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Our Daily Thread 3-30-15

Good Morning!

You’ll have to forgive me, but for the next 4 or 5 days the content of my posts will be limited, for obvious reasons. I’ll still post early, and will update you when possible.

And again, thank you all for your prayers and condolences.

Allen

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Today’s header photo is from Cheryl.

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 Today is Mr. Clapton’s birthday. And you know I like out of the ordinary. 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwBwOSewwnE&feature=player_detailpage

I like that one, but it doesn’t do his talent justice….

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Anyone have a QoD?

32 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 3-30-15”

  2. I came here to let you know that Spring has finally arrived in the Sunny South. I was reminded several times over the winter about not being done with cold weather until the Pecan trees sprouted fresh leaves. I have been stalking them waiting for any sign of something that could remotely be considered green. Nothing. They just looked like the trees in a spooky story. Yesterday! Yesterday Mr P and I went to the shopping center. (I was on a quest for a certain pair of shoes, but that’s another story) and we had to pass several tracts of land that had Pecan trees. Lo and behold! They had sprouted!!!!!! We won’t have another freeze. This Friday being Good Friday and with Easter we may get a little cold snap over the weekend but it won’t be freezing cold.
    I can rejoice. Just the thought of no more cold weather has improved my outlook.

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  3. Thank you, AJ, for taking time to do basic upkeep at this time. You and your family are on our minds and in our prayers. You are doing things right now that are so out of your ordinary sphere in addition to going through the grieving and thinking if I had known I would have done this or that. When those thoughts creep in just hand them to Jesus. Try to get extra rest, all of you. We love you and Cheryl and Elizabeth.<3

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  5. We are having stormy weather with thunder in the distance and a lot of rain. Yes, more rain. It will be interesting to see what it does to the bank of red clay now covered with grass seed and wheat straw.

    Yesterday there was a question about palm branches in church. In my Baptist church we did get palm branches to wave. Since we had the special music program with less singing by the congregation, we had less waving of the branches than usual. At the Methodist church where I use to attend we always got the palm crosses until the member who prepared them was no longer able to do so. I use to have a collection of those palm crosses on my kitchen bulletin board.

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  6. I thought I would be headed down to the state capitol again this morning for another committee meeting on RFRA but it got cancelled. I assume that means getting it passed this year is a lost cause. 😦 Bad news for Georgia.

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  8. Good Morning….AJ thank you for thinking of keeping this new everyday…you know this thread could just run into the hundreds for a few days…there’s just no stopping us…just look at that secret room thread from December 🙂 Continued prayers for you and yours ❤
    I am so glad to know someone is having Spring from here on out…we are having Spring up until Thursday…then it's turning cold…and we are getting snow…it will be snowing on Good Friday…but that's what you get living in Colorado…I'll take it 🙂

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  9. My apologies for my last comment last night. I was already feeling down, & also kind of “beaten up” by a Facebook exchange where a lady misunderstood my simple, non-argumentative comment & kind of blasted me, & another friend’s anti-Christian bitterness. Add to that the fact that I have someone in my life who sometimes dismisses some of the things I mention or wonder about, telling me “That’s not important.”

    So when I saw Cheryl’s comment about speculating about trivial matters (like the napkin thing I’d brought up) being pointless, & it hit me the wrong way. I’m sorry for the way I responded.

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  10. Dear “The Real,”
    Reading about your mother’s passing reminds me of when my mother went home. I had no doubts of her Heavenly Hope; I knew where she was going. Her death was expected. I had sorrow but it was blunted by the Hope we have. It has been a long time since I saw her. I miss her. I will see her again.

    Thank you Lord for the Hope you gave us.

    Bob Buckles

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  11. Karen, even before you posted your post above, I replied on yesterday’s post to clarify. I wasn’t talking about us simply discussing such things as what the napkin might mean; I think that casual, conversational speculating is fine. I was thinking more about publishing such speculation as some sort of “teaching.” I was more concerned with the person who came up with the idea and published it.

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  12. Good morning. I’ve not been on here for a few days, and need to catch up, but just posted this in the secret room:

    I decided to come back early, as it didn’t seem right to go on a long media fast right after AJ’s mom died. This place is a blessing, and the more I thought about it, the more it seemed wrong for me to walk away at a time like that, when I could be here giving comfort.

    Blessings to you and your family, AJ, and thank you for all you do. May the Lord’s peace fill you in this time of sorrow.

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  13. Bob, years ago, before you ever posted on this blog, I had clipped your Thanksgiving column to Ann Landers or Dear Abby (whichever it was). Some day on World you commented on that column and I remembered it. Just recently I came across that clipping and read it again. (After reading it, I threw it away; it isn’t something I need to keep. But it was interesting to read it and see the name of someone I “know.”) Just that little clip shows that your mother was a family-centered Mom who cared about her kids.

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  14. Cheryl, I am going to use that “Dear Abby” column as a way of looking at the Book of James when I teach it. When my brothers and sisters read the letter they all remembered that day at the dinner table. They told which of the rules was because of their actions. We had a good family time with it.

    It was re-published it a San Antonio magazine just last year. A fond memory! And your post is also good. Thanks!

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  15. AJ, prayers continuing.

    Wish I could get excited about “spring” but we never really had a winter this year (I think we were in the 80s through most of January), so spring/summer just doesn’t impress me much. 😦 Sunshine, warm temperatures. Yawn.

    I have to leave my Jeep off for its overdue service today — I probably need brakes, plus some other things, of course — I also need new tires. But I may wait on those. The mechanic is giving me a loaner so I can go on to work as usual, but I am taking a few days off later this week which I’m looking forward to.

    “I Shot the Sheriff” — That was popular the summer I dated a guy (friend of my girlfriend’s brother I met at a party she held) from Ecuador who was very cute but was also kind of bad news. 🙂 I remember he took me fishing off the ocean pier at the marina (the one and only time I’ve ever gone fishing) and I spent the entire time really hoping I wouldn’t catch (and have to kill) something.

    Annie’s been very sweet this morning, she laid down on top of me this morning & I spent several minutes rubbing her cute whiskered cheeks before getting up, which she loved.

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  18. Not just 6 Arrows, but others have mentioned it too.
    What is this “media fast” business?
    Are you not communicating with anyone for some time?
    Do you check e-mail?
    How did you learn about Aj’s mom?

    Not harassing 6 A’s here. She just flipped my switch.

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  20. The photo is, of course, a pair of sandhill cranes. I don’t know enough about the birds to know if the same pair stays together year after year, but I’m guessing that is the case. (In other words, it is probably too early in the year for this pair to have done a courtship dance and agreed to be each other’s mate . . . so I’m assuming they are still together from years past. They were way too close to each other not to be a mated pair. Birds have more personal space than to stay within pecking range of another bird, nearly always, unless the other bird is its mate.) We did see this pair both calling, but I wasn’t able to get a photo of that with the birds in focus.

    Re birds, a turkey vulture just flew over our yard at maybe 15 feet off the ground. Its shadow went over Misten, who was standing by the fence, and she jumped halfway up on her hind legs. We think the vulture probably chuckled to himself.

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  21. Cheryl – Your comment at the end of yesterday’s thread (at 10:15am) wasn’t up when I commented above.

    I understand what you are saying. I didn’t intend for the subject to go too far, in fact I kind of doubted that the story is even true. If it were true, it would just be an interesting little tidbit, not anything to hang an interpretation on.

    As I said above, my reaction was based on what I was feeling at the time. After that, I went to bed & cried a lot. I didn’t even know why I was crying, I just felt I needed to cry. So it was my sad mood that was coloring how I took everything I read last night.

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  23. Karen, I am sorry I made you sad, or contributed to your sadness.

    Remember . . . I’m an editor. Part of my job is fact-checking. I have an active “that’s nonsense” meter. The publisher I used to work for once published a book that wouldn’t have made it to print if I had been its editor, since the first time I saw it in print I fact-checked a bunch of its stories and found (as I suspected) that they were inaccurate. For reasons I don’t fully understand, the Christian world is great at making up stories (or making up “reasons” for true stories). So I’ve seen all sorts of times that the high priest had a rope tied around his ankle in case he died in the holy of holies, and people could pull him out by the rope. Only . . . OT law says no such thing, it’s never mentioned in Scripture, and sources are murky about whether they ever did such a thing. I’ve seen many times that the Christian divorce rate is as high (or higher) as those in the world . . . and not only does that not make sense, but it is patently contrary to the actual numbers. I remember as a girl reading somewhere that vultures in the middle east usually lay two eggs, but scientists were amazed that the vultures are now all laying three eggs; it was said to be in preparation for the Battle of Armageddon, proof that the end of the world was coming. Only it wasn’t true, and we’re still here 35 or so years later.

    On the other hand, many times I have looked up something that I’d never heard before, and found it to be true. So I do think part of the helpful give-and-take is “I think that’s true / I have a source to prove that is true” or “I don’t think that is true, and this is why.”

    Anyway, because I am an editor (a paid critic) I try to be careful not to be overly critical in “real life” but it’s part of what I do, and if I’m not careful, I can do it too easily. I truly don’t want to hurt you or anyone. But I also don’t want people to be hurt by false information.

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  26. Sorry I flipped your switch, Chas. 🙂

    The term “media fast” might mean different things to different people, but when I use it, I mean either a complete shutdown of screens for myself and my children who are not yet adults — using no computers, tablet, or TV for any reason for a specified period of time — or a partial shutdown, which usually involves no screen use except to check email.

    I have been checking email with this last fast I went on over the weekend because of a couple events coming up where group communications via email are in progress (Easter with my extended family, and the April 26 piano show information that the organizer of the concert has been sending to the participants, but which is not complete yet).

    So I didn’t want to inconvenience my extended family (none of whom live in the same state I do, and are therefore a long-distance phone call away) by asking them to call me with the information that’s getting passed along in emails at this time. I don’t want the organizer of the piano concert to have to make a special call to me, either, or wait a long time for a response from me if she emails any questions and I don’t see them until many days later.

    Sometimes, like on the media fast I did for a month last summer (I myself only, not my family), I designate 3rd Arrow as my email checker, and if there is anything she notes that looks like it would be important for me to respond to within a reasonable length of time, then she tells me, and I reply as needed. I wasn’t anticipating any particular email communications that would likely come my way during my summer fast, though, like I am at this time.

    How I learned about AJ’s mom was that about an hour and a half after my last post on the Friday daily thread (6:53 pm), I had an urge to come back and check the blog just once more that night, and that is when I saw Mrs. The Real AJ’s posts on the daily and prayer threads that The Real’s mom had died.

    I prayed throughout the weekend, and thought of you all a lot, especially AJ’s family, but by this morning, I felt that it was more important to be here than on an almost complete media fast. It just didn’t seem the right time to be away from here, as I said above.

    Sorry about the length of this post. I’ll end it soon, I promise. 😉 But I’m anticipating a question some of you may have about why I go on these fasts. so this is why:

    My main reason is that I want to make sure that using the internet is not becoming an idol to me, something I have to have and can’t give up even temporarily. Same for my children. We all love our screens around here; sometimes, I think, a little too much. There are great benefits to be had when used appropriately, of course, but because it is admittedly hard for some of us to just quit for the day, after having been on for a reasonable length of time and for a good purpose, whole-day media fasts, where we don’t get on the screens in the first place, seem like the best way to attempt to curb the media beast in our family.

    Our creativity is sharpened, our family togetherness is enhanced, and a lot of other benefits are realized on the days we take breaks from media.

    But sometimes, like at times like this when AJ and family are grieving, being here to fulfill the “bear each other’s burdens” calling we as Christians have supersedes in importance my idea to carry out tradition by doing another Holy Week media fast like last year.

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  27. Karen O.

    I can’t stay down and depressed if I just go online and listen to some favorite music. I like music that is loud and angry. (These are both church songs, sort of… of course they are in foreign languages so who knows.)

    I also like this one even though it is not angry.

    I tend to cry with happiness when I listen to these. I never cry with happiness for the “Praise Music” at church. Some hymns but never ever “Praise Music.”

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  28. I received a very nice Peace Lily from the florist today. 🙂 It’s very pretty and just starting to bloom. 🙂

    Thank you all for the kind gesture and the beautiful plant. 🙂
    Allen, Cheryl, and Elizabeth

    P.S. – I looked up care instructions and I promise we’ll try not to kill it. 🙂

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  29. Aj put it in indirect sunlight and forget it until the leaves start to wilt. Pu it in the showere with cold water for about 5 minutes. I have managed to keep one alive since 2003 and 2005

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  32. Cheryl – I’ve been in & out of the blog all day, usually on for just a little while to catch up on reading comments, as I’ve been babysitting all day. But I just want to come back to say “no hard feelings”. I was just in a lousy, sensitive mood last night. I know you have a kind heart, & wouldn’t mean any offense.

    Now I’m hoping I can get to sleep tonight (it’s already past my bedtime). All that stuff with Ryan had me quite tense. I just finished writing a detailed account of the the phone calls & his coming to pick up Forrest.

    He did bring him back after Emily got home, for which we are grateful. Forrest spent a while wanting Emily to hold him.

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