Joel Stiff's Adventure

Regret works two ways.

The first is the regret of things done that should have been avoided.

I wish I hand’t done, said, thought, decided, etc.

The other is equally disconcerting. Things I wish I had done and not avoided.

I wish I had, said, thought, decided, etc.

It’s not enough to just avoid the wrong things.

We must pursue the good.

Apathy is failure.

People are happy right now. Very happy.

They are also being very generous and kind.

Hmmmmmm.

Persuasion is an art form.

One at which not everyone is adept. This is clearly seen in the online world. Some cannot accept a challenge to their opinion without it turning into name calling. Others are so forceful with their opinions that it turns people away.

When God had to confront an individual, He never came with finger pointed. He allowed the wrongdoer to maintain a certain amount of dignity. When He approached Cain, He asked him, “Why art thou wroth?” He gave him an opportunity to speak, to explain himself.

When He approached Adam after eating the fruit, He asked, “Where are you?”, “Who told you that you were naked?” and “Did you eat of the fruit I told you to not eat?”

The old adage still rings true, you attract more flies with honey than vinegar.

Information, not insistence, changes people’s minds.

Preaching is best left in the pulpit.

I have three sisters in law. My brother is married to one of them. Her name is Mama Nay Nay. Another is Jessica, married to my brother in law, Bill. I’ve called her Jazz for a number of years now and can’t for the life of me remember why. Probably for no other reason than it annoys her. My other one is my wife’s sister Stephanie. I call her Stephane because on her first facebook page, that is how she spelled her name. That little nugget right there should tell you a bit about her. I mean, who misspells their own name.

She, like myself, has the misfortune of being born very close to Christmas. It’s not as big a deal to an adult, but as a kid, it really stunk. All of your presents came at one time of year and you waited twelve more months to get any again.

I have a thousand stories I could relate about Stephane. Like the one about her fiance moving into our house until they got married. It was the first and last time I’ve ever watched an NCAA championship basketball game. Thank you Roberto Santiago.

Or the time at college when we were having spirit week. Dr. Tom Williams thought her everyday hair style was her attempt at crazy hair day.

I could tell you about the time we were in her and Shannon’s parent’s house waiting to hear about their youngest sister Stacey who had just been in an auto accident. They both intuitively knew that the Lord had taken her in spite of my efforts to give hope. They were right.

One of the more hilarious times involved Shannon, Stephane, my brother and I in a little motor boat. We intended to just cruise around, but the heat got the best of us and we were all jumping out of the boat and climbing back in again. The repeated nature of this activity caused the boat to fill up with water. There was only four inches of the boat that could be seen above the water as we tried to cautiously make our way back to the launch. Every once in a while someone would shift their weight and it would cause a back corner to go under and take on a rush of water. This action resulted in screams of horror and rebuke to the one who had dared move. Eventually there was only an inch of boat visible. We all thought we were going to lose the vessel and started bailing with shoes. We did make it safely to the launch just in time for me to remember that I had glibly tossed my keys into the bottom of the boat. Thank the Lord they were still there once we finally bailed it out completely.

I have seen her at her craziest. I have seen her joyful. I have seen her worried. And I have seen her broken.

I have seen her love her husband and serve her children.

I have seen her be a great sister to my wife.

Happy birthday, Stephane.

There’s a clan up in Michigan that loves you.

Proverbs says, where no oxen are the crib is clean, but much increase comes by way of the ox.

In other words, if you want a clean stall, don’t have any oxen. But there is a great benefit to having the oxen.

Winston has been wanting a German Shepherd for months. We haven’t had a dog in a few years. When we did, he was a perfectly behaved, clean, Siberian Husky named Benjamin Barker. We raised him from twelve weeks on until he was struck by lightning.

All of our animals as of late have been of the barnyard variety: goats, chickens, rabbits and ducks. Barnyard animals stay in the barnyard. We haven’t had indoor animals in a while. Now I remember why.

We didn’t just end up with a German Shepherd named Dakota, but her friend, a lab / newfoundland mix named Bentley. Two big dogs in our house. It’s a bit of an adjustment to be sure.

There is an increase, though. The smile on Winston’s face has never been bigger.

They old adage says that the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
So what do you do if you have several elephants to eat?
The principle is the same – overwhelmed.
So if the answer to being overwhelmed is breaking a big job down into manageable pieces, then the answer to being incredibly overwhelmed is to break the big jobs down into smaller manageable pieces.
You eat several elephants by taking a single bite out of each one and eventually, they will all be gone.

This morning, I found a mess at the end of my driveway.

Someone had been traveling eastbound on my street. I am on the south side, so they were running right along my property. Something caused them to swerve off the road and take out the mailbox just before mine. they continued into the ditch which runs about four feet deep. The tire tracks show the car running on the bank facing my house and behind my mailbox.

The interesting thing is that the ditch ends on the left side of my driveway when facing the road. The driveway is shored up by a nice block and concrete wall. Well, this block wall was now in my yard on the right side of my driveway. They had somehow driven along the face of that bank and hit the wall hard enough to smash it, send it flying twelve feet and drive out of the ditch. I can’t imagine how they were able to drive away after such an impact.

I can imagine that alcohol or another substance was involved.

The driver has been given a second chance. He has also been given a wake up call.

We all get them.

It is best to heed them.

Went to run into town this morning and as I grabbed for the door handle, I realized something wasn’t right. The front left corner of the van was sitting much lower than usual. Sure enough, I had another flat. I don’t own an air compressor and wasn’t up to putting the spare on again, so I used my bicycle pump to put some air into it. Four hundred pumps later and I was off to Discount Tire. They took me right in, found a screw and patched me up with no additional charge.

It’s easy to get thrown by such inconveniences, but I’m grateful to have a car, a bicycle pump and someone to fix my flat.

That’s so much more than much of the world this Christmas season.

I was outside Discount Tire today waiting for them to open and repair our blow out from yesterday.

A nice man was also waiting and we were shooting the breeze, discussing the weather and other sundry matters.

The subject eventually came to getting outdoors and involving yourself with the world. He then made the statement, “Life is a blank slate. It’s up to you what you do with it.”

I remember thinking when Nicole was born that her mind was completely blank (she’s gonna love this) and that her mom and I were responsible to write the correct things on it while protecting it from having the wrong things written on it.

Every day I get to wake up and go out and do whatever it is I want to do. I get to mingle with whomever I want, read whatever I want and listen to whatever I want. My life is a gift that God has given me. Every day is a unique and special opportunity to write upon my slate whatever my heart desires.

So far, very few regrets and even then minor ones.

I would say the biggest regret one could have is wasting the slate.

Or maybe letting the wrong people write on it.

Shannon and some of our ladies were out making some visits tonight and had a tire blow out. It didn’t just go flat, it blew up. We aren’t exactly sure what caused it, but I’m sure the less than perfect roads here in Flint had something to do with it.

Thankfully, some of our church men arrived on scene quickly and myself soon thereafter. We were able to get the donut on and we were on our way once again.

While changing the tire, I was voicing my complaints about the “piece of junk” i drive.

Reality is that I drive tens of thousands of miles without incident. No flats, no accidents, no tickets, no blown motors. I actually have it pretty good,

The road isn’t always smooth, but most of the time it is.