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Our Daily Thread 9-15-12

Good Morning!

It’s 4:30AM on a Saturday, and I’m awake. I really don’t like insomnia. 😦

Talk about whatever you like, I’ll be asleep. I hope.

Quote of the Day

“The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.”

W. C. Fields

 

139 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 9-15-12”

  1. First!

    Hahaha!

    Actually, that’s not as fun as it used to be. Of course I’m first, I posted it. But it has been up for like an hour so you did have a shot. I guess insomnia does have it’s perks too.

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  4. QoD: What do you like to do when you’re feeling creative?

    I like to sit down at the piano and compose. In fact, I feel like doing that right now, but everyone else here is still asleep, so I’ll probably forgo that idea for a while. 😉

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  5. I can’t recall a time when I’ve felt creative.
    I’ve always had to deal with what someone else created. Usually a mess.
    I have written a couple or three poems, but not to be creative. Rather to express a point. Is a sermon or SS lesson creative? I wasn’t trying to create something, but accomplish a task.

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  6. I can’t play any instruments or paint/draw well. Even a bad Picasso looks much better than my attempts. So I sometimes write when creative, mostly poetry. And when I see the prose written by ones like Drill, I realize even my writing attempts are pathetic.

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  7. I don’t have a creative bone in my body. I am the least creative person I know, but I know lots of really talented people!

    As you know I haven’t been around very much lately. I have three HUGE computer monitors on my desk, I have six programs open at a time and I toggle through all of them. In addition Cal has allowed me to train his newest agent. (I asked for this assignment and he responded sort of like Br’er Rabbit telling Br’er Fox “Puh-lease don’t frow me in dat briar patch”) I spend 2 1/2 to 3 hours every morning with the “New Agent”. He used to be an ag pilot so he really gets my analogy of using scripts to talk to people over the phone. “A pilot uses the same steps every time he takes off or lands a plane, so why wouldn’t you use the same words and phrases that you used the last time you spoke with someone?” He got it and laughed, “Yep that’s what I did until the day I crashed”. So far he has two people who want him to find them a property and are serious.

    I have rediscovered that there is a difference between being physically exhausted and mentally exhausted. I have been comeing home worn out. It is a good thing I have driven these roads as much as I have and know my way home because there are days that if I had to re-route myself or think about how to get home I don’t think I could process it. Even with all of this exhaustion it is great to be around good people who build you up rather than tear you down.

    It is also great to be somewhere that when your boss and you agree that he will pay you on the first and the fifteenth he asks you to tally up your hours through the end of the day and he brings you a check before lunch so that you can go deposit it. I can’t tell you what it is like to have money in the bank again even AFTER all my bills are paid. I still haven’t gotten my last check from Guy I USED to Work With. He is busily thinking of all the fees I still owe the company and deducting it from what he owes me. I have some files he needs and he wants me to bring them to him. He still calls me a every now and then to find out his password to something or to ask about how we were handling something.

    Kim’s life in general? I am pretty happy. I can’t say what tomorrow might be like but today is great!

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  8. Kim, good to hear your report.

    Peter and Chas, I haven’t written any poetry since a creative writing class I had in high school. Your comments make me want to write some poetry now. Maybe I’ll set it to music…

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  9. When I’m feeling creative I think about wanting to do something creative… That’s often as far as it gets. Occasionally I try to write a poem or story but unless the idea is so good that it drives me to finish, it usually doesn’t get past the first few lines or paragraphs. I think the only stories I’ve finished are those I was submitting for a contest (never won any). The poems that I’ve finished are those that start, not because I’m feeling “creative” but because an idea came into my mind that just demands to be used, and it’s about all I can think about until I’m satisfied with the poem.

    I like doing arts and crafts too, but don’t spend much time on that, partly because the storage room (also the designated “craft room” and “exercise room”) is such a mess I can’t find anything, including room to work, and partly because I really don’t need more stuff around the house collecting dust. If it’s to help my son with a project, or to make a gift for someone, then I find time – and room – to work on it. But those times rarely coincide with my just happening to feel “creative.”

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  10. Good morning. My eldest child turned 13 on Wednesday. I hosted a slumber party for her last night. There are 8 girls sleeping in the media room as I write this. They were still up around 2:00 am, so I’m hoping they sleep late this morning. Hubby is at the ranch with our youngest (so she wouldn’t lose sleep). I so enjoyed each of the girls; eldest has a good group of friends. They all listened to me and had wonderful manners. It was by far

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  11. AMNS… standard slumber party Saturday morning breakfast around here is cocktail smokes, cinnamon rolls and/or scrambled eggs. I don’t have any girls this Saturday. I am going kayaking in a little while and will be making hot wings, deviled eggs etc for dinner/football and putting together gumbo for tomorrow. Off to make that grocery list now.

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  12. When I feel creative I like to write and I like to design costumes. Or I like to watch something someone else has created. Usually something well written with great costumes. I also miss working and talking with the creative people I knew on my old job.

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  13. Oops! …the easiest party I’ve ever hosted. I am so proud and of the young lady my daughter is becoming. She has a real hunger for Christ and so much compassion for her fellow man.

    QOD: I journal when I’m feeling creative. I write long letters to people I love (especially my husband and children). Unfortunately, I have no visual skills — I can’t draw and need help with decorating.

    Time to start breakfast; they are up already!

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  14. Kim, for the record, I think you ARE creative. Your description of how you’re training the former pilot shows that you tailor-make your instruction to make it understandable to him. That’s creativity to me — creating a way to teach in a way that makes sense to your “student”. 🙂

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  16. Oh, my goodness, am I stupid! Not only because I don’t believe in God, but also because I posted all my daily thread comments and my AQOD question in the wrong thread, making it all too easy for everyone to ignore me!

    Well, I am nothing if not an irritating pest. So I will post my AQOD again. As usual, it’s based on a real experience I will hold back on for a while. (My wonderful lesbian daughter is visiting us. We are celebrating. She is completing a very difficult non-MD degree at a major medical school and has started the job she just got at a major children’s hospital. Isn’t that a wonderful outcome for an atheist lesbian raised by atheist parents? What kind of God would let that happen? Oh, I forgot. Whatever happens, God made it that way and it’s all part of His (or Her) purpose.)

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  17. Posting this again after posting it in the wrong place. (Bangs head against wall fifty times. This is guaranteed to improve your thinking. After all, look at me.)

    Alternative Question of the Day AQOD: If you are employed, do you witness to people (testify to people) [I think that is the correct jargon] about your Christian faith while you are on the job, either with co-workers or with customers? Do you consider this appropriate behavior? Do you get in trouble (or do you know anyone who has) for such activity?

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  18. I recently had an experience with this, but I will hold off on my experience until after my daughter, my wife and I go on the yearly “Farm Tour” of our island, unless they change their minds, but I am pretty sure this is what they they want to do, just as most or all of you are pretty sure I want to believe in an imaginary God.

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  20. Oh, yes, creativity. I started a [non]-church of non-believers. (Well, I copied the idea from some other people, so that is creative cheating.]

    I hate to tell you this (OK, I am lying), but as widespread and popular as religious belief is, I think it has crested and is beginning to recede. It won’t disappear in my lifetime, and probably won’t disappear forever, but it will no longer be the basic default for human beings.

    Perhaps the greatest atheist poem ever written:

    http://www.poetry-online.org/arnold_dover_beach.htm

    I dare you to read it. After all, I’ve read the Bible, and that’s a lot longer.

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  22. There are ways of being creative outside of the typical arts.

    Kare, decorating & arrangement of a room are definitely creative.

    Cooking without a recipe is creative.

    There are other ways I can’t think of right now. 🙂

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  23. I guess I am going to try to be creative in the kitchen this afternoon – making ketchup from scratch leaving out the onions and onion powder (hubby has sensitivity) and putting together several googled recipes. Has anyone out there made ketchup before?

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  24. Chas, people predicted that humans would fly for aeons. Then came Kitty Hawk. In November my wife and I will fly from Halifax to Portland. Unless a bolt of lightening from You Know Who takes us out of the air to prove You Know Who is Great.

    People have been predicting the return of Jesus Christ for thousands of years. Sill waiting.

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  25. I was going to say what Chas said, but he already said it — people have been predicting the “death of God” for an awfully long time now. 😉

    People I work with generally figure out I’m a Christian, though I don’t particularly “talk” about that (though in casual conversation I’ll maybe make reference to my church or a friend “from church” or whatever).

    I’ve cultivated at least one friendship off-the-clock and invited her to church (she came).

    But other than that, no, I tend not to bring up the topic in any kind of pointed or purposeful way with people while at work.

    Annms, what’s for breakfast at your place? Slumber parties were fun, but very little sleep really happens. 🙂

    I stayed up too late last night watching a 2007 Nicole Kidman movie (“Invasion”) that took up on that very popular “body snatcher” story line — people becoming emotionless/flat robots of their former selves. The up side: perfect worldwide harmony, no more wars.

    Kidman, who is a psychiatrist in the film, and her young son barely escape the invasion and it ends with an antidote being discovered so everyone who was “infected” gets cured and goes back to their normal cranky selves. Wars aren’t far behind. 😉

    It wasn’t worth staying up until 1 a.m. to watch, but I figured it was Friday night and I could always sleep in today. Then I wound up getting up before 7 a.m. for some reason. Go figure.

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  26. I never thought about making ketchup from scratch. And I never realized there were onions in ketchup. Hmm.

    I agree with Karen, creativity comes in all kinds of forms and we’re all creative (though not always in the traditional ways of the arts).

    I love writing and do that for a living — but writing fiction has always stumped me. I have no clue how to even go about that.

    I love writing a good feature (nonfiction) story, though, and can spend a lot of time just enjoying the process of playing with words and phrases. Of course, having time to do that in my work is a luxury as we’re mostly often on pretty tight turn-it-around-fast deadlines.

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  27. QoD: Since I write for a living I have to feel creative a lot. So when the muse starts speaking that is usually what I am doing. Though gardening is a great creative distraction.

    AQoD: As a writer my forte is profiles. A writers job is to make connections for the reader and I interview the profilee until there is a deep connection. This usually centers around the individual’s purpose/meaning in life (see Viktor Frankl’s Man”s Search for Meaning). Once that is made there is, to use Christianese, a fellowship and a witness, which goes both ways, btw or it is in authentic.

    Kim, so thrilled at your new job! The metal exhaustion will ease up. And keep those files until Guy gives you your last check.

    Random, you are not nothing 😉

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  28. There is a certain creativity in surfing now that I think about it. Always gets the muse to talk 😉 As it is suppose to be 97 on the coast today, I think I will play in the waves.

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  30. Random, picking up on our exchange the other night, would you mind telling me where you lived with your parents in Reseda? I’m always curious if I ever lived close to anyone I know later in life, and could have passed them in the aisles at Food Giant or Vons.

    I would guess that I was either at Blythe Elementary or Northridge Junior High while you were at Valley State, and Valley State still had lots of orange groves around it.

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  33. Random/MP,
    I not only read “Dover Beach” but had to write a paper on it for a college literature class. It is a thought-provoking but not faith-killing poem.

    I wrote my own poem about faith being like the tide, about fifteen years ago. I put it on my own blog this morning.

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  34. Speaking of banging one’s head against the wall … I’d written a brief yesterday about a WWII vintage plane fly-over happening at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

    But I had the day wrong. It was Saturday.

    So I texted 3 people and it got changed to Saturday.

    Except then, rather late last night, I learned it was NEXT Saturday, the 22nd.

    Bang-bang-bang.

    So I texted the 3 people back again.

    Miraculously it all got changed in time for the print edition deadline so it’s correct (I presume, I haven’t looked) in today’s paper. And, of course, thanks to the digital age, it got changed on our website immediately — twice it was changed immediately.

    But meanwhile, I had posted it on Facebook also. And several people, including the Port of LA, had “shared” the post.

    So I had to go back and make sure the right day AND date were noted on all of those shared posts.

    Arrrg.

    I could NOT process dates yesterday for some reason.

    Having to make 2 corrections on the same 3-graph brief is pretty embarrassing.

    So sometimes I get creative with the facts. And that’s not really a good thing. 😉

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  35. Kevin, if I don’t forget (feel free to remind me), I don’t remember off the top of my head, exactly where we lived in Reseda. I remember going to the library, I remember going to Pierce Jr. College (where I was recouping from flunking out of college), I remember driving down to Ventura Blvd. So that outlines my location a bit in case you want to launch drones at my former residence. If I don’t forget, I will try and locate the location a little better later today.

    I also remember doing something very stupid, one of the very stupid choices I’ve made in my life that could easily have killed me. (That might be another good AQOD.)

    A hard rain DID fall. Streets flooded. We were driving our Citroen through a street (I think Wilbur) that was a bit flooded. I thought I could drive through what I thought was just a big puddle. In the middle of the street, the car stalled. We weren’t in real danger, but I’ve read (Amanda Ripley’s The Unthinkable I think) that one of the chief causes of death in flooding situations is trying to drive a vehicle through flooded streets. I learned that also in the Red Cross training I’ve had as a volunteer. Praying probably doesn’t help either. As far as driving through floods. Perhaps it helps you go to Heaven. I doubt it.

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  36. Pauline’s rejoiner poem to Dover Beach is excellent. I think most people decide what they want to believe at an early age, and then spend the most of their lives defending and rationalizing that belief. I am no different. In my case, I am correct. Most of you are incorrect. Unless I am wrong.

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  38. My wife volunteers for a program for people with senility, called “Time Together.” Senility is now called dementia. Same thing I am pretty sure. The program provides respite for exhausted caregivers. I said, “It’s going to be a close call which one of us becomes demented first. Unless we go into it at the same time. Do they have any couples in the program?”

    My wife said, “Occasionally. We have one couple in the program right now. They are pretty funny. She says something about their marriage. He says, “We’re not married.”

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  39. I told the “If everyone on Whidbey Island read the same book” committee (which I am on, but no one listens to me, rather like here) that I was going to write a book. I already had a one-word title (which is hot to do). (How many of the 409 such books can you name? Kind of like a dementia test.)

    I also once wrote a book (of no significance or importance, but was published by a major publisher. So I described the book to the committee. I said it would describe how in the past people killed and tortured each other over religious differences — such as Communists and Nazis and racial differences (cowboys and Indians) and political differences (states righters and slaveholders vs. abolitionists and factory owners, and so on), but now people are gradually changing each other’s opinions by little discussions and “nudges.” For example, we kept slaves, fought a civil war, but now people of different races marry each other. At the church I volunteer for the members were very conservative and prejudiced against homosexuals, but now include practicing homosexuals in their church and at least one Muslim. These changes occurred gradually by discussions and “nudges.” So I said, I will title my book Nudge. But you have to choose my book as the “everybody reads” book. Except I am too old and too demented to write another book. (Also too lazy.)

    They said, “No, no, don’t say you’re too old!” (The main religion on Whidbey Island is “positive thinking,” even among the atheists.)

    Anyway, as an empiricist, I believe in testing religion. On the library catalog I looked up the title Nudge. Somebody has already written the book. I checked it out. I have only read a few pages so far, I already know it is excellent. I know it is excellent because it cites the Amsterdam Airport tactic as a brilliant example of nudging. Do you know the tactic I am referring to?

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  44. :lol 😦
    Did you know that there is a “married but lonely” website. Encourages you to cheat. It was in my spam.’
    Also, one that says “Warning !Oriental women will chase you”
    Also, “Christian Mingles”. I had 34 spam when I checked in this morning. I just deleted 13 more.

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  46. My daughter is very practical. As am I. As is my wife. When it was not legal for homosexuals to marry, my daughter and my daughter-out-of-law did not try to get married, though they did everything they could to protect their legal rights. I argued on worldmagblog that civil union was an appropriate alternative to marriage that both religionists and secularists should settle for.

    First Washington state adopted civil union. “That’s good enough,” I thought. “They followed my advice.” Then I intuited that the mommies wanted to get married. Then Washington state passed a homosexual marriage law. Then the religious fanatics initiated an overthrow measure. So it’s up in the air.

    I asked my daughter, “Are you and [daughter-out-of-law] going to get married if the initiative is defeated?”

    She said, “Yes. But just a very small wedding. We had a wedding ceremony already. And these things get out of hand and you spend a lot of money. So we would just invite a couple of people.” People spend too much money on weddings, we all agreed. Fornication is fornication, whether married or not, whether with same sex or opposite sex, whether it produces babies or frankensteins or nothing at all besides a few moments of fleeting pleasure. Which is all life is, at best.

    So now I am all for the mommies getting married. For no better reason than I am a doting father and my daughter wants to. So if you live in Washington state (which I guess a few of you do), please forget to vote in the next election, or forget to vote on the queer marriage measure. I am sure God will forgive you. I talk to Him all the time, and he says, “Not to worry. Or I would have reminded my Son to talk about it in more detail. Paul was OK, but he got a bit carried away on the topic, or I would have chosen him to be my son.”

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  47. Random, I lived near Wilbur and Strathern (which is one corner of Cleveland High School). Going to the West Valley Regional Library on Vanowen next to the police station was as close as I got to going to church for quite a few years.
    🙂

    I cracked up at the story about the fixtures in the Dutch airport. Reminds me of doing target practice with my son when he as learning proper aim.

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  48. I didn’t get that thought into words very well. What I meant about the library and church is that, outside school, the library was the only place I went “religiously”, every two weeks with my mom as far back as I can remember.

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  49. Well, quick meeting about worship/music this morning – looks like we won’t be able to participate as practice is waaaay too early (and we live over an hour from town), quick grocery shopping list and then home to process the tomatoes for ketchup. All done – now I need a nap. I think I’ll wait until hubby is here to help with the spices and tasting, since he’s the one we’re making this ketchup for, before I start actually cooking up the ketchup.

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  50. Afternoon everyone. Closing has been set back to the 28th and yours truly must be out of the apt by the 30th. I was a bit irritated because I had clearly stated the closing needed to be on the 21st. I had many previous business commitments the week of the 30th. The reason closing was delayed was because of an issue with a judgement against the lady who owned the home. Her ex had it on the home after they divorced. So I had to reschedule all my commitments the week of the 28th and start putting my things in storage. I will move my bed into storage on the 26th and get a hotel room for a couple of nights. This should give me the time I need to clean the apartment and move stuff out of storage after closing. I talked with Hyatt Legal services. They indicated that I should require the seller pay for these expenses incurred because of the legal problems associated with the home. The realtor was going to try to get it from the homeowner. I told my realtor that I want all the expenses taken out of her ex’s share of the equity.

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  51. Good day so far…quick trip to Publix for the the week’s groceries, kayaking with Mr. P, appetizers at the Tin Top Restaurant (fried green tomatoes with a seafood topping and stuffed mushrooms) —Adios, you and hubby need to come visit Daughter and let’s all go to Tin Top or anyone else is welcome for that matter.
    Now I am home. I have gumbo going for tomorrow (this is the famous Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo that NJL entered in a competition and came in second I think). I also have wings in the oven for hot wings, deviled eggs and celery during halftime of the Alabama Arkansas game…I am proud of ME because I have done all of this and it is only 3:45 where I am.

    Yep, it has been a pretty good day.

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  52. Drivesguy, you may want to buy title insurance at the closing. Sounds like they have a messy thing between them. We were offered it because they said that the Cherokees claimed some of the land in the area, but I figured that this had been cleared long ago.

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  54. Chas, I could pack some on dry ice and send it to you. 😉

    Drivesguy—buy the title insurance. It is worth the peace of mind and it shouold only be a few hundred dollars. Nothing is sold in Alabama (that I know of) without title insurance. It is just a standard line item on closing costs.hktb,hk

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  56. As expected the heat has risen here this afternoon and my house thermostat — I’m sure it’ll go higher — is at 86 (it’s 2:30). I hope this is our last hot weekend, but we can get slammed with high temperatures throughout September and even into October. We’re paying for our mild June & July.

    Time to go shopping where there is at least some a/c to be found.

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  61. Thank you, Karen, it is. I am two days younger than Mumsee, which is why she is eminently qualified to explain the mysteries of life to me.

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  70. Oh, my goodness! I went to a prayer retreat and prayed for you all on the blog among other things. I come back here and see Kim has gotten engaged! Sometimes He answers with more than we asked for! Blessings overflowing to the happy couple!

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  71. Posted this on Facebook a little while ago…

    On news reports that the man behind the anti-Mohammed movie (or those backing his movie) that has seemingly sparked the embassy attacks in the Middle East is Christian, a Facebook friend writes…
    “MY CONCERN FOR ALL YOU CHRISTIANS ***WHO THINK MUSLIMS ARE (…)*** … how do you police yourselves? Don’t you have some standards? Do you see the violence your religious attitudes have created?”

    My response…
    “The violence OUR religious attitudes have created?! Seriously?!

    “So some misguided person (perhaps a Christian) makes a lame movie making fun of Mohammed, & it is the fault of Christians that people are being killed because of this? There have been movies made that Christians have found offensive to our faith, but we boycott or some such thing, we don’t go around killing people or start riots.

    “I am not anti-Muslim, but I do see that there is a large faction of radical Muslims throughout the world who will brook no contradiction. THEY are the ones who are doing the violence & senseless killing.

    “Did you know that currently Christians are being persecuted throughout much of the Muslim world? It seems every week I’m hearing of another Christian church that has been attacked in some way, often with people being killed.”

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  74. Happy Birthday Kevin. Got you beat by a few years.

    😉

    Karen O. Well put.

    I watched that goofy movie and I emphasize goofy. Even I know some of the stuff in it was inaccurate and I am certainly no Muslim.

    As to the title insurance, I will take that under advisement. Most of the land withing the city limits of Oklahoma City was part of the Sooner Land Run. That is why the city is laid out the way it is. If the property were in Tulsa, Eufala or Muscogee, I would do a lot of research before buying any property.

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  75. Congratulations, Kim.

    Kevin, I just looked at maps of Reseda. Some of the street names rang bells, some did not. I remember Vanowen as a main street east and west. We might have lived one or two blocks south of Vanowen. Kittridge rings a bell. It was probably before your time, but I worked for a while in college for a fast food place called “Chicken Delight.” They were a big chain that delivered chicken and shrimp, sometimes to unsavory people and places. Eventually KFC started up and mostly ate Chicken Delight’s lunch.

    Other places I lived while going to six high schools (my dad working for a defense contractor as a computer programmer and being transferred constantly) included Brea, (Orange County, CA) Suffern, NY, Woodstock, NY (a few years before it became the biggest stoned and fornicating hippie party in history), Madison, WI, Verona, WI, and finally Spring Valley, NY. Although I was an already an atheist, the constant moves and shifting loyalty changes pushed me quite a way to becoming a nihilist.

    So, anyone else live in any of those spots? Anyone else ever eat not so delightful Chicken Delight?

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  77. While I am wallowing in nostalgia, I will recall the most frightening Christian fanatic (well one of the two most frightening ones) I ever encountered. At the old worldmagblog a man using the screen name “Yeah” posted that he thought the Old Testament’s Leviticus condemnation of homosexuals still held in modern times, and justified their being put to death. After I screamed and howled, a few other people (inluding some here now) reluctantly said, “The new covenant” said the old Leviticus rules no longer applied. Well, it sure seemed reluctant to my ear. Then “yeah” finally said that he only meant “practicing homosexuals.” As long as they didn’t indulge then they should not be put to death. I still have his (supposed) email address, but I wanted nothing to do with him. He quickly disappeared (at least under that screen name) from the wmb discussions.

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  78. Aw, Kim, that’s fantastic! Blessings to you both/all.

    Yep, Michelle, we’ll have to get the card-a-thon rolling here in the future again.

    🙂 🙂

    I ran away from home this afternoon, unable to bear the 100 degree heat, and went shopping. Any of you have a Home Goods store in your area? I’ve only been a few times but went there today and had a blast. Bought a few things, could have bought a whole lot more. 😉 And the store was air conditioned, of course, as is my car, so it was a few hours of escape from the heat.

    It’s supposed to be cooler tomorrow. I walked the dogs after it got hot but it felt still so warm outside. Every fan I own is running, every window is open.

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  80. Random, The passages in Leviticus applied only to the Hebrew people and those that were not Hebrews living in their land. The New Testament only says that those who practice the homosexual lifestyle shall not be admitted into heaven. No where in the New Testament does it say that the Homosexual should be put to death. It is interesting to note that the Egyptian god Set was a homosexual god and the worship of that deity involved human sacrifice and cannibalism accompanied by sexual orgies. Set was the god of the Egyptian army. The Roman god Saturn is the equivalent of the Egyptian god Set. The Roman army worshiped the god Saturn. I posted this on my Bible Study Website.

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  81. The other person who frightened me had nothing to do with wmb, and I am not sure the word “fanatic” applies. In my last job, I worked for a large library system, teaching computer classes. A person I will call “M,” did similar work. M came from a small town in Texas (near a town whose name amused me — Turkey).

    Before he worked for the library, M had worked for Microsoft. At one time he had been a “Microsoft millionaire,” but he had lost most of his money (and custody of a son and daughter) in a contentious divorce. He was very bitter, and he had a huge bitterness toward women in general.

    He was pretty good at his job (as was I, I think). We got along reasonably well, though I thought he was a little odd, but everyone thinks I am a little odd, so I thought “whatever.” He was very religious, and always had a Bible on his desk and several Apologetic books, but he did not try to convert me or anyone else that I knew of.

    Then he started to disappear for months at a time. Finally our employer told our department that he was on medical leave. Finally, we were told that he was mentally ill — bi-polar. He didn’t scare me, but he scared all the women in the department. His irrationality became more and more apparent to everyone. A public agency such as a library is very reluctant to fire someone, but eventually he engaged in behaviors (while not dangerous) that were erratic and improper enough to justify dismissal, and then a “trespass” order. This is library jargon for “stay off library property.”

    As he went into his manic stage of his illness, he decided he was fine and went off his medication. (To further complicate the issue, there is a lot of evidence that psychiatric medications probably do as much harm for a person such as M as good.)

    After his dismissal and the Tresspass order, he began to make threatening phone calls. The library HQ (where I was stationed, though I traveled all over a large county all the time) didn’t say much, but it was obvious that most public doors which had been unlocked were now locked, and I am sure the receptionists at the main entrance were told to call 911 if he entered.

    At the time, I was training a lot of volunteers. One of the volunteers had just retired from a high position in Federal Law enforcement, specifically ATF, but he did a lot of training for FBI, CIA, Marshalls, and the like. I jokingly asked him (he had a great sense of humor and we got along well) how often people who acted a bit unglued and dangerous actually went “postal” as the old expression used to be about people who engaged in attacks on old employers and co-workers). My volunteer ex high level law enforcement agent looked at me absolutely seriously and said, “I don’t know, Steve. But if I were in your position, I would not come to work without a loaded firearm on me.”

    I am not terrified of firearms, nor do I condemn them, but I am not an expert with them, and I knew if I were discovered with one on library property, I would be fired instantly. I also knew my desk was right in path where M would likely enter the library if he came in with malice on his mind. I compromised by bringing the heaviest, handiest, most club-like branch I could find in my woods and kept it next to my desk where I could grab it and start swinging if I saw M enter with apparent malicious intent.

    One day while I was not at the library HQ, M did get into the building. He walked into the staff lunchroom, put some food into the microwave, and sat down like he was going to eat lunch like a regular employee. One of the top administrators in the library observed him, walked up to M, and politely but firmly said, “You are not allowed to be here, now. You must leave immediately.”

    When I heard this, I thought, This sounds like one of those stories where someone starts shooting up his old workplace. However, in this case, M calmly got up, walked out of the staff lunchroom, and left the building as he had been instructed.

    So I still don’t know what the actual statistics are in regard to people who go crazy and return to a former employer with a grudge. How many keep control of themselves and obey polite, firm commands? How many bring in a weapon and attack people? You hear about #2 because it generates headlines. You seldom hear about #1.

    I don’t really think of him as a “Christian fanatic.” I think of him as a Christian who went crazy. As far as I know, he is back in Texas. I hope he is getting appropriate care and getting better. My neighbors are fervent, dedicated Christians. They are perfectly sane and admirable in every respect. They are probably smarter and more competent than I am in just about every mundane matter of life. I just disagree with them (in a perfectly friendly, respectful, and amiable way about religion. They are as wonderful and trustworthy as M is crazy and dangerous. If there is a God, he does not protect people against menta illness, no matter how much they pray.

    The only conclusions I have are 1) God does not exist. 2) If He does exist, prayer and belief do not help protect people from mental and/or physical illness.

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  83. Drivesguy, I appreciate your comment and want to let you know I read it. My general policy (meant as respectfuly as I can present it) is to avoid arguing with Christians about Biblical exegesis. I think the Bible bears some relationship to historical events involving the ancient Jews and their neighbors such as the Egyptians, Lebanese, Babylonians, etc.

    I think every statement about God, His rules and intentions, and supernatural events, is not based on facts and solid information. So statements such as The passages in Leviticus applied only to the Hebrew people and those that were not Hebrews living in their land. are not useful to me. I think moralty and ethics is a human invention based on our evolutionary and cultural development. As I have said, I don’t murdered because I don’t want to be murdered; because I have been conditioned by my family and by my culture not to murder; because I am not good at killing; because I don’t want to be punished for killing. In the case of M (the tediously long story I just posted), I feel fortunate that I did not have to do battle with him. If I had, I would have felt justified in beating him to death with a club in defending myself, though I am sure I also would have suffered from PTSD, because humans without training or sociopathic personalities are not particularly adept or well-suited for killing other humans. God has nothing to do with it. Leviticus has nothing to do with it. Nothing in the Bible has anything to do with it.

    As I’ve said, the big issue when people such as you and I discuss such matters, is how people with such varying belief systems can find working agreement. Again, I appreciate your comment and mean you no disrespect.

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  84. Random: “Don’t cook tonight, call Chicken Delight!” As I recall there was one on Sherman Way in Reseda right next door to Pizza Man (“He delivers”). We occasionally had Chicken Delight delivered. Maybe you delivered to my house?

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  85. No disrespect was taken Steve and I appreciate your reply. I was just trying to explain the reason God gave certain commands to the Hebrew people. He wanted them to be different from the rest of the world.

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  86. How do you explain evil

    We are animals who evolved in a dangerous world. We lived among other dangerous creatures such as lions, tigers, leopards, water buffalo, etc. who competed against us, preyed on us, defended themselves as we tried to pray on them. We are a social animal, a combination of friendly cooperative animals such as deer, zebras, etc. and dangerous predators such as lions, jackals, wolves, etc.

    We are a combination of “good traits” such as caring for young, feeding each other, working together to build structures, and “bad traits” such as hunting, killing, raping, torturing. We have big brains and abstract thinking. We don’t know everything about ourselves, but each year that goes by we learn more about how we evolved and how our brain works.

    This is difficult in one way, but not that mysterious in others. About 95% of humans are not sociopaths (at least). Non-sociopaths generally avoid hurting other people.

    We don’t hurt other people because we have empathy.

    When non-sociopaths hurt other people, they seem to do so because 1) they are misinformed; 2) they are frightened; 3) they are under the leadership and guidance of clever charismatic sociopaths.

    There are many examples in history, but the “gold standard” so to speak, is Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot.

    For example, Hitler. Clearly, I think, a sociopath and surrounded by like characters such as Himmler, Heydrich, and so on.

    The German people had lost a war, suffered great suffering (hunger, inflation, etc.) and were frightened and resentful. Hitler and gang said, “It is not your fault that you have suffered so much. Other people, who were not really human beings, such as Jews, Russians, Ukranians, British, etc., stabbed you in the back and betrayed you.”

    Hitler was a genius at recognizing, attracting, and mobilizing sociopaths, and convincing people who were not by inherent nature sociopaths to behave as such out of fear, delusion, and hysteria. Looks like evil to us, but we weren’t there.

    Similar analysis applies to USSR, Communist China, and Cambodia. Similar analysis applies to US slavery, near Genocide against aboriginals, lynching, etc.

    Good and evil, in my opinion, does not come from an imaginary being called God. If people are raised in a fairly wholesome, prosperous, safe environment, our natural tendency is to be “good” by the standards you and I (and just about everyone here) agree on good. For the reasons I just listed, any of us might behave in a way that we consider evil, that is harming other people out of fear and misinformation.

    Sociopaths are like germs in a healthy body. Most of us as individuals have a fairly effective immune system. Occassionally, (and eventually everybody) dies because our immune system cannot keep us alive forever. Socially, cultures have “immune systems” in the sense we have rules, laws, education, etc. that encourages us to maintain our social health. Just as any of us can catch a cold, or the flu or some other infection that overcomes our immune system, our social immune system breaks down because we believe people of a different race, different religion, different sexual orientation are dangerous or harmful. Sociopaths are social germs.

    Good is based on a social system working well. Evil is based on a social system becoming infected and breaking down. These evalations are purely artificial and based on cultural agreement and on what works. I drive my car on the right side of the road. If someone does not obey that rule they hurt other people or themselves. We don’t like to be hurt. So it’s “bad” or if done with malicious intent, “bad” or “evil.”

    If I start driving in England tomorrow I better adapt to the rules right away. If for some reason I choose not to and crash into someone and kill him, I have chosen to be “evil.” We have no need of a “God” to come to this conclusion. A lion who eats me is not “evil,” because it is a lion’s nature to eat prey.

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  89. Good night to all. Thanks for putting up with my atheistic ranting. We celebrated my daughter’s triumph. Went to a farm and watch a goshawk in training. Went to a lovely restaurant and had a splendid meal. Chickens laid two eggs. Going to bed.

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  91. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek’s *I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist* is an excellent book that people like Random ought to read. 😉 My biggest complaint is that the authors prove God, and then Christianity, a little TOO thoroughly.

    Their logic is impeccable, but, while I adored the book at the beginning, I did get a little tired of the numerous syllogisms and the long lists staring with “#1)” by the end (they’d “had” me after the first part of the book!)

    But, they really know their stuff. If you could still be an atheist after reading this book, then you really are very likely stuck as an atheist … barring God stepping in directly, of course. 😉

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  92. Kim, Congratulations!
    I’m happy for you . Keep us informed. i.e. What does Chloe say, When will this happen? etc.
    I surmise that Paul’s parents are no longer living?

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  94. Both of us are without parents. His mother died in 2000 and his father a few months later. When this was being discussed as a “what if” I told him for the first time in my life I wasn’t going to badger anyone for the details. “Ball’s in your court, give me a month’s lead time”. I have had the big wedding with over a hundred guests, photographer, after rehearsal, reception, bridesmaids, groomsmen, and a flower girl. I threw up all day.
    My request has been that it just be the two of us and our children. It looks as though oldest son will not be able to attend as they are expecting their first child. Middle son is on a Navy ship somewhere south of Japan. Baby Boy will be in Great Lakes learning to be in the Navy. That only leaves Baby Girl.
    It is important to me to be married in my church. There is another Anglican church (as a matter of fact we are bringing them into the Anglican Communion) that the original chapel was built in the 1890’s. It is very small and may suit our purposes very well. I need to talk to the priest about it because I know the wedding I told you about earlier where the bride is saving her dress for my niece is taking place in the large chapel on the date that Paul picked. It would be nice if she and I could coordinate and the florist who was there to do her wedding could put a few things in the small chapel for me.

    I told you all before BEING married doesn’t scare me. GETTING married on the other hand terrifies me.

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  97. Oh, think of all the fun wedding gown stories we’ll hear. 😉

    But seriously — sounds like this hitch-up will happen sooner rather than later? Are there premarital counseling sessions you’ll be going through at your church? Has he joined your church?

    I’m being a pest this morning.

    As an aside, our church is in Week 2 of a 4-week (Sunday night) class on marriage, one of the most popular offerings the church has maybe once a year or so.

    So after a 100-degree day yesterday in which we all nearly died, I woke up and saw the most beautiful sight outside my open bedroom window this morning: FOG. OVERCAST. GRAY SKIES. Yay!!!!!! NO sun!!!!!

    I love gloom!

    They said it would be overcast and would cool down pretty markedly today, so I guess “they” were right this time.

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  98. I’m home today with 4th and 6th Arrows while the others are at church. 4th Arrow has a nasty cough, so we decided she should stay home. My husband and I asked her if she wanted someone to stay with her (she’s 11, and quite capable of taking care of herself, but sometimes it’s just nice to have someone with you when you’re not feeling well). She said she didn’t care. So then 6th Arrow, who is such a big girl, you know, turning 5 and all this week, piped up, “I can stay home with her.” 🙂

    Um, okay. Well, the three of us are having a nice time this morning, looking out for each other. 😉

    Have a blessed Sunday, everyone!

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  102. It must be our fault. We got Cheryl married, then Andree, now Kim.
    A regular marriage mill.

    Our pastor is starting a series of sermons on “I Believe”. That is the things that Baptists believe. Today, it was “I Believe God’s Word”. Makes sense, that’s the essential authority. That is, the veracity and authority of God’s Word.

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  103. I used to be a perpetual insomniac. I now am an intermittent insomniac. This morning I got up early. Tammy, thank you for your comment. I read the Bible at the age of 10 or so. I did not detect the voice of God. I reread it several times during my life to see if I had grown up enough to detect it. I admit that now, at the age of 68, I am not going to grow up before I die.

    To put it bluntly, I’ve been fascinated by religious belief all my life. Some of this fascination is probably best described — as politely as I can — as I do not understand how people can believe what obviously seems to be a book of myths written thousands of years ago.

    I’ve read worldmagblog for several years for similar reasons. Over that time, I read several books that people told me is the “book Random should read” or similar phrasings. None of them persuaded me a bit. As I know my time in this life grows short, I run out of patience with continuing to read these books. If in 2,000 or so years, human beings cannot prove the existence of God in an way that convinces everyone He exists, then some people will be “saved” and some people will be “damned.”

    I am convinced that I will die completely and utterly cease to exist. I have a slightly above average ability to disagree with what most people around me think and advocate, though nothing remarkable. If everyone around me without exception believed in God, I would find it fairly difficult to be the exception. But there are lots of people around me who feel as I do, so I don’t feel that lonely or stressed. I will die whether I want to or not. So just about every day, I say to myself, “Stephen, you will die. Deal with it.” Then I go about living my life as cheerfully and constructively as I can. I don’t dwell on it.

    The world consists of billions of people who do believe in various ideas of God and billions of people who do not believe in God, defining and labeling their disbelief in various ways. One “solution” to these differences is for people to kill each other to “force each other” to agree until one version of “truth” triumphes. Speaking rather arrogantly I admit, I think the best way to respond to this dilemma is to admit “been there, done that.” So then what?

    Although I am sure that if Roger Williams, my greatest hero, were alive today, and could learn to speak each other’s languages (as a great linguist he would learn mine more quickly) we would disagree and agree. He would tell me I should believe in God. He was a passionate believer. I would tell him there is no God.

    Then he would say something like, “I disagree with your faulty belief, but I believe that you should be free to believe it and speak it. In the end, it is the job of God to deal with you and your atheism and reward or punish you as He sees fit. It is my job to deal with you as decently and profitably as I can in this life.”

    I would reply, “Now that is something I can agree with you on, Roger. I’ve always admired you, and now that I can listen to you and see you in person, I am delighted that you are as wonderful, tolerant, and practical as I imagined.”

    I would introduce him to our five chickens. I would take him on a walk through our woods so he could compare them to the woods of his Rhode Island. I would bring him into our house and introduce him to my wife and daughter. My wife would serve him a breakfast similar to the one we had yesterday of applesauce made from the apples we harvested and scrambled eggs from our chickens’ eggs. I am sure he would enjoy it as much as we do. Then I would walk him the quarter mile to our neighbors C and S and introduce them to each other. I would say, “Roger here are two wonderful Christians. They talk the talk and walk the same walk as you did. Their garden is more splendid than ours. Their chickens are cluckier and better egg producers than ours, and we don’t even have any ducks at all. S and my wife are equally great cooks and bakers. C is a terrific carpenter who built his own house; you were a fine carpenter also and will have a great time talking about construction techniques and tools in his time and ours.” They will delight in each other.

    C’s lovely house is decorated with bows and arrows and headdresses and other Indian artifacts and paraphenalia. As Roger was a great friend of Indians (the ones who lived on the East Coast around Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and so on, he would be interested. C would explain that his father had been half Sioux Indian, and had moved to Los Angeles as a young man, passed for white before explaining to C (just before hs died) his Indian heritage. I am sure this would lead to more exciting and fascinating conversation.

    After they finished conversation about mundane and material matters, there conversation would surely turn to God and their Christian beliefs. I am sure they would find much in common, but perhaps politely differ on various matters, just as people here not long ago differed on a variety of religious interpretations. I am sure that C and S would invite Roger to go to church with them. They would explain how tolerant and open-minded their church is, with people of different races, religious beliefs, and even different sexual preferences attending in peace and amity and worshiping Christ together.

    Roger would explain that he no longer attended church, even though he had been a preacher and had founded churches himself. I won’t pretend to imagine how this discussion would turn out, but I am sure it would be in accord and good cheer. For example, C & S obviously want me to attend their church and worship Christ with them, but even though I don’t we remain the best of friends and neighbors.

    So, Tammy, I think the best we can do is respect each other, agree with each other when we can; disagree with each other politely and honestly when we differ, and live our lives by our beliefs as best we can. I appreciate your addressing me politely (as you have always done). I apologize for any time I may have irritated or offended you, though I will not stop expressing myself as honestly and firmly as I can. I am going to try and get some sleep and then get up again and enjoy the delight of having my wonderful daughter visit us again and then drive her back to catch her ferry. Goodnight and good morning.

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  104. My computer did not want to log on last night, so I prayed that my file would not be lost, went back to bed, got some sleep, and woke up to find my wife and daughter up. My wife let the chickens out. She fixed some more scrambled eggs. In a little while we will go for a walk along a beach called “Double Bluff.” I guess you can’t bluff God, not once, not two times. We will have a simple lunch; then we will drive our daughter to the ferry dock in time for her to catch her ferry back to Seattle. As Peggy Lee asked in her great song which you can find on YouTube, “Is That All There Is?” Peggy was actually kind of a slightly “New Age” religious believer whose marriages never worked out. In the end she died. In the end we will all die. Then we will find out if there is any there there.

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  106. Chas,

    Faith is the final step. But, Christianity and God are very provable up until that point. There is more evidence for God, and for the Christian God, then there is for atheism or other belief system (the point of the book.)

    I am a person of reason. When I was brought back to Christ, it was through reason … not faith (although, again, faith was the final step.)

    For people like me, books that reason through it all are very important. I wouldn’t have believed just because someone told me to, or because I wanted to. There’s no doubt that — had I been unconvinced — I would have despaired, but I simply refused to believe without evidence.

    So, it bothers me a bit (and perhaps you’re not saying this), when some Christians imply or say that all we need is Faith and they disparage books of apologetics and reason. Without those books, I would still be lost.

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  109. Tammy:
    There are Bible teachers who are unsaved.
    There are people who can’t read who are saved.
    I have on my Kindle, a book called No Argument for God: Going Beyond Reason in Conversations about Faith. by John Wilkinson. The idea is that you can’t prove God to someone who doesn’t want to believe.
    Ask Random about that.
    To you and me, it is logically obvious.
    It’s scientifically obvious.
    It’s experientially obvious.

    The people who would dispute that are legion.
    Ed called me an idiot.
    Random has been civil toward me for years now.
    I still pray that the “Hound of Heaven” will trace him down’

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  115. Chas: “It must be our fault. We got Cheryl married, then Andree, now Kim.
    A regular marriage mill.”

    There’s a virus goin’ ’round. … 😉 😉 So where’s NJL? She and I have to get on the ball here.

    Logic was important to me in exploring Christianity as well. But THEOlogically, I realize it is by the grace of God alone that our eyes are truly opened and we are given new life (and faith). It is a gift, though some people have to be wrestled to the ground first.

    The Hound of Heaven, indeed. Once he’s on your heels, you simply cannot outrun or outmaneuver him. 🙂 Amen?

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  117. We continued in Rom. 2 today (vs. 6-11), to be continued in next week’s sermon.

    The pastor talked about the importance of keeping our desire to follow God as first and foremost — along with our persistence and patience no matter what befalls us. “Regardless of what misery and apparent misfortune befalls, them (believers), they never say their faith is not ‘working’ for them. Along with Job they proclaim, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).

    In our adult SS, we touched on the current issues in the rise of Islam (that argument we hear all the time — that evil is done in the name of religion — is quite biblical, of course; the devil is really quite ‘religious,’ the Father of Lies; and, yes, religion not founded in Christ and his atonement, false religions, are of the devil).

    And on that note, Ramdom’s hair is probably standing straight up on end right about now. 😉 ….

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  118. I personally am very happy for all the ladies who have found husbands. Or should I say the blessing is that the gentlemen have been blessed to have found women who love the Lord. My prayer is that these men will take seriously the commandment from our Lord to love their wives in the same way that Christ loves his bride, the church.

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  121. Hubby brought home a bulletin and a copy of the sermon today since I missed church. The sermon text was Mark 7:31-37 (Jesus healing the deaf man with the speech impediment). Pastor’s message focused mainly on the part of verse 37 that speaks of Jesus’ doing “all things well”.

    He talked about how only Christians can truly say, “He [Jesus] does everything well.” Before you can see God at work in the troubles of life you have to know that Jesus has delivered you from life’s greatest trouble (our sinfulness), and the more we know Jesus’ power in deliverance the more we will say, “He has done all things well.”

    One of the readings for today was from James 1:17-27. I always love the book of James for how it speaks to me in practical terms.

    17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

    18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

    19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

    20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

    21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

    22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

    23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

    24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

    25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

    26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

    27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

    I love that section of scripture!

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  123. We had a nice sermon tied in with communion today, “God’s Temple: Keeping It Sacred.” It was based on 1 Corinthians 3:16-23; 6:12-20.

    Happy Birthday, Kevin. Sorry to be so late with the wishes. It was a very busy weekend with the prayer retreat and all.

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  125. Wow, ketchup making is a lot of work – don’t want to do that very often. I think it’ll taste good though.

    Oh and belated happy birthday, Kevin. May you have a blessed year. Apparently even though I was on here yesterday I was sleeping. 🙂

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  126. Kim: ¡Felicitaciones! (Congrats).

    Kevin- As I said to Mumsee a few days ago: ¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Joven! (Joven=young one) It’s a day late, but oh well.

    BTW: BG is 15 as of last week.

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  129. I remember you people, but dimly, as spectral characters in the ephemeral mists of a fading dream.

    Not really. It is good to see all here. I have been busy, in a fruitless sort of way.

    My dogs have forced me to dig a survival shelter for them, underneath my barn.

    They (the dogs) think that the economic and foreign policies of the Obama administration may (somehow) fail and they want a place they can retreat to, when civilization collapses.

    I have repeatedly and heatedly assured them that the possibility of Obama failing to be on top of things is COMPLETELY unthinkable, but they (the dogs) are a faithless and unpatriotic bunch who prefer to think first of their own skins, and do not put the critical interests of Obama and his reelection campaign ahead of their own selfish opinions.

    Their paranoia has even spread to the livestock. The cows are now purchasing firearms and wearing camouflage – they have formed a militia and regularly target practice down at the creek. My chickens are hoarding their eggs and investing in gold bullion.

    Nothing that I say seems to stop this nonsense. I have told them about the billions and billions of jobs that Obama has created. I have told them about the glorious Arab Spring. I have told them about the trillions of people who have moved from welfare and food stamps to jobs and self-sufficiency. I have told them how Obama has saved social security and medicare for future generations. I have told them how Obama has united the country, and raised the level of discourse. I have told them how Obama has cleaned up corruption and rooted out graft all through the government. I have even told them about the receding seas and the healing planet and the polar bears recolonizing the Artic.

    But they do not listen.

    It is very discouraging to be surrounded by such negativity.

    Why I have had to watch reruns of the DNC convention, repeatedly, dozens of times a day, just to keep up my spirits and maintain my steadfast faith in my President.

    And if even that fails, I can always get a lobotomy. That might be the thing to do, anyway, just to make QUITE sure that I vote for Obama.

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  130. Maybe you should have the dogs watch the reruns, Drill. But if that doesn’t convince them, you might want to make space for yourself and your wife underneath the barn. Dogs are pretty perceptive creatures.

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  132. Thanks for the birthday wishes. Donna, I’m thrilled to be “overshadowed” at such news as Kim’s.

    Having a new job and an engagement in such a short time, life must feel like a wonderful whirlwind!

    Peter, thanks for setting me straight on BG. All this time I thought it stood for Baby Girl!

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  133. I think BG does stand for Baby Girl, even though she is n adolescent now. But she is Kim’s only child, so she is both Baby and big.

    And drill came along.

    Drill- put a room in the shelter for you and your wife.

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  134. Belated Happy Birthday, Kevin! I’m sorry to be so “out of it” too, as I did stop by yesterday. May God bless you in this coming year with joy, peace, and many happy surprises!

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  136. Kim,
    Congratulations! It couldn’t have happened to a nicer gal!

    As many of you know, my sister and her family are in Rwanda, serving with Samaritan’s Purse. While they were training, they met a family preparing to serve in Sierra Leone with an anti-sex trafficking organization. They have an 8 year old daughter named Brooklyn. She was diagnosed with Typhoid and a severe urinary tract infection. She is in renal failure. They transported her to Ghana and gave her blood transfusions and dialysis. She is in critical condition. As soon as she is stable enough, they will transport her to London. Will you please pray for Brooklyn, her parents, and the doctors involved in her care? This is an urgent request.
    You can read more about it on my sister’s blog: BergFamilyAfrica. com. Sorry, but I’m so computer illiterate, I don’t know how to make it a link! Thanks.

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  137. Also, one of my dearest childhood friends has been staying with me for the last week, painting cabinets and doing a chinoisee (spelling?) in my dining room. He is not a Christian and is gay. I love him like a brother. We’ve had a few heated discussions over the last week and many laughs. Would you please pray for him? His parents were atheists and his exposure to Christians has been very limited. Would you also pray that I would not be a stumbling block to him?

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  139. I am praying. I am an atheist. My daughter is an atheist and a lesbian. My granddaughter is named Anne, and she is already bored of church. I am praying that enough Christians will stay home from the election to roll back homosexual marriage in a short time, and by staying home let my daughter, and my daughter-out-of law get married to make honest women of each other and let Anne be a bridesmaid at the wedding. What kind of God would let something like that happen? A good one. Invent a good God while you are busy inventing a God.

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