October 29, 2023
Observing or Complaining
The best laid plans of mice and men were scuttled again. I could use another cliche. I had to rob Peter to pay Paul, as the money I was going to use for the electric bill went for the fob, which means the money for the food has to go for the electric bill, which means the money for the house payment has to cover the food, and pretty soon it will be December and the money for the house payment will go for the tree and Christmas presents. I think we could say something about the domino effect here also. I still think that fob will show up and I am going to freme it and hang it on the wall for everyone to see and allow me to start my sad story about how the domino chain was toppled by a fob.
I see God’s Hand on the church I am attending and it has appeared without any help from me. I have been thinking about our lack of youth and then of course, the lack of parents who bring the youth to the church and low and behold, the church was almost ful lthis morning. I could say it was in answer to my prayers but I wasn’t really praying about it, just observing and bordering on complaining. I believe there is a thin line between making observations and complaining and we often cross the border without noticing it.
I guess the first give away is the tone one uses when making the observation and maybe even the posture when making the observation could play into it also. I don’t think I had my hands on my hips and head tilted but I could of had my arms crossed and looked a little stern. But it wasn’t my stern/stern look, you know, the one I give when you know you shouldn’t have called the guy who never bluffs and went all in.
Anyway, I am excited to see what God has in store for Revive Church on Lower Azusa. And I promise I will not be a complainer but an encourager. I do know my nature is to encourage, not discourage and I am much happier when I am encouraging. Learning to give the truth with love can be a hard learned lesson. I wonder how many friends I have lost because the encouraging with truth without love showing through often gives the wrong message. I think I have learned that by keeping my nouth shut with only nods of the head and occasional “attaboy” or “attagorl’s” sprinkled in is the best way to start. Proverbs 13:3 says, “One who guards his mouth protects his life; One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.” and Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” The key is sticking to Proverbs 8:7, “For my mouth will proclaim truth; And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.’, [all from NASB], and not say, “attaboy” or “attagirl”, when you know that it is the wrong thing to say. The goal would be to get them back on the right track with encouragement, not discouragement. Almost sounds like a trick for David Copperfield.
When I started down this last rabbit hole, I was looking up the word, “mouth” in Scripture and found that word is in there 357 times. The original thought concerned the idea about how we use our mouth for good or evil, to encourage of discourage, and I am aware I haven’t even started on the 10% above the water line and there is still 90% below the water line, and there are 3 verses above without any follow-up on them, And, I know about the rudder in James but speaking about the tongue is a gopher hole and I could only start down the rabbit hole today. Maybe tomorrow is the day for gophers after I catch today’s rabbit. I do wish I had of brought my flashlight with me, would have made it much easier to see that danged rabbit.
October 30, 2023
The Full Enbrace
I have noticed the world seems to be at a little tilt to the left. All along I thought it was those pesky woke progressive democrats but this morning I noticed my laptop was leaning left. At first I thought I had been hasked by you know who but it seems the computer table top is leaning to the left and I guess after spending hours and hours looking at the screen, my head has leaned in order to keep looking at the screen straight on. I still believe those moons had something to do with the table top leaning somehow but for now, I can at least get the world back on a level keel.
How many of you know the illegal aliens are about to win their Supreme Court case for free housing in Massachusetts. The idiots, back in 1983, which includes the legislature and Governor Michael Dukakis, passed a law called the right-to-settle. That law gives people who claim to be homeless priority in housing and immigration status doesn’t matter. As a side note, it is how Barack Obama’s illegal immigrant aunt got public housing.
I think New York has some sort of law similiar to that one but for now we are discussing Massachusetts, who also lays claim to that RINO, Romney. Do they have any good thing coming out of there? The current liberal govenor, Maura Healey, has been welcoming in the illegals, who are now suing her, with open arms. Then when reality started overtaking the state of false bliss she resides in, she asked for federal help and her partner in crime who claims the border is closed, turned a deal ear towards her and people are leaving, I should say taxpayers are leaving Massachusetts. It will be interesting to see how long it will take before Massachusetts files their Bankruptcy petition.
I wish I could remember all those famous quotes I have read over the years and be able to apply them instantly in a conversation. I read John Wesley’s quote again about what one generation tolerates, (accepts), the next generation embraces. In case you are not aware, Wesley lived in the 1700’s and is considered the father of the Methodiist Church. Wesley had a lot of famous quotes, not all of which could be proved they came from him, but it could not be proved they didn’t come from him, so he gets the credit.
What brought this to mind was a situation where a guy was holding his wife’s purse and I made a comment about how it went with the color scheme he was wearing, which led to a conversation about how men now wear purses and they didn’t in my day. Hence, we tolerated men accessorizing themselves with women’s apparel and now society embraces men dressing like women and even giving drag queen shows for children at libraries and other venues. The real sad thing is we have allowed it into the ranks of ministry and church leaders, sort of like the full embrace when the showdown happens. Good think the Royal Flush is still in heaven to override the full embrace.
The United States has boiled over and is no longer a melting pot with Christian ingredients, but is now a bubbling caldron filled with fake news, falsehoods, hate, and men dressed like women and acting like women. They are not holding the purse for their wife while she is in the restroom, but holding their own while in line to go into the women’s restroom.
November 2, 2023
Our Image
So I have been slacking this past two days. Or did I just take two days off? Or was my schedule such that I never took the time for the Grist to be published? Do I have a guilty conscience? Have I lost a lot of sleep over not finishing the October 31 Grist? There are probably at least 100 more questions I could come up with if I sat here long enough. But the real question is: “Why am I asking you all these questions when they have to do with me and should be answered by me?”
The answer to that last question probably lies in how we spend a lot of our time worrying about how we are perceived by others. We all know people who are like Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory but I would postulate, (like that word?), that even Sheldon has periods or incidents where he is concerned about how he comes off or is perceived. And for the real life Sheldons we know and who have crossed out paths, mostly in unceremoniously but life defining incidents, they have more thoughts of what their image is than we could ever guess.
Think of the most obnoxious, narcissist, obstreperous, (add any quality you want), person you have encountered and I’ll bet there are times, whether they demonstrate it in the open or you can just tell by your powerful observational talents, deep down, they are worried about what you, (or someone important to them), thinks about them. I might even give some long odds and still take your money. How much do you have? I have a few bills I want to pay.
I believe this is one of satan’s most powerful tricks he uses to take us away from our relationship with the Lord. This is how is works: we become more worried about what our neighbor thinks about us than what God thinks about us. Don’t kid yourself. God is the great multitasker and can think about you and me at the same time. And while He is at it, He can include a few more people to think about at the same time as He is giving us praise or a time-out.
I would first ask, does your understanding of who God is include all those definitions which start with the letters, “omni”? If not, then I understand why you don’t think God can be involved in more than one event at a time.
So now we are concerned with what Joe or Mary thinks of us, rather than what God thinks about us. I did not take the Covid vacine but I would take a vacine to become immune from falling into that trap. Wait, I don’t need a shot in the arm, I can get a dose of the Word and ward off that temptation to become concerned about what the world thinks of me. I do believe I have heard that message at least 1,000 times in varying methods and by more than 100 people. And I know they are all looking at me, wondering why I am not listening to them and now I have to worry about what they are thinking about me. Why did I go down this path? Oh well, I am going to get the Bible out and work on what God has for me today and not worry about them. When they see the smile on my face, they will be worrying about what I found and what I am thinking about them.
November 3, 2023
400 Plus
I am going to be stuck pretty soon, like a wagon train going West facing the Rocky Mountains, with California on the other side. I have been writing and thinking I am just writing my gibberish for God to read. Lucky for me, He can read between the lines and knows the score. What if someone actually reads this who is not as smart as God, which would be anyoe who reads it, of course? That is not really the issue because I told you when you entered these hallowed grounds that you did so at your own peril. The problem is I put forth the premise that if you enter, you may respond. I have been chugging along at my own pace without following one of my own mantras. Your word is your bond, so make your yes – yes and your no -no and keep your word. Might be Peterson 1:1 but Peterson 1:1 does change every so ofter depending on the situation, which is ok because I never said the Peterson manual was written by God and therefore infallible. Anyway, I may have to hook up the auto-responder and fix the comment section. I have a lot of things to do and this will get in the way of my new schedule I learned in chapter 6 of our Thursday night study at Revive. Just in case you are interested after reading what I learned, there are only 2 weeks left and you will have to read about 160 pages just to catch up, but you are more than welome to join.
I learned about rest and Sabbath in chapter 6 and what an eye opener. I have been doing this Christian thing all wrong all these years. I understand I am supposed to rest 24/7, 365 days a years and squeeze in 52 Sabbaths on top of that. There was also 7 weeks of partying, (called Feasts), for all of the 7 days in each week, which is 49 more days and now I have 101 days of partying or what is known as rest for all of the uninformed out there, who have to go to work 40 hours a week or more for those people with a lot of drive and think the “R” on the stick shift means, “run”. I am glad we are using this new math, which I don’t understand but see it is to my advantage becauase I now have over 400 days in my year, all of which are going to be spent partying and getting closer to God. As Hanibal of the A-Team says, “I love it when a plan comes together”,
I really think this 400 day plus day year is going to mess up a lot of things for the normal people, but as for me, I will be partying and letting God take care of me so it won’t bother me in the least. Every man for themselves will be one of my new mantras. [Don’t you wonder what you missed in the first 5 chapters?] So not everyone will have all those extra days in their year and I know that will cause a traffic jam at some point. Think about it, I am putting the year 2023 on my checks and it will be 2024 for some and the check could already be staledated before they even hold the check in their hot little hand for 20 seconds! It will take me longer to get my years in for tenure but who cares because I will be partying that extra time anyway.
I guess maybe I am glad noone is reading the Grist. Someone has to support all these illegal aliens Biden has invited to basically party with me 24/7. The only difference is they will be buying groceries and paying rent with your tax dollars and I will be living in luxury because God is taking care of me. I have it better than Jimmy Stewart in, “A Wonderful Life”.
And what about Daylight Savings Time? I was going to say they could have 3 time switches but that would make everything uneven, Monk will have a fit, so it would have to go to 4 time switches. Maybe I need a better word as “switches” as that may be a triggering word for you. But as the Drill Sargent said in basic training when we came to that 20′ flat greased wall on the obstacle course, “ Get Over It”.
The real issue is going to be, where do you put all those extra days? Do we create an extra month or two or three? Who gets to name them? Where do they go on the calendar? Maybe we add some days on each month, and a few mote on February to make up for all those years it had less than the other 11. At one time we were about iniquity and now we are all about equity. Good thing I will be partying 24/7 and not have to worry about any these details. I will be so close to God, not only will He know how may hairs I have on my head but He will be able to count each one individually.
I’ll bet that next week, I will learn there are really 8 days in a week. I may have to come up with a cold so I can’t attend. Better yet, I will find that bat with the Covid and be off work for 2 weeks, Might was well go for the most time off available. But that will mess up my 400 days of partying. They didn’t say anything about how sick days fit in there. Does that add 14 days onto my 400+? Why didn’t Adam just let Eve get kicked out of the garden so we could still be enjoying life walking around naked and unafraid. I wonder if there is a Nudist Camp somewhere close that has a garden in it with fruit we could pick off and enjoy?
Speaking of the Garden of Eden, have you ever wondered what age Adam and Eve were when they were created? Obviously they were not babys. And how old was the tree that we try and tell the age of by looking at the rings? I guess Adam and Eve were not in there long enough for the fruit to rot but it was ripe when created. I like my bananas just turning full yellow from being green. I do wish those climate activists would not try to keep the bananas green but that is an issue for another day.
I wonder of chapter 8 is going to make me share all these truths with the world since we are using Scripture to claim all these feasts and Sabbath times, just as we are supposed to go into all the world and dunk everyone in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost? If it does, this might be the hook which will not trigger any of the woke snowflakes. The only problem is they are already living the dream in their parents basement so we will need to find one more bonus to get a signature on the dotted line.
I am off to find where the party hats are being given out so I can start my 24/7 for today. I am getting a late start and must already be a few hours behind if the 24 starts at Midnight.
November 4, 2023
The New Goal
I started the Grist, (and will finish that one someday), and was given the opportunity to have a car by taking Dorothy to work and then picking her up at 5:30. So, the Grist was put on the back burner and I went about my day, actually accomplishing a lot of things I was curious how and when I was going to be able to cross them off the list.
Along the way, I was reminded of the lesson I learned a long time ago, you have to keep somewhat of a regular workout schedule or you have to almost start all over again each time you lay off for a period of time. I seem to have let the unimportant crowd out the important in different areas of my life without even realizing it.
I have been working over in my mind the question revolving around my stated purpose of staying in some kind of better than average physical shape was really just a ruse to satisfy my blatant egoistical desire to walk, run, crawl, all the streets of the San Gabriel Valley and keep tension down concerning the discussion on how I could go to lengths to make the runs but not make points by going to a movie. I could run a few routes around the house and not have to go all over the valley, thereby keeping the requirement of needing a car and spending time to the minimum. I was now thinking about riding the bus to different areas since I have no regular car and I am slowly moving West and over along the South Pasadena area of the valley in order to find big pockets of streets to take care of on along walk.
Then I drove to the streets for Saturday’s delight and started the trek down Birch Street, (I was going to park on Beech Street), which is a long street, and as I came to Huntington Drive, which is going North and South at that point, I turned to the right and wondered what I was doing out there as even the hairs on my head said out loud to go back to the car, I had done enough for today. I didn’t listen to those lazy hair folicles and kept going.
I wound my way North and touched Fair Oaks and Meridian, along with a few alleys in that area, and when I hit Huntington Drive and Alhambra on the way back to the car, I met Steve sitting on a bus bench, who was not waiting on a bus. We started talking and even though Steve was able to carry on a conversation, it was obvious he had some demons giving him the lead in the next subject we discussed. It was apparent he was familiar with the corner and I asked him if this was his corner. He became proud of how he kept the trash off the streets by filling the trash cans up on a regular basis.
It was apparent to the naked eye that Steve did not have running water available to wash on a regular basis. One of the ways to get people talking is to tell them your name and ask them their name. When I did that, Steve stuck out his grubby hand as he told me his name. I know Dorothy and Ali would never shake his hand but I did. And I did not pull out a wipe like Mr. Monk. I learned early at the Mission that not shaking the extended hand, no matter where you thought it might have been previously, was a no-no and pretty much stopped any further conversation. And it very rarely had been where you thought, it is only dirt on the hand which all of used to eat when we were children and it didn’t hurt most of us, but as you know, there is always that exception.
Our discussion at one point revolved around him letting me know how psychics had powers and had saved him a few times, I worked in the Lord being the one who saved me, whereupon he would acknowledge me, and keep going with his worship of psychics.
We got around to his wonderment with numbers and I asked if he was a big numerology fan. Not unsurprisingly, he said yes. I told him the perfect number in the Bible was 7. His eyes seem to light up but then he went back to how important the psychics and their numbers were. It was time to move on and we parted ways with Steve looking at his hand and wondering if my hand had any cooties on it since he shook it.
The day was fruitful in meeting people, which has not been so easy this past year. I met a gentleman who was walking 3 Schnauzer, and a woman with a boxer, named Charley. They were not into spending much time with this weirdo trying to find an opening to share the Gospel with them but the were polite before moving on with nary a backward glance.
So I arrive home with a few sore legs and a commitment to get out there more often. And while I was thinking about ommittments, I realized I was experiencing some freedom happen in my daily writing of the Grist. I started thinking I HAD to write each day, rather than I was writing for a variety of reason, none of which made it mandatory to have the Grist up on the wall by a certain time each day and I was not duty bound to get a Grist up each morning. I could write 3 or 4 times a day with all the speed thinking I do so having material was not the problem, it had become a self-imposed duty, which was not the first time but I hope is the last time.
I very rarely follow the path I kind of set out when leaving the home to cover a set of streets, but it is not often I park on a different street than where I think I will start. But off I go, moving away from the car with no looking back to see if I am being beckoned to return and go home with a path that looks nowhere near what I thought it would when starting out. The writing of the Grist somewhat follows that pattern, I sit down and everything is free-flowing after I start writing. The first sentence very rarely determines what the second and third paragraph subjects will be, with today’s Grist being a prime example.
The ladies at the table on Thursday night have been Journaling for years and still have some of their earlier journals. Now that would be a great goal for me, to be around in 10 years to read the Grist from 2023 and have to decipher what I was writing about! Wonder how I can work my coverage of all of Los Angeles streets into that equation because I know that my running will definitely be a much larger problem if continued for 10 more years even though it kept me alive for 10 more years. Maybe that is what the issue will be!.