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October
October 24, 2026

The Bible Compass

October, 2026

A(n) (Ab)normal Week in the Life of

Floyd and Christine Schneider (retired)

This is Floyd's Newsletter because Christine has been too busy to write her next one. However, she also believes that this newsletter is WAY, WAY too long. If you agree, delete it. Neither this newsletter nor I will be offended. I won't be doing this on a regular basis :)

Saturday

Christine informed me that I was taking her to breakfast at the bar with Gary. When we arrived, he looked pleasantly surprised and immediately asked her to talk a lot so he wouldn’t have to listen to me. Mission accomplished on both counts.

Several women have asked Christine if she’s writing any more novels. She has decided the answer is probably “yes,” which means the rest of us should prepare for her to disappear into her laptop at unpredictable moments.

We then relaxed and prepared ourselves for the coming week. (Spoiler: the preparation did not fully work.)

Sunday

We picked up three people and drove to church. Two of those people spoke on German. The hour-long drive to church was therefore conducted entirely in German. We bonded immediately. The conversation kept being broken up by the scenery on the way. These photos are deceptive. The mountains have no snow on them this time of year.

At church they didn’t want a translator. They just wanted to experience the atmosphere. I gave a German Bible to one of them and told him that he was obligated to read it in order to honor the giver. He laughed. I recommended the Gospel of John and offered to correspond with him in German about whatever he read. He heartily agreed.

After the service I spoke with Cody, the pastor. He’s preaching through Matthew and the sermons are excellent. I told him so, then added that our German guests hadn’t understood a single word. We have similar humor. I noticed seven teenagers in church who do not attend the teenage Sunday School class. I asked Cody about it. He explained, then asked if I wanted to restart the class. I cannot believe this. Can a man turn down an offer to teach the Bible to teenagers? The matter is under discussion, which is retired-person code for “probably yes, but slowly.” The monthly church food fellowship followed. People kept offering our German friends different foods. They said they had never been in such a friendly church. We drove an hour home. After dropping them off we drove the remaining four minutes to our house. As we got out of the car I told Christine that our lives operate on two frequencies: “Run! Work! Do things!”...

...followed immediately by “nothing.” Jellyfish blobs lying on the beach.

She did not disagree.

Monday

Christine and I drove to Kalispell for a doctor’s appointment for her hand and a series of “errands,” which is what we call shopping when we want it to sound productive. Because the VA gave me updated hearing aids, Christine can now read a novel out loud to both of us while we travel in the Nissan that makes a loud transmission noise. She is currently reading Jane Eyre. We love doing this together.

Kalispell - 4th of July 2026

In Kalispell we dropped off four boxes of books and an Epson scanner at the Salvation Army, failed to find the right shelf materials at Lowe’s, succeeded at REI in buying a glasses band so I stop laying my glasses down and then accusing the furniture of theft, tanked up at Costco (which on a Monday morning is a special kind of insane), and then attended Christine’s appointment. A previous doctor had recommended a full operation under general anesthesia. The Kalispell doctor preferred a 30-minute procedure under local anesthesia in November, followed by a couple of phone check-ins. He assured her she would regain full use of her fingers. We celebrated by accidentally finding an excellent Italian bistro downtown. I ordered too much and took half of it home. We will return.

We got home at 5 p.m. and walked into the living room to discover that our neighbor Keith had spent a good part of the day building a platform under our wood-burning stove so we no longer have to bend over to load it. We had forgotten that he was going to do that on Monday. We both said “Wow!” then unloaded the Costco haul and collapsed for ten minutes.

At 5:30 we drove up the hill to Keith and Jill’s for the regular Monday evening Bible study. Fellowship begins the moment you walk in. Keith led one hymn, we prayed, and then we all worked our way through Philippians 3:15-21. Everyone feels free to ask questions and express opinions, which is either the point of the exercise or the reason it occasionally runs long. Fellowship continued until people drifted out.

Tuesday

Christine dragged me out of bed at 7:30. Both vehicles were completely iced over because we had cleverly decided not to put the windshield covers on the night before. We ran the engines for ten minutes; scraping that much ice is bad for the soul and worse for the bones, especially on the truck, which is high enough that the ice feels personal.

She had a meeting at 8:00 and I had one at 8:30, both at the same restaurant but at different tables—one full of ladies and one full of men. The ladies claim our table laughs too loud and drowns out every other conversation. This is correct, and we have no plans to improve. Christine drove on to her second meeting at the Catholic Church before finishing errands at the drugstore and post office. I handled something at the bank, then decided to check on friends who had skipped Monday night. Their place sits in the low hills after six hairpin curves and a generous collection of potholes.

(This is not an actual photo of their road, but my truck thought it fit.) They were exhausted and still recovering from a rotten vacation in Utah. They had returned to discover that a mama bear and her two cubs had redecorated parts of the hen house; the chickens were now operating on a free-range basis that no one had authorized. The next morning the wife woke to find a baby bear leaning against her bedroom window and spying on her.

She screamed him away. Her husband responded by adding more electric fence on top of their wooden fence, which worked until his wood splitter broke and he had to repair it. He is a professional mechanic, but the splitter apparently did not care. I arrived home and Christine and I exchanged stories of our mornings. I vacuumed the rugs while she set up a raclette meal for dinner in the evening with our new German friends who arrived at 5:00. Raclette plus pumpkin pie. The pie was saved from consumption because the German lady has smuggled German chocolate layers of tiramisu into the US. What a meal!

The German man had already started reading the Gospel of John. He expected me to ask him questions; I surprised him by telling him he needed to ask me questions about what he was reading. Christine is looking for a German-speaking Bible church in their city so they can stay connected. They flew home on Thursday from Missoula.

I resumed editing the chapter in the novel I’m working on.

Wednesday

A neighbor lady came over for her weekly Bible study with Christine. I watched football replays on my desktop computer.

We ate lunch around 2pm (that's normal for us), and watched a Hallmark love story or a mystery. They're beginning to run together in my brain.

Thursday

Our Day Off – Not.

A young lady from Whitefish and a young man came to lunch. We have known this young lady for a long time. She has runs her own thriving business in Whitefish. She and the young man met online. He also owns his own business in another state. We are thrilled for them.

Friday

Men’s Bible Study at Minnie’s Restaurant in Thompson Falls (Galatians). Usually 8–10 of us. This Friday was the "once a month" when the ladies meet there for their own study; they are doing word studies.

Saturday

I cannot remember what we did. There is no remaining room in the brain for additional activities. I think I stayed in bed until 10am. That gave Christine plenty of quiet for the entire morning.

Sunday

Cody is preaching on Matthew 24–25 and going deep. We are hoping the rapture occurs before he finishes those chapters. The same teenagers were in church again. Cody has asked Christine and me to have lunch with them next Sunday to discuss the procedure of becoming a member, which is required for anyone who officially teaches. Membership is not my conviction—I am always teaching, regardless of location or time—but I probably will not let the rule keep me from teaching teenagers. It remains an open question. Ate lunch at the local restaurant in Trout Creek and asked if the establishment would allow three ladies to hold a Bible study during breakfast on Sunday mornings at 10am. "Yes, of course!" was the reply. If I start teaching teenagers in the church building on Sunday mornings (which is not yet a given), that will require that we leave Plains an hour earlier to get to Trout Creek on time. Christine and two ladies want to hold their own Bible study during the same time and have breakfast just across the street from the church.

Monday

Maggie is 8. Christine has been “taking care of her” once a week while her mother works and has taught Maggie to bake. I have been teaching her to type. This week Maggie is going to bake something. Her mother told her she may eat only one cookie, so Maggie has decided to combine a dozen cookies into one cookie. She is brilliant. Bible Study this evening.

Here we go again.

Our website is at the end of this letter. If you like Christine's newsletters, please tell your friends to subscribe, too. We don't write this information to anyone else but those on our mailing list. If you liked my LONG newsletter, let me know. If you didn't, ignore me.

Floyd

P.S. I might just be able to finish my next novel before Christmas. Christine is going to receive lots of rewards in heaven for the torture she is going through editing every chapter.

Montana Sunsets

From our porch facing west.

The Bible Compass

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