Why I do it - It's like a Fire, Shut Up in my BONES

I just spent a wonderful afternoon with a newly renewed friend and Pastor.  Terry and I went to school together in Ellendale ND a million years ago.  We have come to know each other again pretty well in the last couple years.  It has been rewarding.

 

Terry is a true pastor with the ministry gift of pastor.   He has a church in Michigan he leads as pastor.  His gift is greater than he knows.  I believe God has some things in store for him.  The light he brings won't be kept under a bushel by God. 

 

His gift is Pastor.  I appreciate that about him since I need to have a pastor in my life.  We talked about all kinds of things.  Mostly about what has been going on with the ministry areas I am over involved in.  He did what a pastor does best, asked questions, listened, prayed, asked questions and let me sort thru issues I have.  Last time we got together he unraveled some areas that I needed to see more clearly.  This isn't counseling as such.  This is more laying my stuff out and picking over the carcasses to see if we can learn what there is to learn from all the evidence.  I am transparent with him because I know he's safe and neither of us has anything to gain or lose if we offend or irritate.  Safety means infinite transparency.

 

He's gifted in his area of ministry.  I have not heard him preach but I'll bet he's pretty good. 

 

That visit made me reflect on the ministry gifts of Ephesians Four and how the Body of Christ accepts them.

 

If a person is gifted as an evangelist no one questions his motivation.  Just that he has a burden for lost souls and would do all he could do to save them.  A noble cause.  He is celebrated.  Even respected by the ones who are the subjects of his efforts should they fail.

 

If a person is gifted as a teacher, as long as he has a class he will teach. In fact, most teachers I know spend time learning the Word of God as recreation for some future teaching time.  Study is joy.  I find myself in this role often.  Sometimes the pure joy of digging out a truth or a mystery is rewarding enough.  People who enjoy the Bible nuggets a teacher delivers respect him.  Kind of like the drive thru at McDonalds.  Fun.

 

If a person is gifted as a Pastor, he works to help people who have limited resource or someone who just needs encouragement.  He takes people under his wing and teaches them to fly.  He is needed.  And, he deserves the respect he gets because of the patience and love a Pastors gift carries with him.

 

All of those 3 Ministry Gifts are applauded and supported by the Body of Christ.   HOWEVER, there are 2 other ministry gifts identified in Ephesians 4.  The Church denied them for a long time.  They were just too inconvenient.  They caused too much trouble.  So the church has for the last several hundred years bumbled along with Pastors, Teachers and Evangelists while silencing the Apostolic and Prophetic.  I am a member of a group who claims to be a proponent of all the gifts of the Ephesians Four model.  In fact, it only really recognizes the first 3.  When I have asked I am told, that even though the name is Ephesians Four, the focus and support of the organization is from Churches.  Churches for the most part fear the two suppressed Ministry Gifts and seldom embrace them.

 

If a person is gifted as an apostle he is accused of being controlling, domineering and un-yielding.  If a person has an apostolic call on his life, he will be difficult to understand by the other ministry gifts.  People will rebel against his direction and leadership.  They will all think they could do it better.  Moses is the prototypical Apostolic Leader.  Even Aaron his own brother murmured against him. 

 

Apostles bear marks in their body, the same marks Jesus carried.  Maybe not always physically, but in abuse, in rejection, they bear the marks of an apostle.  They are not loved universally.  They are often persecuted.  People forsake them.  It's lonely and can be unrewarding as a calling.  The ones I know personally have had serious rebellion in the ministries they lead.  I know several and the ones who have made it work suffer much for the faith.   They are victorious men of God and rise above it but there has been pain and woundedness.  They have suffered stripes at the hands of men. 

 

If a person is a prophet he is accused of being arrogant for saying what God says.  He takes slings and arrows of people who are offended by the idea that a prophet hears God differently from them.  Or from the world, the prophet gets ridicule for even hearing from God.  The world, flesh and the devil will always strive to silence the prophetic.  Sometimes a person with an immature prophetic gift has a fear of man.  If so he or she will be silenced.  The prime temperament any prophet must have is to be bold and strong in the face of all opposition.  Even if that opposition is 600 prophets of Baal and a Queen that wants to kill you.  A true prophet must at all times regard God above man.  Even if an Angel should appear he must be able to test the spirits and listen for the confirming voice of God or ignore what might have been an angel of light (The Devil). 

 

In the days of the Old Testament prophets there was constant criticism of men and women who prophesied.  They spoke in riddles, in mysteries, without specificity, in types and shadows.  That the only way to really comprehend the prophesies of the Old Testament and even of the book of Revelations is after it happens.  Jesus birth was prophesied for centuries but not until he appeared did the Prophesies become evident in fulfillment.  That's why Jesus on the Road to Emmaus had to explain to the two disciples by the fulfilled prophetic who HE was. 

 

As a prophet I know the sound of those accusations.  Prophecy is always multidimensional in it's vision.  There is a personal application, a church application, and a global application.  AND there is a immediate application, someday application and ultimate application.  It's much like looking at a panoramic picture of the Rocky Mountains and trying to describe them from that picture.  You see the ones in the foreground, the ones, further away and the ones way off in the distant.  Yet they all appear immediate in the picture.    So the (description) of what is seen is distant and nearby all at once.  Only as one travels thru the mountains can one understand what has been described. 

 

Prophets are accused, silenced (attempted at least), killed, and put out of churches.  They nearly always have people sniping at them who hate who they are.    Being a prophet is never profitable.  In fact it costs everything to carry the mantle.  The only sure thing is to operate as a prophet one must know to do the will of the Father without fear.  The Lord is the only reward a prophet needs.  He requires no human to offer affirmation.  I can report that as a prophet, the prophecies are shut up in my bones like a fire and the only way you will stop me or any true prophet from prophesying the truth of God is to kill him.  All prophets I know are careful, orderly, respectful and do not prophesy except as it is allowed and embraced.  But they will prophesy to those who have ears to hear.  Those with those ears to hear are blessed and encouraged by the prophecy.  The ones with stopped up ears live far below the potential God provided for them.

 

The church was destined by God to be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.  If there's too much dependence on one gift or the other the church will founder by tipping into legalism and formalism or into chaos and indirection.  The apostle needs the revelation of the prophet and the prophet needs the steady hand of the apostle.  If that is missing the church will be unbalanced.   Satan loves an unbalanced church.  He will do all he can to create this unbalance and allow the church to fall of it's own weight.

 

None of the other ministry gifts can operate with much fruit without the firm hand of the apostle and the visionary encouragement of the prophet.  This is the way God set it up in the first place and only in denominational America do churches refuse to see or receive the gifts God urgently wants to give.  That's why so many churches in America are dying. 

 

There are a few fellowships that receive and embrace the apostolic and prophetic.   They have great destinies in God.  For the rest, I am not very optimistic.  This is a day when the prophetic and the apostolic must work hand in hand to accomplish what God wants to do.

 

The fields are ripe for harvest and the combine needed to harvest them is broken.  I'm thankful for every legitimate ministry gift I know. 

 

I'm thankful for the Gift of Pastor that is Terry.  I know he is thankful for the Gift of Prophet that is Gene.  Shouldn't it be always that way?  Shouldn't the Gifts work in concert with one another and accomplish the work of the ministry? 

 

I hope and pray that day will come soon.  We need to get the team back on the playing field.  Time to push back the Devils. 

 

Go Team.

You CAN be FOR a Clean Healthy Environment and AGAINST Environmentalism

If you are of two minds when you hear the word environmentalism you are not alone. On one hand, we all want clean water, clean air, clean food and healthy environs.

We don't want the state telling us what we can and can't do because of junk science even if it is promulgated by a former Vice President of the USA.

We have been there before. I remember as a teenager being told that DDT was killing all the birds. Silent Spring, Rachel Carson. There was some truth but it was not the whole truth.

Just like today. There is some truth told, but that truth is using fear to enslave and even destroy people using questionable science.

An article written on Lew Rockwell comes to these conclusions. You can read the whole thing here.

Environmentalism is a mainstream, activist, political movement, endorsed by both major political parties. It uses and endorses the state’s monopoly on violence as its primary means of action.

Environmentalist doctrine is anti-free market and anti-libertarian. Its doctrine cultivates and has succeeded in attaining a moral dimension among its adherents.

Environmentalist doctrine blames various current and fancied human woes on our economic way of life, relating them to natural resources, and promising deliverance from those woes by state regulation and control over resources and economic life.

Environmentalist doctrine is anti-life, anti-value creation, and anti-wealth creation.

The religious overtones of environmentalism are clear: Mankind is sinning against the environment, being punished for those sins, and redemption lies in environmentalism. Environmentalism is basically a pseudo-religion and a false religion at that.

I hope the people who have bought into this lie will see it for what it is soon before it's too late. It's all about control. Others controlling YOU.

Word of the Lord This Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend in Services I delivered a word of the Lord to several hundred people.  I believe this word is critical to the body of Christ.  The word burned in my bones until it was given.  I post it here so that anyone who reads and understands it will be encouraged, warned and comforted.

 

The Great Clash - Heaven's Glory and the World's System

 

In Revelation 8 the scene describes a time when there is silence in Heaven for about half an hour.  Many people who operate in the prophetic have felt a silence in the spirit for nearly 2 months.  I know that it was about the second week of March for me.  Suddenly downloads from the throne stopped.  Not because of sin.  Just quiet.

I Know God was not angry, just silent for a while.

 

1 WHEN HE [the Lamb] broke open the seventh seal, there was silence for about half an hour in heaven.

 

I know this is true of others because the place (Elijah List) where many of these things are posted is vacant.  It seems like just before God is about to make a great change he goes silent.  Before Jesus came to earth as a baby there was a great and long silence in the prophetic.  Then suddenly heaven came to earth and everything changed.

 

At the turn of the year the Lord showed me a vision of the year.  I saw a vacuum after February.  I wrote on that empty place in this blog and in the blog which contains the word of the Lord for 2007.  I said at that time that I didn't know what that meant, it's just that I saw NOTHING.  Now I understand.  Prophecy is best understood in a rear view mirror.  I thought at the time that the nothing was an event. It still may be. 

 

Looking further in Revelation 8 we see a picture of the prayers of all the saints contained in great bowls.  Stored up.  Not yet answered.  But standing ready.  The incense from them goes up before the throne.  Then the order is given by the Lamb that the bowls be emptied and cast down upon the earth. 

3 And another angel came and stood over the altar. He had a golden censer, and he was given very much incense (fragrant spices and gums which exhale perfume when burned), that he might mingle it with the prayers of all the people of God (the saints) upon the golden altar before the throne.

    4 And the smoke of the incense (the perfume) arose in the presence of God, with the prayers of the people of God (the saints), from the hand of the angel.

The angel throws the to the earth. Great catastrophe takes place.  Mountains move, earthquakes.  Heaven's glory released thru the prayers of the saints encountering all that is on the earth today and suddenly things change.  The prayer Jesus taught, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" suddenly becomes reality.  Heaven's "as is" comes to planet earth.  The great clash takes place.

 

 5 So the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it upon the earth. Then there followed peals of thunder and loud rumblings and blasts and noises, and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

 

Many will look at these changes and say, "God is angry".  "Why did God cause this to happen"  or "Why would God allow such a thing".   The realignment shifting of reality looks like loss to the unredeemed.  To the Child of God it looks like order out of Chaos as Jesus restores all things thru his Holy Spirit. 

 

There will be many who will be offended in that day.  Some will be in the Church.  Their nice little world will have been disturbed.  It's disturbing when heaven comes to earth.  Jesus said that a sign of the end is the spirit of offense IN THE CHURCH.  We see that today.

Matthew 24

8  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

9  Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

10  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Our hope must be in the living God when it all comes down.  It will all come down and now is the time to determine NOT to take offense when it does. 

 

Who do we have but him anyway?  All our colored dreams, all the mountains we have depended on will be thrown into the sea.

 

Psalm 46 is best in all these things.  We are at this time right now as these changes come to pass, answers to prayer, shifts and potential for offense. 

    Psalm 46  

    1God is our refuge and strength,
         A very present help in trouble.
    2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
         And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
    3Though its waters roar and foam,
         Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride

 

Evenso, Come Lord Jesus.

Memorial Day Flowers

Memorial Day was first a day picked for its date because it was the center of much of the floral display season.  General Logan who was in Carbondale IL selected the date which was to be May 30.  This was in 1868.  He selected it because the roadsides and hedgerows would have the most wild flowers.  This was to commemorate the dead mostly from the Civil War.

 

Now of course we have many more wars behind us.  We decorate more from the Wal-Mart hedgerow garden center.  But the tradition goes on.

 

I look around and think of how apt that day was.  General Logan was right.  So much is in bloom right now in Illinois.  If he were to pick a time of year to do this today is that day.  What's in bloom right now:

 

Peonies.  Spectacular peonies. I have some that were given me 30 years ago from Ruth Redlin in Ellendale ND.  I have moved them every time we've moved.  They are pink doubles and rich reds.  And fragrant, breathtaking fragrant.  They hate the fact that we had rain.  Hanging their heads not in shame but in recognition that breeding a flower like that and not breeding in a stem to support it is a pity.  But they are wonderful.  Thanks Ruth.

 

Clematis.  I have a half dozen cultivars in my yard.  But, there are some new ones out of Holland, doubles, composite looking that are amazing.  I saw some yesterday.  Size of a small dinnerplante. I'll have to kill something to find a place in my yard to put them, but I will.  They like sun.  I have a apple tree that if I cut it down would be a great place for a clematis.  HMMMM.

 

Daisies.  Many are later in the season.  But the roadsides are alive with a few varieties right now.  It seems like summer can't be far behind despite the normal weather on Memorial Day.  We will cook out with a hooded sweatshirt again. 

 

Weigelia.  They are in amazing bloom this year.  I love the OLDER varieties.  I'm not much into dwarf plants.  If you want them dwarf buy a shear.  Some of the Wine Weigelias are peaked in flowering.  The old vaneckii varieties give a wonderful show.  All red all over.

 

American Highbush Cranberry are still flowering.  I know it's not showy.  But, it's a regal plant with it's umbel of flat floral expression.  And knowing that what follows is the berry makes it all the better.  I like the highbush cranberry since I was skiing in Manitoba and the hillsides were lined with them all red and pendulous.  Good to eat too.

 

Queen Anne's Lace fills the eye wherever you are right now.  I know it's darn near an invasive weed but It's a great addition to any floral arrangement.  Sort of a poor man's babies breath.  It's homely later.   But, that's the way it goes.  People are the same.

 

We are just a week away from the beginning of the tree lilacs kicking off.  I have one that this year will bloom for the very first time.  The tree is 8 years old.

 

And, Roses.  The early Carolina roses are in full bloom.  Same with the Hansen's hedge and the Arkansas rose.  I planted some 50 roses this spring.  Many are natural hybrids between native roses and hybrid tea.  This will be interesting.  Native and rugosa is not unusual.  This is.

 

I also created a small bed of un patented hybrids that are about to bust out.  I'm not a big rose grower, but I like the rose. 

 

All this floral expression does not mask the reality of the day.  I have so much respect for every man and woman in uniform today, and those who wore it in the past.  I honor you all.  Your memory is better expressed in my safety and freedom than in anything I can do to decorate the place your shell resides.  But I'll do that too.

 

Have a memorable Memorial Day.

Advice I'll Probably Ignore

The last few days I have been peppered with advice.  Advice on how to write better via email. I'm up for learning to write better if I think it's good advice.  I'll decide that for myself however. 

 

Then I have received advice about how to blog from another blogger,  someone I respect.  Nevertheless, I'll decide on what part of that advice I'll follow or not as well.  I am my own best counsel.

 

The reason I publish this blog is for purely personal purposes and those alone.  I am NOT trying to build readership except when I write something which I thing is significant, then I spam people who I think should read it.  They can then make the decision.  Most do.

 

I do not write this blog to make people feel good, make them happy or avoid controversy.  In fact, It seems I'm the king of controversy.  I do not enter into controversial areas to generate comments or links.  I write this blog to air out what I am thinking.  Sometimes I'm angry.  Sometimes I'm amused.  Sometimes I wax philosophical or theological.  Sometimes I have a remembrance to tell or a story that just happened. 

 

So for that reason what, how and in which fashion or format I write is my choice.  I write about things that get my attention.  If it gets yours that's fine too.  If not, well, I'll never know now, will I.  I have never been particularly critical of people's artwork because I know much I don't get.  That's a blind spot for me.  Same with how or what I write.  I don't expect everyone who reads me to love what I say.  That's the way it goes.  Just like Art or Music.  I might have lots of opinions on what might make better art or music in advice to give.  If you were amused or unimpressed with my sage advice you just might ignore me too.  That would be expected and appropriate.  Turnabout is fair play.

 

I do have a hidden counter.  I get all the hits I deserve or desire.  I'm not looking to build reputation.  This is an electronic bulletin board where family, friends and interested others can look into Geneland and see what that old guy is thinking about.

 

I somehow don't measure up to the standards of niceness or kindness that anyone wishes I did, I am sorry you feel that way.  I'll not change my stripes. 

 

I learned a long time ago that my primary gift in life was not niceness.  I have had more than one person who know me personally say, "Gene, you aren't very nice to people, but you are always kind".  I take that as high praise.  For that reason there are many who avoid me.  Pretty much out of fear that I might tell them the truth.   And, know what?  I would.  It might shock you to know I can be pretty direct (in a kind way).

 

On the other hand, those who don't fear being told in an kind way what they may need to hear will come to me for a word.  I always have one and it's nearly always encouraging.

 

That's why I was not great in a pastoral role, but even tonight in Church I spoke to several hundred people a message that may not be nice to hear, but is kind in the telling. 

 

So, as a pastor and as a nice person I'm a failure.  As a prophet and teacher I do pretty well.  I'll keep doing what I do well.

Like Popeye, "I yam what I yam and I can't takes it no more".

 

But then, I didn't create this blog 2 1/2 years ago as a way to become popular with everyone.  It appears I have succeeded.

HORSE SENSE - I don't make this stuff up

Don't ever come between a woman and love for her horse.

Did I ever "get it" on my last post.

First, I got big time emails calling me names (again). Then this tongue lashing identifying my post on horse flesh as simple minded bluster from Julie, the cruelest cut of all.

I'll concede this much. I sometimes verbally kill ants with a sledge hammer. I think it's my North Dakota Farm Boy upbringing that causes me to see a clear difference between the animal and humans. Even advanced animals. I'm not a huge fan of anthropomorphism. (A big word for us simple minded blusterers.)

I believe Bambi as portrayed in the movie is a deer and that hunter did right by eating Bambi's mom. We even have movies anthropomorphizing ANTS. Now what? Will the ASPCA become the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to ANTS?

I don't make this stuff up. The psychology of Female Mastery and horses is not my invention or contention. Much has been written and studied about this. Girls and horses and dogs and yes even cats is a well studied syndrome which is not in and of itself bad if you are 13.

From the Horse Country Journal:

"The horse provides a kind of path to mastery, control and power, in addition to its beauty and all that other stuff. Women don't have many opportunities for that," Dr. LaFarge said. "It gives a girl something she's good at during a time when she's having a lot of identity problems."

But when a woman is 61 years old and has a house full of cats, dogs or even horses and treats them like humans, something is decidedly wrong with that picture. Worse are the cases of "Animal Rescue" where no rescue takes place. Were the animals in this story better off or worse off than if they had been humanely disposed of? We are now about to see this travesty on a huge scale in horses because of this dumb law. And it's driven by celebrities with good intentions lacking wisdom.

I'll admit to this. I have never been a "Horse Person". I watch the horse trainers on RFD TV. Seen the Horse Whisperer movie. Flicka, Blue Velvet. etc etc. Yawn.

I'm missing an X chromosome to make a connection I'm not making. It's OK, it's a genetic flaw, ON BOTH SIDES! I won't begin to deny or repent of my DNA.

I have had several dogs and cats. Skip was my last dog. I cried when he died. The movie Skip the Dog was very much like my Skip. I have pictures. Lots of pictures. He was a wonderful dog. But, he was a dog. Just a dog. Great dog. But a dog.

I don't see where people make the logical leap leading to a dis-equalization of Horse over all other animals. Horses seem to have become the Pigs of Animal Farm. More equal than others. Julie said quite accurately that there is a great difference between a worm and a dolphin. She's right.

Where she misses the point is the same difference on that continuum is between a horse and a human. We are way less horse and way more human than we give ourselves credit for. Next time you need a tooth cavity filled or your appendix taken out, go out to the barn and ask the pony. Where are the horse colleges or seminaries? I have been reading Julie's blog for nearly 4 years. No horse writes like that. No horse creates like that. No horse has emotions and reactions like that.

People are to horse as horse is to worm. HOWEVER, I won't even kill a spider if I don't have to. I drive around chipmunks and gophers who try to commit suicide on the highway. I respect life too much. The other day an errant vole (mouse like creature) happened into our domain. Peggy told me to get rid of it. I did, but I carried the little guy out into the woods across from our house. He may have become eagle bait but there were lots of seeds to eat and logs to hide under. I wish the little guy all the best. But I also hunt, eat meat and fully comprehend the animal's place in the kingdom. Dominion. That's us. Dominated, that's them. Look it up. That little Vole was dominated but saved and protected.

But what do I know, I just bluster away in my own simple minded fashion.

Making People out of Animals

I have never ever understood the need some people have to rescue and care for animals like they were people. Some psychologists have said that it is rooted in a sense of mastery. Some people, particularly women, who have little influence or control over their lives or the lives of others pour themselves into animals, particularly large animals like horses in an anthropomorphic way. It says to them, "at least I am master of these simple animals, and they really NEED ME". It's not a healthy way to look at things.

Dogs and cats suffer from the same malady. Anthropomorphism. Folks, I don't know how to break it to you. They're animals. Not people. People are people.

This last winter a young man in our area lost his life trying to rescue his dog that fell thru the ice on the Fox river. The accolades he received was like he had rescued a 2 year old child. I think he would have received less praise if it had been a 2 year old child. I thought it was out of whack. I didn't say anything at that time because he was the friend of a friend.

The latest insanity in animal rescue comes from Bo Derek, liberal (Democrat) politicians and the Governor of the state of IL. By the signing of a bill a meat packing plant for horses that shipped it's product to France and a plant that hired half a hundred was shuttered because people didn't want to see "These Magnificent Animals Slaughtered".

This also happened in Texas. What are these politicians and simple minded celebrities thinking? Every year we overproduce an estimated 120,000 horses. Much of this comes from discards of the racing industry.

Up till now 100,000 of those were butchered here in the USA for meat and shipped mostly to Europe, The balance went to Mexico for slaughter or died and were rendered. Read this AP dispatch from Forbes.com.

REALITY CHECK:

There are only 3 options for all these excess horses per year. Remember, that's every single year. In 3 years you will have 360,000 horses. 3 years from retirement is about how many years a horse will live.

1. Butcher and sell the horses for meat, now illegal.
2. Shelter them in caring peoples back yards
3. Turn them loose in the wild for the coyotes to eat

Now number one is out. Illegal.

Number two? According to this article in today's Chicago Tribune there is space for about 6000 horses in "rescue facilities". That if my calculations is correct leaves a deficit of about 95,000 horses per year. What did these dummies think was going to happen with all these horses. This is going to be interesting.

Number Three Will happen more than it should:
What happens more often than not is the horse is "Put Down", read that SHOT and buried (which in certain areas may actually be illegal to bury a full horse on your property, this is where anthrax comes from) or the carcass turned over to the animal renderers who then convert the dead carcass to either fertilizer or dog food. Not much value added there.

In many cases the horse is turned out to poor pasture and intentionally ignored by the responsible party so that it founders, gets a disease and dies. Then the renderer comes. In the west the horse is often hauled out to the open and turned loose. This is a tame animal. What happens next is not pretty. It wanders about, gets hungry, weak, sick and is then attacked killed and eaten by a predator. Not all that humane.

My question to the animal loving nutcases "is this better than humanely killing them for meat". Just like we do beef cattle, lambs, pigs, chickens and turkeys. Horses are different? HOW? If I had my way we'd eat them all. I'm up for some horse on the grill.

This malady is driven by people who have no concept of agriculture or nature. They don't understand Man's place in the universe. They don't extrapolate the consequence of their actions. In other words they are city boy politicians who couldn't take care of a horse if it bit them on the leg. They just want to do what makes them feel good. This won't. I have raised killed and eaten my share of hoof meat. I enjoyed them all. What in the world are these people thinking? They better ALL BE VEGETARIANS STARTING TODAY. No more going to Ruth Chris' Steak House Mr. Cullerton.

With gasoline being near 4 bucks a gallon I have the ultimate solution. Let's force all those politicians who supported, voted for and signed the bill to ride these old nags as their primary transportation from here on in, pay for the upkeep on them and not use any gasoline. If we have to keep them alive lets get some use out of them. Besides I need the Gasoline that action would save for my SUV.

I only have ONE MORE QUESTION. How many of these activists and politicians who are sooooo concerned about the horse wellbeingness are pro abortion rights. I don't have to guess. Most I'll bet. Somehow saving the whales and horses and killing babies is a major disconnect for me.

I wish my old HOME STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA would get on the bandwagon and open a major horse slaughter plant in Dakota TODAY. Otherwise all those horses will now go to Canada or Mexico for slaughter. They get the export balance of trade dollars and the jobs and we stand hostage to a community of nuttiness and politicians that bend to their will in America.

One other thing, once that old gray mare is used up in riding back and forth to work by the politicians and activists we can take the leather off the carcass when horsey croaks and use it for shoe leather.

They can WALK.

Local Boy Makes REAL GOOD

I know Mark Batterson about whom this article is written. He is the son in law to the late Pastor Bob Schmidgall who was my pastor at Calvary Church in Naperville for many years. He married Pastor's Daughter and moved to DC. I hadn't heard how he is doing but when I read this I recognized him. He has a blog which if you're a pastor you must read. He really nails it.

He probably had earned the right more than anyone to say, we don't know how to do church in America. He went there with the A/G to plant. Now he is innovating.

There is a lesson for all of us. When he said, "The coffee shop is the well of today where you meet seekers" I thought what a waste of time we engage in by trying to get people to come to our church.

Let's go to the well and see who needs a drink.

Good on Mark.

Pastor: What the Church Lacks Most is Guts

By

Lillian Kwon

Christian Post Reporter

MCLEAN, Va. – The greatest problem in the Church isn't a lack of education or resources or a need for better worship or preaching. But what the church lacks most is guts, says the leader of a flourishing “twenty-something” church.

It's time for a leadership "gut check," said Mark Batterson, lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington.

Over 500 leaders of twenty- and thirty-somethings nodded their heads realizing what they needed wasn't just more information on how to do ministry, but the guts to actually put faith into practice.

It was a Friday afternoon and the second day of the Leadnow Conference, organized by The Rightnow Campaign for the first time in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Conference attendants had already gone through a day and a half of sessions and discussions on the emerging generation and how to build a successful twenty- and thirty-something ministry. By Saturday, when the conference ends, some may be heading back to their churches and doing "ministry as usual" without implementing all the tips and insights they picked up in the past two days.

"What we really need at the end of a conference like this is the guts ... not more information ... just the guts to step out and do what God has called us to do," said Batterson.

"Where [are] my guts to step up and step out in faith?" he asked the crowd.

It took guts for Batterson and his wife to pack their bags and move from Missouri to Washington where they had no guaranteed salary or place to live. Today, Batterson has a church in three locations that draws around 1,200 attendants, most of whom are in their twenties.

The twenty- and thirty-something crowd isn't a major focus group in many churches, noted Dan Kimball, founding pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, Calif., which targets the emerging post-Christian culture. But there are a lot more church plants that are resonating with people in their twenties, he said.

And church plants geared toward the emerging generation have taken on a lot more creativity in their reach. Creativity in a postmodern or post-Christian world, as some leaders say, requires some guts.

"[T]here are ways of doing church that no one's thought of yet," said Batterson. "God is infinitely creative. We need lots of different kinds of churches because there are lots of different kinds of people."

Batterson set up his church in the marketplace, targeting millions of passer-bys at Union Station and drawing regular crowds at their own coffeehouse – what he called the "wells" of today.

"As long as the Church stays on the periphery, our culture will not experience an epiphany," said the Washington pastor.

"The more we ignore culture, the more irrelevant we become and if the Church ignores culture, the culture will ignore the Church," he said.

But imitating culture can be a form of suicide on originality and can lead to cultural conformity. If we don't shape culture, then the culture will shape us, he continued.

Then there's the option of condemning culture. Condemnation, however, is a cop out, said Batterson. The Church has to start offering better alternatives rather than point the finger. If the Church condemns the culture, the culture condemns the Church.

So there's only one option left – create culture. Criticize by creating, said Batterson, quoting Michelangelo. Engage, create and redeem culture, he added.

Challenging the ministry leaders to step out and redeem the culture, Batterson told them they need more preaching guts, leadership guts, and evangelism guts.

And along the way of revealing some boldness, leaders are also going to have to be willing to look foolish.

"Faith is the willingness to look foolish," said Batterson. "If you aren't willing to look foolish, you won't experience the miracles of God."

Dog Bites Man = War is Hell

I listened to the press conference by President Bush today.  Several of the more inane questions revolved around casualties of the war.  Ours and the Iraqis.

 

The essence of these questions was, many people are dying in Iraq and many others are suffering.  Isn't that horrible?

 

Can you even imagine anyone asking such a dumb question during World War Two?  I can't.

 

If dog bites man, not news, man bites dog news.  War is hell, not news.

 

Pitiful but not news. 

 

What did people think we were going to do when we went to war?  What did the dummies in congress think this was?   How can they now have the temerity to even question what we are doing.  War is tough.  It's hard.  People die.  Things get broken.  People suffer loss.

 

I'm not happy about that.  What I am is sick and tired of the same old pap about how bad war is.  Yep.  It's really bad except if we don't prevail.  That's worse. 

 

So, if it's all right with you next time I see a report on CNN, ABC, NBC or MSNBC about the human toll of war in pain and suffering I'll tune it out.

 

War is Hell, tyranny is hell squared.  Let's just win this one.  OK.

 

And, do me a favor report only when Man bites a dog and spare me the banality.  OK?  They won't but what does it matter, I'm ignoring them.

Fearless Foolishness

The lack of the Fear of God is the main issues leading to the cultural drift we experience. Much of our culture no longer believes God exists. And those that profess to do not have a fear of Him. Fear being healthy respect, the concern that stepping out of line could result in dire consequence.

In the book of Acts there is a story about Ananias and Sapphira who lied to the Holy Ghost and were struck dead. The result was people flocked to join the Body of Christ. The fear of God is a positive motivator. People didn't lie, swear or fornicate because they feared what that could mean.

Today's world is less fearful. Maybe. Some would say that's a good thing. I'm not convinced. I don't believe revival can come unless a healthy fear of God is restored in the body of Christ.

Barry Kolb who's link is at the left says the fear of God is like the basketball players who played for Bobby Knight and have a healthy fear of him. They knew he can be volatile. They knew he could get angry. So they worked hard, stayed in line and won games more out of fear for what Knight COULD do rather than what he did.

Yesterday I mentioned a website run by a pastor, Ken Silva. It's full of accusations, indictments and disdain for everyone on the planet who doesn't exactly believe what he and 3 of his closest friends believe. I read much of what he wrote this morning on his website. It's very sad stuff. Silva must be an unhappy man.

He is not alone. There are lots of modern inquisitors who even "inquisit" each other. I am convinced that they are as abandoned to do what they do with such reckless impunity is that they have no fear of God. The devil has them convinced that this is their calling in life. To try to tear down what God has set up.

It was no different in Jesus time. They didn't have websites and there was no Christian Research Council (Hank Handegraff) but they did have the Pharisee convention. They were constantly coming to Jesus to trip him up. Constantly preaching against what Jesus was claiming. Berating Jesus' followers. Just like today.

Jesus called them children of the Devil himself. Whitewashed tombs. Vipers.

Just like today.

I won't do that. I just feel really sorry for these modern day Pharisees. The lack of any fear of who God really is has caused them to become tools of the enemy. Look at the comments by the anonymous writer in the post below. She is not a professing Christian. Her amazement at the disunity stirred up by the heresy hunters among us is an understandable response. We look like idiots to the world because of how we treat one another. That is the opposite of the benchmark set by the early Church who loved one another and were known for it by the world. We are far from that mark today. And back then they didn't all believe exactly the same things. Circumcision and all.

I'll bet Ken Silva and Ilk would have had a heyday writing about that "Heresy".

There are lots of Christians with whom I have serious differences. Lots of Christians that have serious differences with ME. But those are my friends, colleges and fellow Pastors. I encourage them to look deeper. I try to motivate them to see if in fact there might be more. I challenge them to ask hard questions. They challenge me. I have been an opponent of Infant Baptism for nearly my whole life. I have been challenged and I'm not certain I'm right. I think I'm right, I'm just not certain. Neither are they.

But to come right out and say the kinds of things I read on Silva's Website this morning is over the top.

When I read Ken Silva's comment to the post below which said, "I am not afraid" it spoke volumes. He's right. He's not. That's the problem. Fear God and NOT Man.

And, touch not his anointed. Even when Bakker, Swaggart and Ted Haggard were exposed I was careful to watch my words. Oh, I named sin sin. But to attack them?

I do draw the line when I see Rick Warren in Syria pronouncing Syria a peaceful nation and open to the Gospel. He's just deceived.

I do draw the line when I see Jimmy Carter undermining the country he led and that has done so much for him.

Sometimes Nathan has to come to David and speak the word of God to him. But that's about error like Carter and Warren and not the error of theology. I think it would be well to re-examine Gamaliel's counsel. Anything built on nothing will collapse of it's own weight. No help will be required from Silva or Handegraff.

What they do is all foolish fearlessness.

KEEPING INSIDIOUS RADIATION AT BAY

A while back at church I was teaching on Ephesians 6:17. The full armor of God. One of which is the Helmet of Salvation. I didn't have a helmet to demonstrate with so I made one----

Out Of TIN FOIL!

To me it looked like a helmet to represent the perfect protection in knowing the security of our salvation in God. To others it just looked like a tin foil hat. To keep out the rays of commies, Martians or thought police.

I was teased. I'm OK with that. Being a fool for Jesus isn't so bad. The class got the point and that WAS the point.

Now I see by Drudge that I can not only keep extraneous Wi Fi and cell phone radiation all around my head by a tin foil helmet, but now I can keep my manly parts safe as well from those insidious influences.

You see, someone has finally come out with underwear interwoven with silver to keep cellphone rays from influencing one's gonads negatively. That has been a deep concern of mine.

One drawback to this new product is you can't make or receive cellphone calls from inside your underwear. That's a drawback I hadn't thought about. I mean, who doesn't carry their cell phone in their underpants?

What is funnier to me are the comments on the website linked above. Some people are saying they would buy this product if it were the same price as regular underwear.

I have the answer. TIN FOIL. Tin foil underwear will do the same job as the high priced silver interwoven stuff and you don't even have to let people know you are wearing them. You'll just crinkle when you walk.

As far as keeping the Martian rays out of my brain, I'm getting a pair of silver impregnated underpants and wearing them on my head. They won't reflect the sun like tinfoil hats do and as the weather warms up they'll be cooler than tin foil.

Ebenezer wasn't just a CAT

I had a cat.  I got him in the early 80's from a neighbor who was going to put him in a gunny sack and throw him in the river.  I felt pity on the cat and traded a bushel of sweet corn (we raised vegetables at that time) for the cat.  He was a neutered male.  Sort of a tom wannabe.

 

Name, Ebenezer.  We called him Ebner for short.  Ebner is a German word too, a city, in English a last name, in medical terms a gland.

 

So, Ebner it was.

 

Good cat.  My last cat.  Every person in life comes to the place where they date the last woman they will ever date, have the last cat they will ever have and the last dog of their life.

 

I have done all those things. 

 

About Ebner.   I spoke in this blog about the capacity of cats to speak.  Ebner had words which meant, I want to go out, I'm in pain, I'm lonely, leave me alone, I'm hungry and come here.  Smart cat.

 

But, after 18+ years he died.  We have old plants and old pets at the Redlin household and we don't spend a lot of money on vets.  Just nurture and feed them and they will prosper. 

 

Ebner has another meaning for me now.  In the Bible there is a story about a defeat in battle of the Israelites at the hands of the Philistines.  TWICE.  Then they won on the field of battle.  Samuel the Prophet erected a stone memorial called an Ebenezer stone.  He then said, "Thus far the Lord has helped us".  The word Ebenezer literally means Stone of Help.

 

I have some Ebenezer stones in my life.  So do you.  Ebner the cat was no stone but when he passed on to cat heaven, wherever that is, I marked his place in the earth.  That was shortly before my business failed over 5 years ago.  Now I'm back.  In a way, I can look at that marker and say, "Thus far the Lord has helped me". 

 

That's why the second verse of "Come thou Fount of Every Blessing" means so much to me when it says:

 

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I'll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I've come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

We are all walking this out and I long for the day I can keep moving that Ebenezer stone closer and closer to the high calling of God.  Even the gates of Hell can't prevail against that.

On Beauty

I offer this without edit because I think it's pretty good.  It comes from comments on a post below about Beauty.  But, if you read it you will find that it's well thought out.  I like thinking about these things.

 

From an "anonymous" friend; her thoughts on Beauty and Design:

 

People coevolved with the other life forms in their environment to avoid danger and to seek and find food and shelter and healthy mates. All the universal things we call beauty can be traced to that fact.

 

Fruit is green and inconspicuous while it is immature and useless as seed but when the seed matures, the fruit ripens and gets a color and odor that will attract things to eat it and move the seed away from the parent plant. As the plant evolved the color signal, we evolved the idea that the contrast of red or blue or orange against the green is beautiful. A flower evolved to attract pollinators so that the plant can later form seed, and the person who notices and appreciates the flower has an advantage in knowing where to find seed later.

 

A symmetric person is a healthier mate and a symmetric shelter is sturdier. Those who preferred symmetry had healthier children and lived longer in their safe shelter.

 

Snakes were one of the worst predators to early primates and part of our instinctive brain is still wired to fear and avoid snakes, which is why we have written evil into most religions in the form of a snake. (The religion appears true because it reflects an instinct.) We are driven by instinct to avoid being preyed upon, seeking safety and routine and security, and the often conflicting instinct to find new things to eat, seeking novelty and risk and opportunity.

 

In the modern world, we are still driven by these instincts that gave us our ability to survive, even though they now conflict with the modern world. When calories were harder to come by, eating as much as one could when it was available and storing it as fat for use later was as advantage. Now, when calories are easy to come by, well, technology changes the world faster than we can ever evolve to fit into it!

I teach design principles. In order to teach it in a simple way, we summarize into a few principles. Repetition, variety, balance, emphasis, sequence, scale expressed in line, form, color, texture. I could explain every one of them in survival terms including asymmetry which is a form of balance. (Unbalanced asymmetry is not pleasing. The asymmetry must be balanced to be pleasing. Structural stability and the ability to judge found shelter and build shelter.) I can also explain diet, teen angst, and anything else you want explained in survival terms.  These theories are synthesized (read making it up as I go) from years of studying pop psych, sociology, anthropology, evolutionary science, rock music (I threw that one in for fun) and so on.

Subjectivity: If design is universal and related to instinct, why don't we all like exactly the same thing? Because while evolution was fine tuning us and the rest of the living world to be in synch with each other, it was also guaranteeing that some diversity continued to exist so that when geology and climate and larger patterns changed, there would still exist some on the continuum would be able to adapt. Thus, while we all prefer balance, some prefer it to be symmetric and other that it be asymmetric, some prefer white wine and some prefer red, some prefer vegetables and others meat. It seems on the surface like evolution would make for uniformity, but the mechanism of evolution is changeable genetics and the ability to be adaptable over deep time depends on diversity within each species.

 

Interesting ideas.  Thanks.

OF Buds, Birds and Bees

We have apple trees in our back yard. Two large golden delicious who's year it is to fruit. Golden Delicious only fruits every other year. This is an on year.

During the flower season I did not hear the steady buzz of bees in the flower canopy I am used to hearing.

Now that fruit has set the total set is about 1/3 normal. That's OK because in a normal year we get a full fruit set and half the tree absizes the fruit during the season.

Could this be due to low insect pollination?

On the other hand we have 3 large Sargent crabapples in the back. They are loaded with fruit as normal. I wonder if they aren't self pollinators or since the flower set is so dense there isn't enough wind pollination to handle the program.

I know this, if I were in the Golden Delicious apple business I would not be a happy camper with the fruit set.

I think the bee dissapearance thing may be a real problem.

What is Beauty or is it Moral?

Aaron has a very well written essay on what art and ergo beauty is from a Christian worldview. 

 

Julie wrote on this and asked the same question. 

 

This is something I think a great deal about.  What is beauty.  I think it's a spiritual thing. 

 

Read both of these interesting essays if you are a thinker.

 

If NOT, never mind.

PET CHURCH

I know what you are thinking.  NO, I really don't mind dogs coming to Church.  We have several that come from time to time.

 

I'm talking about Churches that are kept as pets by people who for serendipity or tradition are supported nearly 100% by one man or woman.  Then they control the pastor and crush the move of GOD.

 

I know of several churches like this.  Every Pastor secretly wishes he could have such a sugar daddy who he could depend on to fund whatever.  Pastor, There are big time strings that come with that giver.

 

What Pastor wouldn't love to get Bill Gates saved and have his tithe coming in the door?

 

The problem is it would then become the Church of Gates.  There is a church in the northern suburbs of Chicago financed by a wealthy construction company owner.  That church is his pet.  It's a dead place.  There are sycophants who hand around but there is no need to live by faith because the big guy makes sure all the bills are paid.

 

I know of a church in Tennessee bought and paid for by ONE MAN.  He pastors the church.  He's a decent sort but he is really buying his own platform.  The giving in that church other than his is nearly non existent.  Attendance is paltry.

 

This is the case of several close in city of Chicago churches.  They live off the giving of a few and an endowment or two.  One such is in negotiations right now with another church which has started in the community.  This edifice seats over 400 and Sunday morning seldom goes above 40.  Except for the endowments and CD's there really is no church.  If I attended there I would be the youngest person there. 

 

This is happening all over the place.  Communities change.  Churches languish.  They still have money and are kept open because of a few donors who treat the church as a pet.  Feeding it. 

 

I know the pastor at this dead church.  Decent man.  Trying to do right.  But there is no future.  So, the clock ticks down.

 

The relevance isn't completely intact but I think of a story from Mark 7:1-13.

One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. 2 They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. 3 (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. 4 Similarly, they don't eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)

 5 So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, "Why don't your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony."

 6 Jesus replied, "You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

   'These people honor me with their lips,
      but their hearts are far from me.
    7 Their worship is a farce,
      for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.'

 8 For you ignore God's law and substitute your own tradition."

 9 Then he said, "You skillfully sidestep God's law in order to hold on to your own tradition. 10 For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: 'Honor your father and mother,' and 'Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.' 11 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, 'Sorry, I can't help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.' 12 In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. 13 And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others."

 

I think a lot of what God intended for his Church is canceled by people who use money, power, position and tradition to destroy what could have been a manifest move of God.  That my friends is a horrible pity.

Maybe even an abomination.

Relevant or Irrelevant

If you have peeked in on my blog from time to time you will know that there are people who I consider to be just bad medicine as the Indians used to say.

 

One such is James Earl Carter.  Former Failed President.  He keeps hoping by speaking out people will forget about his incompetence.  Nope, Jimmy, you were the worst and always will be.  Thanks for NOTHING!

 

He just keeps putting his foot in it to get attention.  He gets it alright, but it's not the attention he craves.  He is a crackpot.  I know that's harsh but I am consistent.  He's an old man off the deep end.  His book on the middle east of last year is one of the dumbest things ever written.  I keep saying, "Shut the HECK up already".

 

Then he goes off on President Bush. 

 

Fortunately there was some spine discovered in the White House and they pronounced Carter accurately as irrelevant.  He is and was and always will be. 

 

The worst President in history just gets worse and worse.  He should have never left the peanut farm.

 

THEN,

 

Speaking of irrelevance:  Leonardo DeCaprio is raving about human caused global warming.  I was criticized in a recent comment about my use of a person actually who knows a little something about weather who pronounced human caused global warming a sick joke.  He's right of course. 

 

The same people who chastise me for using a meteorologist to talk about the weather are suckered in like guppies for a movie star who doesn't know anything who uses his celebrity to make pronouncements. This constant propaganda is getting old. 

 

Kind of like Barbara Streisand. 

 

Who elected these nuts anyway?  Remember when there were actually hearings and some of these dopes were called to testify.  Wonder who's idea that was hMMMMM? 

 

I will be glad when the adults take back the Democrat party from Move On dot Org and the Rosie O'Donnell faction.  This is getting just plain stupid.

 

The more the wackola left raves on the less relevant they are. 

 

I guess I should be happy to watch them self destruct.

 

I'm not.  I'm just sad.

Haven't the Ability to Get Things Done

I had really bad shipping day.  I won't bore you with the details.

 

I have a lot of people who ask me to sell the trees and shrubs they have.  I'm happy to do so IF, and that is a very large IF they can dig a good tree, load it with good judgment and get it shipped. 

 

This isn't rocket science.  People do it all day long.

 

But today was a catastrophe.  And it's all because there are some people who can't get things done.  I can't work with that.

 

I won't ever use this supplier again until there is a management change.  He just can't make it come together.

 

There are men in the ranks who are gonna stay in the ranks,  WHY?  I'll tell you why, simply because they haven't the ability to get things done.

 

Sadly that is a larger and larger portion of our population.

Humans Have NOTHING TO DO with Global Warming - PERIOD

There are certain things that I will always beat the drum about. I'm kind of focused and narrow in my consideration of any other options. When I Investigate the options I discover that the arguments on the other side are political and manipulative.

Some of those are:

• Gas Prices are going to go DOWN, not UP.
• The Black Hip Hop culture is destroying the Black Culture completely
• The Muslim community is duplicitous. There are nearly NO moderate Muslims.
• The Iraq war is and was essential.
• George Bush is too Liberal and spends too much money
• Ethanol is a waste of time and money
• The party formerly known as Democrat is led by the nuttiest people on earth
• There is no conservatism left in the Republican party
• Spines are very rare in government today
• Jesus is the only way.
• Most Atheists will die in terror and horror
• People of good faith can disagree and still be civil
• We need to plant more trees on the wide open prairie
  
• Organized religion is becoming disorganized and restructured
• The left is easily fooled by it's gurus.
• So is the right.
• The idea that man causes global warming is the pinnacle of megalomania

It's that last one I am forwarding along. Yet another person of significant science is saying what most people know in their hearts. This whole idea of human caused global warming is a vat of snake oil and must be opposed before some nut leads us all down the primrose path.

Besides, it froze last night in St. Charles IL, It's May 18th. And, we had the coldest April on record. Do the math.

Here's the article:


Global Warming caused by humans will be considered a joke in five years time, meteorologist Augie Auer told the annual meeting of Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers in Ashburton this week.

Man's contribution to the greenhouse gases was so small we couldn't change the climate if we tried, he maintained.

"We're all going to survive this. It's all going to be a joke in five years," he said.

A combination of misinterpreted and misguided science, media hype, and political spin had created the current hysteria and it was time to put a stop to it.

"It is time to attack the myth of global warming," he said.

Water vapour was responsible for 95 per cent of the greenhouse effect, an effect which was vital to keep the world warm, he explained.

"If we didn't have the greenhouse effect the planet would be at minus 18 deg C but because we do have the greenhouse effect it is plus 15 deg C, all the time."

The other greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen dioxide, and various others including CFCs, contributed only five per cent of the effect, carbon dioxide being by far the greatest contributor at 3.6 per cent.

However, carbon dioxide as a result of man's activities was only 3.2 per cent of that, hence only 0.12 per cent of the greenhouse gases in total. Human-related methane, nitrogen dioxide and CFCs etc made similarly minuscule contributions to the effect: 0.066, 0.047 and 0.046 per cent respectively.

"That ought to be the end of the argument, there and then," he said.

"We couldn't do it (change the climate) even if we wanted to because water vapour dominates."

Yet the Greens continued to use phrases such as "The planet is groaning under the weight of CO2" and Government policies were about to hit industries such as farming, he warned.

"The Greens are really going to go after you because you put out 49 per cent of the countries emissions. Does anybody ask 49 per cent of what? Does anybody know how small that number is?

"It's become a witch-hunt; a Salem witch-hunt," he said.

You Can Do It We Can Help ----- LIE

I was looking for some materials for a project.  Therefore I went to Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, and Menards.  Looking for stuff I was asked several times "are you finding what you are looking for?"  I told them what I was looking for and they wandered about aimlessly wasting my time. After the 4th of these lost souls led me in circles I decided I didn't want to spend any more time following someone as lost as I am.  From then on when they asked, "Can I help you?", I just answered, nope I'm OK.  I wasn't but they couldn't help me.

 

I looked at other customers getting materials for a job they were incompetent to do as well.  They can't do it, and the people at Depot, Lowes or Menards can't help.

 

What these stores really sell is the illusion that you can do it.  It's all fantasy.

 

I get these calls all the time from individuals who visit my Nursery website and want to buy big trees to install at their homes.  I explain the level of intensity to get this done.  They are bold and boasters until I explain that the average tree they are thinking of working with weighs a half ton each.  They thought they were going to throw it in the back of the Subaru.  Dreamers.

 

Then they come to reality after some helpful discouragement from me. 

 

It's the same with the do it your selfers after returning from the big box stores.  They have garages full of stuff and throwing more away of unfinished and failed projects.  Our neighborhood garbage piles on Monday mornings always has materials no one wanted still in the original packaging unopened from the big box home stores.  Not that I spend much time peeking in other folks garbage.  It's just that is the reality.

 

Here's another piece of reality:

 

You can't do it and they can't help. 

Cinco de Mayo - Phooey. Where's the Lefse?

Today is a huge holiday in certain parts of the country. Growing up this was big on my Mothers side. Going to church at a Norwegian Lutheran Church in Fargo (where Peggy and I were married) this was a sacred day.

Oh, sure, in the USA we fire off fireworks on the 4th. Every ethnic group has holdover memorials from the old country. Funny, I don't remember any particular celebration of the 4th when we lived in Germany. I guess the USA is the new country yet.

In any case today is  Settende Mai. Norwegian Independence Day.

If we were back in Fargo there would be Lefse with butter and cinnamon and sugar on it. Rommegrot and lingonberries (which I like very much). And transparent coffee. Seems like if you can't see the bottom of the cup it's not right. Compared to real coffee it always seemed like warm water. Even Peggy's mom likes it transparent today. Why bother drinking it was always my question.

So, eat your lefse today. I already did.

To my friend Barry, If you were in MINOT right now you would be in Norwegian Heaven.

Glade Konstitusjonen Dag

Mange Dak

More Kevin Tales

Once Kevin was in Hawaii with the family. We went to see the big volcano on the big Island. We were warned NOT to stray. That we could be eaten by Pele.

An hour after the bus was to leave Kevin having inspected the bowels of the caldera returned to a relieved tour director and parental units. He was puzzled why descending into the volcano was a problem.

Once Kevin and I were in Ixtapa Mexico together on vacation. We took a boat tour to a windswept island somewhere out in the Pacific. We went for a walk. He went further. An hour later I discovered he had scaled the side of the shear ragged cliff in his sandals and inspected the wash out tidal caves the pacific carves out. I was trying to figure out how to tell his mother that I had killed our Son. But then he shows up.

Once Kevin after visiting us in Germany and we were set to return to the states decided to stay behind for a more extensive tour of Europe. He was 18. He took his rail pass, everything that would fit in a 2X2 backpack and set off for Vienna and Prague CZ. He was gone 10 days. No word. He only had a few hundred bucks on him. Then, on the appointed day, with no confirmation I was at the airport and he shows up with a "WHAT" smile. I should have known he would navigate all by himself all over Europe and return safely. I should have known but didn't.

He is an amazing man. No fear.

One more. The air control system on his car was broken. He makes no claim to being a mechanic. But he knows how to read a book. So, he took a book, studied it and took the dash out of his car, repaired the faulty part and replaced the dash without help. I wouldn't tackle such a task.

With just a book he replaced a water pump on a Chrysler 300 convert once too. He doesn't claim to be a mechanic but his opinion is, "How hard can it be, if a mechanic can do it, so can I". That's Kevin. Can do it.

His mom calls him Heavenly Kevinly. Could be true.

I'm just proud of him.