We were able to sleep with the window open in the bedroom last night, letting in fresh air! It was wonderful! This morning the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and it actually feels like spring! When I took Moose out this morning I could not believe how much pollen was all over my car – another indication that spring has arrived. That explains a LOT of sneezing yesterday too. It’s Thursday, we are right around the corner from the weekend and I think we should make this an awesome day!

Verse of the Day

April 19, 2018

Christ has indeed been raised, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

—1 Corinthians 15:20-22

Thoughts on the Verse of the Day

Being eternal is nothing new. Being like Jesus completely, eternally, will be new. But when the moment of glory hung in the balance as Jesus was revived from his death sleep, we too were given the assurance that death no longer claims us. The only death that really matters is our death to sin in baptism with Jesus. If we have shared in that death, we will most certainly share in his resurrection (see Romans 6:1-14).

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Holy Humor / National Humor Month

Children and Childbirth

The baby was coming way too fast, so the paramedics were called. To make it worse, when they arrived, there was a power outage. The paramedics asked the four-year old sister to hold the flashlight for them.

Despite the difficulties, all went well, and the mother delivered a baby boy. The paramedic smacked him on the behind and he began to cry.

Looking over at the wide eyed little girl, the paramedic asked her what she thought about what she had just witnessed. She said, “That naughty boy should have never crawled in there. Spank him again!”

Food for Thought

If you have the personality of a dictatorial bulldozer you may be better served to work all alone, in a job without any other employees. It would definitely be better for the other people who are stuck working with you.

Bicycle Day – The first time I saw Bicycle Day I was going to tell you a funny (it wasn’t so funny at the time) story about my worst bicycle ride ever . . . and then I saw what this one is REALLY commemorating. My story doesn’t work. Honestly, I won’t be celebrating this one – I wouldn’t even know how – but I suppose it is interesting, if nothing else. Today is the anniversary of the day in 1943 when Dr. Albert Hofmann took LSD intentionally f or the first time. Three days earlier he absorbed a small amount of the drug through his fingertips, or by accidentally ingesting it. On Bicycle Day he took 250 ug of LSD (I have no idea how much that is) on purpose, and afraid he had made himself ill (good fear), he rode his bicycle home from his laboratory. During this ride he experienced the effects of LSD, making this the date of the first ever acid trip. He wrote about his experiments and the experience on April 22, which was later put into his book “LSD: My Problem Child”. I suppose this day would be celebrated by drug users, but for myself, I think this day is sort of a sad and deranged one to celebrate. (After I finished this post it dawned on me that this could be what Freddie Mercury was singing about in his song about riding his bicycle. I looked it up and though we won’t know for sure since he’s dead, general opinion is that this is a distinct possibility.)

High Five Day – (3^rd Thursday in April) – When I was in Jr. High and High School there was a comedy show weekly in our area called “Almost Live”. It was sort of a Seattle based Saturday Night Live, only clean and you ran a good chance of passing these people on the street in the city! One of their skits they did was “The High Five’N White Guys“, making fun of guys who ran around always high fiving everyone. It was hysterical! I’ve attached a You Tube clip for you to see if you have the time. Every place those guys are running around are places that I walked every day – or most every day – when I worked over in the city. It’ll obviously be funnier to me since I watched the show all the time, and walked those streets for work, but hopefully it’ll give you a giggle. Just so you know – for anyone who might not – giving someone a high five is a celebratory slapping of hands with your hands raised. It has been a standard celebration of sporting events, competitions and other activities for decades and dates back to about 1977 when it was first used during a basketball game. The congratulatory gesture caught on rapidly. Today would be the day to give it a try if you haven’t done it before. I’ll take a pass and just laugh at the video again.

John Parker Day – John Parker deserves this day, and thought he isn’t typically a key player in U.S. history classes, he nevertheless played a very important part in it. Parker was an American farmer, mechanic and soldier who commanded the Lexington militia at the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775. His experience as a soldier in the French and Indian War (Seven Years War) at the Siege of Louisbourg and conquest of Quebec, was what most likely led to his election as militia captain by the men of the town. He was in poor health from tuberculosis, yet on the morning of April 19th he ordered his men, as the British approached, to “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here”. He witnessed his cousin, Jonas Parker, killed by a British bayonet. Later that day he rallied his men to attack the “regulars” returning to Boston in an ambush known as “Parker’s Revenge”. This was his only military action in the American Revolutionary War. He was not able to serve in the Battle of Bunker Hill in June, and died of tuberculosis in September. Parker’s grandson donated his musket to the state of Massachusetts. Today it hangs in the Senate Chamber of the Massachusetts State House.

National Hanging Out Day – When I was little, every time we went to visit my Grandma from spring to mid fall, the clothes lines outside would be filled with the most pristine white laundry I’d ever seen. That woman had a way with white clothes and towels that is unrivaled! Years of washing by hand on an old washboard, then hanging to dry resulted in softly worn, sparkling bright clothes, and they always came into the house crisp, and smelling like fresh air. Years passed by and I moved into a house that had a big back yard, and it had a clothes line. Flashbacks to Grandma’s clothes came to mind so I figured I’d give it a try. I washed them inside, and would hurry out in the bright morning sun, hang them out to dry, then leave for work. A few afternoons I returned and it was like my childhood flashing back to me, folding the freshly dried towels made smile . . . until the day I came home, pulled in the laundry, and recoiled in gagging horror. Nobody had warned me that a couple times a month the fields behind our house were sprayed with liquid chicken poo to fertilize the corn. OHHHH MYYYY!!! My towels smelled like chicken yuck! I had to learn the schedule before I could hang out my clothes. That was pretty gross. What all of this is leading up to is National Hanging Out Day – created to show how it is possible to save money and energy by using a clothesline to dry clothes. It can be therapeutic to hang out the clothes, listen to the birds and the breeze blowing in the trees while methodically putting the clothes out on drying racks or lines. And, depending on the size of your household, you can save a lot of money every year in reduced energy bills. Clothes last longer and they smell better (provided you don’t have freshly fertilized fields behind your house). There are communities that actually prohibit hanging out laundry in the yard – supposedly for aesthetic reasons. I say that’s ridiculous. What’s the point of owning your own home if you can’t even hang your clothes out in your back yard to dry??? Did you know that in this country, 6 – 10% of residential energy use goes towards running clothes dryers? I didn’t know that! If you don’t have a clothes line, today is a good day to get one. The weather is improving and you’ll be able to get that clean laundry out there to dry. Hmmm, I think I need to get myself a clothesline. I was thinking about it last year and hadn’t done it. I’m feeling a little nostalgic for spring sun dried clothes.

Oklahoma City Bombing Commemoration Day – This is another of those days that those of us who were alive on this day in 1995 will look back on and remember with clarity and horror. At 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995 the unthinkable happened. A car bomb exploded outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. It is so hard to believe that it has been 20 years! Timothy J. McVeigh was convicted of the crime of setting off the domestic act of terror that killed 168 people, 19 of them children in a day care. McVeigh was executed for the crime on June 11, 2001. There is a lot more I could write, but honestly, just looking at the pictures and re-reading the stories is raising up all sorts of emotions – and I’m sure that’s true not just for me but for many others as well. Please take a moment and remember the victims of this horrible tragedy today.

This Day in History –

1775 – The Revolutionary War begins.

1993 – After a 51 day siege in Waco, Texas, the Branch Davidian compound goes up in flames, killing the cult members.

1995 – Timothy McVeigh bombs the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds more.

Food Celebration of the Day –

Garlic Day – Stinky garlic smell on your hands? Wash with soap and water then rub your fingers along a stainless-steel object like your kitchen sink, faucet or a butter knife.

National Amaretto Day – Do you like Amaretto? I do, it’s pretty delicious. Some folks drink it, some bake with it, it’s good both ways. In Italian Amaretto means “a little bitter” and is made from bitter almonds or apricot kernels or both. You may not be aware of this, but apricot kernels contain Vitamin B17, which is very good for fighting cancer. That was a side note that may come in handy some day! Anyway, the nuts are infused in pure alcohol or brandy, which results in a liqueur that has a strong almond flavor. Yum!

Well, I need to head to work, and I am actually looking forward to it. It’s been awhile since I’ve driven to work in the sun rather than in the rain. Have a great day! God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.

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What is That Strange Bright Light in the Sky! Well, I’ll Be Darned, It’s Finally the Sun!