Whew! The early peaceful morning I wrote about yesterday was shattered by Delfino frantically knocking on my door! He was out of breath, sweating profusely as he told me his forklift had died! This usually wouldn't be a major issue but in his next breath he told me he could not get the back up machine to start! I assured him I was on my way and he quickly headed back to the loading dock. Upon my arrival there I was greeted by a maze of cotton bales thrown haphazardly away from the production line exit. Delfino and one of his cohorts from inside the gin were man-handling the bales with a two wheel cart. My first matter of business was starting the back up machine, I went to it and within a minute had it fired and waiting for a grateful Delfino as he quickly climbed onboard. I then went to assess Delfino's machine. My quick diagnosis revealed two major things, the battery was extremely weak and for some reason the fuel system had lost its prime and the injection pump was sucking air. I raced back to my trailer and asked Krl to hand me a new fuel filter for Delfino's forklift. "It's in a Komatsu sack with a complete light assembly". She was having no luck finding it and I was quickly becoming more and more irritated. Somehow, someway, many of the forklift parts had been consolidated into a large box and I had put it in a storage compartment under our new trailer. When I had discovered it, I shouted to Krl that I had found it and jumped in my truck and raced back across the yard. I placed jumper cables on the forklift and then I removed the old fuel filter, removed the water separator from it and re-installed it on the new filter. I then took the filter out to the fuel tank and filled it with diesel, returned to the forklift, installed it and pressed the primer pump repeatedly. Finally I hit the ignition and it roared to life. By now Delfino had come out of shock and I got the real story. He killed his engine to check fluid levels and when he tried to restart his machine it hesitated and he gave it a blast with the starting fluid, over did it, locked the engine down with the ether, and subsequently ran the battery down. I quickly gathered my tools and returned to the trailer to get ready to go to Lubbock, when I walked in the door it was twenty minutes to seven. Lubbock by ten!

We did make it to Lubbock with a few minutes to spare! We got to see Reidman, he was glad to see his Dandy. Oh, and Rian did receive his Masters! We then went to Rian and Erica's to visit and eat lunch. Rian had made all the arrangements but Krl and I footed the bill for the little luncheon to be catered. It was fun, just not enough time.

I caught myself looking at the graduates, their enthusiasm bubbling over, wondering what was in store for them, how many would excel and how many would just survive. What a tremendous pool of potential, the only limiting factor hidden inside each individual.

The commencement speaker was Sam Medina, a District Court Judge in Lubbock. His story is remarkable. In short his message was "words to live by". He told the story of the chickens and the rooster on the heavily traveled Loop 289, looking for food. With cars speeding all around, one of the chickens told the rooster she had the sudden urge to lay an egg. The rooster offered two items of advice, 1) be quick about it and 2) lay it on the line!

FATHER, thank YOU for the safe day. Thank YOU for the work going well while I was gone. FATHER I pray that YOU help me to appreciate the quiet times when things do get frantic. I ask YOUR blessings on Rian and his little family as he seeks to use his new degree. FATHER I pray for Hag, for Lillie, for Carol, for Michelle, for Aimee, and for Rusty and Kim's baby. I pray for TRC and the problems she is encountering. I ask YOUR healing for all of them. I ask YOUR blessings for R2D2 and for all of our spiritual family. I thank YOU for YOUR bounty, YOUR mercy, YOUR grace. Rain down YOUR blessings!