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Our Daily Thread 5-1-15

Good Morning!

It’s Friday!!!

Today’s header photo is from Janice.

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On this day in 1486 Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella to fund an expedition to the West Indies.

In 1707 England, Wales and Scotland were united to form Great Britain.

In 1931 The Empire State Building in New York was dedicated and opened. It was 102 stories tall and was the tallest building in the world at the time.

And in 1961 Fidel Castro announced there would be no more elections in Cuba.

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Quote of the Day

“It was considered the most dangerous route in the Hills, but as my reputation as a rider and quick shot was well known, I was molested very little, for the toll gatherers looked on me as being a good fellow, and they knew that I never missed my mark.”

Calamity Jane

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Today is Judy Collins’ birthday. From Beta Hi-Fi Archive

 And it’s Tim McGraw’s too. From Jimmy Kimmel Live

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Anyone have a QoD?

44 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 5-1-15”

  2. Do something special today to r we member your mother Cheryl. Perhaps you could tell us how your parents met. It is one of my favorite stories and may inspire some of our younger mission minded folk. 😉

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  6. IT’S FRIDAY!
    You know what that means?
    It’s also May and 42 degrees with the wind blowing. Seems like March 1.
    But the man says we will have a nice weekend..

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  7. Maybe I have time for the condensed version. 🙂 We’re going out for breakfast, but my husband isn’t ready yet. Dad and Mom were both missionaries in Nigeria. Mom had gone as a woman in her older 20s, knowing the odds were against her ever marrying on the field. Single women greatly outnumbered single men, I think it was 100:1. But Mom had vivid red hair, and Dad liked redheads. Mom had heard only that Dad was skinny and that he wasn’t a very good language student, so she had no interest; Dad had heard that Mom was a redhead, so he was interested.

    Mom had good friends (a couple) stationed at the same station where Dad was, and she had a couple of weeks of vacation, so she went to visit them. Dad heard the redhead was coming, and he volunteered to pick her up at the bus. So he was there at the station waiting, and the first thing Mom saw was a great big smile with a gleaming gold tooth, and I guess she liked the smile enough that it didn’t matter he was as skinny as they all said, because they spent ten days together. At the end of that ten days, they compared schedules, and saw that October was the next time they’d be able to see each other. October was three months away. They decided “Why not make it permanent?” and marry in that October window.

    The mission board wasn’t happy, and wasn’t cooperative (they would of course now need to be stationed together, at short notice, and the board probably thought the decision rash), but they married. Their wedding photo shows two smiling people outside a grass-roofed church. The couple who was stationed at the same place Dad was stood up with them . . . the only other white people in the room, the only ones who knew English. (I don’t remember whether the man of the couple was also their “preacher” or whether they had someone else.) Nine-and-a-half months later, to the day, my oldest brother was born. He was supposed to be twins (Mom miscarried one), which probably would have meant they were born before Mom and Dad were married nine months, so I suppose God was kind to them since that would have been an embarrassment to my parents . . .

    We knew my whole life that they were engaged for three months. We didn’t know until we asked, when my sister was getting married, how long they knew each other before that three months began!

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  8. To any would-be missionaries reading this: the other 99 women stayed single. But the odds aren’t anywhere near that today!

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  9. Very interesting, Cheryl.
    My dad’s birthday was yesterday. I believe my dad and mom met when some sailors, dad one, stationed in the Atlanta area met up with some gals at a boarding house for double dates. Probably pretty routine for those days. My dad was born in 1914 so he would have been 101 yesterday.

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  10. My mother had moved to Atlanta to work as a secretary at Fort Mac during war times. Her boarding house roommate was from Alabama, too. And, as it turned out that lady told me about the house we live in being for sale 32 years ago. We were neighbors and friends for quite a long time. I saw her more than I saw my mom. She did tell me about when she and my mom went to Florida on vacation, to Miami or near there, that she tried to talk my mom into going over to visit Cuba, but my mother did not want to. I think she always regretted not going.

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  13. AJ, he is better. Apparently he has been struggling with depression. He hit a really low spot last night. Daughter called ambulance, as you cannot leave little ones at home alone while you take your hubby to the hospital. Police, fire and Ems showed up. Freaked the grandchildren out
    . They could all use prayers.

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  17. Will pray for them, rkessler65. That is traumatizing for everyone involved. I pray for wisdom for all the professionals and the family members. Of course, for healing by the Great Physician who gives peace beyond understanding and is compassionate and gracious.

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  18. Not that there’s anything, ahem, *wrong* with singleness, should God keep you thus …. 😉

    So glad it’s Friday. We’ve had a spate of rather warm weather this week, 80+, along with somewhat warm nights. But I think it’s cooling off this weekend again.

    Our port chief of police was indicted for personal wrongdoing late yesterday, there’s always something …

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  19. It sometimes seems like those involved in enforcing the the laws have to deal daily with the criminal element so it probably wears down their resistance and resolve to not get involved with crime in some way. On a scale of comparison, they might see horrific crime and think this is just a minor thing. Especially for those with no moral training from Christianity or another religion. Yes, it will always be something.

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  21. May Day means big marches downtown LA today for worker & immigrant rights

    My mom remembered dancing around Maypoles when she was a girl growing up in Iowa

    And wasn’t there a tradition of leaving anonymous gifts for people? I remember she had me & a girlfriend leave something on the front porch of our elderly neighbor the year we moved into our new neighborhood.

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  22. Oh, this must have been in, the May Basket:

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/npr-history-dept/2015/04/30/402817821/a-forgotten-tradition-may-basket-day
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    “Maybe there really was a time when America was more innocent.

    “Back when May Basket Day was a thing, perhaps.

    “The curious custom — still practiced in discrete pockets of the country — went something like this: As the month of April rolled to an end, people would begin gathering flowers and candies and other goodies to put in May baskets to hang on the doors of friends, neighbors and loved ones on May 1. …”

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  23. Seems like a sweet tradition, too bad it didn’t survive (at least where I live, not as far as I know anyway!)

    http://www.edinahistoricalsociety.org/blog/celebrate-history-with-may-day-basket-tradition

    ” … I like the May basket tradition for a number of reasons: Giving is anonymous. Reciprocity is not expected. You leave the basket on the doorknob or doorstep, ring the doorbell and run. It’s the nice version of “Ding Dong Ditch.” (And) Children give to grownups, instead of the other way around. …”

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  24. I remember hearing Judy Collins when I was in college. I worked at the box office and we could go in and hear the concerts after we closed. I must have been singing along with her in my head, because I had a cold and it strained my throat to listen!

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  26. The original May Day pole thing was a pagan rite, I believe. Not that I think that makes it something we shouldn’t do. We have a yearly art festival in a nearby town, which has a large children’s area. They usually have a May Pole, along with a folk musician who over sees it.

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  27. In the Catholic school growing up we had a festival today in honor of Mary, Jesus’ mother. Yeah, Mary worship. We had a pole and sang songs and marched up the aisle.

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  28. Very interesting column on millennials from the LA Times today:

    http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-daum-christina-hoff-sommers-oberlin-20150430-column.html

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    “When (trigger alert) Fox News’ Megyn Kelly wrapped up an interview with Sommers by excoriating young people for being oversensitive whiners, she was echoing countless baby boomers and Gen Xers who complain about the apparent fragility and narcissism of millennials (which, of course, is an enormous cohort that can’t be labeled with a single name tag).

    Maybe the indignation and dripping sanctimony we see from so many young activists isn’t narcissism, or even the storied self-esteem that this generation has been ostensibly mainlining since birth. Maybe it has undergone some sort of chemical conversion into something even more dangerous: self-righteousness. …

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  29. @ 11;44
    I didn’t get the cartoon about Nepal, Only one side was crying. The other seemed more oriental
    But it reminded me: When I went into the Lions, there was a series of slides projection on the screen. I could see immediately that it was about the earthquake.
    Turns out, one of ours, a past District Governors, had contacted a compatriot (fellow Lion) in Katmandu. He asked if they were able to help. The response was, “We’re trying to help ourselves. We’re part of it”. I don’t know what Lions are doing.. It will be through the local Lions club. I know Samaritans Purse is there.
    But the Lion did send him

    Lots of devastation.

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  30. Peter L – reminds me of this that my Mom used to sing”

    Bring flow’rs of the fairest, bring flow’rs of the rarest,
    From garden and woodland and hillside and vale.
    Our full hearts are swelling, our glad voices telling
    The praise of the loveliest, Rose of the vale.

    O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today,
    Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May.

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  31. When the culture around us rocks:

    http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-to-survive-a-cultural-crisis/

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    ” … Each nation and age has a unique way to express its depravity, to attack God. But none will succeed any more than the crucifixion succeeded in defeating Jesus. Yes, he died. But three days later he got up from the dead.

    “Christ’s kingdom is in no danger of failing. Again, Christians, churches, and especially pastors must know this deeply in our bones. D-Day has happened. Now it’s cleanup time. Not one person God has elected to save will fail to be saved because the secular agenda is “winning” in our time and place. There shouldn’t be anxiety or desperation in us.

    “We may not be able to out-argue others. They may not be persuaded by our books and articles. But we can love them with the supernatural love God has shown to us in Christ. And we can make his Word known today—with humility, with confidence, and with joy.”
    ______________________

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  32. Donna, I knew you wouldn’t care, so I copied and pasted that quote on my word processor.
    Our SS teacher (Jim) called this afternoon. I agreed to teach our class on 17 May.
    The lesson is from Malachi 1:1-10. The situation is different, it always is, but the application is contemporary.
    I can use that.

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  33. There may be racial unrest in the rest of the country but I was standing in line at the bank about an hour ago. There were 3 black females. Grandma, Mom, and Precocious Little Girl. PLG saw someone to the side of us and yelled “Hey Gull (girl)”. All of us cracked up. Her grandma said “Watch this, tell her she is so cute”. I did and PLG said “I am not, I am two”, to which I replied, “You my be two, but your are cute too”. She was a mess. All of us had fun laughing and smiling at her. I was in line behind them, but they offered for me to go ahead because I only had a deposit to make and their transaction was going to be more complicated.

    They were also telling me about PLG “preaching”. She said you have got to love God with all your heart all the time.

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  34. Our church is embarking on a major remodel (we lease) in June.

    That means we’ll be sharing space at another church for 10 weeks — and our worship service will be at 3 pm rather than 10 am Sundays. I can’t get my head around this at all!

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  36. I enjoyed the story of your parents meeting, Cheryl.

    RKessler, I’m praying for your SIL (and your daughter and grandchildren, as well).

    I don’t remember doing any special May Day activities, but I did receive a little May Day gift from a girl who took piano lessons from me years ago. It was a colorful construction-paper basket she’d made, just darling.

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  37. I see the secret room has moved up to fourth on the Top Posts & Pages lists. I wonder if there are some sort of shenanigans over there…

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  38. No comment in the seven pm hour yet? I see there’s been at least one comment each hour since the seven a.m. hour this morning, so here is my contribution to that effort. 😉

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  41. We used to attend a Calvary Chapel that shared a church and met at 2. Challenging for families with napping children, but it allowed people to sleep in . . . eventually we moved over to a movie theater on Sunday mornings. Seats were very comfortable and leaned back . . . movie theater owners started making popcorn before the end of service and lots of people bought it on the way out . . .

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  43. My church started out with a 5 pm service. I don’t like that. I li k e 10am. I attended 8am for many years. From what I am seeing on commercial real estate it makes sense for churches to share space.

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  44. It’s only through the summer, thankfully. I could adjust to 8 a.m. more easily than 3 PM. It all just seems so upside down to me …

    We’ve tried to buy something for 20+ years but property here is simply too high & we’re always out-bid by developers who tear old churches down and replace them with condos or shops.

    So we decided to at least spruce up our leased space, but it sounds like a fairly major overhaul … Wish we could meet at the beach (some churches do out here), but there would be complications with that, obviously. And there are way too many of us to move to homes.

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