Oh, my God!

    Hundreds of kids at a high school in Huntington, West Virginia (my home state) were invited into the auditorium for what was a Evangelical prayer meeting.

    Many of them (over a hundred) were upset and walked out of home room to protest that the division between church and state had been violated.

    They were right.

    There is no place in public schools were religion is celebrated.

    Many of their parents complained on line and in person.

    To this point, none of the teachers who planned it or the principle who attended, have been held accountable.

    Look on line and see it all.

    Oh, my God!

    What a violation of the law and human religious rights!

    In my home state.

    I am humble and angry.

    That should not happen.

 

A little warmer

Today was almost bearable. In the low 40's.

Alleluia!

The former President (who I will not name) is in deep trouble with the January 6 committee, the state of New York and the state of Georgia.

May he please be prosecuted in all places on all counts.

Please.

Republican Senators are standing up against the RNC who censored the two Republicans on the Jan. 6 committee.

They are saying the Jan. 6 folks were insurrectionists, not involved in 'political debate'.

God bless them.

Covid deaths among the un-vaccinated are still rising.

God help them to know the truth.

Ukraine is still a problem.

The problem is Putin.

God help us all.

Not a good time to be alive.

But it was warmer today....

 

 

 

Who are you?

 I get, on average, 200 views a day. But I don't know who all is reading my blog.

So, if you are a reader, I'd like you to comment or send me an email at Padrejgb@aol.com.

I'd love to know who you are.

Can you help me by doing that?

Even as it drizzles, as it has most of the day, late into the night, I wonder who you are.

Thanks for reading and let me know if you would like to.

Shalom and good night, Jim

I long for spring

I know I've written it before, but it deserves being restated--I hate the cold!

l hate, Hate, HATE the cold.

I always have on three or four layers to try to keep warm and still can't.

On our bed, Bern has like three layers and I have six or seven and I sometimes am still cold.

Our house is at 68-70 degrees but I'm still chilly.

There were lots of birds in our yard--still some snow--today.

I long for all the birds coming back.

I long for spring and some warmth.

Funny, in the summer, I love air conditioning--but in the winter, I long for spring.

It can't come soon enough for me.

It will be in the 40's later this week.

Even that is good.

I can't wait....

 

I'll miss them both but I only like one...

 Two of the best quarterbacks in pro football have retired.

(Actually, one of them may be the best of all time and the other is way above average.)

Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger (that's how you spell it, no matter what my spell check says!) won't be back behind their centers next year.

I love Big Ben, always have. Playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers (again, bad, bad spell check!) made him a working class hero. I went to college about 60 miles from Pittsburgh and always admired the blue collar strength of the city. And Big Ben was fun.

Brady, as good as he was--and he was fabulous--never touched my heart. I never liked the Patriots before him, during him and won't after him.

But it was always great to have someone to root against--though he broke my heart over and over.

And he didn't come out of college as a potential star--I think he was drafted 99th, barely making the top 100.

My dislike of his looks, his lifestyle, his play has nothing to do with his talent--it was beyond belief.

I'll miss rooting for Blue Collar Ben and rooting against White Collar Tom.

I'll miss them both--but it's Ben I love.

This week's sermon

Epiphany 5,2022

        Jesus was by the lake of Gennesaret teaching and the crowds were so close to him, he asked some fishermen to lend him a boat.

        He went a little off shore and sat down (as Jewish teachers did, instead of standing up like I do) and taught the crowds.

        When he was finished, he said to Simon, push off and let down your nets.

        Simon told him they had fished all night and caught nothing, “yet if you say so, I will let down my nets.”

        The catch was so great it was breaking the nets, so the other boat came out to help. They filled both boats with fish and when they came ashore, Simon knelt down to Jesus and said, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

        They were all amazed at the greatest fish catch of their lives.

        But Jesus told Simon and John and James, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching people.”

        So, they left their boats and followed him.

        Imagine that—fishermen with the greatest catch of their lives, leaving the fish and their boats and their livelihood and following this strange teacher!

        Amazing!

        And yet Luke tells us that is what happened.

        And, believe it or not, that is Jesus’ call to us.

        In most cases, it is not a call to ‘leave everything behind’—I don’t see any candidates to be Francis of Assisi here!

        But is a call to realize in our own lives “what’s important to God.” And what is important to God in following Jesus is to be ‘saving people’.

        There are lots of ways to be doing that for each of us. Buying a coat and socks and clothes for a homeless person.

        Giving food and money to the food bank.

        You do that already.

        But there is more to do.

        Listen to the last verse of today’s Psalm: “The Lord will make good his purpose for me;/ O Lord, your love endures forever;/ do not abandon the works of your hands.”

        We can speak up against racial injustice.

        We can take a stand for equal housing.

        We can oppose all forms of discrimination.

        We can seek to make the world a better place for all of God’s children.

        We can give of our time and talents and fortunes for all good causes.

        We can heed Jesus’ call and do all in our power to save and protect the men and women and children of our world.

        We can, in our daily lives, help God’s love to endure forever. God, help us BE your Love.

        Amen and amen.

 

 

Some quotes to ponder....

 (Thanks to the Mastery Foundation for the quotes.)

"Outside noisy, inside empty."--Chinese Proverb

"Listen to Mustn'ts, child, listen to the Don'ts./ Listen to the Shouldn'ts, the Impossibles, the Won'ts./ Listen to the Never Haves, then listen close to me./Anything can happen, child, Anything can be."  --Shel Silverstein

"Where there is great love there are always miracles."--Willa Cather

"No man achieves immortality through public acclaim."--Bob Dylan

"God, if you'll forgive my little jokes on Thee,/ I'll forgive your one big joke on me."--Robert Frost

"Sacred cows make the best hamburger."--Mark Twain

"Everybody wants to be on a championship team and nobody wants to practice."--Bobby Knight

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal."--Hanna Moore

"What history hides is the terror of the unforeseen."--Phillip Roth

"If you want to keep something a secret, don't do it."--Chinese proverb

"Of what you see, believe very little, of what you are told, nothing."--Spanish proverb

"The whole world is a series of miracles, but we're so used to seeing them that we call them ordinary things."--Hans Christian Anderson

"The future you see is the future you get."--Robert G. Allen

"The truth dazzles gradually,/or else the world would be blind."--Emily Dickinson

PONDER ON, MY FRIENDS....