CODY: RON'S RETIREMENT PLAN
















First well-puppy visit to the doctor.

The "Neighborhood"

I was going to post pictures, but then decided I better not. Shaved heads, blank studied stares, tattoos, plucked eyebrows, and low blouses. Once in awhile, behind those stares a person would ask, "Could you pray for me?"

Tonight we watched NCIS which is a Navy Crime Investigation show relating to murder-related crimes of armed services people. This story dealt with a street gang and a few soldiers who intersected with violence and death. NCIS walked the "neighborhood" to ask questions. NCIS people were clearly out of their element - IN gang country.

I know that neighborhood. I know those faces. Jesus took me there for three years. I'm finished for awhile - but it AMAZES me that this 60 year old white lady listened to Jesus and walked into the festering world of drugs, wife abuse, fights, shootings, cockroaches, hunger, and bed bugs. Hurting, neglected children -- asked me to pray for their father to get out of jail (and when he does come home, he beats up their mother, or starts dealing drugs and gets re-arrested)

Cesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer, asks his clients (and their dogs) to walk calmly and fearlessly into his pack of 20 dogs. Sometimes these people are trying to overcome fear of dogs from some bad experience in the past. Cesar Milan helps them to be grounded and confident - and off they go into a pack of pit bulls. Somehow Jesus was my Cesar Milan - and he helped me to walk fearlessly into these packs of people and into their hearts. And they walked into mine.

I'm tired now. Depleted from earthquakes and aftershocks in my life. Lord, I am ready for the green pastures and cool water. Restore my soul - so when you are ready to take me out again into the shadows of death I will fear no evil.

How did I know I was safe? and how did I know I was too tired? Thank you Holy Spirit for whispering your wisdom in my ear. Help me always to listen and hear. I serve an amazing God.

ROAD TRIP

For my daughter Julie.

"There has been no time to grieve. No space. Sometimes I'm barely holding myself together... I need out of the city for a moment. I need an expanse. Perhaps a road trip, and a stop in the middle of the Utah desert." Julie Oldroyd







"I need out of the city for a moment."



"... an expanse."

WAITING IN JERUSALEM
by Marti McCraw

Doesn’t the whole earth tremble when a person finishes well?
Doesn't the sky open up and receive?
And how do we...
still here...
Absorb the aftershocks and unexpected tsunamis
that go on underneath the seemingly calm waves?
When everything appears fine.
When normal IS.
When life keeps pressing through an opening too small like dough.

I DON”T WANT TO!
Go through these tax forms
Load these moving vans
Read these assignments
Survive this virus
Write these papers

STOP! I want to STOP!
Why doesn’t everyone stop and honor this major shift in the universe?

Instead jostling crowds only push to their self-absorbed destinations.

Haven’t these two walked with us along the road and tapped us on the shoulder?
“Hello Ron”
“Graduated with honors”
“Hand in hand on a grassy knoll”
“Buy a valentine for my sweetheart”

With such a major shift in the universe is it any wonder
That computers broke
Unexpected expenses mounted
Spiders bit
Viruses attacked
Midterms stacked?


Go.
Go to the upper room and wait.
That place where I last
Touched you
Ate with you
Loved you

Go there and wait
Do not leave Jerusalem,
But wait.
The gift is coming
Power.
Anointed presence
that witnesses to the ends of the earth.
Wait for the gift in Jerusalem.

Acts 1, Isaiah 45.

For me, blogging requires space. The inside world needs to be more expansive than my outside world. Right now my outside world is huge - and my inside world is trying to catch up. So many major shifts in my life right now: My daughter and dad shifted their living quarters to heaven, my H Street ministry is wrapping up, my husband is getting ready to retire, and we will be adding a new puppy to our family soon. Each one of these things requires a shift and myriads of little changes and things to attend to. So, pardon me if blogging doesn't appear here very often.

I am looking for those places where I don't have to do or think, but can just...be and breathe. It feels like I am on a carousel that won't slow down long enough for me to get off. As soon as I figure out how to work the controls, I'm off to the beach or something. :-) Cya!