Not
all jobs, events, circumstances or relationships are destinations,
often they only serve as way stations and steppingstones that help carry
us along in our journey.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Breakdown Dead Ahead!
I
know many people that prolong an often needed breakdown by self
medicating, or doctor prescribed medicating for depressed and anxious
symptoms.
I'm not a doctor, but I can tell you that some people need a breakdown, to hit rock bottom, to reach their wits end in order for their life to truly get better. 90% of breakthroughs are preceded by a breakdown.
Just saying. (Luke 20:17-18)
** God lives beyond our wit's end--once we quit running, trying, working and living within and by ourselves--that's when God takes over. I called it breakdown, but we know it as surrender
I'm not a doctor, but I can tell you that some people need a breakdown, to hit rock bottom, to reach their wits end in order for their life to truly get better. 90% of breakthroughs are preceded by a breakdown.
Just saying. (Luke 20:17-18)
** God lives beyond our wit's end--once we quit running, trying, working and living within and by ourselves--that's when God takes over. I called it breakdown, but we know it as surrender
Spartan!
I completed the Spartan Sprint 5K with a torn rotator cuff, two partially separated attaching tendons, and severe tendonitis in my right arm/shoulder.
I
finished the Sunday Spartan Sprint Open in 2:17:51 — placing 24th for
Age Group, 1166th for Gender, and 1706th Overall (top half of field)!
Why'd I do it? After my motorcycle
accident a year ago the doctors and their tests kept saying "disabled"
and that started getting into my head and pulling me down--this was my
"I'll show them (and me) I've got heart" moment! I completed 24/25
obstacles on the course. For those of you who are down or have been
down, let me remind you it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but
the size of the fight in the dog that matters... Philippians 4:13
Colorado Springs Military Spartan Sprint: 4.5 mile course created by Spartan Sprint & Army Special Forces. 25 obstacles.
First Section:
Obstacle 1: Over-Under-Over (runners must first climb over a wall, run 10 yards, climb under a wall, run 10 yards, then through a square hole placed in a wall. This obstacle was repeated three times in a row). Obstacle 2: can't remember!. Obstacle 3: GFT Wall (runners must climb over a wooden walls. The first was 4', the next was 6' and the last was 8'). Obstacle 4: Muck Run (runners ran, waded through a nasty, mucky creek, through a 2-4 ft. pond and up a 15 ft. muddy hill). Obstacle 5: The Gamble (each participant was faced with a decision, to choose between flipping a 250 lb. tractor tire multiple times, or drag a tractor tire--I chose the flip). Obstacle 6: Atlas Lift (lift a 120 lb. round stone and carry it 15 yards, drop it, do 5 burpees, repeat).
Second Section:
Obstacle 7: can't remember. Obstacle 8: Log Hop (runners had to hop across differently sized and spaced logs/stumps without touching the ground. Bonus, the stumps were unstable in the mud). Obstacle 9: Barb Wire Crawl (runners had to crawl 100+ yards through muddy pits under barbed wire, staying low to the ground as to not get injured by the wire). Obstacle 10: Tractor Pull (runners drag/pull a chain looped through a 40 lb. knobby cement block through a bumpy dirty course up and down hills for about a quarter mile). Obstacle 11. Rope Climb (runners climb a rope 20 ft. hung over a body of water/mud -- the one obstacle I did NOT complete).
Third Section:
Obstacle 12: Monkey Net (a version of the monkey bars obstacle which fashioned cargo webbing that began with a 20 ft. incline and ended with a decline traverse). Obstacle 13: Rolling Mud (runners climbed a slippery, muddy hill followed by a water pit and this repeats 5 times in a row. The hill is between 5-10 feet tall and the water is 2-4 ft. deep). Obstacle 14: Inverted Wall (runners climbed a wall that was 10-12 feet high but was like a ramp... only the ramp was on the other side and you were under it). Obstacle 15: Rucksack Carry (runners had to pick up and carry a 125 lb. rucksack/backpack a quarter mile up and down steep, winding hills).
Fourth Section:
Obstacle 16: Object Carry (runners had to carry a 70 lb. "pancake"/sandbag a quarter mile). Obstacle 17: Weaver (runners had to “weave” through logs with 3 ft. gaps, going over one beam and then under one beam, to the top of the 20 ft. A-Frame and back down the opposite side). Obstacle 18: Underwater Wall (runners climb a muudy hill and slide down it. Once in the water, there is a solid wall with barbwire across the top that skims the surface of the water so you have to completely submerge yourself to go under ad ten up another mud hill) Obstacle 19: Traverse Wall (runners had to traverse sideways a long wall of maybe a 100ft with small pieces of 2x4 screwed on at varying spans, similar to a bouldering wall). Obstacle 20: Spear Throw (participants had to throw a wooden spear into a target from a distance of 10-20 yards).
Fifth Section:
Obstacle 21: Herculean Hoist (Athletes must hoist a 75 lb. sandbag 25 ft. off the ground using a pulley system. This obstacle is similar to the "lat-pull" exercise machine, but is more difficult because the rope is often muddy and slippery... Once the block is in the air you cannot drop it. You have to get the block to the top and then bring it to the ground without letting go of the rope). Obstacle 22: Dunk Wall/Slip Wall (runners climb up a slick 10 ft. mudwall with a rope. Then slide down the mud wall on the other side into 6-8 ft. deep water/mud). Obstacle 23: Bridge (runners have to climb a wooden ladder that has been painted and caked with mud up 90ft to the top of a platform. Once at the top, you have a 45ft long horizontal cargo net to get across, followed by the 90ft climb back down the same type ladder on the other side). Obstacle 24: Fire Jump (athletes run through and then jump over a burning section of wood 1 foot to 2 feet tall). Obstacle 25: Gladiator Gauntlet.
My brother Mike said I had something in my teeth. I told him a was a little bit of determination. ;)
First Section:
Obstacle 1: Over-Under-Over (runners must first climb over a wall, run 10 yards, climb under a wall, run 10 yards, then through a square hole placed in a wall. This obstacle was repeated three times in a row). Obstacle 2: can't remember!. Obstacle 3: GFT Wall (runners must climb over a wooden walls. The first was 4', the next was 6' and the last was 8'). Obstacle 4: Muck Run (runners ran, waded through a nasty, mucky creek, through a 2-4 ft. pond and up a 15 ft. muddy hill). Obstacle 5: The Gamble (each participant was faced with a decision, to choose between flipping a 250 lb. tractor tire multiple times, or drag a tractor tire--I chose the flip). Obstacle 6: Atlas Lift (lift a 120 lb. round stone and carry it 15 yards, drop it, do 5 burpees, repeat).
Second Section:
Obstacle 7: can't remember. Obstacle 8: Log Hop (runners had to hop across differently sized and spaced logs/stumps without touching the ground. Bonus, the stumps were unstable in the mud). Obstacle 9: Barb Wire Crawl (runners had to crawl 100+ yards through muddy pits under barbed wire, staying low to the ground as to not get injured by the wire). Obstacle 10: Tractor Pull (runners drag/pull a chain looped through a 40 lb. knobby cement block through a bumpy dirty course up and down hills for about a quarter mile). Obstacle 11. Rope Climb (runners climb a rope 20 ft. hung over a body of water/mud -- the one obstacle I did NOT complete).
Third Section:
Obstacle 12: Monkey Net (a version of the monkey bars obstacle which fashioned cargo webbing that began with a 20 ft. incline and ended with a decline traverse). Obstacle 13: Rolling Mud (runners climbed a slippery, muddy hill followed by a water pit and this repeats 5 times in a row. The hill is between 5-10 feet tall and the water is 2-4 ft. deep). Obstacle 14: Inverted Wall (runners climbed a wall that was 10-12 feet high but was like a ramp... only the ramp was on the other side and you were under it). Obstacle 15: Rucksack Carry (runners had to pick up and carry a 125 lb. rucksack/backpack a quarter mile up and down steep, winding hills).
Obstacle 16: Object Carry (runners had to carry a 70 lb. "pancake"/sandbag a quarter mile). Obstacle 17: Weaver (runners had to “weave” through logs with 3 ft. gaps, going over one beam and then under one beam, to the top of the 20 ft. A-Frame and back down the opposite side). Obstacle 18: Underwater Wall (runners climb a muudy hill and slide down it. Once in the water, there is a solid wall with barbwire across the top that skims the surface of the water so you have to completely submerge yourself to go under ad ten up another mud hill) Obstacle 19: Traverse Wall (runners had to traverse sideways a long wall of maybe a 100ft with small pieces of 2x4 screwed on at varying spans, similar to a bouldering wall). Obstacle 20: Spear Throw (participants had to throw a wooden spear into a target from a distance of 10-20 yards).
Fifth Section:
Obstacle 21: Herculean Hoist (Athletes must hoist a 75 lb. sandbag 25 ft. off the ground using a pulley system. This obstacle is similar to the "lat-pull" exercise machine, but is more difficult because the rope is often muddy and slippery... Once the block is in the air you cannot drop it. You have to get the block to the top and then bring it to the ground without letting go of the rope). Obstacle 22: Dunk Wall/Slip Wall (runners climb up a slick 10 ft. mudwall with a rope. Then slide down the mud wall on the other side into 6-8 ft. deep water/mud). Obstacle 23: Bridge (runners have to climb a wooden ladder that has been painted and caked with mud up 90ft to the top of a platform. Once at the top, you have a 45ft long horizontal cargo net to get across, followed by the 90ft climb back down the same type ladder on the other side). Obstacle 24: Fire Jump (athletes run through and then jump over a burning section of wood 1 foot to 2 feet tall). Obstacle 25: Gladiator Gauntlet.
You Could Really Pull the Trigger and End a Life? Let it Go...
You Could Really Pull the Trigger and End a Life? Let it Go...
My two cents: I'm all for gun ownership. But I'm wondering if all the people that post their outrage over the possibility of the government taking your gun(s) away have EVER committed violence against another person? Have you ever blackened an eye? bloodied a lip or nose? taken someone down and just beat the spit out them? No? So what are you going to do with your gun(s) when a criminal or even the government rolls up on you, shoot it out with them?
Even if you have been trained to fire your weapon, most of you certainly haven't been conditioned to kill another human. Maybe some that routinely blast away at humans or human-like things in video games can lower the resistance and operantly train themselves, but NOT the average person.
I am a Marine Corps vet, I've done violence, I've had violence committed against me and the thought(s) make me ill. I work at a Veteran's hospital, and do you know which unit is consistently full? The PTSD unit. When most men and women experience the horrors of war, it changes them, deeply and permanently.
Within us is a powerful resistance to killing one's own kind, a resistance that exists in every healthy member of every species. It is rare for animals of the same species to fight to the death. In their territorial and mating battles animals with horns will butt their heads together in a relatively harmless fashion, but against any other species they will go to the side and attempt to gut and gore. Similarly, piranha will fight one another with raps of their tails but they will turn their teeth on anything and everything else, and rattlesnakes will wrestle each other but they have no hesitation to turn their fangs on anything else.
A taboo against killing our own is imprinted into the genetic code in order to safeguard the survival of the species.
Sheesh--if you're not willing and/or by nature unable to blow someone's brains out/end a life, just let it go.
**Advice from an expert:
Approximately 20 or so years ago, a family's home was entered by force. The family filed a lawsuit against the City and the police department. This case went all the way to the US Supreme Court. The Court ruled against the plaintiffs claiming that it was not the police's responsibility to protect the home and occupants. The Police were there to maintain law and order.
1. Take your states concealed weapon course, even if you're not going to carry a weapon
2. Know if your state has and or uses/exercises the "Castle Doctrine"
3. If you will arm yourself, both you and your spouse or significant other should also be proficient in using this firearm, fire your weapon at least once a quarter with this weapon.
4. Store the weapon in a safe that is in area where you have immediate access, but the one/two weapon safe is attached/bolted to the house (compartments in closets work well)
5. In the event you pull your weapon, call the police first and keep them on your cellphone, speaker because 911 operators should be recording the call.
6. No such thing as warning shots or shooting at extremities.
7. Know where you you live or visiting (situational awareness)
8. Only use deadly force as a last resort.
Laws are updated regularly, so educate yourself.
A Dear Ol' Friend Retired...
November 4, 2015 (Lakewood, CO)
A
dear ol' friend retired yesterday. She was there for us to help in the
long sleepless nights, through each of our children's early childhood
moments--tummy aches, colic, daytime naps, and bedtime stories. She
started off shiny & new, but was broken several times, fixed,
recovered, fixed, recovered again, but finally, alas could no longer be
fixed. Sometimes, you just have to let go. So we are. Thank you dear
chair, though we never named you, you were an unbelievable blessing. We
say goodbye with so many memories, and much love.
** (Tina) "Spent many a nights with her rocking our children to sleep, falling asleep with them in our arms and she would let us get some rest through the long nights. We will miss her."
** (Tina) "Spent many a nights with her rocking our children to sleep, falling asleep with them in our arms and she would let us get some rest through the long nights. We will miss her."
That's Stupid
January 31, 2014 1212pm
That's Stupid
Elevating a man, any man to godhood, is well, stupid. James in his pithy manner was quick to say, "Elijah was a man, with a nature like ours." Period.
But
those who allowed that spirit(s) on them, well, they built on a bad
foundation, allowed themselves to be seduced by spirits, allowed
themselves to be brought back into bondage and overly identified with a
man (as children do). “Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of
Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.”
Is Christ divided? (I Corinthians 1:12-13)
It’s interesting how much the childish human race likes labels! We want to associate ourselves, our children, our churches, our families, our work and so many other areas of our life, with a label….something that we can quickly use to define ourselves…..to distinguish ourselves from others. Where do all the celebrity & athlete posters hang? On the walls of children, adolescents & adults who have yet to or ever will form mature self identities. “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (I Corinthians 13:11)
Children when they have grown up, they can see their parents with mature eyes and realize their parents’ lack of perfection—”What! You mean there is no santa claus, and you don’t know everything?” It’s sad to see the collapse of Galatians church members right before our eyes. Just read that one book and you can see what is happening today within our ranks.
If you notice, the Epistles of Paul were often written to call out evils in the churches which he had planted and later called for correction. That letter to the Galatians is not an exception. At a period not long after his second visit tidings came to him that excited his alarm and indignation. That restless wing of the church which clung to Judaism (legalism, the Gospel plus something else, the cult of man worship & will worship) which had troubled the church at Antioch (Acts 15:1), which had made necessary the council at Jerusalem (Acts 15:5–30), whose evil work at Corinth we note in both Epistles, but especially in the second, whose continual warfare made one of Paul's sorest afflictions “perils among false brethren,” had sent its emissaries into Galatia and had taught that it was needful that the Gentile Christians be circumcised and submit to the law of Moses in order to be saved. If you trace the history of the many early message emissaries and missionaries, you will see this same pattern.
The Galatians were (modern ones still are) attracted to the law because it gives them specific moral guidelines that they can apply to their practical problems. The Jewish law teachers were renowned for their ability to develop applications of the law for every conceivable situation. There seems to be a sense of moral security in such well-defined codes of conduct. In comparison, Paul's command to "live by the Spirit" seems to leave everything up in the air. Lazy & immature people want a very specific list of steps to follow. They say, "Tell me exactly what to do and what not to do, and then I will feel safe; I'll know how to act." But this approach to the Christian life is in danger of repeating the Galatian error. It is an attempt to live under law rather than under the direction of the Spirit.
Highlights of the Issues at Galatia:
The eager abandonment of the gospel of grace for a pseudo gospel by the Galatians was astonishing to Paul, even though some were agitating them and attempting to pervert the gospel of Christ 1:6
Expressing his amazement, Paul accuses the Galatians, who were called by Christ's grace, of abandoning God for a different gospel 1:6
The message, presented by those who were troubling the Galatians, was not an additional gospel but an attempt to reverse or undo the gospel of grace 1:7
Justification has always been by faith and since the Law is unable to make anyone righteous, Christ died to redeem those who were under the Law making them heirs and sons of God as children of Abraham according to promise 3:1
As justification is obtained by faith (as evidenced by the reception of the Holy Spirit) so sanctification is also experienced by faith 3:1
The Galatians have been beguiled because the crucifixion of Christ was explained to them 3:1
Israel is no longer to be a slave-like son under the bondage of the Law, but an adopted heir of God with full privileges 4:1
1. A child - heir is subject to those in authority over him 4:1-2
2. Israel, like children, were under bondage to the regulations of the Law 4:3
3. But at the proper time God sent His Son, who was subject to the Law, to redeem the Jews enabling both Jews and Gentiles to be adopted as adult sons 4:4-5
4. To His sons God sent the Spirit of Jesus Christ to unite them with the Father and change their position from that of slaves to heirs 4:6-7
In view of their new position, Paul asks why the Galatians have returned to the bondage of the Law 4:8-11
1. Since the Galatians know God and more importantly God knows them, Paul asks why they want to enslave themselves to the powerless and useless practices of Judaism as evidenced by their observation of feasts, festivals, and holy days 4:7-8
2. Paul fears that his ministry to the Galatians has been fruitless in terms of Christian living 4:9
Paul pleads with the Galatians to not abandon the teachings of faith and agonizes over their spiritual growth 4:12-20
Initially, the gospel was received with great readiness; but later the Galatians' immaturity and need for an identity and self-aggrandizement (boasting) led to the apostle himself being welcomed as “an angel of God” (Gal. 4:14). Factually though Paul was an “angel”, a messenger, this was not the purpose of the Galatian to use such a term. They weren’t content to be an “ordinary” believer who would be called a mere “Christian” -- they wanted more than to say they had believed on Jesus based upon the preaching of a man even as great as Peter (Cephas), or Appollos — they wanted to say they had received their revelation from an angel. Does this sound at all familiar?
In summary, undermining the power of the Spirit by an overstress on the law, Paul said, is "stupid."
The Galatian church was a non-Jewish community that had no ties to the law. It had been evangelized in the power of the Spirit but later had been influenced to put itself under the power of the law in a way that undermined the integrity of the original Gospel that Paul had proclaimed. The fact that the Galatians had been so easily seduced to come under this law rather than remaining in the Spirit elicited Paul's term for them as "stupid."
The Greek word for "stupid," anontos, is used six times in the New Testament. Galatians uses it twice.
Thus,
while Paul envisioned a new order in the world through the church
(Galatians 3:25) wherein there would be neither Jew nor Greek, and a new
global way of being a church that transcends all forms of ethnicity.
Where the Gospel proclaimed by Paul challenged categories of slave or
free, Galatian-type (Message) people seem obsessed with controlling our
faith so that theological freedom is denied, resulting in slavery to
laws around works of the flesh rather than promoting the fruits of the
Spirit.
For many years I have bemoaned the fact that the church seems composed of children who have not grown up in the faith. Knowing so much truth and then not walking in it is stupid, and indicates a person has been beguiled, seduced, deceived, bewitched and/or in bondage. We need a maturation of faith based on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I believe that if we would be grounded in this kind of faith, we could begin to get our priorities in order. This would start with the realization that it's more important to have vibrant church communities than preserving a man-made law (taking things a good or Godly man said in his flesh, as a personal conviction and not a universal imperative) that results in clannish behavior, splits and schisms.
Out of curiosity, if someone asked you to name the very first book written of the 27 books contained in the New Testament, what would your answer be? Many, might suggest "Matthew." After all, it appears first in the listing of books, therefore some assume it must have been written first. The first book to be written was Galatians, and I am firmly convinced this was providential. The very first declaration of inspiration was a proclamation of Freedom in Christ, the very message the world, and even the church, needs to hear today!
Paul's letter to the Galatian brethren has often been heralded as the "Magna Charta of Christian Liberty." The Magna Charta ("Great Charter") was a document issued by King John of England on June 15, 1215. Abuses by King John caused a revolt by nobles who compelled him to execute this recognition of rights for both noblemen and ordinary Englishmen. People long to be free, and very few will long tolerate the oppression of those who would presume to lord it over them. Revolution and reform may at times be slow in coming, but come they will. The first message the young church of our Lord Jesus needed to hear -- a message just as needed by the church today -- is that we are free. We have been liberated from the tyranny of law, and we abide in a state of grace. "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery" (Gal. 5:1). There were some in Paul's day, and many in ours, who sought to enslave the disciples of Christ to a legalistic system. Law is not the basis of our fellowship, unity or salvation, and yet some were (and still are) teaching this fallacious and stupid doctrine. Thus, before any other book of the New Testament was ever penned, the apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, sent out this Great Charter of Christian Liberty in Christ.
The great reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) regarded the epistle to the Galatians as a type of "battle cry for Christian liberty." He felt this inspired writing called him "to fight Paul's battle for the liberty of the Gospel all over again" against the oppressive legalisms he perceived in the Roman Church. Luther once wrote, "The Epistle to the Galatians is my epistle; I have betrothed myself to it; it is my wife." Those discerning disciples who love and cherish their freedom in Christ have long loved and cherished the truths proclaimed by Paul in this marvelous first book of the New Testament canon.
"Not many books have made such a lasting impression on men's minds as the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, nor have many done so much to shape the history of the Western world. Galatians has been called the 'Magna Charta of Christian Liberty,' and this is quite correct. For it rightly maintains that only through the grace of God in Jesus Christ is a person enabled to escape the curse of his sin and of the law and to live a new life, not in bondage or license, but in a genuine freedom of mind and of spirit through the power of God. Because of this powerful truth, Galatians was the cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation" (The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 10, p. 409).
That's Stupid
Elevating a man, any man to godhood, is well, stupid. James in his pithy manner was quick to say, "Elijah was a man, with a nature like ours." Period.
But
those who allowed that spirit(s) on them, well, they built on a bad
foundation, allowed themselves to be seduced by spirits, allowed
themselves to be brought back into bondage and overly identified with a
man (as children do). “Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of
Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.”
Is Christ divided? (I Corinthians 1:12-13)It’s interesting how much the childish human race likes labels! We want to associate ourselves, our children, our churches, our families, our work and so many other areas of our life, with a label….something that we can quickly use to define ourselves…..to distinguish ourselves from others. Where do all the celebrity & athlete posters hang? On the walls of children, adolescents & adults who have yet to or ever will form mature self identities. “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (I Corinthians 13:11)
Children when they have grown up, they can see their parents with mature eyes and realize their parents’ lack of perfection—”What! You mean there is no santa claus, and you don’t know everything?” It’s sad to see the collapse of Galatians church members right before our eyes. Just read that one book and you can see what is happening today within our ranks.
If you notice, the Epistles of Paul were often written to call out evils in the churches which he had planted and later called for correction. That letter to the Galatians is not an exception. At a period not long after his second visit tidings came to him that excited his alarm and indignation. That restless wing of the church which clung to Judaism (legalism, the Gospel plus something else, the cult of man worship & will worship) which had troubled the church at Antioch (Acts 15:1), which had made necessary the council at Jerusalem (Acts 15:5–30), whose evil work at Corinth we note in both Epistles, but especially in the second, whose continual warfare made one of Paul's sorest afflictions “perils among false brethren,” had sent its emissaries into Galatia and had taught that it was needful that the Gentile Christians be circumcised and submit to the law of Moses in order to be saved. If you trace the history of the many early message emissaries and missionaries, you will see this same pattern.
The Galatians were (modern ones still are) attracted to the law because it gives them specific moral guidelines that they can apply to their practical problems. The Jewish law teachers were renowned for their ability to develop applications of the law for every conceivable situation. There seems to be a sense of moral security in such well-defined codes of conduct. In comparison, Paul's command to "live by the Spirit" seems to leave everything up in the air. Lazy & immature people want a very specific list of steps to follow. They say, "Tell me exactly what to do and what not to do, and then I will feel safe; I'll know how to act." But this approach to the Christian life is in danger of repeating the Galatian error. It is an attempt to live under law rather than under the direction of the Spirit.
Highlights of the Issues at Galatia:
The eager abandonment of the gospel of grace for a pseudo gospel by the Galatians was astonishing to Paul, even though some were agitating them and attempting to pervert the gospel of Christ 1:6
Expressing his amazement, Paul accuses the Galatians, who were called by Christ's grace, of abandoning God for a different gospel 1:6
The message, presented by those who were troubling the Galatians, was not an additional gospel but an attempt to reverse or undo the gospel of grace 1:7
Justification has always been by faith and since the Law is unable to make anyone righteous, Christ died to redeem those who were under the Law making them heirs and sons of God as children of Abraham according to promise 3:1
As justification is obtained by faith (as evidenced by the reception of the Holy Spirit) so sanctification is also experienced by faith 3:1
The Galatians have been beguiled because the crucifixion of Christ was explained to them 3:1
Israel is no longer to be a slave-like son under the bondage of the Law, but an adopted heir of God with full privileges 4:1
1. A child - heir is subject to those in authority over him 4:1-2
2. Israel, like children, were under bondage to the regulations of the Law 4:3
3. But at the proper time God sent His Son, who was subject to the Law, to redeem the Jews enabling both Jews and Gentiles to be adopted as adult sons 4:4-5
4. To His sons God sent the Spirit of Jesus Christ to unite them with the Father and change their position from that of slaves to heirs 4:6-7
In view of their new position, Paul asks why the Galatians have returned to the bondage of the Law 4:8-11
1. Since the Galatians know God and more importantly God knows them, Paul asks why they want to enslave themselves to the powerless and useless practices of Judaism as evidenced by their observation of feasts, festivals, and holy days 4:7-8
2. Paul fears that his ministry to the Galatians has been fruitless in terms of Christian living 4:9
Paul pleads with the Galatians to not abandon the teachings of faith and agonizes over their spiritual growth 4:12-20
Initially, the gospel was received with great readiness; but later the Galatians' immaturity and need for an identity and self-aggrandizement (boasting) led to the apostle himself being welcomed as “an angel of God” (Gal. 4:14). Factually though Paul was an “angel”, a messenger, this was not the purpose of the Galatian to use such a term. They weren’t content to be an “ordinary” believer who would be called a mere “Christian” -- they wanted more than to say they had believed on Jesus based upon the preaching of a man even as great as Peter (Cephas), or Appollos — they wanted to say they had received their revelation from an angel. Does this sound at all familiar?
In summary, undermining the power of the Spirit by an overstress on the law, Paul said, is "stupid."
The Galatian church was a non-Jewish community that had no ties to the law. It had been evangelized in the power of the Spirit but later had been influenced to put itself under the power of the law in a way that undermined the integrity of the original Gospel that Paul had proclaimed. The fact that the Galatians had been so easily seduced to come under this law rather than remaining in the Spirit elicited Paul's term for them as "stupid."
The Greek word for "stupid," anontos, is used six times in the New Testament. Galatians uses it twice.
For many years I have bemoaned the fact that the church seems composed of children who have not grown up in the faith. Knowing so much truth and then not walking in it is stupid, and indicates a person has been beguiled, seduced, deceived, bewitched and/or in bondage. We need a maturation of faith based on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I believe that if we would be grounded in this kind of faith, we could begin to get our priorities in order. This would start with the realization that it's more important to have vibrant church communities than preserving a man-made law (taking things a good or Godly man said in his flesh, as a personal conviction and not a universal imperative) that results in clannish behavior, splits and schisms.
Out of curiosity, if someone asked you to name the very first book written of the 27 books contained in the New Testament, what would your answer be? Many, might suggest "Matthew." After all, it appears first in the listing of books, therefore some assume it must have been written first. The first book to be written was Galatians, and I am firmly convinced this was providential. The very first declaration of inspiration was a proclamation of Freedom in Christ, the very message the world, and even the church, needs to hear today!
Paul's letter to the Galatian brethren has often been heralded as the "Magna Charta of Christian Liberty." The Magna Charta ("Great Charter") was a document issued by King John of England on June 15, 1215. Abuses by King John caused a revolt by nobles who compelled him to execute this recognition of rights for both noblemen and ordinary Englishmen. People long to be free, and very few will long tolerate the oppression of those who would presume to lord it over them. Revolution and reform may at times be slow in coming, but come they will. The first message the young church of our Lord Jesus needed to hear -- a message just as needed by the church today -- is that we are free. We have been liberated from the tyranny of law, and we abide in a state of grace. "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery" (Gal. 5:1). There were some in Paul's day, and many in ours, who sought to enslave the disciples of Christ to a legalistic system. Law is not the basis of our fellowship, unity or salvation, and yet some were (and still are) teaching this fallacious and stupid doctrine. Thus, before any other book of the New Testament was ever penned, the apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, sent out this Great Charter of Christian Liberty in Christ.
The great reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) regarded the epistle to the Galatians as a type of "battle cry for Christian liberty." He felt this inspired writing called him "to fight Paul's battle for the liberty of the Gospel all over again" against the oppressive legalisms he perceived in the Roman Church. Luther once wrote, "The Epistle to the Galatians is my epistle; I have betrothed myself to it; it is my wife." Those discerning disciples who love and cherish their freedom in Christ have long loved and cherished the truths proclaimed by Paul in this marvelous first book of the New Testament canon.
"Not many books have made such a lasting impression on men's minds as the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, nor have many done so much to shape the history of the Western world. Galatians has been called the 'Magna Charta of Christian Liberty,' and this is quite correct. For it rightly maintains that only through the grace of God in Jesus Christ is a person enabled to escape the curse of his sin and of the law and to live a new life, not in bondage or license, but in a genuine freedom of mind and of spirit through the power of God. Because of this powerful truth, Galatians was the cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation" (The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 10, p. 409).
Bridge of Sighs -- Long Time Crossing
Bridge of Sighs -- Long Time Crossing
 |
| Venice, Ponte dei Sospiri -- Bridge of Sighs |
The moment etched in stone, a pointing finger.
My pulse quickens, blood hammering in my head, time contracts & stills.
Walls of wood, the dock so high, a courtroom old.
The hammer falls,
The whited judge looks down in anger!
Cruel eyes upon my back, bore into my head,
The sentence blandly read, then
No other sound.
I'm walked outside, midst the daylight diffuse.
A view so dim,
Through the cold stone latticework.
Grey walls, grey mood,
A condemned life so cold & grim.
The walk is deliberate and tauntingly slow,
"All eyes ahead!" The orders barked.
Ahh, but who can resist a last delicious glance towards freedom,
Despite a keeper's blows?
No laughter, no love, no light.
There'll be no sun, no moon, no more water to wash me clean.
Time slows, details explode,
In the fading light, the prison walls turn gold.
And it's been a long time crossing, Bridge of Sighs.
Been a long time crossing, Bridge of Sighs.
Empire Over Empathy, and Conquest Over Character
March 1, 2015
God’s
Children make mistakes, have flaws and are not 'perfect—yet, and
despite the cliché, they are forgiven. The ups and downs that
characterize human life also epitomize Christianity.
Elijah was a man. This seems self-evident, (or maybe not so much) to the leader blinded by grandiosity, tickled by pride, or even mildly deluded by the voice of an adoring congregation or following. Yet nonetheless, Elijah was a man. He had delusions of grandeur, thinking he was alone, singular in his love, worship and fidelity to God. Within his nature, within his unique DNA, he carried the seeds of anger, violence and vengeance as seen in the calling down of fire by himself, and the destruction of mocking children by Elisha who channeled his spirit. Elijah was at times faithful and faithless—one minute standing steadfast in his belief and conviction, then the next moment running away and hiding out in caves and in the wilderness. Elijah was a man.
David was also a man. David of the Bible, King David the beloved of God was a man. He was also a murderer and an adulterer. Abraham, a.k.a.Abram, was a liar and compromiser—someone at times more interested in self-preservation than the care of his dear bride or his newly acquired faith.Jacob? Oh, he was a con artist, deceiver and thief. Each—all, were terribly flawed, altogether much, too much human, and yet were greatly used and dearly beloved by God. These individuals eventually became known as the patriarchs and pillars of the Judeo-Christian faith because of God’s amazing love, his patience as a parent, his forgiveness as a savior, and his ability to see both into our hearts and the future to know who we can be, not merely who we are at some or any given low point in our lives.
Before either Jacob’s first con or his memorable quest to lay hold of truth, God saw his heart and the whole of his life and loved him. Long before our failures or successes, fame or infamy, and even before you and I ever put on the garment of life, the course of our lives were known. We were not made and then forgotten, nor as it may seem at times have we been forsaken.Our Heavenly Father did not abrogate his duties; he has not given up on His Human—Earth endeavor.
On June 28th, 1787, 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin eloquently and insightfully spoke the immortal words, “I have lived, Sir, along time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? …without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building not better than the builders of Babel.” Where we, or any nation fails is in the moments or at the junctions of our lives where we diverge from God’s exquisite plan. When we walk according to the course of this world, when we are pulled by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life we at best will make mistakes, most likely we will miserably & ignobly fail.
Some have nurtured and built loyal and impressive followings, yet have little familial love and fewer friends, why is that so often the case with either titans of industry or ministry? Often the matter is simple, empire was chosen over empathy, and conquest over character. The historical record of the legendary man is not a sham; it is real. To the eyes of man, and God, his works, labor, patience and energetic zeal to build an empire or preach the Gospel are genuine. But there is something often amiss—I, we, God “has somewhat against thee…” To followers we are what we seem to be. To family and friends we are what we are—they almost always will eventually see through the works, the speeches, the innate and divine gifting to the heart and essence of who we are. Sit around a campfire long enough after a baked bean dinner and you’ll discover the legend is but a man.
God judges by our standard of life—not by our standard of living. Success is not the same as vocational greatness. Babylon was once a wonder of the world. It is when we consistently align our life and purpose with the higher wisdom, and with God’s concurring aid, that the product of our effort is more than a fleeting & doomed construction project!
Yes, at the divergent points in our lives we make mistakes, we express the failed and flawed aspect of our humanity, and it is precisely at these moments when our sin abounds that the grace of God abounds even more. In my, in our weakness His strength is activated.
Of a truth Jesus came to save the sinner. He came to seek and to save the lost—the scarred. The flawed. That’s me; I’m one of those guys. I’m a sinner. I know who and what I am. At the divergent points in my life I have been an architect of Babel.
The inspiration for this thought came to me in the early hours, in the second to the last watch of the night—that of the “Rooster-Crow.” (Mark 13:35)
And
these thoughts are about you and me; each of us have built our riotous
cities only to watch them be destroyed, and to find ourselves at odds
with God and good. Specifically though, this section will form the basis
of the introduction to a chapter in a book I’ve already written.
In the near future a noted minister will pass away, it is then I will release the book. A book is more than one chapter; it is comprised of many lines and many chapters, each contributing to the telling of the story. One chapter, this chapter will be about the man. The other chapters will be about the legend. And everything to the Glory of God—soli Deo Gloria.
**In 2019 this passing occurred. Years have passed, the man's life being examined truthfully and factually and the evidence is overwhelming. He was a false prophet, leader of the modern day prophet movement, and thus his "voice' cannot be shared with any degree of certainty. The data and documents were passed on appropriately. Divine gifting does NOT equal infallibility, humility or a Christ-like character. The rain falls on the just, and the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)
Empire Over Empathy, and Conquest Over Character
Elijah was a man. This seems self-evident, (or maybe not so much) to the leader blinded by grandiosity, tickled by pride, or even mildly deluded by the voice of an adoring congregation or following. Yet nonetheless, Elijah was a man. He had delusions of grandeur, thinking he was alone, singular in his love, worship and fidelity to God. Within his nature, within his unique DNA, he carried the seeds of anger, violence and vengeance as seen in the calling down of fire by himself, and the destruction of mocking children by Elisha who channeled his spirit. Elijah was at times faithful and faithless—one minute standing steadfast in his belief and conviction, then the next moment running away and hiding out in caves and in the wilderness. Elijah was a man.
David was also a man. David of the Bible, King David the beloved of God was a man. He was also a murderer and an adulterer. Abraham, a.k.a.Abram, was a liar and compromiser—someone at times more interested in self-preservation than the care of his dear bride or his newly acquired faith.Jacob? Oh, he was a con artist, deceiver and thief. Each—all, were terribly flawed, altogether much, too much human, and yet were greatly used and dearly beloved by God. These individuals eventually became known as the patriarchs and pillars of the Judeo-Christian faith because of God’s amazing love, his patience as a parent, his forgiveness as a savior, and his ability to see both into our hearts and the future to know who we can be, not merely who we are at some or any given low point in our lives.
Before either Jacob’s first con or his memorable quest to lay hold of truth, God saw his heart and the whole of his life and loved him. Long before our failures or successes, fame or infamy, and even before you and I ever put on the garment of life, the course of our lives were known. We were not made and then forgotten, nor as it may seem at times have we been forsaken.Our Heavenly Father did not abrogate his duties; he has not given up on His Human—Earth endeavor.
On June 28th, 1787, 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin eloquently and insightfully spoke the immortal words, “I have lived, Sir, along time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? …without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building not better than the builders of Babel.” Where we, or any nation fails is in the moments or at the junctions of our lives where we diverge from God’s exquisite plan. When we walk according to the course of this world, when we are pulled by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life we at best will make mistakes, most likely we will miserably & ignobly fail.
Some have nurtured and built loyal and impressive followings, yet have little familial love and fewer friends, why is that so often the case with either titans of industry or ministry? Often the matter is simple, empire was chosen over empathy, and conquest over character. The historical record of the legendary man is not a sham; it is real. To the eyes of man, and God, his works, labor, patience and energetic zeal to build an empire or preach the Gospel are genuine. But there is something often amiss—I, we, God “has somewhat against thee…” To followers we are what we seem to be. To family and friends we are what we are—they almost always will eventually see through the works, the speeches, the innate and divine gifting to the heart and essence of who we are. Sit around a campfire long enough after a baked bean dinner and you’ll discover the legend is but a man.
God judges by our standard of life—not by our standard of living. Success is not the same as vocational greatness. Babylon was once a wonder of the world. It is when we consistently align our life and purpose with the higher wisdom, and with God’s concurring aid, that the product of our effort is more than a fleeting & doomed construction project!
Yes, at the divergent points in our lives we make mistakes, we express the failed and flawed aspect of our humanity, and it is precisely at these moments when our sin abounds that the grace of God abounds even more. In my, in our weakness His strength is activated.
Of a truth Jesus came to save the sinner. He came to seek and to save the lost—the scarred. The flawed. That’s me; I’m one of those guys. I’m a sinner. I know who and what I am. At the divergent points in my life I have been an architect of Babel.
The inspiration for this thought came to me in the early hours, in the second to the last watch of the night—that of the “Rooster-Crow.” (Mark 13:35)
In the near future a noted minister will pass away, it is then I will release the book. A book is more than one chapter; it is comprised of many lines and many chapters, each contributing to the telling of the story. One chapter, this chapter will be about the man. The other chapters will be about the legend. And everything to the Glory of God—soli Deo Gloria.
**In 2019 this passing occurred. Years have passed, the man's life being examined truthfully and factually and the evidence is overwhelming. He was a false prophet, leader of the modern day prophet movement, and thus his "voice' cannot be shared with any degree of certainty. The data and documents were passed on appropriately. Divine gifting does NOT equal infallibility, humility or a Christ-like character. The rain falls on the just, and the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)
The Calcutta 'Coaster
this is what it feels like to me - it's not bi-polar, but it's bi-polar's ugly cousin - you know, the one that ends up owning a gas station or creating a software program that makes a ton of money, but you say, "who" when their name is mentioned...
cyclothymia ties in so well with addictive behavior and crazy, thrill seeking, people craving-avoiding, mini-funk behaviors that never, ever really stop - like a roller coaster. it's like, yeah!! lets go to batman or ghostrider or jurasic park - yay! run like crazy, smiles all over the place and then the funk starts - what? why's there a line? i'm here, it's me, there's not supposed to be lines! is there a shorter branch, hmmm... and everyone says chill-out, calm down or just talks and laughs and waits in anticipation or talks about the last ride and i'm stuck in my cranky-butt mood waiting in line. and the line is still a line and i'm still cranky butt surrounded by happy aliens. but oh wait, i'm near the front and am a happy camper again!! then the ride - yay the ride - i hate the ride, i really do
but i love one moment of the ride and i live for that one moment and endure all the rest just to experience that moment over and over and over again...
you get in and they give you a little whoopee to get you going, but you know it's coming and not the real thing so it isn't any fun and actually annoys me and on a bad day really pisses me off, but i digress - the false jolt and then a few wow-wee twists and turns and then it comes - it really comes, the true high, the true gut churning climb, the back-breaking 60, 70, 80 hour weeks of all out life consuming passion put into a project or a new something-or-other addiction and up we go, chug-chug-chug-chug-chug, up we go and the spring is getting wound tighter and then the drop - oh the drop really sucks too - i hate the line and i hate the little false starts, and i hate the build-up of the climb and i hate the drop...
what?? how can i hate the drop? that's when the screaming and grabbing and the adrenaline kicks in...i know, i know - but i hate the drop too. you say, well what's left? what's left, what's left? only a non addict or a non-cyclothymic would ask...
what do i love then?
i love that very, very brief interlude between going down and going up, one split second when the g-forces of acceleration and de-acceleration cancel each other out and it feels like weightlessness, nothingness, non-existence - and that to me is bliss - sheer, utter, complete bliss.
so now i feel :| and maybe almost :) since i've written and got that out there, but i'll feel :( and :0 and >:( and :@ soon enough... but through it all i have an anchor <>< that has kept me from goin off the rails entirely...whew
p.s. why the "calcutta 'coaster"? in third world countries (of which i've seen my share), abject poverty so often coexists on the same patch of sidewalk as does ecstasy - you literally can walk by a man in tattered clothes with missing limbs and/or open sores, and take two steps and there is another man with eyes closed and hands raised with a look of joy on his face, take another two steps and a dead child is dead and abandoned amidst the litter, and on-n-on...
Riding in the wheelbarrow -- do you really believe?
Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 7:48pm
Riding in the wheelbarrow -- do you really believe?
The Great BlondinBack in 1859 there was a performer named Jean Francois Gravelot. He was known as "The Great Blondin." This man was a stunt performer or "daredevil." He was a tightrope walker, and he would perform amazing death-defying tightrope stunts.
People would come from far and wide to see The Great Blondin perform. They were amazed at his skill and courage. Blondin's stunts were dangerous enough to make the weak hearted swoon and faint.
And Blondin was quite a showman. You were sure to get your money's worth when you saw him perform. And he really knew how to stir up the crowd. He would begin his stunts by talking to the audience and working them into a frenzy.
Well, the story is told that at one particularly spectacular stunt, where Blondin would attempt to cross the Niagra River on a tightrope, he yelled a question to the crowd. He asked, "Do you believe that I, the Great Blondin, can successfully cross high above this river on a tightrope?" And the crowd yelled back, "We believe! We believe!" Then Blondin began his crossing, and to the thrill of the crowd, he made it safely. The crowd went wild. They clapped and cheered and yelled all the more.
Then Blondin asked the people, "Do you believe that I, The Great Blondin, can again successfully cross over the Niagra River on this tightrope -- this time while pushing a wheelbarrow?" The crowd enthusiastically yelled back, "We believe! We believe! We believe!"
So seeing their enthusiasm, Blondin yelled to the crowd: "Who among you is willing to ride inside of the wheelbarrow and allow me to push you as I cross on this tightrope?" The crowd went silent. No one said a word. All that could be heard was the sound of the wind blowing....
What is the point of this story? Well, how many of us shout and sing that we love the Lord and that we believe in Him and will do anything He asks, yet when He says, "Follow Me," we don't move. When He says, "Obey," we continue doing whatever we want. And when He says, "Let me show you the way," we act as though we don't even hear Him.
If Jesus is your Lord, let Him carry you. Trust Him to lead the way. Give your life completely over to Him and let Him guide you and direct your steps. He won't let you down!
(I heard this story today in church, this analogy for trust profoundly affected me and I wanted to share this. I truly can say that the God I serve has never let me down, and has faithfully and lovingly cared for me for many, many years. Thanks Pastor Robert Furrow, Calvary Chapel - Tucson.)
Imagine No John Lennon, It's Easy...
October 15, 2009 1131am
John Lennon wanted us to give up all our possessions and religion to achieve a brotherhood of man. This revelation undoubtedly came to him while he had a net worth of over $150 Million and as he watched homeless people during his limo ride to & from the Dakota, that luxury apartment building in New York (or was it the slums of India?)...
The same John that abandoned his first son Julian at age 5 and later that same year in 1968, moving in with Yoko Ono and all his wealth? Throughout the marriage, Lennon slept with other women and would
leave drugs "lying around the house." Things came to a head when he
drunkenly told Cynthia about his affair with the Japanese artist Yoko
Ono. Soon after Ono revealed she was pregnant, Lennon's divorce was
finalized at the end of 1968.
No songs were ever written by John for Julian, the emotionally abused, unwanted first son. It was bandmate Paul McCartney in 1968 that felt so sad and helpless thinking about what Julian ("Jude") was experiencing watching his parents divorce and then be abandoned... Trying to cheers him up I guess by telling J to cheer up and give Yoko a chance, let her into your heart...
Right, says Julian in 2019, finally clearing the air; "“I have to say that, from my point of view, I felt he was a hypocrite.
Dad could talk about peace and love out loud to the world but he could
never show it to the people who supposedly meant the most to him: his
wife and son. How can you talk about peace and love and have a family in
bits and pieces – no communication, adultery, divorce? You can’t do it,
not if you’re being true and honest with yourself.”
The same gentle icon the hippies worship was actually a man with very serious
psychological problems that was documented for/as:
1. Wife-beater -- all the way back to his Liverpool days, and he eventually admitted it himself later in life.
2. Emotional Abuser -- Once, Julian giggled and Lennon shouted back, “I hate the way you f-ing laugh!” He wrote his first wife Cynthia and told her to get over it (the divorce, abandonment, no money, etc), saying basically that it was during the 'Beatles' years and he was under the influence of LSD, that's all it was... a bad trip...
and maybe the psychotic split from reality that allowed his hypocrisy to go off the rails, and pen "Imagine?"
3. Pathological Liar -- claimed he had been a working class lad from Liverpool before the
Beatles; he was actually raised in a comfortable middle-class home. He
denied being married during his early years of stardom. He claimed to
have met Yoko Ono at an art show and their love blossomed spontaneously;
in fact, Ono had stalked him for months before he gave in to her
advances. He claimed to have lost interest in the Beatles due to Paul
McCartney’s tendencies toward pop music and dominant role in the group,
as well as his desire to do his more avant-garde work outside the band;
in fact, he had all but left the band in its last two years as the
result of a serious addiction to heroin.
4. Hypocrisy -- His song 'Imagine', its lyrics are such utter irony coming from this poseur.
This special touch of hypocrisy and self-righteousness earns this song 1st place on my most idiotic songs list:
This special touch of hypocrisy and self-righteousness earns this song 1st place on my most idiotic songs list:
The man who sang “imagine no possessions” lived a millionaire’s life in a
posh New York hotel. The drive from his swank Upper East Side digs to and from "The City" took him past some of the worst slums in the Big Apple says 'Rough Guides' New York City edition.
The man who sang “imagine no religion” was
obsessed with every spiritual and New Age fad that came his way,
including Hindu meditation, the I-Ching, and astrology of all kinds.
The
man who sang “all you need is love” was a bitter, violent, and angry
man who abused his family and friends.
The man who praised having
“nothing to kill or die for” helped finance and publicize radical groups
who extolled the use of violence.
Quite literally everything his fans
see personified in the icon of John Lennon are ideals the man himself
either couldn’t or wouldn’t live up to.
Lennon? Remember he's the one that felt that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus, and that Christianity would vanish and shrink? Lennon? Where's he at? Interestingly, after his remarks, The Beatles never toured again, ceased to perform concerts, feuded and shortly disbanded.
Ask me and millions of other to truly imagine a world or our lives without Jesus and you'd hear an astounding chorus cry out, "Never!"
But imagine a world without John Lennon, it's easy, heck, we've been doing it for nearly four decades, forty years...
Lennon? Remember he's the one that felt that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus, and that Christianity would vanish and shrink? Lennon? Where's he at? Interestingly, after his remarks, The Beatles never toured again, ceased to perform concerts, feuded and shortly disbanded.
Ask me and millions of other to truly imagine a world or our lives without Jesus and you'd hear an astounding chorus cry out, "Never!"
But imagine a world without John Lennon, it's easy, heck, we've been doing it for nearly four decades, forty years...
The AA of Bill W. -- "God...the Great Reality?"
October 13, 2009 5pm
Please
don’t misunderstand me, I am absolutely NOT against ministers or
church-going (I attend a fantastic Calvary Chapel), I believe they have
their place and for the most part provide a great and needed service. I
also believe that many, if not most recovering persons greatly benefit
from 12-step meetings and a great sponsor ;)
Despite the form with which church and 12-step groups take, there is a better and more effectual path than mentor & meeting – paradoxically, it was Bill Wilson that said real freedom came from a “spiritual experience – in short, a genuine conversion.” I think Bill W. would shake his head in disbelief were he to listen to people claim a light bulb or door knob were their higher power. Neither of these (nor the church, or even a good man) can change our nature and remove destructive thirsts.
In 1961 eminent psychiatrist Carl Jung reiterated this point to Bill W. in a letter, Dr. Jung wrote; “You see, "alcohol" in Latin is "spiritus" and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison. The helpful formula therefore is: spiritus contra spiritum.” Translated, the divine spirit is against (counteracts/defeats) spirits (alcohol).
Dr. Jung said that the (alcoholic or addicts) deep craving was the equivalent, on a low level, of the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness; expressed in medieval language: the union with God.
After years of degenerate living, and following hard on the heals of 1929’s Black Tuesday, Bill W. had finally and irrevocably reached his “bottom.” According to the standard tale Bill’s life-changing experience went something like this:
After repeatedly failing to get his drinking under control, Wilson, trembling on the brink of insanity, called up into the sky, “If there be a God, let Him show Himself now!” Suddenly, a warm bright light filled the room and Wilson found himself standing atop a mighty mountain. A wind came to him, surrounding his body and moving through it. With its departure, Wilson fell back into himself and never touched another drop of alcohol.
Listen to how Bill W. described the events leading to his personal freedom:
“In December 1934, I appeared at Towns Hospital, New York. My old friend, Dr. William Silkworth shook his head. Soon free of my sedation and alcohol I felt horribly depressed. My friend Ebby turned up and although glad to see him, I shrank a little as I feared evangelism, but nothing of the sort happened. After some small talk, I again asked him for his neat little formula for recovery. Quietly and sanely and without the slightest pressure he told me and then he left.
Lying there in
conflict, I dropped into the blackest depression I had ever known.
Momentarily my prideful depression was crushed. I cried out, "Now I am
ready to do anything - anything to receive what my friend Ebby has."
Though I certainly didn't expect anything, I did make this frantic
appeal, "If there be a God, will He show Himself!" The result was
instant, electric beyond description. The place seemed to light up,
blinding white. I knew only ecstasy and seemed on a mountain. A great
wind blew, enveloping and penetrating me. To me, it was not of air but
of Spirit.
Blazing, there came the tremendous thought, "you are a free man." Then the ecstasy subsided. Still on the bed, I now found myself in a new world of consciousness which was suffused by a Presence. One with the Universe, a great peace came over me. I thought, ‘So this is the God of the preachers, this is the great Reality.’"
Isn’t this electric, ecstatic, peace & freedom inducing experience what most of us are seeking? :)
Neither 12-steps, nor one thousand are the answer. It's not another painful, difficult, confusing relationship with either man or group we want, but a soul-satisfying, thirst-quenching encounter and subsequent friendship with God.
The AA of Bill W. -- "God...the Great Reality?"
Despite the form with which church and 12-step groups take, there is a better and more effectual path than mentor & meeting – paradoxically, it was Bill Wilson that said real freedom came from a “spiritual experience – in short, a genuine conversion.” I think Bill W. would shake his head in disbelief were he to listen to people claim a light bulb or door knob were their higher power. Neither of these (nor the church, or even a good man) can change our nature and remove destructive thirsts.
In 1961 eminent psychiatrist Carl Jung reiterated this point to Bill W. in a letter, Dr. Jung wrote; “You see, "alcohol" in Latin is "spiritus" and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison. The helpful formula therefore is: spiritus contra spiritum.” Translated, the divine spirit is against (counteracts/defeats) spirits (alcohol).
Dr. Jung said that the (alcoholic or addicts) deep craving was the equivalent, on a low level, of the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness; expressed in medieval language: the union with God.
After years of degenerate living, and following hard on the heals of 1929’s Black Tuesday, Bill W. had finally and irrevocably reached his “bottom.” According to the standard tale Bill’s life-changing experience went something like this:
After repeatedly failing to get his drinking under control, Wilson, trembling on the brink of insanity, called up into the sky, “If there be a God, let Him show Himself now!” Suddenly, a warm bright light filled the room and Wilson found himself standing atop a mighty mountain. A wind came to him, surrounding his body and moving through it. With its departure, Wilson fell back into himself and never touched another drop of alcohol.
Listen to how Bill W. described the events leading to his personal freedom:
“In December 1934, I appeared at Towns Hospital, New York. My old friend, Dr. William Silkworth shook his head. Soon free of my sedation and alcohol I felt horribly depressed. My friend Ebby turned up and although glad to see him, I shrank a little as I feared evangelism, but nothing of the sort happened. After some small talk, I again asked him for his neat little formula for recovery. Quietly and sanely and without the slightest pressure he told me and then he left.
Lying there in
conflict, I dropped into the blackest depression I had ever known.
Momentarily my prideful depression was crushed. I cried out, "Now I am
ready to do anything - anything to receive what my friend Ebby has."
Though I certainly didn't expect anything, I did make this frantic
appeal, "If there be a God, will He show Himself!" The result was
instant, electric beyond description. The place seemed to light up,
blinding white. I knew only ecstasy and seemed on a mountain. A great
wind blew, enveloping and penetrating me. To me, it was not of air but
of Spirit.Blazing, there came the tremendous thought, "you are a free man." Then the ecstasy subsided. Still on the bed, I now found myself in a new world of consciousness which was suffused by a Presence. One with the Universe, a great peace came over me. I thought, ‘So this is the God of the preachers, this is the great Reality.’"
Isn’t this electric, ecstatic, peace & freedom inducing experience what most of us are seeking? :)
Neither 12-steps, nor one thousand are the answer. It's not another painful, difficult, confusing relationship with either man or group we want, but a soul-satisfying, thirst-quenching encounter and subsequent friendship with God.
Here's to a Wild Night and a New Road
Friday, October 9, 2009 at 12:52pm
It seems some of us are always chasing a high…
I wish it weren’t so, but it is – “life,” as it’s termed, with its usual daily activities, friends and family, seems so often muted to me.
I wish it weren’t so, but it is – “life,” as it’s termed, with its usual daily activities, friends and family, seems so often muted to me.
I was in a group once and we were talking about why we do, or did do drugs – most had typical responses, “to feel energetic, or excited” or “to feel mellow, to chill.” When I was asked, the answer popped out without forethought, I said, “to feel normal.”
I guess right-brain disordered folk (ADD, ADHD etc.) are missing some chemicals that the normies have. When we take an “upper” like cocaine or amphetamines we temporarily reach chemical levels similar to the everyday joe.
I don’t “do” drugs anymore, too many consequences and not another “bottom” left for me to hit, but I have been known to pursue a thrill or two since my clean & sober timeline started. Well, ok, lots of thrill-seeking channeled through work, play and sports. The adrenaline does the job, kinda, sorta, temporarily, and the aching, gnawing hunger for “normal” recedes a little toward the back of my being.
But it’s still a high I chase.
Religion has helped me too, not exactly religion. Actually, most definitely not religion! Not it’s steeples and bells and stained-glass windows – not the conformity, not the traditions, not the governing rules, not the promises or platitudes either. Religion hasn’t helped at all – I lied. But there have been times it felt like I walked with God, and the two halves of my brain became one and my body dissolved and I was even more than “normal” and I felt free. It was as Paul Tillich alluded to in his “Courage To Be” treatise; for a moment I was able to transcend to the God above the God of theism and religion. I was allowed to transcend the part, and to transcend the whole – to just be.
It may not be till my eyes are closed in sleep, to awake no more, before I am “right” and at home within myself. It may be as Emily Dickenson said, “Dying is a wild night and a new road.”
I think this is what all my recklessness is leading to, what I have looked for on all my motorcycle rides, far-away missions and the high I have chased all my life. I won’t hasten death, but when it arrives, it will be sweeter than any lover’s tryst has ever been.
To you out there that seem to always chase a high, good luck with that, and; Cheers!
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Really, Really Stupid Song Lyrics, Pt.1
October 18, 2009
Really, Really Stupid Song Lyrics, Pt.1
Really, Really, Really Stupid Song Lyrics – ya got any? Add to the growing list of misery… by Rich Giberti
"There were plants and birds and rocks and things"
--America's “Horse With No Name”
Uhuh – dudes, you been smokin’ way too much mary jane. Sounds like you got a-hold of that Tai stick, laced with opium my best friend’s older brother got from a wacked out returning vet in the 70’s. I can just see this band's lyricist getting started listing what he saw and then just totally spacing out, then coming to and finishing the line with “and things.” Adam and James said you should have seen their first draft; “There were papers, rocks and scissors, man!”
"Seasons crying no despair, alligator lizards in the air"
--America's “Ventura Highway”
I hate the band America! Of all things for us Venturans to be remembered by…why not Pomona Freeway, or Pasadena Freeway, or even the Victor V. Veysey Expressway – these lyrics discouraged me so much I had to move away from Ventura.
"Lucky that my breasts are small and humble, so you don't confuse them with mountains"
--Shakira's “Whenever, Wherever”
Ahh yes, these lyrics really should be on this list. People really like this song; oh wait, they like the video. Shakira’s inclusion of these lyrics are both cleverly and philanthropically a fantastic nod to visit the war-torn Cambodian tourist resort called “Virtuous Woman's Breast Mountain” (it really exists in Cambodia, but the report is there weren’t enough virtuous woman in America to start a chain). P-Diddy, Snoop Dog and 50 Cent are rumored to be offering guided tours, the ad in High Times reads, “located about 400 Kilometers from Phnom Penh…” Who said today’s artists are all fixated on sex, drugs and money? Not Shakira, you go girl!
"There's an insect in your ear, if you scratch, it won't disappear"
--U2's “Staring at the Sun”
No way, no, no beep beep way. I’m not even going to dignify this song or its syphilitic lyrical offspring by providing a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 running dialogue. I’ll let Bono tell you the best way to fully and completely enjoy his chanté, he provides the answer in the very same song “don't try too hard to think... don't think at all.”
"Coast to coast, L.A. to Chicago"
--Sade's “Smooth Operator”
Lyrics like these are painful, really, ouch, oww, painful. That’s why her fans and followers are called…you got it – sadists. Forgetting for a second the fact that Chicago is not on an ocean coast, it still is a fairly long trip to get from LA (that's Louisiana in this instance) to the Windy City in time for a Thursday slow dance. If we can but set aside Sade’s being geographically and topographically challenged, this could have been a Beach Boys jam – “yo, Brian, I heard the swell’s killer in Chi-Town, grab your stick and let’s load up the woody now, let’s head to Chicago. Waa waa wipe-out!”
“Before the cream sits out too long, you must whip it… I say whip it, whip it good.”
--Devo’s “Whip It”
Anyone know the name and location of the dude ranch in Arizona where Devo actually saw this act and used it for the song and video inspiration? Honey, repeat after me, “when a problem comes along, you must whip it…” Ahh, I feel much better – who needs a drink or a shrink?
“You can say that I'm one curly fry in the box of the regular, messing with the flavor oh the flavor that you savor. Saving me for last but you better not eat me at all, living in a fast food bag making friends with the ketchup and salt”
--Jason Mraz’s "Too Much Food"
Look at a letter from Jason’s 1st grade teacher: “Dear Mr. And Mrs. Mraz; we are required to inform you that your son is special. He loves the sound of nonsensical rhyming words, and doesn’t appear to live in the same world as his peers. Please find an outlet for him, I would suggest hip-hop, rap or contemporary rhyming.” His rhyming is so awful it leaves me curled up in a corner of the room in a fetal position, banging my head against the wall.
“Oh tell your Aunt Louise, tell anything you please. Myself already knows that I'm okay. But don't tell my heart, my achy breaky heart. I just don't think it'd understand”
--Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Achy Breaky Heart”
Myself already knows? Dear ghost of rednecks past – no wonder Miley (who legally changed her name to Miley) is schizophrenic and wants to be somebody, anybody other than who she is.
"You're so vain you probably think this song is about you. You're so vain I bet you think this song is about you. Don't you? Don't you? Don't you?"
--Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”
A version that made sense would have to go along the lines of: You're so vain that, even if this song wasn't actually about you, which it is, you would probably think that it was. Not as catchy, but no longer batspit insane.
“I look at the floor, and I see it needs sweeping. Still my guitar gently weeps.”
--The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
Really? Why did his guitar weep? Was George so stoned that he picked up his guitar and used it to sweep the floor? To be honest, this is a great melodic Beatles song, which is one of those weird things everyone experiences, like a favorite pizza topping, or a favorite failed TGIF show. However, If George was too busy swapping wives with Eric Clapton to clean or create a coherent rhyme scheme, that's his problematic legacy.
“Obla-di, obla-da…”
--The Beatles’ ‘Obli-di Obli-da?’
Obla-oh-never-mind! The Beatles proved conclusively that there were two things they could not do: play reggae and feign enjoyment. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” was a ska track recorded at a point during the White Album sessions when the Beatles would happily have beaten one another to death if only they had had some clubs on hand. Worst Moment? The woefully unconvincing laughter in the final line: “If you want some fun — heh-heh-heh-heh! — take ob-la-di-bla-da!”
“Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday.
Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long.
I am the eggman (woo), they are the eggmen (woo), I am the walrus,
Coo coo, kachoo.”
--The Beatles’ “I am the Walrus”
Oh man, if you ever want to demystify the 60’s and the whole “turn on, tune in, drop out” era, go back and read the lyrics from the Liverpool boys. These blokes make Brooks and Dunn look positively Shakespearean. Now let’s go boot scootin’ boogie…
“He wear no shoeshine he got toe-jam football” or maybe
“He bag production he got walrus gumboot”, no? or maybe
"He got ono sideboard he one spinal cracker
He got feet down below his knee
Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease
Come together right now over me”
--The Beatles’ “Come Together”
This gem was written during the infamous “Sleep-in” with Lennon & Ono. Nothing good could have ever come from a tumble in bed with either Yoko Ono, Timothy Leary and/or politics. You know, after being stuck so long in the same room (let alone the same bed) with Yoko, John must have called Leary and asked him to bring over the LSD. After meeting Yoko, Leary decided to turn himself in to the police, he was subsequently jailed and never ran for office under his slogan “Come Together.” The world indeed was a better place.
“I don't want to see a ghost, It's the sign that I fear most, I'd rather have a piece of toast.”
--Des'ree’s “Life”
A piece of toast!? What the... !? I'm scared of ghosts too, but a piece of toast – is toast to ghosts, like garlic to vampires? I know werewolves got all crazy from grains that grew fungi (Ergot poisoning) that turned into hallucinogens…but toast?
“Where you gone for tomorrow?
Where you gone with the mask I found?
And I feel and I feel when the dogs begin to smell her,
Will she smell alone?”
--Kurt Cobain’s “Anything”
Where you gone for? Whoa! I’m glad I only did heroin once and settled on coke.
“I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like...”
--Queen’s “Bicycle Race”
Tsk, tsk Brian May, how could you, a modern poet, be a party to this tripe? By the late 70’s I came to expect Freddie “Cliché” Mercury to rip off artists, but ripping off Arlo Guthrie’s “I don’t want a pickle, I just want to ride my motorcycle” – couldn’t you have found a decent song to jack? At least Led Zeppelin had the good sense to rip off great tunes, from the old time great folk and blues artists; When the Levy Breaks, In My Time of Dying, Custard Pie, Dazed and Confused, Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, Gallows Pole, I Can’t Quit You Baby, Bring it on Home – Oh Willy Dixon and Muddy Waters, where have you gone?
“Your hair/It’s everywhere”
--Dashboard Confessional’s “Screaming Infidelities
I don’t care how you think about this line, it’s gross and weird in every context possible. Even in the context of the song, which is about a painful breakup, it’s creepy.
“Well, I am just a monkey man, I’m glad you are a monkey woman too”
--The Rolling Stones’ “Monkey Man”
I bet you didn’t know this was written as the theme to Planet of the Apes? Having trouble placing this song? Imagine you’re in a dentist’s chair with a 10-inch steel drill about to bore into your molars when this non-Muzak classic pipes in through the office speakers. The singer sounds like he could be your cross-dressing, patchouli-scented sixth-grade science teacher, whispering politely about being in love with you. Then the Monkey Man refrain sets in. Then you pray for the sweet, sweet relief of the drill.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto. For doing the jobs that nobody wants to… Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto”
--Styx’s “Mr. Roboto”
Forwards, backwards, it still sounds stupid. You know that jerk in your school who could burp the alphabet? That’s what this song is like, burp burp burp mr. roboto.
“Uga chacka uga uga uga chacka”
--B.J. Thomas’ “Hooked on a Feeling”
If you want really classic lyrics, you must go back to the 70’s and listen to B.J. Thomas’s (I just love saying his name) “Hooked on a Feeling.” Here come the lyrics again, are you ready for this…? “Uga chacka uga uga uga chacka. Uga uga uga chacka. Uga chacka uga uga uga chacka. Uga uga uga chacka…” Really, it does that for ten seconds before normal lyrics start. And it's a great song, wink wink, tongue in cheek. Check out Hooked on a Feeling when some friends (who are totally altered) are over for karaoke, and get ready to Facebook tag them.
Oh there’s more, much, much more – but I’m tired and my family is leering at me and leaning in the direction of making a phone call, oh wait, I hear Noelopan VIX (aka Jerry Samuels) at the door! !aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT".
Monday, April 27, 2020
Collective Identity...the hidden in plain site zombie apocalypse?
April 24, 2020
Collective Identity...the hidden in plain site zombie apocalypse?
**Getting together is great, glad for enthusiasm....
But appreciated as it will be by many, recording information for posterity & history by way of written, recorded or otherwise misses my point.
Where is Barnes & Noble? Who goes to libraries? What happened to actual newspapers?
Once the story(s) are told, recorded & made available that repository will become an idle archive.
Oh, I’m not an iconoclast, I’ve had my childhood home movies digitized & on redundant servers, I’ve also digitized all Tina & my family’s home movies (in redundant servers), and digitized all my mom/deans home movies (which included Renae’s, Mel’s, and Mike’s)
And over the next year I’ll have all our photo albums, negatives & misc photos digitized and uploaded
Some of you already have access to a private server with these home movies (and if it’s used n can sustain higher traffic I will include the balance of nuclear family after editing and separating)
I’ll leave that behind
But who I am, where I’ve been, me, the real me that’s made up of experiences and stories you will never know, the back story of my life (my parents and grandparents stories etc) will be lost—it will die
Headstone details will be all you know...
It is and will be that way for us all. Bloodlines are more than genealogy, DNA, and broad sweeping strokes compressed into a 45, 60, or 90 minute presser.
The art, the cultural expectation and the norm of sharing generational family stories is over. Over and over and over again, night after night, event after event; “Did you know your grandpa Poppy on the G-side fell into high voltage power lines, nearly died, but overcame that to be a great athlete & to be called ‘the miracle boy?” “If he can do that, you can do this...”
Instead, Spider-Man or Batman or Builder Bob’s lives and fake experiences are their go-to, their repetition, their mantra
And instead of drawing on the wisdom of our wiser, spiritual, successful parents or kin, we look to experts & media talking heads
I am lost. We are lost. My story, your story, our stories are not valued, they cannot be bundled, packaged, nor monthly memberships sold. We lose.
Now, right now July 1, 2020 the radical social agenda and national self-loathing of the once proud, brave, free infesting and infecting quicker than COVID-19 China Virus USA citizens, our State & National monuments are being pulled down, defaced. Colleges, Cities, and even a State is seeking to change its founding names. Movies are being censored and removed.
A call for "the white European Jesus' to also be removed, as well as other offensive religious statues. Anything that could define America and the Patriotism of old.
Socially that era is over. I hope and pray it will survive in a few who will not conform. It will require a paradigm shift, a re-prioritization of values. My life, your life, the history of YOUR family will need to be valued highly, referred to regularly, and passed on.
If it is not, does not become a habit, it will not survive.
Peace.
Collective Identity...the hidden in plain site zombie apocalypse?
I feel sad. Very, very sad.
TV, media, entertainment. It’s (I said it, not they, as I will not personalize a machine), it’s been allowed to replace and remove the history of my family.
“Oh no, here he goes again...”
I know so little about the personal, familial details of my family. Bits and pieces, if that, of parents childhood, almost nothing of grandparents.
I know my mom’s dad came from Hungary. He was a tall, gentle, quiet man, he spoke little and I’m not sure how well he spoke English. He drank, at least he had. He was goofy, silly, a gentle giant. He would take his rolling papers, pouch of tobacco and go to the garage to twist up and smoke his home rolls. His health was poor, in fact he was dying when he came to live with us, I think. There’s no one left to tell.
I know nothing of his life. I know nothing of the Hungary he would have know as a boy during the great wars. Was he a communist? My romantic side and his nature whispers to me he was a resistance fighter.
Who was my mom’s mom that she from very humble origins (I think my mom said her mom grew up with dirt floors & an outhouse), met and then married this Hungarian?
White privileged? Ha ha, ho ho, hee hee.
Wops, Hunkies, Frenchies, rednecks, trailer trash lineage, sorry, my kin (and YOUR kin if you’re related to me) has NOT know white privilege. My kin worked hard, busted their butts, hustled, overcame prejudice and hate, were Democrats, Republicans, Christians, Jews, Catholic & Protestant, back-woods folk healers, Gypsies...and oh yeah, what white privileged I may have had a path to I walked away from as a young teen in New York. While visiting relatives I was approached by a goombah former “The Family” guy offering me a name and a phone number, “that should I ever need anything, call the number.” Yeah, that my dad, and other Italians or immigrants had to warn me in advance of this possibility and to say respectfully and finally, “NO” to any such offer, as that offer came with strings.
The Italians, as did the Irish, Jews & Mexicans etc have all had to band together in early immigration days just to survive. Some have had to or chosen to maintain that for decades, and will likely forever.
Breaking away from that protection, leaving family stuck in generational cycles of immigrant poverty, limited opportunities, and familiar cultural and ethnic enclaves — they took risks, braved new lands, different states, pushed upon & broke invisible barriers, and then choosing to work and make sacrifices to leave and provide greater opportunities... that doesn’t sound like privilege, that sounds like people. The story of people all over the USA, all around the world and down through every generation. rant over on that...
Back to my Hungarian granddad. What the heck?
I’m sad.
Very, very sad that I know the details of my favorite TV characters back & forwards, know the stats and details of sports “heroes” I grew up with...and know almost nothing of my own family line.
My blood lines have been erased. (M)TV not only killed the radio, it also erased my bloodlines.
The other day I was telling a story to my grandkids, not sure if it was about me or their dad, but one said very politely, but confused, “poppa, you already told us that story...”
Confused as to why I’d tell them THEIR history? Sad.
Yet, they, as I, as we, go back to our TV series, seasons episodes, part 2 or 3 or 1000 of Avengers or Star Whatever. Binge watch, reruns and anniversary editions, platinum collectors editions ad nauseum.
But don’t tell me twice about the time you snuck into the drive in movie theatre, or your childhood memories, childhood pranks or sweethearts or the details of work & family vacations and NO, oh no, don’t bring out the photo albums or home movies!!
But YES, oh yes!! Tell me all about Nancy and her exotic freezer & custom ice cream fetish, spare no detail! Let me see a congresswoman dance. Stage for me rejoining you’re family after a pretend strict quarantine.
People & Entertainment magazine, former British royalty & porn stars, Sean Hannity, Judge Judy or Janine or Dr. Phil-Oz-Gupta, Rachel Maddow & Whoopi, please tell us about yourselves and all the wonderful, exciting celebrities and rich people we don’t know and never will meet, whom the vast majority are fake, and the antithesis of goodness, decency, and selflessness. Face lifts and tummy tucks and peels and diets and makeup tips. We must know & have this info-gristle.
What an absolute dumb ass I’ve been.
“Write about it, talk about it, record it for posterity!!!” Hell no, and it, that true outpouring from every soul become as the daily leaves that fall off a million trees? No. No thanks.
Books, and even more and greater than that are our stories, our familial stories, the good, bad, the ugly, the stars and the underachievers, the fabric of our personal identity and personal history is no more. Replaced by fake, made up, equal parts fictional, personal and historical characters generated (or degenerated) from a stranger’s mind.
Gone are the nights together telling, and retelling the stories of our kin, the details of their lives that made us unique and special. The admonitions, the warnings, those we hold up for honor for their work & deeds, those whose lives we talk about as reminders of our genetic mental, and physical pros/cons, strengths and weaknesses.
My way-stations, transponders, landmarks are gone.
I am sad. Millions of people will lose their personal family history every day, forever, never to be regained. Genealogy reports and DNA testing is not the soul of humanity. The manipulators of TV, media & entertainment have become this world’s gods, and that crafted message(s) is becoming the collective soul.
I will not share my
stories. They will die with me, I will let them fall like the leaves
they are. I do not know what this modern, tech driven society will
become. I do not know what will become of the next generation, in such a
hurry to learn more about a fictional character, celebrity, star or
athlete. In such a hurry to distance themselves from themselves and to
become that airbrushed illusion of a character.
Maybe this loss, this terrible loss of our personal history is the hidden in plain site zombie apocalypse.
Have a cheery covid-19 day.
TV, media, entertainment. It’s (I said it, not they, as I will not personalize a machine), it’s been allowed to replace and remove the history of my family.
I know so little about the personal, familial details of my family. Bits and pieces, if that, of parents childhood, almost nothing of grandparents.
I know my mom’s dad came from Hungary. He was a tall, gentle, quiet man, he spoke little and I’m not sure how well he spoke English. He drank, at least he had. He was goofy, silly, a gentle giant. He would take his rolling papers, pouch of tobacco and go to the garage to twist up and smoke his home rolls. His health was poor, in fact he was dying when he came to live with us, I think. There’s no one left to tell.
I know nothing of his life. I know nothing of the Hungary he would have know as a boy during the great wars. Was he a communist? My romantic side and his nature whispers to me he was a resistance fighter.
Who was my mom’s mom that she from very humble origins (I think my mom said her mom grew up with dirt floors & an outhouse), met and then married this Hungarian?
White privileged? Ha ha, ho ho, hee hee.
Wops, Hunkies, Frenchies, rednecks, trailer trash lineage, sorry, my kin (and YOUR kin if you’re related to me) has NOT know white privilege. My kin worked hard, busted their butts, hustled, overcame prejudice and hate, were Democrats, Republicans, Christians, Jews, Catholic & Protestant, back-woods folk healers, Gypsies...and oh yeah, what white privileged I may have had a path to I walked away from as a young teen in New York. While visiting relatives I was approached by a goombah former “The Family” guy offering me a name and a phone number, “that should I ever need anything, call the number.” Yeah, that my dad, and other Italians or immigrants had to warn me in advance of this possibility and to say respectfully and finally, “NO” to any such offer, as that offer came with strings.
The Italians, as did the Irish, Jews & Mexicans etc have all had to band together in early immigration days just to survive. Some have had to or chosen to maintain that for decades, and will likely forever.
Breaking away from that protection, leaving family stuck in generational cycles of immigrant poverty, limited opportunities, and familiar cultural and ethnic enclaves — they took risks, braved new lands, different states, pushed upon & broke invisible barriers, and then choosing to work and make sacrifices to leave and provide greater opportunities... that doesn’t sound like privilege, that sounds like people. The story of people all over the USA, all around the world and down through every generation. rant over on that...
Back to my Hungarian granddad. What the heck?
I’m sad.
Very, very sad that I know the details of my favorite TV characters back & forwards, know the stats and details of sports “heroes” I grew up with...and know almost nothing of my own family line.
My blood lines have been erased. (M)TV not only killed the radio, it also erased my bloodlines.
The other day I was telling a story to my grandkids, not sure if it was about me or their dad, but one said very politely, but confused, “poppa, you already told us that story...”
Confused as to why I’d tell them THEIR history? Sad.
Yet, they, as I, as we, go back to our TV series, seasons episodes, part 2 or 3 or 1000 of Avengers or Star Whatever. Binge watch, reruns and anniversary editions, platinum collectors editions ad nauseum.
But don’t tell me twice about the time you snuck into the drive in movie theatre, or your childhood memories, childhood pranks or sweethearts or the details of work & family vacations and NO, oh no, don’t bring out the photo albums or home movies!!
But YES, oh yes!! Tell me all about Nancy and her exotic freezer & custom ice cream fetish, spare no detail! Let me see a congresswoman dance. Stage for me rejoining you’re family after a pretend strict quarantine.
People & Entertainment magazine, former British royalty & porn stars, Sean Hannity, Judge Judy or Janine or Dr. Phil-Oz-Gupta, Rachel Maddow & Whoopi, please tell us about yourselves and all the wonderful, exciting celebrities and rich people we don’t know and never will meet, whom the vast majority are fake, and the antithesis of goodness, decency, and selflessness. Face lifts and tummy tucks and peels and diets and makeup tips. We must know & have this info-gristle.
What an absolute dumb ass I’ve been.
“Write about it, talk about it, record it for posterity!!!” Hell no, and it, that true outpouring from every soul become as the daily leaves that fall off a million trees? No. No thanks.
Books, and even more and greater than that are our stories, our familial stories, the good, bad, the ugly, the stars and the underachievers, the fabric of our personal identity and personal history is no more. Replaced by fake, made up, equal parts fictional, personal and historical characters generated (or degenerated) from a stranger’s mind.
Gone are the nights together telling, and retelling the stories of our kin, the details of their lives that made us unique and special. The admonitions, the warnings, those we hold up for honor for their work & deeds, those whose lives we talk about as reminders of our genetic mental, and physical pros/cons, strengths and weaknesses.
My way-stations, transponders, landmarks are gone.
I am sad. Millions of people will lose their personal family history every day, forever, never to be regained. Genealogy reports and DNA testing is not the soul of humanity. The manipulators of TV, media & entertainment have become this world’s gods, and that crafted message(s) is becoming the collective soul.
I will not share my
stories. They will die with me, I will let them fall like the leaves
they are. I do not know what this modern, tech driven society will
become. I do not know what will become of the next generation, in such a
hurry to learn more about a fictional character, celebrity, star or
athlete. In such a hurry to distance themselves from themselves and to
become that airbrushed illusion of a character. Maybe this loss, this terrible loss of our personal history is the hidden in plain site zombie apocalypse.
Have a cheery covid-19 day.
**Getting together is great, glad for enthusiasm....
But appreciated as it will be by many, recording information for posterity & history by way of written, recorded or otherwise misses my point.
Where is Barnes & Noble? Who goes to libraries? What happened to actual newspapers?
Once the story(s) are told, recorded & made available that repository will become an idle archive.
Oh, I’m not an iconoclast, I’ve had my childhood home movies digitized & on redundant servers, I’ve also digitized all Tina & my family’s home movies (in redundant servers), and digitized all my mom/deans home movies (which included Renae’s, Mel’s, and Mike’s)
And over the next year I’ll have all our photo albums, negatives & misc photos digitized and uploaded
Some of you already have access to a private server with these home movies (and if it’s used n can sustain higher traffic I will include the balance of nuclear family after editing and separating)
I’ll leave that behind
But who I am, where I’ve been, me, the real me that’s made up of experiences and stories you will never know, the back story of my life (my parents and grandparents stories etc) will be lost—it will die
Headstone details will be all you know...
It is and will be that way for us all. Bloodlines are more than genealogy, DNA, and broad sweeping strokes compressed into a 45, 60, or 90 minute presser.
The art, the cultural expectation and the norm of sharing generational family stories is over. Over and over and over again, night after night, event after event; “Did you know your grandpa Poppy on the G-side fell into high voltage power lines, nearly died, but overcame that to be a great athlete & to be called ‘the miracle boy?” “If he can do that, you can do this...”
Instead, Spider-Man or Batman or Builder Bob’s lives and fake experiences are their go-to, their repetition, their mantra
And instead of drawing on the wisdom of our wiser, spiritual, successful parents or kin, we look to experts & media talking heads
I am lost. We are lost. My story, your story, our stories are not valued, they cannot be bundled, packaged, nor monthly memberships sold. We lose.
Now, right now July 1, 2020 the radical social agenda and national self-loathing of the once proud, brave, free infesting and infecting quicker than COVID-19 China Virus USA citizens, our State & National monuments are being pulled down, defaced. Colleges, Cities, and even a State is seeking to change its founding names. Movies are being censored and removed.
A call for "the white European Jesus' to also be removed, as well as other offensive religious statues. Anything that could define America and the Patriotism of old.
Socially that era is over. I hope and pray it will survive in a few who will not conform. It will require a paradigm shift, a re-prioritization of values. My life, your life, the history of YOUR family will need to be valued highly, referred to regularly, and passed on.
If it is not, does not become a habit, it will not survive.
Peace.
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