How absolutely spoiled we get with all the conveniences that surround us. We believe that it’s somehow a "right" of ours to have water when we turn on the tap, electricity when we throw the switch, food when we open the fridge, and support when we sit on a chair.

     This week, our neighbors to the north in Tampa, have to boil all their water because of a pressure drop that might have allowed bacteria into the supply. I sat on an old chair recently and ended up smack dab flat on the floor. Our fridge is totally off-limits due to the mold and mildew in our house. So is the stove and oven.

     The light switches have been working quite well, however. Yesterday, while loading my electric wheelchair, Sparky, the lift motor suddenly quit working. Fortunately, Sparky was inside the back end of Tonka, my truck. She ws left dangling about eight inches off the truck bed. Funny driving with that 400 pound machine swerving and dipsy doodling in the back. Today, I was able to get it fixed by a friend of mine in his shop.

     Mark didn’t even look at the lift. Instead, he went to the front of the truck, lifted the hood, and found a real mess. It seems that my battery had gone bad inside due to plates that somehow had buckled and touched each other. This produced an overheated battery which then proceeded to boil over. The acid really built up a mountain of battery gunk. This kept the current from flowing and blew the fuse that controls Sparky’s lift.

     He cleaned everything up and sent me to a battery place to buy a new battery. Sparky’s lift works just fine. Isn’t that neat? It sure is.

     I’d used that remote control to lift Sparky in and out of Tonka hundreds of times. I was used to it working every single time I pushed the proper button. I was no longer thankful for the efficient and convenient remote. I took it for granted. When it stopped working, perhaps out of protest for my poor battery maintenance skills, I REALLY missed the flowing current.

     I’ve wondered all day about the beauty of relating to God, sensing His current flowing through us in the person of His Holy Spirit. Sometimes gunk builds up and we lost the flow. Can it be restored? I believe so. Pat and I were so encouraged this week when our 24 year old granddaughter turned her life over to Jesus. Now that the attachment is made and secure (look at John 15 and read about the vine and the branches), we know that she will grow and produce fruit. The sap must flow between her and the Lord just as the electricity needs to flow from the battery to Sparky’s lift’s motor.

     Have you checked out the flow lately? Any gunk that needs to be eradicated? A lady with whom I’d corresponded at some length about forgiveness wrote me a couple of days ago. She’d finally gotten a grasp on forgiveness and ended up forgiving not only her current combatants, but people way back in her life. She got the gunk gone and the current flowed again. Beautiful analogy, right?

     I would appreciate anything you have to say in response to this piece. Just hit my name in the bottom corner of this page.

Responses to "STILL REELING"...

- I'm sure you'll miss Pat, but I'm also sure this visit will do her wonders. I hope that you will do just fine in the garage room. God bless you both. I pray those experts will have better news for you.

- Thank God that boy was saved before he died. How sad that he had to go so young. I'm so glad you got to help him before it was his time. Boy, we just don't know how long we have, do we? You sure brought a tear to my eye on this one. I'm still praying for you, Jerry. May God find you the perfect place to live. I sure will pray that the Doctor can do something for Pat.

- Oh, oh, how close that was! Praise God that you were willing to share with that young man about Jesus. If that doesn't make you know how important it is to share with other about Jesus, I don't know what it would be!

- This is the first time I ever heard of anything like this. Sorry you all are still having such a terrible time. We are keeping our little church "up" on what is going on with you all. People who don't have these problems just DON'T UNDERSTAND how painful and uncomfortable it can be. Hang in there and we'll keeping praying on this end.

- Reel to reel recorder! We had one when I was in grade school. I learned how to splice the tape when it broke. My girlfriend and I made up silly stories & taped ourselves. Dad would listen to them later in the evening and laugh and laugh. My brother threw it out so no more reel to reel.

- Sharing with others: like me giving away extra keyboards to people I guess or whatever I have that they need. If I have two of something I know I sure don't need them both. :)

     Of course, MOSTLY what I share is my smile with people I see on the street. You never know, it may be the only smile they see all day.

- I remember my first "reel to reel". I finally I had a way to hear some really good sounds. The best thing was making tapes from your favorite albums and putting only the ones you really liked on the tape. As I was reading the responses about the gentleman who was killed on the motorcycle I was reminded of how Awesome God is, and how Wonderful are His ways. I like to tell people, "God doesn't call the blessed, He blesses the called." Amen!

     Just think how "cool" it would have been to have an 8' X 10' room apart from the main house when you were a kid! Posters of Hopalong Cassidy and Superman on the wall. Secret corners for hiding your treasures - marbles, neat rocks and, of course, comic books, like Sad Sack, Tarzan, Buck Rogers, Batman and assorted super heroes. Now as adults it seems like such a small place. Let the kid in you come out before you go in and maybe, just maybe it will help. Go out and buy some comic books and place them around; hang a model airplane from the ceiling (not a new jet fighter, but maybe a Corsair or P-51 Mustang or better yet a B-17 Flying Fortress)! Sometimes, we need to go back to those days, to let our memories take us to a simpler time. Oh, and be sure to throw some dirty socks on the floor and a couple of candy wrappers can't hurt. : )

- I've heard your reference to Papa's Pipeline for many years...and am thankful for the touching concept. Not long ago, our oldest daughter came home to clean out a closet of her belongings. It was amazing to see her work through her childhood collection. She hung onto sentimental favorites, of course. She boxed up books, purses (that were brand-new...neither one of my daughters carry one...it's just not cool) for Goodwill. A couple of items were passed to family's who have little girls, including a pink tu-tu from her ballerina days...expensive little pink fluff that will bless another little girl...both you and Pat are in my prayers.

- Thank you for the updates on Pat...and your grand niece and the house. I hope you don't have to wait too long in that 8x10 space!!!! YIKES!! A couple of months or so is a long time to stay in a space like that...

- I enjoyed the "Still Reeling" article.

- We just recently received some clothes from someone. They wanted to know if we knew of someone who could use them. I said I would take them and go through them. They were just going to pitch them. I went through the clothes and found them to be in great condition, with no signs of wear...like new. I washed them and as I folded them I realized that our granddaughter could possibly wear the clothes.

- Your rest of the story is amazing. God is so good. Praise Him for the way He works. And, by the way, I like your new photo, too.

- One of my staff has an 8 year old who has been trying to bike ride with his father on an 18'' little kid’s bike. He asked if he could get a big bike, maybe for Christmas, I went to my garage and dusted off a 10 speed 24 inch mountain bike. His father took it home and told him about it. He said, "Is it red"? Fortunately it was. I'm told he rides until dark every day. I have this nice crayon written thank you note posted on my wall.

- After your sharing the "Papa's Pipeline" thought with me, I wanted you to know that it was working in more ways than one the weekend we took the reel-to-reel to Dad. You see, we took two BIG boxes to Dad that night. Years ago, when we started home schooling, Dad gave me the "overhead projector" that he had purchased to use in his various ministries. He had called the week he was coming down here and wanted to know if I was using it, and, if not, could I bring it to him. Seems that he has a young "children's evangelist" in his church who CAN use it and is not financially in a position to purchase things like that right now. SO...as the reel-to-reel was making its way from originating with you to, then passing to Charlie, then back to you, then to us, so was the projector moving down "the pipeline" from originating with Dad...to me...back to Dad...to this young man. Wouldn't it be MOST INTERESTING if we could just get an "overhead" view of the pipelines and how they twist and turn, etc.?

- Last night my husband and I were thinking of you and Pat and how both of you had to and have to stay in that small space. I cleaned my upstairs last night and was wishing I could ship off a couple of extra bedroom spaces to you, because they are huge rooms...Boy! that would be a pipeline of enormous size, huh?