Tagged

So, my American cousin down in Vancouver tagged me and I thought of ignoring it but given that he really does not know me all that well (only seen him once in my life! but we do yak daily on FaceBook), okay, I will do it!

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!
 
1. Did you date someone from your school? No

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? No

3. Did you car pool to school? Bicycle or walked, 20 miles in the snow, uphill, each way!

4. What kind of car did you have? Austin Cambridge, but it rarely ran.

5. What kind of car do you have now? 1986 Lincoln Towncar, it does run.

6. It's Friday night....where are you then? Eating with friends at Shakey's Pizza on Havana Road!

7. It's Friday night...now where are you?  Mostly with friends, beer and hummus platters.

8. What kind of job(s) did you have in high school? Designed and built dragsters.

9. What kind of job do you do now? Retired, thinking about being a scab if the grocers go on strike ...

10. Were you a party animal? I take the 5th!  Oh, wait, that was part of the problem!

11. Were you considered a flirt? Only in my dreams.

12. Were you in the band, orchestra, or choir? Barbershop Quartet.

13. Were you a nerd? Totally.

14. Did you get suspended or expelled? Never!

15. Can you sing the fight song? The only one I remember was, "Hell No, I Won't Go!"

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)? Mr. Beadling - auto shop, an incredible man.

17. Where did you sit during lunch? Rode my bike to other school to see my girl friend at lunch.

18. What was your school's full name? Aurora Central High (don't bother no pictures of me in the annuals).

19. When did you graduate? 1973

20. What was your school mascot? A Trojan (seriously!).

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you? "Hell No, I Won't Go!"

22. Did you have fun at the prom? No

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? No

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? No

25. Do you still talk to people from school? Only two.

High School was a lesson in torment and torture for me.  I had NOTHING in common with anyone, I could speak English with a pronounced accent but by and large unable to read it.  I desperately wanted to just study art but father forbid it, so I excelled in all areas of auto design.  Frames, bodies and engines, were my only creative outlet.  We broke the High Altitude Drag Race speed record in 1972 and it would be decades before someone could beat it.  Our Baja Buggies were a hoot, never finished a race but they were a challenge I would love to pick back up!  And the street rods? :) Well, it took a Lamborghini to finally destroy us in the 5 mile bandit races.  My personal car by then was an Alfa Romeo Diana with a custom spyder body and a joy to drive!  It still is running races down in the Oakland vintage car rallies I am told.  Yeah, I was a motor head.

Musical Saturday Morning

It was 1976, I worked for UNIVAC creating their first digit computer and created a "feels the same as IMS" database management system for them.   Then went on to write operating systems for Honeywell mainframes that year.  I was learning my trade, considered "hot" in the industry, a total nerd by everyone, drove a car everyone wanted to out run but couldn't - and I was completely dead on the inside.  My God had abandoned me.  I had been fired the year before as a youth pastor of my church, for believing in the Holy Spirit.  My fiancee had abandoned me because I was no longer a pastor.  I was thrown out of my church for giving the elders "attitude".  I was for all intents and purposes dead.  I had lost everyone and everyone in my life.  I moved to the opposite side of the world.

The little church I was attending, in a college town that fall, called me to do a Bible study for local college students.  Because I am not normal, neither were  my studies, soon I had science majors coming to take on the guy whom believed in the literal interpretation of the Bible.  It was great fun and most of them continued with the study until I was forced to stop due to a professional offer I could not afford to pass up.

It was because of that Bible study I was to meet my best friend for most of my life, Gaelic Girl.  She was a scientist wanna-be, 19,  gorgeous beyond belief and so completely damaged on the inside that it proved the unfairness of God.  First, I already hated every gorgeous girl ever created - I had already seen their vanity and shallowness upfront with my unfaithful bride.  So, GG deserved no more than a "Hi, and Bye.", from me.  Until, God forced me to move in her life and literally rescue her from horrors of it, I shipped her off to the University of Washington for their geology program.

Why bring her up?  Because a few months after we met, she saved up and bought me an ELO album, actually my very first gift from a girl!  I loved the Blue Oyster Cult and ELO, okay, Al Stewart too.  How I longed to be able to grow a set of mutton chops but alas my mother's native American blood ran too thickly in my veins.  It would only be in my dreams or on Halloween ...



By the way, the guy on the right looks almost exactly like Dutchman back then, only he is 6'2"!  Well my thoughts on God have changed greatly, thanks to Him, but my music is still a piece of ELO, BOC, Alice Cooper, Love Song and the 1980's.  Yup, done growed up.  Dutchman is still with me and GG has just started talking to me again, after very many years.

Confirming A Problem

 It was 2005, I was just getting into blogging, my 17 year old daughter had gone crazy and run away from home.  I was despondent, I had absolutely no clue what to do.  It was pathetic.  In desperation I turned to the internet and started just typing keywords until something popped up, I would then cruise through thousands of sites, looking for something which would help me with my daughter.  That was how I met Miss Manners.

Different parts of the world, different backgrounds, different situations, but I have always assumed that all people are the same both today and across time.  And she shared with me ideas on how to work with my oldest daughter to resolve the issues between us.  No, I was skeptical of her advice, but I did as told the first time I had a chance - on her 18th birthday.  And my daughter started to turn around quite abruptly!  She is now someone I count on heavily - we are if nothing else, extremely good friends, which I think is how adult children should be.  Parent and child, yet equal in each other's sight.  Yeah, most of my friends are a little more controlling than me and expect their adult children to still be children ... okay ... I disagree ...

What my now friend Miss Manner's had explained to me was the psychology of girls.  In the years since, I have observed her knowledge and descriptions to have been quite accurate.  And I have seen in this culture a greater and greater disconnect between men and their daughters.  To the extent now I wonder exactly what did happen masculinity?!?

Sunday, as I walked in to my Church's foyer, one of the younger men cornered me to ask what to do about his 20-something, going on 12 female he is dealing with in his house and wanting to kick to the moon.  I shared with him, what I had been told 8 years earlier.  He just stared at me, "Really?"  Yeah, we are all quite clueless, thank Miss Manners.

Then, as I was part of the prayer team, a woman came up front, with exactly the same problems to discuss - in her life, in her daughter's life!  What are the odds of twice in the same morning?  So, we then, before we prayed, had exactly the same discussion!  Which brought forth quite a few other prayer items as well.

So, Miss Manner's, if you are still a reader, know that your wisdom - you shared with me, is in turn being used by many here in the greater Seattle area to hopefully heal families struggling in this cultural climate ...

Now is the Time

1 Timothy 4:1-5

Now is the time!
There is no better time for you to come to your peace with your maker!
Nor is there a better time for you, as a Christian, to be witnessing to those around you!

We live in an age and culture where "truth" has become relative - or people have been lead to think by those whom argue there are no absolutes.  Yet, a lie is still a lie, even when people desire to call it "truth"!

This is a serious problem for man has been led astray by the doctrines of demons, even those weak in the faith succumb to the fanciful lies of those listened to.  Lies, presented as "truth", or deeper "truth", or meant to have an impact upon those within a certain age group or cultural setting.  Tailor made death, to block the listener from actually finding release from what this culture teaches.

It always boils down to: "Whom do you say, Jesus, is?"  (as well as how much do you add to the Gospel?)

These false witnesses in our midst, as Paul calls them, Snakes, no longer have an active conscious - they are dead to their sin and no longer suffer any conviction for their deeds.  They sleep quite well facing their pending judgment.

The Christian message of LOVE has been mutilated by a culture to which innocence has been lost.  Instead of the freedom God gives us, man has created a step ladder of do's and don'ts, never intended by God.  Legalism, without compassion, judgement without trial nor defense, you will lose - you have already lost.  Wake up!

But, we can still reach the world, it is hard, you will be judged, you will be misunderstood, the worse will be thought of you, but it can be done:

• Deal with the sin in your life, give Satan as few of doors as possible to whack you from behind
• Show holiness in your life, not empty piety, the real thing - how you should be living your life
• Prayer is your telephone line to God, use it and use it frequently
• Pray for your leaders, religious and civil
• Pray for your friends and family
• Pray for special needs, not the never ending shopping list
• Pray to thank and praise God for whom He is
• Remove from your life those things which hamper your success as a Christian.

Use the gifts God has given you, we all have at least one when we are doing His will (reaching others), so be emboldened in reaching out to others.  And reaching out means more than just telling about the Gospel, it is being involved, being vulnerable, being a true servant of God (be His slave!).

So, as you go forth today: Pray, Praise, live your life for Him - if you can't, then change your life ... and clean up all of those spots ...

A fitting tune for this moment in my life:

Responsibility to Family

I was lucky in my early Christian days, because I had no family.  A cast out from my birth family, isolated to the Pacific Northwest of the USA where no one would have to deal with me, a clueless 18 year old and it could have gone terribly wrong - but it didn't.  God brought into my life people whom unknown to me at the time, were needed to fill the holes in my life.  There were those whom played the roles of parents, siblings, friends and even grandparents.  Without them I would never have made it.

Last night was another of those nights where ending up in ER seemed to be a real threat, my heart just was not able to keep up with the stress of the day, much less the preceding weekend.  I took my pills, found my blood pressure was not all that far off from normal, nor heart rate - weird.  And I thought on the conversation which preceded this - an utter and complete disconnect. I  still do not get it.  And this left me thinking of the concept of family and our need for family.

In 1Timothy 5:1-16, Paul lays out an argument for what is now considered to be a literal expression of correction in the church, church duties, etc.  But, is that really what Paul is talking about?

I do not think so, I think Paul is talking about family, God's family, your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, siblings, children - everyone in the Christian body, plays some family role in your life.  In short, we are the family of God and everyone in it is to matter to us personally!  I had a good friend from one culture where elders were all addressed as aunt and uncle!  It made me laugh to be called uncle!

It is easy to ignore most of those family members, they are far away.  Their deaths in a Kenya, at a shopping mall, or beheaded in Egypt or Syria have no impact on us we can see - and yet they do.  We are obviously not natural relatives to one another, but we are a blended family.  Much the same as in my early life, with brothers and a sister whom were blended with me by my father's many marriages.  Most of them I had known most of my life, so it was no real shocker, just needing to find ways to adjust and not fight with them!  And all of us, because we had known each other, found it easier to do this and at the same time have a level of respect for one another.  Yeah, there were still problems of one parent or the other taking the wrong side in an argument, based on genetics, but over all we managed.  Or in my own family of bringing four children together from different cultures and backgrounds, albeit all Russian, but mind you there were more than a few problems to deal with along that trail!

From Paul's outlook we are family and each is to be treated with respect, albeit differently based upon age, position, sex, etc.  Not unreasonable at all.  Except we live in a culture where age, sex and position is afforded no respect any longer.

When we see needs within our family, we are to meet them!  The most vulnerable within any family are the widows and the orphans - they have no one to care for their physical needs.  These are the ones we must care for.  Whether it is cash or labor, we are called to help them in their distress - and in this culture, no one exactly makes their needs known - probably because they see the needs left unfulfilled in others lives.

And I think on "Pastor Bob" in his call for everyone to send him $1,000 to guarantee their access in Heaven - and the multitudes of "believers" send their $1,000 to his ministry and let the widows and orphans they do know about - go in need.  Really?  My Bible seems to tell that ALL of our responsibilities are to these two groups.  It is not our place to judge them or question - it is to help.  Even I, as crippled as I am, can still mow grass or pick weeds or even cook a meal to help a family member in need.

Back in the early 1990's, in another church, in another town, we had an orphan girl whom would come to learn about God.  She walked about three miles to do so.  I also learned that her father had been killed in a drug war shootout.  Many would have nothing to do with her, she was after-all just white trash and no good would ever come of her.  Really?  This was the attitude of those in the church?  I made it overt, my helping her.  No there was little I could do: offer rides, an occasional meal, allow her to visit the house and just hang out.  It made a big difference in her life.  I probably could have done more but I still had lots to learn back then myself.  Had I of been smart I might have tried to adopt her, hindsight is always 20/20.  I still hear from her from time to time.  Just a little example of what you might want to become aware of in your church and do in the effort to care for others.

Here in America I have been stunned by how unwilling people are to help others!  If the cash does not go to the church, so that it is tax deductible, then no help will ever be possible!  Really?  God says take the tax deduction before helping others?  That is plain evil folks - and don't expect God's blessing in you or your church's life!

Mind you, we are to individually practice charity but there is a responsibility which goes along with that as well.  You are to know that your money or efforts are not going to waste.  Yeah, we are not to just pass along the dollars and let God figure it out!  There are lots of crazies out there.  They will spend your money on drugs, alcohol, porn, gambling, video games or even Starbucks!  So, you need to be watchful and know that money, if that is what you are giving, is going to be used wisely.  But, more importantly - you are to be responsible - not the church to be in your place!  By church I am referring to the organization doing any of the charity!  We are to take care of family, they are ours to care for - carefully, responsibly and individually.  And God will bless those efforts, because I know it will bring a reaction - one way or another.

Interestingly, back in the good old days of "Rome hates and kills Christians", there was a devastating flood in the Provence of Galatia, a chunk of today's Turkey.  The Christian churches sent people, supplies and money to help the devastated towns.  The Romans were in awe.  They did not even help each other, much less those opposed to their very existence!  It was a powerful witness at the time.

Yeah, we have floods and earthquakes, storms and destruction by nature and war.  I wonder if there are any opportunities in there for you to help others in your family right now?

*****

(as a side note: I have in the past mentioned people whom could use support.  Kim, an African missionary was one such whose work was supported by my readers.  And I have been waiting to identify another, a Mexican, whom is caring for orphans in his little town in Chihuahua - wracked by drug wars, on his meager earnings.  However, his area was devastated over the weekend by the flooding from twin typhoons which hit and then an earthquake!  He is not in good shape right now, more than a few broken bones (he is my age!) and no medical care is available to him.  His mother also sustained a broken arm.  Not sure as to property damage and it might be another week to even hear more from him.  So, I would ask that you join with me in prayer - for his healing, for his ministry, etc.  It is needed, easy to do and free to give!)

Importance of Chapter 7

I have mentioned several times that in High School I was hopeless in English classes.  Luckily, I only had to take two English classes here in America or I would probably still be in High School!

I remember in 10th grade that I was in this classical reading class with a teacher whom worshiped Joseph Conrad.  Now I might not be much in English, but I did grow up on a dairy and so had a tremendous familiarity with what cows produced and leave on the ground.  Interestingly, exactly the same product Joseph Conrad was capable of producing.  Lord how I hated that class!

A book a week, a paper a week, a lie a week.

When I first came to America, a new friend took me to a stand up comedian performance his church was doing in South Carolina.  So, I got to see an American church, observe whom the "Christian" kids were in the community and believe it or not, I actually learned something.

The guy talked about how horrible his high school years were and how the only way he could get past literature class was to bluff his way through the essays.  How did he do it?  Well, he would write about the importance of chapter 7 to the storyline of the book!  The crowd roared with laughter ...

So, there I am in literature, forced to choke down a Joseph Conrad book a week, write an essay a week about how wonderful this cow-patty is, and still retain some self respect!  And every week I wrote on the importance of chapter 7!  I would read the first chapter, the last chapter and then tie both together with chapter 7!

Unfortunately, that approach will only work for so long and by the end of the class we had to write a critical essay on Lord Jim - the worse of the worst of Conrad's books!  How do you produce a 12 page paper on the worse book ever written, by an English hack, and then try to save your own self respect?!?!?!?

So, I wrote the entire review in the manner of Mad Magazine, pictures and everything.

Not only did I get an 'A' in the class, but she sent a copy to Mad Magazine and I won an interview with them.  In the end, they did not hire me - commenting "that my drug levels were obviously too low".  I had no idea what that meant and they told me, "that was exactly the problem" - but they loved my work.

So, here I am this week reading random books and here is this one called, "I Prayed for Patience and Other Horror Stories", by Chuck Snyder.  Cute book, fun book, a good story of a man finding God and learning how to live life for Christ.  And then there it is, he is talking about his giving talks to youth groups around the country and the Importance of Chapter 7!

All of these decades later, I can now see whom he was and read now as a Christian his testimony and marvel at how one of his tongue in cheek remarks in 1969 - stuck with me and actually saved me in High School!

No idea if the man is still even alive but if he is, thank you, you saved this young German in English classes he never could have otherwise passed ...

As for Miss Two-Ton-Iron-Bladder, she went on to found what was to become Weight Watchers, lose about 500 pounds and become fabulously wealthy before dieing of a heart-attack!  Yeah, shock of losing so much weight I guess.  Or, she might have actually read Lord Jim one last time and choked on it .....

Family Mattters

This weekend was might hard on me.  My daughter continues to vex me and Satan continues to use every opportunity to hammer me.  This time it was on FaceBook.

Apparently she decided to unblock me.  Yeah, back in August 2012 she completely cut me out of her life, unfriended me, blocked me, changed emails, changed IDs, etc.  Everything she could do to seperate herself from me.

Why even bother to mention this?  Well, I do not know what to do!  The father in me would run to her, or at least send a message and ask if this was an accident or a first step.  This Kris, the one she never knew, whom was born December 29, 2012 - and it was a painful birth!, is completely out of his element here.  I have no idea how to begin to address.

I thought to call her mom, but she changed her number and also unfriended me.  Yeah, it was a power struggle she won - she kept her daughter's affection at the cost of killing me.  So, if daughter took this step, without her mother's knowledge, there is no reason to get her deep with my sister I long to have as my friend again.

And, I promised not to stalk my daughter, and being a man of my word, I will not.  But, if she wants to be in contact, I wish she would.  If she thinks I hate her for what she did - I do not.  If she thinks I could no longer love her, she would be wrong, she is my daughter until the day I die.  She simply wastes my life, each day she has been gone.

Then again, I know my body is terribly weakened, Two hospitalizations, 164 heart attacks as of last April, one heart surgery that has not cured the problem.  No I know my days are numbered every time I stress about something, every time I am surprised, every time I see a spider ...  And I would have her back while I can still make a difference in her life and show her what she never understood.

Yeah, prayer is needed for her, for me, for her mother, for my niece - whom is what keeps me safe, sane and learning how to be human...

Musical Saturday Morning

Another Saturday morning, another not so random Music Video!

I was having a hard time finding a good version of this song and artist, however, this one was so AWFUL that it had to be THE choice!  Bad dubbing, bad pretend guitar (sorry no wireless guitar back then!) and you have to wonder if Johnny Rivers cared at all about this HORROR of a performance.

But, since the song was dubbed in from the real recording it is okay.  So just close your eyes and remember a time in 1966, when Johnny Rivers and Patrick Mc Goohan were number one ...



Just remember, they've given you a number ....

Vegan Shocker

My youngest granddaughter turned three years old and so her mother planned a birthday party for her - at Boeing's museum of flight!  Somehow that just did not seem right, what fun is a three year old going to have in a museum?

Well, apparently plenty!  She loved the kids section where they have several experimental type aircraft that they kids can crawl all over, shake the stick, and bang those pedals to the metal for all they are worth!

I was stunned by the price however! $25 per person!  OMG!  Luckily, my son's on again / off again girlfriend came and she had scored 8 free passes to the museum!  So it was free!  And she gave me three more passes to use in the future, so I can visit another time!  Super cool, free is always good!

Then the party moved on for lunch at a vegan place my number two daughter wanted to try.  It was not particularly very good but it was a party for granddaughter not me.  I had been vegan in a past life (college!) long before it was every even thought of by the oddities arguing for it today - so no biggie for me, but my son just about came unglued at the thought of a meal without meat!  Which surprised me because we often had dinners which were meatless as he was growing up.  I was showing all of the kids that you can have delicious meals without animal based protein at every meal.  Apparently the logic was lost on him at the time.

But he survived and probably ate three pounds of fish for a snack once he was home .....

So back home, I was telling my friend about the day and she sent me this clip from Portlandia:



And I laughed and laughed as the sounds echoed through the house ...

Google Frustration

So we complete two weeks of Google having hosed up Blogger.  The initial fix is a no brainer, their redirect to a different ISP address lacked an 'S' in HTTPS.  They can not change that one line of code to include an 'S', twice in the command line.  Apparently, Google has no interest in undoing their mess up and compounded by their lack of testing.  Yeah, just firing up Blogger would have failed for them, had they of bothered. 

Then this release will not allow you to upload photos and I have a host of posts requiring the upload of photographs, but alas, no longer.  Sigh.

By the way Google, I have literally written the book concerning testing approaches decades ago and just do happen to be free for engagements to show you how to do it ...

So trying to figure out what now to do for Friday!  Without photos ...

RIPD

So, it took three attempts for me to finally see this film!

First time, the theater had dropped it from their offerings on the second day!

The next time, I was beaten up by a Wendy's cup dispenser and rendered incapable of sitting through the movie.

And finally, Friday night, it all came together for me and I was able to see it at long last!

First off, I do not like Jeff Bridges. Name a movie of his and it will not be on the Kris like's list. I feel very much the same over his brother Beau believing he is an 'actor' as well. Their father had talent, but those genes were never was passed to the the children!

The movie starts up and of course, I hate the Bridges character instantly. It has been so long since Tremors, I barely recognized Kevin Bacon - so I expected something fun with him being in the movie. And Ryan Reynolds, honestly, who cares? So not much talent assembled here in my book.

If you enjoyed Ghostbusters or Men In Black, the storyline is basically the same recycle from those two. Outside of a few script twist, there is no originality here.

So, you are getting my impression here: lack luster stars, non original storyline, a few laughs and nothing more.

However, by the end of the movie I was liking the Jeff Bridges character and his effort, he had put some thought into his effort and it came together nicely for him. But the film was still not an owner.

CGI violence, teen friendly, language not overly terrible. Recommended for mind numbing entertainment only - when you are brain dead, unless your brain is occupied watching or doing something else something (I am often 'watching' a movie when I type up these posts!) - else go rent Men in Black and enjoy something fairly original ...

I Need To Be Like That

Many argue that 1 Timothy 3:1-2 is either cultural, or is only applicable to leadership, within the church.  However, we each are to all be leaders of some sort!  This passage only lays out some of what you must strive for in your life!

Give me a desire to serve.
We each need to aspire to desire, this is not an ambition because there is no reward in this for the here and now!
We should want to serve.
IT is our job, not someone esle's...
Work in God's service at His leading and direction.
Any reward, is in Heaven not on Earth - so do not look for blessings by the dollar full!

Only with God's help will my walk match your talk!
We are to be blameless in the present, the past is past, confessed and forgiven!
We will never be faultless - hey, you and I are will fail!  But it is not a continual state of failure.

May I live with integrity.
Marital fidelity is a must!
We are to be respectable within the day and culture in which we live.
Live with in the cultural constraint of Biblical behavior!

Communication

So Gaelic Girl and I had another knock down, drag out, let the ugliness fly conversations.

I have had to come to the conclusion that she really does not remember any of her previous expressions of hatred towards me. Sometime it is like I am dealing a pod-person! Looks the same but not on the inside.

But, this time there was a change, I chose to defend myself rather than just take it from her as I have for years.
After several hours and God only knows where my blood pressure went to, we finally came to resolution. And without my needing any nitro.

To what end will this lead? Who knows! But, at least there is a basis for conversation ...

She wants me to see a therapist and I reminded her there is a reason psychology does not work on me. She looked befuddled. Yeah, apparently she has forgot that as well.

Your prayers are appreciated.

Musical Saturday Morning

It was 1964 and I was living in the little town of Quessy Centre, in northern France.  It was in one regard, a death sentence from all I knew.  An artistic German kid was abandoned in a French speaking town, where art meant nothing.  On the other hand, I learned how to cook from my chef neighbor, Isabelle Bourdoun.  And I got to speak french for the next 8 years!  Though some of those I was to be in the United States and French as at least one class I could pass - they offered nothing in German.

So I lived with my radio.  Radio Verdun was turned over to some young GI's whom would play rock and roll, only tame stuff, it was after all still a military radio station!  But, at 5:00 - you could set your watch by it - they took over the radio station and through to the shut down in 1967, it was Wipeout by the Safaris, blasting across the radio waves!  All of us kids loved that song and we destroyed hundreds of pencils trying to drum that beat on the 70 mile school bus ride every morning.

So, forty years later, but here are the Safaris and their two hit wonder:



I was thinking about my departed sister and brother this week, very morose to remember them and then this song came beating back into my mind.  Nicky had wanted to be a drummer and could do the drum beat, when he was sober.

So it might seem strange but that is a happy memory of the two of them. Carmen dancing like a demon, Nicky drumming away and me laughing my fool head off at them.

To Serve Man

As discussed last time God uses imperfect people.  Want a bad example?  Think Judas Iscariot!  Yes, God did use him, albeit to his own destruction.

Want to think of less horrible examples of imperfect people?

• Adam
• Noah
• Moses
• Abraham
• David
• Elijah
• Elisha
• Moses
• Amos
• John
• Peter
• Paul
• every "saint" whom as ever lived

Yeah, everyone, you, me, every person in the Bible, everyone!, has failed God and therefore is an imperfect example!

1 Timothy 3:8-13

Here we can read the qualities which should be in the believers lives.  Yes, the legalist is going to say, "But this is for deacons only ... "

I do not think so, I think we are seeing what each of us is to aspire to in our personal lives.  Albeit, not all circumstances are within our control - when we live in a liberal culture where vulgarism is appreciated and Godliness is not.  And just in case you did not know this, God is not a legalist - He is the judge of your heart and deeds.  Yeah, He has the right to decide right or wrong for you, and still be Right.

And less you ladies think this does not apply to you - check out the Book of Acts concerning the creation of Deaconesses, particularly Dorcas, aka Tabitha (my favorite name for a cat!).

We are to serve.
Deacons were meant to be a servant of all, to the point of being a servants - servant!  In Timothy's day that meant you were a slave to the slave!  Let us get this straight: you were either a freeman, hence Roman, or you were a slave.  Only two classes of people back then and 2/3's of the world was under slavery to Rome!  Now that slave status could be the result of some financial obligation you were trying to earn your way out of (a bond servant) but until that debt was cleared - you were a slave.

So, you want to serve God, then realize you could well be the servant of the lowliest in you culture - and willing to do so.  And you are to aspire to be that servant, it is you ultimate calling ...

Yeah think on that.

We hype people going to where ever, Freedonia, to share the Gospel and told this what real Christians are to aspire to and yet, Paul is more of a mind that a real Christian is a servant - at home, where he lives, to the people around him everyday of the week, wholly sold out to God.  So, sorry, no 9 to 5 in the mission field with a fat pension in some bank account when you "retire" and go back "home".  (In fact that is about a close to an abomination as you could define as a missionary scenario in God's eyes!)

Women
And then, Paul moves straight on to women.  Whose women?  Which women?  Well, some think this is to be the wives of the deacons or deaconesses but Paul could have said that, if that is what he intended.  It only says women.  So this must be ALL women!

So, if the argument here is that men should be living lives which are to be of service to others within the church, then all women should be living lives which will not bring slander to them or others, or gossips, or spreaders of either!

Well, I do not know about  you but in my current church that eliminates just about all of the women!  Yeah, we have a telephone gossip based slander chain that amazes me!  I know in my own life I am not willing to slander or gossip about those whom wrong me (because I know God is not done with them and when He is, they will vindicate me), and yet, the  women in my church have no problems doing the same about people they do not even know.  (And in my personal instance, not a one of them has ever approached me or asked what really happened!, in over a year of this going on.  But, outside of the church, people from other churches have no problem calling me up, stopping me on the street, sitting down as I am eating lunch and wanting to know the story!  Think on the Godliness of those in my church ... yeah.)

And we begin to boil these verses down:

I am not afraid to live what I believe.
Even to point of losing my closest friends.  I am answerable to God, not them.  If God told me a task to perform, I will do it - He will reward me appropriately and probably not in such a way that anyone but me will know it.  My greatest sorrow is my disappeared daughter, I did as I was told to.  Yeah, she is gone but God rewarded me with another to reach out to, and then another, and I fully expect in the future yet another.  The greatest blessing in my life is seeing freedom gained by these people from the bondage they have found themselves, sharing in their victories, and sharing in their sorrows.  Mind you, to me, this is a rich reward, no one around me understands that, save for my lone friend.  And if I died now of starvation, I would be the richest man I have ever heard of!  For real.

I am not afraid to be tested.
Mind you I hate being tested and I wonder everyday if I am being so now!  For me, the testing seems to be fumbling my way through life and trying to be very-very-very careful not to slip up from what God has called or given me.  Not very  easy and how I wish I had someone to give me wisdom at times - but God does not seem to want that to happen, for I am quite alone and therefore quite the coward at times - not only in doing right but also in failure!  Yet, He seems to have given me a role and a series of tasks - and I have no idea where they lead and seem to contradict all that I expect in life.  So, I tread water and moment by moment  try not to screw things up (too badly!).

In the end, we see that what God wants is servants, whether you are male or female.  He wants you to be above reproach and to model Him in your life for all those around you to see.

You can argue fine points of theology, you can argue that you do not like something about God or about His people or what He tells you to do, but that does not change His expectations of you.  Somewhat tongue in cheek, due to my Sci-Fi background, but you are to serve man(kind) ...

Imperfection Before Man

So last time talked about the Church and the vacuous definition for exactly how to build it.  Well, that was because you are the Church, you are a part of the Church, you are the support for the Church, you are what is to hold the church up!  So, assuming you are a Christian, a real one, not the fake kind so prevalent these days all over the world ...

Using Timothy as our example, an imperfect person for the ministry in man's eyes, but perfect in God's.  1 Timothy 4:11-16

Forget your age, you can not be too old nor too young to be used by God - for anything He wants you to do!  My current pastor preached his first at age 13, conversely I have met many in their 90's still doing the same thing through the years.  So and age and positional requirements are of no meaning to God, you dedication to Him is however.

Something I learned very early in my Christian life, God grants authority, not man, not the church, not society, not culture.  So I have even found myself on the wrong side of everyone's opinion in doing as God asks!  God is to be the center and the source of our life.

Read your Bible!  Interestingly, we are told here to do this out loud and in public!  Why?  Probably because copies of Scripture were rare and by doing this out loud, other can listen and learn.  Also, Timothy was in a Gentile environment where the average man, much less the convert, did not grow up in Synagog and so would not know or understand was in those Scriptures!

You have gifts, given to you by the Holy Spirit, everybody has them - they vary person to person and from time to time.  Just because you are gifted in X today, you may not have it at a later date and now have Y instead!  The gifts are owned by the Holy Spirit, they are His, and He gets to give as He sees fit.  So get humble dudes!

These gifts are to be used by you to support the ministry of the Church and to reach the lost to bring them to salvation.  It is a witnessing tool, it is a ministry leadership tool, it is the power of the Church - when used correctly.  So do what you are called to do and use it!  And if you can't expect to lose what you do have!

You used to have a life, a life not focused on God, a life dedicated to your sin - even if you thought you were serving God.
Then you became a Christian, you are now supposed to be a follower of God.
How do you do that?  By constantly being on top of your sin life - in confession, in prayer, persist in your battle against the pull of your past, the world and Satan.
Realize that there is only one task for you, for the church corporate - witness to a world lost in sin - in your family, in your town, in your extended area, in your cultural group and rarely outside of this to the world at large.
Live the change in your life!  And realize that if you can not be effective where you are - guess where you are not going to be either ....  just sayin' ...

And the hard one, protect your witness.
Yes you may be called to a task with danger to your witness.  Your ability to thread that task will only be accomplished as long as you can do everything "right" and have strong backup.  I thought I had that, but what do you do when those whom are helping you give you really bad advice, you trusted their wisdom and then they turn that advice against you?  Yeah.  Happened to me, burned me, oh well, my hands and heart are still clean before God - but no one cares because gossip and lies are so much easier to believe than the truth.  So, what are you to do?  You can take the easy way out and not do anything the least bit controversial - or just know that you need to be better than me at picking your backup(s) and be prepared for disaster if Satan attacks.

Remember your entire life is one witnessing tool, someone(s) future state of salvation may depend upon your doing the unexceptable, in order to reach them for Jesus.

Restarting The Church

In years past I have been critical of what the modern church has become, an embarrassment to the blood of those whom have come before us!  It is to be accursed for it only stands for selfish desires, ego stroking and all of those things from the world we are called out of as Christians.  Oh, and by the way, when I am using the word church, I am talking about everyone I have ever heard of or seen.


Perhaps you agree with me. Perhaps like many you have walked away in disgust.  Or you are now one of the many quietly sleeping in the pews because the church no longer is serving its purpose and hence, you are not either.  Have you ever thought about doing something about it?

Certainly I have thought on this a great deal, how does one, whom is nobody, kick start a dead church?  (Yes, referring to corporate Christianity here!)  How do you take people, whom know all of the words and yet none of the truth?  Christianity has died somewhere along the way.  Is it the cheap grace Dietrich Bonhoeffer feared?  Is it the affluence of our culture which has removed the need for a god?

There are only two places to start.  The first is with you - you need to discover the REAL God of this creation and it ain't you!  He is above your wisdom, above your understanding, He exists apart from you and yet places demands upon you, He expects them to be accomplished.  He gave you a book, read it, contemplate it, do it!  Start with the sin in your life.  Don't have any?   Well, look at the unforgiveness in your life - that separates you from God.  Look at your sexual resume - that also separates you from God.  You have to confess everyone of those unforgivenesses in your life to God.  You have to confess everyone of those sexual misbehavoriors to God.  Perhaps you have a problem with murder and/or hate - yeah, that also separates you from God.  Want to know more? email me.

The other place to start is with the church and for sake of this we are going to assume that those involved are already Christians.  I realize there is little hope of that but we have to start somewhere.

What is the Church?
It is a business - nope
It is a building - nope.
It is the house of God - nope.
Somewhere you go - nope.

Of course these are things the world has conformed the church to and somewhere along the way, God stopped visiting.  And a vacant powerless church meets regularly, no longer calling the lost to salvation, no longer training the next generation of believers, no longer understanding the real power to be found on His path.

The Church is a how we are to live, not as a business, not as a building, not as God's place or somewhere we go regularly.

It is the body of believers - sort of.
it is a family - sort of.

It is in fact you - you are a part the church.  You, gathered with other believers, are the Church, together we are the Body.  Consider:
Ephesians 2:19-22
Matthew 16:8
1 Peter 2:5
1 Timothy 3:14-16

The Church is not just created, it is built and we get to do the building!  And when once built, our roles do not end there.  We get to be what holds up the church, we are to add strength to the structure.  Think in terms of columns holding up a roof or the old style buttress which allowed cathedral walls to stand to great heights!

And the basis of our Church?  God, Jesus, the blood of the martyrs from antiquity through to today.  These are not nameless people, they are ones whose faith allowed them to understand that they are called to be apart from the world - even to the point of death, if that is what it takes to witness to those so opposed to the Gospel of Jesus.

(Did you note there are no guidelines here?  That means there is a requirement of faith, knowledge in the Gospel and a transparent willingness to live the faith and lead others Biblically!)

Darn Body!

It seems my body is broken again!  Friday I went to the State Fair and enjoyed myself entirely!  Lots to look at and see, yummy things to try and people to just watch and observe.  I love watching people.

But, I did too much walking, Saturday and Sunday I was hobbling painfully, and then Monday afternoon, my right plantar muscle let go - AGAIN!  Gees, it took most of last year for it to heal from the tear in March and now it has let go again. 

Imagine your foot about the size of your thigh in thickness! And now add this over-riding pain 24 x 7, sigh.  Not what I need right now!

Of course it is entirely possible that this is God stopping me from what I had thought I would do later this month, a trip down to Vancouver to go on a deep woods hunt with my cousin.  Might have been fun.  But now I would have to content myself with dreaming about hiking.

Blogger is still down, I am now down, what could possibly next!!!!!?

Blogger Is Hosed

Unfortunately, Google has somehow hosed up Blogger again!  Officially, I am locked out of Blogger along with numerous others, however, there is a back door I can use, so I am.

Yeah, anyone can view the Little Apple, but for some reason this one of my seven blogs, can not be updated or logged into by me.

Of course, it would nice if these changes would be tested before implemented.

Sigh.

Testing, one of the oldest of computing disciplines - one of the least used today ...

Back

Well my attempts to do my blog posts on my trip failed miserably!  The hotel's internet was down, though they swore it was not, however no one could connect.  So, the only working wireless was at a gas station, where a little band of die hard's gathered behind the gas station trash, playing vampires with the station's internet.  I am not so hard core as to do that!  Especially since it rained quite a bit there and I love my little Acer.  Sigh.

However, it was interesting to see how German culture is mimicked, the actual culture is long dead of course, killed by the invasion of Americanism, which has eroded all of the old values.  Of course, some needed eroded, like the love for Nazi's.

Food was but a pale comparison to my memory, and how I cook at home, though I did find one place which was excellent.  I sat amazed as I watched an old US GI down a four person meal, as I ate my one!  He was still going strong when the desserts had all been polished off.  I guess he has never heard of heart disease - yet!

But, oomph-pah-pah music was everywhere, after all Oktoberfest begins officially on the 17th!  So, many a man were downing vast quantities of beer and the next morning shop keepers were all out hosing down the urine and stale beer projected upon the sides of their buildings the night before!  I hate Oktoberfest season.

As you might have read, Germany has just allowed gay marriage and so many a happy "couple" were staying at my hotel.  Call me inappropriate but their behavior in public certainly was!  I was torn to call them to account or just ignore them and realize that they are on a road of their own choosing.  Discretion being the better part of staying alive at times.  It literally broke my heart to see what has become of my countrymen and culture.  We have finally out Frenched, the French.  Sigh.

However, I do not wish to leave you with the impression I whimped out completely while there!  I noted the first day two teenage girls working the street.  Next morning, I did take them on!  The 14 year old, made a rather dramatic reversal on her appearance, apologized and I did not see her return for the rest of the time there.  I can only pray God will see to it that her path is going to get a whole lot straighter and narrower in the very near future.  The 19 year old was a bit more difficult to work with because she was a mite hardened.  And for her I wished I had longer there because I would like to see her turned over to one of the matriarchs of the village.  It took a bit for her to see my viewpoint, she had never considered there was another way, another culture, it was all she knew.  But, again, she disappeared as well and I can only hope God will deal with that tiny grain of truth to get in.  I just can not tolerate innocence being trashed by the sickness of this culture.

Mostly, I kind of hung with a group of Polish Germans.  They felt rather out of place (like me Germans of the old fashion) and if you ignored the mouthy female my age, they were a great group to hang out with.  We went horseback riding, though all of the older ones declined to go, just the young adventurous ones and me went!  It was a great morning ride with lots of wildlife to be found.  My knees are still killing me from that one!

In all, it was wonderful to be back in something close to my culture as a child, painful noting the differences and heartwarming to be back home with my grandchildren.

To my children, thank you for a wonderful trip, you spoil me.  To my friend, heartfelt thank yous for all of the communications, you are very much missed.

Musical Saturday Morning

Okay, you guys are never going to forgive me for this one!  But, it is from the 1980's.  Yeah, roll your eyes now, just so you are past it before you start the video ...



Franzl Lang was probably the best yodeller I have ever heard.  I can remember trying so hard as a child to mimick his vocal sounds, alas, to no avail - I just never had that musical gift, talent or even a hint of it!

In this video I thought I was going to die I was laughing so hard at his horse hair mane on his Tyrolean cap!

A Tiny Piece of Airmail History

I have always thought the airmail stamps, especially from its birth in the United States are cool.  The old aircraft depicted, the Zeppelins, etc were all fascinating to this young mind.  However, their prices were all too outrageous for me to be able to collect.

Shown here is a 1928 one I have always wondered about.  I mean, I get the airmail and the plane but what was that tower?  Never knew, never really thought to figure it out, until last week.

My oldest daughter and I decided to drive down to the Mt. Rainer area on Friday to see my sister whom had hopped in for a short visit with my mother.  We stopped a little place called Spiffy's, at the junction of I-5 and Wa-12.  It is a small place, good place to fill up the car and the tummy at the same time.  And, there was a little phamplet called "Have A Good Day" on the table with the image of this stamp series on the cover!  So, I picked it up and learned about the picture on the stamp!  Cool.

It seems that in the 1920's, the US Department of Commerce wanted to establish an airmail route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Los Angles, California.  And if you have ever flown through that region, you know that there is a whole lot of "same" to be viewed.  Yeah, it is mostly flat, mostly desert, mostly a good place to just close your eyes and ignore as you fly over it!

So, the Aeronautics Branch of the DOC was tasked with figuring out how to do this.  In the end, they built markers for the route between these two points.  There was a 70 foot concrete marker set into the ground, over which was built a 51 foot tower with a rotating beacon light on top!  Not a bad idea!  So, any aircraft could easily follow the path between these two cities!  First flight was in 1926.

Unfortunately, I could not find any actual photographs of the towers from when they were standing.  But, you can see from this sketch that there was an arrow pointing the direction to go, a tower with beacon and a shed at the base of it.  I should imagine that the shed either held batteries or a generator of some type to power the beacon.

Of course, with the invention of radar and its refinement during World War II, and the birth of air traffic controllers, such a system was no longer needed.  The beacons were abandoned, the towers and sheds fell into disrepair and eventually just fell.

Today nothing is left of this early aviation history, except for the arrows.  Yeah, concrete last a long time and those 70 foot pads with arrows can still be found in the Utah, Nevada and California deserts!

In this photo, you can clearly see the pad the shed sat on, the pad for the beacon tower and the arrow - show the pilot the way to proceed to find the next arrow.

So from a famous stamp, to a greasy spoon outside of Winlock, Washington - comes a piece of history I never had heard of before...

Have A Good Day is a publication of Tyndale House Publishers, 351 Executive Drive, Carol Stream, IL  60188

Off For The Week

So I am gone for the entirety of this week.  My German blood requires occasional refreshment so I have ventured off to the land of the brat, the wurst, the bier, the wien, the schnitzel!  Oh how my mouth waters at just of the thought of real food and I am not the one being forced to make it!

My children were awesome enough to buy this trip for me and I was going to do this trip the beginning of May, and well, we saw how that one went!  The tour provider was gracious enough to cancel my booking and apply all of the funds towards a later date.  And well, that later date has arrived without another heart attack, so far! Just survive 24 more hours Kris!

So madly typing up this week's posts for you to keep yourselves amused by!

Bis später ...

(see you later alligator, for my American friends)