Random Thoughts – Page 45 – The ramblings of an addled mind.

A PRAYER OF SEARCHING

God, I have come to church today

because I am desperate.

I am not desperate outside of me

where people can notice

but inside

I am a dangling bundle of frustrations.

I am lonely and unhappy

and I am torn asunder

by the gnawing truth that I am a phony.

I have this terrible fear

that people will begin to see through me

and then turn against me.

Lord, I do not want to be rejected by them.

If I confess and repent of my sins

help them to be kind and understanding of me.

After all, I merely want to be what they think I am.

O God, help me to be authentic and courageous.

Help me to stop worrying about what others may think

so I may concentrate on being your kind of person.

Deliver my soul from the slavery of public opinion

so that I may be free and creative

in my commitment to you.

Lord, help me to deal with

my own insecurities and ego needs

in a way that would not embarrass your cause.

As I seek to understand myself,

help me to understand others.

Help me to learn to be patient with their sins

as I know you are patient with mind.

Thank you, Lord for listening to me today.

I believe I will have a good day in worship.

Amen

Artificial Gravity? Ask the Big Dog

dog, bath, bathing, — Cochise pouts through the afterbath

As scientists the world over ponder the problems that must be surmounted so mankind can thrive in outer space, the debilitating effects of weightlessness is high up on the list of priorities. However, I submit that if they want to find the secret to generating a field of artificial gravity, they need look no farther than the nearest large dog. It never ceases to amaze me how a 90 pound Bulldog can suddenly increase his or her weight to around 200 pounds at the mere sight of a bath tub.

If scientists can figure out how a dog can increase their gravitational attraction at will, they should have the secret to creating artificial gravity in spaceships.

CARING FOR OTHERS

The most compelling task of our Christian commitment is that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. In no way can we escape the Biblical mandate to treat others with respect. We are not offered the option of retaliation, even when we are mistreated. We are admonished to turn the other cheek and go the second mile. In so doing, we leave the impression that love and not hate is the dominant force in our lives.

It’s not easy being kind and considerate in a world which equates meekness with weakness. It’s not profitable to let ethics and morality control our aggressive ambitions. Of course, Jesus is our model example of self-giving love but who wants to be a martyr? We are not conditioned for the kinds of sacrifices which our Lord demands.

We love our neighbor not as we love ourselves. We love our neighbor only in ways which are convenient and non-demanding. We are prone to fulfill the obligation of our own needs before we make any serious commitment to others. The selfish satisfaction of conquering the competition inhibits our willingness to let anyone get ahead of us.

Somehow, the key that unlocks our desire to help others is discovered in the context of our needs. The kindness and love we require is the kindness and love we must give. Within the framework of our own personal needs is the best clue as to how we can reach out helpfully to others.We do not need a course in compassion nearly as much as we need to learn to treat others in the way we would like to be treated.

The best commentary on how we are doing is a sense of joy which comes from our helpfulness. We are created for kindness and not contention. Our needs are best met as we proceed to meet the needs of others. To know ourselves is to know our neighbor. To know our neighbor is to express love in ways we wished to be loved. We are never nearer God than when we love those whom He loves. By giving us the power to bless others, God has equipped us to be neighborly.

Life in the Mountains: Wildfires

Originally published Nov. 7, 2013 by Grit Magazine

It’s raining here today. That’s a very good thing. Not only do we need the moisture, but it does wonders for the air quality in our neighborhood right now.

A wildfire started early yesterday on Stone Mountain: just over a mile from where I sit. The smoke in the air was noticeable here by mid-morning and got steadily worse. By early afternoon an easterly wind moved in and blew the smoke the other side of Piney Mountain down through Bat Harbor. When the wind died down yesterday evening, the smoke moved back in, in force. It was nasty.

The photo is a shot of the fire taken Wednesday at dusk from the Lowe’s parking lot in Newport – probably about 8 miles away as the crow flies. Unless it’s a drunken crow; then that would be hard to judge. It shows the smoke plume that is drifting along Piney Mountain: our home place.

We sealed our house windows yesterday to keep the smoke out. The gentle drizzly rain started around 4 a.m. and has dropped 4/10th inch so far – at 8 a.m. – which has done wonders toward dragging the smoke particles out of the air and making it far more breathable. It should help some in the firefighting efforts as well.

We are in no danger from this fire except for the annoyance of the smoke. The biggest danger presented – other than to a few homes in that area – is to a spot at the crest of Stone Mountain called Hall’s Top, which is the location of a major communications antenna array. If this gets taken out by the fire, it would put a major crimp in wireless communications – cell phones, internet, business and emergency vehicle radios, etc. – in this county.

In the photo at the top of the page Hall’s Top is the high point just to the right of the fire. Since the winds are blowing the fire away from Hall’s Top, I expect it too will be OK.

Stone Mountain sits at 90 degrees just off the southern end of Piney Mountain. They are separated by a creek and a paved roadway. Just to the east of Stone Mountain is Hogback Mountain: it burned last year. Just north and east of Piney Mountain is Rocky Top (yes: THAT Rocky Top), which burned a few years ago. In between those times was a fire along the Foothills Parkway, which is more distant but visible from our front porch.

Wildfires are always a concern here because battling fires on the steep, heavily wooded, often unimproved (meaning few, if any, roads) faces of these mountains is a difficult task even for the experienced personnel of the Forestry Department. It is not at all like battling a fire in a city or even in a rural area of the flat-lands. Equipment cannot be driven in, the only water available would be any streams or creeks (often too small to be of any real use), and there is no quick way to get injured men out of a fire area. Even bringing in a bulldozer to create a fire break can be hazardous because of the danger of rolling it over on the steep, soft terrain. So most mountain firefighting is done on foot with chainsaws and shovels by men and women who must climb through the undergrowth up the steep slopes to the fire from the nearest road or pathway.

As residents of (or visitors to) these mountains, we need to be very careful with open fires, especially in the fall when the leaves are dry and highly flammable. Being caught in the middle of a wildfire will ruin your whole day.

These Guys Are Really Bugging Me!

At first it was lady bugs – or more properly, Lady Bird Beetles. Not the American Ladybugs: they are beneficial in the garden and non-invasive: we loved them. But the Asian Ladybugs imported by the forestry department to control their Hemlock Borer infestation became a real nuisance. They forced out the American Ladybugs and preferred to over-winter in our home with us. The American Ladybugs were never so rude as to move in en masse uninvited.

This year there has been a distinct lack of Ladybugs of any nation. Japanese Beetles were bad and I put out traps in an effort to control them, but they still decimated my bean plants.

As fall set in and we braced for the Ladybug war, they have not appeared. But an even more heinous cousin did; the Stink Bug. There are thousands of them in our yard, hundreds crawling on our home; including our porch, and dozens of the odiferous insects in our home.

Where Did These Bugs Come From?

It seems these nasty fellows hitched a ride here from Asia (where else), probably in some packing crates. They were first collected in September 1998 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Since then these pests have spread north into Maine and south into Florida, and are now moving west across the entire country. In the past, there have been one generation annually, but recent mild winters and warm springs enable additional generations to reproduce, increasing the population everywhere.

Time is a fascinating feature of our human existence. It is the stuff life is made of. We may lose some important items of life, but time is the most precious thing we could ever squander. We may be rich in worldly goods, but poor indeed if we have not time. Time is the context in which God created all things and allows history to record the events of His created order. We do well to redeem our time.

Our sins are often complicated because of the lack of time. We do not have enough time to make all the money we crave. We do not have enough time to satisfy all our ambitions. We do not have enough time to go all the places there are to go. We do not have enough time to make everyone our closest friend. We do not have enough time for all the available thrills and excitements in our world of entertainment.

We are often trapped by our perceived lack of time and it raises our frustration level to the point of indigestion. In our attempt to do it all today we overload our daily human capacities. We try to borrow so much today from tomorrow that if we are not careful we will bankrupt our souls before our years are spent.

Life is passing us by far more quickly than we can absorb it. The longer we live the less likely we will live any longer. Yet, many of us go on living our lives as if there will never be a change of schedule. We become fanatically committed to a routine we assume will last forever. We have a work ethic that causes us to labor even during our leisure. Health and circumstances, however, have a way of inserting some unexpected holidays. Disease can play havoc when our bodies are fatigued. The fast lane takes its toll on our emotional and spiritual stability. Suddenly we find ourselves sidelined simply because we refuse to take some time-outs.

Rest is not the only cure for our misuse of time. Worship can also heal our exhaustion. Taking time for God is taking time for ourselves. The Creator has a way of resuscitating His creatures. We are made to have fellowship with God, and to ignore it is to add spiritual fatigue to the weariness of our flesh.

To see God in the daily flow of things has a calming effect on all we do. It enables us to make the most of our time because God has equipped us for productivity. He frees us to find fulfillment within the parameters of our daily allotment of time. As the song-writer suggests, “Take time to be holy.” Think on these things as you change your clock back this fall.

The Emotion of Words

words, word pictures, writing, narrative, story — by Smock Art

Words carry a lot of meaning. I don’t mean that in the sense of synonyms and homonyms, but in the sense that the way we construct our sentences and phrases can carry – or not – far more meaning than the words alone should. It’s sometimes called “word pictures”

If you want to paint a mental picture of a girl who is sickly and frail, you would do well to stay away from the words “light” or “fair” in describing her skin and use “pale” or “ashen”. A dog that is scrawny will likely be viewed as unhealthy, while “slender” or “thin” may be viewed as fit and toned. If moving a bag or package, “hoisted”, “heaved” or “hefted” brings to mind a good deal of weight while “tossed” or “flipped” indicates a light load and easy task. A good thesaurus will help you find alternate words and a dictionary will help make sure you’re using them correctly. But it goes beyond this.

Continue reading “The Emotion of Words”

Scrambling Time

Today I was scrambling. I’m not talking about eggs either – although I did scramble up some eggs and fried some turkey bacon for breakfast this morning. The scrambling I’m referring to is the dashing-frantically-around-to-get-something-done sort of scrambling.

Fencebox It rarely gets cold-cold here in Tennessee before December. If we get snow at all it’s in February. On the rare occasion we’ll get a snowfall around Christmas, but that’s very rare. On that basis I was not in a big hurry to get my garden boxes covered in plastic for protection from winter weather, since winter weather was months away yet. Except it’s not.

The weather guessers have been saying that we can expect overnight low temperatures around 29 degrees over the next couple of days. That’s cold enough to do some serious damage to my squash. Rain is expected as well – although it’s not clear if the rain will be first then cold or the other way around. They’re not talking about snow, so I suspect it will be cold overnight and rain during the day after it warms. If that’s the case, my lettuce and Brussels sprouts should be OK, they just need protection from the cold winds.

A couple of weeks ago I bought my annual roll of 6 mil semi-transparent plastic which I use to cover the boxes. It’s been sitting here, ready to go to work ever since. That 29-degree forecast is for tonight/tomorrow morning, so today is the last day I have to get this done.

My garden is done all in raised beds, because we live on the side of a mountain and this is the only way I can garden that doesn’t just wash away every time it rains. I have fence boxes made from PVC pipe and poultry mesh to keep the rabbits out of my crops. In the winter I can add the plastic sheeting to provide better protection from the elements. How much protection is needed depends on what is inside.

There has been a considerable amount of talk, speculation and fear-mongering going on about the next big leap in personal information and records keeping, namely: microchipping.

Recently I’ve read articles, watched clips of talk shows and seen many YouTube videos on the subject of placing microchips in people. Some say it’s a great idea, some have concerns over privacy, and some are yelling “Mark of the Beast” and quoting scripture.^[1]

Microchips in Pets

As a pet owner I have been, and continue to be, a proponent of having pets chipped: this vastly improves the chances or your pet being returned to you if they somehow get away from you and lose their collar or tags.

These chips store a 12 to 16 character alpha-numeric code. That’s all. When a scanner triggers the microchip, it transmits its code and the signal can be read for a distance of up to 10 centimeters (about 4 inches). The veterinarian or animal shelter then uses the code shown on the scanner to query a database^[2] over the internet which returns the name, address and phone number of the animal’s registered owner. But why chip people?

Continue reading “The Next Big Thing in Microchips”

THE JAILHOUSE OF JEALOUSY

Jealousy is a terrible curse on the human personality. It has a devastating effect upon our self opinions. Jealousy arises out of a deep dissatisfaction with who we are and what we have. It keeps us searching endlessly for that which we think can make us complete. When we see what we think we want and someone else has it, we resent the fact that somehow life has denied us and favored another. It is a terrible way to live because we never know the joy of contentment.

A good relationship with others is often hindered because we are continually in competition with anyone who has what we think we want. Friendships are fractured at the slightest hint we are losing ground in the race to be most successful. Fellowship with the Father is affected by our need to test His willingness to get us what we think we want. We often blame God for our lagging status, since our egos are ill-equipped to accept any personal fault for out lot in life.

Jealousy is a subtle sin which, even if detected, we find difficult to confess. None of us wants to admit we are jealous, yet it is one of our most obvious weaknesses. Because who we are, what we do, and what we have consumes so much of us, our jealousies cannot be completely hidden. They become a part of our personality as they determine the tone of our behavior. We may think that jealousy is a minor flaw in our humanity, but in reality it furnishes much of the fuel for every sin in our lives. To honestly analyze our most devious iniquities is to discover the far-reaching effects of our jealous nature.

Our only hope out of this jail of jealousy in which we find ourselves incarcerated is to seek the mind of Christ. Our Lord taught us by word and deed that self-worth is determined more by what we give up than what we get. Once we move from self to sacrifice, jealousy loses much of its power over us. When our competitive spirits give way to a genuine hunger and thirst for righteousness, we lose our need to feel superior toward anyone. The cross of Jesus becomes not only a symbol of our faith, but a lesson on how to find our lives by losing them.

Jealousy does not have to dominate our dispositions if the servant-hood of Jesus is our model. In the development of our own servant-hood, we may learn to like ourselves enough to like those of whom we have been jealous. A Godly self-worth is the key to unlock the jail of a jealous mentality.