Baking and Back Aches

The list of things to accomplish, in the month of December, is extensive:  

• Decorate the house for Christmas,
  
• Rake the leaves (in San Antonio, trees shed leaves in (December through March)
  
• Plant the winter garden  (if you did not do that in October!)
  
• Shop.
  
• Facilitate numerous maintenance items (replace valves and flappers in toilets, lubricate squeaky doors, clean the garage - again)
  
• Prepare for guests (about 23 people from Terri's family will visit us between the 21st and the 31st)
  

And this is one I seldom do: baking, 8 dozen cookies: Oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip.  

Our Son, Brian, is currently deployed with the US Army, from the base at Fort Hood , Texas, to Baghdad, Iraq.  Initially, his MOS (the military's fancy term for "job description") was mechanical maintenance on helicopters.  The is his third trip to the Middle East, and his new job is a little more exciting: he is the door gunner on the helicopters he once repaired.  As a DAD, this new development gives me angst.  And Christ has put a band of angels around Brian to protect him and his colleagues.  Amen.

Back to the cookies.  I started the project yesterday afternoon by making the dough for 5 dozen oatmeal raisin cookies.   Aah, the flour, eggs, butter, vanilla, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, the oats, coconut, raisins, and flour.  After 90 minutes of prep, and the first 36, I quit: my mid back was in extreme pain.  Add stomach pain, the onset of fatigue, and dehydration, I was miserable.  Terri, wisely told me to take a nap and she would finish putting the dough in the oven and removing the cookies 14 minutes later.  Oh, she did a good job!

After 90 minutes of deep slumber, I arose, and checked our creation: Wonderful!  That evening, Terri and Mary took a trip to Costco, so I made 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies.  Then, I cleaned the utensils I used, cleaned the kitchen, and admired my work.  I will think twice before I ask Terri to whip up a batch of fresh cookies: This is real work!  

Now I made up three pint sized bags of nuts and dried fruit; different combinations.  I packed up the nut/fruit bags and the cookies, along with a deck of cards, a magazine, some peanut butter / chocolate candies, and a letter to Brian.  He should get it in about 10 days.   

Having my only Son in harm's way, again, is much more than an annoyance, being somewhat worried, or being angry at times.   It is about about "trust".  This Earth, is not his home, but rather it is Heaven.  We are just visitors here for 20, 40, 60, or 80 years, then eternity with our Lord and Maker: now this is comforting!  

I am reminded of that last account of Job's life.  He had a great family and was financially successful.  In fact, "that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil." Then Satan made a deal with GOD, concerning God's servant, Job.  Satan first took from Job all of his health and good fortune, then Satan afflicted Job with boils; now that makes me sorry I whined about my back aches yesterday!  The book is great, but I want to tell you how the story ends.  For 40 more chapters we read about Job, his wife, and Job's friends.  We read of the dialogue of GOD.  

This is no ordinary story: it is unique because it is the story of so many people in our world today: success, failure, family laughter, then sorrow.  Today's current events are merely reruns of history.  And now we have a chance to learn from the past to improve our lives today.

The odds were against Job, according to conventional wisdom.  The deck was stacked against him.  Imagine Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Carl Icahn, or some wholesome entertainer or athlete suddenly loosing all of their wealth, and then their health.  What happened to Job was worse: he was very lucid and aware of what was going on, but he saw no reason all these calamities should be happening to him!  Yet he praised GOD, rather than curse HIM (as his wife suggested he do).

This is an exciting story.  If your Bible is not available, I will tell you how this story ends.  If you want to read the account in it's entirety, stop here and get your Bible.  NOTE: Look for "Grace" in the last chapter.

And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.

And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.  He had also seven sons and three daughters.  And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch.  And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.  And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations.  And Job died, an old man, and full of days. (Job, chapter 41)

Merry Christmas