Random Thoughts – Page 30 – The ramblings of an addled mind.

An Eventful Day

This day started off with a bang – or maybe more like a crash – although we didn’t hear it or even know about it for a while. The first sound I actually heard was the telephone. It was about 6:30. It was Mom – near hysterical. Pat is in trouble, she has called an ambulance, she needs my help.

So I get dressed – sort of; I pull jeans and a sweatshirt over my pajamas and slip into some shoes – and trot through the snow to Mom’s house. Pat is half-off their bed just wearing pajama pants and babbling incoherently. Mom tells me he was foaming at the mouth and saying “Just shoot me, just shoot me, I want to die.”

The babbling and foaming at the mouth remind me of past times when his blood sugar dropped into the 20’s so I ask her if she has checked his blood sugar. She says “No, he’s not sweating, if his blood sugar goes down he sweats like a horse.” Continue reading “An Eventful Day”

Spiritual Conflict

We, my friends, are in the middle of a war: a spiritual conflict. Humanity is accustomed to war because for most of our history we have waged war amongst ourselves. This conflict is not one where we are civilians caught between armies fighting over some prize; in this battle we (humanity) are the prize.

Who are the Combatants?

In this spiritual conflict we have two sides: God the Creator and his Heavenly legions fighting against Satan and his fallen angels. Humanity is the prize, and Christians are involved in the form of a resistance movement.

Long ago Satan, then known as Lucifer, was the greatest of all angels. But he grew proud, vain, and ambitious: he desired to make himself equal with God, and led a revolt: the original spiritual conflict. As a result, Lucifer and 1/3 of the angels in heaven: those who had followed him, were cast out of Heaven. They inhabit Earth and the lower heaven, but cannot pass through the barrier into the Abode of God.

We are among them. We don’t normally see them because they are spirit, we are flesh. But they are here, and they mean us harm because we are God’s pride and joy. Continue reading “Spiritual Conflict”

All About Nails

Hand-forged nails were the first manufactured fasteners and they date back to Biblical times. As people first used hewn beams, timbers, planks, and whole logs to build with, the early hand-made versions were spikes. With the development of the split wood shingle, nails of about 1″ long came into use. When sawyers, and then sawmills, began cutting dimension lumber, the sizes and varieties greatly expanded. Thus, over time, nails developed in different sizes, shapes, and used different heads to fasten lumber and wood.

These fasteners have always been in demand. Some blacksmiths made only nails and they were called “Nailers.” Nails were so scarce (and expensive) in pre-1850 America that people would burn dilapidated buildings just to sift the ashes for nails.[1] They did so because pulling the fasteners would have damaged most of them. After the nails were recovered, a blacksmith could easily straighten any nails that had been bent during construction. Continue reading “All About Nails”

Let the Redeemed Say So

In a world that is rapidly becoming anti-Christian, it is more and more tempting to keep our faith to ourselves. Some say, “I don’t want to offend anyone.” and try to blend in with the world. Is that what God told us to do? A part of the problem is the message that has been put out by some as Christianity.

What is a Christian?

Did you know that the term “Christian” appears only 3 times in the New Testament? You will find it in Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, and I Peter 4:16. The Greek word Χριστιανός (Christianos), meaning “follower of Christ” was first used by Romans occupying Antioch, Greece as a derogatory term for those who were teaching about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Originally these people called themselves “followers of The Way” (because Jesus said, “I am the way…” – John 14:6). Later, those who sought to model their lives on Jesus adopted the derogatory term and wore it proudly. Continue reading “Let the Redeemed Say So”

Play Yard Upgrade 1: Gravel Pathway

Once the new fence was in and the entire side yard was enclosed, we began entering and exiting our house via the “back” door (which is really more of a side door) and the back porch I just built. I have steps coming down toward the front to a boardwalk – which is a work in progress – but no steps off the back side. Yet. So I built a quickie “doggie plank” for the dogs (and me) to use in getting from the porch to the pathway I’m about to build.

We travel through “The Chute” between the house and The Great Wall of Edwina and across the back of the house, which is at the base of a slope so it tends to stay wet a long time after a rain. To help keep the muck out of our house I began this upgrade by making a pathway of stepping stones.

I gathered these 16″ x 16″ x 2″ stones from various places around our property. Some were being used as weights atop the lumber piles, others were a pathway from the front porch around to the play yard side of the house. That path is no longer needed, so I could re-purpose those stones.

While I was carrying these stones from the play yard side of the house around the front to the back porch, Blondie and Cochise were lounging on the front porch, watching me work… Continue reading “Play Yard Upgrade 1: Gravel Pathway”

Simple Living and Technology

At first glance, the concepts of living a simple life and embracing modern technology would indeed seem to be strange bedfellows. And our minimalist cousins are quick to point to the high cost of purchasing, maintaining and upgrading personal electronic gadgetry… and they are right to do so. Especially when you consider the cost of required ancillary services like cell phone air time and ISP fees for computers. However, for us not-quite-minimalists, there are some advantages to be had that can allow us to live more simply if we choose carefully and eliminate the unnecessary.

www.sigmundtv.com/electronics.html

Cell Phones

Continue reading “Simple Living and Technology”

I and Me, When to Use, How to See

Do you have a hard time getting the usage of I and me right in your writings? I did too until I learned one simple trick that can be applied on the fly to get your prose in line proper grammar.

But first, I need to point out that this does not apply to dialog spoken by your characters. Not all your characters will (or should) speak with perfect grammar and sentence structure. Let their personality show through when they speak.

For non-fiction and expository text in fiction, getting I and me right will promote a professional appearance.

First, it is never proper to place the speaker’s pronoun first:

Me and Sally went to the movies and watched The Blob. Continue reading “I and Me, When to Use, How to See”

Lessons Learned the Hard Way

As a young man, shortly after having given my life to Jesus, I was worshiping at a church pastored by a dynamic young man. He was probably in his late 30’s or early 40’s: older than I was but he seemed young to me – for a pastor — because the pastors I’d known before were in their 60’s or 70’s. He was also the first pastor I’d encountered as an adult who was formally educated: he could research and relate the meaning of words and phrases in their original Hebrew or Greek. He knew the context behind the words and the social settings and customs that gave deeper meaning to the thou-shalts and thou-shalt-nots. These details really got me fired up and thirsting to know more.

I began attending Sunday School, Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening worship, Wednesday evening worship and a Thursday morning Young Men’s Prayer Breakfast. I learned so much that I began looking forward to those times when the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses canvassed the neighborhood: I was eager to discuss the Bible with them. I can’t claim to have converted any, but a one or two did leave questioning their rote presentation. I began the process of enrolling in a nearby Seminary College. I knew I could not be a preacher: I don’t have the personality for that, but thought I might make an effective missionary.

One Sunday morning we assembled for worship. The deacons were in their places, but Pastor Dennis was missing. As the service began, a Deacon took the lectern and announced that Pastor Dennis – the man who had so often stood in that pulpit denouncing sin and encouraging righteous behavior, a married man with children, had been discovered having an affair with the church secretary. Both had been fired and were gone. Continue reading “Lessons Learned the Hard Way”

Is It Farther or Further, Father?

One of those grammatical faux pas that people sometimes make is in confusing the words “farther” and “further”. They do have distinctly different meaning and cannot be used interchangeably.

The easy way to remember it is that farther is a measure of distance: think, ‘is it far?” while further is a measure of degree: “how thick is your fur”.

Here are some example sentences:

I can throw the ball farther than you.
You can further your education with self-study courses.
How much farther will we drive before we stop for the night?
How much further will you read in that book before you turn out the light and go to sleep?

See the difference?

Farther is a measure of physical distance. Further is a measure of degree or proportion. If you keep the memory key of “How far – thick fur” in mind it should help you use these words correctly. Holly Jahangiri brings it all together for us with this example, “The son of a pro mountain climber attempting to scale Everest, furthers his career by climbing farther than his father.”