Tuesday message

Not as a New Years resolution but as a means to work on personal problems, I am trying to make an effort to spend time in the Word every day.  The first two attempts have brought some rather interesting results.

The aim being to just hit a page "at random" (and if you are a believer, you know nothing is random with God), I ended up yesterday in Ezekiel 19 and 20.  The verse that caught my eye was 20:25-

I also allowed them to follow laws that were no good and rules by which they could not live.

 

 

This was the key block for me in understanding a passage where the Lord explains to Ezekiel the history of Israel's rebellion.  First, to Jacob and his sons, it was "walk in My ways, obey My word, and keep My sabbaths."  But when that didn't take during the captivity in Egypt, God added on the Ten Commandments- which on the one look was nothing but fleshing out the first, but on the other made it more complicated.  But that wasn't good enough, and they continued to rebel.  So He gave them the much more complicated Law that Moses passed down- the sacrifices, the rule of ritual, so many things you needed a rabbi at your side at all times to keep track of them all. In other words, "rules by which they could not live".  You see, every layer of continued sin brought another layer of SEPERATION FROM GOD. And then, as they continued to sin, God finally gave them over to exile- but then He gave them one more chance:

...and I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD. (VV30-36)

Thus, Jesus was prophesied here as the last chance God was giving Israel- a face to face judgement, just as Abraham had received (and mostly passed).  But they were going to blow this one, too, as God continued:

As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD: Go ye, serve every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but my holy name shall ye no more profane with your gifts, and with your idols. (v 39)

And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have polluted yourselves; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. (v43)

In other words, if you won't listen, fine, do what you want.  I'll make My kingdom without you, and you'll understand once you take your place in it just what you've done in seperating yourself from Me.

Which is fine if you're looking for history or disconcerting if you are a Jew, but what did it have to do with me?  That afternoon, we watched an episode of ADAM-12 in which a little girl got raped and nearly killed, and Malloy almost beat the perp when he said, "She asked for it! She got what was coming to her!"  The show being based on true stories, and the likes of which you see on the news all the time, I had a struggle with God over His "allowing" of such things (carefully trying to work my way through all the qualifiers).  This struggle boiled down to, when you strip away all of the "God does all things for good to those who believe" and "unable, as a human being, to understand the full plan of God," how does such a thing happeneing, how does a monster who could make the rationalization that a six year old "asked for it", how is this allowed at any level?  How can you convince people past their doubt when stuff like this happens?

My answer:  "You are upset, and I understand.  You are angry, and I do not blame you for it.  And maybe you doubt- AND IT IS THAT DOUBT THAT SHARPENS YOUR FAITH."  Faith is easy when you grasp all the whys and wherefores.  To have that faith faced with things that cannot be understood, that is the next level.

And that brings me to what I read today.  It was from Acts 17, Paul's famous sermon on the Areopagus in Athens, about the "Unknown God".  For Pauls message to make sense to the Epicurians and philosophers listening, he has to fundamentaly change their concept of God:

"And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man." (vv 26-29)

Point being, not to try to understand God as a man.  We cannot picture Him, we cannot draw Him, and we cannot know the whole picture.  So we are in essence fighting two battles in trying to understand God: one in the sins that constantly place barriers to our understanding in front of us, and another in trying to see Him from man's perspective.  Is it not funny that the clearest way to see Him is in doing the simplest task God gave us:

"I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly." (Gen. 17:1-2)

Scrappy- Sentinel of the night

Here I was, Scrappy Beagle... AKA the Booogle.  I was guarding my Daddy.  It was 4 AM this morning.  Suddenly, I sensed movement.

There! By the choke cherry tree.  A dark, malevolent shape.  I began to growl a warning...

It kept to the shadows, slipping in and out of the darkness.  I could smell it was an evil deer terrorist.  I wakened my Daddy, and assured him there was nothing to fear.

Suddenly, it made its move.  I growled a warning, and it moved on into the darkness, deterred in its evil designs by my conspicuous bravery.



Now, MY side of the story.  About 3:45 I looked out and saw the deer- a big, out-of-towner doe- munching cherries.  I woke up Scrappy, who porceeded to look in every direction except the one the deer was at.  Finally, the deer made some movement that Scrappy actually saw.  He jerked his head and began to whimper.  I went down and got the camera, but the animal had left.  Soon later, though, she returned, standing up on her hind legs to pick cherries from the tree.

While Scrappy alternated between whining at the deer and leaning for cover on me, I experimented with camera settings until satisfied.  At this point the deer decided enough on the cherries and meandered across the yard, into the darkness.  At about 4 AM, it had disappeared, and I spent the next ten minutes comforting Scrappy, who always seems to go to pieces once the deer (or whatever animal he sees) goes away.  By 4:20, Daddy and Beagle were sound asleep once more.

Lotsa little bits episode 1

I decided to call "posts that are too scrambled to rate a title" this for the 2013 season after using such delightful former titles as "Bits and pisses" and "Flotsam and jetsom" in the past.  Welcome, and try not to make too much sense.

ITEM:  My daughter informed the Facebook world she is now a licensed driver.  I replied, "Good job.  I'll call the state police and warn them".

ITEM: My wonderful son nicked a deer last night.  Unlike me and Laurie when we totalled the T-Bird one one a few years back, all he got was a barely noticeable dent.  I assume that one more limping deer has been added to this year's growing list.  There's at least two among the out-of-towners.

ITEM: Speaking of my son, can anyone explain to me how it is that three out of his last four girlfriends have started texting him AFTER dumping him?  Once again, it's "I was stupid/made a mistake/hope we can still be friends."  Unfortunately, the last two of said girls weren't so talkative while they were in the process of dumping him.  Two of them went on to almost immediately post pics of new BFs on Facebook.  I'm not bragging on him, but what is it that makes girls want to sneak-dump a guy, cutting all communications until after he finds out he's been dumped, and then "want to be friends"?  He's too good a guy to send back "piss off" messages- I guess I would be to, the first time.  By now, though, I'd be sending back some form of "I hope you are treated with the honor that you deserve".

ITEM: Andy Reid is the new coach at Kansas City.  So doing the math, we have a guy who lost his last job after a) building a "dream team" that couldn't even get a winning record, b) standing behind a QB who was hurt more than he played, because c) he built them a crappy offensive line that d) whose coach he converted into a DEFENSIVE co-ordinator, whom he then had to fire, and e) underused an excellent running back after spending years trying to get his last one to make third and ones but never could, and this guy is being hired by a 2-14 team whose last coach's only addition to his resume in KC was "experience with suicidal players".  Yeah, THIS'LL work out well.

ITEM:  My fellow bloggie Kelli over at The House Of Hale posted this link to a site where you could paste a post and have it analyse what famous writer you write like.  I was highly honored to find that this week's Time Machine was compared to Douglas Adams, who wrote The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy!   I was somewhat less amused that the previous post was comparable to JD Salinger.  Sorry, but I thought Holden Caulfield was a loser dweeb.  So far, this one is compared to David Foster Wallace, who wrote an award winning book called infinite Jest.  Here's the wiki plot summary:

The plot partially revolves around the missing master copy of a film cartridge, titled Infinite Jest and referred to in the novel as "the Entertainment" or "the samizdat". The film is so entertaining to its viewers that they become lifeless, losing all interest in anything other than viewing the film. The video cartridge was the final work of film by James O. Incandenza before his microwave suicide, completed during a stint of sobriety that was requested by the lead actress, Joelle. Quebec separatists are interested in acquiring a master, redistributable copy of the work to aid in acts of terrorism against the United States. The United States Office of Unspecified Services (USOUS) is seeking to intercept the master copy of the film in order to prevent mass dissemination and the destabilization of the Organization of North American Nations. Joelle and later Hal seek treatment for substance abuse problems at The Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House, and Marathe visits the rehabilitation center to pursue a lead on the master copy of the Entertainment, tying the characters and plots together.

Apparently, in this world, each year is subsidized by a different sponsor, and the year most of the action happens in was called "the year of the Depend adult undergarment".  Folks, I CAN'T make this stuff up.

ITEM: I am still lining up delightful spam comments from various blogs to showcase on the new year's first "spam comment contest."  Al Penwasser's Made In Spain post continues to contribute prolifically, and I had five of them come through in just one day- 16 of them since the 5th of last month, mainly various foreign real estate sites (including one that wants you to go catfishing in the Ebro), and one which is a blog of travelling in Turkey.  Needless to say, I'm only saving the funny ones.

ITEM: Lokomotiv has gone through the long and short of it this week.  Sunday, we overcame a 3-1 first period deficit at Yugra by scoring 5 times in a 9:37 span of the second and won 6-4.  Emil Galimov got his sixth and seventh in the spurt, Artyom Anisimov nailed #12, and Niklaus Hagman got his 8th before the streak and #9 during it, as we totalled 20 of our 27 shots in the period.

That was the long.  The short came this morning witha 4-0 shutout loss to SKA.  Sergei Bobvroski made 26 saves to grab his 5th shutout and raise his record to 17-3-2. The loss drops us a tiebreaker behind CSKA in our division and tied for 7th overall, and propels SKA past Dynamo into first overall at 27-8-4.  We are 19-13-8 to Red Army's 19-11-8.  Next up is a home game with Vityaz (7-17-14) on Sunday.

ITEM: Time to get down to watching Oklahoma vs. Johnny Football, so have a good evening!

Time Machine week 49

I was dancing with my darling to the Tennessee Waltz...

 

 

And we open the new year losing yet another star.  Patti Page was one of the great ones.  She brought us the Tennessee Waltz and Allegheny Moon, I Went To Your Wedding and How Much Is That Doggie In the Window.  From 1948 to 1970 she charted 53 top 40 hits and 4 top doggies, er, dogs.  And she leads off the subject at hand.  Today's special TM will feature the music people we lost over the year 2012, in five categories- those you know, those you should know, those you might know, those I doubt you know, and those you didn't know you knew.

We're gonna start right off with the "I doubt you know" category.  These will be in no order, no dates, and the qualification is, could I stretch far enough to get them a TM story.  Here we go:

MacHouston "Mickey" Baker-  He was the Mickey of Mickey and Sylvia, who hit #11 in 1957 with Love Is Strange.  He's also known as one of the great guitarists of all time.

Jimmy McCracklin- R&B pianist known for his 1957 top ten The Walk.

Maria Cole- singer and widow of Nat King Cole.

Ed Cassidy- drummer for Spirit (I Got A Line On You, #22 in 1968).

Lee Dorman- Iron Butterfly bassist.

Larry "Rhino" Rhinehardt- Guitarist for Iron Butterfly on their lp Metamorphosis.

Bob Weston-  Briefly in Fleetwood Mac for the Penguin lp, fired for having a fling with Mick Fleetwood's wife on tour.

Al DeLory- took a jazz instrumental of the M*A*S*H theme onto the charts in 1971.

Michael Davis- bassist for Detroit garage rockers MC5.

Mark Abrahamian- guitarist for Mickey Thomas' reborn Starship- died offstage after a show.

___________________________________

So this week in 1971 we had a measly 5 debuts, NONE worth reporting on!  And if that wasn't enough, I went to look up this weeks birthday songs and... thirty years ago this week (and next week), Cashbox didn't put out a new chart... and 35 years ago this week there were ZERO debuts!  Thank God I was running a special this week, huh?  40 years ago this week, Dueling Banjos debuted.  Turning 45 this week were the Temps' I Wish It Would Rain and Cream's Sunshine Of Your Love.  This week, Hey Paula by Paul and Paula turns 50, along with a song you don't know, and I don't know, but I just HAD to mention- coming in at 93, Mike Clifford with What To Do With Laurie.  Blow out the candles... and Laurie, put down that stick!

Next up is the "You Might Know" list:

Adam Yauch- Leader of the Beastie Boys.

Don Cornelius- He got a mention when it happened, the founder of the show Soul Train.

Ray Collins- Lead singer for Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention.

Kitty Wells- Pioneering Country music singer, hit #1  C&W with It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels (1952) and Heartbreak USA (1961).

Donald "Duck" Dunn- veteran session man, played with Booker T and the MGs and the Blues Brothers.

Chuck Brown- Led the Soul Searchers, who hit in 1978 with Bustin' Loose.

Herb Reed- The last original member of the Platters; he also got a mention when it happened.

Dorothy McGuire- One of the McGuire Sisters, who had the big hits Sincerely (1955) and Sugartime (1957).

______________________________________

Our big climber is in the top forty, so hang on just a sec or two.  The big dropper was Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart, tumbling 28 spots to 58.  And James Brown would have been our Where Are They Now this week, and we have a good idea where HE is now, so fortunately, we have specials!  Next up, the "You SHOULD know" category:

Jimmy Castor- Leader of the Jimmy Castor Bunch, who hit #6 in '72 with Troglodyte (Cave Man), and was the replacement for Frankie Lymon in the Teenagers.

Johnny Otis- He took Willie And The Hand Jive to #9 in 1958.  Also had a lp of sexual-innuendo tunes under the name Snatch and the Poon-Tangs.  Classy, eh?

Etta James- World-famous blues singer, hit #1 R&B in '55 with The Wallflower (Dance With Me, Henry).

Ronnie Montrose- Legendary rock guitarist,  best known for being with the Edgar Winter Group on their big hits Frankenstein and Free Ride, as well as several of his own bands.

Joe South- One of the late 60s and early 70s great songwriters, penned hits like Down In The Boondocks, I Knew You When (both for Billy Joe Royal), Rose Garden (Lynn Anderson), Hush (Deep Purple), and Yo-Yo (Osmonds), as well as his own Games People Play, which hit #12 in 1969.

Scott McKenzie- If You're Going To San Francisco, Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair....

Levon Helms- the voice of The Band, especially on their classic The Weight.

RB Greaves- Hit #2 with Take A Letter Maria in 1969.

Major Harris- member of the Delfonics and had the big hit Love Won't Let Me Wait.

Ravi Shankar- Sitar player and mentor for a while of George Harrison.

Earl Scruggs- Partner of Lester Flatt, bluegrass stars and singers of The Beverly Hillbillies theme.

Bob Welch- Another former Fleetwood Mac' er who hit big solo with Sentimental Lady and Ebony Eyes.

______________________________________________

Our big climber heads a whopping list of three debuts in the top 40 this week (Was this ever a good week for specials!)  Elvis goes up 18 from 57 to 39 with I Really Don't Want To Know. Jackie Moore's Precious, Precious moves from 43 to 37, and Diana Ross comes in at 36 (up 17) with Remember Me.  And a shout out to a couple of almost but not quites- Andy Kim's Be My Baby topped out at 12 last week and falls to 25, and Neil Diamond's version of He Ain't Heavy (etc.) stalled at 17 last time and slips back to 18 this week.


Next up, the "You didn't know you knew me" group:

Mike "In The Night" Triay- producer of the Bayside Boys' version of The Macarena.

Doug Dillard- a member of the Dillard family, best known as the Darlings from the Andy Griffith Show.

Bob Babbitt- one of the legendary Funk Brothers of Motown fame.  If Motown issued it, he was likely on it.

Charles Pitts- the guitarist on Isaac Hayes' Shaft, among many other things.

Fred Milano- he was first tenor on Dion and the Belmonts; the group was named for the street he lived on.

Carl Davis- Producer on the hits Duke Of Earl and (Your Love Lifted Me) Higher And Higher.

Jimmy Jones- hit #2 in 1960 with Handy Man.

Larry Hoppen- lead singer for Orleans.

Greg Ham- from Aussie band Men At Work- I mentioned him at the time.

Frank Wilson- producer and co-writer on a slew of Motown hits, such as Love Child, Living In Shame, and You Made Me So Very Happy.

Michael Hossack- one of the two drum-tandem on the early Doobie Brothers.

Big Jim Sullivan- session guy who was on, among others,  Alone Again Naturally, Itchycoo Park, and Ferry Cross The Mersey.

Bill Dees- Collaberator with Roy Orbison on dozens of songs, including the big hits Oh Pretty Woman and It's Over.

Jon Lord- keyboardist for Deep Purple and Whitesnake.

Billy Strange- Guitarist on the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds lp, especially on Sloop John B; veteran session man who wrote Limbo Rock.

______________________________________

And just to top off my list of excuses for why it was a good week for a special, only one new song joins the top ten, so only one falls out- Gypsy Woman, from 10 to 21.

Finally, the ones you knew and loved....

Marvin Hamlisch

Andy Williams

Fontella Bass

Whitney Houston

Davy Jones
 
Donna Summer

Robin Gibb

Hal David

Gone but not forgotten...

_________________________________

And now, this week's top ten...

Led Zeppelin sneaks up one to join the party at # 10 with Immigrant Song.

Badfinger holds at 9 with No Matter What.

The Partridge Family, fighting for every spot, slips a notch to 8 with I Think I Love You.

The Miracles fall to #7, down 4, with Tears Of A Clown.

The Supremes show some initiative, climbing two to #6 with Stoned Love.

Chicago moves one to five with their BJ Thomas school graduate, Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Likewise, Santana moves to #4 with Black Magic Woman.

The Fifth Dimension falls from 2 to 3 with One Less Bell To Answer.

The Runner-up is Dawn with Knock Three Times, up a pair.

Which means our number one song, again for the third week, is...

.... George Harrison with My Sweet Lord!!!

And now, in the sincere hopes that we lose no one else for a while, see you next week!



Martin humbled!

(Bet you never thought you'd hear that one here!)

Every once in a while, this blog accomplishes something totally unintended, as I found out yet again tonight when I got home.  August 4th of last year I did a post about Marty Brenaman's birthday shave.  To make this short, Reds' broadcaster Marty Brenaman made a bet with some of the players that involved him getting his head shaved.  As the team was going to have a big to-do about his birthday anyway, he combined it with raising awareness and money for the Dragonfly Foundation, which works with child and young adult victims of cancer.   It was a wonderful, teary-eyed affair that I explained in more detail on the post (so hit the link), and you can actually watch video of it on the foundation website (so hit the other link!)

So what brings this up was what I got in the e-mail tonight.  This is in the comments back on the original post, but I'm going to put it up here:

This is belated, but thank you for including information about The Dragonfly Foundation in your blog post. Even though I was there, holding the fourth Dragonfly child in my arms, watching the even unfold from less than 20 ft. away... It still seems like a dream. To watch those kids, who had never met him, had no coaching whatsoever, run, hug and clutch Marty's pants was unbelievable. We are so grateful to Marty for helping raise awareness about The Dragonfly Foundation and the need to care while we wait for a cure.

Best wishes to you and yours for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2013!
Ria Davidson
VP & Co-Founder, The Dragonfly Foundation

Needless to say, I was stunned- and humbled.  The thought, the memory of those little kids, came close to bringing tears back again.  But I will re-post the part that really got to me:

Marty took off his jersey to reveal a t-shirt that read, "I'm still me," and brought out three little kids with similar shirts. They were cancer patients, being helped through an organization called the Dragonfly Foundation. Marty explained that when the kids had heard about the head shaving, one of them had said, "Now Marty will look like us." Marty was so moved when he heard, he brought them out and talked about the great work the Foundation does for them. Then he gave them a group hug and told them, "I'm PROUD to be in your club!"
And I am proud to get a letter like this from a post 5 months ago.   If you'd like to learn more about the foundation- hey, hit the second link already!  Especially take a look at why they were founded, and why a dragonfly.  And God bless Ria and her whole crew.

The fiscal cliff aversion.

My Republican friends on Facebook- and some on their blogs- are howling this morning about the deal that the House and Senate have passed.  $1 billion in pork, they say.  Everyone got screwed, they say.  And Obama flies off to Hawaii.   True, all true.  And I think a lot better could have been done- IF we were all of one mind.

There are 234 Republicans in the House, 201 Democrats.  There are 51 Democrats in the Senate, 47 Republicans.  66 million Americans voted the Democrat ticket in November, 61 million the GOP.  If there is anything we are not, it is "of one mind".

Now, I'll admit that we ended up with a compromise that required a lot of Republican "compromising".  And I am not in love with the fact that it's okay for House Majority leader John Boehner to have to make his party bend, and allow voting on Democrat proposals in the House, while Harry Reid can still deny Republican measures a hearing in the Senate.  However, there is a "Tea Party" mindset that refuses any compromise.  Not one dime of new taxes, not one dime of loophole closure.  And, oh by the way, not one bit of reining in the defense budget, despite the fact that EVERYBODY knows that if the Pentagon paid retail for what they purchase, they could easily cut their budget by a third.  Can anybody define "no compromise in a divided society"?  I can:

If the GOP had voted down the compromise, they would have become the villain in the piece to even more people than they are now.  They would have guarranteed their defeat in a dozen elections coming up.  And they would have proved nothing.

Fact is, this nation put in a majority Democrat in the Senate and a Democrat in the White House.  One would expect compromise to run that direction.  Should the GOP be happy with what they got? Probably not, but compromise is like that.  Fact is, if the GOP wasn't trying so hard to protect corporations that already have all the protection they need with their tax lawyers, accountants, and offshore accounts, and trying so hard to protect an overinflated DOD budget that puts too much money into purchases and too little into soldiers and veterans, they MIGHT have a few more supporters.  And perhaps Democrats will feel the same way when the lack of cuts cripple the economy to the point that all those unemployment extensions are ate up and a whole new level of people expecting handouts are created, or their President's sloppy handle on foreign relations and security allows somebody a little closer to home than an ambassador to get killed.

But for now, it is a country "not of one mind"; and all the standing-your-ground you want won't change the minds of those who are doing the same on the other side.  You might just as well light yourself on fire in protest- you only eliminate those who believe as you do, don't change the mind of those who don't, and leave a smelly mess for those who are left to clean up.

Chris' New Years

A long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last

 

I can't remember the last thing that you said as you were leaving
Oh the days go by so fast

And it's one more day up in the canyons
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think that I could be forgiven
I wish you would
(Na na na.....)

The smell of hospitals in winter
And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters, but no pearls

All at once you look across a crowded room

To see the way that light attaches to a girl

And it's one more day up in the canyons
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think you might come to California
I think you should
(Na na na.....)

Drove up to Hillside Manor sometime after 2 a.m.
And talked a little while about the year

I guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower
Makes you talk a little lower about the things you could not show her

And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last

I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass

And it's one more day up in the canyon
And it's one more night in Hollywood
It's been so long since I've seen the ocean

I guess I should

Na na na na......