70 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 11-9-17”

  3. Following up on yesterday’s discussion, if anyone is interested, this is the position of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod on Israel (from a 1983 Resolution):

    Lutherans believe that the promises given to Abraham have been fulfilled in the coming of Jesus of Nazareth, who is the long-awaited Messiah descended from the seed of David (Matt. 1:1-18; Rom. 1:3). A central affirmation of the New Testament is that Abraham is “the father of all who believe” in the promise of God fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah (Rom. 4:11ff.), who suffered and died for the sins of the world.

    God our Savior “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge” of this truth—both Jew and Gentile (1 Tim. 2:3-4; see also Rom. 1:16; 10:12; Eph. 2:16; 3:6). Lutherans understand the Scriptures to teach that human beings cannot attain righteousness before God by means of obedience to Law, since they are born in sin and because of their sinful nature are unable to keep the Law in keeping with God’s demand for perfection (Rom. 8:7-8; Gal. 2:15-16). “‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law to do them,’” Paul reminds the Galatians, quoting Deuteronomy 27:26 (Gal. 3:10). Righteousness before God comes by faith in Jesus Christ, Who took our place: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith” (Gal. 3:13-14).

    As a result of faith in Christ, Christians desire to do his will as revealed in God’s commandments (Deut. 5; Exodus 20). Lutherans do not observe Old Testament festivals such as Yom Kippur or Passover, though some congregations observe Seder as a reminder of Jesus’ institution, at the Passover, of His Last Supper in which they believe they receive in a supernatural manner the true body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread wine for the forgiveness of sins (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:15-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26). Lutherans believe that Baptism, instituted by Jesus Christ, replaces the rite of circumcision (which is now a matter of free choice) (Matt. 28:18-20; Col. 2:11ff.).

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  4. Good morning. Interesting thought that circumcision has been replaced by baptism in the Lutheran way of thinking. I had never made a connection between the two. Not sure that I could agree on that, but it is not a matter of eternal significance.

    I have to get ready for a luncheon. We’ve had so much rain that I will leave real early in case I need to swim to it.

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  9. Yikes! Rodent on hooves alert! Staring you down!

    All I can think is, “Beware Lyme Disease!”

    In a side note, my son ordered the movie Bambi months ago to show his girls. It arrived during the fire. He put it away, “maybe later when they’ve forgotten fleeing from a fire . . . ”

    Sorry. Deer may look innocent and lovely, but out here they mow down all the flowers and carry deer ticks (which carry Lyme disease). I don’t trust them anymore.

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  10. I took the photo yesterday morning. I sent AJ some others, too, but not knowing which ones he’ll post, I’ll tell the whole story here. First off, this is not a doe, but a very young buck–meaning this year’s fawn, less than six months old, so he’s young and foolish. This year was a very good one for rain, and so he’s large and sleek and healthy. In this photo you probably cannot see the tiny little bumps that are his antler nubs, but in others I could. He and his mother have walked by our back fence a couple of other times recently . . . but usually when I’m inside the house.

    Yesterday I was out by the fence at the left edge of the yard (looking back) and maybe 10 or 12 feet from the back fence, looking for photos of birds, and in fact taking a couple of photos of a junco, when I heard a noise. My mind said larger bird, but I turned to see if I could see what made the noise, and this fellow (I thought at the time it was a doe) was walking along our back fence, heading in a line that would take him straight toward me and into the apple orchard across the fence, which I was photographing into. (Deer like apples; the remaining apples are rotten and shriveled now, but perhaps deer might find a few they like.) When he got to the corner of the fence, there is a little patch of tall grass right inside it, and he was pushing his snout against the wire part of that fence as though to get at that grass, apparently not even noticing a person was standing just two-and-a-half fenceposts away! To be honest, I was glad the fence was there, because deer could jump it but they never have (we don’t have a vegetable garden), and even though deer are more likely to flee humans than to move toward them, they can be dangerous and I was really too close to it, except for the fence.

    Anyway, he turned the corner and went just to the edge of the trees–and at that point his head went up, his ears forward facing me (this shot)–because he just realized there was a person there! I knew there was a branch in front of his face, and had he been 20 or 30 feet away, I would have eased myself a little to the right for a better shot, but he was so close and I knew he was looking for any excuse to flee. You can see that behind him is grass–we have a farmer’s field behind our house, this year planted with corn, and he had walked between the corn and our back fence to get to the neighbor’s orchard. But this neighbor bought an acre from the farmer, so there is an acre of grass between the orchard and the field in this patch, and that acre is the best place to see deer or turkeys before they vanish into the crop behind us or the trees to the left of this neighbor’s yard.

    By the time I took this shot, his mother was coming along the fence. Unlike her foolish son, she knew I was there, but she continued anyway, to place herself between me and him and to take him out of danger. She has seen me before, and probably knew my actual threat is low, but I’m guessing her heart might have still been pounding as she crossed those last few yards in plain view, close to me, with only a fence between us. As she crossed it, both of her ears were turned toward me and she was cautious; his ears weren’t swiveled toward me until this pose.

    She came, and both stood looking at me for about a minute, giving me a chance to get a few more photos. Knowing they wouldn’t stand long, I quietly switched my camera to action mode, and I got a few shots of them fleeing. One went left, toward the trees, and one went right, toward the corn. I can’t tell from the photos which did which, but the one that went left stood in front of the far corn, looking at me but from a safe distance, and eventually trotted right (giving me more action photos) to join its mother or son in the corn.

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  12. Waiting for the window crew

    Baptism is a sign of the covenant for Christians (and their children).

    This doesn’t mean that all who are baptized are (or will become) believers m, but it is very much in the line of circumcision which also was a dig of the covenant between God and his people

    St least the window crew won’t have to worry about messing the house up 🙂 I need some of those ‘Construction Zone’ signs

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  15. Good Morning deer!! We had a humongous buck meandering through the property this morning and Lulah just sits on the porch and watches him…she is such a good dog..she has never tried to herd them 😊 Yes they eat my flowers, but they always bring a smile as I watch them walk through. 🦌

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  16. Now that we have the deer fence, I get to enjoy the deer with a bit more distance between us. Often up on the hills, they do come down to the cattails and willows regularly. We get to watch them, but we don’t have to worry about getting charged by a buck or doe or run over by a moose or elk. Of course, they could walk right up the driveway and eat everything, but they don’t. Just the neighbor’s mules do that, hence the gate across the driveway.

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  17. I agree with Michelle, deer are such a pest here. In the development where I have my home, it seems like deer and turkeys own the place. I was glad to see that my place has a gate onto the deck or they would be up there. These deer aren’t afraid of anyone.

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  18. Israel: I don’t really understand the whole thing and have heard a lot of discussion about it. My thought is that we are to treat everybody with respect and love. Some of us are believers and made alive in Christ. Others are not. With my eyes on Christ, and my life following along, God will do what He will do and be glorified. God may well still have a purpose for the Israelites. In my own thinking, He does.

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  20. Window day has arrived 🙂

    Tess (dogs are locked out back) has finally stopped barking nonstop, now it’s just intermittent nuisance barking.

    Nice breeze through the house now that the windows are all out

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  21. Michelle, deer ticks can carry Lyme disease here, too. But white-footed deer mice are a bigger threat for it than deer are, probably because they are more likely to live really close to humans. My goddaughter (17) has had chronic Lyme since childhood and will apparently never be strong and healthy as a result, so I’m well aware of the risks. But the white-tailed deer is stunningly beautiful and graceful, and that large animal on those thin little legs flying across a meadow is so improbable, that I can’t help but love them. And a mature buck is so different from the demure little doe, and those adorable spotted fawns . . . Lyme disease is a really ugly result of the Fall, but white-tailed deer a beautiful piece of God’s good creation.

    Being close enough to see those beautiful dark brown eyes and the whiskers of his chinny-chin-chin, but with a fence between for safety, was a rare treat.

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  22. I’m in hunting territory, an area that has few really big bucks because hunting gets them, so deer have a healthy fear of humans. I’m out in the country and land is still largely farmland–even the airport has crops planted in it–so our wild animals aren’t citified. Yes, they feed among the crops, so they receive benefit from humans. I’m sure we have more raccoons than we would have if farmers didn’t plant corn, for instance, and we have huge flocks of turkey and way too many geese. But our deer population is probably fairly stable and healthy, because Hoosiers aren’t too politically correct to hunt them. That mother and son probably know me well enough to know I am not a serious threat–it was probably those same deer I spooked from the other direction (at a greater distance) a couple of weeks ago, and I went around the side and into my backyard then to get some pictures of them when they went deeper into the orchard–but they don’t see me as no threat at all.

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  23. 2 windows (out of the 10) will have to be replaced but they do wood replicas; a little more money but since they won’t be fixing those, today’s bill will be lower and I can just apply that repair charge toward replacements

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  24. OK< since Donna went there, this is the LCMS belief about Baptism:
    Lutherans believe that the Bible teaches that a person is saved by God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone. The Bible tells us that such “faith comes by hearing” (Rom. 10:17). Jesus Himself commands Baptism and tells us that Baptism is water used together with the Word of God (Matt. 28:19-20). Because of this, we believe that Baptism is one of the miraculous means of grace (another is God’s Word as it is written or spoken), through which God creates and/or strengthens the gift of faith in a person’s heart (see Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21; Gal. 3:26-27; Rom. 6:1-4; Col. 2:11-12; 1 Cor. 12.13).
    Terms the Bible uses to talk about the beginning of faith include “conversion” and “regeneration.” Although we do not claim to understand fully how this happens, we believe that when an infant is baptized God creates faith in the heart of that infant. We believe this because the Bible says that infants can believe (Matt. 18:6) and that new birth (regeneration) happens in Baptism (John 3:5-7; Titus 3:5-6). The infant’s faith cannot yet, of course, be verbally expressed or articulated by the child, yet it is real and present all the same (see e.g., Acts 2:38-39; Luke 1:15; 2 Tim. 3:15). The faith of the infant, like the faith of adults, also needs to be fed and nurtured by God’s Word (Matt. 28:18-20), or it will die.
    Lutherans do not believe that only those baptized as infants receive faith. Faith can also be created in a person's heart by the power of the Holy Spirit working through God's (written or spoken) Word.
    Baptism should then soon follow conversion (cf. Acts 8:37) for the purpose of confirming and strengthening faith in accordance with God's command and promise. Depending on the situation, therefore, Lutherans baptize people of all ages from infancy to adulthood.
    The LCMS does not believe that Baptism is ABSOLUTELY necessary for salvation. All true believers in the Old Testament era were saved without baptism. Mark 16:16 implies that it is not the absence of Baptism that condemns a person but the absence of faith, and there are clearly other ways of coming to faith by the power of the Holy Spirit (reading or hearing the Word of God). Still, Baptism dare not be despised or willfully neglected, since it is explicitly commanded by God and has His precious promises attached to it. It is not a mere “ritual” or “symbol,” but a powerful means of grace by which God grants faith and the forgiveness of sins.

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  30. The Lutheran belief in baptismal regeneration is probably the biggest difference between Lutherans and Reformed/Presybterians, FYI, and is basically the reason I went Reformed and not Lutheran when I left the Baptist church. We believe that neither circumcision nor baptism confers faith or grace; they are instead a sign of being in a covenant family and part of the church, though in most cases not yet believing members (and not eligible for the Lord’s supper until they are believers who can state their faith in Christ and can examine their own hearts for sin). We speak of “communing members” (those eligible to partake of the Lord’s supper after being questioned by the elders) as distinct from all members of the church, which includes covenant children of members.

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  31. That, and that when I was in Chicago, the Lutheran church nearest me (not sure the denomination) included a woman among its pastors, and I believe that to be unbiblical. Without those two issues, I might well have left my church and gone to the Lutheran church before leaving Chicago. Instead I waited a couple of extra years, staying in my Baptist church, making the switch only after I moved. One reason for that was very practical–by the time I left Chicago I had been in that church 13 1/2 years, and had good friends there. I knew friendships within churches tend to die if you leave the church, but are more likely to stay strong if you leave the church because you move–so I wanted that church of more than a decade to continue to be “my Chicago church” so that I could stay close to my friends there. Fourteen years after leaving, I still try to talk by phone with a couple of people a few times every year (one more has died, but she and I were in especially close contact), and until I left Nashville I even had lunch occasionally with a friend from my Chicago church who would drive through Nashville about once a year. When I go to Chicago to visit, it is largely friends from that church that I see. Others have moved to other cities, too, and I’m still in touch with some of them. But I might have made the switch while still in Chicago if not for those two issues that kept me from jumping to the Lutheran church near my home, whose special services I enjoyed. (I’d go for the early service on Easter and then to my church, and I also attended Bach cantatas and other special services there.)

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  33. There are different synods of Lutherans, of course, and Missouri Synod Lutheran Church that Linda and I belong to are conservative and do not allow women pastors.

    I have to say, Eric Metaxas’ biography, Martin Luther, was well written, fascinating and very enlightening. I highly recommend it.

    As to those duplicating rodents on hooves . . .

    The incidences of Lyme disease in California are a little lower than other parts of the country (BTW, we lived in East Lyme, CT when it was “discovered”). The reason is that while we have the white footed mice, most of the transmission is through the blue bellied lizard–which of course is cold blooded.

    I, like Cheryl, have too many loved ones whose lives are forever changed by Lyme Disease–including Lynn Vincent. I see deer as the prime culprit and I no longer enjoy the outdoors or hiking because of the threat.

    Sorry.

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  35. ..and lead poisoning from the paint, and lung cancer from the asbestos, and autoimmune problems from the household cleaners…..and obesity from the availability of food…

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  36. Re Israel: I really can’t help but think there was some anti-Semitism mixed in with dispensationalism. I am NOT saying that dispensationalists and other Jew-and-Gentile-forever-distinct people are all anti-Semites, but that I think the root of that belief system is. Three chapters in Romans (9-11) can be puzzling for those of us who believe that believing Israel and the church are one body, but really the entire New Testament makes clear God has broken down the wall between us and let the Gentiles come in (it isn’t the other way around). We have been grafted into the vine; we are not a separate vine. There is no further distinction between Jews and Gentiles, except for an ethnic one–and ethnic distinctions are irrelevant in Christ.

    There are still beliefs today that have the Jews living in Canaan, on earth, for eternity, because of the “land” promises, while Gentile Christians live in heaven (with Jesus? or is He on earth too?). In focusing on the earthly promises to Israel, there is an inadvertent second-class-citizen approach. I assume that some who would happily relegate Jews to earth for eternity while we live in heaven assume that exceptions would be made for people of the Bible. So we get Paul and Peter and James, and maybe Abraham, and maybe we’ll let them have King David if they ask nicely . . . but we basically get a Jew-free heaven except for a few Jews we’ll allow the honor of honorary Gentile-ness (a promotion, of course).

    When we say the Jews will live on earth and we will live in heaven, I don’t think it’s really “separate but equal” as much as it is wishing to be separate and happily granting them second best. Now, there is some indication in Scripture that our eternal home will be the new earth, not some far-off land, so I’m not insisting “all of us will live in heaven,” just that taking the Jew/Gentile distinction into eternity is unbiblical. And also, the promises to Abraham for his descendants are better than they expected. Where they could see only as far as Canaan, for instance, and only as far as national Israel and only as far as a human priesthood and a human king, God had so much more for them, and us included with them–because the prophecies were fulfilled in Christ, not some mere earthly kingdom!

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  37. Michelle, I’m reading the Luther biography–I ordered it in honor of Reformation Day, received it the day before but started reading it on the 31st–and really enjoying it.

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  39. I have never heard the theory that Jews would live on earth for eternity.
    I believe Jesus will return and Israel will be a great nation for 1000 years.
    But everyone’s final destiny is determined by his relationship to Christ. Jews and gentile alike.

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  40. I suppose anti Semitism could come through that but when I think of Israel as special to God, it elevates them in my view and I have to remember that we are all sinners in need of a Savior.

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  42. There is a strong streak of anti-Semitism that runs through nearly every iteration of Christian doctrine. Luther’s violent statements against the Jews are well known, but it isn’t as if the Roman Catholic Church was any nicer, with Spain’s Inquisition being created for the purpose of trying Jews. While I enjoy reading the early church fathers, I notice the anger toward the Jews already building in their writing (in the first few centuries, the Jews often instigated persecution of Christians, but the Christians should have remembered the commands of Christ to love their enemies and to forgive) – that lack of balance in what are often very worthwhile words just emphasizes the divide between the inspired word of God, which is always balanced, and the wise, but fallible words of men, even those who are Christians.

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  43. I never understood how a Christian could even begin to be anti Semitic.

    sort of like the other day when husband and I were discussing cutting and wondering how anybody would ever start doing that. What kind of mind thinks that cutting oneself will make one feel better. I realize there is supposed to be some sort of endorphine thing, but what could make somebody think it is even there?

    What possible reason would a Christian have to be anti Semitic?

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  44. By the way, Cheryl, I’ve often thought some of the motivation behind British support of the re-creation of Israel, i.e. the Balfour Declaration, was inspired by a degree of anti-Semitism, which was well known to exist in the upper echelons of British society. Theodore Herzl, the Zionist Nationalist who wrote The Jewish State became a Zionist because, after witnessing the French reaction to the first trial of Alfred Dreyfus – Dreyfus, a Jewish military officer wrongly convicted of treason in 1894 was paraded through the streets of Paris while the mob shouted death to the Jews – Herzl concluded that there was no room in European society for the Jews, that no matter how much they tried to integrate, they would still be treated as outsiders. G.K. Chesterton, for all I like much of his writing, was anti-Semitic, and he thought Zionism would solve the Jewish Problem, and there were no doubt other educated British who agreed with him. The attitude of the elite of Europe who supported Zionism often seemed to be, we’d rather not have the Jews here, so if they want to go to Palestine or elsewhere (the early Zionists considered creating a state in Uganda and Argentina – Palestine wasn’t their first choice) then they become somebody else’s problem, not ours.

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  45. Mumsee, Paul warned us, “Let he that thinks that he stands, take heed lest he fall.” The unredeemed flesh is quick to classify people according to their differences. What is the first thing we do with the report of a heinous crime? Look for how the perpetrator was different than us. I’ve examined the inner recesses of my own heart and I have realized how quick I am, when I’m tired and upset and angry about something, to place the people I want to blame in a different category to myself. When I felt worn out and tired of all the demands on me in West Africa, some part of my mind wanted to say this is how these people are, demanding, and thoughtless, etc. etc. I saw clearly how racism, an ugly word which should not exist, begins just from watching my own sinful impulses, and I prayed to be kept from such evil. Youngest Sibling-in-law, who reads all those conspiracy theories surrounding a supposed plot of world manipulation by the Jews, was angry at the cultural rot around him, so he found someone to blame. Few of us like to admit that the evil we see in the world comes from each one of us, that each of us has the capability, outside of the grace of God, to mow down innocent people with a gun or a van. We’d rather find something else to blame. The recent shooting in the Texas church is an example of this – the shooter wasn’t mentally ill, he wasn’t, to quote the police, religiously or racially motivated, but his hatred for those he should have loved ended up harming not only his innocent family but also killing innocent bystanders: http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/november/top-reason-church-shooting-domestic-violence-texas.html. He was an average person who gave himself over to anger and bitterness, and thus to work evil. Each one of us has the capability, if we quench the Spirit and walk in the flesh, to become anti-Semitic or white supremacist or fill-in-the-blank. Paul also tells us to be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving one another. That is something that must be done deliberately, for our natural tendency is to shut out all those who differ from us in any way.

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  46. The WELS (another conservative branch of Lutheranism, to which I belong) doesn’t have female pastors, either.

    Interesting discussion on varying beliefs — I’ve been thinking lately about different beliefs on baptism, as well as the once-saved-always-saved belief versus the belief that a person can lose (reject) his salvation, and other topics regarding faith, salvation, and the like.

    Someday I’ll write in more depth my thoughts and questions about those matters, but I don’t have time right now.

    I do have a question on life insurance, though, so will ask it over here instead of on the prayer thread:

    My universal life insurance contract is pending termination because we haven’t paid the premiums for a number of years. When we told our agent years ago that we couldn’t keep up with all the payments (for my husband, for me, and for 1st and 2nd Arrows, too), the agent at the time converted the kids’ policies to mutual funds (which aren’t in effect anymore — I don’t remember why that is, but anyway…), and he told us to not worry about paying the premiums for the universal life contracts that my husband and I each had. He recommended my husband take out a cheaper term policy instead. That’s the one that’s up next year.

    Meanwhile, my most recent statement says “There is insufficient value for the Sep. 11, 2017 deduction. To prevent this valuable protection from terminating on Nov. 11, 2017, the end of the grace period, please send a payment of $–.–. Failure to make the needed payment may result in taxable income being reported to the IRS.

    What?! How am I making any money on this, that there could be taxable income from my letting the contract lapse? What is happening, and what should or should I not do to keep from incurring any charges or paying taxes on this? Is the advice from the agent to simply do nothing with the universal life premiums if we can’t afford it costing us? Or would it have been more costly to terminate the plan? We would have had to pay taxes on whatever cash value was left at the time we ended the contract, right?

    One of those things where I sure wish we had known more about how various insurance plans work before signing up (or being taken in, if you will). Can’t blame anyone but ourselves for that, though.

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  47. Would they cash it out and send you the money, thus making it taxable as a disbursement?

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  49. Don’t think I’ll apply.
    I can’t help with the insurance thing.
    I don’t have any life insurance except the $1000 that the credit unions automatically give.
    I used to have over $250,ooo term insurance when my family was young and depended on me.
    Now, nobody depends on me and I don’t need insurance.
    Insurance doesn’t protect you, it protects your heirs.
    Term life insurance increases dramatically as you age.

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  50. 6Arrows, I would cash out the life insurance and get a term policy for 2 or $300,000. It would be an inexpensive premium, and would do exactly what life insurance is supposed to do: provide for your family if you die suddenly. Life insurance should not be your primary method of savings. I would guess at your age, you could probably find a plan for under $50 per month.

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  51. Roscuro, so I should have said, I don’t see how Christians following Christ could be anti Semitic. or anti anybody else. We can be anti murder. And anti theft. And anti a lot of things but not against the people. Now, if we take our eyes off of Him, which we all do, we can go down that road, but we would have to be pulled back in line by the Spirit or is the Spirit even in there?

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  52. In the new photo, with the two deer, Mama is at the right, trying to figure out what to do about that woman taking photos of her son. The corn in the background? It’s just now being harvested, so if they end up getting it all tonight, tomorrow we will have crows and other creatures out looking for leftovers, but no place for the deer to hide among the rows. (I like it better when we don’t have tall corn out there, when we have beans or wheat or when the crop has already been harvested; it’s easier to see the critters when we don’t have plants taller than I am.)

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  53. I am watching a big mule deer buck and a doe down by the lower gate. They are eating leaves from the willows that have fallen. I send children out there sometimes to bring in leaves to the goats. They consider it a delicacy, I guess.

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  56. Ah, I remember now what the deal is. IF you get more money out of it than you’ve put in, you pay taxes on the difference. You think you haven’t gotten any money out of it, but all that time that you weren’t paying the premiums, they were using your cash-value to pay them. The cash value has obviously run out as of September 11. In other words, if you had been paying the premiums all along, when you cancel it, you’d get your cash value back. IF that amount exceeded what you’d paid, the difference would be taxable. He says it rarely is, and if there’s any, it’s so small it won’t matter.

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  57. 11:25 post from Mumsee is about the Israelites and then the very next post says, “They are like the California coyotes. Nobody hurts them so there is no fear.” Humorous juxtaposition. The second post was obviously referring to previous comments about deer.

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  59. The deer here have been abundant and have little fear. You can hardly shoo them away. They have nibbled most of the cedars close to the house and have gone after, at least one of my hostas. Their tracks are right next to the stair of our deck close to the house. All these plants are close to the house and doors. I am not sure why hunting is so restricted when they are so numerous. The sides of the roads show many being killed that way, which can total your car, as I well know.

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  60. Roscuro, I’m not surprised that sending Jews to Israel would have been seen as a win/win–get rid of them but look like you’re supporting them. Same thing happened with black slaves sent to Liberia–they’re no longer useful as slaves, but do we really want to put up with them in our cities and towns? Send them back to Africa and start over as a white country! I think it’s more complicated than that–many black people talk as though living in Africa would almost be heaven, and I imagine that going back there probably held appeal to many even then, though they knew no one in Africa and had lost track of their heritage–but part of it was simply to get rid of a “nuisance” in a fairly inexpensive way, comparatively.

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  61. I spent over 3 hours at the cell phone store, because a friend and I cannot seem to text message each other. Her phone was checked out, so I wanted mine checked to see if I had inadvertently done something to contribute to the problem. Apparently not, but in the meantime, the phone was reset and I lost all my contacts. The worker finally found them, but could not get them on my phone. I did get a print out, but will have to put them all in again myself. I also am missing some apps and have been getting them, but having trouble with passwords. I am interested in a simple phone for emergencies for my husband, but after all this, I wonder!

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  62. Linda, I was referring to whether or not a person believes baptism has the same significance as circumcision as the matter of no eternal consequense. I was not meaning baptism itself when I said what I did.

    I don’t believe a person must be baptised to be saved, but it is something that believers really desire to do as a public confession of their faith. A person on their death bed who finally decides that they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior would not have an opportunity to be baptised just as the thief on the cross beside Jesus did not get baptised. But Jesus said He would see him in paradise.

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  63. Kathaleena, as you know, a healthy deer population simply has to be culled, whether through wolves or other predators or through hunting.

    State parks have had the same battle. A number of years ago (before I moved here) Indiana was suggesting inviting hunters to state parks to hunt the deer, and they got hate mail and threats. But the hunts have proven very successful, the meat is donated to homeless shelters I believe, and the deer are much healthier.

    When I lived in Nashville, I often went to visit an area that had been set aside as open to the public (not a state park), Radnor Lake. On its trails one was sure to see deer. One time I was leaving the park with friends, and in a front yard outside the park was a herd of six or eight antlered bucks–impressive sight. But the last time I visited, the summer before we married, my photos of deer show a pathetic sight–every single one of the adults show every rib. The fawns looked healthy, but it was probably at the expense of their mothers. The deer are plentiful, have no enemies but cars and starvation, and at one to two fawns per doe per year, they multiply rapidly and use up their resources quickly. It’s more humane to hunt them, and healthier for other creatures, too.

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  66. Linda, 6:01, that makes sense. And now I see a different statement, 08/14/2016 – 08/13/2017, that labels the Cash Surrender Value as of 08/14/2016 as $154.75, and as of 08/13/2017 as $13.10. So, yeah, that’s probably gone as of September this year.

    My husband paid more into his than I did into mine, so his isn’t as close to lapsing. I’m pretty sure he’s paid more in than whatever cash value remains now, so we should probably get that cashed out before the same thing happens to his as mine. Both his and my universal life policies are with the same company, as is his term insurance that expires next year. I think I want to cut ties with that company altogether. There’s a different agent every time we deal with them, and my best friend did not have a good experience with them at all.

    RKessler, 4:52, I was thinking somewhere around those amounts you mentioned. What I need is some sort of algorithm (or a more mathematically-inclined person than I am) to help me figure out what my husband should sign up for. Anyone want to give me some more free advice? 😉

    Here’s what we have right now:

    Hubby:

    Universal Life, cash value almost depleted due to not paying premiums
    Term Policy #1; $100,000; Expires 10/06/2018
    Term Policy #2; $250,000; Expires 06/13/2023

    Me:

    Universal Life, cash value zip
    Term Policy; $150,000; Expires April 2023

    I’ve read that the recommended amount of life insurance for the breadwinner in a household where only one is employed (which is basically us, as my piano teaching income is a pittance) is, according to one source, 8-10 times the employed’s gross wage, or, another source, 10-12 times. So, ball-parking it, we should be looking at about $400,000. Right now we’ve got $350,000 for hubby and $150,000 for me, but next year when his $100,000 policy expires, that will take it down to just $250,000 for him. What I’m trying to decide is how much insurance he should get, and for what length of time, because five years after that, the other policies will expire.

    Our minor children right now are ages 16 1/2, 13 1/2 (the son whom we don’t know if he’ll always be dependent on us), and 10. Six years from now, only the youngest will be yet to reach adulthood (chronologically, not developmentally, speaking).

    Hubby right now is 58 1/2, and I’m 55. If he gets a 10-year term policy, that will take him to age 69 and me close to 66. But five years into that term, the other term policies will expire.

    So maybe getting a 20-year term policy for a higher amount now, and not getting any more when the policies expiring in 2023 are done would help us avoid having to start new policies again in six years, when we’ll be that much older and insurance will be more expensive?

    Opinions, anyone?

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  68. The windows all open and close without so much as a creak; they lock with new hardware and now have weather stripping — and copper drip ‘bumps’ on the outside. Two need to be replaced, unfortunately. Sigh. Well, I saved the “repair” money on those today anyway, the bill was considerably less than I’d anticipated, and I will see what the costs are to replace them (they make wood replicas).

    Guy from the dog park is coming by on Saturday to look at leak under the kitchen sink.

    And on it goes.

    I still have times when I feel overwhelmed and want to cry. This has been such a long ordeal with more to go (though the worst is behind me, I keep telling myself). I’m feeling better than I did a few days ago. But the angst still returns frequently. I’m just hitting the end of the line, I think.

    Laundry and trash night tonight. Much of the furniture now is all piled in the middle of the room with a tarp over it. Think I’ll leave it that way for now.

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