In this world there may be many important things that grab your attention but would it be worthwhile if you heard from a person who changed history on what is important in life? Life comes with challenges that we all face as persons with our own autonomy, but what is wisdom for this age and ages of the past regarding what is important? Is who said it important too? If so the greatest thing that was every said is found in "Mark 1:1-8, where John the Baptist is calling from the desert and saying "Repent!"

I would say that in today’s age and troubles with “corona virus,” and so many other things that are distractions are not of the same importance. The most important point in this life is what Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."(John 3:5a,b)

I would say that this would be the starting point for all eternity, but it is what Jesus said to Nicodemus in his search for the truth. Nicodemus was a very religious man but missed the most important truth about being born of the flesh through our first birth and of the Holy Spirit in our second birth to help us live this life for God's glory not our own.

I lived without knowing this truth for thirty-three years of my life and now have lived with knowing this truth for thirty-four years of my life. I can testify that knowing Jesus through the Holy Spirit that lives within me by making Him Lord in your life is the most important point in living this life on earth. It is His will to be done on earth, not ours!

Please don't just take my word and witness of this truth please seek the truth or Him on your own and discover it for yourself.

I had driven this stretch of road many many times and could almost do it in my sleep, thank God I was not sleepy this day. The stretch of road I am referring to is Interstate 90 about ten miles before the Interstate 90/94 split. As you come into the Billings Montana area the road changes in elevation and drops down into a valley. As you leave the Billings area and head towards the split in the two interstates it drops down again and rises up on the right like you're on the side of a hill as you enter the split. To stay on I-90 you must stay to the right and go up a ramp because you will be on I-94 if you go straight ahead and wind up in Eastern Montana and North Dakota. When you stay to the right and take the ramp I-90 cuts to the south through the Crow Indian reservation and travels into Wyoming and South Dakota.

This day was especially cold and although the snow plows were out and about I had not seen on for quite awhile because the roads were cleared of snow and beginning to ice up, even though they had put salt and gravel on the roads earlier when they cleared the roads of snow. As I came into this valley of ice I was very aware of the greasiness of the roadway so I slowed down more in my 2000 Peterbuilt conventional tractor pulling a fifty-three foot trailer behind it. I had some weight on the trailer so it helped to anchor me to the ground. The roadway instantly had iced up from what I was driving on just a few minutes earlier and I looked over into the median strip to my left about a 100 yards out, I saw a salt shaker/plow upside down in it. So, I slowed down more but only using the lightest of braking motion because I did not want to wind up jack knifed in the median which could happen very quickly if I applied to much brake. Instead of using my foot pedal bake I pulled down on the T-bar for the trailer only brakes ever so slightly.

I still had to get onto the I-90 ramp and as I looked down the road to where it was about a half a mile or so, I could see some equipment sitting right where I wanted to go at the bottom of the ramp. In dry conditions as I remembered this ramp elevates pretty quickly at a 5% and curves to the right at about 30 angle while rising to the elevation of the connecting road. There is also a bridge right after the I-90 ramp connecting the westerly bound traffic from I-94 to merge into to I-90 east traffic at the top of the ramp. As I got closer to the ramp I could plainly make out two snow plows sitting side by side to clear the ramp. It looked like the ramp was effectively blocked by them and if I stopped I would surely jack knife right into them. I saw a patrol car sitting on top of the bridge at the connector watch me come closer and closer to the ramp. He might have been there for many reasons such as the upside down snow plow/salt shaker or monitoring the road conditions.

There was only one thing that came to mind in this Christian man and I knew how to ask for help so I called out, "Help Me Jesus!" I was directed by Him to stay to the left of the plows and I did so with his help. AS they saw me approach they ducked out of site and away from their plows as I passed by them doing at least 50 mph with their eyes wide open in amazement. Thank you Lord that problem was solved now to get up the ramp. As I attempted to downshift into a lower gear because of the incline I stalled the motor, something that does not usually happen. Instead of panicking I simply rolled the key off and restarted the engine and put it into gear I had selected when it stalled, but I had to use a lower gear because of the loss of road speed.

As I traveled up the ramp with success and merged onto I-90 and proceeded to the top of that incline there was a truck parking area there off to the right and I took it. I stopped there for a few minutes to say thank you to the Lord again and I wondered if it was Him holding up the semi and trailer as we went up that ramp because I didn't remember the road being that wide. I got outside of my truck and did a walk around inspection and assessed the situation and it was very cold and wind at the top of that mountain. So I got back into the truck just in time to hear another trucker on the CB radio say, "Let's Go (company name)" and I said. "I'll be right behind you." We traveled together for a few miles through some wintery roads into Wyoming. I pulled off for coffee in Buffalo and we parted company as the other trucker went on toward South Dakota. I found a parking spot and instead of coffee I rested. Thank you Lord Jesus for miracles that still happen today when nothing else will do. I am reminded by something my uncle Walt said to me, who lived in that area and traveled to South Dakota on a regular basis. He said, " You cannot be a trucker for very long and not experience the grace of God and the power of God when running down the road into all the things that we encounter. I definitely agree with him.

I had driven this stretch of road many many times and could almost do it in my sleep, thank God I was not sleepy this day. The stretch of road I am referring to is Interstate 90 about ten miles before the Interstate 90/94 split. As you come into the Billings Montana area the road changes in elevation and drops down into a valley. As you leave the Billings area and head towards the split in the two interstates it drops down again and rises up on the right like you're on the side of a hill as you enter the split. To stay on I-90 you must stay to the right and go up a ramp because you will be on I-94 if you go straight ahead and wind up in Eastern Montana and North Dakota. When you stay to the right and take the ramp I-90 cuts to the south through the Crow Indian reservation and travels into Wyoming and South Dakota.

This day was especially cold and although the snow plows were out and about I had not seen on for quite awhile because the roads were cleared of snow and beginning to ice up, even though they had put salt and gravel on the roads earlier when they cleared the roads of snow. As I came into this valley of ice I was very aware of the greasiness of the roadway so I slowed down more in my 2000 Peterbuilt conventional tractor pulling a fifty-three foot trailer behind it. I had some weight on the trailer so it helped to anchor me to the ground. The roadway instantly had iced up from what I was driving on just a few minutes earlier and I looked over into the median strip to my left about a 100 yards out, I saw a salt shaker/plow upside down in it. So, I slowed down more but only using the lightest of braking motion because I did not want to wind up jack knifed in the median which could happen very quickly if I applied to much brake. Instead of using my foot pedal bake I pulled down on the T-bar for the trailer only brakes ever so slightly.

I still had to get onto the I-90 ramp and as I looked down the road to where it was about a half a mile or so, I could see some equipment sitting right where I wanted to go at the bottom of the ramp. In dry conditions as I remembered this ramp elevates pretty quickly at a 5% and curves to the right at about 30 angle while rising to the elevation of the connecting road. There is also a bridge right after the I-90 ramp connecting the westerly bound traffic from I-94 to merge into to I-90 east traffic at the top of the ramp. As I got closer to the ramp I could plainly make out two snow plows sitting side by side to clear the ramp. It looked like the ramp was effectively blocked by them and if I stopped I would surely jack knife right into them. I saw a patrol car sitting on top of the bridge at the connector watch me come closer and closer to the ramp. He might have been there for many reasons such as the upside down snow plow/salt shaker or monitoring the road conditions.

There was only one thing that came to mind in this Christian man and I knew how to ask for help so I called out, "Help Me Jesus!" I was directed by Him to stay to the left of the plows and I did so with his help. AS they saw me approach they ducked out of site and away from their plows as I passed by them doing at least 50 mph with their eyes wide open in amazement. Thank you Lord that problem was solved now to get up the ramp. As I attempted to downshift into a lower gear because of the incline I stalled the motor, something that does not usually happen. Instead of panicking I simply rolled the key off and restarted the engine and put it into gear I had selected when it stalled, but I had to use a lower gear because of the loss of road speed.

As I traveled up the ramp with success and merged onto I-90 and proceeded to the top of that incline there was a truck parking area there off to the right and I took it. I stopped there for a few minutes to say thank you to the Lord again and I wondered if it was Him holding up the semi and trailer as we went up that ramp because I didn't remember the road being that wide. I got outside of my truck and did a walk around inspection and assessed the situation and it was very cold and wind at the top of that mountain. So I got back into the truck just in time to hear another trucker on the CB radio say, "Let's Go (company name)" and I said. "I'll be right behind you." We traveled together for a few miles through some wintery roads into Wyoming. I pulled off for coffee in Buffalo and we parted company as the other trucker went on toward South Dakota. I found a parking spot and instead of coffee I rested. Thank you Lord Jesus for miracles that still happen today when nothing else will do. I am reminded by something my uncle Walt said to me, who lived in that area and traveled to South Dakota on a regular basis. He said, " You cannot be a trucker for very long and not experience the grace of God and the power of God when running down the road into all the things that we encounter. I definitely agree with him.

I first heard these words in a rock & roll song by the Byrds back in the sixties, yes I am telling on myself here. The words that I am speaking of are:

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-

A time to give birth and a time to die;

A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.

A time to kill and a time to heal;

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to weep and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn and a time to dance.

A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

A time to search and a time to give up as lost;

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;

A time to be silent and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate;

A time for war and a time for peace. (Ecc. 3:1-8) NASV

When I first heard these words I sang them and had no idea that they came from the Bible. When you hear the truth you know it, and when you sing the truth it stays with you. These words are still with me to this day as I go through yet another season of my life.

I am realizing that before I can start a new season I must put the old season in the rear view mirror so to speak. That is a driver's interpretation anyway and that is what I have recently had to do. Has anyone else had to do this? I would love to hear how this happened in your life. As we look at the words above they fit to every season I have gone through in life. I think all of us can relate to these words in some way.

The point is that these words are true and there is no way of escaping that fact no matter what you do, because the truth is the truth! But today we are led to believe that everything is relative to us even the truth. If we hold onto to the truth we will see the untruth or lie in that statement. Just like in the words above once I was a kid and now I am a grown up, even more than that I am a grandpa and even a great grandpa now. When we live by the words of truth we begin to gain God's wisdom and not just the world's wisdom. We must then apply the truth we find in our lives or it is of no use to us to just have knowledge we must walk it out in this life we are given and we only live once.

In life there are the season's above and we must learn to put the old or the past in the rear view mirror and continue on our journey in this life into the plan or purpose that God has made for just us and no one else. I wish you well my friends and neighbors and keep up with the pursuit of truth.

Sometime, somewhere you will run into nurse ratchet, she is lurking somewhere close to you. She is the nurse who does things her way in her time and you had better agree or else. If you have been admitted to a hospital or ever dealt with a medical office, say by going in for an appointment you will run into her at some point. You may falsly believe that she does not exist at this facility because everything is running so smoothly and everybody is so happy. But you would be wrong because it was not her shift when you visited, or she had the day off as rare as that might be, or somewhere she was inflicting her ways on some other poor individual out of your sight. But she is there and you will know it when you run into her and she says "We don't do things that way," even though you have already talked to others at her facility and have did things in easier ways. She has a grin, even if you are talking to her on the telephone as I did today, you can feel it she is happy that she has messed up your day and your plans. Nurse Ratchet is a displaced individual that should be doing something that does not involve other people or in a very limited capacity off in a corner somewhere. What nurse Ratchet wants is for everybody within her atmosphere to adhere to her plans and do this immediately.

It seems like my childhood passed right before my eyes it went by so fast looking back at it now. But then it seemed to last an eternity and I thought that I would never get through it. As I look back at the memorable times with my family gatherings on holidays and the ” Now I lay me down to sleep” prayers stand out the most. Why I ask myself? I think it was because even though some family gathering were hard, it was bearable because there were others I could share it with. From the beginning of my life I knew that their was a God or someone more powerful than us and that there has to be a reason for life. All of creation screamed this in my face especially as I got older. The prayers helped reinforce this idea of a creator of all, but it did not provide a clue to the purpose of my life. Only now looking back at my childhood can I see the designs my loving God had for me and how He was shaping me to be the person that I am today. I thank God childhood is brief because parts of mine were almost unbearable but God got me through all those hard parts by his strength and using my family and others that crossed my path to help Him help me. I did not really know God at this time just about Him and with all the troubles of life in the city it was hard to see outside my problems. But now I see so clearly that my problems are so small compared to others I have encountered. I had so many plans back then of what I wanted out of life and what I was going to grow up to be. It is laughable to think back at some of those thoughts but my purpose eventually showed itself as I learned to drive and explore our world. It was like discovering what I was made for and it is still that way today. Thank you Lord for giving me the desire to drive and to help others with their needs while doing it for money or volunteering it is the same it fills my heart with satisfaction.

*Originally posted at my blog "Can You Imagine."

One thing I know I am not writing for anyone else but me these days because all I can write is my journal. But that is a good thing because if you can put it down on paper you can look at it, read it out loud, examine why you wrote what you wrote and so on. So I write, write, write everyday something in my journal and most times it is about what I have learned that day from my Lord Jesus. You see the first thing I do is read His Word and try to get a grip on my path for the day as He directs. Somedays I either didn't get His direction or just choose to do my own thing instead. But the point is I keep going and do not give up.

Like the other day I was journaling and I asked myself about a dream I had and what it might mean to me and is this a dream that God is giving me or did I just have too much pizza? It was about a period of my life that I kept dreaming about so I wrote in the journal "What's this about Lord?" I wrote down my conclusions then left it for a few hours but not more than that. I have found the answer and wrote it down too after it just popped into my mind from seemingly out of nowhere. But I know who put it there.

Sometimes it seems to take forever waiting on God's direction, other times it is a simple restatement of what He has already told you to do. In this case it was the later. I now have direction and in this case He just reemphasized what He had earlier told me to do but with more detail. In order to hear what God says you must be listening. I know that sounds too basic but these days when there is so many other things that vie for our attention it is hard to hear what He says even when your listening.

It is that still, small, voice from deep within that has taken me this far in life and will get me to the end where I will one day meet up with Jesus, God's son. So onward Christian soldier I am continuing to do what He has called me to do and part of that call is writing about what He has done in my life. I am also going to take a step of faith, not of chance, and put in an application for something that I have never done and see what God does with it. Thank you all for your encouragement and listening to what I have to say, I hope it helps somebody.

I love life even with all of its troubles and expectations it seems to be an ever twisting road to continue in life and stay on track in the process. Let me explain, I am retired from many years of driving, something I loved very much and still do, but that is only the start of an unwritten story. While I am waiting for my next assignment, because I am not driving as much anymore, I must depend on God to steer me in the right direction and not anticipate so much but participate in what he has for me.

I is not easy starting over after 65 years of life but it is possible. See our minds our created for an eternity and this life is just the training course to see if we will go ahead into eternity with God or someone else. The older a person gets the more thoughts they have of the past, good or bad, than the present because there is more behind them than in front of them, or is there?

So one day you wake up and it is not like all the other days in your life, it is different. I had never heard of social distancing until it came out from the CDC that we all have to start doing it, so I played my part in it. Just now my phone beeped and we too like the two counties below us have a "stay at home" order issued by out local government to protect everyone's health. I am not able to do much work wise so I am catching up if you will, on a lot of things I have put off because I did not have the time. I am also on social media more now because I have to be to stay connected to my church and my community and that is not necessarily a bad thing. I have also prayed more than usual because this is all new ground these days and I need my Lord's help to get through this time period.

I know others that have gone through much worse things than we are going through now like the two world wars, the stock market crash, black plague, and many other things that seem a lot worse to me right now. I know in my heart of hearts we, or Americans, will get through this time stronger than how we went into it but we all still have to wait, wait, and wait some more for it to pass it's course and a cure to be found so we can help others. So I pray and wait, pray and wait some more, it is the least thing I could do.