To Sum It Up......

This mornings coffee had a hint of yesterday afternoons brew. Coffee has always seemed to be an early morning or late evening kind of thing. In fact, coffee resonates with me for those laid back days of no schedule or immediate pressings. On days of morning appointments or church, I don't drink coffee because it slows me down which seems to be the opposite of what it is supposed to do. With a bit of chill in the house yesterday, I decided to make some Taste of Texas cinnamon decaf coffee to take the edge off of the chill. That complementary coffee when dining at Taste of Texas is a great end to a delicious meal. Their coffee is now available in the gift shop and online. Man, that cinnamon coffee was the bomb diggity. Now we come back to the original thought of the paragraph, even with cleaning out the coffee pot, this morning a little bit of cinnamon lingered into the JFG coffee. Kind of sad to have just discovered this coffee and Ingles is not selling it anymore. To sum it up, coffee good, cinnamon coffee good, the best part of waking up is, you woke up....no, with JFG cinnamon hinted coffee in my biggest mug.

We are experiencing a lot of rain that has come up from the Gulf. Flash flood watches and warnings cover the area. We have a couple of waterfalls in the backyard that ebb and flow with the rain shower. It looks as if the worst of the rain is due south of us but living in the dry ridge area, we have seen a lot of rain. Knowing that the later part of Wednesday and all of Thursday held these showers, I got my grocery shopping done yesterday morning. I should have stopped to take pictures of the French Broad, fog and mist rising, making a most beautiful scene. This morning the fog is quickly overtaking our little valley. An interesting view from the front bedroom windows. To sum it up, don't need to go to Transylvania County to see waterfalls today, with several small ones flowing in the backyard.

This morning's Twitter feed is filled with all kinds of vitriol, bitterness, anger, defending, accusing and in the political realm, the pushing of books written by those in favor, opposed, disenfranchised, adoring...well, almost all the genres are covered. Platforms being strengthened and platforms in the early construction phase are following a building plan expressed by the current ebb and flow of righteousness or self righteousness or blatant disregard. I rarely if ever express politics or my lack of politics on Twitter, Facebook or Monablog. I have friends and family on the left and on the right and in between. There are friends who feel like I should make a statement or at least respond to where I stand. But here's the deal, before, during and yes, even after, I have never, ever used these outlets to express political views or lack of views. Early on when Monablog began, I did express some disapproval of "things" that I saw while working at a church. I did get some push back while tackling those themes. Then after a few years of not being involved in working at a church, those thoughts got pushed back to the back burner on my part and yes, there have been changes for the good in conditions of being low on the org chart. I do not believe anything I wrote changed that. Others who have a stronger voice and platform and God stirring hearts to do the right thing, made those transformations. These political times remind me of the big push for conservatives in taking over the SBC from the moderates and liberals. My crazy friend Debbie, who had Pentecostal leanings, would ask me when this is all said and done...what Baptist church will you attend? My answer to her never changed. I told her I would go to the church with a gym.

  

So, my thoughts and walk and belief, and not trying to be Sally Spiritual, is summed up in Micah 6:8. This is the fruit of abiding and walking with the Lord. Fruit is evident, so this is not an excuse for just thoughts and prayers. I am also a big believer in not announcing what or how you are planting for this fruit. This is also where I might veer from big church thinking, generosity is not just what you give to the church, a generous lifestyle is active in all areas of our lives. I love our pastor and his thoughts on reaching a community for Christ, sharing Jesus both internationally, nationally, and locally. To sum it up politically and spiritually, Micah 6:8.

I am probably thinking these thoughts because we are in Nehemiah for the next few weeks. It is a top five in books of the Bible...on my, nobody cares about this but me, list. One of the first books I purchased after becoming a Christian was, Victorious Christian Service, by Alan Redpath. The book cover says I spent $6.95 on it. Over the years, I have gotten that $6.95 back in multiples of study. It has been a joy to read through this book while preparing. Over the years Nehemiah has been used and taught for capital campaigns, building projects and the like but at the heart of it is, prayer, trust, being a leader who doesn't mind getting a little dirty in the process of helping repair and shoulder a load. Oh yes, Nehemiah was generous in all matters of life. One of the commentaries I read said, that some of what we find in Nehemiah, is probably from his personal journal and God has graciously allowed us to see Nehemiah in words that he might not have thought anyone would see. To sum it up, Nehemiah is a great book with so many layers.

On the feral front, with all this massive amount of rain, standing water, waterfalls and a general muddy mess, I fed the fam in the garage this morning, then left the backdoor open so they have the feeling of coming and going. I think Edee and Andy took up the offer, then when I went out there to get something from the refrigerator, Edee ran outside. Andy, he is still in his corner, doesn't move when I come and go and has let me see that he is there. I thought for sure Strawyer would stay because he has before. I am happy to provide indoor accommodations for them which includes, food, water and snacks...as well as indoor plumbing with a litter box. To sum it up, feral life is hard, trust is difficult but sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling and remember no harm has come to you by my hand, only food, drink and shelter. Andy is one smart cat.