Salvation Army: From Joplin to Moore with love
10 hours ago
Monday, June 17, 2013
Stay in the cities, city dwellers
I have no idea whether this so-called casting call for a reality television show about rich city people wanting to move to the country is true or not. It might be a big hoax. I hope it is. We do not need to encourage this kind of behavior.
There are too many transplants out here in small towns and rural areas. They are the kind of people who want to move to "get away from it all," but as soon as they get here, they start griping because there aren't enough "amenities."
City people don't understand that we don't have shopping malls out here and we don't have a Starbucks on every corner.
City people are vapid, shallow and selfish people who really need to stay in the cities with people of their own ilk.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Weather observations at 7:30 a.m. Sunday
From the Rolla NOAA Co-Op Weather Station, here is the Rolla weather data for the 24-hour period ending at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, June 16, 2013
Max Temperature: 82° F
Min Temperature: 67° F
Present Temperature: 71° F
Precipitation: 0.03"
Precipitation for the year: 27.48"
Precipitation for the month: 2.16"
Relative humidity: 93%
S.R. Fraley
NWS Co-Op Observer
Max Temperature: 82° F
Min Temperature: 67° F
Present Temperature: 71° F
Precipitation: 0.03"
Precipitation for the year: 27.48"
Precipitation for the month: 2.16"
Relative humidity: 93%
S.R. Fraley
NWS Co-Op Observer
Happy Fathers Day
U hope you had a pleasant Fathers Day. I did. I spent the day with Daddy and Mama, who are 81 and 82 years old, respectively, and are still as active as most 50-year-olds. Daddy is still working part-time as a barber. They're both active in church and still drive and travel quite a bit. They are amazing.
One of my two sisters, her son and grandson; my brother and his wife and their son, my daughter and son-in-law and their two boys were also there. My son and daughter-in-law and their two girls and my sister and brother-in-law and my other brother-in-law were unable to attend. I'm hoping we can all get together for a Fourth of July celebration.
Daddy cut the hair of three great-grandsons. It was the first-ever haircut for one great-grandson.
It was a wonderful day.
Here's a song about a Daddy from Lou Reid and Carolina. I heard this song this morning on Wayne Bledsoe's Sunday Morning Sounds bluegrass gospel program on KMST-FM.
One of my two sisters, her son and grandson; my brother and his wife and their son, my daughter and son-in-law and their two boys were also there. My son and daughter-in-law and their two girls and my sister and brother-in-law and my other brother-in-law were unable to attend. I'm hoping we can all get together for a Fourth of July celebration.
Daddy cut the hair of three great-grandsons. It was the first-ever haircut for one great-grandson.
It was a wonderful day.
Here's a song about a Daddy from Lou Reid and Carolina. I heard this song this morning on Wayne Bledsoe's Sunday Morning Sounds bluegrass gospel program on KMST-FM.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
How Ozarks Boy dodged the draft
By R.D. Hohenfeldt
Managing Editor/OzarksAlmanac.com
On Monday, we will honor the men and women who have given their life in service to our nation. A Memorial Day service will be held at 10 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial Park in Rolla, and I encourage you to attend. I have been to many Memorial Day services since I moved my family here back in the previous century. When I covered the services for the paper, there were two of them, one at the city cemetery and one at the private ceremony. I would take pictures at both.
Covering a Memorial Day service required me to work on a holiday, but I didn’t mind, usually. I remember one year when I refused to go; instead, I used the holiday for a family event. I felt so guilty about not honoring the veterans that I never again skipped, and if I didn’t go to the services myself, I made sure someone else did.
I felt compelled to cover the Memorial Day services with story and pictures as my little way of making up for being a Sixties draft dodger.
I turned 18 on July 19, 1971, and I registered for the draft as required by law for any young man born in 1953. When I told the clerk at the Selective Service office that I would start attending the University of Missouri the following month, I got something called a student deferment. I don’t remember what my classification was, I-S maybe, and the lady at the draft board said it really didn’t mean a thing. She told me that I would be included in a national lottery at some point in the future, and if my number were drawn, the I-S (or whatever it was) wouldn’t mean a dadburn thing.
I remember she told me that I had to carry my draft card with me and was not to deface it, damage it or destroy it.
That August I went to Columbia, moved into the dorm with a bunch of other guys born in 1953, and started going to classes. We all carried our draft cards in our wallets with our driver’s license and our student ID cards. We all worried a little bit about the lottery we knew was coming up sometime.
I had to check the Selective Service website today to refresh my memory about the draft lottery. There was a lottery on Dec. 1, 1969, the first one since 1942. That was to determine who would be drafted in 1970. It was for all men born between Jan. 1, 1944, and Dec. 31, 1950.
“There were 366 blue plastic capsules containing birth dates placed in a large glass container and drawn by hand to assign order-of-call numbers to all men within the 18-26 age range specified in Selective Service law,” according to the Selective Service history.
More lotteries were held on July 1, 1970, and Aug. 5, 1971, for men born in 1951 and 1952, respectively.
I could have volunteered to go to Vietnam, and I supposed that would have been the honorable thing to do. I remember thinking, though, that it would be a stupid thing for me to do, because I was sure to wind up dead.
Now, I wasn’t too worried about being shot to death by an oriental person in Vietnam or one of those other countries. I was more concerned about dying in basic training. I just knew I would be run to death. Running was not something I did well. I was a pudgy high school kid, although I wasn’t nearly as fat as today’s obese high schoolers, and I hated PE class.
A demonically possessed (or so it seemed to me) fellow by the name of Coach Al Houser was our PE “instructor” and he made us “run the stairs” in the gym daily, and after we were sufficiently warmed up doing that we would run these other delightful exercises called “wind sprints,” in which we ran from the boundary line under the basketball goal to a line even with the foul line, then back, then to the centerline, and back, then to the foul line on the other side, and back, then all the way to the other basketball goal and back and then back to the other side again.
Sometimes, just for the fun of it, Coach Houser would add in the ends of the foul circles as places from which to run to and fro.
Oh, it was great fun for him, and for the other guys in the PE class to watch me huffing and puffing alone on that last leg of the wind sprint, for they would all be finished while I was dragging my sorry butt across the floor.
That was my freshman year of high school. I was required to take another year of PE to graduate, so I put it off until my senior year. Then I concocted a wild lie about why I would be unable to take PE; I don’t even remember what it was, but the high school principal said I could get out of PE if I would write a long paper on some health-related subject. I threw together something at the last minute that wasn’t very good. Although the principal expressed his displeasure, he accepted the paper, and I graduated in May of 1971.
I did not volunteer, for I knew that if I went into the Army, a demonically possessed drill sergeant would take pleasure in torturing a pudgy Ozarks Boy with wind sprints, or worse, and I would die of exhaustion and oxygen depletion.
That, not fear of being shot to death, was the main reason I did not volunteer to take a trip paid for by the Army to South Vietnam.
The lottery for those of us born in 1953 was held on Feb. 2, 1972.
The capsule containing July 19 was the 332nd one picked. That assured me that I had indeed dodged the 1973 draft and I could continue my education. No draft orders were issued after 1972, so I was home free.
While other young men were dying in South Vietnam and those countries for reasons that I am not clear about to this day, I was able to go on to journalism school and then take a job with a newspaper and spend my life writing.
I still feel some guilt about dodging the draft, so I do what I can to thank veterans and honor them. I won’t be able to attend the Memorial Day service, because I have a day job in retail, and in the United States, the day to honor fallen veterans is the day most people celebrate the beginning of summer by spending a lot of money.
I can’t attend, but I’ll be saying a prayer of gratitude at 10 a.m. Monday for the men and women who did not dodge the draft.
Managing Editor/OzarksAlmanac.com
On Monday, we will honor the men and women who have given their life in service to our nation. A Memorial Day service will be held at 10 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial Park in Rolla, and I encourage you to attend. I have been to many Memorial Day services since I moved my family here back in the previous century. When I covered the services for the paper, there were two of them, one at the city cemetery and one at the private ceremony. I would take pictures at both.
Covering a Memorial Day service required me to work on a holiday, but I didn’t mind, usually. I remember one year when I refused to go; instead, I used the holiday for a family event. I felt so guilty about not honoring the veterans that I never again skipped, and if I didn’t go to the services myself, I made sure someone else did.
I felt compelled to cover the Memorial Day services with story and pictures as my little way of making up for being a Sixties draft dodger.
I turned 18 on July 19, 1971, and I registered for the draft as required by law for any young man born in 1953. When I told the clerk at the Selective Service office that I would start attending the University of Missouri the following month, I got something called a student deferment. I don’t remember what my classification was, I-S maybe, and the lady at the draft board said it really didn’t mean a thing. She told me that I would be included in a national lottery at some point in the future, and if my number were drawn, the I-S (or whatever it was) wouldn’t mean a dadburn thing.
I remember she told me that I had to carry my draft card with me and was not to deface it, damage it or destroy it.
That August I went to Columbia, moved into the dorm with a bunch of other guys born in 1953, and started going to classes. We all carried our draft cards in our wallets with our driver’s license and our student ID cards. We all worried a little bit about the lottery we knew was coming up sometime.
I had to check the Selective Service website today to refresh my memory about the draft lottery. There was a lottery on Dec. 1, 1969, the first one since 1942. That was to determine who would be drafted in 1970. It was for all men born between Jan. 1, 1944, and Dec. 31, 1950.
“There were 366 blue plastic capsules containing birth dates placed in a large glass container and drawn by hand to assign order-of-call numbers to all men within the 18-26 age range specified in Selective Service law,” according to the Selective Service history.
More lotteries were held on July 1, 1970, and Aug. 5, 1971, for men born in 1951 and 1952, respectively.
I could have volunteered to go to Vietnam, and I supposed that would have been the honorable thing to do. I remember thinking, though, that it would be a stupid thing for me to do, because I was sure to wind up dead.
Now, I wasn’t too worried about being shot to death by an oriental person in Vietnam or one of those other countries. I was more concerned about dying in basic training. I just knew I would be run to death. Running was not something I did well. I was a pudgy high school kid, although I wasn’t nearly as fat as today’s obese high schoolers, and I hated PE class.
A demonically possessed (or so it seemed to me) fellow by the name of Coach Al Houser was our PE “instructor” and he made us “run the stairs” in the gym daily, and after we were sufficiently warmed up doing that we would run these other delightful exercises called “wind sprints,” in which we ran from the boundary line under the basketball goal to a line even with the foul line, then back, then to the centerline, and back, then to the foul line on the other side, and back, then all the way to the other basketball goal and back and then back to the other side again.
Sometimes, just for the fun of it, Coach Houser would add in the ends of the foul circles as places from which to run to and fro.
Oh, it was great fun for him, and for the other guys in the PE class to watch me huffing and puffing alone on that last leg of the wind sprint, for they would all be finished while I was dragging my sorry butt across the floor.
That was my freshman year of high school. I was required to take another year of PE to graduate, so I put it off until my senior year. Then I concocted a wild lie about why I would be unable to take PE; I don’t even remember what it was, but the high school principal said I could get out of PE if I would write a long paper on some health-related subject. I threw together something at the last minute that wasn’t very good. Although the principal expressed his displeasure, he accepted the paper, and I graduated in May of 1971.
I did not volunteer, for I knew that if I went into the Army, a demonically possessed drill sergeant would take pleasure in torturing a pudgy Ozarks Boy with wind sprints, or worse, and I would die of exhaustion and oxygen depletion.
That, not fear of being shot to death, was the main reason I did not volunteer to take a trip paid for by the Army to South Vietnam.
The lottery for those of us born in 1953 was held on Feb. 2, 1972.
The capsule containing July 19 was the 332nd one picked. That assured me that I had indeed dodged the 1973 draft and I could continue my education. No draft orders were issued after 1972, so I was home free.
While other young men were dying in South Vietnam and those countries for reasons that I am not clear about to this day, I was able to go on to journalism school and then take a job with a newspaper and spend my life writing.
I still feel some guilt about dodging the draft, so I do what I can to thank veterans and honor them. I won’t be able to attend the Memorial Day service, because I have a day job in retail, and in the United States, the day to honor fallen veterans is the day most people celebrate the beginning of summer by spending a lot of money.
I can’t attend, but I’ll be saying a prayer of gratitude at 10 a.m. Monday for the men and women who did not dodge the draft.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Rolla Nazarene church offers drive-thru prayer
If you have an illness in the family, financial worries — or if you
just need some spiritual help to get you through the week—prayer
warriors at the Rolla Church of the Nazarene stand by each Monday
morning to help lift your needs to the Lord God Almighty.
They are literally standing by, waiting for you to drive up beneath the entrance canopy, so they can walk to your car door, hear your need, and offer a prayer on the spot before sending you on your way.
“It’s an outreach of the church,” said Ellen Lewis, who started the program called “Drive-Thru Prayer: A Moment of Sharing and Caring.”
Lewis and other volunteers who believe in the power of prayer wait at the church building’s canopy at 1901 E. 10th St. every Monday from 7-8:30 a.m. to pray with whosoever drives up and requests it.
The prayer program started April 1. So far, the response has been lackluster. Only one car pulled up, and that was a church member.
Perhaps Rolla area residents have all of their spiritual needs being met; perhaps they just haven’t heard about it.
“It’s still pretty new,” Lewis said. “It’s going to take some time to get the word out.”
Lewis said she asked the church board if she could begin the ministry, which is similar to one she had read about some months ago in a magazine.
“I think it was in Guideposts,” she said. “They (the board) said to run with it.”
Drive-Thru Prayer is exactly what the name says, she explained. “We’re not there to hassle people or take any information,” she said. “When they drive up, we’ll go to the car, pray with them and send them on their way. It’s just basically to help the community.”
People seeking prayer don’t even have to get out of their cars or give their names, she said.
The ministry is open to everyone, regardless of their faith. It doesn’t matter if they are turning to prayer as a last resort or asking God for help at the beginning of a problem. P
rayers of praise and gratitude will also be offered. Many churches of various denominations offer similar ministries, a search of the world wide web will reveal.
They are literally standing by, waiting for you to drive up beneath the entrance canopy, so they can walk to your car door, hear your need, and offer a prayer on the spot before sending you on your way.
“It’s an outreach of the church,” said Ellen Lewis, who started the program called “Drive-Thru Prayer: A Moment of Sharing and Caring.”
Lewis and other volunteers who believe in the power of prayer wait at the church building’s canopy at 1901 E. 10th St. every Monday from 7-8:30 a.m. to pray with whosoever drives up and requests it.
The prayer program started April 1. So far, the response has been lackluster. Only one car pulled up, and that was a church member.
Perhaps Rolla area residents have all of their spiritual needs being met; perhaps they just haven’t heard about it.
“It’s still pretty new,” Lewis said. “It’s going to take some time to get the word out.”
Lewis said she asked the church board if she could begin the ministry, which is similar to one she had read about some months ago in a magazine.
“I think it was in Guideposts,” she said. “They (the board) said to run with it.”
Drive-Thru Prayer is exactly what the name says, she explained. “We’re not there to hassle people or take any information,” she said. “When they drive up, we’ll go to the car, pray with them and send them on their way. It’s just basically to help the community.”
People seeking prayer don’t even have to get out of their cars or give their names, she said.
The ministry is open to everyone, regardless of their faith. It doesn’t matter if they are turning to prayer as a last resort or asking God for help at the beginning of a problem. P
rayers of praise and gratitude will also be offered. Many churches of various denominations offer similar ministries, a search of the world wide web will reveal.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
This morning's weather report
From the Rolla NOAA Co-Op weather station, here is the Rolla weather data for the 24-hour period ending at 7:30 a.m. April 14, 2013:
Max Temperature: 68° F
Min Temperature: 36° F
Present Temperature: 57° F
Precipitation: 0.00"
Precipitation for the year: 14.57"
Precipitation for the month: 1.77"
Relative humidity: 52%
S.R. Fraley
NWS Co-Op Observer
Max Temperature: 68° F
Min Temperature: 36° F
Present Temperature: 57° F
Precipitation: 0.00"
Precipitation for the year: 14.57"
Precipitation for the month: 1.77"
Relative humidity: 52%
S.R. Fraley
NWS Co-Op Observer
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Standing up for the Second Amendment
Here in Southern Missouri, we appreciate our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
We understand that the Second Amendment is not only about hunting and it is not just about self-protection. It's an amendment designed by the Founding Fathers for our security--from criminals, from outside invaders, from anyone who would oppress us or take away our liberties.
Those who want to take away our liberty to own firearms don't seem to understand.
Here's a Springfield TV station's coverage: Gun advocates gather in Ozark for "day of resistance"
An excerpt:
Hundreds of people converged in Ozark Saturday to voice concerns about gun control. More than 200 people braved the cold and attended a rally as part of the 2013 Springfield/Ozark Day of Resistance at the Sound of Freedom USA indoor gun range. It was part of 140 other events being held nationwide. ... Vincent Finelli, host of the radio program USA Prepares, was pleased with Saturday's turnout. ... HB 545 is one of the main topics that the rally covered. This bill prohibits any person, corporation, or other entity in the state from manufacturing, importing, possessing, purchasing, selling, or transferring any assault weapon or large capacity magazine, as specified in the bill. Any violation of these provisions is a class C felony. The rally is ended at 2 p.m. Finelli is looking ahead to the Get Prepared Expo next month in Lebanon.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Andy Griffith and the creation of the universe
A few weeks ago, our new pastor started a Sunday night Bible study of the Old Testament, an overview from Genesis 1:1 to Malachi 4:6.
He made a Sunday morning announcement that the overview would include looking at what was going on throughout the world at the same time. The overview would be like taking a plane ride all over the world, and we could "land and take a look" for as long as we wanted.
This sounded interesting to me. I like ancient world history, so I attended that night. It was the second session, so I'd missed a little, but the pastor did a review at the beginning of the class. He handed out a course outline, and right near the top of the outline it said "Creation, about 4004 BC."
I knew immediately that I was not going to fit in with this discussion.
The pastor began the class and quickly got to the date-setting of creation. He said that figure was arrived at by Bishop Ussher and no reputable scholars have disputed or refuted it. It is generally accepted, he said.
I raised my hand.
"Well, you don't mind if I don't accept it, do you?" I said. "Because I don't."
The congregation laughed, and one lady said, "We've missed you, R.D." (I have not attended on Sunday nights for several weeks.) I'm not sure what she meant by that.
I should have just shut my mouth, but I'm a sinner, so I kept talking.
"The earth is millions of years old and the universe is billions of years old," I said. "By 4004 BC, there were Stone Age people living here in Missouri. They walked across the land bridge between Asia and Alaska around 10,000 BC."
I could have shut up then, too, but not me. Oh, no. I plowed ahead.
"Agriculture is dated back to around 10,000 BC. Archaeologists have found ruins of a granary in Turkey dating back to about that time. And I think I read that they found the remains of a dairy in Iraq dating to somewhere around the same time."
"Where did you come up with that?" the pastor said.
"Well, where did you and Ussher come up with this?" I said, pointing to the outline.
"God's word," he said. "God's word says it, so it's true."
"I believe the Bible is God's word, too, and I believe it is truth, but sometimes it is not factual," I said.
He did not seem to understand what I was trying to say. I don't think anybody else in the church did, either.
It was pretty clear to me that I was only going to be a distraction and a controversy-builder if I particiapted in the overview, so I stood up, picked up my Bible and said, "I think I'd better go. I don't want to cause problems, and if I stay I'm going to feel compelled to challenge every point."
"Thank you," said the pastor as I left the Bible study of my church.
I went back to Bible study once, and the lady who said "We've missed you, R.D." told me in all earnestness and seriousness that I might be called to stay behind after the Rapture to teach the Word. I don't know how that works, because it's my impression that people "left behind" are not Christians. If she figures I'm not saved, I'm not sure how I'm going to lead anyone to Christ after the Rapture.
I think I'd better stay way from Bible study. It is not the place for me, even though I love to study the Bible, read the Bible, read about the Bible, talk about the Bible. It is the written revelation of God. Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God.
I'll worship on Sunday morning with the folks I love and admire, even though they think I'm way out there and not going up with them in the Rapture. They can believe what they want.
.
Our church has had too much division in the past, and I don't want to contribute to a new round of that. As I said, I don't want to be adversarial, and I don't want to be argumentative. On the other hand, I can't sit by without questioning the pastor's assumptions, just as he could not sit by and not question mine.
I think we'll just have to "agree to disagree" as they say. I've got more questions about creation and history than I do ideas about it, but I can in no way accept Bishop Ussher's timeline. I studied that and rejected it long ago. I've spent a lot of time off and on since high school trying to mesh Bible history and world history.
Since the beginning of civilization, the two do mesh pretty well, though not completely, and archaeology from time to time finds more evidence that Old Testament stories are true for ancient civilizations.
It's the pre-history that bothers me.
The book of Genesis up until the calling of Abraham seems to me to be literary rather than factual. I accept it as as the word of God, but I think the purpose is to lay the groundwork quickly for the history of Israel. It compresses everything from creation (and I do believe God created the universe through the Second Person of the Trinity, just like John 1:1-2 says) through the beginning of civilization into just a few chapters to get quickly to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the nation of Israel.
Consequently, it ignores the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages. There was a long time from creation to civilization. I think there was a long time from creation of the universe and the earth until the appearance of man on the earth. Archaeology bears this out.
God chose to tell that story quickly in the early chapters of Genesis, so those chapters are more mythos than reportage. I'm not saying they ARE myths; they are literary constructs to tell truth quickly. I can't believe that archaeologists are completely wrong when they date their artifacts. It's clear that agriculture began about 10,000-12,000 years ago in Turkey. That's where Mount Ararat is, so there's a tie-in with Noah. I've read sources that put the time of the flood about 10,000-12,000 BC. That intrigues me.
Archaeologists also agree that North America had humans wandering around it in the hunter-gatherer stage starting about that same time after they walked across the land mass that is now the Bering Strait. Something happened to raise the water levels so the strait is now impassable. The glaciers receded and meltied, raising the ocean levels, flooding land masses. This occurred about the same time as agriculture began in Mount Ararat, which is where Noah supposedly docked and started growing grapes. I find that intriguing.
The day after that Bible study that I left, I had a vacation day from work. At noon, I watched an old Andy Griffith episode, which I believe the Lord sat before me, for it illustrates what I believe about the opening chapters of Genesis.
It's the episode where Opie and his buddies don't want to study history. Andy tells them they don't need to study history, but then he goes on to tell a story. Here it is:
Now none of us would say Andy is not telling Opie the truth. He's the boy's Daddy; he isn't going to tell him a lie. But the American history that Sheriff Taylor relates is not factual. Certainly there was not a literal gun that fired a literal shot literally heard round the world.
Andy's story is not factual, but it is true. It is a story a Daddy tells a child that the youngster can understand and it encourages him to learn more. As the boy grows studies and grows, he'll understand more of the intricacies and facts.
I think that's what God did in the opening chapters of Genesis. He used figurative language and compressed the time so people could understand that he made it. Now, we have scientists who understand more of the workings of creation. For some of them, that knowledge makes them atheists. For others, it fills them with awe at the greatness of God.
I'm not a scientist. I work in a lumberyard/hardware store/home center. I'm not real intelligent, but I can accept that God literally created the world but he told us the creation story in the way Andy told the story of the American Revolution to Opie.
He made a Sunday morning announcement that the overview would include looking at what was going on throughout the world at the same time. The overview would be like taking a plane ride all over the world, and we could "land and take a look" for as long as we wanted.
This sounded interesting to me. I like ancient world history, so I attended that night. It was the second session, so I'd missed a little, but the pastor did a review at the beginning of the class. He handed out a course outline, and right near the top of the outline it said "Creation, about 4004 BC."
I knew immediately that I was not going to fit in with this discussion.
The pastor began the class and quickly got to the date-setting of creation. He said that figure was arrived at by Bishop Ussher and no reputable scholars have disputed or refuted it. It is generally accepted, he said.
I raised my hand.
"Well, you don't mind if I don't accept it, do you?" I said. "Because I don't."
The congregation laughed, and one lady said, "We've missed you, R.D." (I have not attended on Sunday nights for several weeks.) I'm not sure what she meant by that.
I should have just shut my mouth, but I'm a sinner, so I kept talking.
"The earth is millions of years old and the universe is billions of years old," I said. "By 4004 BC, there were Stone Age people living here in Missouri. They walked across the land bridge between Asia and Alaska around 10,000 BC."
I could have shut up then, too, but not me. Oh, no. I plowed ahead.
"Agriculture is dated back to around 10,000 BC. Archaeologists have found ruins of a granary in Turkey dating back to about that time. And I think I read that they found the remains of a dairy in Iraq dating to somewhere around the same time."
"Where did you come up with that?" the pastor said.
"Well, where did you and Ussher come up with this?" I said, pointing to the outline.
"God's word," he said. "God's word says it, so it's true."
"I believe the Bible is God's word, too, and I believe it is truth, but sometimes it is not factual," I said.
He did not seem to understand what I was trying to say. I don't think anybody else in the church did, either.
It was pretty clear to me that I was only going to be a distraction and a controversy-builder if I particiapted in the overview, so I stood up, picked up my Bible and said, "I think I'd better go. I don't want to cause problems, and if I stay I'm going to feel compelled to challenge every point."
"Thank you," said the pastor as I left the Bible study of my church.
I went back to Bible study once, and the lady who said "We've missed you, R.D." told me in all earnestness and seriousness that I might be called to stay behind after the Rapture to teach the Word. I don't know how that works, because it's my impression that people "left behind" are not Christians. If she figures I'm not saved, I'm not sure how I'm going to lead anyone to Christ after the Rapture.
I think I'd better stay way from Bible study. It is not the place for me, even though I love to study the Bible, read the Bible, read about the Bible, talk about the Bible. It is the written revelation of God. Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God.
I'll worship on Sunday morning with the folks I love and admire, even though they think I'm way out there and not going up with them in the Rapture. They can believe what they want.
.
Our church has had too much division in the past, and I don't want to contribute to a new round of that. As I said, I don't want to be adversarial, and I don't want to be argumentative. On the other hand, I can't sit by without questioning the pastor's assumptions, just as he could not sit by and not question mine.
I think we'll just have to "agree to disagree" as they say. I've got more questions about creation and history than I do ideas about it, but I can in no way accept Bishop Ussher's timeline. I studied that and rejected it long ago. I've spent a lot of time off and on since high school trying to mesh Bible history and world history.
Since the beginning of civilization, the two do mesh pretty well, though not completely, and archaeology from time to time finds more evidence that Old Testament stories are true for ancient civilizations.
It's the pre-history that bothers me.
The book of Genesis up until the calling of Abraham seems to me to be literary rather than factual. I accept it as as the word of God, but I think the purpose is to lay the groundwork quickly for the history of Israel. It compresses everything from creation (and I do believe God created the universe through the Second Person of the Trinity, just like John 1:1-2 says) through the beginning of civilization into just a few chapters to get quickly to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the nation of Israel.
Consequently, it ignores the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages. There was a long time from creation to civilization. I think there was a long time from creation of the universe and the earth until the appearance of man on the earth. Archaeology bears this out.
God chose to tell that story quickly in the early chapters of Genesis, so those chapters are more mythos than reportage. I'm not saying they ARE myths; they are literary constructs to tell truth quickly. I can't believe that archaeologists are completely wrong when they date their artifacts. It's clear that agriculture began about 10,000-12,000 years ago in Turkey. That's where Mount Ararat is, so there's a tie-in with Noah. I've read sources that put the time of the flood about 10,000-12,000 BC. That intrigues me.
Archaeologists also agree that North America had humans wandering around it in the hunter-gatherer stage starting about that same time after they walked across the land mass that is now the Bering Strait. Something happened to raise the water levels so the strait is now impassable. The glaciers receded and meltied, raising the ocean levels, flooding land masses. This occurred about the same time as agriculture began in Mount Ararat, which is where Noah supposedly docked and started growing grapes. I find that intriguing.
The day after that Bible study that I left, I had a vacation day from work. At noon, I watched an old Andy Griffith episode, which I believe the Lord sat before me, for it illustrates what I believe about the opening chapters of Genesis.
It's the episode where Opie and his buddies don't want to study history. Andy tells them they don't need to study history, but then he goes on to tell a story. Here it is:
Now none of us would say Andy is not telling Opie the truth. He's the boy's Daddy; he isn't going to tell him a lie. But the American history that Sheriff Taylor relates is not factual. Certainly there was not a literal gun that fired a literal shot literally heard round the world.
Andy's story is not factual, but it is true. It is a story a Daddy tells a child that the youngster can understand and it encourages him to learn more. As the boy grows studies and grows, he'll understand more of the intricacies and facts.
I think that's what God did in the opening chapters of Genesis. He used figurative language and compressed the time so people could understand that he made it. Now, we have scientists who understand more of the workings of creation. For some of them, that knowledge makes them atheists. For others, it fills them with awe at the greatness of God.
I'm not a scientist. I work in a lumberyard/hardware store/home center. I'm not real intelligent, but I can accept that God literally created the world but he told us the creation story in the way Andy told the story of the American Revolution to Opie.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Rolla weather report
From the Rolla NOAA Co-Op Weather Station, here is the Rolla weather data for the 24-hour period ending at 7:30 a.m., Feb. 16, 2013
Max Temperature: 40° F
Min Temperature: 19° F
Present Temperature: 20° F
Precipitation: 0.00"
Precipitation for the year: 4.63"
Precipitation for the month: 1.18"
Relative humidity: 56%
S.R. Fraley
NWS Co-Op Observer
Max Temperature: 40° F
Min Temperature: 19° F
Present Temperature: 20° F
Precipitation: 0.00"
Precipitation for the year: 4.63"
Precipitation for the month: 1.18"
Relative humidity: 56%
S.R. Fraley
NWS Co-Op Observer
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Musical spirit of the Ozarks
Start the New Year off with some good old-time mountain music.
Here's a video from NBC News titled "Catching the musical spirit of the Ozarks." (There's an ad at the beginning, of course. Just wait to see some fine young people from the hills playing fiddles and banjos.)
Monday, December 31, 2012
McCaskill uses school massacre to raise money
Sen. Claire McCaskill, who portrayed herself as a moderate in the campaign running up to the November election, is showing herself as being only moderately (if that) in favor of the Constitution.
She is using the massacre of children in Connecticut to pick a fight with the National Rifle Association over gun rights, guaranteed in the Second Amendment, so she can ask her liberal Democrat friends to help her pay down her campaign debt. It's here: Claire McCaskill Highlights Fight With NRA in New Fundraising Pitch.
Here's an excerpt from the report:
She is using the massacre of children in Connecticut to pick a fight with the National Rifle Association over gun rights, guaranteed in the Second Amendment, so she can ask her liberal Democrat friends to help her pay down her campaign debt. It's here: Claire McCaskill Highlights Fight With NRA in New Fundraising Pitch.
Here's an excerpt from the report:
In her Saturday pitch to her email list, McCaskill argues that “I've always been willing to take on the big guys when it's the right thing to do -- like my recent call on the NRA to come to the table to help prevent further gun violence or my fight to end taxpayer-funded subsidies for Big Oil.”Let me explain why the gun lobby is "powerful." Listen carefully: It is supported by people like me (and, I hope, you) all across the country who send in their money for membership.That's where it's power comes from: Americans who believe in the Constitution.
McCaskill’s willingness to aggressively attack the NRA is particularly noteworthy given the fact that Democrats from the South and Midwest have long been loathe to cross swords with the powerful gun lobby.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Rest In Peace: Mike Auldridge, bluegrass musician
Bluegrass music fans in Rolla and throughout the Ozarks will be saddened to hear of the death of Mike Auldridge, Dobro player and a founding member of the Seldom Scene.
His is a well-known name to bluegrass radio listeners in Rolla, particularly those who listen to Wayne Bledsoe's programs on KMST FM 88.5 or at www.kmst.org.
Here's a portion of his obituary in The Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper:
His is a well-known name to bluegrass radio listeners in Rolla, particularly those who listen to Wayne Bledsoe's programs on KMST FM 88.5 or at www.kmst.org.
Here's a portion of his obituary in The Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper:
Before Mr. Auldridge, the Dobro — an acoustic resonator guitar played with a slide — was often considered an inelegant instrument, imprecise in intonation and uneven in tone. He often played in silvered whispers rather than in the Mike_Auldridgerambunctious clatter that characterized early Dobro recordings. He expanded the Dobro’s vocabulary, extended its reach and inspired each of the instrument’s modern greats, including Jerry Douglas and Rob Ickes. He was a 2012 National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellow, in recognition of his contributions to musical culture.
“If it wasn’t for him, none of us would be here,” Douglas said. “Mike made it acceptable to play the instrument, and hearing him was where I got the idea that I could play different kinds of music, beyond country. He was a guy who could play one note that was worth a thousand. He’s my hero.”
Use holidays to time your garden chores
Charlotte Wiggins, who writes a Saturday gardning column for the Rolla Daily News, had a most useful and interesting column this past Saturday.
She told how she has developed a calendar using holidays to time gardening chores.
I'd prefer that you rush out and buy a copy of the paper to read her column, but you can also find it on her blog. Here is a link to the article: Using Holidays for a Gardening Calendar.
Here's a short excerpt from her calendar to give you an idea what to do this month:
Check out the link above, and then follow Charlotte's links to her blogs about gardening and bees. She's a Master Gardener, so there is a ton of useful information there.
I'd prefer that you rush out and buy a copy of the paper to read her column, but you can also find it on her blog. Here is a link to the article: Using Holidays for a Gardening Calendar.
Here's a short excerpt from her calendar to give you an idea what to do this month:
New Year's Jan. 1: Check inside plants for hitchhiking bugs; trim dead leaves. Check bulb gardens. Pore over garden catalogs.
Jan. 17 Martin Luther King Day: Make sure inside plants are all getting sunlight needs met. If not, move them around. Review garden diary from last year for what worked and what didn't. Trade garden catalogs with other gardening friends.
Check out the link above, and then follow Charlotte's links to her blogs about gardening and bees. She's a Master Gardener, so there is a ton of useful information there.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
If ..... you may live in Missouri
I got the following from Inoxkeeper, a regular poster on the Missouri Forum on city-data.com. It's all over the internet, and it is said to be from Jeff Foxworthy. I don't know if that is true or not.
Missouri according to Jeff Foxworthy:
If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't even work there, you may live in Missouri.
If you've worn shorts and a jacket at the same time, you may live in Missouri.
If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Missouri.
If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Missouri.
If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' and back again in the same day, you may live in Missouri.
If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you may live in Missouri.
If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you may live in Missouri.
If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both doors unlocked, you may live in Missouri.
If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Missouri.
If everyone in your family has been on a "float trip." you may live in Missouri.
If the phrase I'm going to the Lake this weekend has only one meaning, and everyone knows what you're talking about, you may live in Missouri.
If "Down South" means Arkansas and you know where Idiots Out Wandering Around are located, you might be from Missouri.
If "Vacation" means driving to Silver Dollar City, Worlds of Fun or Six Flags, you might be from Missouri.
If you ever rode a school bus over an hour each way, you might be from Missouri.
If you failed World Geography in school because you thought Cuba, Versailles, California, Nevada, Houston, Cabool, Louisiana, Springfield, and Mexico were cities in Missouri (And they are mind you!), you might be from Missouri.
If you had school classes canceled because of cold, You're probably from Missouri. If you had school classes canceled because of heat, You're probably from Missouri.
If you can recognize whether another Missourian is from the Boot Heel, Ozarks, Eastern, Middle or Western Missouri soon as they open their mouth, You're probably from Missouri.
If you know that Harry S. Truman, Walt Disney, George Washington Carver and Mark Twain are all from Missouri, Well... you guessed it.
If you know what "Home of the Throwed Roll" means! You're probably from Missouri. If you pronounce Missouri with an ah at the end. You're probably from Missouri.
If you think of deer season is a national holiday. You're probably from Missouri.
If you've ever said (or heard) its not the heat, its the humidity. You're probably from Missouri.
If you've seen people wear bib overalls to funerals. You're probably from Missouri.
If your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor. You're probably from Missouri.
If you've seen farmers stop work and remove their hat as a funeral passes by. You're probably from Missouri.
If you actually understand these jokes, send this so all of your Missouri friends and others can see. You definitely do live - or have lived - in Missouri God Bless Ya'll!
Monday, December 24, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Thursday, November 22, 2012
November deer harvest biggest in four years
Jim Low, of the Missouri Department of Conservation, reports that the November deer harvest was the biggest in four years, thanks to a healthy deer herd and hunter participation in the Show-Me State. Here's more from Low:
Hunters shot 204,668 deer during the November portion of Missouri’s firearms deer season, topping the past four years’ harvests and confirming predictions by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).
This year’s statewide November deer harvest is 7.7 percent more than last year and only 1.3 percent below the previous 10-year average.
Top harvest counties during the season Nov. 10 through 20 were Howell with 4,037, followed by Texas with 3,916 and Benton with 3,756. MDC recorded five nonfatal and three fatal firearms-related hunting incidents during the 11-day November firearms deer hunt.
County and regional harvest figures confirm the pre-season forecast by MDC Resource Scientist Jason Sumners. He predicted a strong harvest in southern Missouri because of a poor acorn crop. The southern half of the state is dominated by forest, so acorns play a much more important role in deer’s fall and winter diets there. Acorn scarcity forces deer to move more and concentrates them around limited food sources, making them easier for hunters to find.
Eight of the 10 top harvest counties were south of the Missouri River. A ninth county, Callaway, borders the Missouri River and contains a large percentage of forestland. Only Macon County bucked the trend of southern dominance.
Sumners says the Southeast Region reported the largest harvest increase at 30 percent, followed by the Ozark Region, with a 24-percent increase. Other regional increases were St. Louis, 18 percent; Southwest, 17 percent; and Central, 10 percent. MDC recorded harvest decreases of 6 percent in the Kansas City and Northeast regions and a 9-percent decrease in the Northwest Region.
Sumners says the decline in north Missouri’s deer harvest mirrors a decline in deer populations there in the past 10 years. Meanwhile, deer numbers have increased slowly across southern Missouri. He said both trends are the result of MDC’s efforts to maximize hunting opportunity while avoiding unacceptable levels of property damage and deer-vehicle collisions.
Sumners noted that does made up approximately 44 percent of the November deer harvest, a 10-percent increase from last year.
“The increase in doe harvest is somewhat indicative of growing deer numbers in southern Missouri,” says Sumners. “However, it is concerning if doe harvest increased in counties hit hard by hemorrhagic diseases. This could significantly set back deer populations in some areas to the point where it might take some time to recover.”
Nevertheless, said Sumners, “Missouri has a strong, healthy deer herd. Careful management and strong citizen support for game laws allow us to adjust to changes like this and enhance the social and economic benefits that go with deer hunting.”
Deer hunting contributes approximately $1.1 billion annually to the state and local economies and supports more than 12,000 jobs in Missouri.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Almanac says we'll have another warm winter followed by dry summer
R.D. Hohenfeldt
Managing Editor
Another warmer-than-normal winter is on the way,
according to The Old Farmer's Almanac, but we'll have about the normal amount
of rain, snow and ice.
At least that's the way I read and interpret it.
We're going to get snow in November right after
Thanksgiving, maybe even on the holiday.
In fact, according to the almanac with the yellow cover
and the hole in the corner so you can hang it on a nail on the outhouse wall
and have something to handy to read during those quiet periods, we're going to
have snow in January, February and March. We'll even have some flurries around
the Ides of March.
Well, sometimes the Old Farmer is right and sometimes he
is wrong, but I buy a copy every year and read the predictions. I can't help
it. I love to talk about, read about and think about the weather, and The Old
Farmer's Almanac is my favorite almanac to buy, read and study throughout the
year.
It's the almanac my Grandpa Howe usually had at his
house. I'd read it when visiting, so naturally I started buying it for myself
when I got older and had my own house, family and garden.
I look past the fact that it is a dadburn Yankee
publication. it comes out of Dublin, New Hampshire. You just about can't get
any more Yankee than that.
One time I ran across a copy of a publication called the
Southern Farmers Almanac. It looked a whole lot like The Old Farmer's Almanac.
I bought it, and I think I've still got it packed away somewhere, but I never
saw another copy of it for sale.
If you know of a good almanac that is published out of
the South, please let me know.
The Old Farmer's Almanac 2013 has some good articles that
I'm eager to read during my visits to the outhouse. Here's a look at a few of
the titles:
* "25 Secrets for a Hefty Harvest," a gardening feature.
* "25 Secrets for a Hefty Harvest," a gardening feature.
* "Mother Nature's Janitor," a feature about
possums.
* "Hey, Ewe," an article about raising sheep.
* "Salute to a Somber Sesquicentennial,"
subtitled "13 little-known facts about the Battle of Gettysburg."
That ought to be a good one, although it's in a Yankee magazine, so who knows
what kind of a spin it puts on the battle. I'll find out when I get to it.
I like to read the Almanac from cover to cover. Then, as
old as I am, I forget most of it, so I start over. I even enjoy the ads.
There's some funny stuff in the advertising.
Back to the weather: The Almanac says next summer spring
well have near-normal temperatures and rainfall in April and May, then it will
get hot in late May. The Almanac insists summer will be slightly cooler than
normal, although there will be "hot spells' in late June, the last half of
July and the middle of August.
Summer will be drier than normal, the Almanac predicts,
and September and October will also be slightly drier than normal.
Well, shoot, I was hoping next summer I wouldn't have to
do so much watering.
I just hope we get enough moisture this winter to
recharge the aquifers.
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