Tuesday

Yesterday Chief Ican went out to visit Mrs. Westup. He wanted to see the miracle appliances for himself. Amila was happy to see him and to be given the chance to show off the wonderful things that had come into her life. He had her retell him how she got up and found everything there . She hadn’t been awaken by any noise during the night. Chief Ican thought that was really weird since when they put the new hot water heater in the jail half the town could hear the racket the plumber made.
Chief Ican also noticed the size of the refrigerator and felt that there was no way one could get that through the door without removing the door frame but the frame showed no signs of having been removed and put back. In addition since it was a larger refrigerator the space it was placed in would have to be resized. The cabinets would have to be cut. There was no sign of any of this having happened.
On his way back to the jail he thought that there might really be a fairy godmother. But in the back of his mind something else was churning. He was not sure yet what it was but it was churning.

Sometimes I think I live in a Soap Opera. While I was going through all of my lung things this last week my younger sister had her own story line. She was all set for gal bladder surgery but on the day before the scheduled surgery her Surgeon's airplane crashed and he was killed.
So she had to find a new surgeon. But the new surgeon in making some routine tests caught a problem with her heart. So he referred her to a cardiologist. Today she is in the hospital having tests made.
So much like a soap opera.
We could call it " Life Goes On Anyway!"

Looking back on Pigeon Falls since our last visit it seems that Samantha and her Snow Court were seen as the best in the history of the festival. Instead of standing around ,looking beautiful , and waiting for people to tell her how wonderful she was and that she should be the next UP Snow Queen which many of the girls had done in the past Samantha brought people coffee, struck up conversations with visitors and told them how thankful the town was that people like them came to the Festival. She did such a good job that the Merchant's Association is thinking of creating a position for her as a welcoming person in future events.
Norman Larson one the two races he was in. He said “ I must have a fairy godmother since my machine had all kinds of problems on Thursday but Friday it was like a new more powerful machine. ”Two of the big companies offered to buy his machine but Norman wouldn’t sell it..
Good thinks kept happening in Pigeon Falls as Last Wednesday Mrs. Amila Westup , who lives in the old house behind Samantha woke up to find that someone had taken her Refrigerator, Stove, Washer and dryer and her hot water heater and replaced them with new high energy efficient models. Mrs. Westup is a widow with three children , her husband was killed in Iraq. Her old refrigerator no longer had a working freezer, the oven on the stove didn’t work at all, the washer did a poor job, and you had to run a load through the dryer twice to get it dry. In addition the hot water heater was on its last legs. It was as if all her prayers were answered at one time. There was a note on the dryer that said “ Will check back later, your fairy godmother.”

She couldn’t understand how all this got done without waking her.

Now I need a breathing treatment so I will finish this later.
AS you can see I am back to blogging. Well sort of back. When I left the message above I intended to be right back after a half hour breathing treatment but I ended up falling asleep and here it is four hours later.
A quick telling of what has happened.
On Thursday night January 28 I couldn't breath very well even in the breathing mask so I got almost no sleep.
Friday I auto posted Saturday ad Sunday's blog and did some visiting but my oxygen levels were horrible.
Friday night we went from two liters to three liters of oxygen. This got the levels back to a normal range and I slept better but not good.
Over the weekend I was stuck in the bedroom because I really didn't have the equipment to move three liters through the house, plus I slept most of those days missing my family 's visit.
Monday we figured out how to use the large Oxygen tank to get me to Oshkosh and back and we called my lung Doctor.
This is where it comes to if it rains it pours part. My lung Doctor's office had some kind of flood and he was forced to move thirty miles further south. That meant sixty miles round trip for me and was simply not possible. We got the Doctor on the phone and he thought the problem this time might be congestive heart failure and increased my lasix prescription.
I tried getting to the blog on that Monday but my internet was down.
Pennie brought it back on Line that evening.
I stayed in the room except for meals and little by little things have been getting better. I am now down to two liters which is higher than before but I can get around with that.
Now I am going to visit the blogs of all you nice people who left comments. ( If I don't fall asleep on the keyboard).

5th Sunday After Epiphany

Pastor Joan has finished her sermon for the morning. Here is a piece of that sermon.
“If you hear the words personal conversion or personal Epiphany what image comes to mind?
The usual image is that of a Billy Graham type crusade. The invitation is give. People come down the aisle and kneel while somebody leads them in a prayer faith. At that moment many of them look up into the face of Jesus and move from unfaith to faith. They see the light of God breaking in through Him.
It is a great image of conversion.
It is not your typical conversion , of course but it is so right. It is clean, tidy, inb order and by the book.
My favorite picture of conversion is not like that at all.
It is not clean and neat. In fact it is smelly.
It follows a miracle that might not even be a miracle.
It takes place in a small fishing boat.
It ends up with the new believer up to his neck in fish.
He does not notice the fish. He does not smell the fish. He ses only Jesus.
In a moment everything has changed.
Coming back to shore he leaves his boat and catch behind and follow Jesus.
Conversion at its best.
I have to tell you I love this picture. It shows the power of God over everyday things.
This morning I invite you to make that leap of faith.
Let the power of God direct your life.
Leave the fish behind.

Today Liturgical Churches using the Common Lectionary will be celebrating the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany. The Gospel is Luke 5:1:11
Luke 5
1One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[a]with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down[b] the nets for a catch."
5Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
If you claim this morning to follow Jesus like Peter then your task is the last verse of the text.
You are to share the good news of Jesus with others.
Read the text
Think about it.

Perhaps Monday

I am recovering slowly from my latest attack. I may be back doing some kind of blogging on Monday.

News

Pastor Linna is ill, and will be back when able.
Betty

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Pastor Joan has finished her sermon for today. Here is part of it:
“One of the sad things in life is there are people who almost make the leap from unfaith to faith but something causes them to pull back.. They almost laid their sins on Jesus. They were almost set free.
It was so with the congregation at Nazareth they had heard Kjesus say he was the Messiah. They could almost see the Kingdom of God breaking in through Him. They were ready to make the leap. But ! Somebody said “ Isn’t this Joseph’s Son?” Now if He is Joseph’s son then he can’t be the Messiah. They watched Him grow up. Thus they lost this chance to step into faith. They lost the opportunity to make the journey to the cross with Jesus. They could have learned so much. They could have seen so many miracles.
The He is Joseph’s Son moments come in many forms in this age.
One hears something about the evangelist that shared Jesus with you. Perhaps, he cheats on his wife. But then you can’t trust his message. You back off.
Perhaps you went to a new church and the Pastor touched you in the sermon your ready to make the leap of faith but then you see sitting one row over a person you know to be corrupt . If he belongs then you can’t trust the message of this church. You back off.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Once you have seen Jesus set your eyes on Him and make the jump from unfaith to faith. Then forget how you got there. Forget the fallible clay vessels the message came in. Forget that He is Joseph’s son. Go with Him and experience the Kingdom of God breaking in.
This is the time to make the leap. Feel the joy. Know the freedom.

In the liturgical churches using the Common Lectionary today is celebrated as the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany. The Gospel is Lube 4:21-30.
21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.
23Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.' "
24"I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27And there were many in Israel with leprosy[a] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian."
28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way
It is the last half of the story of Jesus at the Synagogue at Nazareth which we read last week. But last week things were going well. It even looked like they might believe Him. But then somebody points out that He is Joseph’s son.. He can’t be the Messiah but he owes them as his people some kind of miracle. Jesus explains using two Old Testament stories but this just enraged them. They wanted to throw Him off a cliff.
That still happens in the group that follow Jesus today. We often end up thinking God owes us because we believe and others don’t.
When I was a kid I prayed really hard that God wouldn’t let my brother Robert die but He did. I was so angry I threw God , not over a cliff but out of my life. I became an atheist for a time.
I heard somebody on TV the other day say that if God had a house here on earth she would go there are throw rocks through the windows.
But in truth God owes us nothing. In fact we owe God because day after day he4 fills our life with joy, grace, and peace.
W#e have to accept the fact that He will not always give us what we want.

Raven's Challenge 97

My Grandsons are Visiting! I'm happy!

The fairy Godmother of Pigeon Falls continued to wave her magic wand over the weekend . The Queen and her court each received a brand new snowmobile and a marvelous snow mobile suit. They were the best dressed Snow Court ever.
In addition Norman Larson who thought he was out of the races because of some problem with his engine came in on Friday to find the problem gone and the snowmobile better than ever. So far today he has the best time out to the Lake of the Loons and back. He has a substantial lead but the big name company teams have yet to run. In any case he thinks he stands a good chance in tomorrows races.
There is a runor that a romance may be developing between Norman and Samantha.

It is Saturday and time to play with words supplied by Raven's Wordzzle
This Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: teflon, idealistic, marshmallow, opportunistic, kittens, beef, sawing logs, slapped, tickled, scissors
For the mini: ripen, shelve, laminate, goofy, Siamese

The Mega Challenge as
The Ongoing Adventures of Agent 012

Agent 012 grabbed the microphone at the party and announced that there was a bomb and that they should leave the building immediately. The people reacted differently. One grabbed a bag of marshmallows and ran out, another took a beef sandwich but a third just stayed in place and started screaming “ We are all going to die”. Agent 012 slapped him and pushed him toward the door. In the process Agent 012 thought “ If I had the time tickled would have worked as well”.
With the party leaving Agent 012 contacted Building Security and had them quickly go floor to floor and get everyone out and as far away from the building as possible. Then he asked to be directed to the office of the most important executive in the building. He was told it was on the top floor , the far right corner.. Agent 012 hastened to the office. There beside the door was the usual mandala showing that the bomber had been here . The question is when is the bomb set to go off? Quickly he entered and scanned the room. There was a scissors shelved above two green tomatoes , probably left to ripen and on that set of shelves a half wrapped , very expensive, Teflon frying pan , probably a gift for some lucky person. Then he saw the kid’s backpack. It had a goofy laminated picture of two Siamese kittens sawing logs. He picked up a chair and threw it through the window. He followed it with the backpack which exploded halfway to the ground. The building was unhurt except for a few broken windows.
Coming out of the office Agent 012 saw a man coming out of the room at the other end of the hall.
“Who are you and why are you still in the building”, Agent 012 asked.
“I’m the janitor and being somewhat opportunistic I had taken the party downstairs as a time to take a nap in the supply room. I just came out to see what the explosion was all about.”, he said.
Agent 012 pulled his gun an an placed him under arrest. “ I can tell from the paint on your hands that you’re the idealistic mandala bomber.” he said. Agent 012 called in support from the Agency. When they checked out the room there was the case with all of the paints needed for the mandala.
Some days things go well for Agent 012