Up and Down Week
* Great weekend with Lance driving over to Liberal, KS, to meet me on Sunday afternoon for 18 holes of golf at Willow Tree Golf Course. After a 15-minute delay for a thunderstorm, we played with lower temperatures and wet grass. That took away much of my game which comes from ball rolling after the drive. However, Lance made an EAGLE on a par 5, without hitting the fairway or the green. He drove it into a dry ditch, made the short iron shot to the back apron of the green and chipped it in. It wasn't the eagle I was hoping he would shoot. The course has two par 4's which are about 270 yards, which Lance has been driving recently.
* I had up and down shooting, and wound up with a 111 to Lance's 94.
* Then we went up early on Monday morning and played 18 holes more. He won 101-102, but at least I made one birdie; it was a 60-ft putt on a par 3. However, some double pars destroyed my scoring and that dreaded water in front of the 18th hole stole one of my good balls. If you find it, it's the one with the red diamond around the number.
* Sunday, I had a temperature of 100; Monday, it was about 101; Tuesday, I hit 104 and had that high temperature until 6:00 p.m.; Wednesday it was back to normal until later afternoon it was 100 again. I guess I have some kind of infection; not to be unexpected with the possibility of other organs getting involved in the cancer.
* Monday, as I waited at 4:00 p.m. for Wanda to get off work from Sears, a microburst of wind blew across the parking lot, picking up gravel up to 1/8 in in diameter and pelting all the cars in the lot, including the passenger side of our Focus. It shattered both of the passenger-side windows and pock-marked the entire right side of the Focus. The body shop estimates about $5,000 damage. The insurance adjuster will make the final call as to what we get corrected. We got the two windows replaced on Wednesday.
* I am practicing on my wedding music for Krista's wedding this Saturday afternoon. I am doing some prelude music, playing the traditional wedding march, and playing and singing "Sunrise, Sunset" from the broadway play, "Fiddler on the Roof". I have changed the second verse to remove the decidedly Jewish rituals of the wedding ceremony and personalized it to fit Krista and Matt. Today, Wanda found some crimson suspenders to hold up my ever-enlarging pants and happens to match the wedding color scheme.
* I am losing weight continually and it happens to have reduced my hips the most, so I am going to have to use suspenders. I hate to go out looking so skinny, but that's what I was throughout much of my early life and it seems appropriate to go out the same way.
* My next assignment will take 3 weeks of work, to substitute preach for my pastor, as he takes his summer vacation to Colorado. I am resisting the urge to make it a 3-part series on "Final Thoughts", not to be so morbid. They already know that each time I speak could be my last. I won't waste my words feeling sorry for myself. I believe there will be influential thoughts that will come from my study of the Word during this time of preparation.

Diamond in the Rough
...expresses several things about me.
...thus I am using it to mark my Titleist golf balls; a red diamond around the number on the ball on both sides.
...first, it describes where a lot of my golf shots wind up; in the rough.
...second, the diamond reminds me of the picture that I use on this blog; taken when I was my usual self which is a bit off-center.
...third, PBPGIF, as I learned in Bill Gothard's Instititute for Basic Youth Conflicts years ago. My true character will only be revealed in eternity.

Latest Health Update
* Last week I had severe pain in the pancreas area. On Saturday, I had to leave Sear one hour early to go home. I felt hot, so I took my temperature and it was 101 degrees. That's when I figured I was starting pancreatitis, so I began taking hydrocodone every 4 hours all night long. By Sunday, I was still feeling hot and my temperature of 100 confirmed that, but I continued my regimen and actually got 8 hours of sleep that night. Then I had enough energy for Sears for 6 hours on Monday. The pain is under control right now and it such a blessing.

* Monday night we went to the hospital to visit with Otis and Perthana and play one rubber of bridge. It is nice to focus on someone else for a change. They seemed to enjoy our game time.

* Today, we mowed Wanda's rent house yard. I continue to take the drugs, and I am drowsy most of the day. I even fell asleep last night while I was using my back vibrator/heater. I woke up after about 45 minutes.

* Tonight, we go to the Goldenagers to play pitch and I hope to still be alert enough to play a game which requires very little thinking.

Increasing Social Life
* I had trouble sleeping last night because of digestive pain, but I awoke ready to get in my one day per week of golf.
* I wanted to work on my game, but I also hoped to meet some new people who like to play.
*After playing the front nine by myself and shooting 46, even with a double par on the first hole, I decided to grab a sandwich in the pro shop. As I went back out to No. 10 to begin the back nine, a man was just teeing off and asked if I would like to play along. He was very nice, a teacher from Turpin, OK, and was just resurrecting his golf game after several years of off and on playing. His drives were awesome, but his short game needs some work. Doesn't it for all of duffers?
* He wasn't taken aback when I let him know I was retired because of my pancreatic cancer. He didn't pry and for the first time in a long time, I didn't go into my usual discourse on death and dying. We just learned about each other in small spurts at the various tees. We kept our own scores, so I wasn't too embarrassed with my 54 total. Of course hitting 3 shots into the water in front of the 18th hole didn't help my scoring. He picked his ball up on one hole where he hit out of bounds.
* Earlier an older man came up to me at the end of the front nine and told me I was welcome to join them on weekdays to play in foursomes. When I told him I shoot 95-100, he told me I would fit right in. It turned out that my new friend, Billy, also plays the front nine with them. I might try that out next week. I just have to go 30 minutes earlier to join the group. It sounds like it might be fun to play with people of equal ability. I think the first tip off for them was that my hair is gray, and they may have seem some of my shots.
Now I have to figure out how to mark my Titleists so that they aren't confused with other people's. I want something unique, that fits me, and that is easy to do to all my Titleist balls. I have seen the commercials on TV about marking them, so I have a few ideas. Anyone out there have a suggestion for me?
* My sister, Linda Johnston, gave me my first ball marker from Augusta National. That has started my on a collection of ball markers and I will try to use different ones each week.

Impressed with Tony Snow
... who passed away at age 53 from a bout with cancer.
...he has said some things that I believe, but couldn't put into words like his eloquence. Take note of an excerpt from one of his speeches.


Words of Tony Snow facing cancer, speaking on life and death
In a July 2007 article for Christianity Today, "Cancer’s Unexpected Blessings," he dilated upon what he thought his illness had given him:

"I don’t know why I have cancer, and I don’t much care. It is what it is — a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.
But despite this — because of it — God offers the possibility of salvation to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face….
Remember that we were born not into death, but into life — and that the journey continues after we have finished our days on this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by a conviction that stirs even within many nonbelieving hearts — an intuition that the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away. Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might, main, and faith to live — fully, richly, exuberantly — no matter how their days may be numbered….
The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. Think of Paul, traipsing though the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed the antipodes (Spain), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment.
There’s nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue — for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do….
Through such trials [as a diagnosis of cancer], God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not? Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things that don’t matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that do?…"

Wow! I would have to add that talking about the eventuality of passing from this life into another better life, has actually brought my friends to a place where they can talk about what their life is going to be like when I am gone. Yesterday, a bridge-playing friend exhorted me to continue to watch over them as they play. I think she was referring to my habit of reminding players of the rules during our games. I guess she wants an other-earthly referee. I appreciate the fact that I won't be soon forgotten, even though the concept she voiced isn't possible.

Sleepless in Forgan
Not only have I been sleeping less because of chronic pain in my digestive tract, but last night I watched all 15 innings of the All-Star Baseball Game. I actually stopped rooting for favorites and started rooting for it just to be over.

The game is to be a showcase for star athletes, trying to use as many as possible in a 9-inning game. I think major league baseball could introduce some kind of sudden victory after 9-innings don't produce a winner. In softball, they place a runner at 2nd base at the beginning of extra innings. Thus, there is an immediate possibility to produce a run. Since the only benefit from winning the game is the home-field advantage in the World Series, it wouldn't take away from the way normal baseball games are decided. Even professional tennis introduced tie-breakers in their sport and it made the game more interesting. To answer the baseball purists, what is the same about baseball now anyway? We have different equipment, juiced players, and changing some of the traditions wouldn't take away from the enjoyment of the game.

An alternative would be to allow the starters who leave after 3 innings to return to the game in the extra innings, so we could see the best compete for the win. I doubt the starting second basemen would have made 3 errors late in the game like the ones that occurred. So last night we watched so many extra innings with players who were in their first all-star game.

You may ask, why did I stay up so late, if I wasn't enjoying the game? Really, it was the introduction of all the Hall of Fame players, most of whom I had watched actually play in their prime. I have not followed baseball for years, so I wanted to see the new potential Hall of Fame players. Seeing and hearing Yogi Berra again was a real treat last night, especially in the stadium in which he played. Losing Yankee Stadium is a sentimental downer. The only reason I can justify cheering for the Yankees during my childhood was following the career of the Oklahoman, Mickey Mantle. I have always been partial to dynasties, and the Yankees organization has surely been that through the years.

I also noticed that so many of the Hall of Fame players played for the same team their entire careers. A few had two caps to show, because they retired with a different team than the one for whom they had played the majority of their careers. Now we have so many trades and free agent moves, that future Hall of Famers will have to hold a variety of caps.

Is God the Same for Everyone?
Pardon me for weighing in on this issue in some length in this post.

It seems that people everywhere are talking about how to get to the same God and the same heaven in the afterlife. This creates some problems.

1) If a person wants what God, the Creator is offering for life after death, he must accept what is said in His Book about it. The descriptions are given by one who not only knows the future, but also went there and came back to talk about it. He also stated that He was going to prepare a place for His believers. Then He sets the entrance requirements.

2) People talk about there must be other ways to get to God, the Creator's heaven. Even Oprah, who claims Christian upbringing makes statements like that.

3) I propose that all the various ways that people choose to believe are the different ways to get to the same place need to accept that they are being offered a life after death that is different, not the same. For example, the description of Islamic life after death leads to a different picture presented by their god, Allah, and involves physical pleasures.

4) For instance, New Age believers, who think they become gods themselves, do not talk about what they believe about life after death, because for them, there is no life after death. For them, god dies when each one of them dies.

5) Mormons, who believe there are seven levels of heaven, are talking about a different place being offered to their believers, not the same heaven.

6) The general feeling that is presented on television of all people going to a place where they can either see what is going on here on earth after they die, or that they become some kind of angel or guardian after they die, is a statement of belief in a different place, not the same heaven.

7) Agnostics who believe that they will spend their lives after death being so busy shaking hands with all their friends are not talking about the same heaven, but a different place that gives them some kind of solace about what is facing them in the afterlife. It is their psychological response to having to answer to God, the Creator.

8) Those who believe that God, the Creator, actually used evolution to spread life on earth, are not talking about the same god, or about the same heaven. Evolutionists believe that we will continue to evolve into better and better people until we will have heaven on earth.


So let's stop debating the various ways to get to the one heaven, when in fact the various ways lead to different existences. The bottom line is that when someone offers you a special place in which to live for eternity, He has the right to set the entrance requirements.

Voting Problems
...in an election year full of presidential politics, the local elections receive so little publicity, that I am sad to say I don't know who is running for local offices.
...my wife is working during the election and was contacted recently about it, so I actually know that there is a local election coming. However, I doubt that she knows the candidates either.
...our local newspaper recently posted the county wide candidates, all unopposed, so that also added to the lack of motivation to actually get informed and vote.

T. Boone Pickens has an Alternative Energy Plan
...I take notice when a man spends 58 million dollars to advertise his new ideas. However, according to his web site, www.pickensplan.com, the ideas are not new, but when he proposes something, he usually puts his money behind it. He is building a very large windmill farm in Texas. That will save whatever fossil fuels would have been used to produce that electricity.
...His proposal to run vehicles on natural gas might actually work this time, if he invests in the service stations needed for refueling such vehicles. Do we produce enough natural gas nationally to fuel all the vehicles?
...He appeals to those who do not want to drill for oil by saying that we don't need new drilling. I like the fact that he isn't proposing using something that will increase other items for consumers, like using corn to produce ethanol, causing grain prices to rise.

Pancreatic Cancer Therapy
I have added to my cancer therapy a prescription drug, Prevacid, to control my acid indigestion. After 3 days, it seems to be working to reduce the amount of indigestion pain that I am feeling. I have a prescription for hydrocodone to use as the pain gets worse, but for right now, regular Tylenol is working at night to help me sleep some of the night.

I still regularly talk about my cancer and get many suggestions from people about alternative therapies. Some of them are variations on what I am already doing, but most agree that the cause of the cancer should be the major concern, rather than the symptom of having a tumor in the pancreas.

I still have enough energy to exercise, help out my step-daughter, play sports, and continue my ministries. My weight has stabilized after losing over 30 pounds during this ordeal. I am getting enough sunlight to have a tan, and produce some extra vitamin D, as I take 1000 IU of vitamin D each day. A portion of my pancreas is still working, because my blood glucose level averages 120 over the past 14 readings.

Those who are praying for me to have wisdom, continue to do that. Those who are praying for a reduction of my pain, thanks, it seems to be working.

Happy Fourth of July, America!
We enjoyed the program and fireworks from Washington, D.C. tonight and I learned something new. Apparently in 1919, there was a competition to select the national anthem. George Gershwin wrote a song that sounded like a lot of the anthems from other nations who compete in the Olympics and win gold medals. It would have been singable, but probably not sound as unique as the one that was chosen in a newspaper vote for the anthems.
His song was called "O Land of Mine, America."

For enjoyment today, Wanda and I went to Liberal to play some golf at Willowtree Golf Club. She had never ever swung a golf club, so we hit some practice balls at the driving range and settled upon a 7-iron and driver for use in the game. Then we played our own personal scramble, hitting from the best shots for the next shot. We took some of her shots which were in the fairway, when mine were in the rough. She made some of the putts that we needed including sinking a 40-footer on the 18th hole for us to make a par 5. Our overall score was 95, which was bettered by Kolt's 92.

I doubt she will continue to strive to be an athletic golfer, but we may have some good times in the months ahead. Next, we hope to go bowling again. She is better at that than I; we had just stopped it after she separated her right shoulder, but now it is feeling better and we may try again. We had lots of fun earlier, especially with friends, like Denny & Evelyn Nelson.

Big Oklahoma News
We in Oklahoma are excited that a major sports franchise is coming to Oklahoma City. The former Seattle Supersonics are moving to OKC. I have suggested that they be called the "OKC Twisters" with colors of black, white, and silver, similar to the colors of various tornadoes which frequent our state. I think the 5 players could be introduced using the power ratings for twisters: EF-1 to EF-5. I can see concessions with twister straws, twister games, a DVD of "Twister" the movie, etc.

This introduction of a major basketball team should increase the interest in basketball at the state universities. I think having a former Big 12 player on the team is a big plus. Kevin Durant is a developing star for the team.

This also should enhance the development of the OKC bricktown area. With the high price of gas it might be an obstacle to traveling 200 miles to see a professional game.

Why Fear Autism?
Parents who have autistic children are striving to find out if some drug interaction, maybe in a vaccine, caused the condition.
Parents who don't want an autistic child are turning to fertility clinics to screen their embryos for the disease and reject them.

Yet, last night on "America's Got Talent" a 9-yr-old boy who was diagnosed with autism up to the age of 3 performed a song for the show. His first words at age 3 were in a song and he's been singing ever since. His answers to the judge's questions were so innocent and endearing. He stole the show as far as emotional response from the audience.

Once again, we humans think we know what characteristics a perfect child should have, probably someone more like us. Yet, the creative things that have happened in the world have been accomplished by many people who had some kind of difference in their brain function.

I reiterate that it is better to let the Creator do the creating!