Garage parking, Bad times coming?

We have a two car garage attached to our house here in Amarillo. We have enough room that we have been regularly parking the little van inside – especially since we filled the storage building parked next to our driveway with the overflow of boxes and other items to make room. Last night we rearranged again to see if we could put two cars in the open space and it worked. If the little van did not have sliding doors it may have been impossible to actually accomplish, but they fit and it made a big difference this morning when the temperature was -3F.


Victoria’s car is not fond of the cold and having it in the garage was a real blessing this morning. I still had to drive an hour in these temperatures but it did much better starting out with the oil above the -3F temperature. I am sure the garage was below freezing, but it was not below zero. Unfortunately the car will have to sit in those temperatures through the day in the parking lot here at work, but I got it off to a good start today.

A friend in New Jersey told me that there is more than an inch of ice on all the structures at work and a lot of snow on the ground. The temperature there is near 27F so all that accumulation should start to melt off later today, but it makes for dangerous work conditions and I imagine the roads are no better. Even in the bitter cold the roads were clear here. I told a friend yesterday that the cold is not too difficult to deal with, it is what it does to water that makes it hazardous. So other than the fear of breaking down and freezing to death in these temperatures, it is an easy commute for me here.

Watching Glenn Beck over the past several months has not painted a pretty picture of our country and our world, but I believe his representation to be a true one; more accurate than I would have known through other sources. But it begs the question, what can I do? Cori asked me yesterday if I had some sort of contingency plan for when things get really bad and I do believe it is coming. The short answer is no.

We are working diligently at getting out of debt totally; no car loans, no credit card balances, nothing on any type of payment plan. We are trying to save money, both in setting aside some in a segregated account and in drastically reducing our spending. Though we are working these plans, we are not making great progress, but we are making progress.

I still plan to live until I die. I am a very task oriented person and there is still a lot of work to be done, so my focus will be there until God gives me insight into what I need to do to care for the specific needs of those for whom He has made me responsible, and that may be a larger group than I expect; family, extended family, friends, etc. Who knows?

Should we give our children in marriage? Should we buy and sell? Yes and Yes. Should we circle the wagons and begin to isolate ourselves from the world at large, hoarding things that we think will have value in the hard times to come? Maybe, but my mind and my heart don’t work that way and it would be so easy to get way off track and start worshiping our own plan rather than keeping an honest eye on our Lord. Just look at Jim Jones and David Koresh to mention a couple.

It worries me to have to think that way so I may not be able to lead that charge…but I will pray about it.