Well, last week we learned that Tiger Woods was in an auto accident.  Then we learned that he had a mistress for several years.  Now we learn that he has had several mistresses for several years.

So far, 7 women claim to have been Tiger’s lover.  But, that was yesterday.  Who knows how many more will surface before the end of the week.

Of course, not all of the claims are legitimate.  But still there are enough to establish a life style pattern.

When did he find time to play golf?

We went Christmas tree shopping this last weekend. We were looking for a 12′ blue spruce. Anything shorter than that looks out of place in our great room.

Our first stop offered us a 9′ Frazier Fur for $85. We thought it a little too pricey. The next stop had 10′ trees for $50 but nothing in spruce. Our next and last stop was a very modest tree farm. They offered any size tree for just $25.

Since there was about 6″ of snow at the tree farm, and we were interested in a blue spruce, the owner suggested that he cut the top out of a blue spruce right next to the driveway. We looked over the tree and decided that it would work.

Now, this tree was tall enough that we had a hard time estimating it’s height. With Kathy standing next to the tree, I estimated it at about 20′. So, we had them cut it at about 5′ off the ground. Once it was down, they cut another 3′ off of it and then loaded it on the minivan for us.

Once we got it home and put it up, we determined that it was a 16′ tree; the largest that we have ever put up. Knowing that a tree that large would easily sell for $300 in Grand Rapids, I gave the man substantially more than his $25 asking price.

He and his sons were ecstatic. Kathy and I had a warm and happy feeling all of the way home; not just because we had purchased a beautiful tree but because we had made someone else Christmas a little happier.

Oh, we also got some really strange looks as we drove down the road.

One night in 1976, I was praying when I encountered something very evil. (I am very sensitive to the presence of evil.) I was hearing a voice but the voice didn’t feel right. Finally, when I challenged the voice, I was knocked over backwards and my whole body felt like it was on fire. Truly, I had encountered something evil in the spiritual realm.

From then on, I was terrified to pray. Oh, I could pray the superficial prayers, but I could never go back into what I call the spiritual realm. And going to church or reading my Bible did not yield any spiritual joy or peace. In short, I felt empty inside.

Dismayed by this condition, I talked with my pastor about this problem hoping he would have some answers. He didn’t. I talked with the chapelin at Calvin and like my pastor, he too was answerless. But, he did refer me to some books written by Catholic mystics.

One book in particular was “The Dark Night of the Soul” by St John of the Cross. In the Dark Night of the Soul, I found that it was describing my condition to a “T”.

Basically, the book said that this was one aspect of Sanctification and that it would last for many years. The book also said that the dark night would leave as suddenly as it came. And, there was not really any thing I could do except to continue to believe and wait.

The dark night lasted for 18 years.  So, for the next 18 years, believe is what I did. I lived by faith and not because I had some religious emotions or feelings. For 18 years, I lived in the “valley” with only memories of what it was like to be on the “mountain”.

Then, as predicted, it suddenly lifted. The joy and the peace were back and at 10 times the intensity of anything previous. Plus, I seemed to have a new relationship with God, one that was much deeper and more intimate.

This was also the start of the prayer time visions.  I will write more about those later.

The other day, I was in Meijer’s (regional grocery chain) when I noticed a strange event in the produce section. There was a man with a movie camera on a tripod filming some apples.

Now, the apples were not doing anything, they were just laying their in the produce case. So, if the man was making a movie, I imagine it will be pretty boring.

I happened to glance at the clearance section in the bakery at Meijer’s (regional grocery chain) the other day. I saw turnover on sale for 60% off.

Now, I love cherry turnovers and since these turnover were the large kind, I thought that i would grab a package. I picked up the first package on the shelf. I could see something that looked red oozing from the crust. Yes! Cherry! But wait, the label says that they are blue berry.  Bah!

Now, I have nothing against blue berry but I love cherry. So, I put the package back. Maybe there would be a cherry one also.

Since there were a dozen packages of turnover, certainly one of them must be cherry. But no, they were all blue berry, every last one of them.

Rats! Oh well, I didn’t need the calories anyway. I guess if they had that many packages of blueberry turnovers on clearance, they must not be that popular in the first place.

I was in the store the other day when I happened to notice a fairly attractive middle aged woman. She caught my attention because of her long hair and skinny legs.

Now, during the shopping experience, I often see the same people over and over again as we proceed throughout the store. So, I was not surprised to see her standing at the check out four lanes over from me. I was surprised though when she took out her teeth, inspected them and then put them back into her mouth.

Well, at least she can be spared the embarrassment of having food stuck to the front of her teeth.

Well, I got my first deer of the season. I say “first” as I can get several this year.

We do enjoy our venison and have several recipes that we just adore. Of course, the key ingredient for these recipes is venison so it is fairly important to have a good supply of the meat.

This years entree is a button buck. I really wanted to get a nice fat doe, but this guy slipped in to the herd of does and, well, he was mistaken for a doe.

Usually, bucks, including button bucks, are solitary and travel alone. But this guy choose to hang with the herd. And while shooting a button buck is not illegal, I try to avoid them as they will be next years champions.

I guess timing is everything.