Nutzy Cuckoo Neighbors

It felt awfully early, Saturday morning when the alarm went off.  8:00--time to get up.  It was a struggle and I looked out the window.  Our record setting temperature from the day before, was now in the 30's and it was snowing.

I got the cats fed and went to the bathroom and so wanted to lay back down, but....8:15 is good enough to stay up.  Put my mug of milk in the microwave, got the milk nice and hot, two scoops of Nestle's Quik stirred in and came in to turn on the computer.  

I glanced down at the lower right hand corner to see what day it was and the time said: 7:20.

Wait.  What?

I trudged back to the bedroom.  My bedside clock said: 8:21.  Back to the kitchen to check the stove, microwave, my weather station.  All clocks read: 7:23.  

Oh Good Grief!!!!!  When I set the alarm, I must have pressed one time too many on that button and set it an hour early?

You would have thought I'd get a lot done, waking up an hour early.  That was not the case!
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I did have an interesting day Sunday though.

My neighbor Tammie came to visit.  She is the girl next door who claims to be a Wiccan.  At one time a Catholic and later a Seventh Day Adventist.  Her husband deals in magic, so when she met him, she started getting involved in that and the worshipping of different gods and goddesses.

She came over to inform me she has had a miracle sent from God and now belongs to a "Women for Jesus" group.  I have noticed lately, that her belligerent attitude and her penchant for FB arguing with people has tapered off.

Apparently she had a bill that was due, had not been paid for six months.  She has reacted to the company she owed in her normal angry way, but decided to get a bit humble and try and negotiate with them.  Glory Be--they are working with her and the pressure is off.  She sees this as a miracle because God knew she needed help.

Now, her life plan is to convert her husband from his "wicked ways".  "Can't he see that all his illnesses and surgeries the last two years are because he was worshipping the devil and being punished by God?"

I tried to explain a couple of things to her, but she is filled with the "fire", so I decided to let the Women for Jesus' group counsel her.  

"All you have to do is ask and God will give you everything."

I tried to caution that, "Sometimes His answer is 'No'," and encouraged her to keep praying because, "God and prayer WILL help you get through hard times easier." but, as I said, she is filled with the fire of a new convert, so best I let her find her own way.
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On the other hand, my other neighbor, Dar, who has claimed that Jesus sits on a chair next to her bed, seems to have fallen by the wayside.  She was over for a visit Friday night and I noticed crude words and a couple of "damn's" slipped into her conversation.

That would not have happened a year ago.  She found a church that she really liked, she said.  She went twice.  It was difficult because she sometimes had to work on Sunday morning and Wednesday nights when they had services.

She hasn't worked for 10 months and I had inquired as to how she liked her church.  

"Oh, I haven't been."

"Why not?  You have lots of time now."

"They didn't have any groups I wanted to join."

I guess to her, church is like a social gathering place.  She wants to be involved and for people there to "know" her good works?

When her Dad, a self proclaimed Atheist moved in, it was "God has sent Dad to me to show him The Way.  I know that is my mission."  She even got him, a life-long Democrat, to vote for Trump--which she took great glee and credit for.

Now she says she has doubts because God allowed her to be in that accident and that's when her troubles began.  She is in pain.  She can't work and God knew how important to her it was to work and be out and about everyday.  God seems to have left her.

I tried to counsel her in the same way I did Tammie.  "God never said you'd have a life without problems, but He will help you get through them.  Continue to pray."
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Both of these women are nutz!  I've thought that from the minute I met them.

I do not have enough training in theology to counsel either of them, or anyone else, for that matter.

I only know what works for me.  What I have witnessed in my last five years.  Things that could never be, "just" a coincidence and had to be a God whisper.  I guess both of them will have to find their testimony too. 
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Then, there's Merle and Pearl and Jackie.  Strong, yet quiet Christians.  Merle and Pearl can't attend church anymore, but they watch on TV Sunday morning and read the Bible every day and pray.  Jackie attends church every Sunday, but doesn't feel the need to get involved in the groups.  She reads her Bible every day and prays.

Tammie and Dar wouldn't do a thing for anyone, unless they got credit and praise for it, and they'd tell everyone what they had done.  Merle/Pearl and Jackie would give you their last slice of bread and wave away any sign of thanks.  

If you asked, they would give you their testimony and a God Bless You, to go along with it.  

I think I prefer the ones who lead quietly by example.