Steve's Journey

WALKING - It's good for you. Helps you to lose weight. I haven't seen that part yet, but it probably is keeping me from gaining weight. It's also good for your dogs (if you have any). It's sad, however, to walk by other dogs, chained up in their yards, wrapped round and round, so that they don't have more than a couple of feet to move in, on a freezing day. I hope God has something special in store for irresponsible pet owners.

RETIREMENT - One year ago today I said "so long" to the man. Actually, I'm still working for the man part time, but things are so different now. I can charge a consultant fee, work my own hours and get paid mileage. But the greatest benefit is that there is absolutely NO STRESS. Lois's retirement check is coming regularly now, and I can walk away from the part time job at the first sign of stress. Sweet!

JAIL BUDDY GONE - No more trips to the county jail. My felonious friend has been transferred to the other end of the state. The location is too far for me to negotiate a visit, so I will try to be more diligent in writing. Regardless of the crime, he's still a human being and God's child. And this next part of his journey has to be both intimidating and depressing. I realize that, given his medical condition, I will never see him again in this life.

VETERAN BENEFITS - I have finally been approved to become a patient at the local veteran's center medical complex. Boy, do I have a shopping list for them! On the other hand, I'm not looking forward to the battery of medical tests that they may want to perform. I've come to realize that not knowing what might be wrong with you isn't so bad. When the doc listens to your heart, then goes "H-m-m," you begin to plan your funeral. Been there, done that. Maybe I should just lie low.

BIBLE STUDY - Two things that I've learned about the Methodists: they love announcements; and they're not big on discussion. While we absolutely adore our lady pastor, the Wednesday night "studies" are 80% fluff and 20% stuff, with 0% serious interaction. And this is with a small group --- eight people total. We have prayer requests, combined with praise items (called joys), then announcements, then the actual prayer, followed by reciting the Lord's Prayer. In the time remaining she reads from a book about the Bible passage; we rarely open our Bibles. Most of the others don't even bring Bibles! The same thing happens in Sunday school (different teacher). Even when you answer a question with a comment that might prompt further discussion, you get "Uh-huh. Thank You," then on we go to the next paragraph. Makes me miss some of the fundamentalist Bible studies. But if I had shared then what I know now, they would have invited me to leave.