Spring Share at KTIS with Healing Haiti.

Some of the finest people you’ll ever meet. The hands and feet of Christ.

This week KTIS is doing their spring fund raising push and they are helping out Healing Haiti at the same time. An anonymous donor has come out to support Healing Haiti. During the week when you financially support KTIS that donor will donate (separately) to Healing Haiti to bring water to the slums of Cite Soleil.

It’s a great concept. None of your donation will be used for the water trucks, all of your money goes to keep KTIS on the air and support their ministry. But because the donor is working behind the scenes and out their own pocket, clean water will be delivered to the poorest slum in the western world.

I’m proud to be a part of that effort, manning the phone to talk to donors.

Volunteering at KTIS on the phones. (Headset is not beard-compliant.)

As you can see, the headsets provided are not ZZ Top beard friendly. Rumor has it I’m actually auditioning for Duck Dynasty and will abandon my role as Santa Claus. Don’t worry – while I’d be thrilled to be on the show with the Duckmen as a guest I’ll never drop Santa. Saint Nicholas is too close to my heart.

Please take some time this week to support one of the greatest ministries I know and donate to KTIS. You can do it on their website or call the station at 651-631-5000. When you donate (and some of us do it as a part of our tithes) it gets a positive, family friendly, and Christian message out into the community. It brings people closer to God and this week it helps provide water to the people of Haiti.

God is working a miracle here, please be a part of it.

Blessings continue to rain down. Thank you, Faigle.

Some of the finest people you’ll ever meet. The hands and feet of Christ.

I am a firm believer that blessings are real. Today’s post is about a blessing that I received on behalf of Healing Haiti.

While we were in Haiti we travelled around in vehicles known as tap-taps. Inside it gets a little cramped on occasion but there are rails to hang on when the road gets bumpy so that everyone doesn’t get thrown around. It works great for apes like me with long arms. Smaller people have a little harder time. In the newest member of the fleet the rails are a little higher up and it presented a problem for at least one member of our team.

I had the bright idea to get some hanging straps like you see on buses and subways to make things easier. The problem is that most of the companies that sell them only sell them in lots of 2400 or so. Healing Haiti didn’t need but 24. I did find one manufacturer who sold lots of 30 on their website and I sent them a request for a quote on their Igostrap. That company is Faigle.eu. They’re in Austria.

A few days later I got a response to my email. They wanted to donate the straps to us and asked only that we pay the freight. That was still pretty expensive. I responded to their generous offer with a request that they ponder a cheaper shipping method. They found one and I was thrilled. Exactly what we needed for our vehicles. As a matter of fact, state of the art – the plastics they use are anti-microbial and will work to kill the germs that you encounter while working in the slums for years to come. This can only be good news to the missionaries in the group. And it far exceeded anything I had started to look for in my search. This was a true blessing.

Payment was the only sticking point as international funds transfer is a pain. Bank to bank wires are almost as much as the shipping fees. I sent the funds Paypal just two days ago – when the straps arrived.

As you can see they are beautiful and ideal for what we need.

Blessings come in boxes from Austria and the fine people of Faigle.

And the wonderful people at Faigle did it as a gift of love to make our mission in Haiti a little easier to accomplish. I say “we” and “our” because I’m falling in love with the idea of making Haiti a part of my life for the long term. And Healing Haiti will definitely be a part of that equation.

I will post some pictures of the straps once they have been installed. In the meantime, please join me in praying for the people at Faigle in appreciation of their kind and generous gift.

Have you ever responded to a request by turning it into a gift? Will you now view that as a possibility?

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Today’s keyword bingo entry is: Schlagobers – in honor of our friends at Faigle. It describes them wonderfully – an unexpected treat full of sweetness.

Mental health problems are hard to ignore.

This will be one of those posts where experts will poo-poo my amateur approach and those suffering themselves, or with loved ones who suffer, taking note of my writing and shedding a tear.

Whether or not you are willing to admit it you have someone in your life that suffers from serious mental health issues. It may be you, your husband, your sister, your aunt, your boss, your coworker, your best friend in the church choir, or just that nice man who bakes the croissants at the bakery and always smiles when you come in to get a few.

Human beings are very fragile. We break from falling on the ice, we don’t tolerate automobile accidents very well, and our minds are the same. Some things just break them no matter how strong we are in this life.

I have been blessed to be tough both physically and mentally. As I age both are on the down-slope but I’m still bigger than the average bear and tough in ways that most people never were in their lives. Especially mentally.

People that have known me for years will probably laugh derisively at that last statement. They’ll wonder if my bad temper and my foul mouth aren’t signs of mental illness. They might wonder about some of the twisted thoughts I’ve expressed over the past five decades as well.

In response I’d have to say that the temper and foul mouth are partly my fault and partly a product of my environment growing up. I won’t make any excuse for them continuing but I don’t hit people. Yes, I vent. Probably shouldn’t but I do. As to the twisted thoughts… that’s probably what makes me a fairly good author – thinking outside the box. I’ve never done any of the really crazy stuff I’ve talked about or written about but just being able to express those thoughts helps me to expand my universe.

What I am talking about is my ability to deal with the truly ugly things in life without succumbing to depression, substance abuse, or suicide. I don’t need to self-medicate. I haven’t been on any prescriptions for any of my bad days. And my bad days are really more like bad minutes. Even when Maisie died I got out of bed the next day and went to work. I was sad, but it was not the focus of my world. In short, I am not prone to serious psychiatric problems. And I truly thank God for that each time the thought occurs to me.

What about the others? The one who live in that dark place 24×7? I know about that place, have loved ones and friends who live there. The ones who cannot get out of the door because the world beyond the living room is too dangerous and frightening. The ones who hear voices – and the voices take time to detail every failure and flaw in them each time they speak. The voices that encourage them to kill themselves and make it easier for the ones left behind. A falsehood that I know comes right from Satan. Suicide makes nothing better for the ones left behind. It leaves a wake of tragedy and loss that can never be completely healed.

And there are others with mental health problems. The ones who seem perfectly normal until the conversation derails and goes off on some freakish tangent. That conversation where you stop for a moment and wonder, “What are we talking about? Did I black out for a minute?” Nope, you’re just fine. But that lovely person whom you’ve known and loved for all these years is not quite right. They understand what they’re talking about. The internal monologue they are having filled in all the blanks that you couldn’t. They aren’t dangerous, they aren’t mean, they’re just not on the wavelength where most of us live our lives.

And while it’s a horrible thing for the people who are depressed, suicidal, delusional, or simply confused it’s often even harder on their family and friends. Because if you love that person you cannot walk away. The “crazies” on the street who button-hole you and want to talk about “George Wallace actually being a Catholic Nun” can be ignored. (That was one of the first conversations I ever had with a street person. I was 16 years old and it was at the Greyhound depot in Minneapolis. I remember it vividly.) You can just walk on by and go your way.

But if you have a wedding ring and they’re your spouse that’s not possible. I was privy to a conversation recently where two of the people involved had spouses with serious mental health issues. Both had been married for a long period of time and both truly loved their spouse. The pain and effort of sustaining those relationships was showing on both of their faces. As the conversation grew in length I was amazed at the common experiences they had in their married lives. One was a man and one a woman – both talked about how they’d faced the loss of their partner through suicide attempts and had taken time to plan the funeral that they would hopefully never have to witness. How they’d thought about what would happen to them in the wake of that tragedy. How they’d come home at night and when the house was quiet gone looking for the body of their loved one, sure that they’d killed themselves. It was just so matter of fact – because for them it was a fact.

And they discussed how difficult it was to deal with the raft of other issues that their spouse had brought to the table. Both had common experiences. Just like Pancreatic Cancer manifests itself in similar ways in most patients, mental health problems like major depression look very similar in people of the same age and background.

Both of them also had a weary sadness and sense of hopelessness about them. They’d both been through so much. They’d both been there for their ill spouse for decades and made sure that they were at the doctor when they needed to be seen, had been the cheerleader during the dark times, and sometimes simply held the other’s hand to let them know they were loved. One of the two had been in pain from the mental abuse dished out by their spouse when they were on the bottom of the cycle. It was palpable.

Yet neither one of them cried. It was just a frank discussion of what life was like. And it’s a conversation I imagine takes place millions of times each week around the country. Today the conversation is with you, my reader.

I would ask that you take a few minutes right now and think about your circle of friends and family. Think about who among them might have mental health problems, or be taking care of that person. And take time to pray for them. Take time to reach out to them and let them know you love them. Let them know you are there for them. Just a simple invitation to have a cup of coffee or go to a movie means more to them than you can imagine.

I’m not asking you to be the therapist they need. They may have one of those already. I’m asking you to reach out to them like Jesus would if he were walking next to them. That simple, kind word that you express may lift the burden for just long enough to get them through the current crisis. The chance to talk to someone and get outside of themselves for a while is an amazing tonic. And it applies equally to the person with the illness and the caretaker.

We stigmatize the mentally ill by our careful avoidance of the topic. It’s an illness just like cancer, diabetes, or gout. On rare occasions it’s brought on by the person’s actions (severe chemical or alcohol abuse) but that’s often transitory. In most people it can be treated medically. But it is an illness. Let’s treat them with the kindness that is required.

What will you do today to reach out to the caregiver of a mentally ill person? Will you take the time to let your friend with depression know that you are available to just hang out with them? To take a walk, watch a movie? And will you leave a comment for me if you need someone to pray for you in your struggle with mental illness. Either as a care giver or as a victim of the illness. I’d be glad to do it, and the comment will not be published if you merely indicate that it’s private.

No keyword bingo today. Just a request that you contemplate what I’ve written and act on it in your own life.

Nothing serious today.

Today is a day of rest, just like yesterday. I spent some time with my friend Steve in ICU. Yes, he still really needs those prayers. Going on into the third week of his hospitalization. And don’t forget his wife, Holly. Both can use that bounce from a bunch of prayers.

I didn’t really take yesterday off. I spent part of it getting my book in the mail and off to an agent. Yes, someone really wants to read it. In this case, read it again now that it’s had a year to get edited. I did not waste time during that year, the book is much better. But since it’s entered in two major contests and blabbing about the title might prejudice judges, etc., I’ll just call it the book. I’m pretty tickled that the agent wanted to take a second look. I think they’ll be pleased.

I may have written about my dogs and the deposits on the rug. Found a solution to that, one gets incarcerated at night and the other uses a giant square of “pee-pads” designed for puppies. He’s at the other end of the life cycle but what the heck, the old boy just can’t hold it some times. The problem is he sleeps on the mats and if she’s out and about she won’t do her business on him but elects the rug next to him. Keeping her locked up at night in one of our rooms or the vari-kennel seems the best solution.

But for a few nights Edzell threw us a curve. He decided to go on a Barf-a-thon. And he did it next to the pads.

I don’t know whether to weep or laugh. Either way I’ve spent more time on my knees cleaning up dog yak than praying this week. Need to change that A.S.A.P.

I do have some real posts later on in the week (mine just started, work Wednesday to Wednesday) but I’m just not up to anything too heavy today and they are all fairly weighty posts. Need some time to cogitate on them before I throw them on the web.

In the meantime, here’s a chicken dish from work last night.

Missing only tortillas.

In the glorious slow cooker liner (a.k.a. crock pot condom)


Take 24 drumsticks, 1 sliced lemon, 1 sliced lime, 1 large jar of hot salsa, one can of corn, one can of black beans, and throw them in a crock pot for 6 hours on high.

Shake the chicken off the bones and mix it all up with just enough brown instant rice to soak up any excess moisture. Serve it with corn tortillas and the usual suspects like sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, etc. Serious eating. The midnight shift always does it up right.

The best part? We use crock pot condoms – the manufacturer calls them slow-cooker liners. We like our term better. Just put a little water in the stoneware pot and the insert the liner. Cleanup consists of cleaning the lid and chucking the liner. If you were so inclined you could put the lid inside of another one and then do no cleanup at all.

I hope you have a wonderful day today and your dogs hit the pads every time. What in your life is as bad as a dog with poor aim? And what is as good as crock pot chicken tacos?

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Today’s keyword bingo phrase: Argentine Pope Remember – the keyword of the day is strictly a traffic tool and has nothing to do with content here. Unless it does.