Father Daughter and Holy Ghost

What if Joseph and Mary had a little girl?

Blessings Blessings Blessings

Physical therapy school was hard, I mean really hard. It is a long exhaustive struggle with almost impossibly difficult information and development of difficult practical skills. I have school loans equal to a 3 bedroom 2 bath house on half a half acre. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to say "no" to my family in the past 7 or so years when they asked if I could participate in their lives. My wife has put off and sacrificed so much in the past 2 or 3 years I cannot begin to explain.
We just bought a bed. I am not used to that. We have a bed, but we bought a new one. Why? Because the one we have keeps us from sleeping very well. We up-graded a full size to a queen size bed, bought new sheet sets and new pillows as gifts to each other. This is what is normal for people to do. Like I said, I am not used to being able to do that. Right now my wife is playing with our way to playful cat after a full day of make-up Valentines Day quality time together. The last deposit in our bank account reflects my largest paycheck ever. My wife's new SUV has had zero late payments since we bought it this past summer. My driver's license reflects my actual current address. I can do this because, all of our bills are current. Let me assure you: Life is good.

A House Divided

I think science and God are like an old married couple who never really got along. Maybe they got together and had a kid so they needed to stay married but neither one are happy about it. Lord knows their kids take sides. Half of their offspring are on Dad's side, you know, "The Lord". The other half favor Mom: Barbara McClintock, Jane Goodall and Marie Curie. You know, "Science".
Both make sense but in different ways. Mom makes sense when you are figuring out what career to choose, how to balance a checkbook or how bridges keep cars dry. But then there is dear old Dad. Dad is whom we look to when those bridges fail and our loved ones are dieing in the back of an ambulance. Then Mom whispers that the water was cold so their blood was shunted to their vital organs. We listen to Mom, yet talk to Dad. We ask Dad to be with them because we know, growing up, that our dad can do anything. I mean Dad told us to ask him for stuff, and we get it. It is like magic.
So why would we even need Mom? It because Mom knows how to talk to us. Mom makes sense. But Mom fails us. Then we turn to Dad. Maybe they are still together because they know we would never make it without either of them. However I think the crux of their strife is that their individual credibility depends on discrediting the other.
So what are we to do? To whom do we adhere to? Who do we choose?

How Dare They!

So there we are, my wife and I, enjoying another nice meal at Damon's. I gotta tell ya, they have about the best prime rib and long island ice tea combination. Also, the service is always wonderful at Damon's. So you gotta wonder why it is I am not going back. Well it is like this, they charged us double. Is that bad? Should I be upset? I mean it was all you could eat prime rib. Maybe next time I should just ask for a doggy bag FIRST and fill it up as the portions hit the table.
This is what happened. You know that insanely convenient debit card you have in your pocket, well people are abusing the privilege. See, they charge for the food and put a "hold" on an extra amount equal to the cost of your dinner. GENIUS!
I guess apparently people have been getting prime rib and long island ice teas, paying for them with a debit card and then closing the account before the bust boy clears the table. So to combat this, they access more money in your account then they have been authorized to do so. Is that legal? I hope not because Half.com did it to us too for the "Idiots Guide To Sunken Ships" we ordered from a nice girl in Tennessee.
This kinda thing happened before when we checked into a hotel and they required an extra 200% of the bill on hold just because we were using a debit card. That was not so bad because they told us about it upfront and it was our decision to pay it. We did not find out about Damon's or Half.com until we looked at our statement online.
So be warned and be wary because apparently if you use a debit card you mine as well give them your pin number as well because once they are in, they're in.

Raleigh and Running Water

So I am doing dishes yesterday and the sink is filling with water. I am easily distracted so I start playing with my cat. I kick the hair scrunchy (my wife's, be nice) across the linoleum floor and watch him chase it. Then he began paying attention to the water running into the sink and becomes trans-fixed like a little kid during his first Fourth-of-July celebration. I pick the cat up and bring him over to the basin that is filling up with water and hold him basically over the sink as he stares at the running water. I am finding this entertaining because this is the same stuff he gets hit in the head with a stream of, when he gets on the table or scratches my wife's grandmother's sewing bench. I think to myself, "If you only knew what this stuff was, you would be so scared right now."
Did you catch it? Did you notice the biblical reference? My favorite bible verse as a kid was always: Heb 11:1 "Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the proof of things unseen." To which I would always translate as, "If so many people believe...". It is February in Michigan right now and if that thinking was outside my window, it would be a STEAMING pile of poo. But soon it would be crunchy and then it does not track so much.
"The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge." That is the biblical reference my cat's curiosity reminded me of. Maybe it does not mean: "Smart people get it." as I had always thought. Maybe it means, "You know and can recognize Him." And maybe that is where it begins. Faith is not "group think" or what you do. Maybe faith is the filter between what you hear and how you act.