Ninety-Nine Cents

Ninety-Nine Cents

It started out simple enough. I switched credit card accounts. For years I had a Delta American Express card which accrued flight miles with purchases. There was an annual fee that I paid in the years that I did a lot of traveling. Recently the increased fee wasn’t worth it, so I transferred everything to my Visa card. It all went well except for a ninety-nine cent charge to Apple iTunes that kept appearing on the old card.

Knowing it would be a hassle to contact Apple and work through the quagmire to delete the charge, I was tempted to call AmEx and let them take care of it. But I chose the more challenging option that began with an online chat with Apple, then two phone conversations on my new iPhone 11 with live Apple reps that totaled three hours to resolve the issue. It was a blessing they spoke California English.

Obviously, the problem was of my own making. I forgot that I had set up an iCloud account on Judy’s iPhone. It was here, through the gracious patience of the Apple rep that I found the ninety-nine cent culprit. After jumping through several security checks on my iMac screen with the prompting of the kind lady from Apple I made the credit card change.

My takeaway from this time consuming exercise was that I need to write down every password, security question, and monthly credit card charges because my aging brain does not have enough bytes to remember it all. As you can surmise, I am deep into Apple land. Not sure how I got here but if it weren’t for my Apple Watch I wouldn’t know the time of day.

As I come to the end of writing this blog on my iPad Mini, I am remembering Job of the Old Testament, who in his misery cried out: “the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” It took Apple to take away my ninety-nine cent charge on American Express.

Praise the Lord!

Truth

Truth

A rare commodity these days. We are in the midst of an election year and have just come through a highly publicized impeachment process. Everyone in front of a TV camera says they are telling the truth. Forget the obvious fact finding flaws of the media. Would it help to remember the story of Pinocchio whose nose grew longer every time he lied?

One of the responsibilities of parenting is to teach children to tell the truth. It is amazing that children have the predisposition to protect themselves even if it means lying. It can be a painful lesson learning to tell the truth the first time and not distort the facts in their favor.

Pilate, the Roman ruler who pronounced the death sentence on Jesus, asked this straightforward question: “What is truth?” Since that time humankind has endeavored to answer with a wide range of philosophical, theological and political arguments. To this day our world struggles with the truth.

The Bible records these words of Jesus: “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life. Responding to a question from his disciples, Jesus explains that truth is not a statement of fact but a person! All other ideas of truth are subject to the one who is the truth. A challenging word for an unbelieving world.

Today, Jesus’ disciples are admonished to live a life of truth. “What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body, we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.”

Learning to speak the truth in love is a lifelong process.

Encourage

Encourage

I confess February is not my favorite month. The holidays are over, and winter is in full swing. There isn’t much to look forward to for the next couple of months. Spring doesn’t come to Montana in earnest until May or June. Oh, there is Valentine’s Day, Lent, St. Patrick’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Easter and Tax Day! Not a whole lot of excitement there.

That’s why my favorite winter word is ENCOURAGE. You don’t hear this word a lot. No wonder our world is full of negative, polarizing and bleak commentaries on life. When warm, sunny days are nowhere to be found, an encouraging word is better than a sun lamp at the spa.

The word ENCOURAGE  comes from a combination of Greek and French meaning “fill with courage.” Whenever a kind word is spoken the heaviness of life is diluted. A smile while speaking encouragement can melt the coldest heart. That’s why an encouraging word is a tonic to the soul especially in February.

Unless you think I am blowing smoke, I want you to know that I purpose to put ENCOURAGE into practice this month wherever I go: home, hospital, church, Walmart (the hardest), the brew pub (the easiest). Yes, I have to push myself because encouraging others doesn’t come easy. I don’t want to fake it.

My February song is Home on the Range. Sometimes I have to hum it just to get in the mood. “ Home, home on the range where the deer and the antelope play. Seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day.”

Put on that smile and find someone to ENCOURAGE today!

C.I.S.M.

C.I.S.M.

This spring will mark two years that I have served as a chaplain at our local hospital. What started out as an opportunity to volunteer in the community has become a second vocation. I enjoy the two half days I work as a chaplain. In addition to visiting patients, I attend regular rounds ( morning meeting of doctors, nurses and various departments). I am on call for emergencies when needed or teach a Bible study at the hospital’s Assisted Living facility.

In addition, I have opportunity for continuing education. Recently I attended a two day advanced C.I.S.M: Critical Incident Stress Management seminar. Its purpose was to train first responders (police, highway patrol, dispatchers, emergency medical technicians and firemen) how to help their peers after experiencing traumatic situations.

I found myself sitting in a classroom rubbing elbows with men and women who are daily on the front line of serving our communities in very difficult situations. These are the people whom our lives depend upon when there is an accident or trauma. I kept asking myself “how did I ever get into this group?” After introducing myself as a chaplain and local pastor, I was embraced as part of the team.

Listening to these women and men who daily put themselves in harm’s way, I was humbled. Being the oldest one in the room, I realized that these people, most of them half my age, are the real unsung heroes of our community. Hearing various ones voice their passion for the work they do made me realize how fortunate we are to have quality people serving us.

Yes, I learned a lot of stuff that I probably will never use. I noticed that I have an increased shortage of information retention. However, the most important thing was I had opportunity to meet and befriend people who have a passion to serve others in the most difficult of circumstances.

I am reminded of these words of Jesus: “there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”