Friday my elderly neighbor fell and injured her back. I took her husband to the hospital in an adjoining community while she rode in the ambulance. It's great to see small town volunteers and the work they do in the Fire and Ambulance Department. I did that sort of thing in my younger years and have been away from it for a number of years. It's great to see the new younger folks at work. They have great equipment and even better training and it's all volunteer. Anyone who thinks that the youth of today are slackers and uninvolved, should see these young people at work. I suspect that small towns all over our country are blessed with people like this. I'm sure that they can be found everywhere if we just look.
When we got back from the hospital, he was nearly overwhelmed by folks wanting to help. He told me today that they have enough food to last a month. All unsolicited, all an outpouring of love for the two of them. I can't speak for large cities, but here in our little town (pop. 1900) there is still plenty of community spirit, and it's great to see it at work.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Kneeling is hard on the knees
No rant today, I have been busy removing a hump in the cement floor of the laundry room. The back 15 feet is an add on to the garage. When the remodelers converted the one car garage into a bedroom they added enough to make a laundry/sewing room. When they poured the new floor they were off by about an inch and a half, and where they came together there was a crack and a hump in the floor.
So after about 30 years of living with it, I decided to fix it. With a hammer drill, a masonary say and a miner's hammer I got to work. Fotunately I have some knee pads, but I spent about 6 hours on my knees. Needless to say, the knee pads seemed to stop working after about 3 hours. This morning I could hardly walk, and I still had to put in the cement patch which took a couple of hours. I really understand how those old timers felt kneeling through two or three hours of Sunday worship on hard kneelers with no padding. That may be why we stand for most of the liturgy in our little church. Much easier for the old folks.
So after about 30 years of living with it, I decided to fix it. With a hammer drill, a masonary say and a miner's hammer I got to work. Fotunately I have some knee pads, but I spent about 6 hours on my knees. Needless to say, the knee pads seemed to stop working after about 3 hours. This morning I could hardly walk, and I still had to put in the cement patch which took a couple of hours. I really understand how those old timers felt kneeling through two or three hours of Sunday worship on hard kneelers with no padding. That may be why we stand for most of the liturgy in our little church. Much easier for the old folks.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Religion and the internet
This morning while I was working on my Elliptical Glider I got to thinking about all of the religious (I guess) e-mails I get. I suppose most everybody gets these things that start off with a sweet little prayer and then wind up challenging you to forward it to as many people as you can. They almost always have some dire warning about what will happen to you if you don't forward it to 10,000 people or so. Others use the guilt trip on you saying things like "delete this if you don't love Jesus" or " forward this to as many people as you can unless you are ashamed of loving Jesus." The ones that really get me are the ones that rate how quickly your prayer will be answered depending on the number of people you forward it to. I delete them all. My God does not work that way. It really gets me when I get one of these syrupy e-mails from someone who hasn't seen the inside of a church in 40 years. I preach every Sunday to my little group about God's love for us all...He doesn't need help from the internet. I guess some people feel that sending an e-mail makes them religious. It works better when they feed the hungry, clothe the naked and protect the widows and orphans.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Rural Rantings
This is my first attempt at a Blog. I'm not sure that I have anything of interest to say to the world at large, but I sometimes come up with some pretty interesting (at least to me) ideas while on my Elliptical Strider every morning.
I've called this Rural Rantings because I live in a small rural community that is extremely conservative and I feel like the only liberal in the world. Maybe I can attract some like minded people to converse with.
My most recent thought on the Glider was the similarity between the Berlin Wall and the proposed wall along the US - Mexico border. As I recall the Soviets characterized the wall as an attempt to keep US spies and provocateurs out of their territory. Since their way of life was much better than that of the West there was no need to keep their folks in, just keep the riff-raff out. Sounds like the Mexican Wall to me. "Mr. Bush, Tear down this wall!"
I've called this Rural Rantings because I live in a small rural community that is extremely conservative and I feel like the only liberal in the world. Maybe I can attract some like minded people to converse with.
My most recent thought on the Glider was the similarity between the Berlin Wall and the proposed wall along the US - Mexico border. As I recall the Soviets characterized the wall as an attempt to keep US spies and provocateurs out of their territory. Since their way of life was much better than that of the West there was no need to keep their folks in, just keep the riff-raff out. Sounds like the Mexican Wall to me. "Mr. Bush, Tear down this wall!"
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