But The

I was talking with one of America's youth tonight who had never heard of Thelonious Monk.
No surprise really-what knowledge we accumulate in our lifetimes builds incrementally.
What brought this on? I was watching a movie the other night which had in it child actors who couldn't act.
They could hardly get their lines out, let alone emote, and I'm not picking on them-they simply haven't learned
their craft yet. They were chosen for their looks, not their 'talent'-which also happens to adult 'actors'.
Back to Monk. I don't want Thelonious Monk to be lost in history-I would love it if his music is still being played a hundred plus years from now. By then all the music ever recorded might be fit on a thumbdrive with near-infinite capacity. I hope that the musical appreciationists of 2111 keep Monk's music alive...while deleting Rod Stewart. Please.

Conflicted Not Convicted

A little experiment-I google imaged the word "convicted" and these are a few of the results. I was just thinking the other day about the citizens in our national penal system, what has been termed our "prison population".
Many prisoners accept Christ in prison, which Glorifies God. But I wonder how many Christians make the bad life decisions which puts them in jail?
I'm guessing not many-we are no better than anyone else, but our faith teaches us that we shouldn't be law-breakers, that we should color inside the lines of society and obey THE LAW.

Do we always succeed? Not a chance. If a Christian-I'll use Dr. Dino, Kent Hovind as an example-if a Christian runs afoul of the law, he deserves to be punished. Hovind went to jail. He's still there. I think that is right and proper.
Just an assumptive guesstimate, but I think that Christians (who were Christians pre-incarceration) probably make up less than one percent of the total prison population. In this country.
In many countries around the world Christians are imprisoned, tortured and killed for their faith, and for rejecting ___________ (go ahead-fill in the blank.).
But here in America? Freedom to express our faith. Cherish that. And don't screw up.

It Is To Laugh

I love it. I see stuff like the graffiti pictured above and I just grin. Let me translate:

“A stupid person needs the promise of heaven to see the merit of good deeds.”

Duh…huh? (Scratching my head) Do whut?  What do all them fancy squares have to do with th-oh wait---their bricks! He wrote on bricks! That’s a good un! Uhuh!

I’m going to kick start my assumpter machine. I’m going to assume that the person who placed this handwriting on the wall believes that an intelligent person doesn’t see the merits of Heaven. That a smart person is just good for goodness sake.
He or she seems to assume that we only do good deeds because we want to get to (work their way into) Heaven.  If not for the promise of Heaven, we wouldn’t lift a hand to help anyone.
In reality, none of us going to Heaven would DARE approach God’s Throne in our own righteousness. He only accepts the Righteousness of Christ, which we have become partakers of through His Grace. My righteousness would get me a hot seat in hell right next to the graffiti artist who thinks he was doing a good deed by writing on a wall.

An intelligent person knows that the fear (respect/love) of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.
I know the little darlings can’t help it-we exist in a culture which is running away from God at warp speed.
But God will do as He Wills, and He is still rescuing souls from hell every day. I’m guessing that many people around the world have accepted Christ in the time it took you to read this sentence.
I know by faith that not one person whom God wants to be with Him in Heaven will be missing.
Conversely, not one person destined for hell will be among the saints praising God throughout Eternity.
Smart like a lamb, buddy.

It's On The 'Nets...It Must Be True!

So it's three in the morning, and I just woke up and did some stuff. I shut down right before midnight, and I didn't hear a peep from the outside world-this is my first New Year living in a 'town' since 1994; I expected the celebratory noises to impinge, but they din't.
According to a redditor, this picture is the 'very first dawn of the new year' from some place in New Zealand.

Okayfine. I'm glad we finally get to flip the calendar. May God Bless you in this New Year and eternally.

Not A Review

Straight up-this isn't a review of the movie, "Inception". I watched it this weekend, and it is a very fine movie, one that I wouldn't 'spoil' for anything.
I purposefully remained ignorant, avoiding trailers and reviews, and I'm glad that I did. It was cool.
There haven't been many recent movies that have impressed me-another good one was "Shutter Island". Short list, eh?
I added the 'eh' because I recently revisited "Strange Brew"-the Bob and Doug McKenzie extravaganza from the early 1980's. It was better fun than I remembered. If you Netflix, put it on your list.
I don't Netflix myself, but it is a going concern. I'm just too cheap...actually, I know it's a bargain, but I kinda refuse to use a credit card to rent amusement. I have no CC debt, by the Grace of God, and I intend to stay on the financial straight and narrow. No Redbox either. If I do rent movies, I go to the video store in town, which I am glad to support, as it was owned by a friend from school, and it pays taxes, hires workers, helps the local economy. Redbox takes and doesn't give.
Just a few more days left in the year-thank God! It will be a good year to have in the rear view mirror.
May God Bless you today, and in the coming year. 30

Gotcha Covered, Ace!

Lets see...on the 21st of December we have the Winter Solstice (Northern Hemi), with a bonus lunar eclipse.
Psalm 19 declares the Glory of God through His Creation, though some of the created ignore God to worship components of that very same creation. I call them 'Duh' people.
But to show that there are no hard feelings about their stupid man-made beliefs, I am extending the good left hand of fellowship to them with this picture post. In the above photo there are:

A rainbow.

A meteor shower.

An eclipse.

The top of a tree (for duh druids)

Aurora Borealis/Northern/Southern lights.

Dawn, specifically Dawn Tinsley from the original, superior Brit "The Office".

An ocean view with another dawn.

You DO realize that God is the original artist who Created everything that you find beautiful, don't you?
All that human artists, from Da Vinci to Pollock to Charles Schultz to whomever-all that they do is copy what God has made, from a beautiful sunset to a beautiful woman to Amy Winehouse. We glorify an artist for having the talent to recreate, not create. We can't create anything. God made sunflowers, Van Gogh painted his rendition of God's sunflowers, and Van Gogh gets the glory? Not on my chronometer!
Solstice two guys walk into a bar, and...

Is This You?

Recognize this Bluto? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, avowed Muslim extremist, who believes wholeheartedly in Islam. Mahmoud is a mook waiting for the 12th Imam or Mahdi to show up and clean house on the unbelieving world, specifically Jews and Christians.
So why, you may ask, is he pictured in a Christmas scene?
He is an enemy of the true and living God. He has not an iota of faith in Jesus Christ…read on, if you dare.
At this time of year, millions (billions?) of the enemies of God who lack faith in Christ decorate their lives and houses for Christmas. They believe that they are somehow being good religious people by paying a bit of lip service to God-singing carols, wishing each other a ‘Merry Christmas’, buying gifts for loved ones and even tossing a few bucks into S.A. kettles.
God is not pleased. Read Malachi and see what he thought of religious folk going through the religious motions.
“ 6And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6
It doesn’t really matter to us if unbelievers get Christmas wrong-our duty is to get it right, to honor God and rejoice in the Salvation God set into motion for us one day in ‘the little town of Bethlehem.’
O Come, all ye faithful. Everyone else, have a nice day.

Enough With The Flowers!

If memory serves, Jessica Mitford (of the Mitford girls-look them up) wrote a chapter in her book "The American Way of Death" titled "Omit Flowers". Fascinating expose of the hidden dirty nittygrit behind the Funeral industry...60 years ago.
Omit flowers. I personally have had enough funerals this year to last me. I hereby declare a moratorium on all things Mortuary. No tisket, no tasket.
Omit flowers. Omit the whole rigor mortise rigamarole. Who's with me?

When a Zombie Meets A Mummy Comin’ Through The Wry

Please forgive me for the title-my unrefined mind sometimes makes me giggle. I just watched “The Mummy” last night, the one with Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser standing in for Harrison Ford and Karen Allen. It’s a charming movie, full of fun moments.
Of, course, the mythos/paganism of “Mummery” is nonsense, but no more non-sensical than the “Zombies”  presented in Frank Darabont’s AMC series “The Walking Dead”.
Here’s a co-incidence for you-I just checked and both Karloff’s “The Mummy” and Lugosi’s “White Zombie” premiered in 1932. Huh.
Anyway, back to the front of the post.
Vampires. Mummys. Frankenstein’s Monster. Zombies. Sounds like our fear of death makes us create boogeymen who have another life after death. Sometimes they have superpowers and can fly, and are impervious to conventional weaponry.  I’m not afraid of anything…except a lit match. (IF I only had a brain!)
Man can imagine just about anything…but what does God say?
“1 A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.” Ecclesiastes 7:1
What? How can that be? People are cheered at a baby’s birth, but we grieve someone’s passing.
Maybe we have it wrong. We are born into a sinful world, and a baby child has a lifetime of struggles and pains ahead of him or her. Decades, maybe a century of tears here in…this.
Someone passing from this sinful world, however, is on the doorstep of Eternity, entering into Rest and Peace if they belong to God-I think that was Solomon’s/God’s point.
It isn’t wrong to cheer for a baby’s birth; we praise God for children as they are a gift from Him.
But we should also cheer when one of God’s children passes beyond this troubled world into His rest.
I call that a win.

post script post: Leslie "Shirley aka Frank Drebin" Nielsen died yesterday...this picture fit so better and if it seems in poor taste...Leslie would love that.

Happy Black Weekend, Everybody!

I mean, why should Friday get all of the moneylove when there's an entire weekend following behind it?
We had a ver' nice Thanksgiving yesterday-a great meal and lots of fine conversation. No major caster-taffies.
I call it a win.
But back to Black. I will be celebrating Black Friday by refusing to go into debt-MY ink will remain Black in my checkbook, if you know what I mean.
T'is the season, I guess. Being fiscally responsible is Always in season. Hava Happy.

Even Moreso Especially In This Day

Ireland can’t make a pub run.
(Or, I guess, a country.)

President Obama wants to bring peace to the Muslims and Israelis. President Obama wants them to play nice and share. And they should listen to him because?

King Solomon had it right: every human endeavor is vanity.
If you read through Ecclesiastes you will find the king God granted Wisdom teaching some things that you might not believe…are in the Bible. Some are ‘hard sayings’, as in hard to understand. He sums up the book in the last paragraph:
“13The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
14For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
This is how it is: though what we do is vanity upon vanity, we are still called on the carpet by God for our actions.
There will be two resurrections, friends-one for the living and blest, the other for the guilty and messed. I won’t quote the entire chapter, but read Revelation chapter 20 for the details.
Those in the first resurrection heeded what God directed Solomon to write: Fear God and keep His commandments. Those in the second group din’t.
Funny how things motate in my head-I was going to write a Thanksgiving post and I ended up here. But I am Thankful for all that God has given me, done for me, for all of us who are in His family.
I am especially even moreso thankful for this:
“3And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,
4and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
Amen.

Faith Like A Rock

Perlous Times, my friends. Not one worry.
It has been quite a journey the past few years-life shaken and stirred...but not failed.
Faith in God keeps me thrivin' and not merely survivin'.
Those who think that any faith in anything is good enough are wrong, deadly wrong.
Some worldly gurus receive adulation and praise for "holy deep thoughts" such as:
"Today is yesterday's tomorrow." or "Love is all you need."
Thanks for nothing, Johnny Ace.
Actually, Jesus Christ is all you and I and any of us need. With Christ, we have God.
Those of us who have been Blessed to become part of His family will have unlimited tomorrows, eternal Love.
This present world matters less than nothing. What matters is how we respond to God, to His Good News of salvation being available as a free gift right from His Mercy seat.
Ask God for the faith to believe, and He may extend His Grace to you, even you. Wow.

Dancing Barefoot On Knifepoints

No photo needed for this one. "Dancing barefoot on knifepoints" is a metaphor, meta for how, in our daily lives, we have pains, hurts that we live with, endure because we must.
God is indeed good, but he doesn't promise us a rose garden without thorns on this side of the veil. He only makes it possible for us to continue to dance. There is a better, tear free life ahead of us, and our destination is well worth the journey.

Coldish Sunlight

Things work funny. I now live in a house which was built the year that Toulouse-Latrec painted this picture.
God has Blessed me in so many ways, that I can't keep up counting. That doesn't mean that I don't have struggles and troubles like everyone else; it means that if I need a house, God makes it possible for me to buy a house. All good gifts come from above.
Does that mean that I can depend on God?
Yes.
Does that mean that I can live foolishly, rack up credit card debt, borrow more and more and lose the house?
I CAN...but I won't. God sets examples all though His word for us to follow if we wish to live well. If I practice those precepts, I will be fine.
If I did the foolish things, God may choose to bless me with a harder struggle, a more troubled road for my journey. Who needs that? Hopefully, not me.
As for the title-it's chilly here, as we head towards Winter with a capital 'W'. I enjoy a cold house, and, as I no longer have to adjust temperature for the comfort of others, I can set the thermostat to make my home as cool as I am. (joke)
May God extend His Grace to you and put in your heart a desire for Him.