#161: Stonehenge Figured Out

Earlier this morning, before I started on the Chinese Tree Feng Shui, I was watering the Garden of Vegetable Delights and was reminded to take a picture of my four miniature stone henges because I finally came up with the reason the Druids built those big rock monuments in the first place.
See, yesterday when I was pruning Bobbosan Chinese Lacy Leaf Maple, the first tree I planted here at Camp Cornelius in 1986, and Lady Jane Chinese Red Maple, I discovered seed pods hanging on these two trees...a phenomenon I have not noticed in 22 years.
What I did was plucked some of the seeds, went to The Garden, stuck them in the dirt, put rocks around them in a Feng Shui Stone Henge sort of way so I would remember where exactly I planted them, and then hosed the place down.
Soooo...I figure, "back in the day" of Stonehenging, the guys who built them were the pre-Flood giants talked about in the Bible, similar to or larger than 9'9" Goliath that David "rocked to sleep" so to speak. Just imagine a whole planet filled with these big guys, moving rocks around just to stay in shape, pruning and planting trees, and all that other good pre-Flood stuff they did. Now...some forgetful druid decides he's gonna plant a tree, but knows he'll forget his Forget Me Nots, so he decides to set up some rocks to mark the nursery. After all these years, the tree's gone but the rocks remain...simple solution for an incredibly obtuse problem. As Hannibal Smith of the A-team was wont to say, "I love it when a plan comes together!"
Got Da-Da-Da music?!!

#160: Tree Feng Shui

Good old Chinese Feng Shui is supposed to use the laws of heaven and earth to help an individual achieve improved life by receiving positive qi, or energy. Just like the Marine Corps stole "Semper Fidelis" ("Always Faithful") from God , the ancient Yinyangs (my phrase for a yin/yang practitioner) took the principle of "God created the heavens and the earth" to its illogical conclusion as part of being made in His image as well as "thinking themselves wise" enough to do it on their own without his help.
I, on the other hand, have the divinely designed job of pruning the trees here at Camp Cornelius with the Holy Spirit indwelling me and giving me directions if I have the smarts to think or say, "Well, Lord, how do we prune this one?!" As you can see from the picture, we now have Biblical Feng Shui (at least in my opinion) at this part of the grounds because the trees feel better with all that excess weight removed, I feel better because I've got yet another job done and I like the way it looks, and unless I hear otherwise, the general consensus is that the trees look good...which makes everybody else's qi fine and dandy.
The heat wave we're currently enjoying has driven me inside for the mo' so I'm administrating and writing as I go on a sliding scale of time on and off. You might say it's my Feng Shui Twilight Zone Vacation/Work Qi 4 Me!!
Got Post-Reformational, Van Tillian Zen Buddhist Garden of Eden?

#159: Nursery Duty

Nope, not with rugrats, but with vegetables. We've got two kinds of radishes, cucumbers, three types of onions, zucchini, carrots, and even some watermelon on the leaf. Genesis 1:9 says, "Then God said, 'Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear'; and it was so." Howcome He didn't just say, "Let there be dirt!" is what I want to know. Seems like the natural follow up to "Let there be light!" (And He didn't mean a Bud Light.)
Well, then there was the glorious Flower Henge to water, weed, and nurture with kindly words, like "GROW OR I'LL MOW!!" Ya just gotta know how to schmooz those little cuties! ;)
I guess you could say the Biblical version would be, "Then God said, 'Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth'; and it was so."
Well, I've got the "Maverick" version of "Amazing Grace" running at the moment, I got back on this here thing here because my !@#$%^Civil War Generals crashed on me just as I was annihilating the Yankees at Fredericksburg...ya know, I wonder if Great Grandpappy Antes had something to do with that...given he served with the 119th Pennsylvania Volunteers south of Fredericksburg during The War?!! Hmph! "Going Home" from "Gods and Generals" just came on, so I'm takin' that as a Divine Sign to move along down to the Grey Havens and get to the next piece of business the Lord laid out beforehand that I should walk in it. (Ephesians 2:10)
Got marching orders?

#158: It's 6.7.8

Yep, you won't have this numerical alignment for a date until next century! Think you'll be around then? Only if medical science advances enough to let you live another 100 years, but my question would be, "Why would you WANT to if you know there's a seat at the Marriage Feast table for you?!!" Of course, if you're reading this and don't know if there's a seat set aside for you or even what the heck I'm writing about, I can understand why you want to go on living for another 100 years. If you happen to be in that boat without a paddle OR a rudder...give this a whirl: "Hey, God...if you're there and this Jesus Stuff is true, show me!"...and expect to get an answer.

Let's see, it's supposed to be 93 degrees today with a heat index over 100 here in sunny southeast Pennsyltucky! Down here in the bowels of Stonewalled Charismatic it's a cool 73 behind the thickness of the stones and 8' below ground level....AND Judy Collins is singing "Amazing Grace" in my favorite version. (Lookit up on You Tube if you're a young'un and ain't heard it yet or do it for the memories if you're an old head!) Hmmm...wonder if Judy has ever come to know the Lord?...Bring her on board, Lord, a.s.a.p.!! AND DO THE SAME FOR MY WHOLE AINTS LIST!!!

On a slightly different note: I heard last night on TV when I was at the local "watering hole" that Hillarity is now backing Barracks against The John in the race for President of the US of A. I'm bettin' there will be some wicked twists and turns to this maneuver! If anyone thinks the Clintons are a bankrupt power brokerage firm, they'd better grab a copy of Machiavelli's The Prince and have a quick read over the weekend....I'm gonna check MSN to see what's cookin'...

OK, here's THE most unhealthy stuff and places to eat:
The Saltiest Dish in America: Romano's Macaroni Grill Chicken Portobello
Saltiest Appetizer: Papa John's Cheese sticks with Buffalo Sauce
Saltiest Pizza: Pizza Hut Meat Lover's Stuffed Crust Pizza
Why do I suddenly want to drink more distilled water?!! If this were Old Testament times, could this be called The Mrs. Lot Salt Report?!!
Oh, I was informed earlier this morning (after bacon, eggs, toast, juice & coffee) that it's "get your own lunch" and "dogs for dinner" at the Grey Havens, so I'm as happy as a hog in slop...that's my idea of the perfect day!! ;)

Since I'm on the topic of eating: some brainiac wants us to eat more BUGS to improve our health and the environment!! Well, last night's viewing of "King Kong" (the 2005 version) showed that, if you don't eat them, they'll EAT YOU!! I say we should have a revival of the old fashioned nuclear radiation bug movies like "THEM" so we can further dement yet another generation! How about that classic scene in "The Fly" (1958) where the guy's head is on the fly's body, caught in a spider web calling, "Help me! Help me!" in a high pitched voice?!! And, of course, there are Godzilla and Mothra to consider as classics that need to be rewatched!!
Oh, the article I just read talked about eating locusts, honey ants, crickets, and others. AND WHAT WAS IT THAT JOHN THE BAPTIST ATE? LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY!! (Gee, the brainiacs are catching up to the Bible a coupla thousand years after the fact YET AGAIN!! By the way, read Leviticus 11 if you want to find out God's view of permissible foods from a health standpoint!! Forget about that incident with Peter and the sheet with unclean animals...the point of the text was GENTILE EVANGELISM, not dietary restrictions being lifted!!

Well, I'm off to Facebook to see what my Friends are doin' today...
I'm reminded of Proverbs 25:25, "Like cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a distant land." Maybe I can give a cup of cold water to some sheep in the time upcoming?
Got Matthew 25:35-46?

#157: D-Day Deliberation

Let's hear it for Thesaurus.com for giving me a word that means "thought" but starts with a "d" to alliterate the title! Yes, today in 1944 the largest invasion force in world history attacked Hitler's Fortress Europa so that the forces of "good" could turn back the onslaught of the forces of "evil." Given my propensity to see ALL nations as pagan, standing firmly against God's Truth, you can understand the "bunny ears" around the descriptive words.

Anyway, whilst contemplating life in my inner room over my usual morning devotionals, some interesting connections were woven into my brain synapses. The One Year Book of Christian History points out that on this day in1819, Adoniram Judson received a letter from a Burmese man named Moung Nau who wanted to become a Christian (the first convert in six years of laboring for Judson) and join the "band of brothers, in the happiness of heaven..." Naturally, that phrase stimulated my adrenal cortex to think of the HBO series "Band of Brothers" that follows Easy Company of the 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, including their jump behind lines on D-Day.

The next thread in the thought tapestry was from Charles Spurgeon's thoughts in Beside Still Waters: Words of Comfort for the Soul. "Beloved, we will never be put to shame, even amid the grandeur of eternity. We will pass into the next state. After a while, the trumpet will sound [a necessity in order to ensure ALL Christians show up on time for the first time in history] and these bodies will rise, and then we will stand with the countless throng on that great day for which all other days were made (1 Thess. 4:14-18)." Guess you could call that Divine D-Day!
The last idea was expressed by Andrew Murray in Thoughts for the Quiet Hour, " Beware, in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time you intercede, be quiet first and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, of how He delights to hear Christ, of your place in Christ; and expect great things."

Now, Stephen E. Ambrose writes in D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II, "At the beginning of 1944, Nazi Germany's fundamental problem was that she had conquered more territory than she could defend, but Hitler had a conqueror's mentality and he insisted on defending every inch of occupied soil."

YOU, unlike Hitler, are "more than conquerors" according to Paul in Romans 8:37 and conquering Enemy territory while you're surrounded in the power of Christ is your calling, according to John 15:16!
Got Heavenly Artillery aimed?!!

#156: Good Dirt

Everybody who knows me has heard me say that the day before the Fall Adam was a gardener and the day after it he was a maintenance man. I've been striving to gain access to my original design in a post-Reformational, Van Tillian, Zen Buddhist feng shui sort of way by planting not only one, but two gardens this year! (As you can see, the metaphysical fertilizer flows regularly in this region of cyberspace, but what would you expect, given the blog name?!!)
Well, the good dirt of the Grey Havens Garden, the Lord's rain sent on our area quite propitiously this year so far, Miracle Gro, prayer, and good seed have produced the first fruits (veggies, actually) of the growing season. For those of you who appreciate spicy radishes, these babies were (notice the past tense) EXCELLENT, Duuudes and Duuuudesses! Granted, they're a bit premature for "proper" picking, so I simply justified my haste by calling it part of the "thinning" required by the seed packets to The Cook. (He wasn't going to eat them anyway.)
Well, I'm reminded of Matthew 13:23, "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." When you're prayin' for yourself or others, ask for the hundredfold fruit...I do for you!
Got gracious God?!!

#155: Tough Life

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."
Now, this might give you the warm fuzzies when you think about helping other people, but you have to go through a bunch of crap first to get ready for them, so get ready!
Guess that's it for now.