Posted in communication, God

A message through creation

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Today’s First 15 devotion was about how God speaks through his creation. We know he speaks to us in the bible. But the bible says he speaks to us through his creation.

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20).

In Psalm 147:8-9, and 15-18, scripture tells us that he sends his word to feed the animals and affect the weather.

Jesus said the birds who are fed by the heavenly Father and the flowers he beautifully clothes proclaim a powerful message: stop worrying (Matthew 6:26-30).

Today I journaled, “While there is much about God I can’t learn from creation, I can ask him, ‘What are you teaching me through creation today?'” In that sense, God has much to say through the air I breathe, the water I drink, the food I eat, the sunrise colors I see in the sky each day, and the trees that line my morning walk.

What I learned today:

  • He provides for me. I am alive because he gives me life, breath, and everything (Acts 17:25).
  • He is a creative creator. He came up with so many forms of plant and animal life that not only fit together but benefit each other.
  • He knows what will pique my interest and what will take my breath away. From colors to clouds to creatures (like singing birds), I love to walk down the streets of my neighborhood. There is always something new to notice, appreciate, and give thanks for.

There are many more messages in the starry night sky, the roaring ocean waves, gusty winds bending the trees, and pouring rain soaking you as you dash inside the house.

What are those things saying?

Posted in God, gratitude

A close call

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Usman Malik on Unsplash

My son slammed on the brakes as red tail lights suddenly stopped in front of us. We couldn’t see beyond the semi ahead, so we didn’t know what was going on. He sighed, “Great. Now what?”

My grandson in the backseat said, “I think a car bounced off the guardrail.”

As traffic slowly passed to the left, we found room to sneak by on the right.

A white sedan with a crumpled front end was turned sideways. Two other cars were stopped in back of the that car. The truck driver had already walked up to check on the driver, who stood next to the car, apparently unhurt. We crept by, just avoiding some torn-off chrome trim on the road.

I couldn’t really tell what had happened, but I was thankful for the timing. Had we been arrived a minute earlier, we might have been involved. A minute later and we’d be in standstill traffic for a while.

Anything can happen driving through Dallas on I-30. And I’m sure it does just about every day. I’m grateful we made it to Fort Worth and back.

I don’t know about you, but I often pray for safe travel for myself and others. I ask God for protection as we go about the day and while we sleep at night. I don’t notice most of the times he answers those prayers. I’m oblivious to the close calls I have. He keeps me blissfully unaware of the dangers around me.

And for that, I am thankful.

Posted in Travel, people, mathematics

Unexpected Encounter on a Flight

Posted on by William Douthwaite

On my flight home from Dallas I verified the timeless adage that one ought not judge a book by its cover.

As we like to do, we were the last to board our flight to minimize our time sitting in the economy section. Just ahead of us was a short woman with a substantial carryon bag stuffing popcorn into her mouth from a large bag. While we had the middle and aisle seats in our row, guess who had the window? You are correct, this very woman concealing another carryon bag under one of her jackets.

She couldn’t fit her carryon under the seat in front of her, so we convinced her to put it up in an overhead bin. With one of her jackets against the window, she fell asleep for the next ninety minutes.

With about an hour to go before arrival, she woke up and got out her laptop. I was reading from the Kindle app on my phone, looking out the corner of my eye to see what she was doing. I immediately recognized mathematic equations, matrices, theorems, and proofs. The article was about Cholesky factorization. This was interesting.

I asked her, “Are you a teacher or a student?”

“I’m a teacher.”

I told her I recognized some of what she was reading, although it had been a long time since I saw anything like this. I told her that I had an undergraduate degree in mathematics, did some programming, and then switched my career trajectory to theology and pastoral ministry.

She asked me, “Why can’t you do both?”

With a chuckle I explained that my studies enabled me to help my daughter through AP calculus and help my grandson through pre-algebra. I told her I had programmed for Bell Laboratories in the early 80’s.

She asked, “Fortran?”

“Yes, and some Cobol.”

She told me that Fortran is a programming language still used in her field, even though most current programmers use some iteration of C or Python. It just works better for some applied math applications.

She added, “See? You can still do that!”

I laughed. It’s been forty-five years since I programmed with Fortran on pre-PC, room-filling IBM mainframe computers.

I asked, “Where do you teach?” It turns out she is from Brazil, has her Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Arizona, and teaches at Texas A&M.

I am so glad I broke the silence and engaged in conversation. Something in me still comes to life when I come across math and mathematicians in this world.

Posted in Life, money

“Can you pay with your phone?”

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Albert Hu on Unsplash

We enjoyed a nice breakfast after Sunday worship in Dallas at First Watch, a breakfast /lunch chain we’ve become fond of. I was especially impressed with the lemon blueberry cornbread, a recipe I will definitely seek out for home baking.

As we finished up, our server brought by the check commenting, “Our system is down. Can you pay by phone?”

“No problem. Thanks.” More and more this is the way you pay for a meal. But this happened right on the heels of a Starbucks system shutdown just a few days before. Hmm.

Is it coincidence that this has been happening more frequently? Just think how easily you could bring down a competitor just by messing with their wifi. How many security systems would fail with an interruption to cell service? Every third time I go to get cash at my bank drive through, one of the ATM’s isn’t working. My chip card works or doesn’t work, depending on the store or the day.

What about all the people who don’t know how to pay by phone? Most of the people ahead of me at an ATM or self-checkout spend way too much time figuring out a simple transaction.

It’s so convenient and yet so maddening.

Posted in Travel

Sleeping with the horses (again)

Posted on by William Douthwaite

We are back in the horse barn loft for our most recent trip to Rowlett, TX. We’ve been coming here for three years and were so glad to see our friends again. Proton the Arabian and King the paint were glad to see us, too. Somehow they knew we would show up with carrots and apples.

The other day, though, we didn’t see Proton for a whole day. King roamed the small pasture area, but no sign of his friend. Strange. Finally, from the deck above the stable, I heard a neigh. I looked over the edge and saw his head poking out over the closed door of his stall. It had been a windy day, so I figured the door had blown shut, trapping him inside. When I slipped through the fence and opened it, he happily trotted out into the yard.

I texted the owner and let them know how I found the horses. She replied that they sometimes closed the door since the other horse, King, would eat his food. Oops. Well, it had been a whole day, and there was a whole load of hay in the field. So I think I did the right thing.

Looking out from the deck tonight, I watched one of the neighboring Shetland ponies slip under the fence and make his way into the stall I opened. Oops. I think he might be the one helping himself to the food.

Anyway, everyone seemed happy, especially since we brought another batch of apples and carrots, enough to share with everyone.

Posted in driving

A sweet upgrade

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

If I need a car when we travel, I prefer to rent from Alamo. They’re not always the cheapest, but I get great customer service and they usually have a good selection of cars ready to go.

After we landed in Dallas yesterday, we caught the shuttle bus to the rental car center. It’s been totally remodeled since we were last here six months ago. As we walked past all the rental company counters, I saw that the only company with a line was Alamo, with whom we had a reservation. Plenty of people were working the counter, but it looked like about a forty-five minute wait to get a car.

A small sign on a kiosk reminded me of a “skip the counter” option. I hadn’t had much luck doing that in the past, but I figured why not give it a try. This time, it worked. As I waited in the non-moving line, I added a little more info into the phone app, and in a few minutes had a ticket. I ducked out of line and headed out to get a car.

In the parking garage I showed the rental agent the bar code on my phone, which stated, “You click we pick.” When Preston saw that he said, “Ah, the mystery car.”

I said, “A batmobile?”

He chuckled and said, “I’ve been working here eight years and no one has ever come back with ‘batmobile’! Customers usually hope for a Jaguar or Ferrarri.”

I added, “Either that or Knight Rider.”

I assumed that I would get a compact car, midsize at best. But as we looked down the row of vehicles ready to go, Preston said, “Want a Jeep? I’ve got a Wrangler at the end of the row.”

My wife and I both said, “Sure!” If I had reserved a Jeep on the front end, it would have cost me twice as much. So this was a sweet upgrade and promised to be a fun way to tool around the Dallas area.

I think every time we’ve rented from Alamo at DFW, we’ve gotten some kind of upgrade, from a compact to a van or SUV. That’s why we always come back to them.

Posted in neighborhood

Each one unique: all those mailboxes

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Nikolay Loubet on Unsplash

During a recent walk, I marveled at the variety of mailboxes in front of the homes in the neighborhood. It seems like no two are alike. That’s amazing given that I walk past hundreds of houses on a usual two-and-a-half mile trek.

Black, white, and shades of brown dominate. But there’s also teal, forest green, gray, and rust red (literally rust-covered). Some are wrapped with patterns or pictures.

I’ve noticed a few ornamented with turtles, small black bears, pelicans, flamingos, lizards, eagles, fish, manatees, and mermaids.

Some look like small houses. Others are covered with vines and flowers. Colleges are well represented, along with branches of the military. Seasonal flags hang from some, while others have small flower boxes.

The boxes are supported by bricks, wood, concrete, chrome, miniature lifeguard chairs, metal poles, and 4×4 timbers.

Even though few people get the newspaper delivered, a quarter of the mailboxes have a newspaper slot. Those who get the paper usually have to pick it up off the driveway anyway.

Some mailboxes have locks. I’ve never had mail stolen. Some are just the opposite: the door has fallen off. Some of those folks don’t check their mail very often. I can see rain-soaked, sun-dried bills in them.

Almost all have numbers, affixed at all different angles. One had the address written out in longhand with paint. I’ve only seen two with the family name on them.

The majority are a standard height. With a chuckle I pass one that’s only two feet tall. To be fair, that could be for someone in a wheelchair. Over time, many have started leaning forwards, backwards, and side to side, some at crazy angles.

In some communities, all the mailboxes are together in the middle of a block. I think I’d miss all the creative ways people receive their mail.

Posted in Life, night

In the wrong place at the wrong time?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Eugene Triguba on Unsplash

It happens on an early morning walk with my dog (big dog, little dog, or all of the above), while it’s still dark. Or on an evening walk after the sun has set.

I see the headlights of an approaching car. Or I see light from a car coming up behind me. I walk close to the edge of the road. We have no curbs or sidewalks in our community, so I get right up to the edge of the grass.

I slow to let the car pass. The car slows down. I look down so I’m not blinded by the lights. Or I glance back, wondering if they see me. As I cross in front of a driveway, that is the very driveway the car enters. Of all the driveways on the road, I am in the middle of that one when someone arrives at their home.

This happens more often than not. So I wonder, “Is it coincidence?” Why did our paths converge at that moment? Am I in their way? Or are they in mine? I could have walked a little faster. They could have driven slower. Why did we meet at that hour, minute, and second?

It happens once or twice a week. Too often to be coincidence. But there’s no rhyme or reason to the encounter. It’s pure irony that the moment I walk past a driveway, those residents are pulling in.

Sometimes I am really annoyed by this. Why now? Why didn’t you drive a little faster? Why didn’t I leave a little later? Why are you in my space – or why am I in yours?

I imagine they ask similar questions. “What is he doing here so early in the morning?” “Doesn’t this guy ever sleep in?” “Give me a break. I just worked the overnight shift. Get out of the way.”

Posted in coffee

Cash is still king

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This is where I wait while the little dog is groomed. Fortunately, I had a bit of cash in my wallet, so I could get my latte with an extra shot.

This is a sign no one wants to post or see.

I asked my barista how it was going. She said, “The system’s been down since yesterday. Whenever we tried to take payment, the whole system froze up.” From in back of her I heard the manager say, “They’re supposed to come within four hours to fix an issue.” She was not happy.

All was not lost. You could order and pay via the app, and then pick up. But walk-in and drive-up was cash or no coffee.

We are so dependent on technology. It takes little to bring a coffee shop to its knees.

Everyday I read stories about AI taking over the world and making human life irrelevant and disposable. I think we’ve got some wiggle room for now. If someone pulls the plug, or the wifi goes down, or cell service is interrupted, it all falls apart.

At least for now.

Lots of lessons learned. Carry cash. Be flexible. Expect the unexpected. Trust your backup plan.

And most importantly, keep drinking coffee.