43 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 4-13-17”

  4. Tosy is Thursday before Easter. I believe that it is the day on which Jesus was crucified. I used to argue with a guy about that. The Bible clearly says “The next day is the Sabbath”.. Loud and clear. However, the Popes of the middle ages, and apparently many of our modern scholars don’t realize that Sabbath was not just a day of the week, but a holy day. If Passover falls on a Friday, you can have two holy days. Two Sabbaths.
    But the thing that convinced me is that:
    1. There is s day missing in the description of the activities of the final week. Scholars say Jesus rested on Wednesday. But there is no indication of that. And unlikely, in my reckoning.
    2. Jesus, just as Jonah, spent three days and three nights in the belly of the earth. If Jesus was buried on Friday, that gives him two nights and a full day in the tomb. If on Thursday, three nights and almost three days. A Thursday crucifixion barely makes it.

    The same people who had Jesus born on December 25 declared tha Good Friday was the day of the crucifixion.
    I am convinced that it was Thursday. But I’m not adamant about that . I celebrate Good Friday too and seldom mention it except when I want to stir up trouble.

    Like today.
    😉

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  5. I’ve rolled out early, Chas.

    Workers & pavers set to arrive this morning — and an email from Apple to help me sort out all my ID problems.

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  6. Troublemaker, Chas.

    I’m also having to deal with Carol’s wanting to borrow (she doesn’t ‘borrow,’ she takes and keeps) money again — a small amount, but I’m drawing a line in the sand with all of it. I’m seeing her tomorrow, I signed up for a vacation day and promised to see her so we could maybe find a Good Friday service; I’ll pay for a meal out as part of it, I’ve already decided to do that.

    But the issue is she has to get something notarized to mail special delivery to NY to re-start her old, 2nd pension again, something she’s put off month after month for more than half a year now. So now it’s urgent as she owes her facility some back pay and I guess they’ve laid down a deadline, thus the scramble to get it all sent back which will now cost extra. It dawned on my that she probably thinks I’ll pay, so I had to text her with a clarification that yes, we can make a stop tomorrow at the post office — assuming she had the money she’ll need to take care of her business there.

    I’m thinking the post office trip is off now, but she hasn’t responded.

    Meanwhile, driveway worker told me yesterday that my neighbor told him there was a “sinkhole” in front of my house 40 years ago. Huh??? Worker asked if I’d known about that. Uh, no? I suspect, though, that people use the term “sinkhole” quite loosely. Will have to explore that more, however; my insurance agent is family with this house and has insured it many years in the past with previous owners, I’ll start with him to see if he has any knowledge of that.

    Wouldn’t that be classic if, after all these repairs and fixes and upgrades I’ve done, the house just tumbles down a big rabbit hole???

    My dogs are in dire need of grooming right now, I really have to make an appointment for next week (or maybe Saturday?). It’s been a busy, chaotic several months with this house, I feel very off-schedule with so many of the routine tasks.

    Today I’ll do the lawn theft story and a youth soccer story that got held yesterday when the national league office left me sitting at work until 7 p.m., promising they’d call but never calling (I couldn’t get them to respond for an earlier story, either, then they complained bitterly that the story was “one-sided” — uh, yeah, it was because someone never called me back). I finally sent them a rather clipped email last night saying I was going home but managed to get the story held since I hadn’t (again) heard from them. I told them if they still wanted to comment to call me no later than 2 pm. today, otherwise it’ll go in without their participation (again).

    Very frustrating week for me, hoping today goes more smoothly.

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  7. DJ, after months of construction here, or was it years? It was unbelievably nice to be able to enjoy my home without the constant intrusion of construction. Really nice folk doing the work, but it was nice to get my house back. I feel your pain, but the benefits will outweigh the current chaos.

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  8. Chas, It seems I am not very “deep” and take things at face value. Your Thursday theory makes a lot of sense to me now that I think about it, but you all know I tend to go along with church tradition so I will continue to celebrate Good Friday. 🙂

    Donna, “fences make good neighbors”. I will give and give and give to someone. I won’t “buy” your friendship, but doing and giving to others makes ME happy….right up until the moment they start expecting it and get upset if I don’t. THEN I feel like they are taking advantage of me and I don’t like it. (I also don’t like seeing others take advantage of those I care about. My rant is over)

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  9. If it is any consolation, DJ, Carol probably has a whole list of people who think they are the main ones helping her. I remember once changing a whole lot of stuff to include a relative for a holiday meal only to find it was his third holiday meal for that holiday. I now know that he has a whole lot of people who he calls. If one realizes whatever the ‘dire situation is that must be taken care of immediately’, really isn’t, he will move on to the next person. It takes some discernment to make sure he really is cared for, but not let him remain an adolescent who demands to be the center of the world. We would all stay that way, if everyone allowed us to do so. It is natural, but most of us cannot do that, nor should we. Praying for that discernment for you.

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  10. Kaitlyn’s memorial service was amazing. So many showed up to support her family and in her honour. The inner city hockey team she coached with Youth For Christ all came and then went on to win their game last night – one of the players said it was for “intern” (Kaitlyn’s nickname at YFC). People from Camp Kuriakos in Alberta came, a whole section of the church was full of Kadesh people – from young campers to senior staff. The Gospel was presented and we sang camp worship songs per Kaitlyn’s request. There were communion “stations” and a wall to write on and candles to light as people wanted during the singing. So many hugs, so many tears. Rejoicing she is with her Saviour!

    I ended up with a small urn of some of Kaitlyn’s ashes that her mom had given to Sherri. Sherri flew out this morning from Saskatoon and so she asked me to take the ashes back to camp for her. It felt weird, but glad I could help. I believe her mom wants those ashes spread to Kadesh.

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  12. When I was moving out of Chicago, I’d lived in my home (the downstairs unit, with the owner living upstairs) for seven or eight years. Some people in my church had tried to move into the neighborhood (it was a block from church) and had been denied by landlords who wouldn’t rent to white people, so as a favor to my landlady and potential favor to someone from church, I let it be known at church that my home would be available in two months.

    The only one who contacted me wasn’t contacting me for himself, but for a work colleague, which wasn’t what I had in mind, but since no one else expressed interest I said I’d pass on the info to my landlady. I was very careful to say “I am not recommending this man–I don’t know him–just passing on the information that he is interested.”

    They met, he was interested, and she agreed he could move in. My landlady’s daughter-in-law came by the house daily since my landlady took care of her pre-school grandson during the day, and one day my landlady told me that the future tenant had asked her daughter-in-law if he could borrow money. I said, “Don’t let him move in. If he is asking to borrow money from a stranger, that means he has already ‘used up’ the goodwill of all his family and friends in borrowing money that he doesn’t repay. He won’t pay the rent. Remember I didn’t give this man a character reference–I have never even met him. Don’t let him move in.” She hemmed and hawed and said she’d already said he could, and I asked had they signed a lease, and she said well, no. I said don’t let him move in–you’ll have to evict him, and this is your own home, you need someone you can trust. At the very least ask for a credit report on him. But she felt awkward about that and let him move in, and sure enough she had to evict him. The signs were there, and I didn’t feel at all guilty for having given the referral, since I never recommended him (and made that very clear) and then I warned her, as well.

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  13. So good to hear the service went well, Kare. I was thinking about you all yesterday.

    Carol borrows monthly from her former roommate (I know this because she speaks of paying her back every month when she gets paid, it’s like a monthly bill now — I’ve never been paid back, on the other hand; but right off the bat she’s doling out money to this gal she borrowed from in the previous month, making her short again, it’s just a vicious cycle). Other than that, I’m not thinking anyone’s giving her money, her brother quit doing that years ago after being burned out and a couple gals at Hollywood Pres last summer also spent some serious change on her (buying her new shoes and making a stationary store purchase she’d requested but didn’t quite have the money for — until she would get paid again, the usual story). But they backed off quickly when it became clear she wouldn’t pay even a part of that back (which was part of the up-front agreement). One of them offered to help her make a budget but Carol told her it would be of no use so that was the end of that.

    One option for me, I’m thinking, is to pay her Post Office and Notary bills tomorrow. along with treating her to lunch or dinner out, and tell her that will be her birthday present for this year (her bd is in June and she’s already telling me what she wants, though it keeps changing). When her birthday rolls around, I’ll get her a bd card and maybe a *little* token something, inexpensive, and treat her to lunch, maybe a low-cost museum outing to celebrate, but no big present this year if I pay to get her out of her current financial crunch tomorrow.

    I feel for her, she had a really tough childhood, a friend once suggested to me that she’s made bad decisions, which is true, but that’s also true of all of us at times and there really is more to it than that for Carol, I think. But … We sometimes we need to be forced to change and confront our weaknesses. If people always protect us and provide for us and bail us out, we’ll never have to do that.

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  14. Oh, the sparrow is a song sparrow, I think. When I took the photo I thought it was a white-throated (tan morph), but I think it’s a song sparrow. Anyway, she was sitting perfectly still, perfectly camouflaged, after she flew to that spot, and I took several photos.

    And then I realized, “She hasn’t moved at all. That must be because she sees me and knows I’m here, but she hopes I haven’t seen her. That must mean she has a nest nearby and she’s waiting to go to it, but she doesn’t want to go to it until I leave but she’s also reluctant to fly away from it.” So I left so she could to take care of her responsibilities.

    As I walked along, I saw all sorts of furtive bird activity, including a female red-winged blackbird of which I had only a fleeting partial glance as she snuck rat-like through last year’s (dried) cattails. That was actually the closest I’ve gotten to seeing a female red-winged blackbird with her nest, as many males as we have around here. But she simply quietly crawled away and I got only a passing glimpse of her. I was impressed.

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  15. Mumsee, thanks for the house encouragement. It seems like it’ll never end sometimes, but it will have to end at some point 🙂 Either everything will get done or I’ll just run out of allotted the money. 🙂 Probably the latter.

    Still to come: foundation repair, fixing or replacing parts of my back wooden fence (that’s been added to the ‘list’ as it really is a safety issue for my animals — and the fence is quite old and leaning in a couple spots), fixing & refitting the wood windows, painting, putting up outdoor lights.

    Wish list includes at least new flooring (and replacing the aluminum window over the sink) for the kitchen and the little office/(future?) dining space off the kitchen. Would love to get new cabinet doors and countertops, but that won’t be happening I’m afraid. Paint, new floors, a new window — and knew cabinet knobs — should spruce it up, though.

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  17. As far as boundaries go, I have found that when I set boundaries for those takers that enter into my life, it does not take them very long to drift off to another caring soul. I may miss feeling needed, but I don’t miss feeling used.

    We have a couple of users in our children. As young adults, they never seem to have enough to pay their bills. One seems like she may be making the adjustment. We never give her financial assistance. And when she recently asked us to cosign, we declined. But she is always paying back somebody along the line. I told her she needed a budget to see where her money is going. She said she was in too deep for that. I told her all the more reason she needed one. She made one and appears to be marginally sticking with it. There is hope.

    On the other hand, son, who just rebuilt his BMW after said sister totaled it for him, still drives my twenty five plus year old Ranger because it seems to have a dirt bike in the back and he may go biking one of these days. This is his last week of school as he has decided to withdraw back into homeschool and then move on (rather than the school having a drop out on their records). The school is not delighted but there it is. They have helped him on his way and that is a good thing.

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  18. Mumsee, if she has access to a computer (or a smart phone) you might suggest she download Dave Ramsey’s FREE “Every Dollar” budgeting app. It helps you plan out where your upcoming month’s income is going to go (of course you then have to stick with it). As he always says, you need to tell your money where to go, not see where it went.

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  19. Linda, she does have a smartphone (one of her poor decisions) and is just getting the latest and greatest on a plan with her sister and brother so I will let her know. I have suggested Dave Ramsey to her before but she does like to use that kind of app. Thanks.

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  20. Most financial problems occur because of a person’s understanding of money.
    My dad defined money as a medium of exchange. That is something used to buy things.
    I view money as a store of value. That is, I perform some service for which someone gives me money. I see that as a store of the value of that service. I deal with it accordingly.
    It makes d difference over time.

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  21. It’s an interesting concept, Chas. I remember when a friend explained her reasoning: “If I work three hours, I will earn enough for this dress. Is this dress worth three hours of work for me? If so, I buy it. If not, I let it go.”

    The idea stuck with me, and it helps put things into perspective. Using a teenage analogy you might consider for a young person: if I make $10 an hour and I want to buy an elaborate drink at Starbucks that costs $5, am I willing to work 1/2 an hour to pay for that drink?

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  22. Meanwhile, on Breakpoint this morning, I was amazed, excited, blessed, fascinated by this excerpt:

    The New Testament shows how the Holy Spirit continued to reveal Christ’s presence throughout all of Scripture. Paul, for example, sees Jesus in the Bible’s very first chapters, calling Him “the Last Adam,” and contrasts the two men as heads of the human race. One failed and brought death on all His descendants. The other was faithful, bringing life through His death and resurrection.

    And if we take the time to read Scripture more carefully, we see how deeply the parallels run. The ways in which Jesus is similar to, and yet better than Adam, are astonishing:

    The first Adam yielded to temptation in a garden. The Last Adam beat temptation in a garden. The first man, Adam, sought to become like God. The Last Adam was God who became a man. The first Adam was naked and received clothes. The Last Adam had clothes but was stripped. The first Adam tasted death from a tree. The Last Adam tasted death on a tree. The first Adam hid from the face of God, while the Last Adam begged God not to hide His face.

    The first Adam blamed his bride, while the Last Adam took the blame for His bride. The first Adam earned thorns. The Last Adam wore thorns. The first Adam gained a wife when God opened man’s side, but the Last Adam gained a wife when man opened God’s side. The first Adam brought a curse. The Last Adam became a curse. While the first Adam fell by listening when the Serpent said “take and eat,” the Last Adam told His followers, “take and eat, this is my body.”

    We celebrate this last event today—Jesus’ final meal with His disciples, and His new command that we “love one another.” In giving Christians this meal, He sealed His role as Adam’s replacement.

    The entire piece is good. Here’s the link: http://breakpoint.org/2017/04/breakpoint-jesus-last-adam/

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  23. Pavers delivered, guys working (more money handed over), Apple ID changed successfully and seems to have taken hold on all my devices — except, of course, the work phone that can’t be turned off and cleared in order to be turned in because the old ID & password won’t work. Sigh.

    I’ve been trying to do this for over a week now, we need to turn the phones in completely cleared of all data.

    I’m tempted to take a hammer to it and say, “There. Now it’s cleared.”

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  25. OK, at the risk of not looking very spiritual here today, see what happens when a border collie meets some coyotes. Owner is on a horse.

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  26. Whoa DJ….very good “don’t go messin’ with me” dog…but I have to wonder after all the cat and mouse playing, seemed as though more came out of the brush with a pack mentality!
    Once when Paul and Babe we running on the Air Force Academy, Babe saw a rabbit and gave chase, leaping over a dirt mound…right into a coyote den with pups!! Three coyotes were on her like a tick on a hound….at which point Paul gave chase towards the coyotes! One did nip Babe for which she was placed on anitibioitics….

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  27. Chas- I have heard arguments for Jesus dying on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. It really doesn’t matter to me. I’ve heard, though, that Jewish reckoning would say that any part of a day counts as a day. And remember that the Jews measured days as beginning at sundown, not midnight. So, if Jesus died on the sixth day of the week (day 1), then sundown would begin the seventh day which is the Sabbath (day 2) and he arose between sundown and sunrise of the first day of the week (day 3). So that way would mean three days in the grave.

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  29. Wow, close call for Babe.

    Yes, in the video there wound up being 3 coyotes. One got the feeling that the owner was well equipped (armed) to deal with any situation that may have gotten out of hand.

    In the spring/summer, we’re told (when walking our dogs) to stay clear of any undeveloped or dense-vegetation areas where dens and pups might be as coyotes will see dogs who are too close (and probably people as well) as a definite threat to be taken on.

    We typically walk past a couple ravine openings on our nightly walks and I always pull the dogs into the street, away from the ravines, to walk when we reach those stretches (at night in our neighborhood there’s usually very little traffic and plenty of street lights, so it’s more-or-less safe).

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  30. Such typical coyote behaviour – one will lead the dog close to the pack and then they’ll all close in. We don’t worry about our dog with one coyote as he could outrun it easily, but if there’s a pack close by – look out! Good thing that dog was so obedient.

    We had a dog once that purposely ran into the coyote den and then came home with a pup hanging in his mouth! Stupid dog – but he was quick! (and very lucky)

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  31. Yes, they like to lure the dog into the pack. Bye bye dog. But she was clearly calling the dog back, attempting to get the coyotes to show themselves, probably so there would be fewer coyotes.

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  32. I too do the “I worked half an hour for this–is it worth it?” As a Scottish (frugal) person, sometimes it works both ways. Sometimes it’s “This is two hours of work, and it isn’t worth that” and sometimes it is “It may not actually be ‘worth’ what they’re charging, but I’ve been wanting something like that for years, it’s only half an hour of work to earn it, and it would take a lot more than that to find a cheaper one (if I ever did).” That particularly worked when I was making good money, living at way under the expense ratios sent by the experts, and putting a lot in the bank. It could be “I can afford it, I want it, and I’m not splurging on pretty much anything, so I might as well buy it.”

    My husband talks to the girls about “opportunity cost.” That is, it doesn’t just cost what you pay for it, but if you spend it now it also isn’t in the bank for later, it isn’t earning interest for you, and it may be costing you interest. It’s on that basis that I have always managed to buy cars for cash and not continuing to pay on them month after month. And it’s on that basis that I now, with an irregular freelance income, have to be more cautious about purchases now. (We have my husband’s income, but all of his and some of mine go for living expenses–not extravagant living–and having a good month of income this month doesn’t mean I’ll have a good month next month, or can count on more good months this year.)

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  33. Along those lines, I used to tell my dad that “living on credit cards lowers your standard of living by 28%”. At least.
    I use them often, but pay in full every month. I do not pay interest.

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  34. The new photo is pussy willow buds (fuzzy) turning into pussy willow blooms. I don’t know how widespread this plant is (whether it grows in y’all’s regions), but as far as I know I hadn’t seen it before moving here, and I find it a pretty and interesting plant. (I think it’s a shrub, not a tree, but then I’ve really only seen it in the wild, along a path my husband and I hike, so I don’t know how it grows other places.)

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  35. Cheryl, you had never seen a pussy willow before! They have been a part of my life every spring since I was a baby. I was just enjoying the catkins (the buds are called catkins) as I made a tour of my parents’ property this afternoon. Just before they reach the stage in Cheryl’s picture, the catkins look like grey fur, and are the softest thing to run through your fingers. If the branches are cut when the buds are at the catkin stage, they will keep indefinitely. The pussy willow is like the weeping willow and will grow from a branch stuck in wet ground and will fully regenerate whenever the trunk is cut back.

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  37. Roscuro, I see them at our state park, but if I’ve seen them other places (before living in Indiana) I didn’t notice them. Having sent the catkin stage to AJ a couple weeks ago, I figured I’d send this stage as well, since both are pretty but quite different.

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  38. Oh I love pussy willow. They grow wild around here on the rampart range. My grandmother had a huge bush/tree in her backyard right by the gate that separated their side of the duplex from ours. To a little five year old, that thing looked as though it touched the clouds…thinking about it now…it was probably 6 ft high 🙂

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  39. Pussy Willows are so cute & soft. My MIL used to have some in a large vase, but I suspect they were thrown out when she moved here with us.

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  40. I admit I cheated with the photo that is up there now: all the others I just sent to AJ were taken in the last 10 days or so, but that one was from last summer. But it looks like an early-spring scene except for one dead giveaway: the grasshopper the chipping sparrow is taking to its nestlings. First, grasshoppers aren’t out and about yet, and most likely any nests wouldn’t be far enough along for such a large piece of food, anyway. (Chipping sparrows just got back to town, so they may have nests with eggs but are unlikely to have nests with nearly fledged young.)

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  41. Oh, if you aren’t familiar with the chipping sparrow, it is a tiny, spunky little bird. It’s Indiana’s smallest sparrow, and it is named for its constant “chip, chip” as it hops around. It seems to be a rather feisty fellow, as it’s common to see two of them flying at each other in midair. It migrates out of town in winter. Like all tiny birds, it is small enough and lively enough it’s hard to focus in on it long enough to get a photo. And it’s rather plain-looking except for the cute reddish cap (which looks brown in some lights). And it has a very long tail for its size, though that isn’t obvious here. But it’s cute and it seems to be a diligent parent, so I like seeing them around in the warm months and to hear the “chip, chip” that tells you it’s around somewhere.

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  42. Not sure if I want to attend the Good Friday service this evening. However I will be going to the Teen Centre for Hamburger night. Priorities right? Should I rethink?

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  43. Jo, there is nothing in Scripture that mandates Good Friday services. You don’t need to feel guilty about not going. It’s not wrong to have one, or to attend one, but God won’t love you any more or any less either way.

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