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Our Daily Thread 8-7-14

Good Morning!

On this day in 1782 George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart. 

In 1914 Germany invaded France. 

In 1959 the U.S. launched Explorer 6, which sent back a picture of the Earth. 

And in 1999 Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres got his 3,000th hit of his major league career.   

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Quote of the Day

“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

Mark Twain

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Today is Sir Granville Ransome Bantock’s birthday. So here’s a nice piece performed by The City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong 

 Today is also Kevin Rhoads’ birthday. From By The Tree

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Anyone have a QoD?

43 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 8-7-14”

  2. Hired a new haus meri today. She worked for 6 hours today in my two rooms. All the windows are washed and all my ironing is done. so nice. Now she will come every other week for 3 hours. They are working to get the tank of the tanker truck out of the river. I am sure that it is empty now with the help of a few folks.

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  3. Morning all.

    I’m stalking prospective fishing spots for snakeheads. I have some promising leads and am better informed on which tackle/bait to use, so I’m optimistic. My 2 previous attempts where unproductive endeavors. 😦

    But at least this time I have my camera and will be in a National Wildlife and Bird sanctuary area. 🙂

    The sanctuary rules do not apply to the snakehead. If you catch it, you must kill it. Normally I’m strictly catch, maybe photo, and release so I’m not real cool with that. But since it’s an invasive foreign species, I’ll make an exception for one fish.

    I’ll have Friday night and all morning Saturday, so it should be fun. 🙂

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  4. Well the waiting is over. The first home inspection contingency has been removed and they are moving forward on the sale of the house I am in. The buyer has 5 days after we move out and the house is totally vacant to have a second inspection done. I am angry that this has happened, but the other half of me is worried that after the landlord has lost great renters who treated the property as their own, brought the dead grass back to life, filled the holes in the yard and made minor repairs without bothering her that something will happen and she will be left high and dry with a vacant house and we will have gone because this buyer is so adamant that the house be completely vacant when she has the next inspection done.
    I have found a cute little cottage that is priced right. It is a 2/2, 1153SF. It is in a zero lot line community so there is only a side yard. Mr. P is concerned about Lou having a yard.
    This has been very hard. Any time in the past that I moved it was by my choice. This feels like eviction. I am….. well I just don’t have the words to say what I am.

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  5. Kim- You are out-of-sync. I know the feeling. We still have not unpacked from our non-move in May. Another showing tomorrow, but we do not have our hopes up.

    And it’s raining, and my lawn mower is still in the shop, so I guess I won’t get the grass cut.

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  10. michelle, I started reading that last night and was so disgusted I never even made it through the piece. When she first came on the scene, she made good points and was often funny (bitingly – wickedly funny, but you sometimes just had to laugh at when she nailed something so accurately). But then she turned just bitter — I found her to be grating, disrespectful, caustic and rude.

    I suppose it became her “brand.” But it was always a concern because I understand that she is professing Christian (? I think — Tim Keller’s church, Redeemer Pres?) and I always wondered if her elders were speaking with her about some of this …

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  11. Kim, so sorry for this season you’re having to navigate. I had to move once when it wasn’t really my choice — circumstances were different, I had ‘inherited’ my mom’s dogs after she died very unexpectedly and since I couldn’t find anyone who would take them in, I had to leave a little apartment I loved to rent a house a few blocks away. It all worked out and I was clear that the choice I was making was the right one, but it was still somewhat forced. And I hated leaving that little apartment, I’d only been there for 4 years. It makes the physical demands of moving that much harder.

    But once you’re on the other end, it’ll let up. It may be a relief to finally have it all over and done with — for now. And the cottage sounds adorable. Is there a dog park or other open space nearby where the Lab can run off-leash?

    Praying the next few weeks go as smoothly as possible for you all.

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  12. Kim, in 2007 I had to move away from a community and church that I adored and loved and felt very loved. I moved 900km to a town of 137 people, no professing Christians and the nearest shopping was a larger town 1 ½ hours away. It. was. devastating. The first night in our new home the power went out from the severe winds. We had no flashlight (all packed in boxes) and we huddled in our bed together, both of us wondering “what have we done”. It was a move that was necessary due to my husband’s job situation. The wind down there was unrelenting. It moaned through the trees and the power lines. It blew constant dust around (streets not paved). Several tumbleweeds went down the road one day as I was looking out the front window. I was quite lonely and depressed.

    All that to say: God blessed us through those tough 4 years. Gave us new friends, opened doors for my husband to land this job here which he loves. And gave us the opportunity to purchase our acreage. It also gave us an extreme appreciation for church and church family (since we had none for 4 years). I hope and pray that this season in your life will turn out to be a blessing, just as our 4 years of exile eventually blessed us. This too shall pass. Love you.

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  14. Michelle, she has a good true message there. She is caustic and I don’t tend to listen to her because of it. We often wonder why so many folk go on short term missions trips to the Phillipines or wherever when we have a nation of people living right here with serious needs. I am talking right here as in right here on the reservation. The Nimipuu, Nezperce, have a lot of the social problems overwhelming our country. Rather than finding a way to help them, we chose to adopt. Finding the key to entry in the Tribe was our challenge and we did not put enough effort into finding it.

    It is quite possible the doctor did a lot of work in his county but did not announce it. We don’t know. It is possible he also saw a need in Liberia that he could meet and went for it. We are not to be judging another’s servant.

    But, she is correct that there is a lot of work to be done right here in this country. The harvest is ready, the workers are few. I am glad we have workers willing to go to the far reaches. I am glad we have workers right at home. I wish there were more. God knows who He is calling and what He is calling them for. She is right that our country is in desperate need of missions work. That is why a lot of people from other countries come here to be missionaries. But that does not mean that some should not go out.

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  15. Kevin B,

    In my experience, both mine and that of fifteen children, those friendships are not painless. Especially in our current society where they want to hand out condoms to sixth graders. Going out together in groups with somebody responsible enough to notice when a couple is isolating themselves is a better idea.

    Most of my children have thought it was fine to have relationships on the other side. Most have had broken hearts. We try to guide them away from that sort of thing with the idea that until they are ready for marriage, they should not be playing with fire. Do not wake love before its time.

    Right now I have a sixteen year old boy going to the home of a seventeen year old girl when he should be working. Nobody’s seventeen year old girl should have to deal with that. I am trying to help him see the sense of being a help to the family rather than a hindrance. It is a very broken family with a lot of issues and a mom who does not see, when her children post nude pics of themselves online, it was not an accident.

    Look around at the grownups with broken marriages because somebody thought “just friends” and the marriage vow was soon broken.

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  18. Good Morning…is that a woodpecker in the header photo?! His cousin has been attempting to peck a big ‘ol hole in the side of my house for the past two days…..go away already!!
    Kim…I’m praying for you as you face this new season in your lives…what a sweet little cottage that is…and so clean!! 🙂 Move in ready and nicely kept ❤ Lookin' on the bright side….

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  19. Kim, that is adorable! Love the sheltered porch (I have one too). You can sit out there and sip your lemonade that you make from your We-didn’t-really-want-to-move *lemons.* 🙂

    Yesterday I wrote a story about customs and wildlife officials seizing an un-permitted port shipment of mounted animals (lynx, baboon, zebra, etc.). A colleague today tweeted the story but an easily-missed period weirdly makes it look like the “hunting trophies” were confiscated from me.

    laughing.

    ICYMI: Feds @PortofLA seize $9,000 worth of “hunting trophies.” from @donnalittlejohn

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  20. Ha! Ha! Donna, that is funny. Remember ha!ha! before LOL?

    I LOVE that cottage, Kim.

    I tried to post a prayer yesterday, but was having troubles and gave up.

    This morning Bosley did her running leap onto the top of the swivel chair back and she did not land securely. She was hanging on by her front claws while the chair was moving round first with her body out like a flag and soon down and climbing up to her perch frantically. She continues to be a great investment for entertainment. Better than a big screen tv any day or night.

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  21. Bosley! You’ll have to do a video.

    Janice, I think they’ve gone to hahaha now. Hard to keep up.

    The bird in the banner photo would color-match my 2 dogs and Annie the cat.

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  22. And it’s true we do desperately need ‘missionaries’ now on our own home turfs.

    But I’ve always thought that some people simply are uniquely equipped or called to overseas missions as well. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. God sends people where he will so her very pointed and personal criticism of these medical workers really was out of line, I thought. .

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  23. I just read the A. C. column, and like Mumsee, found some of it relevant. I do think she was uber critical of the doctor especially considering he is sick. By investing his talents in Liberia he might pick up knowledge by working in that setting that could help all doctors working in less than ideal situations. Some places make “necessity the mother of invention” and are more important than A. C. could imagine. Only God knows how it all falls into place to make good come out of bad situations for believers.

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  24. A former member of my church, a doctor, went on a missions trip to Africa, and I believe he was involved in setting up a hospital emergency room that was needed. Electricity was a big issue. Also, I recall from the presentation how moms would bring their children for treatment and having no money to pay they were unable to get their children out of the hospital. They really needed help in a lot of ways. I think it is good for our well-trained docs to share their expertise.

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  26. Linda 🙂

    Here’s Mohler’s response to Coulter:

    http://www.albertmohler.com/2014/08/07/are-christian-missionaries-narcissistic-idiots-a-response-to-ann-coulter/

    ” … the real annoyance here, indeed outrage, is not over the service of these two missionary doctors. It is over this kind of column that flies in the very face of everything Christ taught his disciples. The logic of the Christian church and of Christian missions has nothing to do with American nationalism. Some parts of Ann Coulter’s article where she speaks especially of Africa come very close to racism, but she certainly falls directly into nationalism when she says that American Christians need to “serve their own country.”

    “American nationalism of this toxic variety flies right in the face of the gospel of Jesus Christ and in the command of Christ given in the Great Commission. Coulter has written a very sad and infuriating article–an article that should lead to outrage in Christian circles. It reveals a radical nationalistic and libertarian worldview that is fundamentally incompatible with evangelical Christianity, with the Scripture, and with the command of Christ. … “

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  28. I would hesitate to say it that way as then you have a bunch of complacent Christians sitting back in their easy chairs saying, “I guess he told her!” The believers need to be listening to God and doing what He calls them to do. It may be bringing soup to a sick neighbor, weeding their garden while they recover from a broken hip, writing to prisoners, praying for the persecuted church, reading to children, adopting, teaching in public school, serving in Papua New Guinea, going on a shorter mission trip to help set up wells, being a reporter, being a lawyer or politician. God knows His plans. But it does not involve Christians berating other Christians for doing things differently. One does not judge another’s servant.

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  29. People are called to certain ministries. Some are called to other nations. We don’t need missionaries in America. We need a prophet. The Gospel is available to anyone who will listen. You have to turn preachers off in Western NC. There is a full time Christian channel out of Charlotte. There is not a person, no matter what his persuasion, who has not been exposed to the Gospel in this area. I can’t say the same for places like Northern Virginia. It is darker up there than it was in 2001. Perceptively darker.
    We have a missionary to the Pashtun people in the DC area.

    That is a pretty house, Kim. And a nice front porch.

    🙂 I was testing peripheral vision for the Lions this morning. I test the right eye, and then the left eye. One woman, when we finished wanted me to test both eyes. I was patient. I explained that we only had two options, right and left.

    Life can be fun if you don’t take it too seriously.

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  33. A peeve of mine. I never do it, but lots of people do. I overheard it at Chick-fil-a this afternoon.
    Somebody says “How are you?”
    He says, “I’m good, how about you?”
    He may be well, fine, OK, splendid, magnificent, tute grande wajid zane, but not GOOD.,

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  34. speaking of missions, we have a training centre here in Ukarumpa with its sole purpose being to train the people of PNG to do translation and literacy, etc. We are trying to equip these people. So many languages in this country, we could not possibly do it. We also train individuals in all our departments, finance, autoshop, the school….

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  36. So, should I have gone and helped in America instead of Gambia? Oh yeah, I forgot, they didn’t want me in the U.S. Ms. Coulter has no clue. If I wanted to perform heroics, I could have chosen an easier place – one that didn’t have eternal waits at ferry crossing, broiling heat, and no Western amenities. It wasn’t what people would think of me that kept me from turning and running away from Africa (I came pretty close a few times) – it was the knowledge that this was what I was supposed to do for now.

    The same criticisms she levels at Dr. Brantly, could have been leveled at me. I too, had to leave because my health broke under the strain. I caused a lot of disturbance to the mission I was trying to help and took another medical worker away with me. My health still isn’t fully recovered, may never be. Yet, when I suggested to my team that I was causing more trouble than I was worth, they wouldn’t listen to me, assuring me that I had helped in many ways and that my getting sick like that was part of the hazards of the job. Ms. Coulter brings God into it – she better take warning from Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats: “Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

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  37. Chas @ 5:55- I agree. The adjective ‘good’ describes character, while the adverb ‘well’ or ‘fine’ should be used to describe feeling. But then, maybe most speakers consider themselves of good character. Unfortunately, we have lost good grammar in the US due partly to entertainers being the primary teachers of language use. As smart as Rush Limbaugh is, he is one of the first I noticed getting it wrong.

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  38. The cottage wasn’t as cute as it looked and the side yard had been made into a patio. Monday have found something else. Will be able to see it Sunday after church.
    I can see both sides of the mission argument. We have so many in need I. This hemisphere. If not me ( not me personally) then who ? I figure if we are doing God’s will we will end up where He wants us.

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  39. I read some pretty caustic and sarcastic stuff. Coulter is among the worst. Though she often nails it, and makes some excellent points, her delivery doesn’t help change minds, in fact usually the result is quite the opposite. I don’t mind sarcasm, I’m a big fan in fact, but she’s just mean. No thank you.

    And missionaries are needed everywhere, even here in the US.

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  40. Jesus did say to go to Jerusalem, Judea and the uttermost parts of the earth. Jerusalem was the city where they were at that time. Judea was the region where they lived. So why would anyone think we cannot be missionaries where we are? One missionary I know said that if you are not a witness at home, you shouldn’t go overseas.

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  41. So after I posted the above I noticed a new email from a friend who is a missionary in Peru. He speaks to the Coulter article in his blog: Are Christian missionaries narcissistic idiots?

    An excerpt: Well, Ann, by your logic, Jesus was a fool to leave heaven for our sakes, let alone suffer the humiliation of the cross. The missionary spirit is the spirit of Jesus, and Dr. Brantley knows that Spirit.

    Sadly, it’s not just loud-mouthed conservatives who ask this question. It is sometimes asked in milder form by well-meaning friends, family, and churches. Indeed, as David Platt recently pointed out, almost all the missionary heroes we read about today were OPPOSED strongly by many in their churches! …

    Is it expensive to send missionaries to foreign countries? Undoubtedly. But was it expensive for Jesus to leave heaven for our sakes?

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  42. Our church supports a wonderful couple and now their whole family who began and continue a ministry to the older homeless in Portland called Blanket Coverage. They begin by quietly sneaking up and covering them with blankets in the night. They say it takes 5 years to build a relationship and get them off the streets.

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