Is It Spring Yet?

We did the Christmas with the pretty snow. We tolerated January and most of February with sub-zero temperatures out here on the Great American Desert. Yesterday the ducks got to go swimming, and now the question remains, "Is This Spring?" No, it is not! We still need to experience mornings of snow mixed with winds of indeterminate velocity(I don't want to be out there long enough to set up a wind gauge)plus, mixes of rain and sleet. This is all in keeping with the season which is proving so far better than most. This year we have an event! Easter will(not in my lifetime)come so soon again! I don't worry about this too much since I know that the world has a different time table than it did 2,000 years ago. That's alright. Everyone in politics has messed with the calender in one way or another. This past year they changed the "daylight" savings time to better accommodate folks out on the road really early. Why don't we make it mandatory that the sun come up at a predesignated time and if it refuses to do so fine it for being late? This year Easter is going to come very soon. I look forward to the traditional celebrations of breakfast and worship(or is it the other way around? I was never really certain if this was a superimposed fund-raising event or a mandate of my Creator). This is the other time of the year when we get to meet(as clergy)folks we haven't seen for most of the year. Just try to remember 300 names of folks that you don't see but twice a year, I dare you! Anyway, the hint of spring is in the air, and for that I am verily thankful. It means that soon, and very soon, I shall be free once again to roam the highways and biways of our country on two wheels in search of the lost. I prayerfully submit that they are always out there. And who are they? Good that you might ponder. They are amongst the throngs that in our world today do not know Christ as their personal Savior, and His Father, my Lord God, of course! "Taste and see that the Lord is good!" In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Today Was Just Ducky!

January 14, 2007

I could not resist sharing the first sign of the weather actually breaking here on the Great American Desert. The ducks were attempting spring baths in their water dish so I figured I should get the "tub" up and running. God bless, Preacher.

Happy Sunday!

This is a foggy overcast morning on the Great American Desert. Yesterday, on the other hand, was a perfect winter's day. The sun blazed through the great window which face south providing all of our plants with enough rays to continue growing and blooming. Snickers spent much of the day laying in the sun on his new "bed" a black and red ladybug that my wife could not resist at the local Walmart. We have only two grocery outlets in our fair city, the Walmart "superstore," and HyVee. When I first purchased this home in 1993 there were five grocery outlets and an independent meatmarket. Progress, I have heard, is good for the economy. There are times, though, when "progress" simply limits our choices. Personally I like a lot of choices. So does the little Chihuahua, Snickers, who has adopted Cheryl and I as his "people." Cheryl purchased the ladybug pillow after Valentine's Day for a pittance of what it had sold for a few days prior. Her logic extended to providing Snickers with another choice to make concerning where to veg out. He has a carrier which is employed for travel and home confinement when he gets too excited about guests. Then there is the fully insulated indoor house which looks a little like a small footstool, chair and couch pillows if they happen to be in the "right" place, our bed if the door is open, and that was about it until the ladybug arrived. It is so soft and cuddly that I really can't blame him for enjoying it when it is right there in the sun up off the floor which is invariably colder than the rest of the house this time of the year. But, I'm losing track of the thought I wanted to share. LOL...like I don't do that much of the time these days! Yesterday Gordon and I had many choices, they all concerned the music that we were going to rehearse. One of the agents has decided that we need to "put something together" so he can have us performing on the road for the endless summer days that are awaiting us. I suppose we are going to have to make choices. Everyone has to make choices about their lives. I'm one of those folks who truly detests change. I know, it is inevitable, unavoidable, and that in the greater scheme of life I'll be able to look back and appreciate change for what it truly is....an "excercise" in choices! Each of us has to do that with our faith, as well. Today, for instance,I could have chosen to sleep through the morning and avoid the dreariness of the outdoors, not to mention the damp(that word has a "p" in it)cold. But what about church? My mind yells through the fog my morning coffee will assist in clearing? During the season of lent maybe I should have sacrificed my presence in Sunday worship to make space for another person just waiting to take their seat in the congregation.
Choices! We all make them every day. Some are imposed by the world we live in, others by the circumstances surrounding our lives. Most importantly for enjoying this life we have been gifted with the choice of living in faithful response to our loving Creator. I pray this is verily a "Happy Sunday" for you! In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Language Perceptions

 

January 14, 2007

What was that saying? "When In Rome....."

Stairways - Fantasy versus Reality

January 14, 2007

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.

Our Nation, One Nation Under God!

January 14, 2007

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.

Politics

January 14, 2007

You Can Never Build Yourself Up By Tearing Someone Else Down!