Mind Muddles

Posted on by Gary Fultz

I’ve been sick. too sick to think with any speed or accuracy I guess. Long pauses are my friend. Lot’s of things like questions, coughing spells and too many vitamins give me the mind muddles. I have a sneaky suspicion that those little viruses that cause me so many problems are a lot like what the preachers describe as the character of sin in one’s life. “Sin will take you further than you want to go and keep you longer than you want to stay.” I suspect another point would be that sin creates a “mind muddle” on the spiritual end of things. What do I know? I have a muddled mind.

The ironic part of being sick, with high fevers for awhile, is there is so much time to think. Let the beauty of that statement sink in (believe me, I’ve tried). Right now, deep thinking works about as well as shoving off from shore in a canoe with no paddle. I have experiences there and it’s a good idea to bring your fishing rod for something to do until you drift to the end of the lake. Remember to bring your cell phone to let the family know you might be late for supper and possibly breakfast.

This downy woodpecker has a muddled mind. See his beak? He keeps beating out tunes on my grill cover

Now my fevers are gone and recovering is real slow. I have actually gained some insight about myself, God and life in general. I felt good one day, rushed outside, worked in the garden and went on a photo-shoot to the lake. I’m quite sure it was the garden work that cost me about two weeks of extended recovery time. More thermometer in mouth and parking under blankets on the recliner in front of the picture window time. Again. Sigh, a familiar reoccurrence.

I think much of my time looking out the window was in worship on the lowest level one can get. Seriously; on my level of muddled mind, all I could do was look out the window and see the trees, birds, sky, new buds and leaves and say “wow”. Nature is sure beautiful. Look…Oh look! that squirrel is climbing a tree! “They do that sometimes” said my wife.

My prayer has been “thank you Lord for making such beauty, and thank you for even a muddled minded sickly guy being able to enjoy it.”

I’m getting better every day. I can get out for short periods of time, rest awhile and go again. I can now take off the 30 foot retractable dog leash off my ankle without getting dizzy bending over. This means I am more responsible now for how far I go beyond the deck. If you do not hear from me in awhile, again, I am probably in the canoe.

I do have a few pictures to share from a few of my short outings…enjoy and stay healthy!

Click on any picture to enlarge and for slide show.

Gary

Surviving The Crash

Posted on by Gary Fultz

Several of you have wanted to know more details of my cousins daughter surviving a plane crash in Alaska last month. You may have seen something on the news or googled “plane crash on a lake in Alaska”. Notice the open water in the background if you clicked on the link.

Ashley and Glenn talk some about this in their local rural church. It’s very much worth hearing their thoughts then and today. There is a long journey ahead to get back to the top of a mountain.

This is a “before” picture. I hope it can happen again Ashley!

As a backdrop, keep some little tidbits of information in the back of your mind.

This from a text today: “The hardest part about telling the story is that it takes so long to set up the story that many of the miracles were not even mentioned.  Lake Illiamna is the 7th largest freshwater lake in the world. 1) Had the pilot started the turn 10 seconds sooner (which equals 1/2 mile), the plane would have crashed in open water.  10 seconds later and they would have crashed in the rocks.  It was perfect timing to crash onto 30 inches of ice in a bay.  2) The plan crashed in the middle of a turn, hitting wing first.  This caused the plan to cartwheel, which caused the engine and battery to be ripped off, so that there was nothing to ignite the leaking AV fuel.  3) God allowed for one of the texts to make it out, which gave coordinates and situation.  Just that small detail shaved off an hour or more of search and rescue response. 4) There is the triple A battery, that was in someone’s pocket, which was nearly sliced in two,  protecting an upper thigh from a potentially deep cut”

The list goes on and on of seemingly small details of life and death significance.

This interview, in their local church, is a part of the palm Sunday service. Pick up the conversation with Ashley at 39:45 and Glenn’s challenge as a father at 57:30. going into this. Understand this is someone with a very recent miraculous survival story. (Scroll to Ashley talking at 39:45 and Glenn at 57:30)

Scroll to Ashley talking at 39:45 and Glenn at 57:30

When asked if there was anything else I should put in this post, Glenn asked for this prayer of encouragement from Colossians 1 :9-11. “ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,  being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience”

Ask questions in comments, and, yes an account is being set up to help pay emergency evacuation and medical bills beyond what insurance will cover. I will post that later on my regular garyfultz blog

Thanks

Gary