My mind is full. A contributing factor would be my lack of sleep recently. Insomnia is new to me. I've always been the one that sleeps deep, hardly remembering a dream even, awaking early and refreshed. Lately this has not been the case. Perhaps it is just the dogs and nothing more. Michelle's love of animals carries over to a desire to have them sleep in the same room as us. But like any animal, they tend to be somewhat active at odd times of the night, a scratch here, a licking session there, and sometimes a snore or groan. Not to mention the dreams that always give rise to little whimpers and kicking motions. For whatever reason, these noises wake me, and once awake, I can no longer get back to sleep. Last week, it was 1:30 in the morning, last night it was 4 in the morning. My eyes ache. I can see why people complain about insomnia. I do plan on the simple solution of removing the noise to see if that helps.

Came across a letter from Pastor Terry dated sometime in 1997. Ten plus years ago. I don't remember the circumstance of receiving the letter. I must have been in contact with him in some form or another. It was on MVCC letterhead, just longer than what a normal postcard would contain. Upon rereading it, I thought about how influential he has been in my life. So much so that when I think about what a Christian is, how he should act, what he would say, I often think about Pastor Terry. Makes me think about how to influence people. Something he said in the letter that sticks out in my mind is an encouragement to put on the armor of Christ. Following that encouragement, he said to avoid fanciful or superstitious methods of resisting the enemy. Christ himself is sufficient. Good advice, and at a time when I would shortly thereafter be exposed to all sorts of fanciful methods of battling the devil. He closed with, "In the Lamb, Pastor Terry." There is a sting of nostalgia I feel in that. I've burned some bridges. Perhaps someday we can reconnect.