Whiner Comes to Visit After a Long While

Whiner has been sadly neglectful of his neighborly duties. I haven't seen him all winter and all spring. He's pretty much of a recluse in the winter months, staying indoors next door where he resides. A boy and a girl reside there with him so I suppose he is not lacking for attention and thereby does not need to come visit often.

But yesterday Whiner came to visit and when he visits he wants to make full use of his time and insists on plenty of pats on the heads and scratches behind the ear.

Whiner is very polite about asking for attention. Who can resist such good kitty manners?
So a scratch behind one ear. With plenty of dutiful application...none of this "one little pat" stuff. Whiner insists on full attention by leaning into the touch.
Now a pat behind the other side of the head. Whiner leans into the other side. He does not remain still for a moment and so it is very difficult to photograph him.
Whiner finally sits quietly. But only for a moment. Then he insists on more scratches. He's like that. Whining around for "More!" "More!" Why do you think they call him Whiner?
Finally he is satisfied and plops himself down on the grass which is cool from the evening shade. He surveys the neighbor's yard and wonders if he should go ask Joyce for a pet, too. He doesn't. Instead he follows me to the deck and looks through the patio door at me, wondering if I will come out and play some more. But I have other things to do, so I stick my hand out for a couple more pats and tell Whiner that I really must get back to things inside the house. Besides, the mosquitoes are out even though the city is spraying for them. I do not like mosquito bites.

Go Home, Whiner! Go Home! (said quite gently to this gentle kitty)

Last year this time I posted about how Whiner is called the $800 cat. And how he is not very good at guarding the cherry tree from robins. You can read that post here.

Whiner visited last year in June. This year's visit was in June. I hope he doesn't wait another year for the next visit. He's getting old. And so am I. 'Nuff said about that!

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Does This Qualify as an Ignominious End?

That palomino horse of black and white TV fame is on the block. The auction block, that is. At Christie's auction house.

Perhaps you are too young to remember black and white TV. And definitely too young to remember Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and their horses, Trigger and Buttermilk. And, hence, you have no clue about the smartest and most beautiful horse in show biz. So here's the info....

Roy Rogers' famous horse Trigger died in 1965 one day short of 31 years old. It seemed a bit quirky to me that they had Trigger stuffed and put on display at the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Victorville, California. But I'm guessing visitors to the museum didn't question the oddness of that...their point in visiting was to see memorabilia and I guess Trigger had become "memorabilia". After starring in countless TV episodes and numerous movies, he was now just a stuffed animal. On display. Weird. Quirky. But museum worthy to fans of yesteryear's Hollywood westerns.

If you have a few extra dollars in your jeans pocket and a hankering for something unusual in your (very large) living room, trot on over to Christie's and place a bid. Trigger is estimated to fetch up to $200,000. And if you can't afford Trigger, his doggy companion Bullet is estimated to fetch $10-$15,000. A comparative bargain considering Bullet won't take up the space occupied by your sofa/coffee-table/end tables.

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This Post Thanks to Tchividjian and to Kauflin

Now and then I visit Tullian. Or, more accurately, I visit his blog.

I've been calling Tullian Tchividjian by his first name because frankly, up until today, I didn't know how to pronounce his last name. This morning I was paying better attention and see that he has included the pronunciation on his blog....as follows:

William Graham Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin)

This morning Tullian posted the words to the hymn, "O Great God" along with a link where you can hear it sung. Words below. Link to video here. I'm singing this hymn this morning...I hope you will, too.

O GREAT GOD

O great God of highest heaven
Occupy my lowly heart
Own it all and reign supreme
Conquer every rebel power
Let no vice or sin remain
That resists Your holy war
You have loved and purchased me
Make me Yours forevermore

I was blinded by my sin
Had no ears to hear Your voice
Did not know Your love within
Had no taste for heaven’s joys
Then Your Spirit gave me life
Opened up Your Word to me
Through the gospel of Your Son
Gave me endless hope and peace

Help me now to live a life
That’s dependent on Your grace
Keep my heart and guard my soul
From the evils that I face
You are worthy to be praised
With my every thought and deed
O great God of highest heaven
Glorify Your Name through me.

Words and music are by Bob Kauflin who based this hymn on the prayer "Regeneration" from the book Valley of Vision: a Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions.

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It's All In Outlook!

I love the attitude of this cancer patient...her morning prayer as she hops out of bed is this:

"Dear Lord, please don't let some texting/talking driver kill me today."

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Money News! Grumbling News! Bad and Good News!

There is varied news in our community this morning:

A gentleman and his son-in-law in the neighboring town won 1,000,000 smackeroos on the lottery yesterday. In a small town this is big, big news. Even after taxes the two men will each pocket $350,000. And, naw, I still won't go out and buy a ticket. Someone else will have to fund their winnings. (I surely do want you to know, however, that I do not begrudge this bit of good news for the winning ticket holders!)

Last night an on-going thunderstorm rumbled and mumbled and grumbled its way through the area. My coffee-cup-rain-gauge has disappeared off the deck (I think I drank coffee from it yesterday) and so I have no idea how much rain we got. But it rained...and thundered...and grumbled...all night long. Or so it seemed. I slept through most of it but remember in my mind the rumbles in the air. I must have been tired for it did not wake me up. This, too, is not bad news...although we could easily have a few days of dry weather to let the farm fields drain.

The sad news follows.

Up the road, in the city, a man is on trial for murdering a 3-year-old girl. For some reason the local paper is printing all the details of the testimony...how the parents found their little girl lying dead in her bed...what the nurse in the emergency room witnessed when she first saw the child...the extent of blood, injury, bruises, etc. It's ghastly. It's bad enough that this has happened...it's horrible that now the details are being put forth in a manner that everyone will visualize in their minds the awfulness of this child's death.

We think to ourselves...how can an adult human being do something like this to a child? How can they DO that? What is in their minds? What? What? What? My mind reels with the awfulness of it.

I shake my head and remember that sin prevails in this world. Until sin is done away with, until death is no more, there will be this kind of thing happening in this world.

May justice prevail. Now. And at the last day.

I Cor. 15:55-57
"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Wherein I Explain My Reading Habits

A young Christian lady with whom I am friends recently commented on Christian fiction. (This is a different lady than the one I am mentoring). She was not talking about books such as the Janette Oke series where fictional characters live in certain historic periods and whose faith is an integral part of the story. No, she was talking about Christian authors who take a person from the Bible and "flesh out" the life and character, stretching a few verses into an entire book of many chapters and many "adventures" These authors then stretch a series of characters to create an entire series of books.

Then there are "Christian" fiction such as the Left Behind series. When the first book in the series came out it seemed that all my friends were well acquainted with them. And so I borrowed the first volume from the church library. I made it through two chapters before I put it down, never to pick it up again.

The Left Behind series has since grown to sixteen volumes of fiction. And I emphasize the word "fiction". I am glad I have not read them. I do not want my Biblical knowledge messed up with the things of these books. First, I do not agree with the authors' eschatology (the study of the end times). And if I do not agree with their eschatology how can I affirm all else that they write? And why in the world would I look to them for answers that I can find in the Bible? And if I am willing to spend the time to read sixteen volumes, why not take that time to read and study the Bible itself? Do you know how much time it takes to read sixteen volumes?

In the 1970s I read two-thirds of the way through Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth. I did not agree with his eschatology, either, and when I got to that part in his book, I put it down, never to pick it up again. It's interesting to note that Lindsey predicted the end of the world would occur sometime in the 1980s. Well, guess what! It didn't. To my way of thinking that ends any prophetic authority on Lindsey's part. Why should I listen to him forty years later in regards to the end times when he loused it up the first time? Doesn't that put him in the category, surely close to the category, of having made a false prophecy? (If you like the guy, well, then I guess you like the guy.)

I once tried reading a Christian fiction book based on Rahab of the Old Testament. Rahab is mentioned in a few short verses and then her name appears again in the New. Because I was interested in Rahab and in the fact that she is honored by being named in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew, I thought I would enjoy the book. But again, I couldn't get past the first chapter or two. There was so much more "added" detail...superfluous things that were simply conjectures on the part of the author. I did not want my mind messed up with additional details that were just...well...just fiction.

My point is this...if you want to read more about the heroes/villains of the Bible, why not go to the Bible itself? Many people read through the Bible every year. Last year I availed myself of a chronological reading and really enjoyed it. (You do know, don't you, that the Bible is not printed in strict chronological order!?)

Or how about using a down-loadable program such as e-Sword to search names and phrases and which offers several commentaries as well!

I really like my NASB reference Bible because it helps me cross reference to other verses that help explain a particular verse or phrase.

I also like the ESV Study Bible and the ESV Classic Reference Bible, and the Reformation Study Bible.

I don't mind if you enjoy reading Christian fiction...I'm just outlining some of the reasons that I do not.

P.S. History channel offers programs on Bible subjects...I just want to say I do not consider them "history" nor do I see them as accurate in their convoluted surmisings of the things of the Bible. Just my humble opinion.

P.P.S. Lying in bed early this morning I'm thinking you probably think I read nothing but the Bible! Not true!

Books just finished:
Perelandra, 1944, C.S. Lewis (liked)
North to Freedom, Anne Holms (supposed to be inspiring but I found it a bit unreal)
On the Beach, 1957, Nevil Shute (Terrifying but interesting)
Large stack of gardening, cooking, decorating magazines purchased for 10 cents apiece at my neighbor's yard sale. (I cut out a lot of recipes and deco ideas.)

Currently reading:
Kevin DeYoung's The Good News We almost Forgot.
A nifty 1888 hardback (original) I found somewhere at another yard sale, Short History of the Modern Church in Europe by John F. Hurst, D.D.
And Mayo Clinic: Guide to Women's Cancers (for obvious reasons)

And blogs...I read a lot of your blogs.

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Upon Which I Forecast the Weather By An Old Saying

The storm this morning sounded like a freight train roaring past our bedroom window.

A train wouldn't be unusual...we have numerous coal trains go through town every night and every day. The engineer blows that whistle from one end of town to the other and you can hear that train rumble its way from south of us to north of us and then again from north to south as it heads back to Wyoming for more coal. It's amazing that I can sleep through the night and never hear those trains unless I happen to already be up and making a trip to the bathroom.

But this early morning, before sunrise, the roar was outside the window and it wasn't a train. A storm was blowing through town. Not a tornado storm. Just a heavy-duty horizontal wind.

I took a photo out the back window to try to show you how the wind was swirling the branches of our small trees but it's hard to capture wind in a photo. How do you do that? Wind is invisible...I must capture the moving branches...but my effort was to no avail.

I have a tip for you again today. It is this...."Rain before Seven, Over by Eleven.". Yep. This little storm will roar through town, drop a bit of rain, bluster and boast, and then dissipate into a quiet day. In order to be over by eleven, the storm must begin in the early hours of the morning. If it begins at midnight...nope...the saying will not necessarily hold true. But an early morning storm? Regardless of how boastful the storm might be, it will soon exhaust itself and move eastward to bother someone else. In our part of the country, in Western Iowa, the saying is true about 95 percent of the time.

Hoping your day is one of sunshine. Unless you need rain, of course. In that event, I hope your land gets needed moisture.

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