Paul Alton MBA

Up early

I web surfed for a while. Seems to be a lot happening in Washington this week.

But enough slacking. I started maintenance on the February blog page. February 2014, that is. Last July I had referred a young friend to the page to check out the pictures of Costa Rica for a trip he was planning. Oops. No pics. The Costa Rica pictures got corrected in July, but February 2014 travel included Nicaragua and Panama as well. The couple of pages of notes had been kicking around my computer bag ever since. Seemed like a task for which the time had come. That got plugged away at until after breakfast.

Along about the time we had been planning to go to Jackson Street the rain hit hard. Jackson Street in Harlingen closes down the first Saturday of every month for street vendors. We’ve been there enough times to not care if we went back, but it is a target rich environment for curved illusion tracts. It was our first stop planned for today. We changed plans, waited a bit, then went down valley, away from the rain.

We drove the scenic Rio Hondo, Laguna Vista route to Port Isabel for lunch at a Whataburger. Our first time at a Whataburger this winter. Got our annual dose of tasty grease and chatted to a couple from Manitoba and their Minnesotan friend.  

We walked up the beach on South Padre Island. Juanita looked for shells. I handed out around a hundred pairs of curved illusion tracts. Mostly English. Usually, it’s about half Spanish speaking people on the parking area of the beach. The proportion of Hispanics was way down. Is this Trump? Or is it because we normally go there on Sundays. Maybe Saturdays are different.

Back home by way of the Walmart in Los Fresnos. I noticed a Jeep with rubber duckies on the dash. I took a picture and sent it to our daughter suggesting that somebody was channeling the spirit of one of our local characters who kept small stuffed animals on the dash of his truck. She texted back that it was a thing with Jeeps. The Duck Duck Go search engine (no relation to rubber duckies anywhere) revealed it is indeed “a thing”. A thing started by one duck with an encouraging note placed on a Jeep hood by a snowbird with an Instagram account. Who knew?

 Struggling to keep my eyes open at seven after all the fresh air and walking today I decided to soldier on and keyboard this evening until after ten. Going to bed at seven means waking up at one am. That’s a cycle that doesn’t work for anybody with stuff to do during daylight. When I went to bed most of our February 2014 travel through Nicaragua was up to date for pictures and corrected typos.

In church, Ben preached about the fig tree that didn’t bear fruit in Luke 13:6-9.

It was given a second chance and some encouragement. For the purpose of the message, the fig tree represents man. The caretake represents Jesus and the owner represents God.

John 15:16 – “bear fruit”

A lot of time fig tree represents Jerusalem. Jesus spent time with them but they didn’t accept him. A few years after Jesus’s death Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans.

Bearing fruit is a picture of us reproducing ourselves and the kingdom grows. Christians can be beautiful on the outside but not bear any fruit. Nice leaves, but leaves take up lots of resources and an unproductive tree uses as much ground as a fruitful one.

Beautiful on outside but not in heart. Can argue it hurting anything but they are. They are occupying ground that somebody else could use to produce fruit. The answer is to become fruitful

Jerimiah 17:7
Roots in the River?
Are we bearing fruit?

After church Juanita and I went to the corner Valero and its Laredo Taco company for lunch. They had a chicken burrito special with a soft drink. We ordered a pair of those. They were enormous. We each ate half of our burrito and made an unplanned trip home to store the other halves in the fridge for supper.

Then to Sam’s Club for gas. Then Nuevo Progreso for meds and to hand out a few curved illusion tracts. Across the bridge and back in about fifty minutes. No pedestrian line-ups coming back. Crowds seems sparser than this time last year. No people camped out on the bridge. Its our first time across this winter so have no idea how recently things have changed. Is it the Trump effect or something else?

Back to Sam’s for steps and a few food items. Home for supper and a quiet evening vegging.

The RCMP officer called. He had identified the perp who tried to use our intercepted credit cards. The ID was easy from the store video surveillance. Apparently, the local ne’er-do-wells wedge open the Post Office lobby door at closing tome. With no video surveillance in the post office lobby, they have all night access to the front of the Post Office boxes. They take it from there. Maybe the postal workers could take the time to close the bars on the lobby at closing time.  

Oscar spoke in chapel starting with II Samuel 15:11. I did not send the email to myself with the notes from the talk until they had managed to be erased by the phone riding around in my pocket. Here is the gist:

In II Samuel gathers 200 followers around him to create credibility for his rebellion. They are unwitting participants, having no idea that is the real agenda – “they knew nothing of his intentions”. That didn’t help them when judgement came and they all died for being rebels. Oscar related the frequent situation where homeschooling parents have overprotected their children and they are too unaware of the evil around them. One particular example he knew personally and visited in prison was “just there” as a non-participant when something criminal happened. He didn’t know enough to not associate with the others in the circumstances.

There are two primary approaches to staying safe. Plan A is to be so pure that God protects you such as Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband. Plan B is to be wise enough about evil to know when to flee.

Most of the staff headed out of the valley to pick up a donation from near Robstown. There wasn’t much to do for those who stayed behind other than for the forklift driver unloading a semi. We visited with the stay behinds we hadn’t seen for a few weeks or were too busy to visit with when we were in Guatemala. Then Juanita and I went and puttered at checking out a motor home to be used for staff housing. We got a few things running and ordered parts for others. We finished that shortly after lunch and went to assess the plumbing issues on a staff house. With our list from those two endeavours we headed to Harbor Freight, Home Depot and O’Reilly’s. We plan to use those parts and whatever comes in from Amazon to move things along tomorrow.

We stopped at HEB for some groceries and steps. With a brief stop in the park to finish off the daily step count we got home at supper time. I posted what I had already written for February and set up placeholder pages for the Mexican travel pages that were lost when Bob Hoffman’s web site disappeared. I recovered the words with the  wayback machine but haven’t done much with them til now.

Quiet Day today.

Oscar spoke at chapel after holding a discussion with the group why a person might be ungrateful. He then went through several examples of the many examples of ingratitude in the Bible. None ended well for the ingrate. Be grateful.

After chapel Juanita and I headed out to the training center where we touched bases with a staff person who will be moving into the motor home. We explain what we were in process of doing and how some things work that don’t work that way except in motor homes. Then we started working on some plumbing repairs in staff housing. We got the toilet working and the sink taps replaced and were on a roll until I realized I bought the wrong faucet hoses yesterday.

We broke for lunch. During lunch we booked a trip to Japan for June. It looks to be between any likely turnarounds that will be available for me to work. Our daughter said it will be hot, but we are kind of used to heat. Maybe our opinion will change in June, but that is future Paul and Juanita’s problem.

After lunch we went to Home Depot, traded in the stuff we bought yesterday that wasn’t needed today and that was bought by error. Then we stopped by the WOTC warehouse briefly. We finished the plumbing about four. I drove to a park to complete my 10k a day program and got back home a little after five for supper. Another quiet evening with the old folks, discussing the obituaries we had been sent by friends today.

Part I of V of our original retirement Mexican adventures travelling has finally been repatriated to this web site from that of the (presumed) late Bob Hoffman.  

Good morning. Part II of V is now home.

Oscar spoke at chapel:

2 Samuel 14:28-31 - Absalom sent for Joab. Joab didn’t come. He was too busy. Absalom had Joab’s barley field set on fire. He came. People make time time for what matters to them. 

Esther 1:11&12 - King Xerxes calls for Queen Vashti to come but she refused.

Joab was a very important man. A general. As general was 2nd most important person in kingdom. He was proven in battle. He knows David had Uriah killed. He knows about Bathsheba.

Absalom wants to see king. Sends messenger to Joab. Ignored. Burns field.

“Why did you do that?”

Joab will be the man who kills Absalom. But stay in the moment- Joab gets reminded he isn’t as important as he thinks. Queen goes through similar process. Both Vashti and Joab die. 

There’s something that happens to you when the accolades come. Herod the king had people singing his praises “voice of God and not of men”.

Joab thinks I am the general. His field get burned. 

You don’t understand the risk of being important of accolades. God reminds me “I can do this without you Oscar.”

You get to do it but you are not irreplaceable. Don’t ever overestimate your importance just because God is using you. When god has given you the privilege to serve – Rejoice

God resists the proud. Stay humble. 

Let God give you the usefulness and importance.  

Juanita helped with the prep for the drive through food bank. After we made sure Juanita wasn’t needed for the drive through, we headed out to the training center. We had checked in the office at the warehouse for a lampstand for the Cross Walk. It was not there. It was not in the office at the Training Center either.

The motor home we are currently working on has a nonworking recessed fluorescent light fixture. RV fluorescent fixtures had their time in high end RV’s. They ran on twelve volts but gave off the light of a one-hundred-and-twenty-volt light fixture. Technology has moved on and parts have become an issue. If you can find parts they are expensive. Entire replacement fixtures are hard to find and must match the hole in the ceiling currently being filled by the nonworking one.

You can buy conversion kits to convert them to LED. Those kits received mixed reviews. I found a detailed article on a homebrew conversion at https://www.rv-insight.com/LED-Lighting.html

We riffed on that theme and converted the fixture in a crude but, hopefully effective manner.

After working on the lights, we did some work on the shower. We ordered the parts for the rest of the work.

After lunch we went back to the warehouse. More pieces had arrived for the motor home, but we hung around and offered hopefully helpful assistance while Byron fought with an intermittent problem with a forklift on which he had just reassembled the engine.

We picked up some screws to use in the motorhome repairs.

The workday over we went to Sam’s Club for steps and salad fixings before heading home for a quiet evening.

Up early editing Part 3 of 5 of our early retirement adventures from Canada to Mexico and back.

Oscar spoke at chapel:

2 Samuel 14:30 – Go and set it on fire

Then Joab – “wherefore …?

These are two men of importance in the life of David. Joab, mighty general and Joab’s nephew, Absalom. That brat son of David.

Here we are given a detail 

You could have gone without knowing Joab had a barley field. It is told to you because it will become relevant. The Bible is not all inclusive. It does not give you every detail of every person and what they have and what is in their heart. It tells you what you need to know. What man needs to know. 

The Bible says there are literally thousands of things that Jesus did. It doesn’t need to tell us all. It tells us what we need to know.  

If a detail is needed God will give it to you. If it is not needed knowing it would be a waste of time. 

Oscar’s Grandfather was tortured in his home country. His hands were crippled and had no feeling. He had a smile when he said acknowledged he had been tortured. He had a smile because Christ had got a hold of him. Oscar probed for details of the torture. The grandfather, “you don’t need to know.”

The more stuff you put in your heart it pushes out other stuff that should be there. Not saying shut your mind. Investigate the things you need to know but not the stuff you don’t need. The lamb is able to open the book of what you need to know. 

I need to learn the stuff God wants me to know not what the devil or the world wants 

May God bless you with the knowledge of what you need.

Juanita and I went out to the Training Center and worked with the lights we had. Installed a light fixture and smoke alarm then broke for an early lunch with a friend. After lunch some more fixtures had arrived. We installed those in the staff motorhome but discovered I had ordered the wrong lamps for the remaining existing fixtures. I guess sometimes fixtures don’t work because some past person installed the wrong bulbs. I ordered the right ones. They should be here Monday.

Back at our loaner rig we dumped the holding tanks and showered and changed. I dropped Juanita at the laundromat and went to Home Depot looking for a part and collected steps for the 10k a day.

Then we went to Sam’s finish steps, buy eggs and pulled pork. We may have eaten some ice cream, too, before going home for supper.

I posted part III of our original retirement saga to the web site then edited and posted Part IV and Part V. All the words are now available online again. Pictures remain to be added.

On the road about 6:40 this morning arriving at Juanita’s sister’s home south of Houston shortly after noon.

It was a pretty focussed trip with no sight seeing and not much in the way of stops. We made a brief pit stop in the Shell station in Woodsboro. Usually, we buy a kolache there, but they were down to only one in the display case.

We carried on to Hillje and the Hillje Store (“established 1916”) and its Prasek’s Family Smokehouse. There was not one kolache in their display case. There were dozens. Of all possible varieties. We picked one each.

We visited together with Juanita’s sister, Ninabeth at her home before the three of us heading to Galveston and the Moody Garden’s Aquarium. Later we all met up with Ninabeth’s daughter and son and his family at Ivett’s Italian Grill in League City.

On the way to pick up Juanita’s sister in Friendswood we passed through a Costco to pick up some protein bars and some steps. We tried to pick up samples of food too, but they were sparse that close to opening. The kiosks were just setting up except for a few keeners handing out chips and salsa.

I dropped Juanita and Ninabeth at the entrance of a new resort hotel. They had coffee, people watched and got the lay of the land. I went to a nearby Harbor Freight tool store to browse, buy tools and work on  my step count until they were ready to be picked up.

After lunch at Rudy’s BBQ, we explored some quaint shops in League City. Asking for input on what attractions to check out Ninabeth’s son suggested we check out his old high school in League City for nostalgia sake. Juanita climbed the giant chair on the lawn in front of the school. Then we explored Kemah and a nearby waterfront area.

One of the small parks on our list was “closed to the public” for a couple of hours on Saturday. We didn’t realize this until we had pulled into the parking slot and read the sign. A wedding party was doing a photo shoot about thirty feet away. I put Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now” on the player but after some discussion it was a consensus decision not to crank up the stereo with all the windows and sunroof open. We left quietly.

That all took until supper time at Chick-fil-A. After supper and dropping off Ninabeth at her home Juanita and I drove to the Home Depot near Kemah to check out the custom cars that gather there on Saturday evenings. Well, they used to gather there. No more, apparently. After a brief pout I went inside Home Depot for twenty minutes to walk until the app rewarded me with confetti for another day of 10k steps. Then back to the hotel in Seabrook.

Sunday, we drove “home” to Harlingen after meeting with nephew, Tracey and his wife Margarita for brunch in Sugarland.

Oscar preached his last chapel message for a while. He heads midday to Guatemala for a whirlwind preaching schedule. Today he considered the rising acceptance of foul language in church circles:

Proverbs 10:31 “The mouth of the judge brings forth …”

Does the Lord care if you have a foul mouth? We may have to define what words mean. Mexico slang has different meanings than Nicaraguan slang. In many languages it has become fashionable for Christians to become foul mouthed. The current and recent past Presidents are foul mouthed, The VP when asked about his language responded “my mother could shame a sailor and she is a devout Catholic.” 

What does the Bible say? It says a lot.

Ephesians 4:29 – 30 “Grieves Holy Spirit” 

Luke 6:45 “Abundance of his heart”. Your words are a window on your soul. One of the reasons we speak so foully is we fill our ears with foul language from many sources.

Ephesians 5:4 Filthy jokes aren’t cute to God

Col 3:8

Proverbs 4:24

Matthew 12:36

1 Peter 3:10

Well over a hundred scriptures showing God doesn’t just not like foul language he hates it. 

It is not missionaries or pastors who set standard. It is God. In the kingdom when you came to the Lord your words are part of the things to be left behind. 

When you hit your thumb with a hammer the issue is not that the words come out of your mouth it’s that they are there to come out.

If you ask God to remind you every time you misuse your words, He will remind you.

After chapel we picked up our accumulated Amazon parcels. The parts we needed for this morning’s planned activities had not arrived so we moved to plan C which was the washing machines at the Motel. Out of five washing machines we have been told only one works. Our inspection, such as it was, showed two working. One non-working machine was a quick diagnosis. I texted the order information to Theresa. Another took a while ( I texted Oscar asking if there is special language dispensation for working on “smart” washing machines) but eventually we put it on its back and pulled a rag out of the water pump. It started working after that. The last was a smart washing machine that has developed early onset dementia. It is confused. Usually that is the mother board, but maybe not. Rather than chase that expensive rabbit trail I suggested we install a replacement machine that is on hand at the warehouse. The confused machine has lots of other parts for future repairs of its three twins.

Back to the warehouse for lunch. The hoped for parts had arrived. After lunch we took them out to the training center. All the interior lights now work on the staff motor home. After much temptation to revert to UA* dialect language and some strategic hacksawing, we got the old cartridge out of the shower faucet in a staff house. We replaced the cartridge with a new one and added shiny outerwear. The faucet no longer leaks. That took until after five. Normal quitting time is 2:30 but once you have turned off the water you are committed.

After a quick supper we did a dash to Sam’s for gas and salad fixings then home to shower and sleep.

*UA is the plumbers’ and pipefitters’ union, of which I am a member

Salomon spoke in chapel centred on the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18.

Jesus spoke to move us. He knew our human nature. The widow went to a judge who didn’t care. She went to the courthouse. She was a nobody but wanted to be avenged.

Judge didn’t care but she kept coming back until the judge relented. The widow woman persisted until the judge said I’m going to help her. Then she won’t bother me anymore. 

We need help from the Lord. Don’t let your human nature get in the way. When Jesus returns will he find people looking for him. Will he find faith on the earth?

Jerimiah 33:3 Call unto me and I will answer you. Don’t give up on me. In fact, I’m going to over answer you. Like the expenses we have with the camps in Nicaragua and Mexico and even here 

Jesus is sending camels filled with gold. We were praying for camels and they came with 18 wheels. The warehouse filled up. 

David versus Goliath – “I will lift up my eyes to the Lord. My help comes from the Lord”. God is looking for people who are unstoppable.

I spent some time reorganizing the tools in the back of our SUV. At quitting time yesterday, they just got dumped in a pile. After kibbitzing with Byron a bit while he worked on a floor sweeper, we headed out to the training center to look at a water heater not working. Both fuses in the fused disconnect were blown. I checked the water heater with a meter. The resistance looked reasonable. Nothing seemed amiss with the wiring. Off to Home Depot to buy fuses. Once there and learning fuses are over twenty-five dollars a pair I called Byron to discuss. This the third recent overload event with that water heater. There doesn’t need to be two water heaters in that spot. We can replumb so one heater feeds both shower rooms.

After lunch at the warehouse, we went back to the training center to take measurements and develop a parts list. On the way back from Home Depot I took a quick walk around the park to feed the ducks and complete the daily step count.

 We met with friends for dinner at Los Asados. We had a great visit but overate into comas. Could barely keep our eyes open when we got home.

Ben spoke during chapel this morning. He has been studying in Habakkuk. Chapter 1 was the basis of last Sunday’s sermon and Chapter 2 is planned for this coming Sunday.

Habakkuk was a minor prophet, meaning it is a small book, not and insignificant prophet. He was a temple prophet, and some say a temple singer. He prophesied at the time of King Josiah. King Josiah ordered the temple to be cleaned. They found the book of the law while cleaning temple. Josiah cried out to the Lord because he knew judgement was coming. He was a good king. Even dug up false prophets and burned their bones. Revival broke out. 

Josiah wanted to go to war but God didn’t allow. Josiah died and the kings that followed were terrible. 

In Habakkuk 1, Habakkuk is crying out and he’s not happy. He’s not irreverent but he doesn’t understand why there’s so much injustice. God answers> The answer is not what was expected or wanted. “I will send Chaldeans.” “Why would you send those people?”

In Habakkuk 2 – “I will stand my watch…” The just shall live by faith. Even though Habakkuk doesn’t understand or like the answer he says, I will go to my rampart and wait. Then the Lord answered me and said write it down to make it clear. Send runners...

It was about 15 or 20 years before the Babylonians arrived but people were warned and many saved.

Ben mentioned a vision he had been given for Nicaragua and tried to run with immediately but the timing wasn’t right. Three years later… the timing was right.

We don’t know if Habakkuk lived long enough to see his prophesy fulfilled.

If God gives you a vision write it down and make clear. Don’t make it complicated.

After chapel we hung around a bit to see if we were needed for the Wednesday drive through food bank. We weren’t. We went out to the training center and connected both sides of the outside washrooms to the working hot water heater. Then we bought the parts and installed them for a minor electrical repair. That was pretty much it for today’s work.

I was up early and added pictures to From Canada to Mexico and Back Part I of V. After work I added pictures to Part II. In between we attended the morning devotional at the chapel and helped with the conduit for an induction oven in the warehouse kitchen.

The chapel devotional was by Ben discussing deceitful bows.

Ps 78:57-59 “like a deceitful bow”

Hosea 7:15-16 “like a treacherous bow”

2 Samuel 1:22 “the bow of Johnathan did not turn back”. Johnathan was a true bow

Bows - they call the bow they used the Eastern Bow. Would look for a young straight tree with no knots for at least six or eight feet. Laid it in a long tub and filled the tub with water and heated it. If there were major flaws it would crook. They’d discard. They laid the wood out to dry for a year. If it became crooked the would discard. Then the bowmaker would carefully carve with the grain. Would shoot 25 or 30 arrows. If any crook would throw away as an untrue bow.

Then would string backwards and see if it had the strength. Later when the bow would would weaken with use they would string backwards again to restore strength. Eventually a bow could become a deceitful bow - the arrow veer from target. Then they would destroy the bow.

When God referred to people who veered away to follow other gods, he would call them a deceitful or treacherous bow. Johnathan was a true bow. He followed the Lord faithfully through his life.

For Ben there were times he was distracted in the work of the Lord instead of the Lord of the work. Praise the Lord He fixed that.

We know Johnathan was a true bow and his father Saul wasn’t always.

2 Samuel 1:21 “mountains of Gilboa… the shield of Saul will no longer be anointed with oil.”

Gilboa was a mountain of blessing. Saul died because he didn’t oil his shield. The shield represents a relationship with the Holy Spirit.

1^st Samuel talks about Eli and his sons. His sons were taking the best meat and the fat for themselves. Slept with temple prostitutes. Eli was warned but ignored warnings and became an untrue bow.

We need to keep ourselves a true bow and keep our shield oiled.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Ben spoke in chapel:

Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world … let your light so shine…”

Faith is the lamp. Love is the light. Good works show the Lord’s work in us.

He related a story which “may be true”. 

There was a port in Maine where a number of ships had broken up because of rocks. The town got the money together and built a lighthouse. They hired a young man to tend the lighthouse. He was very diligent. He met a beautiful young woman. They married. She understood the demands of the job. They had three children. One, a girl, fell from a ledge on the lighthouse and died. Despite the tragedy the lighthouse keeper still tended the lighthouse seven days a week.

One son grew up resenting the time his father spent devoted to the lighthouse. This son graduated from high school and went to England on a scholarship. Returning on a ship after graduation from university his ship was storm bound for days. The passengers feared for their lives. They prayed.

“There’s a light over there.” They followed the light into harbor safely. It was the father’s lighthouse. Not their intended port but they were safe. The boy went straight to lighthouse gave father a hug. He finally understood the importance of the light.

As father got older his knees got bad. Took a long time to reach top of the lighthouse. One day he couldn’t quite make it. The son said, “I’ll take over.”

How many people are perishing out there today, because people don’t have a light?

Our light is important to others especially the lost.  We should share the light of Jesus Christ with everyone we can. Ben related a time he was in Walmart in the greeting card section. There was a woman crying. He asked if he could pray with her and ended up leading her to the Lord.

After chapel we helped Byron run conduit and pull wire so he could wire up the double convection oven in the kitchen at the warehouse. When that was done, we went to Home Depot and bought some straps to strap the conduit in place.

Done for the week, we went to Sam’s Club for gas and salad makings then home to shower and change.

We decided it was early enough that we could beat the Valentine’s rush at Texas Roadhouse. Nope. It was already busy. Still, we didn’t have to wait too long because we had put our names on the wait list before leaving home.

This morning was a routine Saturday. Pictures got added to From Canada to Mexico and Back Part IV of V and Part V of V .  Juanita did the weekly laundromat run. I dumped the holding tanks. After an early lunch we headed out.

High winds today. Not too comfortable being outside. We went to the Harlingen Sam’s Club for steps, samples and some shopping. Then the Brownsville Sam’s Club for more steps and samples.

For the first time this winter we drove out to Boca Chica Beach and Space-X. Phenomenal changes at Space-X. The beach looked the same. I handed out a few curved illusion tracts on the beach, but it wasn’t a day for long walks on the beach. On the way back to the car I chatted with a couple from Spain. Their truck and trailer had British Columbia plates. They had bought the truck and trailer in Victoria, BC and were on their circuit around America.

At the HEB on the way home we got a brief glimpse of the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile as it was leaving. After supper we had a visit with our neighbours and discussed their planned trip to Alaska. They are to be there May 1 to help at a campsite there. That will require traveling across the Canadian prairies in April. We have had some interesting trips there at that time of the year. Our current plans are to head north early in March. That has even more potential to be an interesting trip.

We had a relaxed morning before church. At church, Ben preached on what he called the “painful subject” of unforgiveness:

Matthew 6:14 - If we don’t forgive others the Lord won’t forgive us. The worst part is knowing I have unforgiveness in my heart and the consequences of that

Matt 18:23-25 - The king is a picture of Jesus Christ. When we ask the king into our heart, He forgives everything. If we don’t forgive others we will be turned over to the torturers. Every time we recall those wrongs against us, we suffer because of our unforgiveness. When we forgive, we are freed from that torture. 

Acts 8:23 - If you want to make Satan happy hold onto that bitterness. 

Hebrews12:15 - We need to be careful that we don’t let the root of bitterness separate us from each other or from the joy of the Lord.

Romans12:19-21 - Let the Lord deal with those that hurt you, don’t take it upon yourself. If your enemy is hungry feed him. The last thing you want to do in the flesh. 

Matthew 5:33 - I make a point of laying it down when I go to bed so I don’t wake up with it. 

The Lord knows what we need to have peace in our hearts. Our flesh doesn’t but God does. 

Ben related a tale of a lineman who came here on a mission trip. He was tormented by some abuse he had received from his father. Ben prayed with him. The Lord worked on his heart. One day soon after he called his father from the top of a telephone pole. This was the first time they had talked in years. They met for dinner. They asked each other for forgiveness. They became the best of friends. 

Ben also talked about his anger and bitterness after coming home from Vietnam. He couldn’t ask for forgiveness because the people were dead. This haunted him for a long time. Then he started praying for their families. God gave him peace. He no longer has anger in his heart. He is no longer beating himself up. 

Don’t let anything come into your life that would strain your relationship with the Lord. If things get too rough for you get others to pray for you.

After church we went to the corner Laredo Tacos for tacos then headed up valley. The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile was at an HEB supermarket parking lot in Mission. We took pictures, had our pictures taken by "Mustard Maddie" and her fellow hot dogger (whose name I didn't quite hear) and got to sit in it. Maddie has been to 16 states with the Wienermobile. He has been to 22. When he was in Boise, Idaho a couple travelled two days from Vancouver, BC to see the vehicle. 

Then we went to Costco for gas, blueberries and salmon burgers. We hurried home before the berries and fish thawed.

Ben spoke in Chapel on the first chapter of Jonah.

We know he was swallowed by big fish. God told him to go to Nineveh. Nineveh was an evil place. They would hang people as far as twenty miles out from the city to intimidate visitors. They conducted raiding parties on surrounding cities and towns. We don’t know if Jonah’s family had suffered from these raids. God told Jonah to go. Jonah went in the opposite direction. He went to a boat paid the fare and sailed in the opposite direction. 

A big storm came up. The captain told everyone to pray top their God. The sailors started to cast lots to learn who was the cause of the storm. Jonah was sleeping they woke him. He said he was to blame. They threw him overboard. The sea became calm.

That’s when giant fish picked him up. A lot of people say you couldn’t survive. There is a story you can find on the internet of a whaler swallowed by a giant fish. It bleached his skin and he had no hair. Can you imagine if Jonah looked like that? The impact he would have on those who saw him? That’s not the direction of the talk this morning.

Our actions can affect a lot of people. We need to be careful because our actions can go far and wide. In the case of Jonah, they lost all their cargo. On top of their fear there was great personal financial loss. 

Juanita and I worked on a washing machine at the staff motel while Byron sorted through wire available at the motel for use in the oven installation at the Training Center. He made a list of other needed material and went to buy supplies.

The washing machine needed more than the lid switch we installed. We ordered those parts, had lunch at the warehouse and went out to the training center. I helped Byron with drilling a hole through the masonry wall into the kitchen. This took until about three. I visited briefly with Gary of H-E-H who blesses the ministry with truckloads of donated goods. He has been here with his semi-trailer waiting for a break in the weather so he can head home to Michigan. He had spent the day at a refugee camp in Mexico. He was impressed on how little the people have compared with what we take for granted.    

I showered and changed into shorts and sandals appropriate for today’s weather. Didn’t need any more steps but ended up going with Juanita to Sam’s and HEB before supper.

This morning, we missed chapel due to some passing GI demands. Unfortunately, that means we missed hearing Barny Scott’s testimony. Byron gave me a summary but hearing it would have been a blessing.

It was shorts and sandals weather yesterday. Today was tee shirt plus denim shirt plus hoody and winter jacket. Mid 40’s but 29 F with wind chill. I worked outside most of the day helping Byron with some conduit. Mostly ladder holding but hopefully of some help.

After work I went to Home Depot to buy some wire and complete the step count for the day.

Barney Gibson gave his testimony in chapel today, beginning with his life as a youngster with godly grandparents to his more dissolute life working on oil rigs. When he came back around to the Lord, his wife at the time left him, taking their two sons. She then died of an overdose. He pastored in Oklahoma. His wife at the time died with one of their four children in a house fire. His response was to bring all their pastor friends together and hold revival meetings. He and his wife, Sharon, are serving the Lord in retirement at Way of the Cross and other locations.

After chapel, Byron and I headed out to the training center where I did more ladder holding and clean-up while he wired. Around one, the ovens were working. We broke for lunch before a final clean-up.

Zack, a former WOTC staff member, was in chapel today with his friend, Matthew. They talked about the outreach they have at UNT (University of Northern Texas) in Denton. Salomon wrapped up with a brief devotional. Today was Salomon’s seventy-fifth birthday. Sharon Gibson baked him a cake with colourful cookie tacos on top along with several dozen cookie taco topped cupcakes for the rest of us.

Juanita and I spent some time with Barney Scott as he repeated the testimony we missed when we missed chapel the other day. He has led an interesting and fruitful life serving the Lord other than a brief detour in his early adulthood.

Friday weather was as cold and nasty as the previous two days with a topping of blustery drizzle. Very few cars showed up to the drive through food bank. By 10:30 the line had petered out and things shut down. After an early lunch of the soup Linda had prepared, we all wandered away. We arrived back home to our loaner fifth wheel to find that the first of the two propane tanks we had filled on Monday was empty. The tank behind it is a pain to remove and replace. I left it isolated. We went to get more propane. We phoned around to learn the first U-Haul location still has no propane. The second now has pump issues. We drove to Hino gas and filled up. On the way past the Love’s station Juanita noticed that they might have propane. Later, we checked. That will be our go-to next time. It is the closest option and in the same price range as the others.

In the afternoon we went to Sam’s for a few purchases and many steps. That done we went to Logan’s Roadhouse for their early bird special (they don’t call it that but every day from 3 to 6 they have a special $10.99 deal with several choices). That emptied the remains of a gift card from last year and filled us up.

I spent some time discussing camping at below freezing with Barney Gibson. They are planning to be in Alaska by May 1 to spend the summer as campground hosts. Sounds like an adventure.