Genesis 5:2, NET Bible: "He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them 'humankind.'"

Welcome back to my version of where the rubber meets the road. And, this episode has landed on Monday, April 20, 2015. A lady posted a pretty good little cartoon on Facebook the other day. It said that men can't understand women and they always joke about them not coming with any instructions. The punch line was: When have you ever seen a man reading the instructions? There's a lot of truth in that little ditty, however, I think those of us who are believers know there is an instruction manual for life, and it is all inclusive, covering men, women, boys, and girls. That would not be the manual typically found in the glove compartment, and yes, I too wonder how many gloves could be found in that box. It's that book one finds in hotel rooms across the fruited plains, none other than God's Word to His created human family, the Holy Bible. I saw the other day where some state department training sessions include examples of institutionalized inequality. One of those listed were the stereotypes of women as portrayed in the Bible. Really? If the Bible is true and it is, this means that it in its entirety was inspired or breathed out by God the Holy Spirit. And, if we can believe its teachings and we can, then we know that God is the Creator and what He has to say on any and all matters is the first and last word, period. That doesn't mean we understand women but reading God's Word helps. It really does.

Our home, Hurricane Ike, 2008

We had ourselves a pretty mean storm last Thursday evening. Rain, wind, thunder, lightning. A family in our subdivision just a few blocks away from us took a huge tree into their kitchen. We do know how that feels. (Hurricane Ike) I saw the man being interviewed and his first thoughts were to be thankful that he and the rest of the family were okay. We know that feeling. The house? It will not be okay for some time. President Clinton was made fun of for telling people that he felt their pain. Yet, there is something to be said for those who can identify with someone because they have been there and done that. It's also interesting how that when you have had a major experience in your life you tend to pay attention to others going through a similar situation. This doesn't mean that we can't reach out to those who are in need when we haven't dealt with their same problems, but, it is also true that those who know best are those who have also been through the fire. I know we sat and watched and the entire scenario got our attention, for the first time, all over again.

We've recently improved our ability to snooze through our favorite TV programs. We have two great recliners but the recliner mechanism on both of them have been broken for nearly two years. We've had several do it yourself attempts but to no avail. We finally took to Google and found us a technician who does this type of work full time as a freelancer for furniture companies. He came and evaluated the situation. Ours did not fit the standard so he had to order the parts. (Why is this always the case for stuff we buy?) It took a while but we finally got those babies working again. We had been able to do a reasonably good job napping on the sofa that has recliners on both ends but these are much more comfortable. The bottom line: we now catch mostly zzzz when we are fixated on our must see TV programs. I remarked the other day that I thought I had actually hit the rapid eye movement deep sleep mode because when I woke up I had no idea where I was. That's when my better half usually likes to ask how much I enjoyed my program. It wasn't inexpensive to get them working but my oh my "how sweet it is!" (Catchphrase made famous by Jackie Gleason.) Thanks for tuning in. May God bless us all is my prayer. Amen. ...More later.