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Our Daily Thread 1-28-15

Good Morning!

On this day in 1521 The Diet of Worms began, at which Protestant reformer Martin Luther was declared an outlaw by the Roman Catholic church.

In 1807 London’s Pall Mall became the first street lit by gaslight. 

In 1915 the Coast Guard was created by an act of Congress.

And in 1986 the U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff killing all seven crew members.

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Quote of the Day

“Snowboarding is an activity that is very popular with people who do not feel that regular skiing is lethal enough.”

Dave Barry

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 Today is Johann Ernst Bach’s birthday.

And it’s Arthur Rubinstein’s too. So it’s Brahm’s Concerto #1, with Mr. Rubinstein on piano.

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Anyone have a QoD?

45 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-28-15”

  5. “Diet of Worms” not the creepy, crawly things like I used to think. Sounded weird.
    But “Worms” appropriately has the German pronunciation, “VVorms”.

    The weather would be nice in Hendersonville if it weren’t so cold.
    22.7

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  7. I use Chrome because a lot of the programs I use will not run on Explorer. I also like that I can have several “tab” open and toggle back and forth between what I need. This is especially nice when I use two monitors. Just now I was able to have Reagan’s speech playing in the background as I typed this post.

    Where were you when it happened? I was in Mr. Threadgill’s Humanities class. We were in the middle of learning about Rococo and Voltaire and whatever else he thought would make us well rounded citizens.

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  8. Linda, this post is for you. After 14 years of being married to a man who never would discuss finances, saving, or anything else…he was just trying to get through today. He couldn’t even discuss saving to take his Baby Girl to Disney World (he took her after we divorced and the new girlfriend planned it–he and his mother and BG joined her and her daughter) and after 8 years alone in which I crashed and burned and pulled myself out using a combination of Dave Ramsey and Crown Ministries, I FINALLY have a husband who has agreed to attend Financial Peace University with me. Class starts tonight. Oh he fussed and pouted and said he was doing just fine without it, he finally caved when I told him it was REALLY important to me that he go with me. He’s not really enthusiastic, but he thought the class was last night and was dressed and ready when I got home. It was almost sad to tell him it wasn’t until tonight. Of course I have to check because I got an email that our Parish Meeting is tonight as well. We may not start until next week….but he’s going and that is what is important to me now.

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  9. Kim, that is awesome. I hope you don’t have to miss the first class. I think that FP is a wonderful program and Dave Ramsey is a very wise man. No matter what comes of it, I suspect you will both benefit from going. Keep us posted.

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  12. Oh and another thing…
    I don’t know how many of you receive multiple calls from “Anne, at Credit Card Services”, but I had been blocking them every time they called on my iPhone. This weekend when I had to get a new phone I went with an Android and the calls started again. It is sad to be in a sales industry and unwilling to answer an out of state call, but I just let it go to voicemail, feeling like if it’s important they will leave a message. Yesterday I received 4 calls from the same number so I called back to see if it was anything important….turns out it was. By the time I got to the bottom of it, I found out several hundred dollars had been removed from our account which was returned this morning when I checked.
    So not only are those calls from “Anne” a nuisance, they really can cause you to miss something important.

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  13. Oh, George was the class clown at birthing class. We did the whole whacking the dummy baby on the back if it was chocking thing…he whacked the baby on the back and it’s head popped off and rolled down the aisle. Very dryly I informed him he wasn’t touching my baby. We brought the house down that night. Of course he told me birthing class was probably for dumb teenagers and stupid people who didn’t know what they had gotten themselves into. 😉

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  14. We didn’t have a birthing class, or any such thing. We learned by trial and error. Every child needs a grandmother. Chuck cried a lot when he was first born. My parents came out to Fort Worth to see him. Mother said that the reason he was crying is that he was hungry. Elvera’s milk wasn’t enough for him. So, we started giving him a formula in a bottle. He was a sweet child after that.
    I later told him that we carefully read all the instructions that came with him.

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  16. I prefer Chrome since it is faster and more stable. I like Firefox as well, but it takes more RAM to run. Also, Chrome will suggest websites from the URL line, thus not needing to use a search engine all the time. And a new feature I really like is the AdBlock that is a free download. No more pesky pop-up ads that automatically open on some websites.

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  18. Kim, by its nature, Christianity is a peaceful religion. Regardless of what GW Bush and others say, Islam is a violent religion.
    Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He taught peace. Early Christians didn’t resist the oppressor, to their detriment.
    The wars after the Reformation were mostly political, though fought under a religious banner. Same for the Crusades. In those days, most people were ignorant and had to believe what their priest told them. The Popes told their warriors the same things that the mullahs tell their followers. If you die fighting infidels, you go straight to heaven.
    The difference is that the Bible doesn’t support that, and the Koran does. Though the Koran doesn’t specify as much as the Mullahs preach. Just that Allah will reward them.

    Christianity is a religion of forgiveness. Islam is a religion of retribution.
    Christianity spread by preaching Christ. Islam spread by the sword.
    Christianity liberates people wherever it goes. Islam enslaves women and non-Muslims.

    I have read a good bit about Islam since 9/11 including the Koran. Some of our leaders should do that too.
    I get the impression that Muslims think they can outsmart Allah. I was reading a book,
    I think it was Captive in Iran by Maryam Rostam, (highly recommended), where after the Iranian revolution, they were killing their opponents. When they killed a young girl, they raped her first because they believed that all virgins went to heaven. Thus, after the rape, Allah would see that she was not a virgin, so It’s hell (whatever they call it) for her.
    If a someone is martyred, he gets to select 50 people who get to heaven, regardless of their actions. Hence, martyrdom is greatly desired.
    It isn’t specified what women martyrs get. Though it seems to appeal to some.

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  21. I’ve always used IE, but I’m about done with ’em.

    Every “update” to fix a problem just causes new ones. It’s getting ridiculous, and so is the crashing that accompanies it all.

    I’m slowly moving to Chrome and FireFox. FF is what ‘Liz has to use for school.

    IE will also block pop-ups and suggest other sites if you set it up right. But again, too many other problems.

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  22. We use Firefox and we’re happy with it. My husband isn’t interested in using Chrome simply because google knows enough of our business (but ironically we do use gmail, which I hate).

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  26. Have fun, Jo!

    We attended my husband’s brother’s funeral yesterday. We were grateful the weather was good, since it was almost an 8 hour drive one way. The older I get; the more I see; the more I realize how wonderful it is to walk by the Spirit and have my mind renewed by the Word.

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  27. Browser: I use IE. I need a whole lot of bells and whistles with my browser (I don’t even use the favorites tab) and it works fine. My father was using both IE and Firefox and he got some invasive ad ware through Firefox (despite having anti-virus protection), so I wouldn’t trust Firefox myself.

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  30. Kim, about your link on Islam, which is quite interesting; I was just going to post this on the news thread: http://www.worldmag.com/2015/01/by_our_own_hands

    Many Christians cheered and snapped photos during al-Sisi’s historic visit to the church, but the mood was far more subdued when the president addressed a group of prominent Muslim leaders at Al-Azhar University five days earlier.
    Standing in the iconic university where Muslim clerics have trained for more than a thousand years, the country’s Muslim president blasted Islamic extremists: “Is it possible that 1.6 billion people [Muslims] should want to kill the rest of the world’s inhabitants—that is 7 billion—so that they themselves may live? Impossible!”
    Al-Sisi urged a “religious revolution” in Islam, and called on imams to confront the strain of Islamic thinking that is “antagonizing the entire world.”

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  32. We use chrome & firefox on the PCs at work, I use Safari on my mac at home (and phone).

    The gardener is here with all his loud equipment so I’ve had to lock the dogs indoors, but they bark whenever he gets too close to the house.

    I was up from about 3:30 to 7 a.m. today, then slept until 1 (?), my schedules way off now — and I still don’t feel so hot, but I did find the Musinex in the back to the kitchen cupboard (date on it says 11/14 but I suspect it’s still good — my neighbor volunteered to go get some for me earlier). And my fever seems to be gone, back down in normal territory.

    Just very tired and sore — and this cough … Ugh.

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  34. Browser: Chrome.

    Challenger: I was student teaching, but didn’t hear about it until after I was home, watching the national news.

    Reagan saying “…slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God” will remain forever etched in my memory. Still brings tears to hear him say it.

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  35. Just saw that line by Reagan was written by Peggy Noonan — referred to as “that girl” (go get that girl, she can do it) on the WH staff at the time.

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  36. Chas, I haven’t been paying much attention to what the current U.S. administration thinks of Egypt. I would tend to be cynical of Al-Sisi’s motives, but his visit to the church has echoes of the protective cordon Muslims formed around a Coptic church a while ago: http://www.christianpost.com/news/viral-photo-shows-muslims-protecting-church-in-egypt-as-congregants-attend-mass-amid-threat-of-attack-102592/

    While I was looking for a link to that story, I found this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/08/muslims-form-human-chain-pakistan_n_4057381.html

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  37. I have few illusions about what people are capable of, especially under the impetus of religious fervour. Realism is essential in medical work. However, when I think of the “face” of Islam, I see the faces of the villagers whom I lived beside and worked with and for, in all their human range of expression. I also spent hours listening to the experiences of those who have worked there much longer than I did. I cannot tell you the stories here, but I can say that Muslims, like all human beings, are capable of love and kindness, as well as hate and cruelty. It can be argued that their religion provides greater encouragement for the worse elements – all the more reason that Christians should set the example of loving one’s enemies. I was saddened, but not surprised at the recent Islamist attacks, but I was horrified to read repeated suggestions that Muslims in general should be treated as a threat:http://www.worldmag.com/2015/01/the_je_suis_charlie_moment. As if a child born into a Muslim family is of less worth than a satirical cartoonist.

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  38. Understood roscuro — just saying the religion as a whole/as a group has a major problem to overcome at this stage (and I’m not sure it’s possible to walk back the world’s image).

    All part of God’s providence, remember — individuals should be treated as those made in the image of God.

    The ‘religion’ itself will always be a false religion. And now it’s proven to be a violent one (in many quarters) as well.

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  39. I, too, had heard that Peggy Noonan wrote those words, Donna. That’s why I wrote above, “Reagan saying…” rather than “Reagan’s words…” 😉

    Memorable words and a memorable delivery. Both stand out in my mind.

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  41. From that book I’m reading (“Extravagant Grace”):

    “If the goal of sanctification is actually growing in humility and greater dependence on Christ, then the Holy Spirit is doing an excellent job. Through his ongoing struggles with indwelling sin, the maturing believer will spend many years learning that he is more sinful than he ever imagined, in order to discover that he is indeed far more loved than he ever dared to hope.”

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