker woman he had met. Maybe Coleridge was boasting a bit, but he told the woman how he had arranged the use of time so he would have no wasted hours. He said he memorized Greek while dressing and during breakfast. He went on with his list of other mental activities—making notes, reading, writing, formulating thoughts and ideas—until bedtime.

The Quaker listened unimpressed. When Coleridge was finished with his explanation, she asked him a simple, searching question: "My friend, when dost thee think?"  AW Tozier

Psalm 119:130-131   “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

¹³¹ I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.”  KJV

As we sit down with our busy schedule, let us make sure that we schedule a daily sit down with God.

We need time to be with Him, to listen to Him and to think about what He is saying to us through His Word and as we pray.

Later, Art (-:

Raining, at times, in our neck of the woods, sky is grey.  And we are told we will get more of it, although it will quiet down through the rest of the week, and who knows, if they are right, we might even see sun this weekend.

Carla was called into work, to help cover breaks, not sure how long she will be working on her day off, but there is enough rain that she would prefer to be inside anyway.

But it definitely makes the hills around us green and pretty.  In a few short weeks they will turn brown from lack of moisture but they are a pretty green color now.

Just got back from therapy and really feeling it today.  I must have slept wrong on the shoulder because it was already sore, bit more right now.  Did get a good workout and doing fine – just keep reminding myself that it is better than going through surgery.

He put my on a hand paddle machine, bicycle with hand peddles, no foot paddles; as a warm up.  I was just sitting down when a young lady got on a treadmill across the room and started running, and doing it without having to use handrails to steady herself; she didn’t slow down the entire 10 minutes I was there – I know, that isn’t all the unusual, except it is for me and my treadmill; and I definitely felt the difference.

Several years ago I got Mom’s treadmill.  It has several ‘speeds’ on a sliding control.  From warm-up/cooldown to fat burn to aerobic to Performance on one side; slow, about half way up the scale and fast at the top on the other side of the control.

I have never made it out of the warm-up mode, not to mention even hitting the slow mode side – even at four miles an hour I used to get to on some regularity.  AND, I use the guard rails to maintain my balance.  I get to where I am going, but it takes a while longer.  As a fellow ‘older generation participant’ at the gym said, nice to be young.

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“I believe if you keep your faith, you keep your trust, you keep the right attitude, if you are grateful, you’ll see God open up new doors.”  Joel Osteen

Genesis 50:19-20 “And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?

²⁰ But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”  KJV

I don’t know how many times I found/find myself where I didn’t want to be, where I was completely unsure as to what to do or where to go.

It seemed(s) that I had fallen into a deep well with no way to climb out.  Frankly, there were times I panicked, and charged in without taking time to talk to God – invariably that was a mistake.

I have learned that God does allow us to go through things we believe are going to hold us down, or even destroy us.  IF we trust in Him, as Daniel did, we may go through many years of wondering about our situation.  But thankfully we can read the examples of Godly men and women; and remembering how many of God’s people have gone through similar and even far worse challenges and came out on the other side stronger and more effective servants of God helps.

God allowed satan to challenge Job.  In the end, Job came out stronger and more powerful in his life on earth and in his testimony to the goodness of God; BECAUSE, he trusted God throughout his ordeal.

As my granddaughter asks, ‘what am I going to learn today?’ we should take that same attitude about how we are going to learn to live a more effective life for Him, today.

God has a lesson for us every day that will build us up – even if we feel it is bringing us down, we just have to look for it with that same eye-wide innocence of a child.

Later, Art (-:

Quiet thus far in our neck of the woods.  Carla had to open the store this morning, she left before I even knew she was up – still a bit tired from yesterday.

Even my warm up walk and exercises were harder this morning, but it was what was needed.  I am getting some relieve from the pain in my shoulder and able to do more than a couple weeks ago.  If it continues this way I ‘should’ be able to heal up without an operation.

Haven’t heard how the tests went, yet.  I do know there was an anomaly or two, I told them if there was anything different about tests, it would come on mine.  Our family just seems to challenge the professionals and make them dig into research more often.

The sky is interesting.  It is a very very light blue.  It back drops Mt. Hood and even though the mountain stands in all its white glory, it almost blends into the sky.  Mt. Adams had more contrast, of course we only see the top of it.

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“Prayer is an effort of will.”  Oswald Chambers

Mathew 6:6 “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”  KJV

One of the most difficult things to do is to pray.

We have to make time if we want to truly communicate with God.  While short prayers through the day help us keep in touch, they are not truly communicating with Him – they are important, don’t get me wrong – but they do not take the place of a determined effort to sit down with Him and not only speak, but listen and that takes time.

I recently read a person’s thoughts on communication in today’s world, “too many people listen so they can reply, not to learn.”

With God the only reply should be, “Yes, my Lord.”  The only way we can get to that point where we can actually communicate with Him is to give Him time to talk with us – it doesn’t make any difference what time of day that sit down occurs, but it must happen for us to gain further insights into God and His will for our lives.

It is so very easy to get distracted.  We have noises all around us, family, friends, television, phones, work, and the list goes on.  Our mind loves to trick us, I don’t know how many times I will be praying for something specific and the next thing I realize I have spent seconds, sometimes minutes, with my mind going off in a different direction.

Yet, God has made it clear He wants us to go before Him, one on one, and talk with Him. 

To do that we must cut back on all distractions, even that of the mind.  When Daniel prayed, he prayed aloud.  When Jesus prayed, He prayed aloud.  Even though both were praying in private.

By doing that ourselves it may help us keep concentrating on what we are doing, praying.  Then as we wait for Him to talk with us we must determine within ourselves to listen, even if it takes time.

Too many of us take pray lightly.  We are missing out on a great blessing from God when we do that.

As Oswald says, “it is an act of will.”

An act of OUR will.  We either do it or we do not, it all depends on us; we can use any excuse we want, but it still comes down to a choice, either we do it, or we do not.

I need the Lord to help me focus on my communication with Him.  Not half-heartedly, but with my full attention – not letting anything interfere with that, including my own mind.

I must will myself to be fully in His presence.

Later, Art (-:

Our neck of the woods has the sun shining down, not very warm, mid-50’s but nice to see anyway.  Wind, however, makes it a bit more uncomfortable, especially when the sun ducks behind a cloud.

Had a stress test this morning.  Still feeling the after affects.  They didn’t have to go as high as I had when I last had it done, but it was high enough – actually, as far as I was concerned, quite high enough and then some.

If I had felt the pressure I did at the height of the test at home, we would have headed to ER.  Heart is doing fine, but it definitely didn’t appreciate the speed with which it was expected to go and stay for a bit.

Still a bit of uncomfortableness about my chest, however, I took an afternoon check on my readings and my heart rate was the lowest it has been since I started battling A-fib.  It was in my ‘old’ normal range.  We will see how long that lasts.

It took me a few moments to recognize the tech.  She did a procedure on me back in 2013.  Nice woman, Christian and conservative. 

Her daughter, 18, goes to college this fall in Salem on an athletic scholarship.  She is already missing her and having difficulty adjusting as she plans for graduation, etc.

So we shared some of those feelings.  Told her my feelings when Vicki went to college and then when Ken went into the Corps.  The rest of the kids are close by, so even though they left the nest we see them often, and the loss, while heavy, wasn’t as great.  -  That is until Steven, Celinda and CeeCee moved to Kirkland so he could finish school, and the emotions work their way up again. 

I told her I feel sorry for my son, my granddaughter is graduating this year and she too will be heading off to college.  Wendy will feel the pangs too, can’t be helped, but Ken will feel it more like his Dad did, I think. 

It took me a while, but I finely realized when these things come about what we are feeling is a grieving process; not unlike the death of a loved one; not as deep, of course since we have communications with them.  However, our lives change and it can be hard on us.

I shared my experience of seeing the sun shining in all corners of the Gorge as we passed Mosier coming home from dropping Ken off.  God is watching over them and there is no where they go that they are out of the sight of our Lord.  (‘course it brought tears to my eyes, as those memories always do.)

As my mother-in-love told me, it doesn’t get any easier; and, as all too frequently, she was right.

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 “Just as a servant knows that he must first obey his master in all things, so the surrender to an implicit and unquestionable obedience must become the essential characteristic of our lives.”  Andrew Murray

Romans 5:6-7 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

⁸ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Earlier this year one of the Secret Service Agents basically said she would not take a bullet for the President.

It is rather doubtful she is still working that detail – or any other for that matter since their primary duty is protecting the President and his family.

They do this out of respect for the Office not necessarily the man.  They are sworn to do this, it is their job.  If it means that they have to go into harm’s way they must do it.

Every police officer basically takes the same oath – they must defend the innocent, even if it means putting their own life on the line.

They don’t get to choose who deserves it or not, who the victim is, what the crime is, they must do their job.

Many good officers have resigned their commissions because they cannot fulfill that duty.

A police officer sees the dregs of society every single day.  He sees the worst in people, he can become calloused and as a protection from having to continuing to walk through that mire mentally, he seeks avenues of relieving the horror he sees.

It not only can, but will change their lives forever, even if they leave the profession after a short time.  It is very difficult to erase those scenes from their lives.

A very good officer, a man I spent many months training and working with, realized he was taking his frustrations out on his wife and kids, he chose to leave the profession and do something else.  

Others, unfortunately men and women, had to go through divorce because they were unable to cope with the stress of the job and the stress of being a spouse and parent and not letting the job interfere with their family.  

Others turn to alcohol, or even drugs undermining their health and their careers, not to mention their family life.

Those that have activities outside the department, where they can put things in better prospective have a better chance of going through their career without succumbing to the all too frequent us vs the world mentality and becoming indifferent to the plights of others.

When I first came on the department I had a senior officer tell me that the only friend I will have is another police officer – a police officer is the only person that will have my back.

I didn’t believe that then and I don’t believe it now.  Part of that is because Christ is my Lord and I have fellowship with other Christians that reinforce God’s hand in my life.

From my observations, the officers that did have a personal relationship with Christ were more able to make the proper adjustments.  Not that they (or me) are perfect, but they have a confidence within that only Christ can give.

Being a Police Officer, for most of us, is a calling and something we do as a service, not only to the public, but to God. 

And, yes, many officers do go through their career doing well, without that relationship, but most of them do have outside interests.

Being an officer is not being able to turn the job off when we go off work.  We carry what we know, what we see and how we do things with us for the rest of our lives.  It is in our blood, but it can be properly balanced with being able to work with others and seeing them as friends, not potential ‘enemies.’

But the bottom line is WE can make our own decisions.  If we find we cannot protect those that need protection - that they are not worth giving up our life over, we can quit.

But while in uniform we must be obedient to the laws of our jurisdiction and enforce them, even if it means putting our lives on the line for someone we do not like.

Christ could not make that choice.  He couldn’t choose to say, I will save these people, but not these.  While He came to the Jews first, walked with them and taught them using the scriptures to show them He was the Messiah, he didn’t die just for them.  He died for every sinner, no matter how vile, that would bow before Him and accept His sacrifice as the cleansing from sin.

Christ was obedient to God the Father even to His death.  It was not the way He chose to die, we know that He asked not to die, but “not My will but Thine be done.”

Every Christian, not just the police officer, has an obligation to Christ.  For some it is to teach, preach, become missionaries, or some other similar “full-time” profession.

For the rest of us, it is being obedient to God in spreading His gospel, to obeying the Holy Spirit as he guides us in our work for Him.  It doesn’t matter if He leads us to the poorest of the poor, or the richest of the rich – we must obey, just as Christ obeyed.

By the acceptance of God’s gift to us, we owe Him total allegiance and servitude.  It is a life time commitment.

The alternative is disobeying God and placing our own salvation on the line. 

Lord, please give me the wisdom and courage to do what You tell me to do as a willing servant; obeying even onto death.

Later, Art (-:

Grey clouds around us in our neck of the woods.  Mt. Hood was out with its white against the grey clouds behind it, Mt. Adams was covered with clouds. 

Temperatures in the low 50’s, but very little wind.  We will be finishing up with the greenhouse this afternoon and Carla will be ready to put those tomatoes, peppers and whatever else she has in it.

She left the Fuchsias outside last night, but covered them up.  It was down to 32, but they seem just fine.  She is looking forward to getting those out, also, they are pretty and attract more hummingbirds.

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Hebrews 10:16-22 “ This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

¹⁷ And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

¹⁸ Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

¹⁹ Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

²⁰ By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

²¹ And having an high priest over the house of God;

²² Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”  KJV

The Jewish people, before Christ’s death and resurrection, had to go to the temple at least once a year, offering sacrifices through the High Priest in order to have their sins forgiven.

Sacrificing, each year, and sometimes more often, because the death of an animal and its blood was insufficient to last for eternity, it could not take away their sins.

They had to go through an intermediary, the High Priest, because they could not come before the throne of God without him.

But once we, Jew and non-Jew alike, recognize and accept the sacrifice of Jesus, the Christ, as ours in the remission of our sins, we can go to Him every day, as often as we wish and through Him have access to God the Father.

Jesus, as our High Priest, lived a real life, walked and taught among the people, was tempted and refused to sin.  He demonstrated His love and His examples live on today through His Word. 

Hebrews 4:15-16 “ For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  KJV

“boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,”   “come boldly unto the throne of grace,”

Not arrogance, not prideful, but with a confidence that He will listen to us, that He will extend His hand and help us, with the assurance of a man that knows that what he is doing he is doing with permission and the full authority of the authority over him.

I can remember the first time, as a Reserve, I put the uniform of a police officer on.  I was nervous, even though I would be riding with a regular officer, even though I wasn’t expected by the department to know everything, the public really couldn’t tell the difference between me and the regular.

At that time there was no training, at all.  You rode and learned by osmosis IF the officer did any talking at all.  Usually you talked about other things, while occasionally he might explain something, you usually just stood in the background and hoped you didn’t do something wrong.

Not a real confidence booster.

As time went on, I became more comfortable and I could do some rudimentary tasks, traffic control, ‘guard’ duty at a crime scene, helping with initial interviews of non-serious incidents, etc.  But, I would have to defer almost all questions to the regular.

When I was hired it wasn’t much different.  The third night on the force it was just me and the sergeant.  He put me in a car and told me to keep out of trouble.  It was a calm night with no calls, so I managed to do so.

However, I did have a training officer assigned who started my training in earnest, explaining, teaching, watching so I could improve my knowledge, skills AND confidence.

I then attended the Academy, which gave me much more information and training giving me more confidence on both the laws and the enforcement of them.

Some officers came on the department with self-confidence and many did well – but for others it was a bravado that didn’t set well and often their over confidence got them in trouble.

One of the best advices I received came from my first training officer.  He was well respected and had an air of confidence that immediately made people trust him.

He said in most situations we go in low-key, quietly try and get people to calm down.  You are the one wearing the uniform, you are the one in charge.  If they don’t obey, then you can always become more assertive or aggressive, but if we do so from the very first we have nowhere to go, once you have to reach that level you can’t back down and that can lead to some violent arrests.

There are, of course, times you can’t do that, you have to go in with the full weight of your authority and your ability to take control of a very bad situation.  But, time and time again, his wisdom proved valid and we were able to complete whatever our task was without escalating the problem.

One of the things I quickly learned and tried to pass on to all those officers I trained, was your tongue is the most important muscle in your body, if you use it correctly you can calm down almost any situation.

A good officer has confidence in his authority, his bearing shows it and because of it people will accept him as the one in charge.

Boldness before the Lord, or boldness in witnessing to others doesn’t mean we go in with an arrogant or demanding attitude, it means that we have confidence in who we represent, in who our God is and that He will support and guide us in our requests for His help and mercy and will reinforce our witnessing, through the Holy Spirit working within those we witness to.

Thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus, we can have the confidence to enter into God’s presences with the knowledge He has forgiven us and only wants the best for us as we serve Him.

We can indeed walk boldly into His presence, now.

Later, Art (-: 

Cold winds a blowing, not hard though, in our neck of the woods, but it does lend its might to the colder temps.  Temperature is 53, but with the wind NOW 20 mph gusting to 30 something, it feels a whole lot cooler and it is a biting cold, but things have to be done.

Sun keeps playing peek a-boo in the clouds.  Got one of the greenhouses put up so Carla can get her transplanted plants in a sheltered environment – will have another one or two before we are done.

Well, Steven and Cee Cee’s visit was cut short, but it was good seeing them.

We went to the Discovery Center yesterday.  I had some of my books I was dropping off – autographed these, and by the way, if any of you have one that you would like me to put my John Henry on, give me a call - plus we wanted to let her visit and see the exhibits.

She was pretty excited about it – more than I would have thought for a four year old.  It is static displays with a few interactive, with most things are above her age level.

We went into the first display area and she went to one of the folders depicting animals that lived around our area, and as she started to flip through the pages she said “what will I learn today?”  - pretty sure that is Mom’s influence.

She got to see some eagles up close.  They have an eagle watch tour – I thought it was going to be someplace on the property overlooking eagles perching, eagles are coming into our area in large numbers – but it was to a small aviary, attached to the building, with a couple of crippled Eagles that couldn’t make it in the wild.  There was also an owl and red tailed hawk, also earth bound.

The eagles gave us that stare that says I don’t want you around me and don’t come any closer or you will truly be sorry.  The poor owl stood in a corner facing it and looked around as if to say, leave me alone.  The hawk kept screeching looking for a mate – all reminded me of people I know.

But after the tour, she wanted to go back where we started so she could see more exhibits – and we did.

Teresa came over for a few minutes and Grandma got to spend some time with them yesterday afternoon and evening, she had today off so we were looking at more time, but it wasn’t to be, just as well, as Steven was getting his call at 0600, Carla was getting a call asking if she could open the store.  She said she would close if someone else opened since they would be gone by that time, and that is where she will be spending her evening today.

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“It is absolutely illogical to believe that nothing produces something, or that profoundly intricate designs have come into existence by self-generation.  The more simple and natural conclusion is that there is an immeasurably great Creator and Benefactor back of all the remarkable existences which we observe and experience.”  Gordon Olson

Genesis 1:21 “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”  KJV

While we were still trying to wake up this morning, Carla and I watched a documentary on hummingbirds.  We like these little critters and enjoyed ‘most’ of the program.

It always amazes me how these are scripted.  The photography was great, they did slow motion showing how they maneuver, etc. and they ARE amazing little critters.

The narrative and video on how they eat and move around, how much energy they use and how much nectar they need to just live for one day was interesting.

However, the commentary about how they came about because the insects were not capable of doing the job in cold weather – as if evolution said, “oh, those poor plants, they need a special bird that can get bills into the flowers and spread the pollen around.” is hogwash.

So, basically there was a need and evolution somehow created the hummingbird – and of course, it HAD to have happened 50 million years ago, give or take a day or two.  It is amazing what the religion of evolution can accomplish, by words.

The complexity of the machinery of this world has been developed by inventors that saw a need and created a machine that could do the work quickly and with precision.  They are intricate in design and planned and blue printed so they can be replicated and improvements or modifications can be made.

No one looks at those complex machines and says ‘wow, isn’t it amazing how all those gears, and bars, and all that other stuff just came together on its own without any help or planning to make that machine.’  Nope, they admire the ingenuity and creativity of the inventor.

Yet, a far more complex organism, like the humming bird, just came about without any organization.

And they say those of us who believe the Bible’s version of Creation are fools – while they believe that everything just happened, starting with a rock or some minute piece of energy smaller than the period on this page that somehow was there, no one knows why or how, and it exploded; and everything ‘evolved from that.’

Both beliefs are just that - beliefs, both believers must have faith in their beliefs and yet, those of us that believe in a Creator are the ones who are crazy.

It is why I call it the religion of evolution.  With their priests and religious teachers that preach that religious dogma as if it was settled science.

Me, I will stick with a Creator, it makes more sense.  With or without the Word of God backing it up.

Later, Art (-: 

In our neck of the woods I am looking out the window to overcast skies, promise of rain and a very calm morning, absolutely NO wind at this moment – at least thus far.

However, I am watching a KPTV as they show lots of trees down – some very old – limbs breaking off and falling to the ground threatening anyone close to them - and extremely high winds those trees still standing are dancing madly in the wind – tens of thousands – approx. 76,000 as of this writing - of households are without power with the lines being down all over the area.

The wind is blowing so hard there that Max line is seeing limited use – buses are working in their place.

Trust all of you are safely secured in a safe place.

Got a pleasant surprise late yesterday afternoon.  Steven and Cee Cee were coming down to spend a couple of days with us; Celinda is in the middle of a project that she wants to complete tomorrow, so Steven and Cee Cee were letting her concentrate on it.  They arrived after 2300 hours last night.

Poor Grandma, she wanted to wait up until they got here even though she is putting in a lot of hours and had to go in at 0800 hours this morning – it was worth it.

Cee Cee is so active and extremely observant, neat kid.

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Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”  KJV

Ever notice how so many verses strike at your very heart? 

They make you realize how much farther you are from the holiness that God wants us to attain.

I can add nothing; I fall so short all I can do is hang my head in shame, asking forgiveness and strength to be the kind of Christian as Paul described himself.

”yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Lord, I thank you for your patience and mercy to me, please help me achieve this level of faith and commitment to you.

Later, Art (-:

Our neck of the woods, this morning, was dreary with rain coming down and thick fog all around us.  We could see the sun trying to burn its way through, but it didn’t look hopeful.

This afternoon we are blessed with sunshine, calm winds and a comfortable 60 degree temperature.  Nice change.

Carla has most of her garden debris burned and now we are just waiting for the ground to be dryer so when Josh rototills it we won’t have many clots.  We are planning on that to be done next Saturday, hopefully.

We are seeing more hummingbirds visiting our feeders; those that left last fall are starting to migrate through to the north and we will have a few join those that wintered here until next fall.  I enjoy watching them.

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1 John 3:16 “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” KJV

Living in Christ means sacrifice; even if it means our own life to save another.

To tell you the truth, I am not too sure just what this means, or how we go about it; but it shows one of the reasons that we must be careful about taking verses out of context. 

1 John 3:17-18 “But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

¹⁸ My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” KJV

There may very well come a time when we must give up our life for another Christian, circumstances could be that we are in a land where to be a Christian is forbidden and when we are found out we are told to either give up others or they will torture and kill us – by the way, that is a real reality for many Christians in other parts of the world.

But the whole Chapter of 1 John 3 deals with ways we must treat and look after our fellow Christians who are in need.

God expects us to help others, particularly those that are fellow Christians.  When we see a need and it is within our power to assist them, God expects us to act, not just talk.

Being a Christian has certain expectation from God.  We have agreed to accept Christ’s blood as the redemption from our sin.

However, it also requires we follow Him; do as He directs and as He did himself when He walked on the earth.

To many of us are ‘Sunday Christians’ meaning we go to church worship and pray and then the rest of the week we disregard anything the Holy Spirit is telling us – in particular ignoring the needs of others.

Lord help me open my heart to the Holy Spirit and follow both your Word and your Spirit as I go about my everyday life.

Later, Art (-: 

Overcast in our neck of the woods, might get some rain shortly – probability of that all week long.

Got back from the physical therapist this morning; he has given me some elastic ribbons to use in strengthening exercises; he had to keep going to more resistant ribbons until he could find the ones that gave me the most resistance so it would do some good.

He said, even with the bad shoulder you are pretty strong, what do you do for a living?  Retired, of course, but did say I was in Law Enforcement, and it paid to be strong. 

However, I also told him the best used muscle in that business is the tongue, it can save a lot of frustration and calm things down without having to be physical – most of the time.

We started talking about the Sheriff’s Office, he had no idea of the size of the county nor, much about it.  He had heard ‘something’ about the Rajneesh but it was before his time – born in 1989, he is still just a ‘kid.’  He was originally from Hermiston so understood the terrain and distances.

I told him that I had written a book and since he is on Amazon Prime he can download the book for free.  Will see if he does, since I have a few more sessions coming up.

Still bothering me, but I can tell the difference as I can now raise my arm with a bit of weight in my hand, where a couple of weeks ago I couldn’t do that.  It is encouraging, of course, much rather rehab than to have surgery.

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“The voice of the people, it has been said, is the voice of God; and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact.  The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right.”  Alexander Hamilton

To that I would have to say ‘AMEN!’

Hebrews 4:12  ^“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  KJV

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  NIV

When we compare man’s judgement with God’s, one thing stands out, man’s judgement are based on an ever changing world.

What is illegal today can be made legal by the stroke of a pen tomorrow.  What is legal today can be illegal tomorrow by having the same thing done to it.

What is proper in today’s society would make people in the past cringe and run for cover – hey, some of us still do.

And, for that matter, many of the things that were acceptable in the past make us cringe today.

I don’t know how many times we hear, as an excuse for many of the changes, “we are more enlightened than people in the past.”

Consistency is not the world’s forte’ its rules, laws and judgement changes from one time to another, from one country to another, from one state to another, from one jurisdiction to another and in some instances from one judge to another in the same jurisdiction.

As an example, I can remember when Clay had to enforce Oregon Boating Laws on the Columbia River – in some instances what was a violation for those that had Oregon boat licenses or were put into the river on the Oregon side, was not a violation for Washington boaters.

He worked hard to help get the two States to work together to be more consistent in their rules and regulations.  NOT an easy job when you consider both felt their way was best.

Some of those changes in society ARE vital and for the good of society – and when they are we almost always find the Bible concurs.

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” KJV

God on the other hand does not change.  His commandments are the same as the day He commanded them and then later had men inspired by the Holy Spirit write them down.

Where man’s laws and God’s laws contradict, then God’s law prevails.  While there are conflicts in our laws, our nation is relatively in agreement with God’s Word – but for those living in many countries even having a Bible in hand is against their laws and can be punishable by long terms in prison and in some cases death. 

As Christians it is our duty to work to get those kinds of laws overturned and to help those that are being persecuted AND in many cases prosecuted for their faith in Christ.

Acts 4:18-20 “ And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹ But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.

²⁰ For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”  KJV

I can remember having a discussion about certain laws with an instructor and was told, it is legal, now.  I said it may be legal but that doesn’t mean it is morally correct.

I am not advocating over throwing the government.  I am advocating that there is but one way to spiritual peace and certainty of eternal salvation and that is by following God’s Word.  We cannot allow our relationship with God to be trounced under by accepting the world’s standards.

The Bible isn’t suggesting behavior, it is commanding it.  When we choose to ignore it or deliberately disobey, we are risking eternal damnation and nothing that the world says will change that.

Lord, may I always remember that Your Word HAS to be the controlling force in my life; I need Your guidance in reading it and applying its truths to my actions and interactions with others.

Later, Art (-:

Garden is still pretty wet.  We have a sandy soil, but it may not be quite dry enough to plow, at least right now.  We are supposed to receive more liquid sunshine in our neck of the woods this week, we shall see as the week goes on.

While overcast it is a decent day, no wind and temperatures in the 60’s comfortable to be outside working.

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Luke 16:25-26 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

²⁶ And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Below is a brief synopsis, of the third act and some dialog from that act, of the Play, OUR TOWN, (from Wikipedia) it is a poignant play.  I saved the movie, but for some reason the machine didn’t record all of it, enough, that it took me a long time before I could try to continue to watch it – still haven’t finished it.

OUR TOWN is a 1938 metatheatrical three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens.

Third Act:  Nine years have passed. The Stage Manager opens the act with a lengthy monologue emphasizing eternity, bringing the audience's attention to the cemetery outside of town and the characters who have died since the wedding, including Mrs. Gibbs (pneumonia, while traveling), Wally Webb (burst appendix, while camping), Mrs. Soames, and Simon Stimson (suicide by hanging). Town undertaker Joe Stoddard is introduced, as is a young man named Sam Craig who has returned to Grover's Corners for his cousin's funeral. That cousin is Emily, who died giving birth to her and George's second child. Once the funeral ends, Emily emerges to join the dead; Mrs. Gibbs urges her to forget her life, but she refuses. Ignoring the warnings of Simon, Mrs. Soames, and Mrs. Gibbs, Emily returns to Earth to relive one day, her 12th birthday. The memory proves too painful for her, and she realizes that every moment of life should be treasured. When she asks the Stage Manager if anyone truly understands the value of life while they live it, he responds, "No. The saints and poets, maybe—they do some." Emily returns to her grave next to Mrs. Gibbs and watches impassively as George kneels weeping over her. The Stage Manager concludes the play and wishes the audience a good night.

Some of the dialog between the Stage Manager, Emily and Mrs. Gibbs:

Stage Manager:

And as you watch it, you see the thing that they-down there,

never know. You see the future. You know what's going to happen afterwards.

EMILY:

But is that-painful? Why?

MRS. GIBBS:

That's not the only reason why you shouldn't do it, Emily

When you've been here longer you'll see that our life here is to

forget all that, and think only of what's ahead, and be ready for what's ahead. When you've been here longer you'll understand.

EMILY:

Softly.

But, Mother Gibbs, how can I ever forget that life? It's all I

know. It's all I had.

MRS. SOAMES:

Oh, Emily. It isn't wise. Really, it isn't.

EMILY:

But it's a thing I must know for myself. _I'll choose a happy

day, anyway.

MRS. GIBBS:  No!-At least, choose an unimportant day. Choose the least ..important day in your life. It will be important enough.

EMILY:

To herself

Then it can't be since I was married; or since the baby was born.

To the stage manager, eagerly.

I can choose a birthday at least, can't I?-I choose my twelfth

birthday.

STAGE MANAGER:

All right. February 11th, 1899. A Tuesday.-Do you want

Any special time of day?

EMILY:

Oh, I want the whole day.

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After she had observed a while:

EMILY:

Oh, Mr. Stimson, I should have listened to them.

SIMON STIMSON:

With mounting violence; bitingly.

Yes, now you know. Now you know! That's what it was to be

Alive. To move about in a cloud of ignorance; to go up and

down trampling on the feelings of those ... of those about you.

To spend and waste time as though you had a million years. To

be always at the mercy of one self-centered passion, or another.

Now you know-that's the happy existence you wanted to go back to. Ignorance and blindness.

It is a reminder that we take people for granted and need to stop and use our time wisely here on earth.

However, could that scenario actually happen?

We talk about how there will be no pain in heaven, no illness, no sorrow. 

If that is the case, then, I believe, God protects us from those things that would make us sorrowful.

If you will note in the exchange between Abraham and the rich man, he states there is a large gulf between them.

It doesn’t say that Lazarus saw or even heard the rich man.

I sincerely believe that God will allow us to recognize those friends and family who are in heaven, but will not allow us to look for those that are not.  We will not remember them, it would be too painful.

However, I also believe that part of the eternal pain for those who reject our Lord and His Son will be that they remember everything.  They will see those that told them of His love, they will see family and friends in heaven and realize there is nothing that can be done now, except suffer the consequences, seeing what could have been.....over and over again; forever.

And part of that will be knowing that those in heaven will not remember them.

Even as Christians we take life too much for granted as if it will never end.  We are careless of our words, careless of our time and our loved ones could suffer for that, for eternity.

Lord, help me to remember that there are friends and family in the world today that are in need of your salvation and may the Holy Spirit lead them to You, through me or someone else that they too will accept Christ’s sacrifice and celebrate with us forever worshipping You.

Later, Art (-:

Beautiful day today in our neck of the woods.  Carla got to burn most of her debris and will finish it tomorrow. 

Transplanting will get started tomorrow in preparation to get them growing strong so she can plant what she wants and then gives away the rest.

My story today is about dispatchers.  I believe every ‘cop’ will agree with what I say, and for those that have never had to depend on someone while in a crisis mode, you will have a better understanding of how important a dispatcher’s role in in Law Enforcement.

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Psalm 4:1  Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

Every Christian will say the most important communication in our lives is with God.  Without that communication, without that time of prayer and talking with God we can place ourselves in great danger. 

We rest assured that He is always listening and no matter our circumstances, He is with us.  Speaking to God, especially in times of trouble, allows the Holy Spirit to place His hand upon our shoulder and let us know He is there and with us, His hand is a comforting assurance and gives us courage and confidence of making it through the situation.

Prayer is our life line.

To a police officer, that communication is vital.  But another form of communication is also critical and can make the difference between life and death.

The dispatcher on the other end of the radio is every Police Officer’s life line. 

They are the unsung heroes of the Law Enforcement community.

They are always there, ready to take the 9-1-1 calls; ready to comfort a victim; give instructions on giving emergency care until the ambulance arrives; hovering over the radio like a mother hen hovers over her chicks when the officer comes on the radio and answers a call, stops a vehicle, calls for assistance.

A good dispatcher can make all the difference in critical incidents and they can give encouragement to the officer who needs that hand on his shoulder, telling him it will be okay.

I won’t go into the evolution of communications in Law Enforcement, today.  I will show how important that person on the other end of the microphone is with this story.

We had recently instituted a 9-1-1 call and dispatch center in the city.  The center handled all calls for the police and fire department. 

One of the best dispatchers of all time for us, was assigned when the call center became functional and replaced three firemen who used to man the radio when units were dispatched.  The lower three were laid off as firemen and given the opportunity to work as a dispatcher.

Not always were they happy about it and one of them had an attitude that most officers wanted to shake him a couple of times to get his attention – but even he, once he settled in and realized how important it was, did a decent job.

The best, Joe, was used as a training officer.  He was training a new employee and that night he told the Sergeant and me (the only two on the road that night) that he would be letting her dispatch on her own, he would be in our office monitoring the radio, but she was on her own as far as she was concerned.

Our office was in the same building, but a few doors and several feet separated the two offices.

She was a young woman.  She had survived polio as a child and had several physical impairments.  She was pleasant and serious about doing the best job she could.

That first night on her own was a Swing Shift on a Tuesday night.  Usually Tuesdays were very quiet,

so it wasn’t a bad idea to let her feel what it was like to be the only dispatcher on duty.

That night was quiet.  So, quiet that there was hardly any traffic and no calls.  I started doing checks on buildings and hitting our small business areas, to show the flag.

As I drove through one area I saw a man running from a laundry mat into their parking lot.  The laundry set back a bit from the street with the parking lot in front and two stores on either side.

Now, why would a person be running from the laundromat that time of night?

I drove half a block to where a service station was, turned off my lights and watched to see what was happening.  A 1959 Ford Station wagon came boiling out of the parking lot and then turned towards me; lights off.

He made a left turn onto the cross street, I hit the lights and the chase was on.  I had never been in a high speed chase, as a passenger or a driver.  New experience - and with the lights and sirens and the speed we were going on city streets the adrenaline started pumping in overdrive.

I radioed I was in a chase and the speed and direction we were going in, I heard a calm voice saying ‘10-4.’

I got close enough to read and call the plate in for check for warrants/theft and registration.  I hear a calm voice saying ‘10-4.’

My voice was far from that calm. 

The driver still didn’t have his lights on and anytime we had a car come at us he would go into their lane – they would swerve to the right, over correct and come right at me as I was going behind him.

And my thoughts were: she has NO IDEA WHAT IS HAPPENING!

So, I am driving down city streets at over 50 mph, first chase, and adrenaline already pumping; now, I have a dispatcher who hasn’t the slightest idea what is going on.

I felt I was in way over my head and in deep trouble.

Then Joe came on the line.  It was like he had reached over the frequency, put his hand on my shoulder and told me I would be fine.

I was no longer in panic mode.  My training and knowledge, along with what little experience I had in these kind of situations took over.

We blew through town, several times he lost control, hitting parked cars, one time hitting a house that was at the end of the street (dead-end) and each time I thought he was down – he righted it and away he went, lights still out.

That car was like a tank.  Nothing was stopping it – he even drove down a street with railroad tracks in the middle - on the tracks.  We often have drunks misjudge and get struck on those tracks, but he just barreled on through to the next block and was back on a full street hitting a couple of parked cars as he got back in control.

Through stop signs, through red lights we went, fortunately it was a quiet night, very little traffic, although anytime he could he would aim at the oncoming cars to distract them and put me in danger.

I thought to myself, he has done this before – he was obviously more experienced at this than I was.

We headed out of town.  He slowed way down.  I figured he wanted me to try and pass him and force him over – no chance, I was driving a Ford Torino, a mid-sized light car (it was during the gas crisis of the 1970’s and we went to smaller, more fuel efficient cars) and he was driving this tank.  It would have been like a jeep trying to stop a tank, I just stayed behind and radioed info into the dispatch center.

As we headed up Auction Yard Hill – named because, yes, it had an auction yard on it, on the state highway I would soon be out of radio range.

Joe radioed to turn the radio over to County (we had recently purchased radios where we could transmit and receive four frequencies the three of them were county’s since they had a local transmitter and two repeaters.)

I did so.  When I got over there Joe told me that they had received a call from a lady in the laundromat.  The driver of the car ‘your cop is chasing’ tried to rape her.  He had notified the Detective Sergeant and she would be coming in to meet with him.

You always wonder why these idiots run – there has to be a reason and we always figure it is the worst as most of the time it is, now, I knew.

The problem was I was virtually all alone.  I had talked with the lone county deputy about 10 minutes before the chase started and knew he was going in the opposite direction to check on a small community about 9 miles from the city. 

The Sergeant hadn’t come on the radio.  He told me afterwards that he didn’t want to interfere with my transmissions, but he was heading my way.  After Joe told me to go to the county frequency he radioed into the center.

When I didn’t try to pass him he stepped on it and we were going over 90 mph on the highway.  He still didn’t have his lights on.  Fortunately we didn’t encounter any on-coming traffic.

About 5 miles out he makes a sudden right turn onto a dirt road, his car lifted up on two tires and it looked like he was going to roll over – I was about to radio for an ambulance, when he righted the car and off he went.

I radioed that we had gong onto a dirt road about five miles out.  While I traveled the highway often in route to visit family and friends, I had not paid attention to the names of cross roads, so I couldn’t give it a name.

However, it is named Five Mile Road and the deputy (actually two the one Klickitat deputy on duty – Washington State was listening) both deputies knew the road and heading my way to help.

We went down the dirt road, he went around a corner and as I went around, he was sliding cross ways in the road.  I tried doing it on purpose and wasn’t doing too bad, until my back wheels went off the road.

My car whipped around and I was heading down a steep ravine, all I could think of was, “Lord, here I come.”

I made it safely to the bottom, got out of the car and ran back up the hill – car was still there, but the driver was long gone.

I went back down to the car – the ravine was only about 30 feet deep, so that could have been a lot worse, many in that area were several hundred – but couldn’t radio out, I was in a dead spot.

I saw a farm house with lights on about a half mile down the road so ran over to it.

I hammered on the door, out of breath and a young lady answered.  I think I ‘asked’ if I could use her phone and quickly told her I need to call dispatch.  She let me in.

I called dispatch the new dispatcher answered; I said, this is Officer Labrousse, and in between breaths gave her a run-down where the vehicle and I was.  I asked her if she had all that, she said yes. Then,

“Who is this?”

I was able to drive the car back to the office.  We didn’t locate the suspect that night, but he came in the next day with his attorney and turned himself in.  I had the privilege of lodging him in the County Jail on a myriad of charges.

I asked Joe if she had any idea what had been going on, he said yes, even better than he did at first since he lost part of the communication going from our office to dispatch.

I am glad I talked with him first, because, frankly I wasn’t real happy.  However, now knowing she had remained calm ON PURPOSE, I thanked her and asked how she could remain that calm.

Her answer, ‘I wouldn’t do you any good if I didn’t.’

From that day, until the day she went to another agency in the valley, she was first my second and then when Joe got his job back as a Fireman, my favorite dispatcher.

She was good.

That was my first experience that I KNEW the dispatcher made a real difference, but I have been reminded many times over through the years.

She was better than most.  But, with few exceptions they all maintained a professional attitude and did a very good job.

It is hard to remain calm when things are seemingly out of hand for citizens and they have to calm them, dispatch the proper agency and then keep track of all the other units that are on the air.

The dispatchers are a Police Officer’s guarding angels, and they treat us that way, calmly waiting on edge until we can tell them we are okay.

They have our backs.

But the Holy Spirit is with us, 24 hours a day, every day of our lives wherever we are and whatever our circumstance.  Always prepared to put His hand on our shoulder and tell us He has our back, He is there for us.

When He dispatches us, He has our backs!

Later, Art (-: