Bits & Pieces

Here's another one of what's become a common type of post. Since there's nothing really new happening in my life that's would keep a readers attention throughout one my "full length" compositions. So here are several things that are at least worth mentioning.

James Gets Back into His Life At Home.
James has been home from his deployment about 3 weeks and he's already gotten himself a full time apprentice position with a local real estate holding company. He'll be doing some "handyman" and general maintenance work on the properties owned by his new boss. It's a job where James can work with his hands and it will keep him physically active. It pays rather well. He's also going to continue with his cadet program with the local city police department. At least the last time he mentioned it he was.
He's also been helping out around the house. Nothing major but helpful nonetheless. The other day he even did some grocery shopping for his mom.
Speaking of his mom, with my working the middle shift on weekends; James and Paula have been spending a lot of that time together. Watching movies and eating dinner. It's a good thing for both of them.

Other things in James' life like getting married and the purchase of a truck are still in the "undecided" category of his life list. As soon as anything new happens I'll let you know.

The Lizard Has What?
One minor problem that has occurred since James is been home has to do with his pet lizard, Spike. The bearded dragon has hemorrhoids. What? That's right. The cause of this could be a couple of things but most likely it's the combination of not enough water and too many crickets and or meal worms.

The solution to the problem for now is replace the sand in his environment with artificial grass, plenty of drinking water, soaking baths in warm water, mostly vegetables for food. I didn't know this but as this type of lizard gets older it's supposed to eat more veggies and less "meat." Sounds familiar doesn't it?

Printer Paradise Returns
This may not seem like a big deal to you but it is to me. After nearly a year of not having one we finally have a working printer hooked up to our computers again. Why it took that long to get one is a very unimportant and boring story. I am delighted because now I can print out my ventriloquist sketches and edit them (I seem to be better at that with a printed copy in my hand) and my weekly "To Do" List. However the new printer (which is also a scanner) belongs to James. It's the one he got with his laptop. When he moves out (not certain when that's going to happen) he'll probably take it with him.

Tale Of Two Sons
I finished reading this book by John MacArthur on February 26. This was a 200+ page exploration of Jesus' best known and most profound parable. MacArthur not only dissects, analyzes and explains the story, it's characters, and it's meaning he does it in a manner that serves as a model for the study of all of Christ's parables and even the four gospels themselves.

Sometime last year online I listened to the author's sermon series from which stems the book. It was the most enlightening and introspective examination of a portion of scripture I'd ever heard before.

If you are interested in learning about man's sinful nature, true repentance, undeserved grace, God's joy over redemption, spiritual blindness I highly recommend this book. If you buy it and it doesn't help you take a giant step forward in your spiritual growth let me know I'll reimburse you it's cost.