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Our Daily Thread 3-4-15

Good Morning!

Today’s header photo is from Donna.

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On this day in 1634 Samuel Cole opened the first tavern in Boston, MA. 

In 1789 the first Congress of the United States met in New York and declared that the U.S. Constitution was in effect.   

In 1837 the state of Illinois granted a city charter to Chicago. 

And in 1950 Walt Disney’s “Cinderella” was released across the U.S.

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Quote of the Day

“Win or lose, do it fairly.”

Knute Rockne

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Today is Antonio Vivaldi’s birthday. It snowed all day yesterday and will again later tonight, so this seems appropriate, from Julia Fischer.

And this song was released today in 1963.

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Anyone have a QoD?

41 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 3-4-15”

  1. Good morning.

    Becca’s tenth birthday was yesterday. I am often overwhelmed with gratitude to God for giving me this family; I never allowed myself to imagine I could be this happy in my younger years. As you know, I was told at 16 that I’d be unable to bear children, so I consider both of my girls my “miracle” children, as we weren’t “trying” either time to get pregnant. After my salvation, they are truly the best gifts I’ve been given. I love being a Mom!!!

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  7. Thank you AJ!

    I think maybe it’s just thank-AJ Day. 😀

    Ah, the Beach Boys, who grew up in the little city/suburb next to ours (and a few years earlier, they were well out of high school by the time we started). I had this recording from the TAMI show on an LP (for those of you who remember those) and this particular song, “Surfing’ USA,” pays tribute to a couple of our local beaches, Manhattan & “Redondo Beach L.A.”

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  8. Sorry for the lack of detail in the photo, it was taken via iPhone “zoom” from my Jeep window (I was pulled over) on my way to church Sunday. It’s the edge of our very lush neighborhood park that’s teeming with ducks and geese & squirrels.

    I thought you all might enjoy a real-time picture without any snow in it about now. 😉

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  9. Brutus and Betty and I saw a lone coyote on our walk this morning. Either he was out hunting alone while she was back at the house caring for the little ones, or the traps that have been put out lately are working. The neighbors were starting to lose a lot of calves to the coyotes so they thin them down. Generally, they like coyotes and the work they do on the mice but when they start taking the calves, it is time to thin them again.

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  10. All indications are that coyote populations nationwide are booming. They’re now commonplace in urban and suburban areas as well, including ours. Eventually, conflicts with their neighbors occur.

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  11. Good Morning…and thank you AJ 🙂
    We had a coyote trotting through our property last week…it was a pretty sight as he made his way through the snow, but, he was heading towards the spot where the deer bed down…now that’s just not ok!

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  13. I enjoyed this article on the Matthew 6 passage on taking no thought: http://thecripplegate.com/kale-and-the-kingdom/. “The more I reflect on Matthew 6, the more I am becoming convicted that many of us have completely missed the contemporary application of the passage. Too many attitudes of professing believers towards food and clothing (and all the other trivial things that we pursue in life) are indistinguishable from the attitudes of the world. Too many of us eat and dress as if this world is all there is and treat those who disagree as if they’ve missed out on the secret knowledge handed down from the Lord himself.”

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  14. Enjoyed the Vivaldi today, The Real. Vivaldi was one of the first the use the solo concerto – a three part piece for solo instrument accompanied by orchestra – and his Four Season are unusual in that he wrote words to describe what each part (or movement) was depicting. Here is the translation of his description:
    1st movement – “To tremble, frozen from the icy snow, Amid the breath of the horrid wind. To run, stamping our feet at every turn And chattering our teeth in the hard frost.”
    2nd movement (this is the lovely violin solo in the middle) – “To pass quiet, serene days before the fire, While outside the rain pours ceaselessly down”
    3rd movement – “To walk over the ice with a slow step, Moving with care for fear of falling through. To turn sharply, slip, fall to the ground Then go out again on the ice and dash about Until the ice breaks and splits open, To hear the Sirocco, Boreas, and all the winds Break through iron-clad doors and clash in war. This is the winter, but what a joy it brings.”
    Listen carefully, you’ll hear all of that.

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  15. Thank you, AJ.

    Our church is hosting a nomadic shelter tonight at the last minute. It coincides with our Lenten potluck (which is the room where they sleep) and our 7 pm Lent service, so we’re scurrying around doubling the food we’re making (No problem. We’re Lutherans, we can handle food), and preparing to welcome 50 homeless people for the night. Should be fun.

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  17. Michelle, my church participates in Family Promise. For 2 weeks twice a year we host homeless families who are trying to get back on their feet. We plan and plan for it each time it rolls around.

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  18. Thank you, AJ!

    I’m assuming we’re all thanking you for providing us this neat place to hang out online. (I love this little community of believers.) We all appreciate your hard work in keeping it going.

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  24. We had a power outage this morning. Power was out a couple of hours. No computer, no light, ho heat.
    The outside temperature got up to 74.4 degrees. 🙂

    It has dropped all the way to 73.6 now. Everything is obviously back to normal.

    if that had happened last week this time, it would have been serious.
    Yes. I am thankful. That’s why I’m posting this.
    The weatherman says winter will return tomorrow, for a couple of days. Then spring again., That’s the way it is in Western NC.

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  25. Chas, we had a power outage for a couple of hours yesterday evening. It was pretty cold, but we have a wood stove in the basement which we use to supplement our oil furnace, so it didn’t get too cold in the house during the time the power was off.

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  31. The green was a definite relief for my snow tired eyes!

    Speaking of too many coyotes, did I ever tell you all about when we had a coyote cull in our rural municipality when I worked there? The government paid people $20 or $25 per coyote killed. They had to bring the paws to the RM office and I had to count them and then spray paint them red so they couldn’t be counted more than once! It was the worst job – all I saw were puppy paws as I counted 😦 Not something you think of as part of your job when you’re an office administrator assistant!

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  32. Icky job.

    On a more pleasant note, thirteen year old vegan, the best of children, is now attending public school. She does schoolwork here in the morning and then at noon, goes to science in seventh/eighth grade science. She is loving it. Her only complaint is that there are several children in the class who talk the whole time, limiting her ability to focus and hear what the teacher is saying. The teacher is a Christian who attends our church. He was teacher of the century or some such thing and got to go to DC for a year doing science teacher stuff. He is excited about science and teaching it to young minds and he know thirteen year old and is happy and able to work with her. We are pleased. As long as her behavior does not deteriorate, she may go. Today she learned more about female trees and male trees, seedless plants and seeded plants, grains, etc. All things she has been studying so she is somewhat familiar with it and he is topping it off with good teaching. And she gets to spend some time away from me with other folk. All good at this point. And it is only fifty minutes per day.

    Today we worked on finding the class room. I thought we did that yesterday but she asked me to go with her again today so I did. We talked with the teacher about if that was a good place to stand if she got there a few minutes early. He assured her it was fine. We also talked how there were other children in the class whom she knew and who would be happy to help her if she got confused about where the classroom was. To most of us, it would be very easy to find. The other children all nodded and agreed they could help her. They are generally nice children and they do know daughter.

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  36. Mumsee – I’m sure it’s not the same thing, but I get confused easily about where to go or what to do in new or unusual situations.

    For example, I was very stressed out once when a friend & I stopped into an Au Bon Pain for a coffee or tea & a goodie. They had… I don’t know what you call them, but there were different areas around the restaurant for different types of foods, & then one place to pay. But a couple of the areas had people to service the customers, so I wasn’t sure where to go when ready to pay. Fortunately, my friend was there for me to follow around like a puppy.

    I don’t like places like that, where you get a little something here & a little something over there, etc. I sometimes don’t get what I really want just so I can stay close to the person I came with.

    This is embarrassing to admit, but it’s part of who I am. (The restaurant thing is just an example. There are other situations that make me confused & stressed.)

    Long ago, I used to worry a bit about not knowing what to do or where to go in Heaven. Then I realized that everyone is going to be “safe” there, so even if I were to get confuzled, someone would come along & take me by the hand, & say, “Come this way, Sister.”

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  37. Karen, I once attended a conference on a college campus that had several thousand students plus a conference with a few thousand people. I was having lunch with a friend who wasn’t always as compassionate as she might be and with a friend of hers, and it was PMS time (which was usually not a big deal to me, but if I was stressed then I would feel PMS-y). I needed to go to the bathroom, and this friend knew where the bathroom was but I didn’t. The three of us were heading to some eating place on campus to have lunch, and she gave me directions to the bathroom and back that were so complicated I was almost tearful in my fear that I’d get lost and have no idea how to hook up with them again. (None of us had cell phones in those days, and I didn’t know anybody else at the conference and wanted to stay with them and not get separated.) I don’t remember if I outright asked if she could please just go with me, or if I knew better than to ask because I knew she wouldn’t . . . but I do know that I felt quite unsafe because I knew she felt my fear was silly.

    I’m not a “fearful” person by nature, but that was simply one stress more than I could handle right then, and it was the sort of thing that if the shoe had been on the other foot, I’d have happily just said, “Why don’t I just go with you?” To sense, instead, that she thought I was a silly little girl and that she really didn’t much care whether I succeeded in getting there and back made the stress deeper. I did make it there and back OK, but I wasn’t hungry when I got back.

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  39. We had way too much food for the nomadic shelter folks, but that’s okay, we’ll save it for our Help Other People day lunch on Saturday.

    One of the homeless group was a family and it was a seven year old’s birthday. We had a cake with candles, everyone sang and he grinned like a banshee after he blew out all the candles. Fun night.

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  40. Count me among the ones who can’t easily find her way around. I think I do better than I use to because of tagging landmarks in my brain. The most recent difficulty was when husband was in the hospital at Emory. Now there is a wonderful test of navigational skills. Just keeping track of your car in the parking lot is a major deal. And getting from husband’s room to the cafeteria that was quite a distance away was a real challenge. Also, the Atlanta airport, outside and inside, has its own sets of confusion. The airport and hospital are often ‘under construction’ so signs may be misplaced or absent altogether. Tricky, tricky…but thanks to God, I have eventually gotten to where I need to be.

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