"Fear can keep us up all night, but faith makes a fine pillow." ~ unknown author

Good morning and welcome. It's Wednesday, September 20, 2017, and I'm thinking some today about how the more things change the more they stay the same. Some of you may wonder if I am still committed to my feather pillows. Do brown cows still eat green grass and give white milk? I am down to the last three available to me. Yep. Three. They tend to shrink over time. I know some would call this a quirk but I would instead say, for me, it is a way of life and given the number of people who complain endlessly about not being able to sleep, thank you very much, I will continue to snooze on my feather pillows. Here is what I wrote in my blog about my feather pillows back on May 23, 2007. "I guess the biggest single hang-up for me is my old-fashioned, feather pillows. My typical sleep cycle is 5 to 6 hours each night; therefore, I am determined to make the most of it! The three pillows I sleep on have been made, remade, combined, and recovered more times than I can remember. They are covered with the old-fashioned blue striped ticking, now very faded. Some of the feathers have to be 25 years or older, maybe much older. I thank God for my grandmother and my mom who passed down some of these pillows and especially my sweet mother in law, who, before her death, gathered up some reserve stock for me. My wife is a committed foam person and over the years she has purchased many alternatives guaranteed to solve ‘my’ problem. Once she thought she had finally found something to take the place of my three pillows. I’m not sure exactly what it was, some kind of goose something, but my verdict after really trying hard was simply: Not even close! (The pillowcases are a completely different subject that will have to wait for another day!)" Twenty-five years or older. Note, I wrote that ten years ago. While the outcome is in God's hands, one does wonder which one will go first, me or my pillows.

Okay. I will, some ten years later, now follow-up with my take on the pillow cases and I'll throw in my preference about bed sheets for good measure. Cotton. Smooth. Soft. I like them to have a completely worn out feel. I hand it to my wife for doing her best to try and provide these accessories over the years. I can hear her saying, "I'm sorry, I thought they had been washed enough and used enough to be ready for our bed." No. I am not typically inclined to be difficult. Wait a minute. Hold up on that one for now. I will get back to you later with an update. Why am I so focused on these types of seemingly insignificant items? Good question. I will try to answer. I typically am up and about for 18 hours each day. I do not have a super long sleep cycle. However, I am very much aware of the importance of sleep in supporting my approach to how I live my life. These seemingly insignificant items help me to get "lights out" sound, and restorative sleep for some 5 to 6 hours each night. It works. For me. It really does. Ask my wife. She knows. And, I appreciate the fact that our bed sheets and pillowcases don't always match. That would not be her way of doing things, but, she does it to support my tiny little, perhaps idiosyncratic, preferences. Please don't write me saying you are praying for my wife. I get that one way too much.

Let me tell you one thing. It seems way too often these days that I am hearing about another of my school chums passing away. They are folks I actually knew since we were little kids. I've lost two more in the last four months. Someone the other day commented on my use of three score and ten, plus one to designate my age. She told me, "Oh, just think about it, you are living in a bonus, one year past the promised seventy years." Yes. I knew what she was talking about. In the 90th Division of the Psalms, we have the prayer of Moses where he said this, "The days of our years are seventy years, and if we are strong - eighty years." (Verse 10) I understand that to be a generalization of how life unfolds, but, I think we all know that no one is guaranteed a set number of years. I read enough obituaries every day to know that. And, I don't know why, and I'm sure she meant no ill will, but, being reminded that I am living on borrowed time did kind of get hold of me. My response is to say that I'm not finished yet. I have more to do. And, with God's help, I will do my best to do what I can with the remaining time He allows me to have. I have to be reminded from time to time that retirement is not a biblical concept. We continue our work for Him until that day when He calls us home. Let me see if I can cheer myself up. A new study from Stony Brook University, published in June of this year, states that 70 is the new 60. This means I am only 61. Woo-hoo! Thank you very much. What's that? You changed your mind and now you think you will mostly pray for me? Good idea. Keep those cards, letters, and prayers a'comin. May God bless. Amen. ....More later.