As you might know, I technically don't do the A to Z post challenge in April, since I have a lot of regular stuff I'd hate to try and find a letter-excuse for. So what I do is one post on the 1st and one on the 15th, splitting the alphabet with little mini posts. This year, I used a typically warped randomized selection process to do "Animals through the Years". Also, I'm doing it a day early due to my Wednesday Bible Study on the 1st. So here we go- "Animals through the years"...
A- Attack at Shoaff Park- 4/12/14
Goose vs goose at the pond
B- Doggie Birthday- 3/7/16
With his own little cupcake!
C- Happy Boofus Day at Culvers- 5/17/18
Truthfully, we never knew Scrappy's birthday, so we'd just celebrate a Happy Boofus Day on an early nice weekend.
D- Deer at the Alumni Pond- 5/6/18
E- Enjoying the Creek- 4/11/14
His favorite times were when the creek was un-skunky enough to splash in
F- First baby eviscerated- 1/29/20
Just as proud as can be!
G- The Battle of Goose Island- 5/15/19
We enjoyed a picnic lunch while the geese on the island ran off the one in the water.
H- Doggie in Hat- 1/16/13
I- The IPFW Deer Soccer Team- 3/30/14
"How many laps did coach tell us again?"
J- Just bein' me - 4/23/17
K- KBS, Daddy, and Misty- 2/15/20
It might have been CBS, but I'm running low of K options...
L- Doggie Lords Of Flatbush- 3/2/15
Check out, "Shorty, the Don..."
M- Man, I Knew I shoulda took that left turn at Albuquerque- 5/26/18
"This doesn't look a lot like the ditch to me. Little help here?"
I've been considering today the case of the Louisiana church who is defying state order in still meeting on Sundays. I decided I needed to do a little more prayer and a little more action before doing the post. And I am glad I did.
Researchers say that while 88% of churches in this nation are doing the safe, legal thing of having services online or another means of 'non-meeting' meetings, there are still 1/5th of churches still meeting "now more than ever". First, let's look at "how that's working":
In Cleburne County in Arkansas, Greers Ferry First Assembly is mourning their beloved long time greeter who died this week from the new coronavirus as the number of infected persons connected to the church rose to 37. In Illinois, several members of a Pentecostal church are either at the hospital or in-home quarantine after at least 43 congregants fell ill following a revival service about a fortnight ago, and at least 10 of them have tested positive. In a Facebook post Wednesday night, Layna LoCascio, wife of pastor Anthony LoCascio who leads The Life Church of Glenview, said at least 43 of the approximately 80 people who attended a March 15 service at their church have fallen ill and everyone who has been tested for the new coronavirus has come back positive for the virus.
“We have 43 infected (at minimum) from our church or connected to our church from our last service on March 15th. They all haven’t tested but whoever gets a test done ends up being positive, and we all have the same symptoms. It’s just not easy. It’s especially not easy when you’re a leader and a pastor of a precious church and we all got infected together,” she wrote.
(Above from The Christian Post)
I could go on- there are several other examples. Now, let's go on to this particular church's reasoning:
We are essential “We feel that we are as an essential part of our community as the retail stores,” pastor Tony Spell of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, told Dr. Phil. “It is in persecution of the faith for us to be asked to close our doors whenever more people are being contacted in those Targets and Walmarts than are in my service.” Pastor Spell said, “We reach out, we minister to people, feed people. We are the last stable institution in this community today.” He added it was a time of instability for the community he serves. He said two teenage African American girls attempted to take their own lives this week because their parents lost their jobs, the schools are closed, and they don’t get their meals during the day.
“We are ministering to them; we are not part of the problem,” the pastor asserted. He added that some of his parishioners were suspended from their jobs without pay for attending church. Their argument to their employer, he said, was that other employees were at the gym, shopping, and at other locations where they, too, were surrounded by people but they were not suspended for their actions.
"That, my friend, is a persecution for the faith..."
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But is that 'persecution for the faith'? Let's look step by step at what he says here, and then see what God might have to say.
Essential? I believe contact with other Christians is essential- so does my church. That is why they have a plethora of online outreaches going on right now. Should brick and mortar stores be shut down as well? There you are talking not only the well-being of believers, but of non-believers as well. And the logistics of online church for Christians is a lot easier done than the logistics of online only shopping for the wider world. Trust me, even before the lockdown it was a 3-day wait for delivery here. Plus, stores have taken various steps to keep the 6-ft-distance rules in force, among other measures. Can a church reasonably do this and have a full service?
"Last stable institution"- Well, your state has stable institutions- which you are deciding to ignore, thus de-stabilizing them.
"...two teenage African-American girls"- IDK about Louisiana, but here in Indiana, scores of schools and restaurants are bending over backwards to make sure ALL kids in the community are able to get free lunches if necessary. So are you telling me that a) your state hasn't figured that one out (which I doubt), b) these girls were that ignorant of the options available (more plausible, but still doubtful), or c) this is a carefully worded lie, to make Dr Phil's audience go ga-ga by hitting all the pc markers (the odds on favorite)?
"...not part of the problem..." As I said above, there are ways of ministering WITHOUT being part of the problem. If you feel mass contact is necessary, then yes, you ARE part of the problem.
"...suspended from their jobs..." Um, any business has the right to fire someone for breaking the law. It's part of your work agreement. NOT persecution.
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Now, what would God say? First off, would He call this persecution? Answer, no. Can you still meet as a church online, have meetings of less than the banned amount, pass out food to suicidal African-American girls without breaking the law? Yes.
Second, are you breaking the law to stand up for Christ, or are you breaking the law to get attention for yourself and using Christ as a self-glorifying cover? Let's see what Paul says:
Romans 13 1 All of you must obey the government rulers. Everyone who rules was given the power to rule by God. And all those who rule now were given that power by God. 2 So anyone who is against the government is really against something God has commanded. Those who are against the government bring punishment on themselves. 3 People who do right don’t have to fear the rulers. But those who do wrong must fear them. Do you want to be free from fearing them? Then do only what is right, and they will praise you.
So either you DON'T know the Word as well as you might, or you're trying to self-glorify. That your interview was on Dr Phil kinda answers that question.
Now, you might tell me, "But Peter said, 'Should we obey man or obey God?' " This is true. But Peter and John were specifically being asked to stop preaching the Word BECAUSE it WAS the Word. By now, you might have read the Martin Luther quote about self-quarantining during the plague that's been all over social media. By any stretch, if your church was at all about the TRUTH of the Word, you'd know you were in the wrong here.
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But one final thing to consider is the "V" in the anagram I shared a few weeks ago- "God's View, not man's". Could there be a reason that God HAS chosen this church, among so many, to stand up this way? Perhaps there is a certain pride that needs to be knocked loose here. As leadership comes from the top, I can practically guarantee it. As Christians, I would believe our duty is to pray for this church- that God releases this judgment, takes the blinders from their eyes, and breaks them of this sinful pride, before it is too late for them and the good that they COULD be doing for their community.
Yesterday, I played one of those FB games where you put up your name and people make a 'first impression' comment. Someone commented for me 'wise'- to which I answered, "Another one fooled". And this morning was a good example of why I said that. So let me pose a question one way here, and another way when I'm done with this morning's experience. The first question: You ever get stuck by something so obvious, it feels like everyone on earth got it before you?
As I woke up from a questionable night's sleep, Charles Stanley was speaking about David. If you have followed my faith posts for a while, you know that I have had the hardest time figuring out 2 figures- Davis and Paul. Paul I have started to comprehend, thanks to Dennis Miller, but David still has been a head scratcher. How does someone do all the NEGATIVE things he did, and still end up 'a man after God's own heart', whose only detraction from God is 'in the matter of Uriah the Hittite'?
Well, somewhere in between Stanley's own listing of these characteristics- "He was a liar, a murderer, and did some very hard things..."- and his conclusion, it began to dawn on me. As he described David's acting like a madman to escape death at the hands of the Philistines as something God would NOT have wanted him to do, I began to see that my problem was that I was looking at David's failures and indiscretions as "means to accomplish God's ends" that God was giving him a pass on- but that wasn't what was happening. I saw that, like with many other Biblical characters, I was seeing David 'fully perfected', complete as God wanted him from the moment as a cheese-toting lad he killed Goliath.
God, however, saw him different. Stanley went on to describe what David went through, seemingly over and over, as God's "sifting him over and over until he produced in David the character he wanted."
David was not 'complete as delivered'. He was 'some assembly required'- just like me, just like the rest of us, being sifted until the character God wants in us is developed. Needless to say, I'll have to study David in a new light. And if not wise, at least I've gained one small measure towards it.
That rephrased question: "Did you ever have God keep something from you that should have been obvious, until the time you WOULD actually use it?" And if you look at the first question, they are really one and the same.
So today we go to March 27th, 1965- where wiki tells us...
The Norwegian tanker SS Nora collided with the Liberian ship MV Otto N. Miller off the coast of Eastbourne in the English Channel. Both ships caught fire and there was a large oil spill.[222] Trygve Tyse, the captain of the Nora ordered his crew to abandon ship, then remained on board to fight the fire.[223]
In trying to flesh this out, by ship name, by the courageous captain (who I did find was a WWII vet), virtually the only thing I learned- serious business- is that the Norwegian word for "speed" is "fart". No wonder NASCAR Speed Week never does well there...
On the other hand, kids from the USA visiting there prolly get a kick out of watching "Fart Racer"...
Welcome to another week of Time Machine, as we welcome in- yet again- the Beatles, give Wayne Newton a chance to redeem himself on Crazy Covers, and a 6D that leads to another "greatest hits of...", this time that list is for one Buddy Harman! One new M10 song is also in the offing, so let's fart right to it...
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Welcome back, gentlemen! And how are you all today?
Paul: We're doing quite well, thank you! Ringo: Yes, we all packed sack lunches, just to be safe! George: And a change of clothes... John: Although, I must say, I wish Mr Presley would have been here. I should like to speak to him about his recent comments about my health...
HB: I would like at this point to apologize on behalf of Time Machine, Inc., for that unfortunate comment. And Mr Presley will be sending out written apologies to the band and Mr Lennon...er, shortly...
Yes, yes, thanks bunches. I know Elvis is 'really really' sorry and wishes he could have been here to tell you himself... R: Yer nose is growin', mate...
I expect it is. Why not get right to the business at hand...
P: Yeah, but how are we going to do this up, now that you're not making us read all the votes off? G: Yes, someone's bound to get left out...
Well, I tell you what. we have 16 contestants from 68 stations. We have 4 finalists; why don't you each take one of the other twelve songs first, and then each do a finalist!
R: You must've been a math major, or an accountant... J: Oh, please. Any third class education could have come up with that! P: I didn't see you jump to the fore, John... J: Well, EVERYone knows I'm just an 'arrogant pseudo-intellectual with a messiah complex...' HB: At this point, I would like to apologize for...
SIT down, Bellbottom. John, why don't you start us off?
J: Ah, very well. Hmmm... well, I see we have a vote for our own version of Rock And Roll Music, despite not having been released in the States... P: The Searchers and that lovely Judith Durham got 4 votes for I'll Never Find Another You, despite just debuting at #95... all Australian votes, I'm told. G: Herman's Hermits are on the list twice, once with Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter, which was still a few weeks out from charting... R: George, you idiot, that's one of the finalists!
Er, that's right. And at 2 weeks before charting on Cashbox, that breaks the week-old record for lowest finalist, the third time in about a month!
G: Oh, dreadfully sorry... should I have another go? R: No, I get the last one...how about that the Hermit's current chart hit, Can't You Hear My Heartbeat at #4, MISSED the finals!
Yeah, that kinda messed me up, too! So George already mentioned that Mrs Brown, which debuts April 10th, is one of the finalists. You guys, give us the others!
J: The Supremes and Stop In The Name Of Love is at Cashbox's #1 this week. Say, Chris, you've had a bit of a go with Diana Ross as well, haven't you? HB: On behalf of Time Machine...
BELLBOTTOM! We've worked out an... uneasy peace. IF they win... I guess I'll be fine with that...
P: We've got the third finalist, with 8 Days A Week, at #5... R: You mean we might have to do this again next week? J: Just shut up and give the other contestant, blockhead... R: No need to be rude, Jackie! The last contestant is Freddie and the Dreamers with I'm Telling You Now, at #14. G: See, I told you, someone always gets left out... J: Good God, George, cry us a river! R: "While your guitar gently weeps..." ALL: SHUT UP, RINGO!!!
Ah, okay, so just in case you're one of the many who got lost here, the choices are Stop In The Name Of Love, 8 Days A Week, Mrs Brown, and I'm Telling You Now. I think I'll go put in my vote for Freddie while you listen to our new debut, at #10. Brand new from the due May 1st lp Hate For Sale, this is the Pretenders...
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This week our 6D victim- the highest charter without a Panel vote- goes to Roger Miller's King Of The Road. The drummer on this disc was Buddy Harman, who has an extensive discography as a member of Nashville's "A-Team", the country equivalent of the Wrecking Crew. I decided to do Buddy's top ten- and they are all #1s on either country or pop! Here are the top ten twelve hits that Buddy Harman was drummer on:
3 weeks at #1
Tammy Wynette, Stand By Your Man (country)
Roy Orbison, Oh, Pretty Woman
Brenda Lee, I'm Sorry
4 weeks
Elvis, Stuck On You
5 weeks
Patsy Cline, She's Got You (c)
Elvis, It's Now Or Never
Everly Brothers, Cathy's Clown
6 weeks
Roger Miller, Dang Me (c)
Johnny Cash, Ring Of Fire (c)
Elvis, Are You Lonesome To-nite?
Johnny Horton, Battle Of New Orleans
And at #1, with 7 weeks on top of the country chart... let's just save that for the end, huh?
So this week, three different versions of a certain song were in the Billboard top 40- one (an instrumental) and two combined on Cashbox. That song was Red Roses For A Blue Lady. On Cashbox, the instrumental by Bert Kaempfert's Orchestra was at #9, while the combined vote of Vic Dana and our own Wayne Newton was at #11; on Billboard, Bert was 11, Vic was 15, and Wayne... well, Wayne was 38. So we listened to all three, and here's how that went...
Laurie: I know I'm going to surprise you, but I'm going to take the instrumental. The vocals just kind of laid there for me.
Chris: I'll go along with you on Vic, but I thought Wayne did a gorgeous job!
"You... you DID?"
Yes, I did, and I give this vote to you- not by a lot, because the instrumental was great- but yes, you got my vote!
"YESSSS!!!!"
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On the stat pack this week, we have Panelists in both of the categories. The big mover, from 52 to 14, is finalist Freddie and the Dreamers' I'm Telling You Now. It just beat out another Panelist- Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders' The Game Of Love which moved 32 spots from 70 to 38. And, The UK #1 got a vote and was debuting at 71 here- The Rolling Stones with The Last Time.
Agnes Obel's Camera's Rolling slips from 6 to 9.
Fertile Crescent, now the oldest song on the list at 7 weeks, holds at 8 with Onion Garden.
Anna Burch moves up 2 with one of her chart hits this week, at 7 with Tell Me What's True.
Speaking In Squares up one to 6 with A Song For The Opossum.
And, the Iron Ceiling III...
Tennis at five with How To Forgive...
Best Coast at 4 with Everything Has Changed...
Brooke Annibale at 3 with I Will...
But the top two flip- Real Estate slips to 2 after 3 weeks at the top with Paper Cup (sorry, Chipper)...
And the new number one- her fourth...
...Anna Burch with Party's Over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, what was Buddy's biggest hit? With 7 weeks on top of the country chart...
....the Everlys with Bye Bye Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the Panel pick- and a savage battle it was...
Mrs Brown got you 7.35%...
Freddie and the boys got you 13.2%....
The Beatles managed 19.11%....
But your winner, with 23.52%....
The Supremes and Stop In The Name Of Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next week, Elvis is back, Diana Ross is here, and we visit 1966! Stay safe, stay home!
Deuteronomy 34 is basically Moses' goodbye. And again, it might seem hard to draw a lesson from it, but it's there.
The chapter begins just after the final blessing Moses gave to the people, at which point he ascends Mount Nebo and gets shown the promised land he is not to enter.
Here you get a clear picture of the boundaries to which God pointed Moses's eyes. You'll find Mount Nebo just above where it says, "Reuben", in red. By this map's legend, that makes it just over 50 miles to Zoar, about 65 to the sea, and over a hundred miles to Dan. Can you see that far without Divine help? Wiki, noting the verse, says that today from the summit of Nebo, you can see Jerusalem "on a very clear day". And Jerusalem's only about 30 miles across the sea. But, the writer DOES say, Deu 34:7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.
And no, that's not the lesson. Nor is this part:
Deu 34:5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD, Deu 34:6 and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day.
Though it is significant in how it enlightens a much later bit of Scripture. You see, God's purpose in burying Moses "Where no one knows" was so that his grave would not become a shrine or idol- something that the Israelites "were prone to doing" (says John Wesley's commentary). So the Devil would have a vested interest in having them FIND the grave, which brings us to Jude...
Jud 1:9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."
So now you know why they were contending.
But the lesson here is the sharp contrast of two themes. One is the greatness of the life and service to God of Moses:
Deu 34:10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
Deu 34:11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land,
Deu 34:12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
And the other is the price of one act of disobedience:
Deu 34:4 And the LORD said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, 'I will give it to your offspring.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there."
So is this God saying, like the old joke, "One 'Aw, crap' wipes away all accumulated 'Attaboys'" ?
Not at all.
Moses, despite his glowing testimonial here, was not perfect. He had murdered; he was (initially) disobedient about circumcision; he argued with God about even going back to Egypt. But the sin that he was banned from the promised land for was of a different stripe:
Num 20:7 and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
Num 20:8 "Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle."
Num 20:9 And Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he commanded him.
Num 20:10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?"
Num 20:11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.
Num 20:12 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them."
God told them to TALK to the rock; Moses, so sick of the same thing over and over from the people for 40 years, yelled at them and HIT the rock. Where his other sins involved breaking the commandments of the Law before a limited audience, this was disobedience of what God told him BEFORE AN AUDIENCE that looked to his leadership. The parallel with David, "the man after God's own heart", is striking. David had become the unquestioned leader and example of the people, as Moses had. David brought shame to the Lord, not by the sin of adultery (not that that was a good thing), but by the murder of Uriah by those who FOLLOWED HIS ORDERS, which should have been the orders of God.* And the most precious earthly thing to him- whether it was the child of adultery, or the peace of a contented rule- was taken away from him.
*Thus, I finally understand why it is that, in David's own testimonial, it is said,
1Ki 15:4 Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem,
1Ki 15:5 because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
This then is a lesson of humility to leaders- Shame me before the congregation, says the Lord, and the price is a fearful one. And a lesson to ALL of us on the importance of obedience.
A while back, I brought up the nine lessons to learn from Peter's mistakes. I even have them posted at my work station. But memorizing them isn't easy. Until one day, God kinda bumped me and said, "Why not make an anagram you can remember?" So, with His help, I did, and now I use it as an everyday prayer basis. And it goes like this:
BLEST HOW FAVA
Or, to more easily remember, "Blessed how? By favor".
It works like this:
B: Bring it to Jesus first. This is where Peter told the questioner that, "Sure, we pay the Temple Tax", and then went to Jesus and asked IF they should be paying the Temple Tax. I use this to try to bring both the day AND troubles along the way to Jesus first.
L: Shut up and LISTEN. Here's Peter in a nut shell, and myself as well. God will often be trying to ANSWER a prayer, when we're still going on about the catastrophe the prayer is about.
E: Keep your Eyes on Jesus amidst the storm. You're running around like the disciples on the boat, saying, "Don't you care we're perishing/", while Jesus remains calm and in control.
S: His Strength, not MY WEAKNESS. Peter makes it only halfway across the water when his weakness catches up to him and he sinks. Too often we keep asking for His strength and relying on our weakness to do it.
T: Don't Talk a good game. Back it up with action. Like Peter, all too often we say we'll follow him anywhere, and the next thing we know, a rooster's crowing.
H: Following the example of Humility. Especially hard when you're in the middle of something at work, and they change the plan on you, to just grab the fresh towel and wash the next dirty feet.
O: Don't worry about the Other guy. All you control is YOU.
W: Leave the old Ways behind. You have a go-to vice that 'calms your nerves' in a disaster, or just in life? Time to stop relying on it. Put on the New Man.
F: Forgive as you have been forgiven. Be proactive. If you ask God if you need to forgive someone, you'll usually get pointed to someone you never even considered.
A: Be AWAKE in prayer. Of all of these, this has been the most immediately helpful to me.
V: God's View, not man's. Remember, God sees the big picture- the things that are important to you might not be on His agenda at all.
Today we enter into the world of March 20th, 1964, and because I want to give the sports fans who are being deprived in 2020 some support (and because I couldn't find anything better), here are the scores from the opening round of March Madness Final Four (though I doubt it was called that back then). Duke got 25 from Jay Buckley, as they spread out a lead early and knocked off Cazzie Russel and Michigan, 90-81; UCLA took down Kansas State 90-84. UCLA would do a little "early blitzing" of their own the next night as they won the title 98-83 over Duke. It would be the first championship in a streak that ran 9 in 10 seasons.
Gail Goodrich puts in 27 for the Bruins.
I woulda went with hockey, but nobody played on Friday but this. So let's move quickly on to the music, with our POTM Skeeter Davis, the Wrath of the Beatles, another live 6D, and 2 debuts this week on the M10! It might not be the St Patty's Party like last week- but it just may be the Last Tango Before Quarantine...
"I really don't see what THIS has to do with the Coronavirus..."
Me either, Maria! So everyone hop in the sterile confines of the imagination and away we go!
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Our first debut has been patiently awaiting a chance for a few weeks now, and the chance has come. It was recorded in 2017, though not on any lp. Here at #10 is veteran rocker Joe Jackson...
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Welcome, Skeeter, nice to have you here!
Nice to be here... I think...
I was just perusing your bio, and man, there isn't a lot of 'good times' to be found in your early life...
Well, there was some good times with Betty Jack, but yeah, I walked a rough road.
I should explain about Betty Jack, because it plays into the story of how Mary Francis Penick came to be known as Skeeter Davis...
You started your career as a duo with Betty Jack Davis, using her last name as "the Davis Sisters", and had a #1 hit on the country charts with I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know in 1953.
Yup, and my Grandpa called me Skeeter when I was little, and that tells that story.
Unfortunately, part of that 'bad time' was being in an accident with a driver that fell asleep, injuring yourself and killing Betty Jack.
Boy, this is kind of a downer, Chris...
Yeah, and I'm sorry, but on the good side, I had to check the permissions on that pic of the 2 of you, and according to Wiki's details on it, you live until the year 2924!
WHAAAAT? Do you come from THAT far ahead?
No, the future gear in this machine, vis-a-vis my actual timeline, is a bit whacked. But, amusingly, so was Wiki's proofreader.
Good, because being 993 years old don't sound especially appealing, either!
Anyhow, the game here is, I let out a little info on our contestants, with your kind help, and then you give the finalists. Now, I got you from 1964, so you know about the Beatles...
Yes, sir, I do get to watch Ed Sullivan sometimes...
So it shouldn't be a surprise that our 16 contestant Panel list from 71 stations includes 8 Beatles songs. In addition to them, a few radio stations got a little 'funny'... KMEX had the Fab Four at their top 15 positions; WJET had a five way tie of Beatles tunes at their #1; KJR simply had "The Beatles" at their #1; WEEP went a little farther, listing their #1 as "Beatles Beatles Beatles Beatles Beatles"...
Wow! According to your list here, the Cashbox charts had Beatles songs at 1, 2, 3, 4, 37, 57, and 75, with 5 more to debut next week, and songs ABOUT the Beatles at #s 60, 102, 130, and 133!
A little later on we'll get into the Beatles record breaking week in April- and how rapper Drake "broke" that record. Maybe we should give some 'equal time' to everyone else, though...
That's hard to do, since all 8 of the songs that got votes and WEREN'T the Beatles combined would have only got 3rd place! Even figuring that there were 8 stations that didn't have the Beatles at #1, the average place the first non-Beatles song on the charts was listed was 3.66... The best showing was Terry Stafford's Suspicion with 3 votes.
Yep, so you know, it will be an all-Beatle final! We might just as well get it over with...
Okay, so choose from... She Loves You, at #1... Twist And Shout, at #4... I Want To Hold Your Hand at #2... And All My Loving... which doesn't even debut until next week!
And that breaks our two-week old record for lowest position for a Panel Finalist! So make your choices, while I cue up some non-Beatle entertainment...
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And now at #9, here's Anna Burch hogging two positions with her latest...
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Okay, so show of hands- besides gender and profession, what do Madonna, the Pointer Sisters, and Whitney Houston have in common with Karen Carpenter? Well, they have all had major hits- Madonna's Crazy For You, Whitney's One Moment In Time, and the Pointers' Slow Hand- written by one John Bettis, who wrote a handful of the Carpenters' big hits, including Yesterday Once More on the lp Now And Then in 1973. This lp included a "Yesterday Once More playlist"- a medley which featured both of the last two POTM winners, The End On The World and Johnny Angel! And here's the kicker- the first of the covered songs after Yesterday was this week's 6D victim- The Beach Boys and Fun Fun Fun, at #6 without a Panel Vote!
So I decided to see if anyone had approached the Beatles' records for 1964 in the years since. And in 2018, Drake's lp Scorpion lit up the chart with hits- despite releasing just seven official singles, the whole of the lp ended up on the charts. Where the Beatles had 14 hits on the Hot 100 on April 11th, Drake, according to Wiki, posted 27 on July 14th, 2018. Now I got on Billboard's chart archives (which apparently AREN'T behind their paywall), and I scoured the chart for 27- I only saw 26. (Note: I similarly scoured the Beatles' list- BB did indeed have 14 songs on their Hot 100 that week, though CB had but 9.) But how much of these hits of Drakes were hits by OUR definitions? Let's see.
Out of the 26 Drake songs on that week's BB chart, 22 of them peaked that week, never getting any higher. Four of the 14 Beatles songs were at their peak- 84.6% of Drake's, 28.6% of the Fab Fours'.
The next week, I counted that 18 of the still-charting 20 Drake songs fell- a total of 514 places between them! That's an average drop of 24 spots! The Beatles had an almost even split: 5 songs did not chart the next week, 4 went up, and 5 went down a total of 37 spots. The four that went up gained 34 spots, so while the remaining Drake songs netted a 500-position fall, the remaining Beatles tunes netted -3.
Most of the Drake songs were brand new that week- 26 songs netted 72 weeks on the chart at that point, 37 of those by just two songs. The Beatles, however, managed 76 weeks- 4 weeks more on 12 songs less! Finally, while Drake still retained 14 songs on the chart 2 weeks later (53.8%) The Beatles were still charting 10 after the second week- a 71.4% clip. So Drake, buddy, I have a question...
Swiftly hitting the Stat Pack, we have Twist And Shout as the big mover, 37 spots from 43 to 4! And in the UK, where the first wave of Beatlemania had already run its course, Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas topped the chart with Little Children. (The closest the UK had as far as a bunch at once was the week that She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand were 1-2 in December 1963... other than that, in England they were, er, more properly spaced...)
The M10 also had:
Fertile Crescent falls from 6 to 8 with Onion Garden.
Speaking In Squares continues to edge up, from 8 to 7 with A Song For The Opossum.
Same for Agnes Obel; Camera's Rolling from 7 to 6.
Tennis now joins the Iron Ceiling III crowd, moving from 10 to 5 with How To Forgive.
And the IC remains the same:
Best Coast, Everything Has Changed at 4;
Brooke Annibale, I Will, at 3;
Anna Burch, Party's Over at 2;
And three weeks at the top for...
Real Estate with Paper Cup at the top!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every time Chipper catches the guitar, that little boy and I still go, "YES!!!"
And that brings us to which song shall the Beatles win the POTM with this time?
Well, All My Loving got just 9.9%....
Twist And Shout got 14.8%...
I Want To Hold Your Hand got 18.3%...
And before I make that final announcement, the REALLY amazing thing is that, no matter which of these Finalists one, it would STILL be the 11th win for the Fab Four with 11 DIFFERENT songs!
But the winner, with 36.6%....
She Loves You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elvis took his annual (1964-wise) 2 week vacay this week and next, so he could avoid joining me with John, Paul, George, and Ringo next week! 1965, People!
This week, the 'End of All Things' subtitle is particularly appropriate as we are at the end of the Angel- possibly Jesus- telling Daniel about the end of the world. To get the best lessons from this chapter, I had to get around a couple of 'elephants in the room'- one quite large, one rather small, but in my way.
Let's get the large elephant out of the way first. Towards the end of the chapter, in an addendum to Daniel's scolding for being nosy, the Angel points out:
Dan 12:11 And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Dan 12:12 Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days.
Now if you have studied prophecy, you may know that the Tribulation at the end of days is a 7-year process, neatly divided into 3 1/2 year segments; or, to put it as the Angel does here and in Revelation:
Dan 12:6 And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, "How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?"
Dan 12:7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished.
'A time (one year), times (2 years), and half a time', ergo 3 1/2 years. This was by the 30-day Jewish calendar, which gives you 1,260 days, which IS mentioned elsewhere. So where does the 1,290 days, and the 1,335 days come in?
Answer, I have no clue, and neither does anyone else. My research concluded that there were as many opinions out there as belly buttons- some cleaner than others, some full of lint (like one Adventist site that kept trying to tie it into Napoleon Bonaparte, the Pope, and 1844). And further, I'm not going to speculate, lest I get slapped down as Daniel did:
Dan 12:8 I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, "O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?"
Dan 12:9 He said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.
The other, smaller elephant was a personal one. There were two other members of our little group here...
Dan 12:5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream.
One of these was the 'someone' mentioned a bit ago. Now I realize that these are angels as well, as they had been there the whole time, apparently invisible to Daniel. Or, possibly, could they be the time tossed '2 witnesses' of Revelation 11:3, who'd have a vested interest in knowing? So I looked for an answer there, and got just about as far. One commentator noted there was "apparently no significance" to them standing on either side of the river; Other came up with ideas such as "symbolizing Christ's reach as the Alpha and Omega", or "so that it can be known they weren't whispering to each other." I don't believe God puts anything in His Word without a reason; but again, it's a distraction from what we CAN learn. Which is:
1- Protection and Deliverance
Dan 12:1 "At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.
The Jews who come to believe in those last days will be under Spiritual protection and be delivered. Note Revelation 12:6 which tells of the Jews ('the Woman') and that protection, and something else we've mentioned...
5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
2- The reward for obeying the Great Commission
Dan 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Dan 12:3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
Keeping in mind here that the Gentile Church has been raptured out; these 'stars' are those converted by the two witnesses.
3- You can try, but you won't get it
Dan 12:4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."
The exact dates are sealed by God. As Jesus said in Matthew 24:
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only...
Don't you like the way He put it: "Many shall run to and fro", looking for the answer that they MIGHT get a glimmer of if they are wise- wise by the definitions we learned in Proverbs, that is.
4- Stay on point, Daniel!
Right after the slap-down, the Angel reveals something more important than the exact dates:
Dan 12:10 Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.
The point being, the main thing is to be purified by Christ. And IF you get to that point:
5- Relax!
Dan 12:13 But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days."
IF you are purified in Christ, no worries! You will die, as we all do, but your spot in the end is secured! Now, I mentioned above that this was an Angel (or Christ) talking to a Jewish prophet about a Jewish future- so does it apply to us? Let's see... protection... reward... don't sweat the 'don't get's... Great Commission... assured future... check!
First let me say that the Mighty Paws hands-free bungee leash is the greatest invention I ever purchased. Slows her down without whiplash, easy on my poor back. GREAT PRODUCT!.
Couldn't even tell if I was shooting the right tree to get the pic of Woody. Call me the blind hog!
Nobody at the disc golf course...
" Is it me, or corona virus?"
Neither actually, just timing. We ran into golfers a bit later on.
Now, we're just about to embark on the adventure between this doggie...
...and these geese.
Ah. Doggie has now spotted the geese. Geese saw her first.
The chase, to the limited amount I allowed it, is on!
