Tricia's Principles for Living

"Spray him down with olive oil," shouted  the fire captain in charge of the rescue squad over the sounds of the crashing waves. I can just imagine the surprise of the store clerk as the fireman rushed into the store breathlessly asking for all the olive oil they had in the store. As the firetruck rushed back to the beach the firemen quickly poured the olive oil into the empty spray canister. Accidentally the man dropped his phone between the rocks on the jetty. He'd bent down putting his head between the rocks as he tried to reach down to get his phone. When he tried to get back up he found that he was wedged from his chest to his head between the rocks.* One of his friends called 911.The firemen came and assessed the situation.  For two and a half hours they thought  and tried  various ways to get him out of this predicament.  If they moved  the rocks in the wrong direction the man's head might get crushed. If they didn...

Have you ever cried salty tears? You know those tears that cascade into pools around your chin. I remember those kinds of tears from my childhood when I got in trouble over some major youthful indiscretion. This morning I started to think about salt and decided to do a little reading about it. We can easily pick up a salt shaker, therefore I think we have  forgotten its great value. I read how salt helped to shape human history. Great wars have been fought over salt. The Romans used to pay their soldiers in salt, which was as valuable as gold.  As I read I learned that the first cities, such as Yuncheng in China,  were built near places which had salt mines or were near areas where they could trade for salt. I’ve been to Salzburg, Austria, which is located on the Salzach River. This morning I learned that “Salzach literally means "salt river" and Salzburg "salt castle", both taking their names from the German word Salz meaning salt..” 1  I thought...

"Let's talk to Moses about leadership" said Miriam to her brother Aaron. " After, all I'm a prophetess too, and Moses just isn't sharing  leadership like he should," Miriam explained to Aaron and the other elders. Miriam and Aaron may have deceived the Hebrews into thinking they were only trying to have a discussion with Moses on distributive leadership. However, they couldn’t fool God. Miriam merely cloaked her racism in a discussion on leadership.  Instead God went right to the heart of the matter. Numbers 12 verse one states, “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman” God didn’t let Miriam and Aaron get away with their racist attitudes.  They attempted to turn a nation against Moses for marrying an African woman. This next verse is the cover for their racist attitude. Numbers 12:2  “And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not...

Did your parent ever tell you, “No,” or told you to, “Wait,” when you sincerely asked for something? Did your teacher or coach ever turn down your earnest request? Did you angrily stop talking to that person for the rest of your life and refuse to interact with that person because you didn’t get the answer you wanted?   Is that the reason you will not speak to God?  Maybe God didn’t give you the answer you wanted or felt you deserved at the moment you wanted it. Last night one of my granddaughters and I were looking at " King of Dreams," the Disney movie about Joseph. His jealous, vindictive brothers betrayed him by selling him for twenty pieces of silver(About $350). As he was being shackled and being dragged off Joseph cried out to his brothers to not do it. I turned to my granddaughter and said, “Does that look like the will of God?” I am pretty certain that Joseph couldn’t see God in his brothers selling him off. Of course their actions weren’t kind, right o...

Dear God, May I have a life of devotion, not just a time of devotion. May my life be consecrated, not just a time of consecration May I have a Sabbath heart ,   not just a Sabbath Day. May all my resources be at your disposal, not just a tithe. May all my time be sacred, not just a time for God. May I have a worshipping heart, not just a time of worship. May I walk in the light of Your love consistently, not just in my dark times . Help me to endure my dry spells ,   for I do not have a dry life. Remind me that you are always in control no matter what may rage around me during this enduring walk of faith.

That dreamy orange creamcicle drink with the full head of whipped cream looked and tasted scrumptious. Even as I was ordering it along with the other drinks for my grandchildren I knew I shouldn’t have it. But oh my, on that sweltering hot day with the temperature over 90 degrees I went against my better judgement.  Afterall it wasn’t go to kill me, or send me into anaphylatic shock like shrimp would do. However, I knew , because I am lactose intolerant, that I was most likely going to feel sick to my stomach if I yielded to this temptation.  I ordered it anyway. Sure enough, less than fifteen minutes after drinking about twenty five percent of the frothy concocotion  the awful symptoms started. I felt  wretched and nauseous. As I sat in my car feeling the effects of this malady I asked myself ”Really, was it worth it?”  I could have cooled off with a glass of cold water and been just fine. However I got what I desired and ...

Expectancy filled the air at the Renton Farmers' Market .The M.C. said that we were going to see a performance rarely seen outside of Mainland China called Changing Faces. Every chair under the small canopy seating  fifty people was filled.  A middle aisle divided  the chairs into two sections. The rest us were crowded around the  canopy under the blazing sun happily anticipating the upcoming act.   Everything was going well and we could all see. Abruptly a woman got up from her chair and came and stood among the chairs in front of everyone. I thought, "Well, that was certainly rude."  The elderly disabled women who were seated  couldn’t see and couldn’t move. I walked up to the offending person and politely asked, “ Could you please move because you are blocking the view” , while I  pointed to the seated women. What happened next shocked me. The woman turned around angrily and snarled like a rabid dog growling, “It’s a ...