Sunday Message Proof then, proof now

One thing that struck me this week was a proof for the resurrection that I hadn't heard in all the lead up to Easter.  And that is in the old adage, "where there's smoke there's fire."  We tend to see things historically from the perspective of today.  Why did Napoleon do thus and so, when he could have had an even greater victory if he'd have moved Marshall Boo-Boo to this spot adjacent the battlefield?"  "Well, that would be because he didn't have gasoline-engine mass-transports that could have gotten them there in  an appropriate time."  A lot of things look different when you pull your head out of today.

Today, even non Christians are exposed to one extent or another by the Gospel message.  And people drawn to any Gospel message are likely to have been exposed to an earlier one.  The old "I've heard it all before" syndrome.  Take Billy Graham.  In almost anyone's opinion he is the greatest civilized-world evangelist of the past 100 years.  But how effective is he?  In an article called"Case Studies in Easy Believism" by Thomas Williamson of the Roger Sherman Society had some stats on this.


Observers over the years have noted that Billy Graham, who is considered to be America's premier evangelist, gets a lot of people coming forward in his meetings, but few lasting conversions.  Herman Otten, editor of Christian News, stated that "The editor's home congregation participated in the 1957 New York Billy Graham crusade. . . .  The editor's home congregation received about 28 [referral cards].  All were visited but none were interested in joining the church.  Surveys have shown that Graham's mass crusades have resulted in few ever joining a church."

Christopher Cagan and John Waldrip, after attending Billy Graham's San Diego crusade in 2003, presented a report which determined that "Graham's sermons are an outgrowth of the theology and methods of Charles G. Finney, the 19th Century evangelist who changed the meaning of salvation from Biblical ‘conversion' to the empty ‘decisionism,' which stopped historical revivals and ultimately helped to empty the churches... .  The sad truth is that Graham's message converts an almost infinitesimally small percentage of people who did not already consider themselves Christians before they ever heard him preach.  The third awful result of Graham's meetings is that almost no one is added to the churches....  Dr. Robert Ketcham of the GARBC (Regular Baptists) showed from hard-core statistics that only 13 previously unchurched people were added to the churches of San Francisco from a lengthy Billy Graham crusade."

So, from two mass crusades, separated by several years, we get 13 new believers.  Is that a bash on Graham?  Not at all.  But how many "unchurched people" actually ATTEND his crusades?

Now, let me borrow the musical Tardis and take you back in time to about 35 AD. Here we find a tiny group of people who have seen and know the Lord Jesus.  At the point before Pentecost, Luke said "the number of names was about 125."  Paul says that around 500 had seen Jesus after He rose from the dead.  Given the penchant back then to only count the men at any given function, add a wife and two kids to each "name", and we're in a similar ballpark.  That ballpark is surrounded by a world that doesn't know Jesus, hasn't seen Him dead or alive or resurrected, doesn't have a good grasp on Jewish history or the prophets (witness the Egyptian eunuch)- and by OUR standards, shouldn't show a lick of interest in anything about Jesus.


In just two sermons- not crusades with ballyhoo, tickets sold, TV coverage, but two sermons given on the spot without advance warning- Peter led  EIGHT THOUSAND people to faith.

You can read the sermons.  Billy Graham gives versions of these same sermons.  What's the difference?

David Jeremiah listed a few of them this weekend.  They were convinced because they had seen Him, they were commissioned by Him, they were committed to Him.  But most of all, they knew Him, lived with Him, saw Him back from the grave.  And that knowledge, that first hand experience, was told to the 8,000 and it convinced them.  Do you think you could convince 8,000 complete strangers of something that couldn't possibly happen had happened- and it made a difference in their lives?  Peter could, and did.

Last week, I told the slightly fictionalized story of Peter's private meeting with Jesus after the resurrection (an event alluded to in the Gospels and given proof by Paul).  In that story, Peter had to come to grips with three things.

First, the very worst thing He had ever done, which only one person knew about, was the denials.  And now that one person, who was dead, was alive again.  He would have to face that his worst moment was no longer hidden.  As if it ever was.

Second, it didn't matter.  It was forgiven.  And he would have to accept that.

And third, because of the second, he was now about to see his life change completely- from sand to rock!

We have to come to grips with these same things.  THE ONLY DIFFERENCE between us and Peter is faith.

The question never was is there proof in the Bible that these things actually happened.  Cold logic can deduce that.  The question really is, why is there so little proof NOW?

Walk pictures

I could say I was waiting to get some really good shots... but truth be told, my camera has an issue.  It does not like to download pictures with a fully recharged battery, so I waited until I'd wore enough of the charge off.

Here's one of the many mini-frogs we saw at the swamp back on the fifth.  Hard to get one to sit still when Scrappy's wading out to say hi.

First signs of life on the 8th.

Scrappy and his favorite puddle of muck in the woods.

In the deep woods Friday.

First flowers of the spring for us.

What, never saw a shoe tree before?

Scrappy meets Zoe and family.

At the ravine for a BabyBel break.

Oh, the pond, the windswept pond...

Turtle heaven at the swamp.

Now at this point I have to stop and tell a story.  When we started up the river bank towards the swamp, we were passed by a boy jogging, wearing a Flash tank top.   I considered the fun of taking that picture, but decided against.  As we approached the swamp, the Flash was approached by some guy in a car heading our way (towards the dead end at the IPFW foot bridge).  He asked something, but given what he ended up doing with the information, I can't guess what.  He proceeded past us as we busied ourselves with taking turtle pics (me) and wading in after frogs (Scrappy).  A few seconds later, I heard a low rumbling moan behind us, rhythmically going up and down.  Then, a jogger's voice:  "Is it stuck?"  I knew what I was going to see when I turned around, and still couldn't believe it:

That's right.  Instead of going on around the curve (where one can turn about on stone and concrete), he apparently panicked at the thought of driving off an imaginary cliff and tried to turn around-  in ground that was mere feet from a swamp, mere feet after passing water that was clear across the road, into land that was dotted at the point he tried it with the water filled tire tracks of those who went mudding with more appropriate vehicles before him.  Soon after the jogger passed us, along came the driver- nice suit, expensive sunglasses, assuredly muddy leather shoes, on his cell calling for help as he beat feet towards a more civilized place to wait.  If I were the a-hole I sometimes claimed to be, I would have asked the old Dr. Phil question:

But since I'm not, I politely waited until he was clear to take the picture.

Hey, Daffodils!!!!

Bobby, you got robins yet?

Time Machine week 19

The musical Tardis pulls this week into a new set of random years, and gets spat out at April 10th, 1975.  Today's big news (and some of you might want to change the channel briefly at this point) is a speech before a full session of Congress by new President, Jerry Baby, er, Gerald R Ford.  After a group of platitudes and conversational niceties, he then goes into the deteriorating Vietnam situation.  Bringing up what rats that the North is by totally ignoring the peace accords they signed with their fingers crossed, and what rats Congress is for passing laws that prevented the US of A from fulfilling their "if/then" promises to the South.  Then, just before dropping to his knees, he adds:

In my first public comment on this tragic development, I called for a new sense of national unity and purpose. I said I would not engage in recriminations or attempts to assess the blame. I reiterate that tonight.
In the same spirit, I welcome the statement of the distinguished majority leader of the United States Senate earlier this week, and I quote: "It is time for the Congress and the President to work together in the area of foreign as well as domestic policy."
So, let us start afresh.


In other words, "We all know it's Congress's fault.  But I didn't say that".  He then followed up by requesting that Congress appropriate $722 million in emergency aid so that South Vietnam can "stabilize the situation", an amount he got from his man on the ground, General Frederick C. Weyand.  And he follows that up by trying to get Congress to do an about face on cutting off all aid to Turkey in the wake of their invasion of Cyprus.  I'm Guessing the speech didn't fly very far...

Emphasis on the confusion...

Welcome to Time Machine for this week in 1975, and this week's fun includes:  the unusual case of the shuffle ten that only has 2 acts not making the ten for the first time- and they only on their second- AND they only have 7 songs out of the 2,100-odd songs on my shuffle list in the first place!  Also, Janis Joplin naked... or is she?  A new bottom's up with the week's 4 debuts, and a rout for the survey's #1 song!  So cue up Hail to the Chief and lets go!

I wonder if I'd be more popular with a neat tag-phrase... like, "Allons-y!"?

We'll kick things off as per usual with the panelists for this week's show.  In addition to semi-regulars WHYN Springfield MA, CKLW Detroit, WCFL Chicago, WDRC Hartford, WIXY Cleveland, WFIL Philly, and CHUM Toronto, we have relative newbies WNDE Indy, WBZ Boston, KDES Palm Springs, CA, CFRW Winnipeg, and KBEQ Kansas City.   They managed 20 different songs- including an oddity in how many low charting songs they threw up.  For example, WBZ's top five had slow-climbing Young Americans (40) and Magic (78), CKLW had the Doobies' dropping Black Water at 44, and Sugarloaf's dropping Don't Call Us, We'll Call You which fell to 37.  There are a couple of other low-riders, but one's coming up in the Bottom's Up, and another is the unknown song, also coming up.

The group had 4 songs net #1 votes, and only one didn't make the week's top 4- Leo Sayer's Long Tall Glasses (WBZ).  The top two were only separated 5-4 in number ones- but a whopping 48-26 in points!   The top four:

Labelle's Lady Marmalade, also #4 nationally, racked up only 15 points.

Ringo Starr's No No Song likewise was also #3 nationally, and collected 19 points and the #1 votes of CFRW and WFIL.

Minnie Ripperton- yes, the #2 nationally- had Lovin' You with 26 points, most of which came on the #1 votes of Indianapolis, Palm Springs, Hartford, and Chicago.

And at #1- stay tuned.

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It's Bottom's Up time, where I look at the 10 lowest charting songs I knew on this week's Cashbox charts.  The list includes four debuts for the week, and features:

10- Major Harris' Love Won't Let Me Wait, which is at 65 in its third week.

9- Linda Ronstadt's When Will I Be Loved, debuting highest at 69.

8- Led Zep's Trampled Under Foot, also debuting at 71,

7- Alice Cooper's Only Women, at 72 in its second week.

6- Jessie Colter's I'm Not Lisa, at 75 in its third week.

5- The aforementioned Magic by England's Pilot, charting for the second week at 78.

4- Debuting at 80, one of my classics, America and Sister Golden Hair.

3- After a month of climbing, Michael Murphy's Wildfire is at 85.

2- Debuting at 87, Ray Steven's Misty.

And at #1-

Roger Whitaker's The Last Farewell, after three weeks sitting at 89.

___________________________

Now that puts me in mind of this week's version of the truly odd station.  CKLW has the onus fall on them this round.  Despite being one of the ones that voted for this week's #1 song (which will remain nameless), they had, as I said earlier, the Doobies' Black Water at 2 (and it just dropped out of the national top 40), Olivia Newton-John's Have You Never Been Mellow (which just missed the #4 slot, and was 7 nationally), The Last Farewell, the lowest of the Bottom's Up crew, was their #4, and their fifth song was a tune at #27 on Cashbox- Freddie Fender's Before The Next Teardrop Falls.


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The Unknown Song for this week is a song that would eventually rise to #15 nationally- but was #53 this week.  But it made #5 in Chicago despite it's 7-minute playtime.  It was the last top forty for the Jackson Five- they would move soon after from Motown to Epic, where they would mature into the Jacksons.  Here is a shorter version from Cher's variety show:






As the Jackson 5, they charted 13 songs in the top 20... as the Jacksons, they had five.  Conversely, Michael had 4 top 20s before the switch solo... and 27 after.

_______________________________

Our six degrees begins with the possibility of Janis Joplin naked.  Interested?

She, and the rest of Big Brother and the Holding Company had planned on being naked on the cover of their lp Cheap Thrills.  Needless to say, the record company nixed that, along with a couple of other things on the album.  One thing they didn't nix was the big hit Piece Of My Heart.  This song had something in common with several older hits- Twist And Shout, Under The Boardwalk, and A Little Bit Of Soap.  They were all written by one Bert Russell- also known as Bert Burns.  Russell/Burns also wrote a song called Cry To Me, which the Rolling Stones covered on their lp Out Of Our Heads.  This was basically a compilation lp in the US of A, where the big hits Satisfaction and The Last Time were added (they were non-lp singles in the UK).  While they were just starting to write their own stuff (with comps by all five members being credited to "Nanker Phelge"), this lp had a lot of covers, including Sam Cooke's Good Times.  Sam hit #11 in 1964, and after the Stones, Phoebe Snow covered it on her debut album.  Also on that lp was our six degrees victim, the song that charted the highest on CB but got no love on the panel- the #5 Poetry Man.


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And now, the shuffle ten!


Leading off is a #1 from 1962, Gene Chandler's classic Duke Of Earl.

Twenty years later, Billy Squier hit #32 (#1 AOR) with Everybody Wants You, which comes in #9 here.

We have another top dog at #8 this week.  Herb Alpert's This Guy's In Love With You (the first song I TRIED to dedicate to Laurie, back in the day) was a chart topper in 1968.

We go back to 1963 for a #2 hit for our shuffle #7- Peter Paul and Mary with the Dylan-penned Blowing In The Wind.

At #6 we have the first act to have multiple shuffle hits in this week's countdown- and that means both their songs on my shuffle have made it!  I've shared it before, but if you haven't tried it yet, catch it on YouTube- the Stampeders, with a little help from Wolfman Jack (and some imaginary help from Ray Charles), and Hit The Road, Jack.  Their cover hit #40 here but #6 in their native Canada in 1975.

I was always a sucker for the Hall and Oates hits that didn't make the heights of the charts- and their first shuffle ten hit, coming in at #5, fits that bill.  It's called Back Together Again, and it peaked at #28 in 1977.

The second hit from an act with multiples in the shuffle ten is one of five on my shuffle from the Buckinghams, and their second on the shuffle ten.  Their 1967 song Hey Baby (They're Playing Our Song) was a #12 hit, and it's at #4 here.

Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes are at #3 with their #16 song from '68, Journey To The Center Of Your Mind.

Jackson Browne's first time in the shuffle ten is in the runner up spot is one of his early hits, which hit #48 in 1972- Rock Me On The water.

And at #1?   Survey says....

...Sir Elton Duck with Philadelphia Freedom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And, shuffle says...

.... Country legend George Strait with Amarillo By Morning!  


With over 42 country #1s... this one peaked at #4??????  That's frustrating!

They took my saddle in Houston, broke my leg in Santa Fe.
Lost my wife and a girlfriend somewhere along the way.
Well I'll be looking for eight when they pull that gate,
And I'm hoping that judge ain't blind.
Amarillo by morning, Amarillo's on my mind.

That's a wrap!  Until next time....

Martin World News

ITEM:  First, I have to say that I had to search farther afield than I normally do.  Not because I couldn't find the stupid stuff, but because of the quality on my usual sources.  You see, last week was obviously "I never really did get potty training" week, as the stories were by and large poopy- including a customer in the checkout line at a K-Mart, the corridor of a hospital, along a hiking trail (and not by pets), and even some English woman so dissatisfied with her husband that for some years now she's been adding pee to her in-laws' tea.  I had to flush all of those stories to come up with a post that didn't stink.  So let's try these on for size.


ITEM:  This one isn't funny, just a sad commentary on the world and a real, "what kind of a god do you worship" to our Muslim friends out there.

This is a 4-y-o Syrian girl living in a refugee camp.  Her name is Hudea.  What is Hudea doing?  She is surrendering to a photojournalist who was taking a picture of her with a telephoto lens she mistook for a gun.

"I was using a telephoto lens, and she thought it was a weapon," says (Osman) Sağırlı (the photog). "I realized she was terrified after I took it, and looked at the picture, because she bit her lips and raised her hands. Normally kids run away, hide their faces or smile when they see a camera."


I just wish it made the cowards of ISIL, Boko Haram, Al-Shabbab and all the rest as sick as it makes me of them.


ITEM:  Now, back to stupid people.  And nothing brings them out like April Fools Day, even at a serious institution of higher learning like Grand Valley State.


The captain from the Allendale Fire Department said some female college students were joking around and tossed a lit firecracker at another roommate. The firecracker landed in a nearby hamper sparking a fire around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday on the second floor of a townhouse at Campus West Apartments, located near 48th Avenue just west of GVSU.

The building was evacuated and no one was injured in the fire.

Students are being allowed to return to two of the six apartments in the building. The remaining residents should be able to get back in later Wednesday, except for building number four where the fire started.

The extent of damage to the town home is unknown.


How much you wanna bet the firecracker was originally lit about midnight, nobody went in search of where it landed, and alcohol was involved?


ITEM:  A woman checks off the stupidest thing ever found on a bucket list.

Meet South Australia's Karen Davis, who flashed her boobs at a passing Google Street View Car.  She ranks this right up with meeting former footballer Sam Newman, and hopes to complete here list by spending her 40th birthday topless skydiving.  (A good idea till you land and have to explain the facial bruises.)  GSV, for its part has completely pixelated her image on Google maps, so she now appears as Karen the Stupid Ghost.  She's awaiting trial for disorderly behavior and had this to say about her case:

"I'm going to try and go to court with a straight face and try not to laugh - I think it is a bit hilarious because it is so low scale in the criminal world."  Not to mention a complete waste of the court's time and her fellow taxpayers' money.  Next time, just go down to amateur night at Albury Wodonga Men's Club down the road, huh?


ITEM:  Our next fine, upstanding woman is Ashley Sies of Lexington, KY.

Ashley was apparently under the influence of drugs when she went to the home of Patricia Leese and began strangling her with a bra.  Yes, with a bra.  But it gets better.  As the pair (who didn't know each other previously) struggled, Patricia got a hold of and beat Ashley unconscious with a nearby ceramic chicken.  Yes, a ceramic chicken.  Patricia then locked herself in the bathroom and called 911.  The local police whisked Ashley away to face, of all things, first degree BURGLARY charges.


ITEM:  Here's a real feel good story.  Remember Vanuatu, the poor island nation that got obliterated a week or two back by a typhoon?  The news media sure has, but wait till you see what favorite target of media bashing lately has come to the rescue.

When Cyclone Pam battered the island nation of Vanuatu three weeks ago, Australia’s largest cruise operator, Carnival Australia, was forced to suspend tourist visits to the country.

But chief executive Ann Sherry decided to keep to the ships’ planned Pacific routes anyway, taking in much-needed aid, including food, water, blankets, tarpaulins, insect repellent and wood mulchers, to the help the storm-damaged country.

While passengers on Pacific cruises were unable to go ashore in Vanuatu, they agreed to be part of the humanitarian aid program, donating money and goods for the local people when they arrived in port.

“We had to make the choice about whether we went into Vanuatu or not,” says Sherry, whose cruise lines regularly tour the ­Pacific.

“We have gone with ships laden with people, but because it was not safe ashore, we said to everyone on board this is now an aid cruise, a humanitarian cruise.

“Our ships have the capacity to take in huge volumes of water, generators, tarpaulins. We also asked our suppliers if they wanted to be part of it and they have jumped on board.

“We have taken in pallets of food from suppliers that they have generously donated.”

So far the Carnival group has contributed about $300,000 to help Vanuatu, mainly through the Save the Children’s Vanuatu relief effort. Carnival Corp contributed $100,000 and another $50,000 came from Carnival Australia’s existing Pacific Partnership program. Another $150,000 came from Carnival Corp’s global chairman, Micky Arison, through his family foundation.

When the Florida-based ­Arison discovered Carnival Australia’s relief efforts by reading the company’s tweets, he decided to match the Australian arm’s contribution of $150,000 with $150,000 of his own money.

P&O passengers travelling on the cruises were told they could take goods such as food, insect repellent and personal hygiene items to give to the people in Vanuatu when they arrived.

So far four Carnival Australia ships — P&O’s Pacific Dawn and Pacific Pearl and Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Legend and Carnival Spirit — have taken aid to Vanuatu since the cyclone. More than 12 pallets of goods contributed by passengers have been delivered.

A fifth ship left Australia on Saturday with more aid for the country. A decision is now being made whether passengers will be able to get off the ship to see the country in a limited way when it arrives there early this week.

Sherry admits there was some nervousness from the company that the ships would still be making a stop in Vanuatu as part of their planned Pacific route to take in aid, while the passengers were not allowed to get off the ship.

“We put up a message on our Facebook page to say the ships would still be going to Vanuatu (to take in aid) but the passengers would not be able to get off the ship,” Sherry says. “We were a bit nervous about the reaction but after we put it up. The first message on the Facebook site was from someone saying they would love to be on the cruise.

“We knew then that the passenger attitude was going to be 110 per cent in support. They wanted to be part of the recovery effort.”

But with their economy devastated by the cyclone, the people of Vanuatu are keen for a resumption of the shore visits by passengers. The country has missed the financial injection from more than 8000 cruise ship visitors over the past few weeks.

“The people in Vanuatu are telling us they really want people to get off the ship,” Sherry says.

“The businesses need customers. We are just checking whether it is safe and if we need to contain people to the city area. We are keen to let people back into Vanuatu and to start spending money again but we don’t want to do it in a way that puts people at risk.”

The aid effort included taking in industrial-sized mulchers to chop up trees felled by the cyclone.

“We hired three mulchers from Kennards,” Sherry says.

From now on the emphasis will be on taking in building materials such as corrugated iron sheets to help repair structures.

A far cry from "ship stranded due to fire", or "disease breaks out onboard," or all the other disasters that are the only other time the news mentions Carnival.


ITEM:  Anyone else about tired of hearing how junk food is bad for you?


Urban ants in New York have apparently developed some of the same eating habits of their human counterparts: their diet is rich in junk food.

Tests on insects collected from pavements and traffic islands in Manhattan show that their bodies contain the molecular fingerprint of junk food, according to research conducted in North Carolina State University.

The same was not true of more genteel ants that frequent leafy park areas.

"Human foods clearly make up a significant portion of the diet in urban species," said lead researcher Dr Clint Penick.  

"These are ants eating our garbage, and this may explain why pavement ants are able to achieve such large populations in cities."


Stupid ants, don't they know it's bad for them?  How dare they thrive on it?


ITEM:  Next up, our science page (but don't cue up Neil DeGrasse Tyson- no evolution or global warming on these stories).

First up, zookeepers are hoping video of the event will encourage others of their kind to have successful, reproductive sex after they taped an 18-minute sexual encounter between giant pandas Xi Mei and Lu Lu.  No word on whether Xi Mei used Viagara before giving Lu Lu the ol' "bamboo bludgeon".  If you want to (Al Penwasser), you can watch the video here- and please let me know if you do so I can keep track of what kind of perverts hang around here.


Next, Live Science did an article about how long it would take to fall down a hole clear through the earth.  Apparently earlier estimates failed to adjust for changes in the earth's gravity, and a new estimate by Alexander Klotz of Montreal's McGill University, figuring no wind resistance ("In my opinion, if you have the technology to dig such a tunnel, you have the technology to suck the air out," Klotz said) and that you are quick enough to grab something when you come out so you don't fall back through again, the trip should take you 38 minutes and 11 seconds.  Of course, his guess is as good as mine, since man has barely been able to make a hole 0.1% of the way through the earth so far.


Finally, let's hear it for North Korea.  According to their (version of) news, they managed to land a man- 17 y-o Hung Il Dong (now there's a name to conjure with)- on the surface of the sun.  That's an amazing 23,325,000 mph- or three per cent of the speed of light, give or take.  That's around 640 times faster than the fastest rocket NASA ever launched.  But how did they manage the "crispy fried Dong" problem?

It was said that the journey was made possible by travelling in the cover of darkness, which protected him from the extreme heat of the sun.


Well, thank God they didn't make it a day-trip...

Simon on the shore-an Easter story

The sun hadn't risen very high even yet on this momentous morning, and the early morning breezes pushed the waters of the Sea of Galilee ashore at Simon's feet.  The gentle lapping once soothed him, as did the rolling of the open waters beneath the bottom of his fishing boat.  But this morning, the waves called in vain, the froth bubbled to eyes that weren't conceiving.  Not long ago, he saw a sight that should have filled him with joy- the linen wrappings that bound the dead body of his Master, lying empty, as empty as the tomb they lie in.

Time and again, Jesus had said fantastic words about how He would have to die, but would rise again.  Was it so inconceivable?  Jesus had awakened those believed dead before.  Why, Lazarus had lain in HIS tomb 3 days when Jesus merely called to him, and he came, still wrapped in his linens.  And now, Jesus' own linens lay empty.  Had He risen, as He said?  And what would that mean- for him?

The last time Simon called Peter had seen the Man, Simon had just denied he even knew Him for a third time.  In that moment, Simon had caught a glimpse of Jesus through a window in the Sanhedrin's Place of Judgment- and Jesus had looked back.  "I told you so,"  Simon thought at first, but that's not what He saw.  He saw forgiveness and terrible sadness; yes, and understanding as well.

Perhaps He could look at Simon with understanding, but Simon saw no such thing as he peered at himself in the water.  Even if Jesus lived, what more would He want to do with me?  If He lived, how could I face him?

"Simon?"  the familiar voice came from behind him.  He crunched his eyes shut to shut off the never-ending tears, clenched his fists and shrunk a bit, as if expecting a lashing from a Roman Cohort- like the one Jesus had felt.  "Simon, I have come, as I promised."

"Once before, Lord,"  He began in a tight, choking voice, "I said to you, long ago- do You remember?- Get away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man..."

"And did I then?"

The eyes opened a little.  "No, you did not," he half-chuckled.  "But I didn't know You then, hadn't lived with You... hadn't betrayed You."

"And did I not tell you that all Scripture had to be fulfilled?"  The Voice behind him replied.  "He who is most trusted has to be most tested."

Simon, unturning, knelt beside the water, bringing up a handful to wash the sting from his eyes.  "And I failed.  In the end, no better than Judas..."

A hand gently touched his shoulder.  "No?  You know Judas is dead now, by his own hand..."

Simon started a moment, then fell back into self-focus.

"He never really understood, and he could not survive.  You, Simon, you know Me.  Even when you didn't fully understand, you knew Me.  Turn and look at Me, for I mean to settle this."

Simon, almost without conscious will, rose from his knees, stood and turned.  His eyes took it all in:  The wounds from the thorns, the holes in the hands and feet.  And the strange, new light- as if the Man was the sun and the clouds had retreated from his form.  He struggled for words, but none would come.


"It is I," Jesus told him, "But you knew that.  Unlike Mary, this didn't surprise you, did it?  Not near as much as it made you... frightened."

Simon turned to one side, his gaze landing without seeing on the shoreline.  "The last time I looked on you, I denied knowing You.  How could I blame You, should You decide to do the same to me now?"

Jesus smiled that knowing smile, the one that always lit their hearts with His warmth.  "And yet, how could I not forgive you, when it was to bring men forgiveness that I died?"

"Then, it all wasn't some nightmare," Simon said softly, almost to himself.  "Or is this the dream, and I shall awake colder and more alone yet?"

Jesus took Simon's hand in both of His.  "There will be time for explaining, and for understanding, later.  Right now, this moment, you and I, there is but one thing needs said.  All is forgiven.  How can it not be, if you are to be the Rock upon which I shall build My Church?"

Simon laughed.  "A fine rock I turned out to be.  Easily blown in the wind, more like sand."

"If I could change stone into bread, " Jesus said, "Can I not change sand to stone?"

Simon turned back to face Jesus, but He was gone.  Simon was alone for a league or more.  And yet, he could still feel the hands that had gripped his.  They were no dream, no illusion.  And the words echoed.  "All is forgiven... can I not change sand into stone?"  And in his heart, something shifted.  The brooding, the self-pity, these were done.  And it was time to return to the others, to gather the others.  Time to be the rock he needed to be, for their sake.  Before this day was out, they would all have to come to grips with a new reality... a reality he had just seen and experienced.



Now, face yourself on the seashore, gentle reader.  Have a happy and blessed Easter.

The kinda junk you get on Saturday.

First up, Bobby G. made a comment on me on another blog (the cad, lol!), referencing my supposed outstripping him in followers/commenters.  So I decided to see the truth behind the illusion.  I determined that out of 88 supposed followers, I only counted 85.  Out of that group, I have determined that once in a great while at least, 44.7 % actually comment.  I split that up thusly:

18.8% are active, pretty regular commenters.
11.8 % Show up just once in a blue moon, but can't really write 'em off.
Another 11.8% will usually comment if you have commented on their post of the day, but rarely without that persuasion.
And 2.3% do their commenting on the Facebook link.  This does not count Facebook commenters that don't fill out the "follow" form.

Nor does it count Lorraine, who thinks a blogger account is a great evil and only comments by e-mail.  (Of course, there WAS that recent trip to Spain...)


And the other "followers?"

The biggest group, 20%, I classify as MIA.  Many of these were frequent commenters in the past but have cut internet ties.
9.4% I classify as "never weres", people who followed for no apparent reason, and commented once if at all.
8.2% are non-commenters, but are recent enough that I give them the benefit of the doubt that they may actually lurk here.
Another 7% are much like this group, but I tend to think they are closing in on MIA territory.
5.9% are people who have followed under two different names, on their name they don't use.
4.7% I believe are advertising sites that think I will follow them if they follow me.  When that failed, they abandoned ship.


So excuse me if I don't see the difference between 40 or so that actually follow and 88 that are mostly deadwood.


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Hockey report:  In Denmark, my team SonderjyskE and KC's Team Esbjerg are playing in the championship final, with my guys winning game one 4-2 today.

In Latvia, KCs Kurbads team trails Mogo 3 to 2 in the finals.

In Norway, my Stavanger team swept arch rival Valerenga 4-0 to go to the finals.  Awaiting their challenger right now.

In the Czech Republic, KCs Sparta Prague is threatening to upend my division champs Trinec in the semis.

My Swiss team, Geneva Servette, got knocked out in the semis this week, as did my German team, Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg.

Last week, the English Elite League started their screwy two-week playoff affair.  Last week was the quarterfinals, a two-game aggregate goal affair.  My regular season champs, Sheffield, were the only top seed to win through, defeating KCs Fife team with a win and a tie.  This week, it becomes a one-and-done affair, and Sheffield did in 7th place Hull.  Tomorrow, we play 6th place Coventry for the championship.

Which still leaves my Finnish team Jyvaskyla playing in the semis, five of the six Canadian junior teams still active in their playoffs, and the NHL teams of which KCs Columbus Blue Jackets have been eliminated from playoff contention, but our other three are still in the mix.

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Finally, no walk today as it is a bit brisk with the wind, and Scrappy had a couple hours where his left hip was giving him a problem.  After a doggie aspirin wrapped in peanut butter and a nap, he was better, and we took a brief excursion to the back yard.  Brief, because I'm not real interested in reviving the Black Plague I suffered with the last few weeks.  Missing 6 days of work didn't look good on my review.  Thankfully, I'm so wonderful everywhere else (cough, gag), that I got a 29-cent raise.  And boy, it sounds like I'm gonna be working for it!

Time Machine week 18

Today is April 3rd, 1966, and we just missed a IFO (Identified Flying Object) on the way in!

The Luna 10 Soviet orbiter, which today became the first artificial satellite of the Moon.  Interestingly, one of it's jobs was to oscillate out The Internationale live to the opening of the 23rd Soviet Communist Party Conference.  All went well in rehearsal the night before... but the next day, "it missed a note", and thus the night before's broadcast was replayed for the event "with no one the wiser..."  I'm not sure if the joke is about finding a wise man in a communist party meeting, or if it involved the number of people thinking , "Boishe Moi, now they're playing that damn thing in space!"?


Welcome to this week's Time Machine, the last week of the first trip through the random years of the Martin Era!  Next week, we'll be working from a new list, but this week, we feature the charts that brought us our first tastes of the Beach Boys and Sloop John B, the Byrds and Eight Miles High, the Mindbenders and Groovy Kind Of Love, and Dionne Warwick and Message To Michael!  Among our many stories this week:  Yet another screwy "rogue" station and it's top five ranging from current hits to future hits to never became hits; Batman and his Grandmother; one of the truly stupid personal stories I'll ever tell here;  and a possible new feature I'm tentatively calling bottoms up (and has nothing to do with Kim Kardashian).  So hop in and we'll Dos Vadanya out of here!

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The fun group of panelists this week include return offenders WIXY, Cleveland; KJR Seattle; WCOL Columbus OH; KQV Pittsburgh (which amazingly isn't the "rogue station"); WAKY Louisville; and to my memory newcomers KFWB, Los Angeles; KLOL Lincoln NE (I bet they'd regret those call letters now); WOKY Milwaukee; WKYC, also Cleveland; WPOP Hartford; KSJB, Jamestown ND; and our oddball for the week whom we'll look close at in a little bit, WHOO Orlando.  This group posted 25 different songs (including five of our six unknown song candidates), including the #1 vote getters Baby Scratch My Back by Slim Harpo (Louisville, and we'll talk more about that one in a bit), These Boots Are Made For Walking by Nancy Sinatra (Lincoln), and Good Lovin' by the Young Rascals (one of only 2 votes they got, from WKYC).  And they totalled us up, in a tight race 36-29-27, the following top 4:

At fourth, the national #2 song, the Beatles' Nowhere Man.  They got the #1 on WIXY and 12 points to trail the pack.

At #3 is the national #8, Cher's Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).  She got #1 votes from Orlando and Jamestown.

At #2 is the national #4- the Loving Spoonful with Daydream.  John Sebastian's boys claimed #1s in Milwaukee and Hartford.

And at #1.... stay tuned!

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My choice for unknown song this week was complicated by many contestants, including the aforementioned Baby Scratch My Back.  Slim Harpo was a blues man who did this popped-up almost-instrumental, which he termed "An attempt at rock and roll for me."

Another came from Lincoln, who actually had the flip side to Nowhere Man at #3.  This tune was called What Goes On, and was the only song by the Fab Four credited to Lennon-McCartney-Starr.  Ringo, though, said his contribution was "about 5 words" in the chorus.  He was the singer on the song, which peaked on the nationals at #81.

Another one that somehow squeezed into someone's top five was the Harden Trio with Tippy Toeing, a particularly inane song about keeping quiet while the baby was sleeping.  I wouldn't do that to you guys.  This song was #2 in North Dakota, where apparently they spend a little too much time on the range.

Another song that didn't make the cut was a backbencher on the WIXY chart called Juanita Banana by a studio novelty group called the Peels.  Apparently modified from a Mexican folk song about a girl that wants to become an opera singer, the chorus opener from the song is a screech high note stolen from Verdi's Rigoletto.  That line in turn became a piece in the patchwork guru Dickie Goodman's (Mister Jaws) #70 hit Batman and His Grandmother, a spoof on the TV show revolving around his grandmother being kidnapped by arch-villain the Green Beret.  Among the songs "sampled" by Goodman in the record were, of course, The Ballad Of The Green Berets (which just missed the top 4), Baby Scratch My Back, Nowhere Man, Bang Bang, and our #1 panel song- which of course, you'll have to wait on.  Just so you know, Batman gets shot, Robin wrecks the Batmobile, and Grandma ends up kissing the Green Beret.

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So who do I pick for unknown song?  Actually, two of them.  One of them sat at #5 on the LA.  It was a band called the Elgins.  Formerly the Downbeats, Berry Gordy changed it to the Elgins because it was one of the former names of the Temptations.  They hit with the original Heaven Must Have Sent You (a #11 hit for Bonnie Pointer in '79), but this time their song was called Darling Baby:





Our other tune was a band I mentioned before- Chicago's New Colony Six with their first hit- and the #3 in Orlando of all places- called I Confess.





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Now some of the cat's out of the bag about the Orlando chart.  Bang Bang was the big hit at #1.  Their #2 was a song which Rufus Thomas had taken into the top ten- Walking The Dog.  But this version was by a dude named Jerry Palmer, a Canadian who MAY have been one of the voices involved in the Hollywood Argyles and their novelty hit Alley-Oop.  The New Colony Six were at #3, and at #4 was Johnny Rivers with the still climbing Secret Agent Man, which was sitting at 12 nationally.  And the curious cherry on the top (or bottom, as it were) was the song at #5- Tommy Roe's Sweet Pea, a big hit- that was still EIGHT WEEKS from it's national debut!  Not sure which was oddest- the song that never became a hit, the song that was supposedly only a hit in Chicago, or the song that was two months from hitting nationally?

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All right, time for bottom's up!

I had happened to notice that a lot of new hits were at the bottom of the charts on their way up.  So I decided to see what kind of a top ten I would get if I took the songs I liked from the bottom of the charts up.  And here is what I got for this week in 1966:

10- Bob Kuban and the In-Men, The Cheater.  It had peaked at 15 a few weeks back, and was on the way down at #41.

9- Shadows of Knight, Gloria.  G-L-O-R-I-A was in it's 3rd week on the charts at #44.

8- Yardbirds, Shapes Of Things.  After 4 weeks, this song was at #46.

7- and 6- a double-dipper for Lou Christie, with Rhapsody In The Rain at 49 and climbing, and Lightning Strikes at 52 and dropping.

5 and 4- another double dipper for the Beach Boys, with Sloop John B at its debut at 56, and the Brian Wilson solo Caroline No in it's second week at #62.

3- The Byrds' Eight Miles High in it's debut week at #77.

2- The Mindbenders' Groovy Kind Of Love debuting at 80.

and at #1- Dionne Warwick's Message To Michael at #92.

So whaddya think?  Could this be the jazzed up replacement for telling you the week's debuts?  Let me know what you think... or I will get you....

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Our six degrees starts with a BIIIIIIG stretch to one of the dumbest things I ever came up with.  Back in 1981, Rick Springfield was just sliding down the charts with Jesse's Girl (#24), while folk singer and draft dodger Jesse Winchester was coming up (#37) with a song called Say What? on Memorial weekend.  And I always thought it would be funny to see the two next to each other on the chart- Rick Springfield singing about hitting on Jesse's Girl, and Jesse Winchester saying, Say What?

(Crickets...)

Anyway, Mr. Winchester was one of the acts signed to old Royal Studios.  Another act there was a bluesman named Willie (Papa Willie) Mitchell.  Willie is best known to me as the writer for Bob Seger's Night Moves cut Come To Papa (makes sense, I guess).  It was one of several cuts (including Main Street and Sunspot Baby) in which the Silver Bullet Band was subbed out for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.  With the MSRS, drummer Roger Hawkins appeared on songs like the #1s I'll Take You There ('72), Respect ('67), and When A Man Loves A Woman ('66).  He was also drummer on Wilson Picket's big hit Land Of 1,000 Dances, which hit #6 later in 1966.  That song was the follow up to the six degrees victim this week, a song the Wicked One eventually took to #13 on BB, and sat at #9 on Cashbox this week- 634-5789 (Soulsville USA).

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And that brings us to the shuffle ten!

Coming in for the first time at #10 is Eric Burdon and the Animals with one of their later hits, the 1967 #15 Monterey.

Barry Manilow makes his third trip to the ten with his 1975 #1, I Write The Songs.

Also on their third time is the Bee Gees at #8, with my second favorite of theirs (which of course means it's off the beaten path).  The song is called Edge Of the Universe, and it was the flip side of my favorite, Nights On Broadway... and then was released from the Here At Last... Live lp in 1977, peaking at #26.

Just my dog and I
at the edge of the universe.
Well, I didn't wanna bring her
and I know it'll make her worse.
Now I look out on forever
and it must be nice down there.
And they call me Shenandora in the air.

I was amazed to see this is the Eagles' first flight into the shuffle ten, with another #1 from 1975, One Of These Nights.

The last Jeff Lynne ELO lp was 2001's Zoom.  The singles didn't get a lot of play or promo, but they rank as some of the best the band ever did.  One of those tunes is Alright, and it comes in at #6 for their third trip into the ten.


Number five is the second song with this same name (both different), and the second song on the ten by Neil Young.  From the  1974 lp On The Beach, the song is Walk On, which peaked at #69.


Ooh baby,
that's hard to change
I can't tell them
how to feel.
Some get stoned,
some get strange,
But sooner or later
it all gets real.
Walk on, walk on...

Blondie gets their second trip in with the first rap song to hit the top of the charts, 1981's Rapture, at #4.

And finally into the ten is my babe Yvonne Elliman with her cover of Hello Stranger, a #15 in 1977.

About this time, I mentioned to Laurie it was about time for the obscure songs to show up.  And up popped at #2 one of my favorites of that category.  The band was called Fire Town, who were one female lead away from evolving into alternative band Garbage.  The song was the title track to their lp The Good Life, and it hit #18 alternative in 1989.

Well, Christmas time came early this year 
Down on Granddad's farm 
He opened up all the presents himself 
With an antique Charter Arms 
Then he tucked the whole family into bed 
Out in a corner of the yard 
When the TV man asked him what went wrong 
He said "I just got tired of being ignored"... 

And that brings us to our #1s!

Survey says....

The Righteous Brothers with Soul And Inspiration!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When Batman was shot in the Dickie Goodman record, Robin asked what to do and Batman "answered" with the spoken word, "Baby, I can't make it without you..."

And shuffle says...

Jethro Tull and Wond'ring Aloud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first time in the ten for Tull is a cut from Aqualung, the great lp from 1971.

And that's a wrap!  Don't forget to let me know about Bottoms Up!