I heard an old song recently that made me think of my grandmother Ruby. I’m sure she would have loved it (and loved the fact that I’m listening to big band music). It may not be the most theologically accurate song ever, but I think the sentiment fits:

I’m not sure why I’m so tired. All I did today was visit a record store and a couple of thrift shops. And cut the grass. And have some pretty fantastic Mexican food for lunch.

My old Jeep did alright today. It had plenty of pep when I needed it and got me all the places I wanted to go. Not bad for a 21-year old car that’s now considered a salvage vehicle.

At the end of the day, I’m the good kind of tired and feel very blessed for a day of rest and relaxation. Except for all the driving around and cutting the grass. But for the most part it was restful. For the most part.

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I’m not gonna lie. Even though I have a new cat that’s playful, affectionate, and wonderful, I still miss this ol’ gal. Even after almost 11 months, I miss her quiet little presence toward the end of the day.

I admit she could at times be a rascal and a stinker, but her therapy sessions and head butts more than made up for it. She had her daily routine that almost always included curling up in my lap and sleeping next to me every night.

Oh, and she was pretty. But I may be a little biased.

And she was mine.

Peanut loves her some belly rubs. That’s a definite difference between her and my last cat, Lucy, who did not appreciate any kind of belly rub in the least, unless she was almost comatose with sleep.

But not Peanut. She will roll over as if inviting me to pet her belly, then purr.

I think my takeaway from all this isn’t overly complicated or sophisticated. Every day, do one little thing that makes you happy. Just one.

It might be petting a cat or a dog. It might be acting silly with your kids. It might just be an ice cream cone.

Maybe the next step is to go do something for someone else to make that person happy. Just maybe.

In the mean time, I’ll keep giving Peanut her belly rubs. It’s so nice to be kneaded.

Some of you may or may not be aware, but on April 18, I was in a fender bender on my way to work. No one was hurt, and my car suffered only cosmetic damage. Unfortunately, that was enough to total my vintage vehicle.

Lately, I’ve still been driving the Red Sled, but she is still in need of repair. I’d like to get her fixed up and drive her a little while longer. I certainly couldn’t get anywhere close to a comparable vehicle for what the book listing is on a 1997 Jeep Cherokee.

It’s been a lesson in trust. I’m doing my best to pray more and stress less. Some days, it works. Some days, not so much.

I still have to trade in my car title for a salvage title. I’m still hoping and praying that a semi-miracle will occur and USAA will release my car from the proverbial Davy Jones’ locker of being a salvage.

Most of all, I’m praying God’s will in this one. If you think about it at any point this week, I’d covet your prayers as well.

In the mean time, I still feel like my Jeep earns me much-needed style points. Plus, 336,000 miles means just getting warmed up when it comes to Jeeps.

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart” (Psalm 37:4, Amplified).

I’ve always heard this passage applied along the lines of “If you find your happiness in God, He’ll give you what you really want.”

Tonight at Kairos, the main speaker put a bit of a twist on that familiar and popular idea.

He said that to delight in the LORD is more than to be happy or to find satisfaction in God. It’s more along the lines of being consumed in a pursuit of God so that everything else becomes secondary and God becomes your one and only desire.

Basically, if you delight in God, you will find that all your truest desires at their deepest level find their ultimate fulfillment in Him. Everything else fades away.

I confess that lately I seem to delight in lots of things more than in God. Most of these leave my desires unmet. I wonder if I really and truly set my delight in God, maybe all those other desires would lose their luster and not seem so appealing. Or maybe I’d find that the root of all these desires is a deep need that only God can meet.

I think C. S. Lewis sums it up beautifully: “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

Or better yet I was made for God and nothing apart from God can satisfy my desires but God.

I wish you a very happy Cinco De Mayo. Even though I’m not sure it’s an actual holiday and even though I didn’t actually have anything remotely Mexican for either lunch or dinner.

So, happy Saturday. Happy rainy, wet Saturday.

I spent this Saturday binging more of Jon Pertwee’s incarnation of Doctor Who, as well as catching an episode of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. All good.

Rainy days are good for sleeping in, taking naps, and generally doing as close to nothing as humanly possible. And petting your cats if you have any.

I scored on almost all counts for making it a good Saturday.

Yay me.

In my quest to watch all of the Classic Doctor Who episodes, I’m now up to Doctor number three, played by John Pertwee.

In this incarnation, the Doctor is exiled to Earth in the 20th century. So far, so good. Also, these episodes are in color. That seems like less than trivial now, but I imagine back in the day, being able to see the Doctor, his companions, and all those otherworldly critters in glorious color was breathtaking. If you had a color television set.

As before, no one will confuse these series with the modern incarnation of Doctor Who or anything else that comes along with spectacularly high production values and budgets to go with it. There are still creatures played by men in rubber suits. The special effects won’t be mistaken for CGI at any point.

But the stories and characters are good, and in my book, I’d rather have good plots and character development than a lot of eye candy pizazz special effects any day. Plus, you had to utilize the little faculty of your brain called imagination to fill in what the visuals lacked.

I’ll be back to report later when I graduate to the next doctor.