Jeremiah And Lando, Specialty Thrift Storage

Eighteen (yes, eighteen not nineteen -- I've had 2017 on the brain all morning for some reason!) years ago ...


Jeremiah 51:31-40                                                                       June 7
"Justin's" opening in America                                                     9806.07


Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. 36

For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? Psalm 6:5


For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. Psalm 9:11


Today's visit to our church by Quentin and Sally Reece ("The Reeses, God's Pieces, to evangelize Jamaica") brought home a lot of the plans that we need to follow; God's plans, not necessarily the ones that we make. We need to see people and love people as God does.


We can give, we can go, we can pray, or we can do all three.


What dream am I willing to exchange my life for? It is easy to say 'no' when you know what you have said 'yes' to. Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.


[AND on the sides and atop this two-page journal entry of mine I've got prayer requests for Smith's son; Jim Dean's father-in-law son's family, Jason + Joshua, salvation, and two [then] teens in Jamaica, Terome and Kadisha. Also two quotes I got from that Sunday sermon.

The first was from Pastor William Conkey who was then-pastor at the church I was attending at the time, Welaka Baptist Church in Welaka, Florida.


"If you see [the people of another country] as your people, you will reach them for Christ."


Even wrote down when I heard it, 1133 hours.


The second was from Quentin Reese, 1139 hours.


"There is a lot of joy in surrender."


I've still got the brochures from that missionary visit, and I wrote down that the Reese's girl Jessica was born Christmas Day 1995, which would make her twenty now.


I wonder if she (or they) are still in their field.


Now to get into THIS weekend and up to now. And I know I started with a twentieth-century entry of mine -- I said we'd go with the present twenty-first century last blog -- but I needed that. I wonder if, like Lando Calrissian in now "classic" Star Wars who used the name of an old enemy of his when doing something dangerous and hoped whoever he'd crossed would one day look him up -- and thereby dole out the appropriate punishment to his old enemy under that name, will someday look me up. Meh. I know the chances are slim, but the possibilities keep me entertained.


Saturday, Martha worked Burger King for the day and I was home with Sarah and Jeffrey and we actually did stay home -- didn't go out of the house at all. Well, except to toss a basketball around for a while (we have a basketball hoop at my in-laws' house and Jeffrey's getting really good with three-point shots!) and after a while at home Martha, the kids, and I went out to run one or two errands and thrift store. Yes, here in North Dakota to "thrift store" doubles as a verb! And we hadn't been out doing that in quite a while -- Sunday we also stopped at a garage sale and picked out ...

I don't think I'm supposed to mention what happened next, even though I don't think the subject of concern reads my posts anyhoo. And on the subject of reading -- a goal we need to have for Sarah and Jeffrey is to not let them get into a "slump" regarding reading. And I must admit I let my frustration with that at times get the better of me with the TV or their tablets either tuned to Nickelodeon cartoons when Martha's not at home in the mornings or before she gets home at night -- nothing disgusting, but I'd like to believe they want something more.


Makes me feel like Calvin's dad, who laments that it'll be a sad day when a whole generation remembers nothing but what it's seen on TV. But Sunday after getting home from church where I got asked to read the lessons and (I feel) read them with a bit of gusto, we mowed our lawn before it got too hot -- Martha insists on doing the front and me the back -- and raked through the rock beds and accompanying weeds in front of our house which hasn't been done since before the flood five years ago. I wonder if Noah had reactions like this.


Last night I'd had dinner cooking in the crockpot all day of barbecued pork ribs and served green beans with them, and all four of us got filled up! Then we settled in and Martha was so glad to get off her feet, especially since Sunday before we left for thrift storing she stepped wrong with her right foot on our last step and twisted her ankle. Owie! Saw her this morning after I dropped off the kids just as their grandparents and great-aunt Shirley and aunt Mary and cousin Josceline were leaving to run some errands (so they kicked me out, wah!) and the Rockettes had better watch out!


David