"Must have" gizmos--

=that absolutely no one needs.   imo

Light Housekeeping

Funny thing, I told Herk.  Housekeeping, I mean.      

How so?

When I was a kid, I could seldom get it good enough to please Mama; lot of chores done twice.

Herkimer chuckled.

But I got pretty good at it, and now I am thinking, I said, how much things change.

Herkimer, quizzically, Really?

Yeah, I explained, for years meeting Mama's standard in my own home was the goal.  You know, perfection.  But as I got older, things changed.  Now I am at a point where "good enough" is good enough.  At the rate I am going, the day will come when "not at all" is good enough.

Herkie laughed.  I was just remembering, he remarked, the early times in my married life.

Do tell, I encouraged.

Well, he said, Tildy and I had been married maybe two, three weeks.  I remarked to her that the house looked like she needed to dust.

Dust? she asked, in all seriousness.  What's "dust"?

 From Bob Warr and Picket Fences

with Bob's permission.

Meme. Mi, mi, mi, sol do

It has been a while since I have done one of these. Found this one on KCBob's blog.





Doesn't hurt to play a game occasionally nor to recall the past.  Here is vanilla's list.

    \/ Been Married

        Been Divorced
    \/ Fallen in love
    \/ Gone on a blind date
    \/ Skipped school
    \/ Been to Canada
    \/ Ridden in an ambulance
    \/ Been to Hawaii
    \/ Been to Europe
    \/ Been to Las Vegas
    \/ Been to Washington D.C
    \/ Been to Nashville
    \/ Visited Florida
    \/ Visited Mexico
    \/ Seen the Grand Canyon in person
    \/ Flown in a helicopter
    \/ Been on a cruise
    \/ Served on a jury
        Danced in the rain
    \/ Been to Los Angeles
    \/ Been to New York City
        Played in a band
     \/ Sang karaoke
     \/ Laughed so much you cried
        Laughed so hard you peed
    \/ Caught a snowflake on your tongue
    \/ Had children
    \/ Had a pet
    \/ Been sledding on big hill
        Been downhill skiing
        Been water skiing
    \/ Rode on a motorcycle
        Been on the Radio
        Traveled to all 50 states  (three to go)
        Jumped out of a plane
    \/ Been to a drive-in
    \/ Rode a Horse (if a pony counts)
       Been on TV
    \/ Been in the newspaper
    \/ Stayed in the Hospital
    \/ Donated blood
        Gotten a piercing
        Gotten a tattoo
        Been scuba diving
    \/ Got a speeding ticket (too many times)
    \/ Broken a bone
    \/ Gotten stitches
    \/ Traveled Alone

Make this meme your own. And let me know where to find your check marks. ツ

The Christian Workout

Someone gifted me with this T-shirt.  I wear it on occasion, though I think the theology is a bit weak. The text reads

Property of 

JESUS CHRIST

Strength Training

workout

60 minutes every Sunday

makes you tougher than nails

Here is where I think it is flawed.  The corporate worship with fellow-believers is an important part of the Christian "workout," but 60 minutes a week is not nearly enough.  We must walk with Jesus 168 hours each week.  "Sunday Christians" are missing the point of a relationship with Jesus Christ.  I believe God expects his children to walk with Him, to follow Christ's example every day.

I have heard people say, "I don't need that God-stuff.  I am a good moral person."  And I believe they are good moral people, but that is not what God expects of us.  He wants to be close to us, to walk with us, to carry us when in our human weakness we cannot weather the vicissitudes of life without His Strength.

 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. --I Peter 2:21

My mother, Vera Morrell Lacy, was born 108 years ago on this date.  She gave her heart to the Lord as a young girl and there was never any question about her 168-hour per week walk with Jesus.

Mama

Rib and Acetaminophen

Six days ago I leaned over the back of the front seat and reached down to retrieve a book from the door pocket.  It was a stretch and just as my fingertips touched the item they sought I heard the *snap* and knew instantly that I had cracked a rib.

It hurts more today than it did six days ago.  What did the doctor say?  I will tell you what he said.  I broke two ribs fifty-one years ago and went to the doctor who told me they would eventually heal, take two tylenol when the pain is too much to bear without them.  He charged me for the advice.

So certainly I did not go to the doctor this time.  Who said I don't learn from experience?

I am old and apparently brittle but I am not stupid.

You may laugh now; excuse me if I don't join in.

Ouabache State Park, 2016

Today's post is in a state of imbalance: long on pictures, short on text.

 The annual gathering of our friends of a certain age at Ouabache State Park.

 Wiener enjoyed the outing, too.

 Interesting fungus.  Obviously I did not eat it.

 JoLynn and Kent joined us on Monday.  The younger set to perk us up.

 Was it the pecs, or what?  Posing with a CCC worker.

Reflections on the lake.

 

Unfortunately, we had to pack it in a day early due to

medical appointment.  St. Mary's Church as seen from 

St. Vincent Mercy hospital, second floor and through 

the rain.

We are home safe and sound but bad weather including

tornadoes all around us.

Yeah, It's a Riot

On January 18 [click] this year I introduced you to our poltergeist.  On January 22 I entered the hospital for surgery.  Forty days later I walked into our home again.  My best camera which I am certain I left in the house when I left has not showed up since.  Poltergeist.

But the little dickens hasn't had enough fun simply disappearing things we really want, it has recently added a new trick in its arsenal of annoyances.  Here's how it works.

I leave my address book on the dining room table, admittedly amongst a stack of papers, checkbooks and whatnots.  The whole arrangement annoys BBBH, perhaps justifiably so, who knows; so she will sort the material into stacks and advise me that I need to "take care" of those papers and so on.

Now understand that when I say I will do something, I will do it.  This does not mean I will do it instantaneously, or in some cases, even today.

Thus it is that two days after I have been "advised," I have need of my address book.  I riffle through the stack in which I last saw it.  Nope.  I go through the other two stacks.  Unh-uh.  Now, having not been born yesterday, before asking BBBH concerning the whereabouts of my address book, I go through all three stacks again.  To no avail.

I bite the bullet, find Beautiful in another room and pose the question.  "In the stack on the dining room table," she tells me.  "I went through them all three times," I tell her.

With a sigh of resignation, she drops what she is doing, goes into the dining room, and almost instantly plucks the book from the first stack and hands it to me.  Poltergeist's new trick.

You see the little devil takes the object from the spot where I know it is, hides it elsewhere until I need it, I can't find it, go to ask for help, Poltergeist returns the object to its rightful place.

I am convinced It does these tricks to make me look like an idiot.

Grrrr!  ROAR!

Long Time?

Today is my 30,000th day of life on this Earth.

Hulda and the King

Today take a peek at II Kings chapter 22.  Nay, read the entire chapter, for therein we find the eight-year old Josiah comes to the throne.  He will reign for thirty-one years. 

We are told that "he did right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left."  (verse 2)

Now Josiah followed a series of kings who had engaged in wickedness, strayed from the Lord and even established worship of heathen gods.  But one day during the work to reconstruct the temple, Hilkiah the high priest found a book of the law.  He gave the book to Shaphan the scribe who read it and took it to King Josiah and read it to him.

When the king heard the words he rent his clothes in anguish.  Josiah commanded Hilkiah, Shaphan and three others to go to Hulda, a woman of Jerusalem who was a known prophet.  Josiah charged that they ask her concerning God's will as he recognized that the "wrath of the Lord is kindled against us because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book." (verse 13)

Hulda confirmed that God's wrath would not be quenched.  But because the king has a tender heart and he humbled himself before the Lord, the people would not be spared, but the king would die before he saw the desolation of Jerusalem.

His emissaries brought him this word of the Lord through Hulda the Prophet.

Now read chapter 23 in which Josiah cleans house and discover the circumstances of his death.

Takeaway:  The judgment of the Lord is stayed if we are contrite and repent of our sins.

The Most Tragic Conflict=

Declaring that Peace, Order, Tranquility, and Civil Authority Now Exists in and Throughout the Whole of the United States of America.  Proclamation 157, President Andrew Johnson. August 20, 1866

The bloodiest war in US History was declared over by President Andrew Johnson on this date 150 years ago.

The American Civil War, or for those still fighting it, "The War of Northern Aggression," started with the attack on Fort Sumter by a Confederacy of seven Southern slave states.  The Confederate States of America ultimately consisted of eleven states.

The war was over in the spring of 1865 when the Confederate government imploded.

The war cost 620,000  American lives and generated millions of pages of written material, books, magazine articles, and scholarly papers.

42nd Edition, Mid-America Show

 We spent the first two days of this year's celebration of Oliver equipment in our air conditioned cave, and with good reason.  We are much too old to be out and about in this August's weather offerings.  Saturday morning, though, the sky was occluded, the temperature was lovely and I went to the doings.  I strolled leisurely through the grounds marveling at the ingenuity of our species.

The first set of machinery that caught my eye was a display of single-cylinder yard and utility tractors.  It appears as though these little  monsters could handle a wide variety of chores, up to and including sawing up fallen timber.

 Where this collector found the paint for this beauty I know not, but it certainly made the machine a standout in the crowd.

 The featured make this year is the Oliver.  An old Oliver was the first (and only) tractor that I drove in actual farm work, turning the soil following the wheat harvest in Liberal, Kansas in 1952.  Mr. Rohrer had a big hit-and-miss John Deere as well, and my friend Wes was assigned to it.

 The Oliver Chilled Plow Company operated out of South Bend, Indiana and had factories in other locales.  The company was purchased by White in 1960.  White manufactured tractors under the Oliver name, and under the Cockshutt, Minneapolis, and White names as well. The Oliver 2255 also sold as the White 2255 was the last Oliver tractor.  From 1974 the company used the White brand only.

This event is held at the Tipton County Fairgrounds each August.  I have attended for several years and enjoy it every time, marveling at the machinery and talking to the old guys and gals who love their equipment.

Faith, Trust, and Service

Today's lesson is found in the seventeenth chapter of Luke's Gospel in which we observe the disciples coming to Jesus with a request:
    

⁵ The apostles came up and said to the Master, “Give us more faith.”

⁶ But the Master said, “You don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it would do it.

^7-10 “Suppose one of you has a servant who comes in from plowing the field or tending the sheep. Would you take his coat, set the table, and say, ‘Sit down and eat’? Wouldn’t you be more likely to say, ‘Prepare dinner; change your clothes and wait table for me until I’ve finished my coffee; then go to the kitchen and have your supper’? Does the servant get special thanks for doing what’s expected of him? It’s the same with you. When you’ve done everything expected of you, be matter-of-fact and say, ‘The work is done. What we were told to do, we did.’”  (Luke 17:5-10, The Message)

 This is a striking teaching on faith.  Faith, according to Jesus, is not quantified.  Either one has faith or he does not.  Thus to say, "I wish I had more faith," is to say, "I have no faith."  It is imperative that we rely on God and trust in His perfect will.

Jesus further teaches us our role in the service of the Kingdom by using the human master/servant relationship as a model.  The servant coming in from his daily toil does not expect to be treated as a guest in the household, but rather knows that he may well be required to provide further service to the master.  He fulfills his duties and is rewarded with his sustenance.  And the service of disciples is just the same.  We are to finish the work so that we may report to the Master, "We have done as we were told."  Our  reward is fulfillment of our needs.  True to His promise, He will provide.  We accept in gratitude, whether or not we get a pat on the head.

In the words of the old hymn, "Oh, for faith to trust Him more."

A Visit from Kennedy

 Great granddaughter, Kennedy, is six years old.  Wednesday she starts first grade.  So for an end-of-summer lark, she and her grandmother came to visit us for a couple of days. 

 

 There are no bad pictures of Kennedy, she is so pretty.

 The girl has an artistic bent.  Here she is with her Grandma.

 Intent.

Self-portrait by Kennedy.











This is Kennedy with her little sister, Naura.  Note the dollar signs and the stacks of money.  "We are going to be rich," she asserts.

The Law of Faith

 These are observations of my father, Rev. Mr. D. W. Lacy, 1911 - 1999

The Genesis gives a complete record of Our Lord’s preparation of his intent to make man. Call this paternal preparation a masterpiece of Holy origin.  Christians owe it to themselves to read carefully the record of beginnings as revealed to us by the Lord, our Sovereign Savior.

Approximately 4000 years after the record of God’s paternal preparation for the reign of man we find light in The Gospel of John 2:9 concerning THE WORD.

He is presented as God, as executive agent in the creation of all things as presented in the Genesis record.  Christ was there in the beginning as Creator and will be there in the final great assize.

The Garden of Eden was the handiwork of God, a nursery of preparation.   Nothing was omitted. [There was] complete coverage of all things necessary for comfort and growth.  The only guidance [man] had in the occupancy of the Garden was an invisible Key known as the Law of Faith.  Nothing was under material lock.  The Lord put Adam and Eve into their new home with these words,  “Dress and Keep it.” (Genesis 2:15)  That was an unwritten law.  There was an exception and commandment that says their welfare was under the canopy of Divine authority and protection.  “You are not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil."  A reasonable relationship.  Adam and Eve understood, having the image of God’s Spirit encoded in the brain and boundaries defined.  We must understand that the Garden was an open one in which God came (Genesis 3:8), and the Serpent came also.

Adam was endowed with responsibility, transcending intelligence and wisdom, and the law of faith contained the complete essence of God’s intent and Adam’s understanding:  a constitutional awareness and rapport between them.

©2005 David W. Lacy

Huzzah!

Today is the 55th birthday of the 44th President of the United States of America. 

Happy birthday, Mr. President!  Everyone is entitled to at least one good day per year.

A Fool for Christ

I have a younger sister, Ilene, who celebrates her birthday on this date.  I also have a good friend, Teresa, who was born on August 2.  They share this day with Basil the Blessed, fool for Christ.  St. Basil was not born on August 2, but rather it was the day of his death.*  He was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Basil's lifestyle centered around his activities of shoplifting and giving the proceeds to the poor, not only to help the needy, but to shame the greedy as well.  It is said that he went about his business wearing no clothing, but I mean, in Russia?
A key example of Basil's odd or "foolish" behavior is this.  He chastised Tsar Ivan the Terrible for his lack of attention in church, and his failure to care for or nurture the poor.

We are told that this Tsar was a pallbearer at Basil's funeral.  Basil is interred in St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.







 Happy birthday, Ilene and also a happy birthday to Teresa.

*August 2 would be August 15, new style.

Birds of a Feather

A relatively young person was recently going on and on about how wonderful Hillary is.  Apparently in this person's mind, Hillary hung the moon.

Similarly I have heard another individual raving about the merits of The Donald.  Just the very leader we need, and so on and on

Thus it was that I asked myself, "How can these people, both of them, be so wildly wrong, so completely deceived?  Can they not see what these politicians really are?

Then I got it.  In each case the person who is admired possesses the exact characteristics that the one making the assessment possesses, a person "just like you."

And that, my friends, is what scares the daylights out of me.