2:139, #443: Dogs

I was just reading about the Devil walking around like a roaring lion and was reminded of one of my old sayings...a Bob-ism, I suppose..."Barking dogs never bite...until they stop barking!!" Somebody didn't really think through the original adage, as true as it is in its limited application.

And what about that saying, "It's a dog's life?" How many of us get to eat, sleep, be let out to pee, get a treat for doing it, lie around all day, and get all sorts of affection from folks?!! If reincarnation were true, I'd want to come back as my old dog Daisy and get pampered for roughly 12 years!!

Then there's the saying, "Doggone if I know." Where'd the dog go that you don't know about? Or is it that you were going to use the dog as a "lifeline" for some answer like that TV show I've never watched but heard about?

Well, I hear windows and grass calling me, so this dog's gone!
Got Milkbone?

2:138, #442 Miscellaneous Muggy Friday Ponderings

I just read on BBC News that a Swiss adventurer named Bertrand Piccard is about to unveil his prototype of a solar powered plane. I wonder if he'll call it The Icarus? Or, since his last name is Piccard, if he'll call it the Enterprise and designate himself Captain?

A Sichuan Chinese firm wants to buy manufacturing rights for the Hummer and call it "Han Ma"..."Bold Horse" but China may squash the deal. I wonder if it doesn't work out if they'll change the name to General Tso's Chicken?

Mom got me on a lifetime of reading because I arose in the early a.m. and needed to keep quiet until "normal" wake up time. I wonder what the equivalent to Golden Books is these days?

Farrah Fawcett shuffled off this mortal coil and the BBC article mentions the red bathing suit poster that sold millions. I wonder what happened to the bathing suit?

When Paul wrote 1 Timothy 1:15, "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all" could that be considered bragging?
Just curious.

2:137, #441 George Armstrong Custer

Today I declared to be Facebook Friends Foulup Day in honor of the fouled up decision George Armstrong Custer made on this date in 1876 at the Little Bighorn River in Montana. As was frequently the case during the Civil War when North and South named the same battles differently... Bull Run/Manassas, Antietam/Sharpsburg, Murfreesboro/Stone's River...the Native Americans called it Greasy Grass Creek; which seems more appropriate to me since Custer was definitely up the creek atttacking 1) on a Sunday, 2) without proper reconnaisance, and 3) a force at least 2-3 times his strength with excellent weapons and motivation to fight.

Why do I mention this? As I mentioned on FB, go ahead and ignore the signs around you, do what you want...you will anyway. (Archangel's got her fingers up waving for the number of times she's heard me use this phrase.) Christians...of which Custer was one after his conversion at a Presbyterian Church in Michigan during a January, 1865 furlough home...frequently only listen to Psalm 32:8, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you," but often forget verse 9, "Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near to you."

I figure I'll get less frustrated watching what folks do if I just up and give them my permission, if not outright blessing. Besides, I've been praying Psalm 32: 8,9 for y'all for a while, so I'll watch how the Lord works things out in the days ahead.
If the Holy Spirit is represented by fire...
Got smoke signals?

2:136, #440: I'm Officially Blue

...Nope, not "down in the dumps," "depressed," or "discouraged." Blue, as in "What Primary Color Are You?" Facebook Quiz results. Yeah, I know, taking Facebook quizzes is an indication of some personality disorder, no doubt, but, HEY...YOU'RE READING THE BLOG OF THE PERSONALITY DISORDER GUY, SO WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!! ;p

Now that I've gotten that out of my system...the quiz tells me I'm "an expansive person." Well, I did put on about 70 pounds in the last 40 years. I'm also "happy abandoning the city for the peace and quiet of the woods." Heck, that's why I ride my John Deere whilst smoking a good ceegah... El Stinky, according to my Archangel! It also says, "People are always interested in what you have to say, consider you thoughtful and trustworthy, and always come to you first for advice." Howcome they don't listen to it then?!! Gee, I guess the "careful and broody" part is showing up in this whiney post, Eh?

Sooooo...how am I going to spiritualize this Friday Whine? "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed...even "wasting" time taking Facebook quizzes...do it as unto the Lord, not as unto man!!"
Got cheese for the whine?

2:135, #439: Thinkin' Thursday

Here it is raining again and only 62 degrees outside, so I'm taking time off as Global Warming is soundly repudiated to record some of my thoughts from this morning, mostly in the form of ponderings or questions; which prompts the illustration of The Thinker.

Just what was this guy thinking? Did he get sunburned while posing? Did he ever get rid of the rock marks in his butt? Did he ever fall asleep and tumble forwards? Did he ever come to a saving faith?

As I said in Facebook this morning, is it sexist and politically incorrect to say that multi-tasking is "woman's work?"

Whose fingerprint is it on the "C.S.I." DVD case?

If my new John Deere 997 is a zero-turn mower, is my old John Deere 950 a goose-egg turn mower? Or should that be a doughnut turn mower?

Why does Tolkien's estate refuse to allow folks to write follow-up stories based on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy? Did Aragorn and Arwen live happily ever after? If there was Middle Earth, was there a Right Earth and a Left Earth? If a Hobbit falls in the woods, does a wizard pick him up?

Is there ever an end to bloggers' questions?

2:134, #438: Dr. Bob's Zero Turn

Yessiree, Bob, that is I (howzzat fer proper parcin'?!!) on my brand spankin' new John Deere 997 zero turn mower...the best ride in the park when it comes to excellent groundskeeping!! My first day in the seat was a fairly short learning curve until I became ONE with the controls in a Zen- Van Tillian Feng Shui way!!

I must say, however, that riding a new, short wheel base, small tire 997 is quite different from the old 950 with full size tractor tires and a longer wheel base. It reminded me of The Wildcat at Hershey Park as I discovered that my property is a LOT rougher than what first appears to be the case when you're riding up there in relative ease...makes me think of the way the Lord moves you up to the next level of spirituality just when you've "mastered" one particular aspect of your walk with Him!

But, Hey, y'all knew that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him, now didntcha?!! My posture improved just so I could absorb the jolts and jars (slightly different from bolts and bars) on the initial flight on my 997. Hmmm...even those jumbo jets are only 757s...guess I win in the numbers game.
Got grass what needs cut?

2:133, #437: Sudoku Theology

I had another early morning epiphany as I was sitting filling in the spaces in several Sudoku puzzles (easy level) this morning. I figure, as I've mentioned on Facebook already that we're either trying to crack the code of some portion of the knowledge of good and evil much like our original ancestors, or just like counting to nine in a Sesame Street sort of way. Today's letters are B and S! ;P

One thing doing these puzzles does is to develop the analytical acuity of mind that actually contributes to a thought pattern that allows for the correct use of hermeneutic exegesis while showing ourselves diligent to accurately handle the word of truth, as Paul commands in 2 Timothy 2:15. Gee, even I can see that that last sentence is fully qualified to be part of Self Indulgent B.S.!!

OK, so they're fun to do and God's watching when we do them...this is part of the "and enjoy Him" part in the first answer of the Shorter Catechism, given that He set up mathematics and logic in the first place so that an architect named Harold Garns (thank you, Wikipedia) could develop these not-time-wasting puzzles!! The Japanese firm Nikoli popularized them later.

So what's my point? LIGHTEN UP, PEOPLE!! Use your brain in ways you haven't thought about recently, walk on The Edge knowing that "beneath you are the Everlasting Arms," and realize that God MUST be a Sudoku Puzzler...He has one book named NUMBERS in His infallible, inerrant Word, doesn't He?!! ;p
Got the urge to fill in the gaps on the illustration?

2:132, #436: Double Minded Planting

If you look at the photo to the left, you'll notice the begonias are actually growing quite well IN the grass, not in a flower bed. Well, at first I thought I'd dig up the old "grass" section that was primarily weeds, plant new grass seed to spruce the place up a bit, and as a result I went through the normal grass seed spreading, light soil covering routine I've used for years.

THEN, I decided to turn the whole area into a flower bed, so I turned over the dirt shovel head depth to intentionally prevent the grass seed from growing and planted all the lovely little coleus and begonias that are doing so well. Silly me...the grass seed took hold better than I think I've ever had it do in all my years of seeding!! ;p Sooo...now I take hand shears every so often and clip the "perfect" patch of lawn I have out of the roughly 12 acres of "lawn" that needs to be mowed!! This is reminiscent of my days growing up in Philly when I had an even smaller lawn to clip just the same way.

What's my point? Well, James talks about not being double minded when we pray or we'll just mess up the results or get NO for an answer. I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to do with the greenery, so now I'm doing a sort of penance by hand clipping the section of lawn for this year...plans for next are somewhat different, to say the least. The good news is that with the wet and cool weather we're having...global warming, my Great Aunt Lizzie's hairbun!!...both the grass and flowers are doing well so I'll smoke a stogie while I clip the green and enjoy the colorful flowers the Lord is giving me in spite of my not knowing my right hand from my left sometimes...learning to be content in whatever circumstances I'm in these days.
Got anecdotes of your own?

2:131, #435: Crime Scene Investigation

Gil Grissom and his Las Vegas CSI team are modern day Sherlock Holmes characters with handy dandy gadgets and a wealth of crime knowledge they use to get the job done. The episode we watched last night had a guy turn into human soup after decaying for 2 months in some kind of vinyl gym bag. (I guess the Biblical idea that "we are a vapor" had no place to go so the 'Nam vet turned into condensed human soup.) Needless to say, the crime was solved, but I learned that if you have a strong smell of dead guys left on you, it can be removed by taking a shower and using lemons to absorb the odor. It's interesting...to me at least...that when dogs get sprayed by skunks, you're supposed to use tomato juice to remove the odor.

The writers of "CSI" are like Arthur Conan Doyle in another way, too. They apparently discount an afterlife and its consequences for the actions of this world...why am I not surprised?!! (Tip of the hat to Iago in "Aladdin.") I wonder what it would be like if a show like this was written from a Christian perspective without "getting preachy" in pointing out that the wicked...victims and perpetrators...get their due in the end?

I'm trying to figure out whether this show would dissuade totally depraved people from committing crimes because of the numerous ways they can get caught or if it's a seminar in knowing how you'll get caught, so figure out how you can get around it and go ahead with the crime anyway. Something...probably 29 years of reading the Bible...tells me the latter.
Got finger prints and DNA?

2:130, #434: Wisdom of Creedence

I'm sitting here thinking that Creedence Clearwater Revival has some great thoughts as I listen to some of their music:

"Someday never comes"...you'll always put it off until it's too late. Or, when all is said and done, more gets said than done.

"Have you ever seen the rain, coming down on a sunny day?" Absolutely. It's really an interesting manifestation of the Lord giving rain AND withholding it from the same place at the same time.

"I see a bad moon rising. I see trouble on the way. I see earthquakes and lightning." Hmmm... sounds like Jesus' predicting that trouble would come, but woe to him through whom it comes. Likewise, wars and rumors of wars are inevitable.

And then there's the music played during "Air America's" scene when Mel Gibson and Robert Downey, Jr. are running through the jungle to the song of the same name. "Don't go walkin' slow, the Devil's on the loose...200 million guns a loaded, Satan cries they came." I believe Peter covered this one with "your enemy the Devil prowls about like a roaring lion."

"I came into town a one night stand. Looks like my plans fell through...stuck in Lodi again." Sounds like "the mind of man makes its plans but the Lord directs his steps."

Well, I'm not going Down On The Corner, and I'm not Lookin' Out My Back Door, but I may go home soon and Put A Candle In the Window! "I won't lose my way...no, no...long as I can see The Light!
Got light on the path?