Chips and Dings

My brother has been remodeling his house. They bought it a few months ago. It’s nice, but dated so they have been making some changes. One of the first things they did was re-do the kitchen.
A couple of days ago, the men were here to install the new counter top in the kitchen. The top is made of genuine granite, and is a very nice addition to the home. The men spent some time with the installation, to be certain that everything was as it should be.
Yesterday, it was time to hook up the faucet and drains for the kitchen sink. I went ahead and started that job yesterday afternoon. Things weren’t going well, and I had to make several trips to the local hardware store for parts. You know how that goes…it seems that a job that should take an hour or so ends up taking three or four hours and a lot more trouble than it should.
While working with the faucet, a wrench accidently hit against the edge of the top where the sink hole was cut. The resulting chip in the granite was the first mar in an otherwise great looking counter top.
I don’t have to tell you that I was devastated by the slip. I know this wasn’t an inexpensive top, and less than 24 hours after installation, it has an imperfection due to something I had done. I went ahead and worked on the project, and after my brother came home, we finished it up.
I thought later in the evening about that chip. Here was a slab of granite rock…the stuff that mountains are made of, heavy, strong, and stout…beautifully cut and worked into a functional piece for a home, that was chipped because of a small hand wrench hitting it. The strike wasn’t hard, but apparently was at just the right angle and such that a chip ensued. I had inadvertently, it seems, found the Achilles heel of the top.
Although I’m sure they were disappointed, my brother and his wife took the news well. We’re still staying with them, and they’re still talking to us. And we think that the men may well be able to repair the chip when they come out to drill a couple of holes in the top in the next few days. They probably won’t be able to make it disappear, but can make it look much better.
Try as we might, the impressive facades we put up in our own lives sometimes melt away, and the Achilles heel of our lives is exposed and exploited by something seemingly small and insignificant. We all have our weak spots, and we all struggle daily with those small wrenches that seem to eternally chip away at our facades. The great thing about being a Christian, though, is that even though the wrench may create the chips, the Lord of the universe can not only repair me, but can make me “justified”…just-as-if-I’d never been chipped.
Who ever heard of a God like that!!

Water

Water is such an amazing thing. Besides the usual things about water being a universal solvent, appearing naturally in all three forms (solid, liquid, gas) on earth, having a high heat transfer coefficient, and other relatively amazing properties given it by the Creator, water is also, of course, necessary for life as we know it (for the most part).
We don’t usually drink enough water. Our modern lifestyle, which includes forced air heating and cooling, little exercise, and other things, tends to wring water out of our systems. We don’t feel thirsty, however, and don’t replenish ourselves as we should.
I am amazed at how much better I feel physically just a few minutes after downing a large glass of water (12 oz or better). I’ve learned that if I begin to feel lethargic or just not feel very well, many times if I drink a large glass of water, perhaps followed an hour later or so by another, that I feel better just a few minutes after the first, and continue feeling good and refreshed.
I also learned a couple years ago from an Audiologist that water is important to mitigate the dizzy spells I’d been having. My conventional thought was that I was harboring too much water in my system, causing my balance sense to become out of whack. The Audiologist said that just the opposite was true. He said that a lot of water is needed by those of us who have these spells to maintain the proper ratio of sodium to water in our bodies. He said it was sodium, not water, that causes the dizziness in many people, and a lot of water will not only dilute the sodium, but flush it out of our bodies.
Since I’ve been drinking water, I’ve not had another dizzy spell. And if I feel one coming on, a couple large glasses of water usually do the trick. The Audiologist’s fee was well worth the value of the advice he gave, since those spells would debilitate me for upwards of a day or more. Besides that, those spells were worse than any flu bug that has ever bitten. You think you wanna die when you have the flu….
So drink lots of water. Take in three or four glasses a day (12 oz or more each) even when you don’t feel thirsty. You may just feel a lot better for doing it.

Today has been a slow day for us. We had church this morning, of course, but we didn’t have Sunday School today since it is a holiday weekend. (We call it “Bible class” for some reason in our fellowship.) We won’t have small group meeting tonight, either. Other than those things, it is kind of a day of rest (which it should be, anyhow).
I never liked the idea of doing a lot of heavy work on Sunday. I don’t think there’s something inherently sinful in doing a lot of work, but always thought that the old Jewish idea of resting one day out of seven had some merit. To that end, I generally won’t do things like running the lawn mower, heavy lifting, hard construction, or the like. Nor do I expect my family to do it, either.
If I have to work on Sunday in my job, so be it. If I have to run the mower for some reason that just won’t wait, I’ll do it. But normally, I like to take things a little slower on Sunday. It just seems like an appropriate thing to do.
My wife has a second interview tomorrow for a job she’d really like to have. I have a first interview for a job I’d really like to have. Hopefully, one of us will be able to land a job this week.
I am really thankful for unemployment benefits. I know that they are abused by some, but the benefits certainly are lifesavers for us. I’m not sure why those benefits are taxed (income taxes), because they amount to only a percentage of wages and there are usually extra bills that have to be paid during times of unemployment. If I could change something about the system, I think I’d change that. Otherwise, Kansas unemployment seems to be relatively efficient and non-bureaucratic.
Staying with my brother is another lifesaver. I don’t know what we would have done had we had to find a place to stay on short notice. I can’t say enough what a blessing it is to be able to be here for awhile until we are able to be out on our own again.
We sang a song this morning in church that I really appreciate. The lyrics are below. I never can sing this song without thinking of our family singing it at the funerals of my parents, and at get-togethers since then. I didn’t even try to sing it this morning and just listened to the words. I commend it to you.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain
Great is Thy faithfulness!Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Refrain

- Thomas O. Chisolm

Thanksgiving

It’s the day before Thanksgiving. This would normally be the time when I might wax eloquent (wax???) on being thankful for the blessings of life, but I don’t think I’ll do that today. Not because I’m not grateful or thankful. Not because I have no blessings. Not because I’m selfish. Rather, I’d like to think that I have an attitude of thanksgiving, more or less, throughout the year. I would hope that I’m not limiting my praise and thanks to family, friends, and God to this one day or time of year.
Instead of my doing something on Thanksgiving, I’d like to borrow a few lines from a lady by the name of Gail Musolf, who is the director of the Friendly Center, a senior citizens organization, and a deaconess in the Lutheran Church. I haven’t asked her if I can use these, but hope she doesn’t mind.
She uses the passage from I Thessalonians 5:16-18 as a text. In it, Paul writes, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Ms. Musolf then writes, “I do not think that God intends for us to be thankful for pain and suffering, for sin and evil, or for our inhumanity to each other. But I do believe that this passage is the blueprint for an attitude. Note the emphasis on constancy - 'Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.' "
She continues, “We can nurture the attitude of thanksgiving precisely because 'it is the will of God in Christ Jesus.' Jesus' suffering and death have brought us back into a right relationship with God, and it is in and for that relationship that we are able to foster thankfulness as an attitude, a way of being, a part of who we are.” (http://www.valpo.edu/lda/devotions/november.html)
Think on those words this week as you down the turkey and ham, and watch the KU/Missouri shootout on Saturday. Then go away from this week (regardless of the outcome of the game) with a renewed sense of joy and and thanksgiving.

Reminder

I was looking at the comments on the new blog started by my uncle. One of the comments was mine, one was from one of his sons, and one was from a granddaughter. I know the son, somewhat. We’ve not had interaction in quite some time…many years, in fact, but I think about him and his brothers and sisters more often than one might think.
I don’t know the granddaughter at all. But I followed the link and found her blog. She doesn’t blog often, but has been consistent for the past couple of years with entries every so often. She has evidently had a busy life this past couple of years, having been in Europe and South America as well as in school, and doing all the other things a young adult would be doing.
Even though I don’t know her, I feel a kind of connection with her. Even if she may not feel the same kind of connection toward me, that’s OK. I have always had an interest in family, and like to catch up or keep up with what’s happening. Blogs are a great way to do that. I wish I had more blog addresses for more of my family.
When someone writes in a blog, and does so as I think blogs were meant to be written in, he or she opens up a part of themselves and lays it out for others to see. That can be unsettling to some, dangerous to others, and just uninviting to many more. However, it can also be cathartic, freeing, revealing, and something that prompts the writer to think, reason, question, and appreciate and enjoy life more.
And those who read it may find, if they choose to see, a window to a soul not their own. That window has within it the power to reveal truth, counsel acceptance, beg questions, create longing for meaning, develop empathy and compassion, and instill a wonder and marvel in the complexity and beauty of life.
I don’t know Joanna. But I’ve already begun to see some of these things in the window she opens in her blog. And maybe that’s where the idea of “connection” comes through…a kind of meeting of the minds through the miracle of the written word. (I’m reminded of John chapter 1…are you?)

Uniqueness

I was laying awake last night listening to a train go through town. Valley Center is on a major rail line of the BNSF Railroad. It’s not the busiest line, but there are 25 to 30 trains a day that go through, they tell me. We are about a mile from the tracks. It’s usually easy to hear the horns as they blow for the main crossings in town. They start out a higher pitch and gradually go down in pitch as they travel through (the physics of sound…look it up).
Some years ago, locomotives had an automatic horn that, when triggered, would blow two longs, a short, and a long. The automatic horns really detracted, I thought, from the uniqueness and the “experience” of a passing train. I’ve not heard that monotonous sound for a long time (automatic horns were easy to spot), and am thankful for that. Why?
Each engineer has his or her own method of sounding the horn, it seems. No two are exactly alike. Some stick pretty close to the two longs, a short, and a long. Some just blow long blasts. A few will hold the horn on continuously all the way through the intersections. Others will blow several shorter blasts. Some at night will blow the horn seemingly in order to not wake anyone, but remain legal. Some don’t care and will blast everyone awake. Some will turn on the bell (Most locomotives have a bell that when turned on will clang regularly. Look for it when observing a passing loco under the cab hanging below the main carriage over and just to the back of the front wheel trucks.). Others won’t.
When we lived by the tracks some years ago, I could tell that the same engineer was coming through on a train as before by the way he or she blew the horn. I never knew for sure as I couldn’t see in the cab, but I’d bet the farm it was the same one.
We’ve not lived here long enough for me to pick out certain engineers yet. I don’t know if we will be here that long or not, but I certainly enjoy listening as the trains go by. I only wish we lived a little closer….

Poetry in Action

We go into week four with no jobs lined up for either of us. Now, I know that isn’t a great way to start a blog, but that’s what I’ve been thinking about most of the day. My wife has had a couple of interviews with one scheduled on Monday of next week. However, I’ve not had any interviews or even contacts back from numerous letters and contacts made with employers. Maybe one of these days….
There are some things I have interest in that I’d like to pursue more, and will be more aggressive shortly with a couple of these. It’s always tough to know when or even whether one should make a second contact after the initial one. I don’t like job searches.
However, life doesn’t always give us what we like. Sometimes, we have to do what we don’t like, or even detest. That doesn’t mean that we’re bad or that something is very wrong. It only means that, as the saying goes, “Into each life some rain must fall.”


The Rainy Day
Written at the old home in Portland

THE day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains,and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains,and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart, and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Discombobulation

We spent the day yesterday, my brother and I, doing some plumbing on the water system of his home. He lives in an area where water wells are needed, and has a well, pump, tank, etc. His water system was not the best, with low pressure and flow rates pretty much everywhere in the house. So we took a shot at the plumbing coming into the house that hooks up to the tanks, thinking that might be the place that was causing the trouble.
He had a double tank system. There was a larger tank and a smaller one hooked in parallel. The pipes were large size, but older. When we took them apart, we readily found the source of the problem. Those large pipes were corroded so badly that there was no more than a pencil-width of clear space through them for water to pass. One of the tanks was apparently completely blocked and the plumbing had been installed with far too many elbows and turns.
The problem with the corrosion was far greater than we had expected, so he was disheartened that he may well have to replace the plumbing in the entire house. But we continued with just the part that we were working on in the hopes that it would at least make the water system tolerable.
Of course, a two hour job turned into all day. One trip to the hardware store turned into three trips to that store and one trip to each of two others. And when we finally finished late in the evening, we did have a drip or two.
However, we also have better water service to the rest of the house, and we know that the water well will produce 18 gallons of water a minute, something we didn’t know before because we didn’t have any way to test it before. Even with the drip or two that is in the new system, and the prospect of having to replace even more pipes, what we did was clearly an improvement.
How many times do we look at a problem and, instead of tackling it head on, push it to the background, hoping it will just go away? How often do we ignore something and just put up with it because we don’t want to have the temporary disruption that the cure would cause? I think that’s true not only with things like plumbing, but also with things in life…bad habits, dysfunctional relationships, crummy jobs, and others. Yes, the cure may cause some discombobulation, but the outcome is so much more pleasant, it’s really worth the trouble.

Mutual Trust

I drove into Wichita today to get a haircut. Yeah, yeah, I know that I could get one at the local Valley Center barbershop (actually, I think there are two or three of ‘em), but I enjoy going to the one across from Minisa Park on West 13th Street. Going to a new barber is a little like going to a new doctor. It takes awhile to get comfortable.
The drive in was uneventful, and the barber wasn’t busy so I got in the chair right away. We talked mostly about the oncoming closing of the 13th Street bridge over the Little Arkansas River, which was just a few feet from the front door of the shop. The powers that be plan to close the bridge entirely, causing traffic to have to re-route either to 19th or 21st Streets or up to 11th Street. In any event, the fact that North High School is on the other bank of the river will cause traffic tie-ups the likes of which haven’t been seen in awhile.
There was even a petition circulating in the community asking for reconsideration of the total closing of the bridge and the extended time needed to create a new one. There will be a meeting today at 3pm at the Riverside Café with city officials to discuss the issue.
My guess is that the petition will be ignored and the city officials will come to the meeting more to say what will happen rather than listen to concerns. I’m not personally involved in this, but have some experience with traffic flow to and from North High and along 13th Street. I think that they may have to close the street entirely in order to do the project, but I also think they can do some things to help alleviate the problems.
What about a temporary walking bridge across the river? What about traffic control signals at some of the intersections in residential areas that will suddenly be called upon to handle 10 times or more the normal amount of traffic? What about working 16 or 24 hours a day on the bridge in order to finish sooner? What about starting in March instead of the dead of winter so there would not be so many down days due to snow and cold? What about NOT re-doing the 13th and Broadway intersection, just a few blocks to the East, at the same time?
I don’t know if these are even feasible ideas, but they need to be thrown out there. And it could be that city planners have already thought of these things and for one reason or another have discarded them. That’s OK. We just need to know that we’ve thought of everything to try to make things as good as they can be during this time.
All too often, the government folks come to a meeting like this with a condescending attitude and the citizens come with a belligerent attitude. Both of those are inappropriate. Let’s see what happens here, and trust that things will work out the very best way possible.

The Promise

In our Sunday School class today, something was said about Jesus knowing that he was the promise of God. We have been talking about the well-known book by Lee Strobel called “The Case for Christ”. The topic today was whether or not Jesus knew that he was the Son of God.
Think about that for just a moment. Think what it must have been like for Jesus the man to also know that he was the only begotten Son of God. That he was the One upon whom the salvation of the creation (Romans 8) was hanging. That he was the One that was spoken of by the prophets of old and was the One that they and others looked forward to as they lived their lives in those old days. That he was the One to whom had been given “All Authority” and by Whom “all things hold together.” That he was the One of whom it was said, “He was despised and rejected by men.”
During the discussion, I was reminded of the lyrics to a song called “The Promise.” I’m not sure who wrote it, or I’d give proper credit here. I believe it was first performed by DC Talk, but am not even sure of that. I heard it performed by Allison Durham Speer on a Gaither video.


There’s A Promise Comin’ Down

Verse
A hand of fear gripped the crowd that day at Jiarius’ home
When the doctor shook his head and said “She’s gone”.
You could feel that mother’s heartbreak;
You could hear them cry and mourn;
Their little girl was only twelve years old.
Somewhere in the distance outlined against the sun,
There came a man with a mission from the throne.
They said “look somebody’s comin!’”
But what they did not know it was their promise comin’ down that dusty road.
Chorus
There’s a promise comin’ down that dusty road;
From his holy hands healin’ virtue flows;
He’s got the keys to what you need;
Death and hell He will defeat.
There’s a promise comin’ down that dusty road.
Verse
The wonder turned to mockin’ when Jesus did speak;
He said “Your daughter’s not dead she’s just asleep”.
Then he turned to the unbelievers and he told them all “go home”.
They heard him say “leave me and death alone”.
Then he laid his hand upon the child he looked death right in the eye;
He said “all power in heaven and earth belong to me”,
And with a voice that sounds like thunder he hurled death asunder,
And then he said “little girl rise and be healed”.
Chorus
There’s a promise comin’ down your dusty road,
And from his holy hands healin’ virtue flows.
He’s got the key to what you need;
Death and hell he will defeat;
There’s a promise comin’ down that dusty road.

Today is a knockout gorgeous morning in Valley Center. The air is crisp and cool, the leaves and other flora are every color of the rainbow, and the sun and wind are just the right proportions to make one feel the experience that is autumn in Kansas.
My nieces are coming home today, and will stay through tomorrow. They are away at college, and don’t make it home a lot. It will be a time of visiting and catching up for my brother and his family as they reconnect. We were able to do that with our boys last weekend as they came to Wichita for a visit and to support us in our transition.
It’s also the time to think about the holiday season. Thanksgiving is closer than we may think, and the Christmas holidays are not far off. Then comes the time of the year that I dislike the most…that time from about January 3 to the beginning of spring sometime in the first part of April. It seems that the days drag interminably, and the cold, wind, and winter weather just hangs on for an eternity.
It doesn’t, of course. Eventually, the ground thaws, things begin to bloom and grow, and the signs of yet another cycle of life are evident wherever one looks. I’m reminded of the Bette Midler song “The Rose” where the lyrics talk of the winter snows turning to the springtime.

The Rose
Written by Bette Midler

Some say love it is a river that drowns the tender reed;
Some say love it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed;
Some say love it is a hunger an endless aching need;
I say love it is a flower and you it's only seed.

It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken who cannot seem to give,
And the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong;
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose.

Customer Service

I had to call the Kansas Unemployment center today. It seems that I incorrectly answered a question on my first weekly claim for unemployment and had to call to straighten it out. I got my information together and set about to make the call.
After going through several menus, I was told that due to the high volume of calls, I should call back. It then hung up on me. I wasn’t very happy, but decided to call back later in the day.
A couple hours later, I wasn’t doing much and decided to call again. Going through the menus again, this time I hit a good time and someone was ready to take my call. Michelle was courteous, helpful, understandable, and fixed the problem for me.
I don’t like the menu system. I’d much rather tell someone what I need and have them route me to the correct person. However, I must say that at times I’ve found myself talking to someone who didn’t have a clue how to help me because the telephone person (could be male or female) either dialed the wrong extension or didn’t know that the person they were connecting me to was the incorrect person for the job. At least this way my call gets to the correct place, assuming I push the correct buttons.
A lot is said about government bureaucrats and their reluctance to do a good job. I don’t know much about Michelle at the Kansas Unemployment Call Center, but I am impressed with her. Her personality seemed to come out in the conversation, and she seemed to be a “real” human being, besides being able to take care of the problem.
I’ve also had good experience with the folks at KPERS, the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. They do good customer service and treat their clients like they should. A live person always answers the phone there, and can usually answer any questions one might have. If not, you are quickly routed to another live person who can help.
Many private businesses could learn a thing or two about customer service from Michelle at the unemployment place, and the folks at KPERS.

Travel Adventure

I was looking at a book about New Zealand today. My brother traveled there a few years ago for his job, and evidently brought back a book with beautiful, National Geographic-like photos of the country.
Hot springs, volcanoes, mountains, lakes, waterfalls, pasture, cities, bays, wildlife, and a host of other subjects populate this book. New Zealand apparently is filled with places of beauty, awe, and not a little danger.
I’ve always had a fascination with the places “down under”. Ever since elementary geography, I’ve had a yearning to go to Australia or New Zealand. I’m not sure I want to endure the flight to get there, but if I could somehow teleport there, I’d go in an instant.
Just as was the trip to the lower part of Alaska, this would be an adventure to places that I’ve only read about, but would long to see. Crossing the equator and the international date line, and coming so close to Antarctica would be well worth the trouble, I would think.
Alas, I think that the New Zealand trip is farther off than Alaska ever was. But there’s always hope….

The Adventure Continues

Well, we are safe and warm and not hungry. We’re living with my brother for awhile until we can get back on our feet. We are so thankful to have family, and to have a church family that cares as well as biological family. I’m not sure what people do who either don’t have family or have burned bridges and family help is no longer an option. I know that we would be in deep doo-doo if it was not for those we know and love.
One of these days soon I’ll have to take a look at the blog and make some changes in the headline. The Adventure indeed does continue and I’ll not change that, I don’t think. We are saddened at what has happened, but yet cautiously optimistic that we will have yet another fulfilling and great adventure in this thing called life.
Our sons are here today and have helped carry and move things. They have also provided us with encouragement just by their being here. Granddaughter Rachel is a continuing joy and a sight to behold. These times serve to keep us together and bring us to the realization yet again of that home sometime soon where we’ll never have to move out…we’ll never be fired…and we’ll never be in need.
Thank you to all who have expressed support and have prayed for our situation. We are blessed to count you as friends. Thanks especially to Kevin and family, Marianne and family, Chris in Topeka, and others who have helped pack and move. We’re doing OK, and will be just fine.

Done

It is over. At least one chapter of our lives is over, and another is beginning. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances regarding a procedural matter at the home, I am no longer employed there and Pat will be leaving shortly (this week, I think).
Although I’ll not write in the blog about what happened specifically, I will tell you emphatically that this has nothing at all to do with my relationships with the girls. I can’t stress enough how much we loved and cared for the girls, and we would never do anything to detract from their progress and growth. I will also say that, given the circumstances were the same, I would make the same decision again, no question.
I kind of liken our situation to the infamous preacher massacres that occur still all too regularly where the preacher lives in the parsonage and has to be moved out within 24 hours due to some issue that probably should never have been. Having said that, I’ll now say that we are living with my brother and his wife in Valley Center (bless them) and are taking some time to make decisions regarding what we will do next. I will also say that I hold no ill will toward the home and wish it, the staff, and the girls all the best.
I will also say that I believe with all my heart that the Evil One took an incident that should have been nothing and managed to make it into something that disrupted a successful program, caused anguish and pain all around, and caused the girls who were doing so well to have yet another thing to deal with. I don’t believe that any person or persons are or were controlled by the Evil One, but only that he took circumstances as they were and made them into something that caused havoc in the lives of people.
If you have read prior blogs, you know that I have been on him constantly and have been battling him face to face, so to speak. I will not back down now. I will not shrink back. I will not quit. I go on record today that I will continue the battle with all my heart and soul. I am more determined than ever to use the armor of God and the power of the Word of God (John 1) to battle this enemy.

Is There a Lesson Here?

Once in a while I click on a favorites listing in my browser for Antarctic weather. As of when I checked (6am this morning), the South Pole station operated by the United States was reporting 76 degrees below 0, and the Vostok station operated by the Russians was reporting 111 degrees below 0. I was interested in checking further, and Googled Antarctic weather.
I found out that the average relative humidity there is .03%, and there is less than 1 inch average snowfall in a given year on the continent. The coldest temperature recorded there was 129 degrees below 0 at Vostok in 1983, and winds sometimes reach 200 miles an hour on parts of the continent.
At the same time as the above temperatures were recorded, however, Palmer station, operated by the United States, was recording a balmy 22 degrees above 0. Talk of a land of contrast! On the same continent, there was 133 degrees of difference in temperature at different stations.
I don’t know about you, but I am a temperate climate person. Not having experienced the extreme cold of the poles or the extreme heat and humidity of the tropics, I don’t speak from much experience. However, I can’t imagine living in either of those places and being anywhere close to comfortable. Certainly, living there would be an adventure in both comfort and survival.
When we stop to think about it, we really have it pretty good here. We are amply and bountifully supplied with all that we need and more. We have the ability to make our environment even more temperate than normal with air conditioning and heating systems. We can humidify the air, de-humidify the air, clean the air, purify the water, and cook our food. Our waste products break down due to beneficial action by bacteria and other life forms. Overall, we have it made.
So why do we continue to complain? I don’t know. Maybe we’re a “stiff-necked people”, as Moses wrote long ago about Israel. They had it good, too, but couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Hmmm. I wonder if there’s a lesson there for us….

Freedom

I’m going to return to a topic I’ve talked about before. Some of my past blogs have talked about a girl that we recently admitted to Prairie View. I’ll call her Ariel. She has emotional issues that we are not equipped to deal with, so we had to admit her to another facility.
Ariel continues to vividly remind me of the song that I’ve put the lyrics of on my blog before. “Let Freedom Ring” is a song that talks of the freedom that can be had in Christ. Just yesterday I popped the DVD into the PC and played that song as performed by the Gaither Vocal Band. Doing that helps to “ground” me and reminds me why I do what I do.

Let freedom ring wherever minds know what it means to be in chains.
Let freedom ring wherever hearts know pain.
Let freedom echo through the lonely streets where prisons have no key.
We can be free and we can sing --- let freedom ring!

Ariel’s mind is truly in chains. The Evil One has seen to it that she will never be able to escape on her own. This is more than just mental health issues. This is warfare, and Ariel is a prisoner of war.
Ariel’s heart truly knows pain. She was told by her mother that she was a child of the devil. She literally believes that, in her childish way, I believe. Can you imagine the pain of this child as she processes that statement by her mother? Can you imagine what she thinks of her father?
Hers is indeed a wandering on the lonely streets of the prison of her mind. The Evil One has succeeded in isolating her. There is no key…only aimless existence until the key that is Jesus Christ unlocks the chains that bind and the doors that close her in.
I pray that in some small way, we can help her to accept the key to her freedom, which is Jesus.

A Long Day

I just spent all afternoon and long into the evening yesterday in an attempt to get mental health care for one of our residents. She’s not been with us long, and from the beginning demonstrated behaviors that could have been interpreted as mental health issues, but no one really knew for certain. We also did not get “the rest of the story” from the facility where she came from. They withheld information that would have been beneficial to us in making a determination whether to accept her or not. But that’s another blog.
After three elopements from school, three incidents of cutting, two incidents of theft, and many other negative behaviors, we determined that she needed help we were not equipped to provide. So we set out to find that help.
We’re not novices at navigating the mental health system in Kansas. We’ve done it before, and our Director of Services is a three-decade expert in Kansas mental health services. He knows his way around.
However, it isn’t as simple to obtain mental health services as it is to obtain services for, say, a broken arm. With the arm, you call an ambulance, show up at an emergency room, or go to a doctor’s office and they take care of you. With this issue, we had to go through three assessments within a 24 hour period, be seen by three different providers, visit with the insurance company, talk with providers, and generally cajole and convince people that this girl needed help. No psychiatrist ever physically saw her. Only one provider (behavioral health ARNP) ever talked with her.
I can understand why people hesitate to access these services…unless you know your way around, you get lost in the shuffle as they slide you back out the door you entered and onto the street. And the thing about it is they do it in such a way that you’re not even sure what happened until it’s all over.
What was supposed to be a direct admit to a facility (I’ll just tell you it was Prairie View in Newton, Kansas) turned into a four hour marathon of questions, phone calls, faxes, and thinly-veiled statements that she would not probably be admitted because she “didn’t meet criteria”. We had already obtained approval from the girl’s insurance, by the way. The doctor on call wouldn’t return his page. They called the medical director, who shoved us off onto another physician, who finally decided to admit.
I told the social worker who interviewed us (we never spoke with an RN or medical provider) that I was tired, hungry, and angry. I told her I would hold myself together in order to see this through for the benefit of the girl, but had no kind words for the system or for the facility. I asked the social worker what it took to obtain needed mental health services. She had no answer.
What would have happened had our girl been 18 years old and showed up there on her own to obtain services? She wouldn’t have had the staff at the children’s home, the ARNP, the counselors, the people at the insurance company, and others to make phone calls and ask professional friends and colleagues to help open doors for her. I know most of what we did to obtain services. It evidently takes at least that much. She wouldn't have had a snowball's chance on her own.
I’m not so tired today, but I am still angry. The admission to Prairie View will do little more than buy us more time to find an appropriate placement for the girl. We will have three to five days to make that determination and find an open bed for her. Prairie View will assess yet again, adjust medications, and warehouse her for the required period of time before declaring her “better” and dismissing her. At least Prairie View now has the burden of helping find an appropriate setting for her before they dismiss her. They cannot by law set her out on the street without needed services in place, even though I am convinced that they would do that in a heartbeat if they could. The story continues.

Being Set Free

I said in my last blog that I thought the common denominator for the issues and problems that are facing us is evil. I said that whatever you prefer to call it…Satan, the Devil, or whatever else…evil is the common theme. I am more convinced of that than ever.
Last night one of our girls cut her arm. This was the third time in the short time she’s been here that she’s done that. We took her for an evaluation, but they determined that since she wasn’t an immediate threat to herself or others (go figure), she didn’t meet the criteria for admission to a mental health unit. Never mind that she cut so deeply that the blood was dripping on the floor. Never mind that she said she likes to see the blood and let it dry on her arm. Never mind that she has said that she will up the ante until she is taken from this place. She’s back with us. One of the staff stayed up all night with her to keep her from harming herself in the night.
I also read the application for admission for yet another girl this morning. As I read through one of the narratives, I ran across the following statement, “Jeanna (name changed) must learn to take responsibility for her actions.”
If I’ve read that once, I’ve read it a hundred times. It seems that virtually every parent or guardian who has applied for admission to this place on behalf of their girl has said that or something like that in the application. There are indeed common threads in the issues that face these girls. And these threads are also common to the world at large.
Think of the episode some years ago when our President was involved with a certain female intern. He insisted that his statement that “I did not have a sexual relationship with that woman,” was correct because although she had a sexual relationship with him, he did not have one with her…he was a bystander and she was the one who was active in the relationship. If you recall what physical act the relationship primarily consisted of, you can use your imagination to determine the truthfulness of that statement.
Think of the Watergate mess some years ago. The same kind of word play and thought contortion, along with the desire to not have to take responsibility for their actions led several down the primrose path.
You may not believe in a being called The Evil One. That’s OK. You just continue on in your delusion. But in one of your more lucid moments, take a job as a caretaker for troubled persons. Become a school psychologist. Be a social worker. Teach in a public school. Be a counselor. Whatever. I don’t care whether it’s girls, boys, adults…makes no difference. You’ll soon find that you encounter The Evil One toe to toe, head to head, face to face, in the lives of those who are tortured by his schemes.
Things then become much more clear. You begin to see things as they really are. This world is sometimes not a pretty place. You can begin to understand why that great apostle Paul of Tarsus wrote that even the creation longs to “be set free from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

Don't You Dare

I haven’t written in awhile. I’m sorry for the delay. You see, I’m becoming forgetful. Yesterday (or was it day before? Well, sometime this week.) was my 58th birthday (or was it 57? 67?), and we all know that old people become forgetful. Yeah, that excuse probably won’t fly any further than I can throw a cannon, but it’s the best I can do until my feeble brain can come up with something better.
It rained yesterday here. We had over an inch of badly needed showers and thunderstorms. It won’t result in much growing outside, as fall has also arrived and things are pretty much shutting down in preparation for the winter months. But it certainly refreshed the earth and our spirits as well.
We will interview a family this evening who needs to place their daughter somewhere. I never know what to say or do at these interviews. We are to evaluate the situation and make some kind of decision (although not right away) on whether to recommend placement. I know that by the time they come here, there is a certain amount of desperation involved, and that they have tried most all other options, probably without success. I know they are looking at us as the saviors of their marriage/family/daughter, and we are very well aware that we are totally human and can only do what we know to do. We’re certainly not miracle-workers and cannot save everyone.
If this girl doesn’t work out, there is another one in the wings that wishes an interview. There always seems to be one more “out there”. We never seem to run out of girls who are in trouble and families that are in crisis.
There has to be a common denominator to all of this. What we see at MCCH is just a microcosm of what is out there on a massive scale. We can pontificate all day, but the long and short of it is that the common denominator is evil (Satan, the Devil, whatever you wish to call him/it).
Tell me I’m a religious nut if you like. Tell me that it can’t be that simple if you like. But until you’ve been a house dad to troubled teen-age girls and dealt with parents who apparently don’t have the sense God gave a goose, don’t you dare tell me I’m wrong.