What was that saying? "When In Rome....."
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Stairways - Fantasy versus Reality
We shot all of my grandson's graduation pictures in the house we are in the process of building\refurbishing. The stairway made an absolutely beautiful backdrop for the pictures, that and the pair of oak pillars that frame the colonade area leading to the "parlor." Everything is on hold at the present time awaiting the breaking of the sub zero temps. There are times when my patience wears thin and I feel as though I am climbing that stairway on top, one built on fantasy and dreams. Days like we have been having keep me close to my piano and the entertainment that surrounds this 'puter. My mind rambles along on projects that I can see moving forward. Most of those concern the choices that have to be made concerning wall and floor coverings for the addition to the victorian home we have chosen to become our new residence. It feels this past week as though I'm trying to dig a hole in the water and it is not frozen. That's when I have to lean on my faith and the gracious goodness of the loving God that I worship and pray to each day. The presence of the Holy Spirit infuses me with fresh resolve and patience that is well beyond me. When I think of it in these terms I can only say that the fantasy will become reality and the dream will come true. I don't, at this time, have any idea of the time line, I just know it will be. That is the best of feelings, knowing that everything is going to work out according to God's plan and in His time. So, I'm looking at all of the project files and pictures, drawings and dimensional stuff and all I can say is, "It is good!"
In Christ's Love, Preacher.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Our Nation, One Nation Under God!
I received an E-mail three days ago requesting that I participate in a movement to suppress the use of the new dollar coin because it does not have the words, "In God We Trust" emblazoned on it's surface. I'm still pondering that request. If track records prove anything at all it is that our government has never minted a dollar coin that has "caught on" with the general public. This one probably won't catch on either. Coin collectors, a group of folks that I enjoy rubbing elbows with from time to time, have informed me that the coin will not initially be worth more than a dollar, but in time, say 50 years it may increase in value. LOL....Like I'm going to be around to see that happen! I suppose if there was a political party that I might have whole heartedly aligned myself with it would have been the Silverites. They stood on a platform of hard coinage and "NO" paper money allowed. They wanted what was in your pocket to be worth something. That would be a good thing today, but not really feasible. I would, however be supportive of coinage that was in the $50 and $20 range just for the ease it would give me in my itinerant life style. Think about it.....You could pay for a tank of gas with something the size of our old silver dollar and get some change back. A couple of those coins and you would be ready for grocery shopping or, in the case of my adorable wife, a stop at Walmart. It wouldn't make a lot of difference what they made the coins from in terms of metallurgical content, but the transport of money from place to place would just be more fun. I'm certain that George Washington probably is not denigrated in any manner shape or form by the issuance of this new dollar without those famous words, but I don't really think he would approve either. Any way you cut it we are never going to be able to make everybody happy all of the time, so I think the rest of us should have fun. Maybe even a One Hundred Dollar coin for doing that dinner out with a couple of friends. That type of coinage might catch on and we'd even see a decline in the number of folks using credit cards. Think about it....remember pitching pennies, and how about those friendly neighborhood poker games where it's table stakes and one has the coins to place on the table. We have casinos issuing their own coinage all over America and there are now collectors that have betting materials dating back well over 150 years. That's only a handful that I know personally, but "coin of the realm" has always been very important to people dating back well before our "modern" times. Anyway, I'm looking forward to picking up a few of these new dollars to put in the box with some of my old ones. I wonder if the old ones will be surprised to see that God has been removed in the pursuit of political correctness? In Christ's Love, Preacher.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Politics
Since I was a very young boy I remember the times when "politics" would become the most important topic discussed at the table, in the barn, at the billiard parlor, and all around the card tables in our little town(second class city for sure)out here on the Great American Desert. There is only one thing that I learned growing up in the midst of democrats and republicans. When it comes to people we all can be very abrasive. Here it comes, my big thought, "You can never build yourself up by tearing someone else down." In Christ's Love, Preacher.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Kickin' Back
This has been one of those totally frozen days out here on the Great American Desert! It never ceases to amaze me how one day(yesterday)the temps can be around 30 for the daytime hours, and the next we drop forty degrees down to, "I'll bite you if you go outside." That is what we contended with today. Every few hours I take Snickers(as seen in the above photos taken this evening)out for what has become a very short walk. He runs out the door, finds his spot and does his business, NO lolly gagging. Do people still use that particular phraseology? I have no clue where it came from, but it aptly describes the opposite of what Snickers does when the weather is nice. My wife, Cheryl, has been a bit under the weather today so she's taking some of her sick time which she never does. She told me tonight that in the past few years she has accumulated 1,000 hours of unused sick leave. To me that sounds like a vacation just waiting to happen. Somewhere really warm and balmy with the Ultra Classic on a trailer behind us all the way to southern Texas. We're only 1,200 miles from Dallas, and it has got to be a lot nicer there than here. None of this has anything to do with what I stopped in to blog about, though.
I wanted to mention comfort zones, and the one that Snickers found on the coffee table. He is not supposed to be on tables, but tonight was an exception. I'm the one responsible for that comfy pillow being on the table. I slipped out of my jeans after the last outing and curled up in the chair to put my feet up. Then I got busy playing the piano and the next thing I knew Snickers had commandeered my cushy place. The same thing goes on in the greater world, too. We have our eye on the perfect parking place and someone gets there before us. I rarely get my favorite place at the restaurant, but that's because it happens to be everyone's favorite place to be this time of the year, right in front of the fireplace. Sometimes things just aren't the way we would like them to be, but that's okay, if we have learned to be happy for others instead of grumbling. How many folks do you know that always seem to be a little bit happy concerning the misfortune of others? I know far too many, and I try from time to time to share my happiness over others blessings. We live in a world where the media covers so much of the bad stuff that is going on that I think some of it rubs off on people and they dwell in the same pit of bitterness that seems to pervade our planet. So, enough already! How about we all look for the little uplifting things that are going on around us all of the time? Even if someone takes our cushy pillow. God bless, Preacher.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Ironies Of Love
This Dairy Queen ice cream cake didn't stand a chance once it arrived home from the drive through! I had hoped to get back to my blog much sooner than this, but circumstances have prevailed concerning love stuff. At the present time we have a young lady sleeping on our couch that is going through her second divorce. In the midst of yesterday we sat down with a couple for an hour and a half to do the first of what will amount to several get-togethers prior to their wedding on April 26. This is the beginning of "wedding fever" season. For some reason it always begins right after Valentine's Day. There are folks who plan these things well ahead of the appointed time and then there are the ones who just get that inescapable urge and it must be satisfied. I suppose my take on this would have to lean very hard on the circumstances surrounding the union. If a couple has been together for a number of years and they share several children which they, as a couple, produced, it is a good thing to consider getting all of the last names in the house to match. I know that may sound a bit "old fashioned" in light of the era we live in, but it is true out here on the Great American Desert that kids have a much easier time in the public school system if they have a family unit that is dependable as the day is long. All too often we deal with the difficulties a single mom or dad have raising children those 12 years of education. Children and young adults can be extremely cruel. Anything that is "different" about folks we seem to have the propensity in our early years to point out with hurtful indifference. Perhaps there might be an explanation in there that could explain(not rationalize)the episodes of peer killings we have seen this past decade. Violence has become the means to an end that may have started with the earliest of experiences on playgrounds.
One of my eldest daughters(the "twins" is what we started out referring to them as)used to state unequivocally that she wanted most of all to be "Different", like everybody else. I thought it funny at the time because the kids were wearing colors that made me gag, not to mention mismatched socks were the "in" thing. There is a point in there. The values of my generation have been thrown, for the most part, out the window, but the cultural mores are the same when it comes to "peer groups." I'm watching this first hand with grands, now. They want to dress the way everyone else does so that they do not stand out. They often choose to be a part of some activity not because it is what they want, but because it is the place to be, thing to do, way to act, etc. When we had the second set of twins(boy & girl)23 years ago we stopped referring to the older set as the "twins" and never did put that one back into the family vocabulary. Each one of them is as different as the day is long, and I'm thankful for that. PKs have always had a tough time growing up. Mine were no different, but they all made it and so did I. The question is, What is happening with people that causes them to go off on their peer group and slay them in bunches? I'm certain there are many in the fields of psychiatry and sociology attempting to figure this one out every day. Is there an answer? Personally I believe it all has to do with the "love factor." Somewhere along the line these folks didn't connect with love the same way most of us do. I think that is another reason why we so desperately need God in each of our lives. That one that will love us without reservation. That one who will always be there for us. That ONE Creator with so much love for humankind that He gave His only begotten Son so that each of us might walk in the light and delight in creation. Love, it's not a simple thing. God bless, Preacher.
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