We're on the road right now out to Washington state for a friend's wedding. God was all over our drive last night.

It was 12:30 (just after midnight) and we had 1 or two hours left for the night's drive to get to our hotel in Utah, just north of Salt Lake City. We were driving through the mountains in Utah, and there are no streetlights on the 75mph highway. We drove for a long time in the dark last night.

K said, "Can you open the sunroof for a minute and let some cold air in? I just want to make sure we're awake." I did, and put my fingers up into the cold air above the car one hand at a time. After a minute we closed the sunroof feeling revitalized and alert from the shock of cold air.

10 to 30 seconds later, K gasped loudly as we met this guy:




This is what it would have looked like in bright daylight. All of a sudden out of nowhere in the dark there was this deer standing in the middle of the highway, with it's rear half in our lane, right in front of me! I slammed on the breaks and though - "Deer in the headlights! Deer in the headlights? Deer freeze in headlights! Should I turn off my headlights? Should I stop honking?" Of course, I didn't have much time to do any of this as I was already reacting and we were only a few yards away from a rear-ending a dear - I think it was a doe. I know the dear looked at me, but noticing whether there were antlers or not wasn't my highest priority.

I slammed on the breaks, leaned on the horn, and started turning the wheel back and forth, trying to remember what to do while fishtailing. The 8 seconds after seeing the deer happened almost as follows (see disclaimer at end):

1:
K: "AAAAaaah"
J: Leaning on horn, slamming on breaks

2:
K: "AAAAaaah," bracing self
J: Leaning on horn, turning to the right.

3:
K: "AAAAaaah," eyes getting really wide
J: Still breaking, turning to the left, to correct fish-tailing

4:
K: "AAAAaaah"
J: Braking, turned right to correct fish-tailing again.


5:
K: "AAAAaaah"
J: Left again

6:
K: "Jesus, Jesus!"
J: Trying to figure out which way to turn - it's 12:30! Did I just turn left or right, which way to I turn to correct. I'm confused!

8:
Car stopped half on the shoulder, half on the median/ditch, surrounded by the smell of burnt rubber.

Ok, K didn't scream the whole time, she really just gasped loudly during second #1, but it was fun to write it this way :) So far, likely the most exiting 8 seconds of our trip. I'll let you know if we out-do that!

If K hadn't felt tired we wouldn't have opened the sunroof.

If we hadn't opened the sunroof, we wouldn't have be revitalized and more alert, and may not have handled the situation as well.

If there had been any other traffic, there could have been an accident.

God is good. Happy Thanksgiving.

The pastor in Colorado Springs at least got a "massage" and at least bought the drugs. This hit the news, and outside the church, there was great rejoicing.

At first I wondered why the media and the world were working themselves into a frantic frenzy of excitement about this. It almost seemed like the circus how much people were enjoying this. Like it was the most fun they could have with their clothes on.

Meanwhile, the church is mourning, some church-goers running around just as frantic, but in sadness, frustration, anger.

Then it hit the news that a local youth pastor was having sex with a female student under his watch (not having sex under his wrist-watch, but with a girl under his care).

I understand the impact these situations have on relationships, but it has no impact whatsoever on what it means to follow Jesus.


I don't really understand how everyone is so shell-shocked at the news. Politicians in Washington have run male prostitute rings out of their homes in DC, and they continued to get re-elected. Thousands of charges of improper sexual behavior by people in positions of trust are lodged against school teachers every year, and we keep sending kids to the schools.

Let's just get it out there in the open:


David, the man after God's own heart was an adulterer, liar and murderer.

Peter denied Jesus after being so outspoken for him. He was forgiven, reinstated, then was a complete hypocrite in dealing with the Jew/Gentile dynamics of the church and was rebuked publicly by Paul.

Rebuked by Paul. The blasphemer, persecutor, and violent man who was going around watching Christians be killed and thrown in jail for heresy. This is the guy who wrote in 1 Timothy, "Here is a trustworthy saying and worthy of full acceptance:

Jon's blog here... Feeling neglected.

Perhaps you are as well, not being able to read my pages with awe and intense interest. Jon tells me he has several different postings in his head - but I think he's saying that just to make me feel better.

He hasn't been around me a lot lately. He's working 2 jobs now, so he doesn't have as much time as he did.

All this to say, I feel your pain. Likely more than you do. Jon will be back. Right? He won't abandon me forever, will he? I've only got 30 million other users!?