82 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 6-25-16”

  4. Chas, when I woke up this morning, I was thinking about your radon situation and about how many extra requirements, regulations, and hoops we have to jump through these days to accomplish anything. I know we are thought to have it easier than in the olden days, but it takes a lot more thought and effort to do anything under the confines of our days.

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  5. Good morning. All is quiet at my house. I’ve been up since about 5:45 after not being able to fall asleep until two… This medication change has been really hard. Becca and her friend swam for almost three hours last night, then watched the Disney remake of Adventures in Babysitting in the media room until 11:00….they had a lot of fun together….
    Scott caught quite a few Trout yesterday…..but no legal Redfish.

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  6. Yes, there are a lot of hoops to jump through now-a-days when buying a house. We read the Scriptures and it was a matter of standing in front of the city elders and giving the buyer your shoe as a sign of agreement. Some of the regulations are necessary though, like the seller’s disclosure. Once that document is signed, the buyer has recourse if the seller lied about the condition of the house. But the inspections. Oy, veh! Don’t get me started on those.

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  7. Annms, I think a lot about you, too, and how meds can be so complicated in getting good matches for a person’s chemistry. My brother just had a bad reaction to sulfa that made him get sores around and in his mouth.

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  8. We live next to Idaho county and looked at houses there before getting this one. There are minimal building codes there. You get what you get. Buyer beware. Lots of independent thinkers and builders there, too.

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  9. Second sibling has had her baby, a little girl, as her daddy predicted she would be. All are well, but it did take a while, which is why I’ve been away for the past three days. Youngest sibling is still waiting for her delivery.

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  11. I’m barely up and need to go to Hollywood to take Carol on a library errand to return books, but I’m hoping if I get there “early” enough I can turn it around and be home by early afternoon, maybe sooner. We’ll see.

    I feel like I need today to ‘recharge’ and she’s not feeling great either. Originally she thought she’d get her govt check by today but it didn’t come — which for me is good since otherwise it would have also been a shopping day.

    Learned by happenstance yesterday that the LA coyote report that had been anticipated was finished (I’d sent an email to the dept head early in the day to ask the status and she said it had “just” been uploaded, so sent me a copy). Essentially no change in the city’s long-standing approach, including the ban on trapping; in other words, residents need to be better ‘educated’ on how to live side-by-side with our wild friends. 🙂

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  14. A lot of people have been praying for him. And a lot of believers are coming alongside as God moves in answer to that prayer (Ben Carson sound familiar?). A baby Christian in a leadership position is in grave danger. Continued prayers for whatever God is doing. That God would continue to bring believers with discernment alongside.

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  16. We should not be surprised if God answers our prayers, nor should we be gullible. Wise as serpents, gentle as doves, is that how it goes?

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  17. A day off and it is lovely out there! Wildflowers in bloom, all my perennials are blossoming and the peonies smell heavenly!! We have such a short growing season you must be outdoors whenever possible to enjoy every moment! (but you can bet the pollens will have you sneezing the entire time you’re out there!…. it’s worth it!)
    We are all praying for our Lord’s direction for our broken nation/world….may it be so that Trump has come to know our Lord and His saving grace and mercy…. ❤

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  18. For breakfast today: a tuna sandwich with mustard and sour pickles and spinach and a glass of grape juice alongside. Mmm mmm. Does not get much better than that.

    Wouldn’t that be an amazing thing if God took hold of Mr. Trump and started pruning, right there in front of the world? People would see the glory of God working through grace and mercy in a person who has been very much in the public view and displayed some rather disconcerting behaviour. And if He moved the hearts of believers to pray for him and for our nation. And others saw and were moved. And God made a revival happen in His people, bringing many into His family…..

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  19. Why is a proxy making this profession of Trump’s faith? Politicians have a long history of pandering to the evangelical vote with complete insincerity: https://faithandamericanhistory.wordpress.com/2016/06/24/our-faith-has-been-tamed-and-trivialized/

    Kruse quotes Nixon aide Charles Colson, who later experienced a dramatic conversion to faith in Christ and repented of his role in Nixon’s administration:

    ‘Sure, we used the prayer breakfasts and church services and all that for political ends. One of my jobs in the White House was to romance religious leaders. We would bring them into the White house and they would be dazzled by the aura of the Oval Office, and I found them to be about the most pliable of any of the special interest groups that we worked with.

    Regarding the East Room worship services specifically, Colson elaborated:

    ‘We turned those events into wonderful quasi-social, quasi-spiritual, quasi-political events, and brought in a whole host of religious leaders to [hold] worship services for the president and his family–and three hundred guests carefully selected by me for political purposes.’

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  21. God uses many of us imperfect people for His ends. It could be, it could not be. We will know by the Fruit. Meantime, prayer does not hurt.

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  22. That He does Mumsee….oh the imperfect people we are
    I have been around Dr Dobson a few times…a couple times having lunch in the same restaurant as he was having lunch. I have observed the man “outside of the spotlight”….he is very kind and gracious…and encouraging to others as we walk this journey….

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  25. Roscuro – That’s why I say I am skeptical. But I am also hopeful that it could be true. After all, he was claiming to be a Christian already, so this would be an admission that he wasn’t.

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  26. Linda, some of what you said applies to doctors in general because they truly do have to be feeling a bit like God to have the confidence to act with great authority in life and death situations.

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  27. Janice, speaking as a health professional who has had to perform the role of a doctor (diagnosing and prescribing treatment) in a place that had no doctors, and who has been taught the five principals of medical ethics that doctors are taught, neither egoism, opportunism, nor feeling a bit like God have any place in the practice of medicine. A doctor who no longer questions his or her decisions is a very bad doctor. Such doctors often end up being stripped of their medical licenses because they have become a danger to patients. The authority doctors have is to diagnose symptoms and prescribe treatment. It is not a power over the patient’s life itself, no matter what courts and legislatures who bring in assisted suicide may say.

    Linda, my mother found the Focus on the Family materials helpful, but she always questioned Dr. Dobson’s teaching. She once heard him give some very bad marriage advice, and it always bothered her. As I’ve studied psychology and mental health in nursing, I recognize that much of what Dobson says is based on secular psychology, such as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. I don’t necessarily have a problem with secular psychology in its place; however, Maslow’s theory, like other such theories, is a good description of what human development looks like to an observer, but because it is an observer’s theory it is very narrow and thus limited in application. I’ve found, as I grow older, that is exactly what I find with Dobson and Focus on the Family – the focus is very narrow and thus limited in application.

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  28. Hanging out in the Hollywood branch library as Carol makes her way through the A-D Fiction aisle… Big doings of some sort up here today–corner concert and looks like a parade may be forming, numerous barely-clad young women with purple feather headdresses gathering on Hollywood Boulevard

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  30. A couple uniform LAPD in the library again today, strolling and watching … Holsters creaking as they walk

    Mumsee, that ‘breakfast sounds so good!!

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  32. The central library in the city where I used to live (and where I, Lord willing, am returning) had police on patrol. It was in a large mall, which seemed to be one of the end points for the police beat.

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  33. Forrest’s Gramma called to say they would be later than expected, as they are stopping at Chipotle for something to eat.

    Had to laugh. I suspect it was Forrest’s idea, because he loves Chipotle. 🙂

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  34. Roscuro, no offense meant to you as you have acted in the role of a doctor, or toward any doctors you have worked with. I just know of my limited experience in a large city and its surrounding areas. I don’t mean to stereotype all doctors although that is probably how it sounded. My brother has also dealt with many doctors in his pharma sales work so I know there are vast differences. He was treated with respect in his role by many but not all. And having gone through numerous doctor appointments with my parents, Art’s parents, and hearing about all my friend Karen’s vast assortment of doctors, and now all of Art’s doctors…well, I have more experience with them in this limited area than I would ever want, LOL. Maybe because the area we live in has a lot of doctors who teach doctors that might give a bit of a sense of being on a different level. I don’t know. I don’t think any of the doctors Art has seen recently have been arrogant except maybe one who asked Art about his faith, and when Art said Christian, the doc said, “I’m sorry,” like he thought it was not wise to be Christian.

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  35. Janice, of course individual doctors are good and/or bad, humble and/or arrogant, because they are human beings. What concerned me in your statement was that such characteristics as egoism and opportunism applied to doctors generally because “they truly do have to be feeling a bit like God to have the confidence to act with great authority”. It seemed like you were saying that doctors should have such characteristics in order to do their job. It is one thing to say that most doctors one knows seem to be egotistical, it is another to say that doctors in general should be egotistical.

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  37. Hollywood library is a hang out for many of the homeless and assorted characters (me included?)

    It was carnival parade with a big party planned at the end, Hollywood & Highland, near my former iffice and the corner where my old bank was located

    Tomorrow is a big Bernie rally on Hollywood Boulevard– all explained to me with lots of hands and dramatic flourish by gay librarian 🙂 felt like I didn’t need to even see the parade after that

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  38. Don’t you hate it when you’re excited about company coming and you decide to bake an apple/rhubarb crisp, imagining the lovely welcoming smell in the house as they arrive and instead there some random thing on the bottom of the oven and the house just smells like burnt food? Oh well, the crisp looks like it will taste good 🙂

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  39. Roscuro, I did not use the best and wisest wording when I wrote that. I think something my friend recently said came out in my statement. You know how it is said that people begin to think or act like those they keep company with? Not to be blaming my friend for my thoughtlessness in writing before thinking deeply on the matter.

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  40. Although the house is much cooler at 78 degrees, I find I still want the fans on for the nice breeze. Art use to annoy me in the car because he would have the air on and the window down because he liked the breeze. I told him I had become like him in wanting the breeze with the air conditioning. He thought that was funny. In the car, I don’t think he realized that by opening the one window beside him that it drew all the cool air to his window leaving me in the heat while he got cool air on both sides. I trained him not to do that anymore.

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  43. Janice, that sounds like our weather last weekend, horrible. I have a nice, cool breeze blowing in through the open windows in my house today, we barely broke 80 outside — not bad for this time of year (though still a little warmer than what is considered ‘normal’ for us).

    Can’t believe next weekend is the 4th of July already.

    Why, Christmas is almost here!

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  44. I was thinking today about the doctors who saved my mom’s life after her first (out-of-the-blue) heart attack one day.

    After leaving Carol’s I drive the Hollywood Fwy (101) south to downtown LA to loop around toward home. Sitting above the 101 is the former Queen of Angels Hospital where my mom — who at the time worked near there — was taken by ambulance when she became ill. It was touch and go for the first couple days and the doctors braced me for the worst.

    Today, as I drove by the big white, Spanish-style building with a cross & red tile roof, overlooking the freeway (it was founded by Franciscan nuns in the 1920s and now houses the Dream Center, a Pentecostal church that serves the homeless) I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the doctors who pulled my mom through way back then. I still remember those first couple days as I sat in the waiting room while she was still in ICU. I remember praying (though I wasn’t really yet a believer and it felt somewhat odd to pray for me at that time, in my 20s) that God would not allow her to die.

    She died of a heart attack 10 years later, but it was a good 10 years (though way too short).

    From an LA Times article marking the hospital’s closing in 1989:

    “After the Hollywood Freeway was built, it became something of a landmark to motorists, rising out of its hilltop like a stiff-backed sentinel. During its heyday in the 1940s and ’50s, a significant proportion of babies born in the county were delivered there, including a smattering of celebrities, said Doris Stanley, who has been on the Queen of Angels administrative staff for 29 years.

    Among them, said Stanley, are Maureen Reagan and the last three children of Kathryn Crosby, second wife of Bing and a graduate of the hospital’s old nursing school.

    According to Stanley, Elvis Presley was once treated for a broken finger at the hospital.

    Loretta Young was a patient on several occasions. … the hospital’s upper rooms have some of the best views in the city, with one side of the building facing downtown, another Hollywood and another the ocean.”

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  45. I don’t know anything about Trump’s Spiritual conversion other than what I read here.
    But: I pray that it is real.
    And I can understand why he hasn’t announced it publicly. Because the media would jump on it as a campaign stunt and lots of people would believe them.

    In his position, I would not make a public profession at this time..

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  46. Trump a Christian. “You shall know them by their fruits.” When he confesses the lies and asks forgiveness of those he insulted, I’ll believe it.

    Mumsee has wise words about a new believer in leadership. If he has become a believer, he should step down and get grounded.

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  50. Just another day, neighborly dispatches from coyote territory:

    ________________________________

    “6:45am today saw Coyote strolling up 20th St with cat in its mouth.”

    ‘I just saved a gray and white cat from getting killed by a coyote on 36th. I was talking on my phone and turned around. He saw me and still crept closer to the cat. Stupidly, I stomped and ran toward him and scared him off. The poor cat just sat there but I shooed him off, too.”

    Warrior Cat: “I saw a coyote early today at _____ park. Funny thing is it was running away from a big black cat that was chasing it.”

    “Coyote spotted right now, at 745 pm, in our yard” (later: “False alarm, it’s a fox!”)

    “We had a coyote run past our front yard this morning at 7:15am while all three of my dogs were out with my son.”

    “2 coyotes in my mother in law back yard 9:30 last night.”

    “Coyote heading East 22nd Street @ 6:15 a.m.”

    More Warrior Cat Tales: “Coyote attacked a cat at 7:15 am today … A second cat fought off the coyote and both cats got away …”

    “6am this morning- coyote in my next door neighbors yard!”

    “Just now saw a big Coyote on 22nd. I must say they are beautiful animals. Just don’t like them around here”

    And so it goes.

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  51. Merry half-past Christmas today, you all. 🙂

    Christmas came to my house today, just for me, ha, when I brought home some fantastic clothing purchases. I needed more summer outfits that are nice for going places not too dressy or for teaching piano, but nothing old, worn, ratty, whatever you want to call my general dinging-around-home attire.

    Goodwill came through for me. Two skirts (one of them by J.Jill for only $7) and seven tops to go with them. They look good with other items I already own, too; a nice bonus.

    Total merchandise amount: $41.40. I am so pleased. 🙂

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  52. Peter – If Trump’s reported conversion is real, it may tale a while before we see that kind of fruit & wisdom. With some people, their sinfulness in various areas becomes apparent to them at once, & there is a noticeable change in them, sometimes dramatic. Others realize their true sinfulness little by little, & change little by little.

    One of the dramatic-type conversions happened to a man we used to know (after he’d been a believer for some time). He had been a foul-mouthed miser, who would not leave lights on for when his wife came home from work at night. He said that the night of the day he got saved, he put on all the lights for his wife. 🙂 He also stopped drinking too much, & stopped swearing.

    Another neat conversion story was from a dear man from our former church, Burt. Burt was mixed up in something shady, I think, & also was an alcoholic & drug user. He threatened his wife with a knife after she told him she had come to Christ.

    One morning, he woke up face down on the living room carpet, after having passed out there the night before from drinking too much. He looked up to see his toddler son looking at him, wondering what Daddy was doing. That was the wake-up call the Holy Spirit used to get his attention. By the time we knew him, it seemed unimaginable that this godly man could have ever been like that. (This dear man went to be with the Lord a couple years ago during surgery.)

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  53. And another neat conversion story was from our former doctor. His wife had become a believer, but he grew hostile to hearing anything about the gospel. Then he was in a very bad situation, where he needed the impossible to be done. He couldn’t tell the details, but he described it as needing two plus two to equal five. He said he prayed to God in desperation, & God somehow made two plus two to equal five.

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  54. Regarding the theory that Dobson made the announcement because Trump would have been suspected of pulling a publicity stunt, it looks like a publicity stunt now. If the desire was to avoid the appearance of seeking attention, then nothing should have been said because nothing needed to be said. When Paul, the notorious Christian hunter, was converted, he didn’t immediately go to the Jerusalem church to tell of his conversion. He didn’t even contact the Christians in Antioch – Ananias had to be sent to him. It wasn’t until Paul’s reputation as a Christian was fully established did he approach the elders at Jerusalem, and even then, he need references to vouch for him. Announcing Trump’s conversion shows a desire to gain public notice.

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  55. Roscuro, exactly. Trump is likely to lose the votes of many Christians, and this will gain him some. I’m ambivalent about Dobson, but I despise how much his decision making has come to be what is best for the Republican party. If he truly believed Trump to be newly regenerate, I would think the best approach would be to recognize “we’ve been misled before,” to wait and see, to pray for him, and not to speak publicly. A public announcement from Dobson is not a whit less :political” at this juncture than one from Trump himself . . . partly just because Dobson is much more likely to be believed.

    Me, I don’t care, A newly converted Trump wouldn’t suddenly become a good candidate. I don’t need a candidate to be a Christian; I do need him to have a minimal standard of moral integrity (not a serial womanizer), a minimal level of trustworthiness (he does not), a strong pro-life belief (one of the areas in which he cannot be trusted), and some evidence of qualifications for the job (which he lacks).

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  57. I totally lost it with Dobson when he advocated physical punishment for an infant who cried and kicked his legs while his diaper was being changed.

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  58. Linda, I’m assuming he only suggested a quick swat, right? It seems to me that such a swat is a whole lot better for a child who is refusing to cooperate than is letting him flail and twist, while he and his parent get frustrated. It can be extremely hard to change a diaper on a toddler who has never learned to lie still. And a child who has never learned the word “no” can be in grave danger at places like a busy parking lot.

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  59. I’d wonder too what age “infant” he was talking about. If it was truly a tiny baby that would make no sense to me. A toddler, maybe, along the lines and for the reasons Cheryl described.

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  60. After reading the comments about Dobson’s comments on Trump’s possible conversion being merely political, I decided to find the actual interview, to see what kind of context it was in.

    Here is the brief three-minute interview. He was approached by the man who posted this, Michael Anthony, & was sharing his observations. Dobson is not 100% sure that Trump is truly saved, but is hopeful. It did not come across to me as any kind of “announcement”, but as one participant sharing his views with another. As Random Name used to say, Your mileage may vary. 🙂 (But please take a listen & tell me what you think.)

    It is found under Dobson’s photo, entitled “Exclusive: Did Donald Trump Accept Christ?”

    http://www.godfactor.com/blog/exclusive-interview-with-dr-james-dobson-did-donald-trump-recently-accept-christ

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  61. Dobson recommended pinching the leg and, yes, it was the tiniest infant (to let them know who is boss from the very beginning). There is no reason and no excuse for doing that.

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  63. We followed Dobson for a while early on. He had good marriage advice and good child rearing advice. My favorite which I have steadily applied is that they get to choose whether to be a teen or a young adult.

    I don’t recall him telling folk to pinch a baby. I do recall a light swat. We had thrashers and sedate. The thrashers did get a light swat, which was just enough to get their attention, refocus them. They never cried from it. But they would hold still and look into my eyes rather than making it some sort of chaotic struggle. The diaper was quickly changed and the snuggles or climbing the house continued. No point in having a poopy diaper thrashed all over the room. A baby (six or seven months?) can be still for the few seconds it takes to change a diaper. But I can’t recall needing to do it more than once for any of the thrashers.

    Maybe some folk have never had a thrasher and don’t understand. Holding them by the ankles to clean them up is not enough. They need a strait jacket.

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  64. Of course, I am digging up memories from nearly forty years ago as oldest is turning thirty six or something today. It seems it was shortly after they started turning over and that was their new delight. It was not about hurting the child, just getting their attention when talking and singing and mobiles and all the rest was ineffective. It was not about dealing with rebellion, just letting them know that they could stop for fifteen seconds and not die.

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  65. I can understand that, Mumsee.

    I haven’t agreed with everything Dr. Dobson has said, but I think Focus on the Family, & its resources, have been very helpful for many families.

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  66. I don’t like it when Christian leaders get involved in politics. They can influence candidates, they can counsel them. But don’t endorse them, please.

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  67. Peter, whenever a Christian leader becomes deeply enmeshed in politics, I think of the words of Paul, “No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life”. (2 Timothy 2:4) There is something to be said for staying within the bounds of one’s calling – if God has called you to be a pastor or teacher or evangelist, don’t become a political activist.

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  68. It’s another beautiful day in the Forest…a guest speaker at church imparting the good Word and now we are home relaxing…we will probably take a ride down the rode and see the sheep at Mr A’s farm….
    I have never heard of Dr Dobson advising parents to abuse their children…I must have missed that book…and I would consider it abuse for a parent to pinch an infant child or smack an infant…never acceptable…ever….

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  72. Peter – I agree with you that Christian leaders should not endorse a candidate. (Although, could there be exceptions at times, maybe?) I don’t know if your comment was a general one, or in reference to Dr. Dobson.

    Someone on Facebook referred to Dobson supporting Trump, since he is on Trump’s faith advisory committee. But from my reading (in an article I shared here recently), not all those on that committee are endorsing Trump. So I don’t know if Dobson has come out in favor of him or not. (If he has, I haven’t heard about it.)

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  73. My friend went to an excellent conference on first Peter. All the sessions are now online for free. Mindy belz was one of the speakers. Go to – the gospel coalition dot org. And look under resources

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  74. Nancy, depends on what you mean by “infant.” To me the term might be used of any child under about a year or walking (at which time they become a toddler). And is it OK to give a light swat to a baby five or six months old or older, absolutely. At the very worst, one can disagree, but labeling it “abuse” is dangerous. It does not hurt, and it’s a fair parenting decision. Since in the long run it helps the child (wiggling against the parent’s wishes can’t be comfortable for the child, nor can extra minutes in a poopy diaper), it’s definitely not a harmful thing to do. And yes, as a non-parent who wouldn’t feel free to spank another person’s child, I have done the light smack to get their attention back, and as Mumsee points out it works, without hurting the child at all. I’d save strong words like “abuse” for the sorts of things that hurt children.

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  75. BTW, I don’t necessarily think it’s wrong for a “Christian leader” (depends on what that means) to endorse a candidate. Dobson is not a pastor, but a guy on the radio. As long as he isn’t doing anything illegal (and I think he has walked on the border on what one may do in a nonprofit situation), then there is no reason he can’t endorse a candidate. Whether it’s wise is a different issue. His radio show started out being about parents and family, and turned into being more about politics, and I think that was a turn for the worse, personally. But he had every right to choose to broadcast about politics and not about parenting or family. He isn’t a pastor and it isn’t a church/state issue. He’s just outside his area of expertise and so it’s sometimes embarrassing when he does, but that’s his choice to make.

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  76. You have a good point there, Cheryl. So I guess I would say it is not usually wise for a Christian leader to endorse a candidate.

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  77. Yeah, I suppose a preacher can endorse a political candidate, but he must be careful to do it as a private citizen and not from the pulpit. Politics has no place in the church. After all, the Pilgrims and Puritans left England because of politics mixing with the church. Sadly, they then established official “state” churches here.

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  78. Chery, an infant would be a baby not able to feed itself/walk/or talk in my view. Helpless….and if someone would pinch/smack an infant, I do consider it abusive. A light smack and or pinching out of frustration/anger is dangerous….I have held and rocked a six month old in hospice care…she was being “difficult” said the parent…so he shook her so hard she was now blind and deaf. One of my foster babies was scared of me when she came to our home…her mother had screamed in her face and shook her when she was “difficult”….I guess you could say I have a difficult time with someone inflicting physical pain upon a baby.

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  79. How about a new term: “Auto-incorrect”, defined with NancyJill’s phrase, “auto-correct correcting incorrectly.” Of course auto-correct would probably auto-incorrect “auto-incorrect”, so you might never succeed in posting it on one of those phones.

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