61 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-15-18”

  4. We’ve been struggling with that since the end of the year and we’re finally coming out on the other side now. Lots of work to do. God is good. Take care of yourselves and have a wonderful day everyone. :–)

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  5. Nit-nite Jo.

    Good morning everyone.
    Some involved discussions last night.

    When I opened the blog, it said that it is Karen’s BD. But now that has disappeared. and it’s a holiday.
    MLK BD.

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  6. It’s been over an hour and nobody else!
    I could tell you how to mess up a breakfast of sausage, grits and eggs, but I don’t really know how it happened. Fortunately, I had a waffle I could put in the toaster.

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  7. We are at the office. I end up trying to listen to an online Bible study on the way in. It is challenging trying to teach Art how to get to my Facebook Live program on my phone. After he does it twenty-one times then he should get the hang of it.

    I need to look back at yesterday’s comments.

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  9. We are at the office. I try to listen to an online Bible study on the way in. It is challenging to teach Art how to get my Facebook Live program up on my phone. After he does it twenty-one times then he should get the hang of it.

    I need to look back at yesterday’s comments.

    May everyone have a peaceful holiday and hopefully AJ and family can feel better very soon.

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  12. I may have come across rather strong on some opinions yesterday but I was also commenting on a local FB page where a bunch of do-gooders thought they knew best what to do for our local eccentric character. “She needs to be put in a 72 hour lock up because it’s cold”. “Someone needs to cut her fingernails”. “Someone needs to do this, that, or the other…”.
    She has a history of mental illness. She has means. She has family locally. The local police know how to get in touch with her family if need be. The local merchants look out for her and doors are left unlocked so she can get in from the weather.
    This subject comes up every time the weather changes and people want to know about her, discuss her, and in their self-righteous way say something about her.
    https://www.storagefront.com/therentersbent/woman-locked-in-storage-unit-for-63-days-2002/

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  14. Good frosty morning to you!! Not as cold as Kare’s cold, but we are at 11 degrees and under a winter advisory for ice and such.
    Asking our Lord to bring you and yours quickly out of this attack of the flu bug AJ…plenty of fluids and lots of rest!

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  19. Oh, AJ, so sorry. So far I’ve escaped it, but it’s still spreading wildly according to health officials. I had the flu last January and am hoping a little of that strain maybe has kept me more immune this year.

    We have a multitude of Wandas and their male counterparts in our town, many camping on the sidewalks near the waterfront. A few are known to be locals and people try to help them, others are transients. Very tough problem, no easy solutions. LAPD operates special black-and-white cars staffed with mental health professionals as part of the response. But you can’t “force” someone to get help. If they do eventually agree to assistance, it typically takes several personal contacts with a social worker first.

    Enjoy your holiday, those who get one. I’m off to work. Should be an interesting day following Friday’s news. None of this makes any sense to us (“substantial” cutbacks on the heels of what already were substantial cutbacks just a few months ago). The only way we’ll be saved is if someone starts picking off the papers and buys us, someone who has an interest in preserving and investing in local journalism. The current owners, a hedge fund, has never invested in us and has its eye only on profit (and yeah, we are still profitable to someone somewhere — more so the more we keep cutting back staff). It’s just sad to watch. 😦

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  21. Some background (we’re Digital First Media owned by Alden Capital; another article referred to us as “Digital First Media, the biggest cost cutter in the newspaper industry” … )

    http://prospect.org/article/saving-free-press-private-equity

    Saving the Free Press From Private Equity

    Navigating the digital transition is a huge challenge for newspapers. Absentee ownership by private equity predators makes it all but impossible.

    _______________________________

    … A few national newspapers with unique franchises—The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post—have begun to figure out the digital transition, using paywalls, new digital content, and complementary business strategies to realize income from other sources. They will survive, even thrive.

    But the real tragedy for the civic commons is occurring at the level of regional papers. Local dailies and weeklies are in a slow death spiral. …

    … One major player: the private equity industry. Private equity has been gobbling up newspapers across the country and systematically squeezing the life out of them to produce windfall profits, while the papers last. The cost to democracy is incalculable. Robust civic life depends on good local newspapers. Without the informed dialogue that a newspaper enables, the public business is the private province of the local commercial elite, voters are uninformed, and elected officials are unaccountable.

    COMPANIES WITH NAMES LIKE Alden Capital, Digital First Media, Citadel, Fortress, GateHouse, and many others that you’ve never heard of have purchased more than 1,500 small-city dailies and weeklies. The malign genius of the private equity business model, of which more in a moment, is that it allows the absentee owner to drive a paper into the ground, but extract exorbitant profits along the way from management fees, dividends, and tax breaks. By the time the paper is a hollow shell, the private equity company can exit and move on, having more than made back its investment. Whether private equity is contained and driven from ownership of newspapers could well determine whether local newspapers as priceless civic resources survive to make it across the digital divide. …

    … The Bastrop Daily Enterprise, in the northeast corner of Louisiana, was founded in 1904 … In North Carolina, The Fayetteville Observer, founded in 1816 …

    … However, against this bleak trend, being repeated at hundreds of papers nationwide, there is actually some good news. In some cities, private equity owners are selling newspapers back to local owners who are not looking for windfall gains but are committed to reinvesting in the newsroom and figuring out digital publishing. In other places, like Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Boston, a category of new local owners whom we might call benign billionaires are devising new business models to allow papers to at least break even, while they give talented editors the freedom and resources to rebuild the newsroom and advance digital …
    ____________________________________

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  24. Michelle, being from Alabama, home of Birmingham and Selma, I have a different perspective on the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.
    I believe he was God’s chosen in God’s chosen time. I think any time before he would have been lynched. Any time after and we wouldn’t have been as kind and civilized as we were (not that many were kind and civilized then—just imagine this movement in today’s world).
    He was certainly a flawed man, but aren’t we all.
    Growing up in and around Mobile, the last city to be released from mandatory cross city busing (See Birdie Mae Davis https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/402/3 The effects are still being felt today) I had a different perspective from the all white, Christian, “Segregation Academy” my parents sent me. I have no doubt that my second grade teacher was a bona fide racist. It didn’t stop her from being a good teacher to those of us who didn’t understand.

    I used to tell all of you that race relations are complicated in the South. My husband accuses me of being a racist and not realizing I am racist. Why do I feel the need to describe someone by the color of their skin? Yet, just recently I had to explain to him that in the South if a black woman puts a biscuit and butter in front of you, you do not question her, you say, “Thank you” and eat it. About 10 or so years ago when I could barely afford my own phone bill, I also paid the phone bill of the elderly woman who used to clean house for me in my “better days”. Complicated.

    There will always be racist amongst us. I would rather know I am dealing with a racist than have them hide it, but that’s me.

    Yes, the Rev. Dr. King was a complicated man

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  26. Did you know this? If I ever did, I had forgotten it.
    http://www.thekingcenter.org/faqs

    Was Martin Luther King, Jr. born with a different name?

    Yes, he was born Michael King on January 15, 1929, and a few years later, his father, also Michael King, changed his name to Martin Luther King, Sr., in honor of the great protestant reformer, and his son’s name was also changed to Martin Luther King, Jr.

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  27. I do not know if anyone saw my comment except for Kids that I had put in the name of Intercession Church for consideration. Would that have been better than Community Church or is it too restrictive of what the church is about? If you personally were tasked with naming a church, what would you name it? I just spoke with my friend, Karen, and she said she likes the name Bridgepoint Church at Toco Hills. If you take the C for church out of the initials, you get B.A.T.H. which is amusing considering we will baptize by immersion.

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  29. I like the name Intercession Church.

    Our church was called Word of Life Church when it was founded. (The fuller name was probably Word of Life Assembly of God Church, but I’m not sure.) Sometime in the early 2000s, the name was changed to Stafford Community Worship Center, which is that kind of generic-sounding name that can be off-putting to some of us. When Hubby and I began attending, in 2009, the word Community had been dropped, in favor of Stafford Worship Center, still not a great name.

    Within a short time of us joining, the name was changed to Hope Springs Church, a kind of play on the name of our town – Stafford Springs. (Actually, the town is Stafford, but was often referred to, and still is by some, by the name of one of the sections of town – Stafford Springs. My mailing address still has Springs in it.) The Hope part was inspired by a belief that that is what the people of our town need – the hope that the gospel gives us.

    I’m pretty sure the church sign has the AG (Assembly of God) insignia, but I’m not sure. Funny how you can see something time and time again, but not be sure of details.

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  30. I read a biography of MLK 35 years ago and came away with a mixed appreciation for the man. I would have embraced him totally had he been faithful to his wife.

    (What IS it with men?)

    Still, it’s an excellent time to remember how God motivated a man and then a nation to justice because of the word of God. It would be nice if some of our friends at least nodded in that direction instead of pretending MLK invented justice out of the air.

    Back still bad; not sure what to do but I can function except for dancing. 😦

    So I walk, though that will not be enough for my figure in the long run . . .

    You’ll be happy to know, Mumsee, that “kitten” is now running around outside.

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  31. As I mentioned about church names yesterday, it depends on how many churches are in the community what you could name it. In a small village, you can simply use the name of the community, the name of the denomination, and the word church, e.g. Village Baptist Church. In a city, that won’t work, since it would get really confusing to have dozens or perhaps hundreds of City Baptist Churches in one city. You could name the church after the street it was on, but that means the name will have to change if the church relocates, and the same applies if it is named after the suburb or neighbourhood of the city it is in (that’s an option the churches in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, would probably not want to take). Using Bible words in the title also has its drawbacks, since there are any number of Harvest or Calvary or Grace or Berean Baptist churches out there. There are no really good answers, I’m afraid – there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to the title of a church.

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  32. I have stated before that I don’t trust churches that don’t tell me who they are. If I am attending a Baptist church I want to know it –I am familiar with Baptist doctrine– I don’t want to attend Day Springs Church. If I am in a Methodist church I want to know it. I don’t want to attend Jubilee Shores. I don’t care at all for non-denominational churches with names like City of Hope. They center too much around the charisma of the leadership and not the Word of God. I want some over sight so that if the minister, pastor, worship leader, priest is a nut job someone has some authority to step in and discipline or remove him.
    There was an “independent” Episcopal Bishop around here not too long ago who was skeptical if Jesus even lived. The Bible was a great book of cautionary tales, much like Aesop’s Fables.

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  33. Not quite on topic, but a related humorous story. As you may remember, the Son we live with is a plumber (Master Plumber). Not only has he done a lot of work at the church, but also folks from our church have called on him from time to time for help. Our church is named Redeemer Lutheran and in the “folksy” introduction to his sermon one Sunday, Pastor referred to “Redeemer’s favorite plumber.” Son joked that if he ever opened his own company, he would name it Redeemer’s Favorite.

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  34. Roscuro, the Presbyterian church I attended for a while in Baltimore originated on Aisquith Street and retained the name Aisquith Presbyterian after it moved miles away.

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  35. 🙂

    Oh, BTW, Mr. Engineer has decreed he will NOT attempt to fix the washing machine again and therefore I’m now in the market for a new one.

    Any suggestions? 🙂

    I’ve lived with a front loader for 20 years with mixed opinion. I like the reduced water usage, I don’t think the clothes get as clean. So, I’ll take suggestions from either type.

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  37. Michelle, I am pleased with the Kenmore I got at Sears Liquidation. It is a heavy duty top loader so I can do fewer loads which is probably cost saving. It is an older model by now. Not sure about what I would buy now. I got our new refridgerator at J. C. Penney and was pleased with everything about the experience.

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  38. In our presbytery, the most common name is First Presbyterian Church, though there are also quite a few First United Presbyterian Church. At presbytery meetings, churches tend to be referred to as First Wilton, First Wapello, etc. since the name itself doesn’t identify them.

    My husband and I were married at Eddington Presbyterian, and later switched to Langhorne Presbyterian. Being new to being Presbyterian, I found it strange to have the name of the town in the church name, as to me it seemed that the church’s geographical location was of little importance in its identity. But the pastor at Langhorne Presbyterian explained that, on the contrary, being part of a local community was an essential aspect of the church’s ministry. There were a number of us who drove in from other towns (in our case, even across the river from New Jersey), and as individuals we could serve God wherever we were, but as a gathered community, the church was rooted to a specific community and ministered in and through that community.

    I like that idea, and if I were involved in naming a church I would probably recommend that pattern. If the church had to relocate, it might want to consider changing the name also. After all, its ministry would inevitably acquire a different shape in the new location.

    My husband’s first pastorate was a church called Kirk of the Lakes. For someone with some knowledge of Presbyterian history, it wouldn’t be hard to guess that it was a Presbyterian church. But most people in the area had no idea that kirk was the Scottish word for church, and I often was asked what the name meant.

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  39. Well we have a Kenmore elite front loader….it is about 12 years old and we have had no issues…it seemed with my top loaders the main issue was the transmission going out…after only a couple years!! So far we like the front loader…gotta keep it clean and leave the door ope so that mildew does not start in there…but my clothes actually seem to be cleaner and not so wet upon taking them out for the transfer to the dryer….

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  40. I love-love-love my modest Maytag “matching pair” — top loader with agitator, it still uses very little water but does have the extra fill option.

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  41. Of course, I’m comparing them to what were a 30-year-old pair of machines that were wonderful for many years but had come to be very inefficient in their old age.

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  42. One of the engineers who worked with my dad long ago also owned a string of Laundro Mats. He only bought Speed Q;es from small, medium, and large. I tend to do all medium loads because I believe he was at the house fixing our washing machine and my father was sure I had broken it. 😉
    About 10 or 15 years ago when I first discovered FlyLady, she said that you should let your washing machine rest for 30 minutes between loads. I have been known to put the clothes from the washer to the dryer, set the timer on the stove, clean somewhere else in the house or rest for 30 minutes before starting another load. This is also handy because it takes longer to dry clothes than it does to wash them and I don’t get distracted waiting for one load to dry before I can put a wet load in the dryer.

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  43. I erased part of what I typed. The guy only bought Speed Queen washers and dryers.
    He said what damaged them was moving the settings of the loads from small, medium, and large back and forth.

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  44. I don’t think anyone makes top loaders any more. I hear that Speed Queen is a good brand, though high priced. Made in Wisconsin I think.

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  46. Baptist tend to name their churches after location.
    Other than “First Baptist”, I have belonged to:
    Travis Avenue BC in Fort Worth,
    Boulevard Baptist Church in Falls Church
    Friendly Avenue BC in Greensboro.
    Mud Creek BC in Hendersonville was a mission of FBCHNC, but is now larger than FBD.
    I would think that long or complicated names would be a disadvantage.

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  47. Greetings from NM after a busy week and weekend.

    We have cold weather moving into our area. The coldest of the season, down in the single digits. So, of course, this would be the day my goat picked to kid. We have a cute little female. Had to rig up a heat lamp etc. She has “mothered up” well. Hope they make it through this cold snap.

    Today is Connor Matthew’s 3rd birthday. We celebrated over the weekend. I took the little ones to the winter park, where they sledded and did the zip line.

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  49. The day was lovely for a holiday. I feel especially thankful it was a nice day in Atlanta for all the MLK celebrations here. I have never done much for the day except one year I took Wesley downtown to the stadium for a day of service through his 4-H group. We ended up waiting around for quite a long time and never really got an assignment. Then we were told we could go home. I was disappointed since it took some effort to go there, park, and find out where we were to meet in such a large complex. When Wesley did service days with the Scouts it was always at a smaller location such as at a public school so it was easy to get to and park. Usually the Scouts managed to be productive.

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  50. I was surprised by how many top loaders I saw when I went shopping in May. Frankly, they’ve had continued issues and problems with the front-loader technology so many manufactures have gone back to the top loaders that are still water efficient.

    Maytag Bravos XL

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  51. When I was looking some years ago (thinking I might take advantage of the Obama Administration’s rebates), front-loaders were about all you could find. Not so anymore, thankfully.

    I looked at the “queen” models but they were way too big for my space (and I think pretty expensive as I recall).

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  52. Yeah, I think Speed Queen makes their models for laundromats, primarily. But I suppose someone with a large family or in a large house could use one.

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  56. Here, last week had two days of school (Tuesday and Thursday); today was off, tomorrow has a two-hour delay. I cannot imagine the teachers think this a good way to restart the year after the holidays!

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  59. I have a Whirlpool top load machine that is just a few years old. It works fine. I was not happy to have to get one of the new types, since I heard so much negative about them. I would still prefer the old type, but I cannot complain about this one, except that it spins too hard for some items.

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