Buck sighting, sleep troubles, growing up

In order to return one of the company trucks to the office I rode with a coworker to his house to get his personal vehicle. It was about a thirty minute drive by the route he took; he purposely took the longer, more scenic route.  At one point on one of the lesser traveled roads winding through the rolling hills of this area of Texas, we were paralleled by a trio of bucks.

Their racks were in velvet and the smallest one was an eight point. The larger two were well over that count. We slowed to let them cross the road in front of us on their way to the more wooded side of the road. One of the bucks miscalculated the jump a smacked into the fence with the full momentum of his run. After he bounced off of the roadway and scrambled for footing he ran a bit and got over the fence successfully. I have not seen a sight like that for many years. It made the entire trip worthwhile.

I have been having a good deal of trouble sleeping lately. As I lay in bed last night trying to get back to sleep it occurred to me that I had better check the meds I was taking. It turns out that one of the common side effects for Prednisone (I am taking it to help reduce the swelling in my lower back.) is insomnia.  A secondary, albeit noticeable effect I am dealing with, is mood changes.

That coupled with the stomach discomfort is enough to make me consider discontinuing the regimen but I have been warned that tapering down the dosage and slowly backing off the medicine is the best course of action. At least I have an idea what could be going on. I am more than half way through the prescribed regimen so I will follow through as directed but it is no fun to have medicines mess with my head, my sleep, my weight and my mood.

Neither Mama nor I wanted to go to church last night. Terrible isn’t it! In moments like those we do what we know we ought to do and we got dressed and went anyway. It has always been a behavior that pays rich dividends. Last night was no exception. We had a guest speaker who talked about serving God out of fear when we first come to Him. Later we serve Him because the rewards of doing so are obvious in the daily course of our lives. When we mature in our relationship with the Lord, we serve Him out of love.

He related it to childrearing. When our children are very young they obey out of fear; fear of punishment that could follow disobedience. As they grow and take on responsibilities of adolescent and teen years, they obey because we are able to reward their behavior with privileges and perks – staying over with friends, driving the car, etc. But later they obey out of love.

If my Dad were to call me today and request my help, I would drop everything and go. Not because I fear him or because I expect to get something out of it, but because I love him.  And so it should be. I hope my relationship with the Lord is maturing to that level.

It is hard to believe that today is the first of August.