Arbitrary_12_6_2014

Webstats for this blog aren't showing positive developments in the last couple of weeks; so maybe an attempt at damage control is in order. I miss the coffee cup picture, but I tried to update this old software, and just about lost the entire blog. Absolutely blank white page. Finally, I was able to get an equally old theme, and everything showed up again. I'm supposed to have backups , but there would probably have been some delay with that. I really like the old name, maybe I  can come up with one as fitting, time will tell. The family didn't like the name, and, well, priorities, you know, some things are more important. There's another issue I'm not sure about, it's speculation, but could be a matter of deep regret. Lastly, there's this "bad Men Anonymous" card. Sorry if it offended, but I get a big laugh out of it; try to understand the context. In that particular incident, I was using sarcasm to reply to a guy at another site. If the other site doesn't have a way to upload images, you just upload it to another site,  and hotlink to it, that's why it was here. Anyway,he was either a troll, or blindly conformed to all that the MSM has been spewing forth. What makes the card endearing in an enduring way is how applicable it is to other incidents in my life. When you're a kid, in school they go on about how virtuous George Washington was with the story of the cherry tree; or Abraham Lincoln walking 12 miles to return some lady's penny. I thought man, I want to be like that. Lately I've  been wondering if it's possible to regard oneself as a very honest person, indeed "brutally honest"; all the while overlooking an area where an examination from a different perspective might show the whole honesty perception to be an illusion or delusion. The contemplation didn't yield anything concrete, but did bring up some big things to keep an eye on. 

 So yeah, anyway, honesty can really alienate you from a lot of people. It happens different ways; if someone is asking me about something that I know will have an uncomfortable answer, then I try to be vague, or even change the subject. If those don't work, and I'm pressed, then the result is often another incident that cements my membership in the Bad Men Anonymous recovery group. And political discussions, oh man just sign me up for the LIFETIME membership. Come to think of it though, it's really quite liberating; not expecting approval. A lot like the freedom found in being the village weirdo.

Enough of the attempts at explaining; we just set up the manger scene on the front yard today. The little building anyway. The back is made of the same straw bales we used for our Thanksgiving display. Too bad how people are inconvenienced by that holiday, but we get several hundred dollars worth of stuff at the end of October. Huge pumpkins, Indian corn, squashes, corn stalks, all kinds of good stuff, for free. They get it hauled off, and we use it for a month. I have a sign with "Oh give thanks unto the Lord" from Psalm 105. This year, for the Christmas display, I want to have a sign with the same words as the artwork here. I hope people will think about the severity of disregarding Jesus.

 Speaking of disregarding the Lord, I was reading one of the "Bible Story" books to my children the other day. They're those blue ones put out by the 7th Day Adventists. You just read them with a little caveat about their particular doctrines, and you'll be OK. What's nice is how they're a paraphrase that the kids can understand, and they always enjoy my reading them out loud. Of course, it probably doesn't hurt that I do my own dramatization of some parts. We read the part where the people made the golden calf while Moses was on the mountain. It's late, so I'm not going to research the details; but weren't they still getting the Manna from heaven each morning? If I recall, they put up the idol, and said "Oh Israel, these be thy gods". So maybe they were acknowledging the manna in the wrong way. A case of interpreting God to fit your own desires. If so, things haven't changed much.