#154: Night Light

Charles Spurgeon had a good point in today's reading from Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. I quote:
"'Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.' Mathew 5:14 Lamps do not talk, but they do shine. A light-house sounds no drum, it beats no gong; and yet far over the waters its friendly spark is seen by the mariner. So let your actions shine out your religion. Let the main sermon of your life be illustrated by all your conduct."
I was thinking, too, if you consider your light to be "little" and that you're not shining too brightly, remember it's those teensy little bulbs on night lights that let you navigate in a completely dark part of the house.
Got wattage for the Lord?

#153: Family Heirlooms

This morning I woke up thinking about dead blood relatives and others. I'm probably one of the few people around who has a hand grenade casing for a family hand-it-down. Well, Pop Murray was the former owner because he worked in a malleable fittings foundry for 46 years that retooled for grenade casings and other war materials during WWI. He even was on the troop train to basic training camp on November 11, 1918...and was told to get off because the War was over!
I used to have a really neat looking shaving mug from great grandpappy Sexton's 1890s days when they used to be kept in the local barber shop and used for special customers. Sadly, I used it for a coffee cup, being the practical Scots-descendant that I am, dropped it on the concrete basement floor and swept up what was left into a trash can.
Why do I mention this stuff? Well, it occurred to me that the REAL family heirlooms are flesh and blood, as well as the memories you have of them. Many's the times I've wished I had talked to grand parents about themselves and their parents/grand parents so I could have a better knowledge of the gene pool from which I sprang. You young'uns reading this...get to know the old heads in your family so you don't have to wish you did somewhere down the road. You might find they're really interesting folks.
I guess this might fall under the extended implication of "honor your father and mother" in the sense that you actually pay attention to what they and grandparents (great grandparents, if you're family's long-lived or reproduced young) have to say. Give it a whirl!
Got recording device?

#152: Wanna Bang The Drum

Well, here I am getting irritated again by the !@#$%^$#@ INTERNET, or at least, one part of it. Who in their right computer geek mind would be fiddlin' around with a website at THIS time of day when traffic is heavy other than to irritate the users?!!!
I went to Facebook and TWICE got:

Your account is temporarily unavailable due to site maintenance. It should be available again within a few hours. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I'm currently crankin' "Bang The Drum" by Todd Rundgren. Well, the guys at Facebook make me wanna "bang on the can like it was the Facebook's head"!! Aint these guys ever heard of the Graveyard Shift...midnight to eight?!! Let the sickos that wanna be on their site in the wee wee hours of the morning suffer, not us upright, sleep-when-the-sun-goes-away citizens! Fortunately, I'm crushing cans for recycling by stomping on them in a plastic barrel, so I've got a productive outlet for my hostility.
Where's Sweeney Todd when you need him?
Got hatchets, chain saws, and big long knives?

#151: Triple Chick Flick

Yep, that's my analysis of "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." I won't give any more of the plot away, but will say that I think it's a VERY enjoyable movie. It had action, humor, shoot-em-ups, a great car chase reminiscent of "The Rock," the same actor played the Good/Bad Guy as in "The Rock" (Ed whatzzisname needs to work on his Southern accent, however), a "Con Air" reference (think "Mockingbird"), and Nicholas Cage with a receding hairline. I didn't catch site of the little hula doll Cage had in "National Treasure" as a carry over from "The Rock." Maybe there are Masonic clues there, too.
By the way, having the movie start with the Civil War gave it another 1/2 star rating for me, but that's not surprising, given my interests.
Now, how do I make a "spiritual" connection to the deal? That's easy. Mammon and Baal win, God is not mentioned at all...American Heilsgeschicte in 2008. Although, there is one reference to human sacrifice by Ben Gates that seems to be negative, I guess. Hmmm...that might make it politically incorrect enough to get the movie panned by critics.
Got Native American pyramid?

#150: Psalm 150 & Blaise Pascal

I can't think of anything better to put here at the 150th post on this site than the last Psalm in the Book of Psalms, #150:1-6,
"Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!"

The other thing I wanted to post was Blaise Pascal's comments I read this morning in Thoughts for the Quiet Hour, edited by D.L. Moody. The verse is Colossians 3:17, "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Pascal then comments, "Do little things as if they were great, because of the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, who dwells in thee; and do great things as if they were little and easy, because of His omnipotence."

Now that I think about it, I'm gonna post this to my Facebook "Favorite Quotes!" and finish up cleaning leaves out of the outside stairs of the Big House.

Got Amazing Grace on bagpipes again?

#149: More Things Today That Annoy Me

I started writing #148 at 8:11am this morning. My mistake was cutting and pasting from Dictionary.com. It is now 9:57am and I've FINALLY figured out how to outfox these evil post-Fall created critters called computers and the Internet. You'll notice that the post remains #148C because I was cutting and pasting and redoing fonts and sizes until I got what I wanted on the FOURTH try....Computers make Annoyance #4. Can I get an "AMEN?"

Now, Annoyance #5: Squirrels...otherwise known as rats with good public relations. They eat wires in your house, eat wires and gas lines in your car, build nests in your attics and walls that probably have all kinds of parasites in them, are generally an annoyance and smell bad if they die inside the walls, and people think they are cute.

Annoyance #6 is the pathetic design of cars for the last 30 or so years. The picture shows what a REALLY cool car should look like. Why can't Detroit redo the Oldies instead of making those pathetic Retros that are supposedly aerodynamic but look like something you shot at and missed?!! (Tip of the hat for that phrase from my old buddy Ken McK!) It seems to me that some MacGyver wannabe could figger out how to build in all the safety features required and desired these days and still have some decent looking wheels.
Well, "Days of Elijah" just gave me the answer..."These are the days of great trials." Somebody out there must be prayin' for patience for me, and if I find out who it is, he/she is gonna have the boomerang effect on him so that God gives the trials needed to use the patience already owned as part of the fruit of the Spirit!! ;(

Got cheese for my whine?

#148C: Things That Annoy Me

Here we are at Memorial Day and WXTU is honoring American heroes with songs that talk about bravery, honor, love of country, and dying for your Band of Brothers. (I'm listening to the soundtrack of "Gettysburg" right now.) Well, last night Audio Visualman and I finished watching "Band of Brothers" for the second time and I got all weepy again when they came across the guys in the concentration camp and at the end of the movie when Major Richard Winters recounted the words in a letter from Sgt "Mike" Ranney. Ranney's grandson asked, "Were you a hero, Grandpa?" Grandpa said, "No, but I was in a company of heroes." The remark choked up Winters...and me.
Well, this morning on Squirrel Patrol to Up The Creek Presbyterian Church I heard a line in a CW song that said, "...America will always stand." Now, while the patriotic side of me likes that thought, the historian in me knows it aint gonna happen, given the degenerate nature of our land because Christians are NOT being salt and light as we should. I would LOVE to see a revival in the Church and an awakening among all the people groups of our land in an Acts 2:42,47 sort of way..."And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer....praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved"...but I'm realistic enough to know that it took 70 years of atheistic communism's persecution of the Church and everybody else in the lands of Russia and China to produce the amazing awakenings that have been occurring there for the last 10-20 years. I guess what annoys me is that we define "hero" along the lines Dictionary.com lays out:

1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.
3.Classical Mythology
a. a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity.
b. (in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage, or ability.
c. (in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.
What about the person, male or female, who is born crippled, goes through life on crutches or in a wheel chair without complaint and usually not feeling sorry for himself?!! What about the one who has chronic health problems like Multiple Schlerosis, Lupus, Eppstein Barr virus (maybe ALL THREE) and doesn't whine about circumstances but encourages others in a variety of ways?!! Particularly significant is the "godlike prowess and beneficence" issue...we in The Body would call it Christ-likeness as a result of being conformed to the Suffering Servant image of Isaiah 53. I guess I'm just lobbying for Christians to redefine "hero" along more Biblical lines, that's all.

Now, Annoyance #2. Yesterday I prayed through a bunch of Arab World Ministry requests, one of which asked us to "pray for softened hearts" for parents of a contact who were opposed to the Gospel. I was motivated to look in my Strong's Concordance under "soften"...there are only two references to that word in the entire Bible and NEITHER has to do with hearts of stone. The two verses that give God's view, I think, of praying for folks to get saved are Jeremiah 23:29, "'Is not My word like fire?' declares the LORD, 'and like a hammer which shatters a rock?'" and Ezekiel 36:26, 27, "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." Smashing rock and removing hearts of stone don't exactly point to "softening" of attitude towards Christ. Over the course of 28 years of receiving similar prayer requests from lots of different individuals and organizations, I've come to the conclusion that folks don't get their prayers answered because they "ask amiss" as James 4:3 says. They're not taking an aggressive enough stance against Satan and his minions using the spiritual weapon of "all prayer" described in Ephesians 6. I guess my exhortation here would be to chuck your old way of doing things if you fall under this category and to take up the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God against that Slimy Serpent and his buddies!!

Annoyance #3 is an outgrowth of #1 & 2: Christians don't see themselves as warriors in an army where WE WIN THE WAR!! We're called to FIGHT, not sit around talking about defeating Satan and waiting for someone else to do the work! Check out John 15:16, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you." [my emphasis]

Thus endeth the lesson for the day.
Got Battle Hymn of the Republic and Amazing Grace on the bagpipes?

#147: Bobism #22

OH, Yeah, it just occurred to me that I came up with another one of those sayings I'll probably be repeating for years to come:
"God ALWAYS wins in The End; we just happen to be in The Middle."
I believe the verse to check out in the midst of a GREAT passage is Romans 12:19, "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord."
Got coals for your enemies' heads?

#146: MMMBOPPIN' and MORE

Yep, the walls of Stonewalled Charismatic Presbyterian are vibratin' with GREAT music...everything from "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to "Mmmbop" and "I Love Rock and Roll" to "Listen to Your Heart." I just spent some time rollin' through "Browse More Pages" and joined up with a BUNCH of fans and supporters on Facebook. (By the way, the authors of the spell check of this deal ought to add "Facebook" as an acceptable spelling so I don't have to look at the stupid red lines when I use the word in these epistles!!)
You'll notice, if you check out my Facebook Profile that President Bush and President- Wannabees Barracks, Hillarity, and the John are ALL supported by yours truly. Why is that, you say? (You did, didn't you?!) Well, it's simple, I actually voted for El Presidente four and eight years ago and think he's doing as good a job as any past President and I'm firmly convinced that it doesn't matter for which of the Other Three you vote in November, if they are, in fact the possibilities. (I think Barracks and Hillarity are gonna go tied for 12 votes in the DNC and ALgore is gonna get the nomination as the dark horse on the 13th Ballot, but that's just my guess.) The reason I think that any of those Fantastic Four will be the right choice is that it's about time the Lord God Almighty gets around to the Persecution of the American Church because we've not only fumbled the ball, but kicked it into the stands to have it irretrievably lost to the players. My opinion is that the REAL agendas of the Wannabees are going to include stifling free expression by the Hate Speechers that believe the Bible is infallible and inerrant and condemns EVERYBODY to Hell with or without the hand basket.
But on the bright side, back in Acts 1:8 the Lord said, "but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." The disciples got all spiritual, got the Holy Spirit, got prayer meetings, and sat tight in Jerusalem. Sooooo...in Acts 8:1 God took matters into His own hands, "...And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles."
Got parallels in history?!!

#145: View From the Tractor

I've seen some pretty amazing things over the course of 23 years riding the Old John Deere here at Camp Cornelius, so I thought I'd share some of them that I've photographed with my handy-dandy, low-tech camera. The first shows another aspect of how we Go Green without even trying around here. This is a bird's nest in the crotch of a maple tree I transplanted a bunch of years ago when it was more stick-like than tree-like. (Gee, I sound Tolkienesque even to ME sometimes...maybe I'm channeling Treebeard again.) The amazing thing is that El Birdies Construction Company built so low to the ground. I was actually looking down on it from my seat on the Green Machine. Oh, there were no current residents, so I don't know if Hudson Hawk had been there or the young 'un had simply grown up and flew the coop.

The second picture is a true anomaly in Eagles Territory...a Cowboys nest, complete with rubber "egg" in the crotch of a dogwood that's probably older than I am. I'm guessing some Texan Infiltrator that our Admissions Guy let in smuggled the contraband onto campus, left it on the ground, and some tree hugger stuck it in the dogwood so I didn't grind it to rubber mulch with my tractor blades! Actually, I avoided that very thing earlier in my mowing adventures, just so's ya knows!

I know the Bible talks about the leaves of the trees shall clap their hands, but I can't recall it mentioning their crotches, so I'll just leave it at that and go get some life transforming soup at the Grey Havens for lunch!

Got crackers?

#144: Rednecks Go Green!!

The buzz words these days in Facilities Maintenance are "Go Green," meaning make your place environmentally friendly. Well, they've even got flat roof buildings designed so you can grow grass and plants on them. DUH...these guys must have been reading Midwest and Plains literature from the NINETEENTH century!! (Google "sod houses" if you're interested. I even remember a novel that I was supposed to read in high school that talked about them, but the title escapes me right now.)
Well, in any event, the Lord's been Greenin' Up the place with recent rains...that may fall mainly on the plain in Spain in the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand who couldn't rein in Ole Chris Columbus, but here it's been in the rolling hills and valleys of Pennsyltucky!) I just want the world in miniature as encompassed in these posts to know that good old Anonymous Man and I are doin' our best to Green Up, too, as evidenced in these snaps of us today. Take note of the color of his shoes from weed whackin' wet grass for a bit and the fact that my ENTIRE tractor is green. I think we're tryin' to get back to our post-Fall position Adam held as a gardener instead of havin' to be maintenance men like he was the day AFTER he and Momma Eve chowed down on the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Got flaming sword to cut the undergrowth?

#143: 6,666,666,666 as Post #2 for today

I've been sorting through a slew of emails since I decided to take the balance of the afternoon off and came across one from the Population Research Institute. According to them, the U. S. Census Bureau figures on May 10th...the same day on which John Wilkes Booth (the guy who killed President Abraham Lincoln) was born in 1838 and Karl Barth (the German who contributed to BAD modern theology) was born in 1886...that Baby #6,666,666,666 was born.
All I can say is that the human race may be drastically disobedient to God in most areas, but in the "go forth and multiply" category we are truly holding up our end of the bargain as He knits us together in our mothers' wombs as Psalm 139 says!!
I wonder if the kid's middle name will be "Antichrist" since all those 666's are part of his birthing? Will he/she be Bad To The Bone? If there is a Census Bureau, could we have a Nonsensus Bureau? It could be full of statistics that would be self indulgent and ABSOLUTELY B.S., Eh?
Got one armed hand clap?

#142: Goose Eggs, Bumps, and Flesh

Today I was yankin' weeds from between the retaining wall fence and the guard rail back behind the Library and walloped the old noggin' TWICE in about fifteen seconds. In answer to the question, "How DUMB can I be?" the answer is always, "Give me a number to shoot for...I strive for excellence in everything I do."
Anyway...I understand quite easily why the bump on my bean could be called a "goose egg" based on the way it swelled up. What I wanna know is why when you suddenly get cold and you get the chills, you say you get "goose bumps" or "goose flesh" as a result? Let me guess... some guy "back in the day" of the Middle Ages was sitting there pulling feathers off a goose and noticed bumps on its skin and the epiphany gave him a shiver up his spine, he looked at his arm with the subsequent bumps and said, "Eureka! I have bumpy goose flesh, too!" Go ahead, I dare you to Google it!
Oh yeah, while I'm thinkin' of stupid sayings, why when we hit a certain part of our elbow that sends excruciating pain up the rest of our arm do we say we "hit our funny bone?" There aint NOTHIN' funny about that particular circumstance of life unless it's to the rest of us watchin' some poor guy cringe in pain because we know exactly how it feels and we're deeply sympathetic but rely on some demented defense mechanism that makes us glad it wasn't us and so laugh at the other guy's expense.
Doesn't Proverbs say something about a fool and his elbow are soon parted...or he wishes they were?!! NO? Well, ok...
Got right verse instead?

#141: Chopsticks at The Marriage Feast

Didja ever wonder what sort of utensils will be used at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in Heaven? I got thinkin' about this highly important question after my comment last night that our Hong Kong King Buffet soiree was "a little slice of heaven" for the seven Grey Haveners attending.
Will there be gold plated cutlery reminiscent of the fancy-ware described in the passages referring to the Tabernacle and/or Temple? Will there be chopsticks for all the Asian brothers and sisters? Will we get to simply skarf up the perfect food with our fingers like many African and Indian friends have allowed me to eat when they've shared meals with me? Will we have to twirl spaghetti on a fork or can we cut it for rapid consumption like we Barbarians do even when served at an Italian Restaurant?
Will it be an all-you-can-eat-serve-yourself buffet or a sit-down-family style where we pass dishes around to engender fellowship? Will we simply "speak into being" WHATEVER we want to eat in a sorta-ex-nihilo style?
Just so's ya knows...look for me in the finger-food-kimchee-pizza and beer-with butter cake dessert section that'll be having some good maduro cigars after the meal! Maybe we'll cut up a mango or two, too!
Got sharp knife?

#140: D.J. Bob

Today's the last day of finals and one of my granddaughters needs some early morning wake-me-up tunes as she studies in the Chow Ciao Chao Room up above my head. The challenge is to get the bone rattlin' sounds in my office up through a concrete floor. Fortunately, I've got old heat ducts that make perfect sound transmitters! Needless to say, the sound system of Stonewalled Charismatic Presbyterian is being called into play at its utmost! We've got "Bang the Drum" by Todd Rundgren, "Somebody to Love" by Jeff Airplane, and right now, "Fat Bottom Girls" by Queen. Hey, I can have responsive hearing in my next incarnation...I don't answer my cell phone half the time now...I might as well make it complete!! For the mo', we're makin' a joyful NOISE down here in the bowels of the Big House!!
Just remember, the stoning passages of the Old and New Testament in today's cinematography would have background music..."WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!!!!!
This "Hot Stuff" makes me "Footloose", so I'm gonna grab my glove, bat and spikes and head for "Center Field" with J.C. Fogerty!!
Cher asks if there is "Life After Love"?
YEAH, WE CALL IT SALVATION IN THE LORD WHO LOVED US BEFORE WE FIRST LOVED HIM!!!!
Got loud amen?

#139: Ole Gnarly and the Bible

Yesterday I set about cutting up poor fallen Charley Horse Chestnut (a practice endemic to the Christian Army and its spiritually wounded, by the way, that I've abhorred for 28 years) and mentioned Ole Gnarly, my favorite horse chestnut tree at Camp Cornelius. Here's the pic. It's utterly amazing to me that this old fella hasn't fallen over yet...reminds me of me some mornings!
By the way, the "gnarly" has to do with all the old age damage, knobs, and that ever popular etcetera, not some hip hop definition that shows up about being disgusting in most dictionary definitions these days. The damages are war wounds from standing out in the Enemy's territory 24/7, "clapping his hands in praise" as the Bible says ("the leaves of the trees shall clap their hands"...can't remember the reference other than in Psalms), for all these years. If you click on the pic, you'll see better what it looks like.
Well, the Treebeard in me is calling to tend the forest, so I'd better wrap this up. I'm reminded of Psalm 139 today because of the number of this post. Psalm 139:14-16 is my favorite part of the psalm that Ole Gnarly would probably echo if the Elves had gotten to him and taught him to speak, " I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from Thee, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Thy book they were all written, The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them."
Got BAROARRUMMM?!!

#138: Charley Horse Chestnut

Sadly, one of my favorite trees around here has been literally laid to rest by the Lord's strong winds Sunday night passing across Camp Cornelius in an illustration of Amos 4:7, "And furthermore, I withheld the rain from you while there were still three months until harvest. Then I would send rain on one city and on another city I would not send rain; one part would be rained on, while the part not rained on would dry up." We had the wash/blow dry over the weekend that is the typical pattern in weather that I remember was pointed out by a weather man as a 100% phenomenon he had observed (end of storms always lead to windy conditions). The tree looked quite healthy, actually, unlike his brother Ole Gnarly at another spot on campus, but it looks as if Charley Horse had root rot at the base...another good sermon illustration on the way sin can be of a hidden nature, but eventually brings you down in the providence of the Lord! (Double click the pic and you'll see on the right how the tree looks like a blunt pencil point from the problem underground.)
By the way, if you're wondering why we're having all the screwy weather patterns we are here in the USofA, the above verse pretty much covers the whole deal, too...forget that Mother Nature crap! The question we need to be asking is, "What's the Lord trying to get our attention about by these particular events?" Once again, I think we can blame the deal, not on Global Warming, El Nino/Nina (maybe there should be an El Ninja?) but on Christians who have been praying for revival in the land. 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 says, "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." I've added the italics to emphasize my point; especially that last phrase requiring us as a people to turn from our wicked ways. Notice that there are no promises that conditions will improve if the non-negotiable terms are not included in Christians' behavior!
Well, before I get too preachy I better go get Charley Horse cut up for chipping tomorrow and firewood for Anonymous Man and the Brute Squad next year.
Got chainsaw?

#137: Hot Stuff and Heaven

Yeah, I'm already crankin' down here in the bowels of the Big House with some 70s sounds even though I think I've finally succumbed to the hum-fluggities after a sickness free winter. I've found that music that hits you right in the guts has a way of pumpin' adrenalin to get you goin' for a bit until you crash...sorta like that sugar high of a chocolate bar that's great for a short time but then lets you down. Hmmm...maybe there's a parable for something Proverbs MUST say about sin being ok for a short time, but the paybacks suck! (Variant reading of the original Hebrew for you linguistic scholars!!)
Anyway, Elfson watched the tail end of "Return of the King" with Audio Visualman and me Saturday and was mightily impressed with the Witch King of Angmar's flaming sword with which he exploded Gandalf's wizard staff. (I believe the comment was something about "better than a light saber"!!) Well, yesterday we got talkin' about it and decided there might be a Museum of Redemptive History in Heaven that would include the Flaming Sword of Eden, Jezebel's skull and hand bones, and maybe a few other cool things to remind us of the Lord's work here in history. I, of course, said "there's a post in this" as we were thinkin' about it, so here it is.
By the way, when I wondered out loud how Gandalf had his staff back at the end of the movie as he got on the ship to cross the sea, I had it pointed out to me, "Well, he's a wizard!" Made sense.
Oh, yeah, this viewing of the Rings Trilogy made #25 for A-Vman and Me and it further reinforces our belief that the rumbling and vibration of the entire living room while we watched Gandalf speak the black speech of Mordor at the Rivendell Council back on June 18, 2006 was actually my Mom passing through the Grey Havens in a Chariot of Fire on her way to heaven, since I got the call 10 minutes later that "she had passed." Even Blu Ray and 6.1 Sound can't replicate that experience!!
As a matter of fact, today is the anniversary of J.E.B. Stuart's death from his mortal wound at the Battle of Yellow Tavern in 1864, so I might as well point out that "Rock of Ages" was not only his favorite Christian hymn, but my Mom and Dad's, too. Oh, fyi...June 18, 2006 just happened to be Father's Day, so Mom and Dad were reunited after 48 years of widowhood for her that day, pretty handy in the providence of God, I'd say, and did at her memorial service! I'm also of the opinion that her chariot was driven by Ole J.E.B. and the entourage also included guys like Stonewall Jackson, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Robert E. Lee, George Meade, George Armstrong Custer, and other Civil War Generals who were Christians; especially since she was almost as interested in the Civil War as I.
Well, probably ought to set some Camp Cornelius wheels rollin' before I hit the trail for a day off.
Got Tylenol?

#136: Change and Other Things

Today I've been listening to music down here in Stone Walled Presbyterian Church ("Queen's Greatest Hits" and "Gettysburg" so far) while looking over the Friends section of my account in Facebook, as well as sending some comments to a few folks. I noticed that a lot of folks change their picture around, so I decided to do likewise over in the corner of this site just to Self Indulge, so to speak.

This, of course, brought to mind one of the differences I've noticed that separates men from women even in the midst of one of our similarities...that we just need to change for the heck of it sometimes. When women get in a mood, they frequently change their hair style and/or color. Men, on the other hand, change and/or add facial hair more than they do hair style. Some guys will even add a tattoo or two, too! Just thought you ought to know that.

Oh, for those of you who are connected with Facebook, when you think about how to get problems solved (like who has a truck to move your piano, for instance) try using the available technology to let folks know you're up the creek without a paddle, so to speak.

When you bake a box mix cake, add an extra egg to the ingredients and the cake will be supremely better than usual...a tip I learned from The Cook; which I have not had to utilize of course because he does the cooking!

Guys...when you compliment your wife/fiancee/girl friend on her cooking, do NOT point out at the end of the compliment that "you'll eat anything." It tends to detract from the compliment.

Rumor has it that we've had the coldest April for something like the last sixty years, so I guess Chicken Little's Global Warming theory is up the spout, down the drain, and generally a load of hooey!

When all is said and done, maybe Ecclesiastes 3:1 has today pegged, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..." This was a time to ramble...
Got thoughts?

#135: Divine Time Internet Connection

It was 4:20pm when I started to connect to the Internet to get on this site; which is now my Home on Mozilla Firefox thanks to Elfson magic.
Well, it took me exactly SIX minutes to get to this point, so while I was waiting I did some calculator work based on the phrase, "to the Lord, one day is as a thousand years." (I wonder if HE was sitting around waiting for His computer to boot up when he designed that phrase?!!) That means that each hour is 41.67 years (1000/24). Then 41.67/60 minutes per hour=.6945 years, or 253.49 days per minute. That means that I've just spent 1521 days waiting to get on the Internet and sign into this Blog. So, you can clearly see that, given a 31-day month, I've been sitting here for 49 months, or 4 years, 1 month!! :P
Well, my "Gettysburg" album ("cd" for you young'uns) is on the last song and I'm ready for some Grey Havens supper and a movie. By the way, if you are even marginally interested, I've listed out ALL the movies I've written down in pocket calendars since October 11, 1990, sorted them both chronologically and alphabetically, and totaled up how many times we've watched what. (The original intention for jotting down a movie on any given day was to settle arguments.) Not surprisingly, "Gettysburg" gets the prize for movies with 32 times watched!! "I Love Lucy" is over-all winner with 46, but that could mean anywhere from 1 to 5 1/2-hour shows watched at a sitting.
I'll bet you're gonna sleep a WHOLE lot better knowing THAT!!
In any event, I'M OUTTA HERE!!
Got chicken something-or-other?

#134: Rule of Thumb

Today's Rule of Thumb is: "If you've got nothing to say, don't talk or write." That's pretty much how it's been for me here of late. The vegetation at Camp Cornelius has taken priority in my life, wearing me down to survival mode with a dose of allergies to boot, even while I'm enjoying the work. I even got my garden planted yesterday in time for today's rain. Just aint had much to say in this venue.

However, I look at a couple of blog sites that have a special interest to me and was routed to http://www.xanga.com/UnkemptUninterested/545232527/i--question-marks.html today that inspired me to comment. The writer asked why birds sing and bubbles go up? Kinda reminds me of Fall of 1969 when I and others were trying to write for Muhlenberg's literary mag and the English major editors got all the entries. (What? Me bitter after 39 years?...NAH! Heck, I'm the one who set up this site so nobody gets to comment but I, so I know how the Good Ole Boy system worketh!)

The Redneck in me simply answers these two questions this way: Birds sing to communicate with each other, to glorify the Lord, and because they know the words. Bubbles go up because of the physics of creation AND how else would they get in your nose so folks could laugh at you when it happens?!! (Dontcha just hate it when that happens?!!)

The guy also asks, "how do we even begin fighting to live when Solomon found no life smouldering under the sun?" I believe that answer is in Ecclesiastes 12:13, "The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person." The follow up verses would be Ephesians 6:10-20 that I've cited more than once here.

The Bottom Line of Life is that even your best friend will let you down or die and leave you alone. You sooner or later have to realize that Jesus truly is the ONLY One who never will...that might be the whole point of Ecclesiastes and the Bible!

Gotta go mow, so I'll close for now.

Got camoflage bandana to ward off pollen?!!

#133: Paratroopers of Paradise

Today's the 144th Anniversary of the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864 where Robert E. Lee and his Grey Backs bumped into Ulysses S. Grant and the Boys in Blue in the woods of Virginia near Chancellorsville, some say by accident, some say by his plan. In any event, it was a knock down, dragged out conflagration that started the Campaign of 1864 with a bang...pun intended.

From April 17-23, we at the Grey Havens watched "Band of Brothers" for the first time (no doubt, there will be multiple viewings) and were greatly impressed with both the quality of the production and the story itself. It is based on Stephen E. Ambrose's account of Company E, 506th Battalion, 101st Airborne during World War II. The one line in the whole series that impressed me most was, "We're paratroopers. We're supposed to be surrounded!" That struck me as the description of Christians here on earth. The Bible says our citizenship is not of earth, but in heaven, so we've been providentially dropped in the middle of a heavenly war, in Enemy territory, with all the weapons, provisions, and support we need. The paratroopers were all volunteers, but we've been drafted from before the foundation of the world. The battle for each of us will rage off and on until the Grim Reaper comes for us in a Chariot of Fire, it's that simple. Better read Ephesians 6:10-20 again to remind you of where you stand in the whole deal!

We also started watching the dvd version of Ken Burns' "The Civil War" on Friday, so I'm feeling rather militaristic these days in a soldiers-of-Christ-arise sort of way. Once again, I quote Charles Spurgeon's comment on Psalm 47:4, as much for myself as for the few of you reading this: "Had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you find yourself, divine love would have placed you there."

"Ashoken Farewell," the theme song of "The Civil War" just rolled around on my computer, so before I get too soppy, I'll sign off.

Got hardtack and salt pork?

#132: Chancellorsville and Holocausts Remembered

Yeah, today is the 146th anniversary of the Battle of Chancellorsville during the American Civil War where Christian General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was wounded by friendly fire because his reckless pride put him out in front of his troops trying to crush the Union right flank. (I'd recommend watching 'Gods and Generals' to get a clear picture of the events if you're visually oriented or getting God Caused the Civil War on Interlibrary Loan if you're more into reading.)

It's also Holocaust Remembrance Day by my pocket calendar, to commemorate the murder of 6 million Jews during World War II. I just read a book recently by a fellow named Shapiro who concluded that the Holocaust was due to the fact that Jews for 1900 years had been rejecting their Messiah. Thinking along similar lines, I guess you could say that the 20 million killed by World War I, the 70 million killed during World War II (including the 6 million Jews), and the 40-100 million killed by the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 (God takes credit for pestilence) might have been a second Thirty Years War (1914-1945) the Lord brought about because so many Gentiles rejected Messiah, too. (I read another book last year that stated that the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648 was "the last religious war"...yeah, right.)

Hmmm...I wonder what the 45+ million American deaths since Roe v. Wade in 1973 are?! Will this American Holocaust lead to another shooting Civil War as the Secessionist Movement that's alive around the USofA combines with Abortion Abolitionists in various States?
Got Battle Hymn of the Republic?