People To Find

You know they say there is something wrong with people whom search the internet for their name.  Hmmm.  At my company we used to look in the new issue of the phone directory in order to get a heads-up as to whether or not we were going to be laid off.  Of course, whom uses a phone directory any more?

This is my list from 2008 showing that I actually did find some old friends!

So maybe you looked your name up and voila!, you find you are listed here.  If so, drop me an email, I would love to hear from you and catch up:

Mary Albertson – FOUND

Nicky Bowen – FOUND or should I say, I know where he has been for 26 years!

Karen Carroll – last seen 1974 in Aurora

Kim Carroll – last seen 1974 in Aurora

Diane Cash – last seen 1965 in Portland

Ruth Cleek – last seen 1970 at Hillcrest

Daniel/Danny /Dan Ersig – last seen 1965 in Portland

Dennis/Denny Ersig – last seen 1965 in Portland

Pamela/Pam Derrick – last seen 1970 at Hillcrest

Debbie Feather – last seen 1974 in Aurora

Donna Feather – last seen 1974 in Aurora

Connie Gates – last seen 1970 at Hillcrest

Clarence Gunn – last seen 1970 in South Carolina

Chuck/Jill/Scotty Lundy - last seen 1975 in Portland

Diane Pender – last seen 1965 in Madras

Tom Pender – last seen 1965 in Madras

Carolyne/Carolyn/Carol Plummer – last seen 1967 in Landstuhl

Ruth Rouse – last seen 1976 in Aurora

Randy Ruark –  last seen 1976 in Aurora

Dean Spencer – last seen 1963 in Portland

Thomas/Tom/Tommy Warren – last seen 1965 in Portland

Robert Warmath –  last seen 1976 in Aurora

Stan Zeidell – last seen 1967 at Ramstein AFB

Of course some I never knew their last name or perhaps how to spell it!

Cathy/Kathy W ? – last seen 1973 in Aurora (went to Utah?)

Dodi Gibson/Gipson – last seen 1972 Aurora

Laura from Hillcrest High moved to North Carolina 1970

Frustration

This must be, ‘life really sucks weekend’.  Last week I survived with dejection being completely blown off by my adopted family.  This week, not only did the events repeat themselves, but my son turned on me as well.

I will be the first to admit I am not the picture perfect father.  I will be the first to admit I am the hardest trying though.  Every issue my son was to throw at me I have tried to work through to his betterment.  I tried talking to him, time outs, spankings, confiscation of toys – nothing got through to him to turn his course.  I had to deal with teachers, principals, even the police to try and not only keep him in school but to try and get to the bottom of his issues.  We had no answers.

Over three years of his being in counseling and the counselors could not get through to him.  They finally gave up on him.  They felt I was the core problem because of his intense hatred of me, but I have never raised a hand to him.  I actually came the closest to getting through to him when I told him one of these days he would have to learn to stop blaming me for the beatings he received from his biological father, because I never had.  He looked really confused and wandered off.

Last night he was on cloud nine as he had a real date, I hoped to encourage him by letting him have his allowance early and slipped in an extra twenty.  He was happy.

Today he went off on me at lunch, in a restaurant, about how horrible of a father I was.  Blah, blah, blah, blah.  Some of what he said was true.  Yes, I did take his birthday presents last year – until he paid his sister back for money he had borrowed from her and REFUSED to pay back for months.  Makes me in the bad guy I guess.  In addition, having wound himself up, he was off on his “I Hate My Father Tirade”!  And my heart broke.

I love my son.  It has been a hard week already, with my father, mother, sisters and brother all blowing me off twice, because I did not fit in with the ‘plan’.  But, I never would have expected to be kicked by my son once I was down.  Soon, he will be 18 years old.  Will he do as two of his sisters have already done – run away from home because I will not tolerate what society tolerates?  Smoking, drinking, drugs and sexual activity are not apart of my household plan – and why two of my daughters have left.  Will he be the next to run into the waiting arms of the world?  God, I hope not.  I wish so much more for him…..

I am frustrated, depressed and really, I just want some peace in my life.  And yet, I have such a short period of time left to try and understand his pain and try to help him…..  What on earth triggers him sure could be helpful to know!

Cicero Had It Right

“Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions.  Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the ‘new, wonderful good society’ which shall now be Rome’s, interpreted to mean ‘more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious’.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)

Any Roman writer is about my least favorite to read, outside of Shakespeare that is!  However, it is interesting to note that Cicero, whom was a statesman in Rome at a time when to be Roman meant the ultimate freedom no society has experienced since the rise of Caesar.  To be Roman meant the world’s wealth came to you.  About two thirds of the world’s population was in slavery to Rome, so wealth abounded.

Yet, Romans placed over them Caesar as a King, something they had never had and they rejoiced in the loss of their freedoms and wealth – because Caesar was their king!  Of course, Brutus, and friends, rectified that little mistake when Caesar decided to declare himself a god.  Naturally, Rome then did make him a god!

Amazing how history seems to constantly repeat itself.  I sure hope this bizarre cult of presidency worship ceases and American’s can start to engage their brains rather than their tongues…..

Skeptic and Angels

I am the ultimate skeptic. I hear something that sounds too good to be true in a sermon – I go and research it (occasionally I am wrong…). I hear some fanciful claim about anything to do with the demonic or the spirit world – I dig until I find the truth. My kids tell me they are going to do something – whatever…been there done that a few thousand times…

So, when I stumbled up on this picture in Blog-land, I had to run it down:

Said to be a photo of a protecting angel during a mass, I have to wonder why angels suddenly look for the entire world like Tinker Bell! So here is Tinker Bell isolated and enlarged:

Still looks like Tinker Bell to me.

At first I thought this might be a double exposure but I finally gave up on that idea. I thought perhaps a Photoshop element, but could not find moiré nor other amateurish mistakes. All one can really say is that there is a streak from the upper window that does not form a straight line, nor does the light beam expand as one would expect – perhaps this is a clue to this being a manufactured item? If that is the clue, it is a pretty silly mistake they created! Or another possibility is that when this is reduced to a negative format, the light sheen on the heads of the men can be clearly seen and the light is not consistent nor always in the appropriate place. Again a silly mistake.

In the end you still have two possibilities – it is real or it is Photoshop. If it is real then why would an angel appear looking like Tinkle Bell? Angels are messengers, not fairies. No where does an angel appear in my Bible translation where the humans are not flat on their faces from terror!

However, it could be real and I would point you to the “miracles” of El Zeitoun in Egypt. But, there we would be discussing the demonic – not the godly…..

Son In Law

Last week I took Oldest Daughter and Son In Law out for lunch.  He is finally beginning to relax around me and is far more open in his discussions.  At one point, he commented something about my being a conservative.

Mind you, I maybe Switzerland’s lone conservative, so his comment brought the attention of many within earshot’s attention of our table!  I had to ask why he thought I was a conservative.  Mind you, I am very much a liberal; however, I am not a socialist – which is what liberalism is equated to these days almost in any country.

His answer I found most interesting because he observed that my extremely strong family values were the basis for conservatism!  Of course, he then added that my belief in God also set me apart from the liberals he knew.  As the conversation progress he became rather agitated, so I quiet moved the conversation on to some more mellow topics than politics!  I just did not understand at the time what his brain was working through…..

Wednesday, I took Granddaughter over to see her parents at the hospital and see how all is going over there.  Along the way, I spotted Middle Daughter walking beside the road and was going to pick her up until I saw she was smoking.  Not a good idea for someone with asthma and a real problem for me as I do not handle smoke or even the smell of smoke well.  So, I kept going.

At the hospital, all was well until SIL’s mother showed up right after me.  SIL hauled off and popped her in the face!  Yeah, his anger just exploded and now I understood the conversation from last week – he has been learning what a family is and how love is greater than acceptance or dependence.  His mother was a bit surprised to say the least.  And he certainly has far more guts than I ever had as a youth!

So, it looks like a great deal of angst is being worked through in his heart and spirit – a good sign.  Though, a little hard on his mother!  Be interesting to see if he can be brought to the Lord or not in the near future…..  My hopes are rising.

Sunday School

I think I mentioned before that I am back to teaching teenage Sunday School again.  As with all years, I offer to allow ANYONE to take over but again no one came forward to teach.  Naturally, the only time someone seems to want to take over is when I am in the middle of a series I think is important and they want to take over to play games.  Gees.

In any event, this is setting up to be an interesting year.  The kids are younger this time, mostly 15 and 16.  There are as many girls as there are boys.  They want to know about the Bible and missions!  This is a serious group and I am very surprised.

So, I have been teaching on Genesis, always a good place to start and involve their minds.  We have looked at the textual criticism and how it appears Genesis was put together – which leads to a very interesting discussion as to whom wrote which part!  Currently we are looking at the contrast between Chapter 1 and what man’s sciences teach.  Of course, evolution is not a basis for Swiss schooling but something they do hear about and definitely will when they hit college.  Next we will look at the concept of Eden and of course, the flood.

I am looking forward to a very interesting end of the year……

Signs Of The Times

Joel 2:31

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

Matthew 24: 4-14

Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.  You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains.  "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.  At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Luke 21:25

There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves.

Acts 2:20

The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come.

Revelation 6:12

I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;

Hmmmmmmm?