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Our Daily Thread 3-13-13

Good Morning!

A lot of big events in history happened today.

In 1639 – Harvard University was named for clergyman John Harvard.

In 1868 – The U.S. Senate began the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.

1935 – Three-thousand-year-old archives were found in Jerusalem confirming some biblical history.

And in 1941 – Adolf Hitler issued an edict calling for an invasion of the U.S.S.R.

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Quote of the Day

“Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most  virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country – and then declares itself puzzled that  America has lost trust in its politicians.”

Charles  Krauthammer

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Now, some music!

And you can save the jokes, thank you very much. 🙂

Trust me, I’ve heard them all. Several times in fact.  😕

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Who has a QoD?

55 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 3-13-13”

  1. Good Morning All. It isn’t that I don’t love you, it’s that I am really busy right now. I even have put Mr. P to work helping me. We have had over 250 NEW registers on our website since the first of March. Each of those “leads” has to be analyzed, processed, and called. A few people have self selected OFF the team and those who are left are happier and making more money.

    Enough of that!

    Spring is in the air! What is your favorite Spring Bouquet? I love the blend of dark pink tulips, purple irises, and yellow daffodils. These were the wedding bouquets for an April Wedding I stumbled across many years ago in Jackson Square in New Orleans. ( So far I have managed to get married in September and October so I haven’t been able to have them for my own self but there is always BG)

    I you can’t answer the flower question then, “When was the last time YOU did a random act of kindness”? (Don’t be modest, tell us. I may give the rest of us an idea of something to do)

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  2. To answer Kim’s second QoD, I have this little “deal” with God that whenever he puts a $50 or $100 bill in my possession, he wants me to give it away. This week our choir director is going to a music conference in Texas. I know her family is strapped for money, so on Sunday I gave her a “thank you for all you do” note with a $100 in it (that my sister had given me last week for her half of a gift we went in together on).

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  3. When driving on the expressway I always leave lots of space between my car and the vehicle in front of me so anyone who needs to change lanes can do so easily. It is a little thing to do, but it makes life easier at least for a moment, for other people.

    When I was out of town around Christmas time and waiting in a Wal-Mart parking lot I saw a family getting into their car. The mom had on a religious themed sweatshirt. I had on a button with a slogan about Jesus on it so I had it come to mind to give it to her. She was surprised to receive it. It was certainly a little thing, just a reminder, that Jesus cares about her and her family. Maybe she needed that reminder at that moment. We never know what difference some little act of kindness can have on someone.

    As for flowers, I really enjoy them all except for the ones that make my eyes itch. I don’t know which ones those are, but I can’t enjoy their beauty when my eyes are tearing up and itchy.

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  5. QoD, We had the money for this furniture right after Christmas, but Hubby called me while having lunch with a friend. The guy really needed a large sum of money. I told him if the Lord was leading him to give it, than give it. We got our furniture eventually.

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  6. I have also given some financial help to someone I know who is in need.

    To me, because I know the person, that does not really qualify as a random act of kindness. Random acts are those when you don’t know the beneficiary and it is not thought over and considered to benefit an acquaintance. IMHO

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  8. Flowers are one of our main crops here ranunculas, gladiolas, bird of paradise and poinsettias are biggest though we do a lot of status and baby’s breath too. So depending on the time of year those are the base for our arrangements.

    QoD: At a meeting at church in those awkward moments before it starts I saw this high school kid self-consciously alone. I went up and engaged him in conversation and could see his shoulders relax. As the meeting started late I could tell he really appreciated it. He was also very glad that I could intelligently analyze Barca’s trouncing of AC Milan to move on the quarter finals.

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  9. I was in a Bed Bath and Beyond store, and I always keep a stash of their coupons handy because even though they have expiration dates, they never expire and you wan use as many as you want. This lady was buying an expensive item and a few other things, so I gave her enough coupons to get her 20% off all her stuff.

    Another not so random act: I like to send “thinking of you” cards to people, ecpecially the ones I know are going through some drudgery that seems to be unnoticed or forgotten. My husband’s cousin it taking care of her mother with Alzheimers. She never gets a break. A colleague of my husband’s has a chronically ill wife and they are going through some tough times because of her health. I send them a card every once in awhile.

    Flowers? I like Irises. One of my favorite spring flowers. Followed closely by bright colored tulips.

    AJ – That music was a great way to start the day. 🙂 I was singing along.

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  10. Good morning. It’s a lazy morning here in the Texas Hill Country. My youngest spent the night in one of my parents’ cabins with my best friend and her daughter, so it’s been quite a leisurely morning for me (which is extremely rare, as Becca awakens around 6:00am each day, no matter what time she goes to bed). We’ve had a nice visit so far. Yesterday, we went on a horseback ride and out to dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. I took nine people out to dinner and the bill was only $60.00 — THAT wouldn’t happen in Houston! The four girls here are all different ages — 13, 11, 8 and 5 — and yet they’ve been getting along beautifully.

    QoD: I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t think I’ve done a random act of kindness recently. I have given money to a friend in need and I’ve made extra donations for the kids I sponsor through World Vision, but neither of those qualify for a random act. I let someone go ahead of me in the grocery store line (she was in a hurry; I was not), and I spent a long time talking with a lonely old woman in the pharmacy. She seemed to need the conversation and I was waiting anyway. A long time ago, when I lived in the city (rather than the ‘burbs), I used to make lots of sandwiches and hand them out to people who were panhandling. I didn’t have much money at the time, but I could easily afford to make sandwiches.

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  12. ran•dom [ran-duhm] adjective: proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason (cause), or pattern: the random selection of numbers.

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  13. Mumsee, It’s hard to describe Alan. He was one of the younger ones, wore a hat. They must have taken the entire Opry crew to NY. I noticed Jimmy Dickens and Charley Pride. Bill Anderson started “Will the Circle be Unbroken”. Eddie Stubbs used to have a weekend country-bluegrass show on WAMU in Washington.
    Country girls usually didn’t wear revealing dresses until Hee Haw became popular. All but a couple of the women on that show had bosoms and legs.

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  15. I was actually just looking for some Charlie Pride gospel music. My mom used to love Charlie. She played him alot, but not as much as Mr. Cash. But then I saw this one with Charlie in it, and loved it, so maybe some Charlie by himself tomorrow.

    Mumsee,

    The impersonator Alan was the first one to sing. Blond hair, mustache, playin’ the guitar.

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  16. By the definition of “random,” I haven’t done one lately. But here’s one that people can do: fast food workers don’t get tips. When I worked at McDonald’s, we were told we weren’t allowed to accept tips unless the customer “insisted.” In my year-plus of working at the busiest and hardest McDonald’s in Arizona (our manager was known at all the other McDonald’s in the area for how harsh she was), occasionally a customer offered a tip, but none ever pressed it when I said I wasn’t allowed to accept tips. But to some teenager working a hard job at low wages, a five dollar tip would make his day.

    I like making homemade cards and sending them for people’s life events or just to say “We’re praying for you.” Last week I took my mother-in-law a homemade bookmark, a fancy one made from a pattern out of parchment with three-dimensional flowers and white lace in the middle. She seemed to really like it, and I imagine she liked the “thought” as well.

    BTW, I have entered my busy season of the year, with three large projects coming all at once, so don’t worry about me if I don’t pop in here very often. But you’re welcome to pray that I stay on top of it all over the next couple of months.

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  25. Good Morning….Spring is visiting Colorado today! 🙂
    Tychicus….Colorado is closely following in the footsteps of California with our “anti gun laws” just passed.
    Qod….I always try to let someone ahead of me in line at the grocery…I “people watch”…and when I notice someone looking anxious and having just a few items, I’ll suggest they go ahead of me. Most of the time I get a shocked look of disbelief..and then a warm smile of appreciation.
    It is interesting to me how almost no one greets others with a smile any more….I will always smile at those I pass by…and it seems to befuddle so many…

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  27. I don’t really have a problem with making sure felons or crazy people don’t have guns. Seems kinda like common sense. I also don’t have a problem with backgound checks for the same reason.

    But let’s face it, they don’t plan on stopping with just that. That, I have a problem with.

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  28. From Tychicus’ link: Almost 20,000 gun owners in the state are prohibited from possessing firearms, including convicted felons, those under a domestic violence restraining order or deemed mentally unstable.

    It’s the “deemed mentally unstable” part that seems a little murky to me, too open to subjectivism and the potential to open up an ever-expanding definition of mental instability, possibly leading to the loss of gun ownership rights due to arbitrary standards, IMO.

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  29. cbadwjh: Yes, it’s definitely a good thing in itself, but as Aj mentions, it’s most likely a precursor of other sinister plans…

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  30. I always make sure no one behind me has a small order when checking out with a large one, myself. Not long ago I offered to allow someone to go in front of me who was hold two things in her hands and she gladly accepted. Two minutes later, her mother wheeled up with a full cart-load and joined her.

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  31. Are we supposed to keep track of these things? I have a big enough problem with my head . . . 🙂

    You all inspired me and so I took a photo of the daffodils I bought at the store today! Love them, iris, daisies, hyacinth, snap dragons . . . anything with a scent.

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  32. I try to go out of my way to not do anything for anybody, it is their fate to be where they put themselves, or they deserved it because they are lazy bums. But if I did do it, I want my reward in Heaven so will not be telling you. On the other hand, Christians are supposed to encourage one another with testimonies of what God is doing in their lives, and learning to reach out can be encouraging.

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  33. Sure Mums,

    We all know what a slacker you are, sitting around eating bon-bons all day all by yourself. We all know you don’t do anything for those around you.

    NOT! 🙂

    You’re funny. 😆

    How’s Mike doing with that rib?

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  35. Flowers…I love ALL flowers, but, as Janice noted…some of them make my eyes itchy and watery…I just cannot figure out which ones actually are the culprit…except for lilies….they most definitely make me wheeze, sneeze and water!
    Favorite? Peonies and hydrangea….

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  40. I just got a well meaning e-mail from a friend in which the claim was that NASA scientists have proved the Bible was true by going back and finding the day missing in the battle with the Gibeonites (Joshua 10), and the 20 minutes with King Hezekiah.
    This is over a decade old, maybe two. And I haven’t seen it in over a decade. I thought people had become more computer literate than that. Evidently not.
    Computers don’t work that way. If you get something like that, don’t forward it.

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  43. Chas, I once had some sort of professional dealings with a novel that had as part of its plot that computers had analyzed the start of human languages (when they split into multiple languages) and traced it to such and such a place at some and such a time in human history, of course “proving” the Tower of Babel was true history. Of course I rolled my eyes at computers’ “ability” to determine something like that.

    But speaking of computers, I’m trying to print one of my new projects for editing, and the printer is lying to us about a jam. It is nice to have my own in-house IT expert, but he can’t figure it out either. So I’m sitting here with a tray of computer paper on my lap. . . .

    Linda, it sounds like that young woman was really cheating to accept your offer! It kinda reminds me of a tradition at my grade school (maybe other schools did this too?) in which a girl would come up to a line at the drinking fountain and one of her friends would offer something they called “French cuts” (?? I might have the term wrong). First the girl would offer her friend a “cut” and then the other friend would offer a return “cut,” so basically she was offering to let the friend in line behind her. It drove me crazy when they did that, especially when the line was long and the drinking fountain was slow. We were in Phoenix, water was precious, and if kids in line hadn’t all had a drink before recess was over you lost your chance. And if you didn’t care enough about your friend to wait while she drank, then why should everyone else have to wait for her? It really seemed to me that teachers should be watching for that and shouldn’t allow it–it was bad manners and it was unkind.

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  45. As the founder and (sort of) leader of the only “Unfaith” community on Whidbey Island, I am proud to announce that we are (very slowly) catching up with the “faith communities” (what used to be called churches in my childhood). (Maybe still are.) There are somewhere from 60-125 (they keep forming and reforming and splitting and evolving), but (until now) only one “unfaith organization” on our island.

    I placed a free advertisement in a local newspaper making fun of us as “The only cult on Whidbey Island” that dares call itself a cult. Two of my “co-organizers,” people I had designated as successors in the event of my incapacitating illness, dementia, death, etc., conveyed they were offended to be referred to as a “cult” (even as a joke) and they are resigning. I apologized to them (although I don’t really feel I owe them one). I asked if they were going to form a new organization. I asked if they were going to keep it secret, “shun me,” etc.

    I presume that some of you have belonged to churches that have been wracked by religious controversy, in churches that have split off into new churches, etc. What were those experiences like? What were the reasons for splitting into new groups. Do you want to laugh at us/me for being a dumb and childish as churches? Do you have advice to give to an atheist who provoked a split similar to a church split (for lack of a better term)?

    I emailed the resigning officials that it would be the “Christian thing” to do to forgive. I doubt that 1) they are reading anything from me, or 2) they are amused.

    You know the Aesop’s fable about the frog and the scorpion?

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  47. Well, I’ve done gone & done it now!

    I (with hubby’s agreement) told our pastor that we will be ready to again host a Hope Team (small group) in our home, with the term that starts in May.

    My house has been such a mess! I have felt overwhelmed in trying to keep up with housecleaning as well as cleaning up, & have really slacked off. I used to be known for keeping a clean & neat home, & it is something I usually enjoy. The girls & I had somewhat of an agreement on who would do what, but that fell apart, especially when one complained about the mess left by the other.

    Well, I guess I need to figure it all out & “pull rank” on making sure stuff gets done in a timely manner.

    The “pressure” of hosting the Hope Team will probably actually be a good thing after all.

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  49. Well, You all seem to be such a nice group of people. I don’t know that I could do Linda’s 50 or 100 Dollar bill thing but I could hope to work towards doing the 50 dollar thing.

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  52. Karen, once bought a book called “Speed Cleaning”. It had some very interesting and effective methods but the best speed cleaning method is still in-laws who will be there in 15 minutes.

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  55. Chas – Kim was responding to Linda’s comment at 0750 that When God puts a $100. or $50. bill in her hand, he puts it there for her to give away.

    Karen – Have you ever heard of the Flylady (www.flylady.net)? She uses a timer and had a system for cleaning house. I use her system and it really works.

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