Just an Aside

One of my readings for this morning's devotional time came from the book Streams in the Desert, Vol 2, Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman, Cowman Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 1966, June 27).

This is something I have been aware of for many years... When I was pastoring a small rural church it was almost impossible to talk with the people about these ideas. I visited a church about two blocks from my apartment building this last Sunday, and was again impressed about how people entering into the sanctuary affects the worship service.

Well, take a look and see what you think.

If thou wouldst make the hour of worship more rich and meaningful, these things observe and do:

I. Thou shalt arise early on the Lord's Day and prepare to worship God in the sanctuary, saying to thyself after this manner, "This is the day that the Lord hath made; I will rejoice and be glad in it."

II. Thou shalt expect to meet God in the Temple of Worship, calling to remembrance the words of Jesus: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there will I be in the midst of them."

III. Verily, thou shalt be on time and no laggard be, as if reluctantly thou turnest thy feet toward the altar of God.

IV. When thou arrivest at the appointed place, thou shalt pray -- for thyself, those who minister, and those who worship beside thee -- knowing that so the "Whole world round is bound by gold chains about the feet of God."

V. If thou hast aught against anyone thou shalt forgive him, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. "This do and thou shalt live."

VI. Thou shalt draw as nigh unto the altar as the ushers may lead thee, calling to mind that which is written: "Draw nigh unto me, and I will draw nigh unto thee."

VII. Moreover, thou shalt sing with joy in thy heart, such songs and hymns as may be suggested, "making melody in thy heart unto the Lord."

VIII. Yea, verily, thou shalt fully share in all the service, "worshipping God with all thy heart, mind and strength."

IX. Thou shalt receive the spoken word as from the Lord, with all openness of mind, and then "search the Scriptures earnestly to see if those things be true."

X. Amen. Amen. Thou shalt, withal, reverent and quiet be, waiting on the Lord. "Wait, I say, on the Lord, and thou shalt see what wonderous things he shall do for thee."

E.R. McWilliams (in the "Log of Good Ship Grace.")

Randomly thimkin

Every where you look today, there is talk about the Supreme Court's decision on DC's gun ban law.

To my military mind, any time a government wants to take away the right of people to protect themselves and their property, there is foul play underfoot, and the citizenry can never benefit from the laws.

I am truly surprised to find actual citizens of this country do not believe that taking away citizen's rights from someone, will eventually affect everyone.

Today, we are seeing the deleterious effect of eminent domain.

There was a time in this country's history, when the proponents of taking away someone's property would have been met with self-defense.

And, today, we just drop trou and bend over, and let the elected officials do whatever trips their trigger... OOOOOPPPPPsssss was that a bad analogy?

We got wealthy landowners that just got con-gress to pass a ridiculous farm bill.
Why would they want this bill? So they can draw money off the taxpayer.

Are people really so stupid that they believe the government will continue to take care of them forever?

What is even more amazing is the number of people who think government has unlimited funds. Sheesh!! How stupid can you be?

Poli-tic-ians talk about raising taxes to meet the government budget, and stupid people vote for them, not realizing that there is a point of diminishing returns.

We are currently in the era, that is discussed as having the largest group of people becoming eligible for retirement.

Many of them will realize for probably the first time, that you are taxed on any retirement income, including Sosh Security... How is that for a blatant, in-your-face, screw you situation?

How long are we gonna continue to allow this kind of extortion?

Scotty, I'm still waitin for the beam.

Taken it ez

Well, time and tide wait for no man, and lo and behold, it is Thursday already... my last post was on Monday.

"How time flies when you are having fun!"

The last coupla days have been pretty humid. Thus, I look forward to the day being over, which makes time fly ever more.

Have been enjoying watching the babies getting around outside my apartment.
First it was the baby blackbirds and robbins, following the older birds around waiting for food to be stuck in their beak.

Now, they are foraging around on their own, getting their own food, and doing a lot flying and chirping.

Next out was the rabbits; the really tiny ones followed the older ones and stopped to nibble here and there; but mostly they scampered away into hiding at the slightest noise.

Then came the little ground critters, I mean these things were soooo tiny. They would slink through the grass, looking for food; and occasionally one of them would get really feisty and start chasing another one around, when the one would stop the other one would bump or jump on, then the race would be on again.

Over the years I have heard that the way to catch a squirrel is to climb up in a tree and act like a nut.

Well, yesterday this squirrel came loping across the grass, and scampered up a tree, then jumped over to the tree growing beside it.

Then it turned upside down and raced down the tree.

Upon landing, it jumped a few feet and rolled over on its back in the grass like a dog would do.

Then it was up again, jumping back onto the tree, this time scampering up to a small branch sticking out.

Seemed to test the branch, and then dropped to the ground, about six feet.

Whereupon it once again jumped onto the tree and started climbing up, only to reverse climb, and scurry down, then reverse again, going up.

Got to watch this show for about twenty minutes, when the squirrel jumped down and loped off across the grass.

I suppose someone might say, "It don't take much to entertain small minds."
Well, it was entertaining; and I guess you just had to be there.

Commiserating with myself

The beautiful Dr. Helen has spent some time discussing relationships. She has looked at married relationships, friendly relationships, parental/child relationships, and explored the dynamics involved. Of late she has been looking at men not getting married, or being interested in long term relationships.

I just spent most of today trying to find a song, that has spoken to me regarding relationships and intimacy of all kinds and shapes. I had remembered the voice as sounding like Billy Joel.

I finally contacted my lifetime friend in Denver who has a penchant for oldies n goodies. We played verbal volleyball for over two hours trying to come up with the song and the artist. After my broadband started cutting out on me, he emailed me with the words to the song.

It wasn't Billy Joel, it was Rod Stewart.

I have found in my life a desire for closeness that has only been temporarily broached in marriage.

I am a Christian, and readily admit that I beleive God created man to be in fellowship; in fellowship with Him and with each other.

Why is it, we want to be close to someone, yet, we let inconsequential things get in the way, and push us apart? It is no secret that in the 60s the Marine Corps trained us in hand-to-hand combat; including killing an enemy with your bare hands. My most recent wife, one day, heard me speaking with a friend of how I had been trained. She then informed me she was afraid of what I might do to our children if I ever tried to correct them.

She would get angry with me when I would play with the dog, because she was always afraid I would hurt the dog.

Yeah, I guess that does kinda go along with the modern day media portrayal of the male species.

But to get back to this song, check out the words to the chorus and see if they don't fit in your own heart and mind.

"And sometimes when we touch
The honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you til I die
Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides".

I guess, we are so afraid of breaking down and crying; or perhaps the fear inside of us is too scary to even think of bringing it to the surface around another person.

Well, every dog I have ever owned has never cowed away in fear, has always allowed me to cry and be a bumbling idiot.

Sometimes, when you cannot be heart to heart with another person, it is comforting to know man's best friend is always around to just be there.

Books

These are the books I have most recently read.
I did enjoy each of them.

Shadow Command, Dale Brown.
The Book of the Dead, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.
Nothing to Lose, Lee Child.
The Scorpion's Gate, Richard A. Clarke.
Let us Pray, Watchman Nee.
Life's Supreme Choices, R. T. Williams.
The Mind of Jesus, William Barclay.
Ruthless.com, Tom Clancy & Marin Greenberg.
See You Later Alligator, William F. Buckley, Jr.