With money to tight to mention!
With money to tight to mention I was looking for a way to get some heat and still spend the time outside in the garden after looking on Done Deal for a garden heater I came across this guy selling these heaters for 155 euro and I thought I would have a look first on the net elsewhere, a friend told me to take a look at our friends in woodies they were having a sale and they have what I was looking for .
So this afternoon I headed off to Carrigmines to Woodies and low and behold they had one last Terracotta Chimnea Burner for the princely sum of 39.99 Euro . The Box said the normal price was 84.99 and the early bird letter says 64.99 Euros in any case I got it for 39.99 and I am happy with that! They should be getting more next week for those of you that want to get your hands on one of them .By the way the guy selling these on Done deal is possible getting these from Woodies and selling them on to people on Done deal!
So here is looking forward to a few long evenings sipping a glass of white wine and a bit of extra heat to keep those old bones warm!
The first Gold Chart is one I created for the original Golden Parabola editorial that showed my expectations at the time for Gold to bottom at the 34 week EMA with a potential target for Gold into mid-year per the 1970's Gold Bull up to around the $1860 level. On the chart, below, I have now added a blue line off of the tops since the 2008 Deflation Scare low showing a potential for Gold into mid-year to around the $1860 price level, which appears to confirm the earlier chart. The chart also shows that Gold has busted out to new historic highs with no horizontal resistance above and with no real angled resistance on the chart until much higher price levels are reached.
The second chart shows Gold rising up through the same angled dotted line that it rose through back in 2006 on its way to the upper black solid line of the channel top which will be around the $1920 level into mid-year. This chart also includes a black dotted line above the channel line that mimics the extent that Gold overshot the channel on the down side into the Deflation Scare Bottom into late 2008. Since the necessary Dollar Inflation to deal with the larger current level of debt is so much larger today versus the late 70's, is it possible that Gold will overshoot the upper log channel on the upside to the extent it overshot the channel bottom on the downside? If so, then a higher target for Gold might come into play.
The third Gold chart shows a distinct channel for each "Phase" or Elliott Wave rise in this current Golden Parabola. We can see that Wave I was basically held in the smaller flat blue channel into late 2005. After Gold broke out of that blue channel it moved into a higher sloped rise into the green channel that approximates Wave III in the current Golden Parabola. We can see on the chart that Gold has now busted up through the top of the Green Channel firmly into the Red Channel which appears to approximate the higher sloped Wave V advance.
I had suggested some weeks ago to the subscribers to my service (see here for details) that a rise above the black dotted line on this arithmetic chart might herald in a very sharp rise in price into mid-year, and that appears to be in motion. We can see a similar bust out of the Wave I Channel into the Green Wave III Channel back in late 2005. That move in late 2005, up and out of the Wave I blue channel, was basically "phase transition" into Wave III if you want to use that term. Similarly, the current bust out of the Green Wave III Channel into the Red Wave V Channel appears to be the phase transition to Wave V in progress – a transition to a true higher priced slope of rise for the Golden Parabola.
The final chart for Gold is "Fractal Gold Vs Armstrong's Economic Confidence Model." I have placed a dotted red line to the right of the sold red vertical line in the coming period to denote the actual June 13th turn date that Mr. Armstrong has proposed. We can see that the Gold price is running hard and higher toward his turn date as it did into the last 2 similar turn dates represented by the solid red lines on the left hand side of the chart. We can see that the TA Indicators which are simply tools to measure the health of the rise of Gold suggest that higher Gold pricing into the June 13th turn date appears probable.
The current Golden Parabola has been tracking the Golden Parabola of the 1970's almost perfectly for over a decade. Today's Golden Parabola is driven by the parabolic growth of the U.S. Dollar Inflation in response to the massive backdrop of debt that exists, today. We can project price targets as the Golden Parabola grows, but its final height will be determined by the necessary price level for Gold to balance the U.S. budget once all of the liabilities of the U.S. are eventually placed on its balance sheet. Many of those liabilities will not be transferred to the U.S. balance sheet until late in the Golden Parabola's rise in an attempt to compress the level of discomfort in terms of time that the Dollar Devaluation will create. Thus, it appears that at this time the terms "Bubble" and "Gold" do not belong in the same sentence.
If you take a look at the chart for Silver you will start to get an inkling of what is to come for the Gold price. It appears that we are just entering the higher sloped rise in Gold that has already begun in Silver; and Silver still has a much higher path to climb into the future. There is no doubt that Gold has made a nice run since the original Golden Parabola article, but I expect the run to continue into mid-year.
As a quick note on the PM Stock Indices, this analogous break-out of Gold ushered in higher valuations for the large cap PM stocks in the late 70's. The PM stocks tend to be re-valued higher in short dynamic spurts, and I am looking for one of those spurts higher for the PM Stock Sector to commence with this break-out in Gold. I hope to return with an article on the PM Stock Indices in a few days.
1. Increased government intervention in financial markets (bank bailouts) and aggressive monetary policy (cutting rates in financial panic) to keep economic growth steady and recessions & bear markets brief.
2. Economic interdependency between the US and BRIC markets.
3. Increased government spending for things that create economic growth but are not necessarily socially popular such as war, national security, bailouts, stimulus, and tax cuts.
4. Disregard for US dollar and deficits by policy makers. A lower dollar combined with low rates makes the deficit less burdensome, while falling dollar helps multinationals. This spending is subsidized by foreign governments.
6. Two-track inflation characterized by low core CPI and low treasury yields, but steadily rising cost of living inflation due to relentless global economic growth, permanently low rates, and to a lesser degree price gouging & speculation.
7. An economic system that seems to exclusively benefit the 'elite' and multinationals though globalization and low borrowing rates.
8. Fed keeping the foot on the gas even during strong economic expansion and only releasing the gas pedal very slowly. It's not like the 80's and 90's interest rates were high as the economy boomed.
9. Breakdown of Okun's law (decoupling of employment and GDP). What this means is economic output is unaffected much less today & in the future by high unemployment than in the past.
10. Dollar-denominated assets (oil, euro, gas prices, high-end real estate, metals, grains, stocks, web 2.0 company valuations) rising and falling in lockstep with the stock market. This is in contrast to the 80'and 90's when commodities, the dollar, and stocks showed little correlation.
Contrary to popular belief Alan Greenspan didn't hurt the economy by keeping 'rates too low' but was instead adhering to dyseconomics which gave him the luxury of leaving rates low for an extended period. The media would have you believe that had Bush and Greenspan been more fiscally conservative the economy would have been better off by preventing the 2008 recession. The media is wrong because when the stock market crashed, so did PE ratios falling from a high of 22 in 2007 to the low teens. If the fundaments were in trouble PE ratios would have risen or stayed the same as what happened in 2001 when the PE ratio of the S&P 500 actually hit a peak of 47 after the crash due to falling earnings. At the peak of the technology bubble the S&P 500 had a PE ratio of nearly 35 with the index at 1,500; now it's at 1,300 but the PE is only 23 so you could extrapolate that if it were valued at the same level it was in 1999 it would be at over 2,600. That 1,100 point difference (even after the 2008 recession) is pure earnings that can be attributed to market friendly economic policies of the past decade.
As of March 2011 median US home prices are slightly lower than they were in early 2009, but GDP & profits have recovered markedly lending further doubt to the supposed correlation between the housing market and overall economic strength. Greenspan may have helped inflate a big bubble, but when it burst the S&P 500 felt it only modestly (in terms of profits & earnings). During Greenspan's 18-year tenure the US economy was in recession for only 16 months, and even after the 2007-09 recession the total duration was just 34 months over the past two decades.
Remember the infamous Clinton surplus? The economy entered a recession on it, further dispelling the notion that high debt implies an unhealthy economy. High interest rates, relatively high personal savings rate, lack of spending contributed to it. Essentially, money began stagnating the late 90's as the country became a giant piggybank.
Then came the dotcom crash, Iraq and Afghanistan wars, massive tax cuts, low rates, and the BRIC economic boom. These events prevented what could have been a repeat of Japan's multi-decade economic malaise. Corporations were once again flush with cash and began reporting larger profits & earnings than ever.
As you can see from the chart below during the 90's PE ratios gradually rose in tandem with the S&P 500, eventually peaking AFTER the market plunged! Since 2002 there has been a divergence meaning that earnings are so good that PE ratios fell despite stocks rallying. Therefore, you can surmise that the economic fundamentals in the past decade (under the least popular president and fed chairman) till the present are better than they were in the 80's and 90's, but you won't hear that from the media.
S&P 500 earnings growth rivals that of the 90's according to the chart http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2010/6/11/283299-127626464876247-Joe-Eqcome.jpg earnings yields for the past decade matched or exceeded that of the 90's and presently at the highest rate since 1994.
GDP calculations don't fully reflect this growth due to the trade deficit deduction, which has become irrelevant as deficits haven't been shown to be inflationary and economically detrimental. Fund managers know this and that is why the S&P has doubled even though GDP growth is only at 3%. Furthermore, projected United States GDP growth for 2011 exceeds that of any country in the Eurozone.
Job creation, small business, and housing will have to sit on the sidelines in this boom. Small business is unable to take advantage of low cooperate bond rates, pricing power and globalization that multinationals enjoy and there's nothing the government can do to spur more hiring or small business expansion that isn't already being done.
We constantly read on the blogosphere and to a lesser extent in the main stream media in 2008 and 2009 about how the bank bailouts would lead to moral hazard and a Zimbabwe like hyperinflationary scenario. While risk taking is making a comeback, there was no hyperinflation. Short term yields are hypersensitive to financial shocks allowing bailouts and infusions to be made with impunity. The cost of TARP according to the bond markets was essentially free and it would have been reckless for policy makers to not take advantage of this opportunity.
Letting the banks 'run wild' can create volatility, but it's easy to remedy by 'printing it away' as was shown in 1987 black friday, 1998 LTCM and 2008. The 2008 financial crisis, while deep, was brief thanks to the expediency of Bernanke, Geithner, Paulson, and G.W Bush. Risk tasking should be encouraged because it creates innovation and when things do, on occasion, go badly it's pretty easy to fix the problem due to 'free money' in the form of perpetually low rates.
In retrospect the Bernanke TIME man of the year nomination was justified when you look at how well the stock market and economy has done in the past two years.
Dyseconomics is not Reaganomics in that 'reckless' government spending is almost encouraged because it's subsidized by an insatiable demand for US treasuries by BRIC and public & institutional holders, thus allowing deficit fueled growth without upsetting the bond vigilantes. This is evidenced by perpetually low 10, 30 year treasury yields. Until GWB came into office the BRIC was in its infancy and income taxes and interest rates were raised on numerous occasions out of necessity. The rise in BRIC economies, more specifically BRIC surpluses, correlates negatively with long term rates. The republican and libertarian fears about tax hikes because of the bailouts & stimulus were unfounded and still are. Despite the bailouts, two wars, and stimulus income taxes have not increased a single penny since Clinton's tax hike and they will probably never increase again thanks to huge demand for treasuries.
What about China dumping treasuries? Japan and China, whose economies depend on exports aren't going to begin a trade war by dumping treasuries, so the politically unpopular trend of foreign government helping to subsidize 'reckless' spending will continue.
The DJIA is poised to hit 17,000-20,000 within the next 2-3 years. By the time the interest rate cycle peaks at 4-6% the DJIA may be well above 50,000. The S&P 500 has already doubled from its March 2009 lows and interest rates still haven't bunged. Bernanke may finally raise rates by a quarter or half point when the DJIA crosses 15,000.
Will there be a repeat of the 2008 commodities crash now that prices seem overheated again? Odds are no. It just so happened that the financial panic coincided as oil hit $150. The failure of several financial institutions, decline in confidence and the resulting stock market crash had nothing to do with oil. Unless there is a double dip commodities will continue their upward trajectory due to huge global demand, speculation, low rates. The unpopular truth is that surging commodity prices will not hurt growth, but may actually increase growth by forcing people to reduce their personal savings to purchase inelastic goods.
What if the fed begins to raise rates? Will this cause stocks and commodities to crash? No. Between 2004-2006 commodities, stocks, and interest rates rose together because rates were low relative to the expected/anticipated rates. When Bernanke does eventually get around to raising rates the rate hikes will be well-anticipated according to various prediction markets. Rate hikes cause deflation when they are unexpected and exceed the federal funds forecast rate.
The Facebook IPO will be a resounding success with the valuation rising to $200 billion within the first few months of trading. But it won't be a bubble due to huge growth from facebook ads and its initially high PE ratio will rapidly contract as was the case with BIDU, GOOGLE, OPEN and other successful internet IPOs. The groupon and potentially a twitter IPO will be a similar success.
Usually what seems like a bubble isn't. Remember the China economy 'overheating' talk of 2006? Or how Priceline, Netflix, and Baidu were overvalued last year? Those things still keep going strong and will continue to do so as long as the fundamentals of the economy remain strong.
Surging commodity and living expenses will result in even more populist angst (if that's even possible), but have no negative impact on economy. The demand for food, energy, healthcare, education (the stuff rising the most) is considered to be inelastic. But the increased spending on these inelastic goods will translate into pure top line GDP growth without impacting elastic goods such as computers, appliances, and apparel. Thus, surging living expenses helps the economy and stock market by forcing consumers to spend more on these inelastic goods.
The personal savings rate will fall into negative territory like it did in 2008. We'll see $5/gallon gas, $2000+/ounce gold, $150+ oil and parabolic charts for grains. Unlike in 2008 there will be no collapse; non-core components of the consumer & producer price index will keep rising, but treasury yields will rise only slightly confounding many of the experts like Peter Schiff who have been pounding the table about an impending 'dollar crisis' and hyperinflation. Technically there inflation, but it's non-core inflation, which is the kind Bernanke and the bond market ignores.
Healthcare and college tuition costs will not relent. There will be no popping of the credit card or tuition bubble. The seismic shift in the labor market in the past decade to more technical, specialized jobs is contributing to the college boom.
Companies that are market leaders today such as Facebook, IBM, Netflix, Apple, or Google will remain so long into the future. Large cap, globalist companies and high net worth individuals are the main beneficiaries of current economic policy. The system is one that seems to help those who have the most. if you're out of college and have a lot of debt or out of a job don't expect much help from the government. It's a nation of huge personal debt but huge S&P 500 profits, too. The wealth gap will keep widening and wages continue will lag inflation. Healthcare, education, student loan debt, gas, energy, food will keep skyrocketing. It's not fair and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Buying and holding stocks, Euro, and commodities is one way to profit off dyseconomics. Or emigrate before the purchasing dollar becomes nonexistent and you're stuck.
High unemployment has been shown to have a negligible to non-existent impact on consumer spending. Ref (http://www.savingpontiac.org/images/torturethenumbers.pdf ) According to msnbc Consumer spending was growing at the fastest pace in four years in the final three months of 2010 The S&P 500 consumer discretionary spider is well above its 2007 pre-recession highs. But the economic gains from high unemployment cannot be dismissed in the context of dyseconomics. High unemployment gives the fed a good excuse to never raise rates that the public will buy (the real reason is BRIC surpluses as explained earlier). High unemployment makes the remaining workers more productive which means higher profit margins. When consumers are less confident they are more productive, but still spending the same amount of money on essentials like gas and food as well as ipods, Netflix, Priceline etc. Spiking consumer confidence could be a bearish indicator for the markets. Finally, any weakness in American consumer & business spending from high unemployment is easily compensated by growing foreign business & consumer demand, and combined with a falling dollar you have a win-win situation for S&P 500 exporters. It's not like the 80's and 90's when foreign markets were much smaller.
For the aforementioned reasons policy makers aren't expressing much enthusiasm for getting people back to work. Also, No one can 'force' companies to hire more people. NO publics works, no shovel ready projects.
Wall st. and the fund managers don't care about unemployment or housing because the economy in terms of earnings, exports and profits is doing great. That's what matters from an investor's standpoint. If you're a trader a failsafe strategy is to buy the dip of any job news related selloff.
Unemployment will remain above eight percent for remainder of the decade, and may exceed ten percent if more people look for jobs. Their efforts will prove mostly futile as outsourcing, productivity, and technology means fewer workers needed. The baselines unemployment will settle at 7-8% and the total US labor force will continue to shrink. Structured labor tracked by the government will continue to be replaced by underground work.
Even with mainstreet is sitting on the sidelines the US economy now is stronger than it was at any other time in history thanks to dyseconomics. Permanently low interest rates combined with booming earnings and profits makes for a formidable bull market.
Copyright © 2011 Cetin Hakimoglu – All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.
I have a note on core inflation which might be of interest to your readers.
Imagine that the measure of inflation used by the Federal Reserve excludes ENERGY and FOOD because they are TOO Volatile. We truly live in a FIXED world.
"Core inflation is a measure of inflation which excludes certain items that face volatile price movements, notably food and energy.
The preferred measure by the Federal Reserve of core inflation in the United States is the core Personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE). This is based on chained dollars.
The oppressed people will eventually be able to push aside their oppressors, throughout the history of mankind this has been the case and it will come to pass in Syria and in the rest of the Arab world it's just a matter of time!
CHICAGO, April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced it had reached record volume yesterday in its COMEX Silver futures, as well as in open interest of its Silver options.
Yesterday, trading of Silver futures reached 319,204 contracts, surpassing the prior record of 201,216 contracts set on November 9, 2010. At the same time, open interest in Silver options reached a new record of 240,344 contracts. The prior record of 235,992 contracts was set on April 21, 2011.
Silver futures have demonstrated rapid growth during the month of April. Month-to-date average daily volume (ADV) for Silver futures has increased 218 percent from this point last year. During 2011 year-to-date, ADV for Silver futures have grown 110 percent versus the same period last year.
I wonder if we are going to see a major correction in this particular commodity soon before it goes on toward the 100 mark??
Figures released by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) this morning for the month of March 2011 show that the flight of deposits from Irish banks shows no sign of slowing down. From an Irish perspective, possibly the most significant figure to watch is the total of private sector deposits in the six State-guaranteed financial institutions (AIB, Anglo, Bank of Ireland, EBS, Irish Life and Permanent and INBS). The total which represents businesses and households fell to €106.3bn in March 2011 from €108.6bn in February 2011 and is now down €23bn from a year ago, €11bn since the IMF/EU bailout in November 2010 and €2.3bn down over the course of just one month. The CBI and ECB continue to provide substitute funding for Irish banks which replaces this flight of deposits and Irish banks continue to provide extensive State-backed guarantees on deposits. It remains to be seen if the pace of decline in deposits slowed after the bank restructuring announcements made after close of business on 31st March, 2011 – Minister Noonan indicated the early signs were encouraging but since then our sovereign bond yields have sky-rocketed again.
So, looking at the deposit figures produced by the CBI. First up is the consolidated picture for all banks operating in Ireland including those based in the IFSC which do not service the domestic economy.
Next up are the 20 banks which do service the domestic economy and include local subsidiaries of foreign banks like Danske, KBC and Rabobank. There is a list of all banks operating in Ireland here together with a note of the 20 that service the domestic economy.
(1) Monetary Financial Institutions (MFIs) refers to credit institutions, as defined in Community Law, money market funds, and other resident financial institutions whose business is to receive deposits and/or close substitutes for deposits from entities other than MFIs, and, for their own account (at least in economic terms), to grant credits and/or to make investments in securities. Since January 2009, credit institutions include Credit Unions as regulated by the Registrar of Credit Unions. Under ESA 95, the Eurosystem (including the Central Bank ofIreland) and other non-euro area national central banks are included in the MFI institutional sector. In the tables presented here, however, central banks are not included in the loans and deposits series with respect to MFI counterparties.
Just a few weeks ago Mr. Noonan reassured the public that "The total amount of deposits withdrawn from the pillar banks has been very significantly reduced". And "the net deposit position of the Pillar Banks has improved significantly" So what's new he was lying and I expect he will continue to lie to us over the next few years. This is what you get when you try to build so called Pillar Bank on the rotten foundations of corrupt and toxic banks in the first place!
Shut these toxic black holes down now!


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Q: Flutter not detecting sdk cmdline tools Running flutter doctor gives me the "cmdline-tools component is missing" error, even though I installed Android SDK command-line tools in android studio, I also updated it and am sure it's the latest version. I've been searching for days for a solution to this and the only answer I can find anywhere is "Just install SDK Command-line tools in the Android studio SDK manager!" Which I clearly already did, and it still isn't working.
Images below to specify
The Flutter Doctor error
Showing I have Android SDK Command line installed

A: try updating your cmdline tools to latest version
sdkmanager.bat --update "cmdline-tools;latest"

type this command with in the cmdline-tools > bin path
or try
sdkmanager --update "cmdline-tools;latest"

this command in cmd

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


You know those websites that you visit on a daily basis, the ones you wait on impatiently for a new blog post? Well I have my own list, and I'd like to share it. Most of the links will be publishing/writing related, but I'm sure I'll add a few odd ducks here or there.
If you want your information about the publishing world straight up, with a little bit of midwestern niceness mixed in, Agent Kristen's blog is the place to go. She lists actual Queries that have worked for her, talks about what's hot right now in publishing, and generally just provides a great insight into the business. Her archives are a wealth of information! I've learned so much about finding an agent, the quest to publication, how to write better and how to treat my writing like a business. And I can safely say, Kristen is one of the good ones out there. She'd never knowingly steer your wrong.
If you're looking for an agent, or even just interested in books in general, I highly recommend checking out her site. I don't think I'd be anywhere near this ready to start querying if it wasn't for Agent Kristen and her fantastic blog.


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Saba (giz ሳባ, Saba, arabsko سبأ, Sabaʾ, starojužnoarabsko  S-b-ʾ, hebrejsko שבא, Šəḇā, ) je antično kraljestvo, ki je obstajalo med 1000 pr. n. št. in 400 n. št.. To kraljestvo je omenjeno v Bibliji (Stara zaveza) in Koranu. Prava lega tega starodavnega kraljestva je še danes sporna, številni novejši dokazi gredo v prid tezi, da je bil to Jemen v Južni Arabiji, nekateri znanstveniki pa menijo, da je to bilo v Eritreji ali Etiopiji.

Zgodovina

Sabejci, antični semitski narod iz Južne Arabije, je okoli leta 1000. pr. n. št. osnoval svojo sužnjelastniško državo Sabsko kraljestvo, z glavnim mestom Marib. Sabsko kraljestvo se je nahajalo na kraju, ki se danes imenuje Asir v jugozahodnem Jemnu. Obstaja verjetnost, da je bilo glavno mesto kraljestva v začetku Sirva, a je to zelo hitro postal Marib.

Bogastvo te države je temeljilo na kmetijstvu in visoko razviti tehniki namakanja (jez Marib), ter na trgovini s kadilom, začimbami, zlatom in slonovini. Sabejci so bili posredniki med Sirijo, Mezopotamijo, Egiptom, Etiopijo, Indijo in kasneje tudi grško-rimskim svetom.

Prva pisana sled o Sabskem kraljestvu je najdena v nekem poročilo iz Hadite (Irak), v njem guverner mest Sukur in Mari piše, da je bila v sredini stoletja pr. n. št. pri Hindanu (blizu Abu Kemala) neka karavana iz Sabe in Teme napadena.

Znano je, da je sabski vladar Jitamar Vatar I., ki je vladal okoli leta 715. pr. n. št., uspel odvzeti nekatera ozemlja Kraljestvu Kataban – področje južno od Sabe, svoj vpliv pa je razširil tudi na sever, na al-Džauf, po zmagi pri Kaminahu. Kmalu je Sabsko kraljestvo izgubilo Kataban od kraljestva Ausan (ki se je razprostiralo na istem ozemlju). Po tem je kralj Karibil Vatar I. uspel (okoli leta 685. pr. n. št.) v nekaj pohodih pokoriti sosednje Kraljestvo Ausan, katerega ozemlje je bilo, ob vazalnem Katabanu in Najranu, pomembno za nadzor trgovine s kadilom. Razen trgovine s kadilom, je Sabsko kraljestvo nadzorovalo še pomorsko trgovino z obalami Vzhodne Afrike. V tem času je Sabsko kraljestvo uspelo osnovati svoje trgovske kolonije po etiopski provinci Tigra in v Eritreji. Iz njih se je najverjetneje rodila mešana kultura, ki je bila temelj sabejsko-etiopskega kraljestvo Damot (D'mt), ki je kasneje, od 1. stoletja, postalo Aksumitsko kraljestvo.

Za izboljšanje pogojev za življenje prebivalcev Sabe, je bil v 6. stoletju ali 4. stoletju pr. n. št. zgrajen slavni jez Marib. S pomočjo tega jezu so namakali obsežna puščavska ozemlja na robu puščave Rub al-Hali, kar je pomembno prispevalo k porastu prebivalstva Sabe. V drugi polovici 6. stoletja (po Hermann von Wissmannu) ali v 4. stoletju pr. n. št. (po Kennethu A. Kitchenu), je Sabski kralj Jiti'amar Bajin II. uspel dokončati jez Marib, a je izgubil Minejsko kraljestvo (Ma'in) in verjetno tudi Najran.

Postopna izguba prevlade
V 4. stoletju pr. n. št. so se do tedaj vazalna sabska kraljestva Minejsko (Ma'in), Kataban in Hadramaut uspela osvoboditi, na ta način je Sabsko kraljestvo začasno izgubilo nadzor nad Potjo kadila. V času rimskega cesarja Avgusta je bila organizirana odprava, ki bi morala priti do Sabskega kraljestva. Vodil jo je leta 25. pr. n. št. Aelius Gallus, rimski prefekt Egipta, ki je uspel priti do glavnega sabskega mesta Marib, a se je moral umakniti zaradi pomanjkanja vode in bolezni. Vrhunec svoje moči je Sabsko kraljestvo doseglo leta 225, ko je kralju Šairumu Avtaru uspelo ponovno zavzeti Hadramaut in ponovno zagospodariti Poti kadila.

Padec pod Himdžar in konec moči Sabskega kraljestva

S spremembami trgovskih poti, ki so se zgodile v začetku 1. stoletja, so obalna področja Jemna pridobila na pomenu. Posebej pomemben je postal rog Arabskega polotoka in Himdžarsko kraljestvo, ki ga je kontroliralo.

Zgodovinar Kenneth A. Kitchen meni, da sta bila Himdžarsko in Sabsko kraljestvo od leta 1 – 140  v nekakšni vrsti unije, a se je istočasno dogajal tudi razpad Sabskega kraljestva na več plemenskih klanov in dinastij.

Od 2. stoletja je Kraljevina Himjar praktično nadzorovala vse trgovske plovne poti, še vedno pa je staro glavno mesto Marib ostalo versko središče Sabe. V sabsko-himdžarski bitki pri Hurmatu 248/249 izgleda da nobena stran ni zmagala, a je potem okoli leta 260 Himdžarsko kraljestvo končno pokorilo Sabsko kraljestvo. Himdžariti so se imeli za naslednike Sabejcev, a propada gorskega zaledja niso mogli zaustaviti. Namakalni sistem je razpadel, kar je privedlo do razseljevanja prebivalcev Sabe. Po tem, ko se je nekajkrat porušil zaradi velikih voda in ni bil popravljen, je bil jez Marib končno opuščen in prepuščen propadanju leta 572.

Potem, ko se je leta 517 v Jemnu na oblast povzpel kralj Du Nuvas, in naj bi judovstvo postala uradna vera, je Bizanc želel to preprečiti, zato je ponudil podporo etiopskemu Aksumitskemu kraljestvu, da napade dežele Južne Arabije. Aksumitski kralj Kaleb je zavzel celoten Jemen leta 525. Tako je bil Jemen krajši čas vazalna država Aksumitskega kraljestva. Po tem je Jemen padel pod oblast Sasanidov, okoli leta 660 pa pod oblast Arabcev.

Sabsko kraljestvo v Bibliji

Najpomembnejša zgodba v Svetem pismu je tista o Sabski kraljici, ki se je pod vplivom novic, ki so prišle do njenega kraljestva, odločila obiskati kralja Salomona v Izraelu.

Ime Saba je navedeno v Stari zavezi na več mestih. Na primer v zgodbi o Noetovih sinovih (1. Mojzesova knjiga 10:7) je naveden Sabejec skupaj z Dedanom, kot potomcem Noetovega sina Hama. V 1. Mojzesovi knjigi (25:3), sta Sabejec in Dedan navedena kot sinova Jokšana, Abrahamovega sina. Nek drug Saba je naveden v 1. Mojzesovi knjigi (10:28) kot sin Joktanov, še en potomec Noetovega sina Šema. Nek drug Sabejec se navaja v Drugi knjigi o Samuelu (20:1-22), on se je uprl kralju Davidu, prebivalci Abela so mu oddrobili glavo in ga vrgli preko mestnega obzidja, da bi rešili svoja življenja. Glede na navedbe etiopske pravoslavne cerkve, je zadnji od treh Sabejcev (Joktanov sin) izvirni prednik semitske komponente v njihovi etnogenezi, medtem ko za Sabta in Sabteka, sinova Kuša, velja da so predniki Kušitov.

Judovsko-rimski zgodovinar Jožef Flavij opisuje mesto, ki ga imenuje Saba, kot kraljevsko mesto v Etiopiji, obdano z obzidjem, za njim perzijski kralj Kambiz II. to mesto imenuje Meroë. Ta pravi: »mesto obkroža Nil, a drugi dve reki, Astapus in Astaboras nudijo zaščito pred tujo vojsko in rečnimi poplavami«. Po Jožefu Flaviju je osvajanje Sabe prineslo veliko slavo mlademu egipčanskemu princu, ki je bil suženjski otrok Mojzesa.

Arheološke najdbe

Sodobne arheološke najdbe vse bolj podpirajo tezo, da se je Sabsko kraljestvo razprostiralo v gorah Jemna zraven jezu Marib, ki je bil zgrajen pred več kot 2500 leti.

Nekateri znanstveniki mitsko Sabsko kraljestvo umeščajo na jug današnje Saudove Arabije, ter nakazujejo na možno zvezo med narodom Sabejcev, ki so bili iz Južne Arabije in Sabskim kraljestvom.

Po srednjeveški etiopski knjigi Kebra Nagast, se je Sabsko kraljestvo nahajalo v Etiopiji. Zato nekateri znanstveniki umeščajo Sabo na področje severne Tigre in Eritreje (to področje se je nekoč imenovalo Saba (kasneje Meroa), kar je mogoče povezati z biblijsko Sabo. Drugi znanstveniki mislijo, da je bila starodavna Saba antična Ševa (sedanja pokrajina Šoa, kjer leži Adis Abeba) v Etiopiji.

Sklici

Viri

Zunanje povezave
 Brana Marib sa stranica Saudi  Aramco World Online
 Iskopan hram Kraljice  od Sabe(2000. BBC)

Bivše države v Aziji
Zgodovina Jemna

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Lyons Cub has found his favorite indoor playground! Having tried out GeckoFun in Burscheid, Hoplop in Cologne, and Oki Doki in Langenfeld, we went to Trampolino in the city of Hilden, and this place had something of everything and some additional attractions the other places lacked. Let's see how those four indoor playgrounds compare.
Attractions in the indoor playgrounds GeckoFun, Hoplop, Oki Doki, and Trampolino:
High ropes course (Oki Doki (also for small children 1m+) and Trampolino (only for big kids 1.30m+))
Bungy jumping (only Trampolino)
Trampolines (Geckofun, Hoplop, Oki Doki, and Trampolino)
Trampoline ninja park (only Trampolino)
Big air castle ("Luftburg"): only Trampolino
Inflatable dragon that swallows kids, with slide back out (GeckoFun, Hoplop, and Oki Doki)
Go-karts (GeckoFun, Hoplop, Oki Doki, and Trampolino)
Nice restaurant where parents can sit without hearing the kids scream (only Trampolino)
Nicest seating area for families, with kids in view (GeckoFun and Trampolino)
Climbing volcano (GeckoFun, Hoplop, Oki Doki)
Soccer field (only Trampolino)
Food: I didn't like the chicken nuggets (my son ate them just fine) at Hoplop. Fast food was good at the other three places, but the best restaurant was at Trampolino.
Supervision: The go-karts place is only supervised by knowledgeable personnel at the Trampolino! At all the other places, it was utter chaos, and the kids were running around on the race track or fighting for cars if their parents didn't attend to them.
Cleanliness: Trampolino had the cleanest and most modern restrooms of all the four places.
Condition of play things: There was one yellow rubber sheet covering the inflatable slide at Trampolino. I didn't notice any defects at the other places. Oki Doki was renovated during the pandemic.
And here's to the sizes of the indoor playgrounds:
Hoplop in Cologne Pullheim: Approximately 5,000 square meters
Trampolino in Hilden: 3,500 square meters
GeckoFun in Burscheid: 2,500 square meters
Oki Doki in Langenfeld: 2,000 square meters
This is what it's like at Trampolino in Hilden:
As a parent, I have to say the Hoplop, which had the most climbing attractions, was so big that you completely lost your kids out of your eyes. It was a bit fueling my anxiety that Lyons Cub could get hurt, lost, or walk out with another family. Also, we were there in the middle of summer with over 30 degrees Celcius, so it was terribly hot and stuffy in there, and just sitting on a bench was exhausting and causing you to sweat. However, there were separate beautiful, rooms for birthday parties, not just a reserved bench in the general hall.
GeckoFun, on the contrary, was small and had the nicest seating area for parents and for birthday celebrations. You constantly had the kids before your eyes and knew they couldn't walk out without passing your seating area. It had no attractions for older kids and teens, though.
Oki Doki was really small, but the benches were arranged in such a way that you did not have a good view of your children. It had the high rope course for older kids and teens, and an easier one for the little kids of 1.00m+ of height.
Trampolino, however, had the nicest accommodation for parents and grandparents ever: Besides the usual seating area for the adults and for celebrating birthdays, which was very central and offered a good view over all the attractions, it had a real restaurant with delicious food, not just fast food. The best thing was that you didn't hear the screaming and crying of the children there! At all the other places, it is okay when you arrive at opening hour, 10 a.m., but around 2 p.m., the noise level gets such that you have to scream to understand what the other person says. Although the high ropes course was just for older kids of over 1.30m of height, my son didn't mind and made good use of the attractions he was allowed to use.
The only negative thing about Trampolino: The kids were free to ride trikes of different sizes around the whole floor without supervision, causing several (harmless) crashes. Usually, the parents jumped in before something worse could happen.
Of all four indoor playgrounds we have visited so far, Lyons Cub liked Trampolino the most.
The trampolines were great fun; even the parents ventured onto them.
Some kids were evidently more advanced and could even do flips. Lyons Cub watched them in amazement. He even threw himself onto the trampolines, yelling: "Mommy, mommy, did you see that?!?"
My son loves bungy jumping; he did it at the fall festival last week, at the fun fair in Monheim last year, and in the Clarksville Governnors' Mall on the Jumping Spider three years ago. The bungy jumping place was always well supervised. The personnel helped the children into their harnesses and adjusted the height of the straps. Alas, one has to stand in line for bungy jumping, so it's best to do it in the morning, when fewer kids are there. That's what we did. It costs EUR2.50 to jump each time (about 5 minutes, I estimate). One has to buy special tickets at the counter for that (pink ticket). The go-karts cost another ticket (green ticket). Of course, it's not nice to pay for the attractions inside when one has already paid an entrance fee, but they have to pay the supervision personnel, so I completely understand that. They are disposable paper tickets that get used only one time (not good for the environment, but healthier during the pandemic than laminated tickets that move from hand to hand).
The bungy jumping place was not for the adults, by the way. Too bad!!
There were fewer climbing towers at Hoplop or Oki Doki, but they were sufficient for my nearly 5-year-old. Underneath them was the scooter race track. There was only one yellow long plastic slide and a blue, curvy one down into the ball pit; not quite comparable to the other indoor playgrounds, but sufficient.
Lyons Cub even figured out how to slide down a foam walkway on his butt 😉
There were two foosball tables, and they were the best of the tables at the four indoor playgrounds we've been to, because when you threw EUR1.00 into the slot, a bouncy ball came up, and you played soccer with it, and when it fell into a goal, the person who shot the goal got the bouncy ball that fell out! Lyons Cub got 7 (!!) bouncy balls. He played against mommy and another boy.
One of the main attractions was the yellow inflatable slide. It looked really dirty and worn out and had a yellow rubber cloth as cover that always flew up when kids came sliding down. That's the only attraction that should be replaced in there. It was still fun for the kids, but a bit unsafe since some little children climbed up the slide where the others came down, which was not permitted, but nobody hindered them.
The most interesting thing by far was the "Luftburg," or air castle. However, it was very difficult for little kids to climb up on it. They all had to wear socks, so we had brought those anti-slide socks with sticky rubber pads. Still, my son always slid back down, so I had to lift him up to reach the handles to pull himself to the top. Once, he came back down and knocked me over, and we both landed on our bottoms. But finally, we managed to get him up there, and he jumped together with the bigger kids.
Go-karts are a must at every indoor playground, I guess. Alas, Lyons Cub got the white scooter, which was the slowest of them all! Oh well. He did manage to overtake a few of his rivals. This place was well supervised, and only five kids were allowed to ride at the same time after having paid a ticket. Then, they had to leave and let other kids go, so a child with a handful of tickets couldn't ride forever. The same rule applied for the bungy jumping place, and this was really good. At all the other indoor playgrounds we've been to, some kids had several coins or tokens, and just kept riding and riding, while others never got a chance.
Of course, Lyons Cub also tried some of the different kinds of trikes that dashed around the place. This one was hand propelled:
All in all, Lyons Cub had a terrific time. He didn't like the very spicy chicken wings mommy ordered in the restaurant (because she mixed them up with "chicken nuggets," haha), so he only ate the French fries and ice-cream. He did enjoy his colorful slushy:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In the video above a paying client of her's give Magickal Lady Duchess owner of MLD Holistic Healing Store in Mesquite, Texas, a review from his own experiences as he ordered a total of 3 spells from her and how they not only didn't work but also her poor communication and moral ethics dealing with him as a customer of hers. and ethical practices as well.
He wants to warn anyone that is considering using Magickal Lady Duchess and her sugar daddy kits, her spell work, her readings and her consultations and other so called services this snippet of advice to protect them from what he went through with her.
He did not know that she was a ripoff because he thought her kind and gentle words made her a "motherly" and nice type of person, but he soon unveiled her nasty mask on her face to see the real true her and her very dark side.
As he said in the video she really cares about the money and posting videos on youtube than actually helping her paying clients with their problems.
He even talks in the video of how he spent $1,000 on spells and consultations with her and she still did not help him as he stated that her assistant said Magickal Lady Duchess forgot to do his spellwork.
But she sent him a sugar daddy kit instead. For those that don't know, her sugar daddy kits are for women, not men, so again she dropped the ball, as he didn't even order a sugar daddy kit.
She also did not call him for his consultation so he had to eat that cost as well.
It was just a horrible experience for this victim as she drained him of all of his money playing on his emotions and desperate situation of trying to save the love of his life.
I do have other blog posts of Magical Lady Duchess. I just recommend that you check them out in their entirety before you are another story that I have to report on her. I am tired of all of her customers getting scammed because it gives all of us in the occult world a bad name and people do not deserve to be treated this way at all.
Update: WARNING – Magicakal Lady Duchess now has a shop opened called MLD Holistic Healing located at 4200 Gus Thomasson Rd #104, Mesquite, TX 75150 phone number a the time of this update of 469-466-9801. You have been WARNED!


text:
Author: KifuCoffeeRoaster
January 3, 2023 January 10, 2023 / KifuCoffeeRoaster / 1 Comment
Megan walked into my office "[something something] Radley…seizure."
Everything scrambled, static. Next breath I remember I was pulling onto my street. The ambulance and firetruck were parked in front of my house, exactly where they do not belong. I yanked open the ambulance door. Heads turned around and words flew around and I couldn't hear anything and neither could she. I was small and helpless and out of control and so was she. Keldy knelt beside her with all her heart and soul and mind and strength poured outside of herself. She had become a cross and turned the space all around into a womb.
Radley was there, somewhere, lost behind some thick black curtain. She was thankfully now breathing but still far from responding, far from herself and from us. For all her life she has been naked and not ashamed, proudly wearing her whole soul and sin on her sleeve. But my daughter was nowhere to be found on that surface. She had sunken beneath the surface of her body and was trapped somewhere inside herself and outside everyone else, kept from entering into that middle space where love lives and people say "you and me" and "daddy" and "we," that space where children come home. They're supposed to.
Her body was ironed out and flexed like a toddler's body is not. It was like the body of someone who wants to escape in a place for people who are not allowed to escape. Her hands were balled in fists and arms stretched stiff at her side. It looked like she was trying to split herself in two longways to let herself out. Her mouth was pursed and lips jerking at angles and taking turns being bitten, like if a face could have its wires crossed. The sound of her teeth grinding was louder than the voices I couldn't hear. It sounded like a torture chamber. Her eyes were lost. Everything was.
It wasn't that her eyes were out of focus but overly focused. Her face looked dead serious, like a search party at sunset. Keldy's eyes were locked into hers, knowing her, trying to remind her. Radley was looking back intently, pupils jolting in small angled orbits, scanning like a satellite in outer space looking for signals through the outer darkness. But–wrong frequency or something. There was sinking, grasping distance. It was like Keldy was yelling down from the top of a well that Radley had fallen—was falling—down, and Radley was trying her best to keep looking up to the light to make out the silhouette, to recognize the voice, to hear her name, to remember, to be known. You could tell she was fighting with all her powerful little self against the gravity of the of the night beneath. But we remained out of reach—she remained out of reach.
Jesus, where the hell are we!
We arrived at the hospital and I carried her into a sterile buzzing room and laid her little body down on a big white bed custom-made for non-working adult bodies, equipped with rubber blood vessels and wires to do the math and chrome bars for the weight of the world and flashing lights and beeping beeps and sick adults and serious sounding words. It was a scary place for a two-year-old little girl and a thirty-seven-year-old little boy trying to be a giant, trying to hold up all that weight on that bed.
She looked at my eyes the same way she looked at Keldy's, like she was looking for a memory, looking for a mirror—lost. She just couldn't penetrate beneath the surface where names are kept, where we see "daddy" and "daughter" and not strangers and eyeballs. The distance of that prolonged moment is incomparable to any I've ever known, from this vantage at least. It feels precisely godless, which I've only ever known from the other side, the lost side, where my two-year old daughter should not be allowed to go.
I knelt down and cupped my hand around her ear to block out the universe and began to tell her all the secrets about her that nobody knows but us, because only I can see them and I've never told anybody but her. I always tell her secrets at bedtime, when the universe is gone and it's dark and we're the only two voices left, because bedtime is not the only time it gets dark like that and I want her to know there are always at least two voices left. So I told her some secrets about her two middle names (because one isn't enough for my only daughter), Jael Dawn, and a story about a rider on a white horse, the soldier of Light who makes war against the darkness.
After a while she began to loosen up. She was still not responding but no longer looked panicked like she was trying to escape her body. Eventually, her eyes began to relax and her body settled into the bed. Keldy stroked a finger down the bridge of her nose and like a light switch she was out. Keldy finally was able to recount to me the events as they took place at the epicenter of the eclipse—when she first lost her eyes along with her breath as her body seized and face filled blue—and she began to weep and I tried to hold it together so I just suffocated all over and my soul turned blue.
When Radley woke up she had risen closer to the surface. She still wasn't identifying people by name or pointing but seemed to see more of us or more of herself in us, a step toward meeting in the middle. Keldy actually got a few giggles out of her with her customary (Canadian) Eskimo kisses. Her laugh sounded like trumpets blasting from the four corners of the earth and the roar of many waters. Then she peed a baby-pool worth of baby-pee on Keldy's mommy-lap, or Keldy peed her pants and blamed Radley for it, and shortly after looked straight at Keldy and said "mommy." "And the tombs burst open, and many bodies of the saints who had died were raised and they left the cemetery… and went into the holy city…and appeared to many people." (Mt. 27:52-53). It was like that.
After that Keldy asked, "Can you say daddy?" She looked at me and her face promptly filled with bright red sadness and she began to cry as she reached out to me with both arms. I reached across the bed and pulled her to my chest and she laid her head on my shoulder and we both cried like babies and I had my servants kill all the fattened calves in the kingdom.
I held her while Keldy RN adulted with doctors and signatures and words words words and I did not put her down until long after we got home. On the way home, while holding her illegally in the backseat of my truck, I asked her if she wanted me to draw a picture of her on my phone. She nodded. She still had not called me "daddy" but I had a hunch that it was now only because she knew I wanted her to and she takes after her mother. So I was tricking her. Every time I finish drawing a picture of her she makes a request (demand), the same request (demand) every time. I finished the picture and, without hesitation, she demanded, "Draw you."
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…and I saw the holy city and the streets of gold and unshuttable gates and all the rest…" (Rev. 21-22).
The sun was shining in full strength. I was "you" and "we" were together again (see above fine art).
Radley came home.
Within two hours she was talking to "mommy" and "daddy." By the end of the night she was doing the shake-your-booty dance. I don't think I'll ever be so relieved to see my daughter doing the shake-your-booty dance, but tonight it was life abundant.
P.S. Doc says the seizure was caused by a fever and is confident it was not epileptic. Thank you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Jesus. I did a lot more sinning and doubting today than praying and believing. But you did you anyway. Thank you.
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
~ 2 Timothy 2:11-13
A BLESSING TO A SOLDIER OF THE DAWN
Most blessed of women is Jael…
Of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
May all your enemies perish, O LORD!
But may those who love you
Be as the rising of the sun in full strength.
And the land had rest for forty years.
~ Judges 5:24-31
January 1, 2023 January 10, 2023 / KifuCoffeeRoaster / Leave a comment
Imagine how much bigger and more mysterious the world must have been before it got entangled in the World Wide Web, a world without Buzzfeeds that reduce our ordinary world to a series of tragic or trivial headlines and Newsfeeds that reduce our social world to a series of one-way conversations 140 characters-deep, 10,000 friends-wide. Imagine a world without Google Maps and Google Earth and Google Sky and Google Multiverse (forthcoming). Imagine what it must have felt like to not feel like you are at the center of the earth or the center of every event and every relationship on earth. Imagine a world with board games and the great big woods outback.
I wonder what it felt like to be as small as Jesus was.
Just as a thought experiment, go type "headlines" into your search engine of choice. Read the headlines. Then ask yourself the following question: "What can I do about this?" I'm thinking of specific actions that can actually address specific problems or make specific differences in my life or anyone else's.
Here are the top headlines from a few various news media outlets (at the time an earlier version of this was written):
"Trump's former friends flip as he faces a new reality" (CNN)
"Jon Gosselin says he and Kate are still fighting over custody" (CNN)
"Trump cancels White House Christmas party for the press" (Fox)
"William Shatner battles with fans over defense of 'Baby It's Cold Outside'" (Fox)
"High-speed train crashes into pedestrian overpass, killing 9 in Turkey" (Global News)
"Is Kelly Clarkson being groomed to take over once Ellen leaves" (MSN)
"Jennifer Lopez wears hot pink tulle dress with HUGE train to premiere of Second Act… (and A-Rod is spotted lovingly taking snaps of her look)" (DailyMail–really scraping the bottom of the barrel here)
There it is, folks, the "news." These are the new things happening all over our world. Behold the newness of it all.
"What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun."
Just because it's a headline doesn't mean it's important, that it rightly demands your attention, that it can add to or take away from your hope, that it actually deserves to be regarded as "news." The vast majority of information incessantly being pumped through the media outlets is not designed to "inform" the public but to form cultural (and tribal) attitudes (cf. G.K. Chesterton's sobering work, What's Wrong with the World; also Jaques Ellul's Propaganda), and of course to entertain. It's spectacle, a coliseum at our fingertips. But it is certainly not news in any real sense of the word. It's just an ever-expanding buffet of rearranged words that are used to say the same old thing over and over and over ad infinitum. It's like Mexican food. There is nothing new under the sun. We're just moving around the rice and the beans.
The unquenchable fires of the nightly news feed only on the world of decay, a world that requires the new to ever become old, a world that skims atop the surface of time desperately groping at what men identify as meaningful today but what moth will identify as food tomorrow. But Christians have been given a cross staked into history's yesterday and Life raised up into history's Tomorrow. That news has pierced the soul of the world, and it is the one thing that remains new because it is the only news that never grows old. It is the news that the angel heralded over history as "the eternal Good News…to every tribe, tongue and nation" (Rev. 14:6). It's the eternal good news because it's the news that makes all things new.
It is helpful to remember that when Jesus saved the world the worldwide web didn't even exist. News feeds were word of mouth, and the words were from mouths that were not even miked. Without even the help of K-Love, somehow the love of God managed to spread throughout the airwaves. It was even more primitive than a landline phone call, as old fashion as family dinner. In fact, not a single member of his little lakeside church had a voice loud enough even to cast a Roman vote. How they managed to function without a cultural pat on the back and a governmental stamp of approval baffles the religious right and the camel staring eye-to-eye with the needle. But as Jesus once said, it's easier for the Gospel to get into North Korea than for Donald Trump to enter the kingdom of heaven.
So we cannot be deceived to think that the effect of the Gospel increases with an increase in volume. Besides, I don't know about you, but I tend to avoid sitting next to the guy with the bullhorn, especially if he is carrying a Bible. The Church's News about the Prince of Peace sounds personal, like an invitation or a confrontation, not a pep rally. It belongs at the table, not in the bleachers. If we keep blasting it out into the nation-wide airwaves, our best words, like "evangelical," are going to keep getting distorted, bastardized under the jurisdiction of "the prince of the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2). And that just deepens the mess we're in now of needing to "unspeak" about Jesus as much as we need to speak about him. God speaks in a still small voice because that kind of speech requires nearness, and God wants us to speak like him when we speak about him. When we speak about him we speak about the God who is near in Jesus Christ, and the God who is near in Jesus Christ brings near the kind of people who would otherwise remain far apart in the name of so many other names of so many other tribes and gods and herculean lords-elect.
I'm not saying it is bad to be concerned with or aware of the national scene or global scene, especially if you are in a position to do something about it–-if you're reading this, you are not-–but I do think it is bad to be unconcerned with and oblivious to the local scene. In the words of Gustavo Gutierrez: "So you say you love the poor. Name them." Indeed, I'm as suspicious of the religion of the liberal left as I am that of the religious right, of the man who decries world hunger but has never offered to buy a local man's lunch, who endorses love for the world but doesn't sit down to eat dinner with his family, who rails against abortion but doesn't teach his son how to respect a woman, his daughter how to respect herself. The greater are our delusions of grandeur, the severer we suffer the sickness of Doestoevsky's doctor, who
loved mankind…but…the more I love mankind in general, the less I love people in particular. I often went so far as to think passionately of serving mankind, and, it may be, would really have gone to the cross for people if it were somehow suddenly necessary, and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone even for two days; this I know from experience. As soon as someone is there, close to me, his personality oppresses my self-esteem and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I can begin to hate even the best of men: one because he takes too long eating his dinner, another because he has a cold and keeps blowing his nose. On the other hand, it has always happened that the more I hate people individually, the more ardent becomes my love for humanity as a whole.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
The problem with actual human beings, the kind that bleed real blood (Jn. 19) and eat real fish (Jn. 21), is that they get in the way of human ideals, especially our ideal of humankind. That's why human beings are most hatable precisely in the name of humankind. We hate Hitler so much because we love humankind so much. But if it is an ideal of humankind we are after, we are better off leaving this world to find it. If God himself cannot fix the world without first getting caught up in the thickets of its realism, then neither should we imagine an ideal world void of invasive thorns and corrupted crowns, or of some strange combination of the two. Till kingdom come in all its fiery cleansing, humans will continue to erect crosses and blow their noses. And unless we are going to join the effort of the ones holding the hammers, joining the effort of the One holding the nails will always feel small and personal, and likely at least a pain in the neck.
The truth is, you can't make your world different until your world becomes close enough to touch, low enough to look in the eye. That is your world. Everything bigger is a mirage. Anything more important is unimportant. And strangely enough, it is in that little insignificant world of yours, too small to see through a screen, that you will find meaning, purpose and permanence, because it is in that world that you will find God. The shepherds found God in a makeshift cradle, after all, and God Almighty himself said he'd continue to be found in little unlikely places like prayer gatherings (Mt. 18) and prison ministries (Mt. 25).
This point is this: it's easier to care about everything and everyone on earth than to care about one single human being. At least as far as the Church is concerned, we don't need more initiatives than the one we've inherited. We just need to take the one we've inherited seriously. But that requires believing in a very large gap between the size of your efforts and the size of the difference it makes, but it also requires disbelieving in the size of Washington and Wall Street and Hollywood's depictions of how heroes make a difference, so that you don't waste all your efforts trying to change the one to look like the others or give up altogether because you don't look like an X-Man. Neither did the God-Man.
The kingdom of God is not revolutionary like a typical change in thrones or regimes. It is indeed more evolutionary, like a garden. Jesus may not have been as radical as Karl Marx, but he was just as practical as potatoes. Now I don't mean evolutionary in the way Professor Whitehead meant it, nor am I talking about the kind of 'practical' found in the mouths of politicians or the most popular preachers. I just mean there is a certain size and speed men have tended to associate with God that God has tended to dissociate with himself. Jesus, truly God and truly Man, was somehow less divine than all the gods of the pantheon and even more human than the Greeks. He is the kind of God, in all his effortless omnipotence, who portrays himself taking a whole week to create the universe and then without apology takes a break. In fact, creation wasn't complete until he rested from creating it–and it took all day (Gen. 2:2). To be sure, of all the things that made the post-Easter highlight reel of the risen Christ, John tells us about Thomas touching his glorified wounds followed by fish and chips on the beach. Even new creation itself isn't complete without rest.
The Gospel thus frames the divine revolution of God's kingdom in mustard seed packets. And these mustard seeds are not like Jack's beans. They don't magically produce watermelons on vines of Zigguratic proportions. The difference is both bigger and smaller than that–it just depends on how you measure, and I can't help but think that the Church's measuring sticks need about as much conversion as the Church's nonmembers, and exactly as much as its members.
Unfortunately or not, the magical mustard seeds of the kingdom turn out merely to produce more mustard seeds (Mt. 13:31), which is precisely the way love works. Loving people in Jesus' name rarely ever produces mass conversions or a moral majority. Most of the time loving people in Jesus' name just produces more people who love people in Jesus' name. And that's how the kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing for over 2,000 years, longer than any nation has been in existence, and will continue to do so longer than any nation will remain in existence.
And this is actually actionable for everyone, because people really only need moderate amounts of love. What I mean is: people do not need love from the whole human race or even the whole federal government; they just need it from their neighbor, their nearest, and only one at a time. In fact, God-sized love can only fit through a funnel that is one-person wide, not because that's how big God is but because that's how personal God is, and how radically condescending (in the best possible sense) God's Incarnate love is, and if it weren't it wouldn't be love. A cup of cold water in Jesus' name will always be more satisfying than a free drink from the fire hydrant. A pro-life rally will always be less effective than taking a troubled young teen out for ice cream. A father who works 23 hours a day to provide for his family in the name of "love" does not have children who have 23 hours worth of daily love filling up their big house and empty hearts. Love can only be measured by its capacity to be received. So if you want to love the poor or the refugees or the least of these, find one one of them. If you can't find one without a country, find one without home, or one without a father, or one with a father who is too busy working for his kids to bother loving them. They are everywhere, especially right next door.
If you want to join the heroic mission of God and help save the world, just make sure whatever world you intend to save is one inhabited by human beings as real and as small as you are, or at least as small as Jesus was. Even if God sends you across the globe, it will only be in order to send you across the street. But he doesn't have to send you across the globe to send you across the street, so please don't wait until you are called overseas to reach the nations to reach out to the neighbor next door.
If you are committed to becoming part of something as small as God's global mission, going around town proclaiming "good tidings of great joy" to little kids and annoying neighbors, you may not encounter anything as supernatural as a Marvel battle scene, but you will encounter something as supernatural as the Holy Spirit. Sometimes that will look like kingdom-come and be as sweet as Christmas morning, other times it will look quite otherwise and be as sour as a sponge dipped in vinegar. But that's because kingdom-come often looks quite like the opposite of what we imagine, quite the opposite direction of where we tend to pay our attention, because God cares about the people who are paid no attention, people like you, people like me, people like your neighbor, people like your enemy. But therein lies the opportunity for you to go with the Good News and see the kingdom of God forcefully advance to the ends of the earth next door.
May I offer a simple way to stay grounded in the kind of Gospel that actually touches the ground? Think about a time you received the grandest expression of love you've known: now go, descend from on high, and do likewise in the name of Jesus.
Be small, and know that God was too.
September 8, 2022 December 7, 2022 / KifuCoffeeRoaster / Leave a comment
The final 2022 Spainhour Summer Summit Challenge.
I had originally planned to take Kezek up Mt. Stone, a formidable peak in its own right, but on a whim I gave him three options: Mt. Stone, Mt. Bretherton, or (the highest peak on the eastern Olympic skyline, and by far the hardest) The Brothers. Naturally, he chose The Brothers.
We hiked up from camp at (lower) Lena Lake at 7:15 AM and didn't get back to the truck till. 9:30 PM.
Along the way, we only saw four people doing summit attempts, all on the way out, none of whom made it to the top We saw two of them back at camp when we returned and one of them (wearing an Ironman shirt, mind you) congratulated Kezek and confessed he didn't think he'd be able to make it. He also speculated that Kezek, at ten years-old, was probably the youngest to ever do it. I wouldn't be surprised if that were true. But I wasn't surprised he did it. That boy has determination built into his constitution.
At one point near the top Kezek started to get discouraged. The sun was relentless, we had had to backtrack a few times in sketchy places (due to my navigation errors ), and most of all he had a pounding headache. He was entering into the essential mountaineering experience—being small and out of control…and in pain. But we have a big God who is in control, so I put my hand on his forehead and begged Jesus out loud to take his headache away from him (I was getting pretty desperate to boost his morale, because things seemed to be deteriorating rapidly, so I really was begging). Sometimes it's hard to imagine Jesus caring about one boy's headache when nations are at war and people are dying and all the rest, but we asked and Jesus answered. Kezek's headache went away, and it went away in such a way that he knew it was an answer to prayer. That was the turning point of the journey. Jesus is always the turning point of the journey.
#spainhoursummersummitchallengecomplete
September 8, 2022 / KifuCoffeeRoaster / Leave a comment
Spainhour Summer Summit Challenge. 3 down, 1 to go.
Traditionally, the Mt. Ellinor summit is the rite of passage for finishing kindergarten—so it was for my three boys—but for my daughter, we went ahead with it after preschool. Consider it affirmative action if you want, but she needed to be challenged, and she was raised with three older brothers. She has spent her whole life keeping up with (and in some cases passing) them, so I'm happy to help her in her efforts to rise above.
Radley is girl strong. I've raised three boys, and I've tested their strength. I know boy strong, and Radley is something else. Hers is of a different quality. It's more stubborn. She'd regularly complain, and just as regularly refuse help. She wanted to know if her brothers went to the "tippity top" (the highest point on the summit: they technically didn't—she did, and is looking forward to rubbing it in their faces when she gets home).
Her strength is also more relational. She'd whine about her legs hurting and (after telling her to suck it up) she'd ask how I was feeling. She stopped to talk to literally everyone we passed (which was super annoying but indicative of a strength nonetheless). Half the time up the trail she was having an imaginary conversation (out loud) with two of her best friends (even doing their voices). She also thanked me every time she saw a new vista or enjoyed a moment or saw some sculpted feature that inspired awe. My boys don't do that. I felt appreciated, a nice spin on this trip.
And that fish you see in the picture below—after fishing for 30 or so minutes with no action, Radley suggested we pray for Jesus to help us fish. We did. The next three casts—no joke—we caught three fish.
On the way up, one person we passed commented (observing my five-year-old daughter tackling the challenge he was facing), "my ten-year-old son wouldn't even do something like this—he'd be whining the whole way up." I told him: "That's on you, dad. Kids can do whatever they think their parents think they can do." I think my kids can do anything. They never cease to amaze me. And with this one…God may have just broken the mold. Who knows the places she'll go???
#girlstrong
'Two roads diverged in the woods' and Maccabee made a third way through (with his shoes (intentionally) on the wrong feet). This kid is the embodiment of a free spirit, the spirit of wonder. If you ever take a hike with Maccabee, be prepared to go off trail and to stop at every…feature…living or sculpted, legged or pedaled.
Prepare also to be stretched and challenged about how much you think a kid can accomplish.
Summiting Mt Angeles is no joke, particularly taking an unmarked route straight up the spine to the summit. I didn't realize it was going to be as steep and exposed as it was (or told Keldy it would be), but it (concerningly) didn't even concern Maccabee. He was unfazed, casually indifferent about the (un)apparent(?) danger of the situation, literally stopping to catch crickets on the steepest part of the approach, but nonetheless aware and capable and strong when climbing.
We ended up clocking almost 12 miles that day and he kept a good attitude from beginning to end, even as the aches swelled throughout the hike. Couldn't be prouder of this little warrior.
#maccabee #stop&smellthe
Spainhour Summer Summit Challenge 2022: Ryser—Goat Lake Peak
August 5, 2022 September 13, 2022 / KifuCoffeeRoaster / Leave a comment
Couldn't be prouder of this little warrior. We hiked along the Dungeness River in to Camp Handy on Monday night and did a little fishing (Ryser caught 2, me 0).
The next morning we hiked up to Goat Lake—3,800' of ascent—where I caught a monster trout #🎣💪🏻, then another 1,000' to the northern peak on the ridge.
The plan was to take a "shortcut" by hiking down the ridge rather than the maintained trail, a shortcut that ended up taking at least twice as long as it would have to return the way we came. The bushwhacking was brutal, the terrain cattywampus and thick with briar patches and downed trees, leading to bloody legs and aching feet.
When we got about 1/2 mile from the maintained trail (after about 10 hours of steep hiking) Ryser stepped on a rotten log and fell straight down about 4-5', scraping his leg, the side of his belly, arm pit, and all up the inside of his arm. He had held his composure until that point, but that was a little too much for him. I told him as soon as we got to the trail, I'd carry him out on my shoulders the rest of the way. He giggled a bit and his spirit returned to him—when everything becomes miserable, laughter is the best defense.
When we finally got to the trail, I asked him if he was ready for a "ride" out. He said, "No, I want to finish." I asked if he wanted me to carry his pack. He said, "No, I want to finish the way I started." I had held my composure until that point, but that was a little too much for me. He asked if something was wrong. I said, "No, I'm just so proud of you!" Ryser is a finisher #💪🏻🏁
Looking forward to the rest of the summer challenges I've got planned!
#prouddad #sharingmomentsmakingmemories #miserable=memorable #1down3togo
This Promise is for You and for Your Children
July 5, 2022 July 5, 2022 / KifuCoffeeRoaster / 2 Comments
The only treasures that last are found in moments that don't. We collect them in moments and store them in memories, and those memories make us who we are. In the end, that's all that will be left of us. After that, nothing. All treasures will finally be offered up for safekeeping in an unshakable storehouse—every life eventually exists only as a memory in the mind of God.
Today was a treasure in the making. Each of my boys approached me about being baptized in the last few months, and my conversations with each of them became a conversation with all of them, a conversation they continued with each other. God saw fit call forth three brothers together, to give them a treasure whose value will only appreciate in days and years to come in the most salient memory that makes them who they are as children of God, as brothers in Christ. Each processed it, and received it, in their own way—Kezek was pierced, Ryser was awed, and Maccabee spilled out all over the place in the joy of our salvation.
I suppose the only memory that could ever possibly surpass it would be made the day, should they have the unspeakable privilege, that they baptize their own children. Today I remembered my own baptism more profoundly and potently than the day it happened. Today my children found a treasure and I received an inheritance. Today we buried a memory in the mind of God, together, and because of the memory it was and the God he is, one day God will dig it up, and with it the untold number of children who share it, into an eternal moment in the land of the living.
"Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself" (Acts 2:38-39).
Dear Pastor, You Are Not the Victim Here
June 19, 2022 June 20, 2022 / KifuCoffeeRoaster / Leave a comment
—Cover photo for article in question, see link below.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/june-web-only/summer-mission-service-trips-when-being-helped-hurts.html?utm_medium=widgetsocial
Dear Anonymous Middle- and High School Youth Group from the "wealthier church" in a "wealthier town" who "gave up [your] afternoon camp activities….to serve" the many "needs" of a less wealthy church in an apparently less wealthy town:
On behalf of pastors with a different perspective and priorities than the pastor who wrote this article, for what it's worth, I am sorry.
I'm sorry you have been publicly shamed by the pastor of this church. Since she did not have her article published anonymously (in the most widely read popular Christian magazine on earth), her words surely have or will find their way into your minds and hearts, and I suspect her moralizing criticisms at your gesture of love will be heard as disappointment and ingratitude and elicit feelings of shame and embarrassment, perhaps frustration and anger. You did not deserve public criticism from an adult, much less a Christian adult, much less a Christian pastor, for any mistakes or mishaps or deficiencies in your efforts to serve. She should have talked to you directly and immediately, giving you the chance to respond to her corrections, not about you publicly after it was too late to respond. to As a group of middle- and high school students, with leaders probably not much older, you should not have been expected to "paint…walls and the deck…the grid in the drop ceiling, tear out…bushes, put in a patio, plant flowers, clean out the yard, and put in new glass doors for the front entrance" without clear guidance and direction, and real-time correction when needed, throughout the process.
This pastor's disappointment is the result of her unwillingness to communicate her expectations and to confront issues as they arose, not your supposedly "half-hearted" efforts. Rest assured that you did nothing to "violate" her or the members of her church. The fact that this pastor "felt violated" by your service says something about her, not about you. Nor are you responsible for her congregation's sense of "worth." The fact that she insinuated your service might have diminished their sense of worth because many of them "live with repeated rejection and abuse" was not only logically absurd but extremely inappropriate. You cannot, nor should you be expected, to carry the weight of a group of adults' past abuses and rejections or present sense of worth. That's theirs to carry, with the help of Jesus and trusted companions and counsellors, not yours—not a group of adolescents at the most critical and fragile stage in their own development of self-worth, who are trying their best just to figure out who they are in this world and, in this case, trying to do something good for a group of strangers. In spirit, however imperfectly, you did all that can ever be done to help people with their sense of worth. You served them, unsolicited, and gave them a clear gesture of love. I'm sorry she put that burden on you. I pray that Jesus will take it from you and from them as well.
I hope it does not sound patronizing or insincere to say it, but I'm proud of you. I pray that God would protect you from the barrage of curses that proceed from the mouths of fools in our culture, to which you are more exposed than any generation before you. You were made to live under the blessing of God and we, your elders—and especially pastors—are responsible for communicating God's blessing toward you with our words and the attitude of our hearts. So, on behalf of a generation:
"May the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."
Dear Reverend Jennifer Holmes Curran, I implore you to consider the impact of your words on this group of young and highly impressionable kids, and to apologize to them for, at the very least, your carelessness. Your article intended to address the important subject of power dynamics between giver and receiver and the lasting impact of the givers' gift, for good or for ill, but it ignored the power dynamics between pastors and youth and the lasting impact of your words, published internationally, against them. You cannot qualify your way out of the impact your words will have. You cannot claim to be "genuinely grateful" and feel "violated" in response to the same gesture. Much to your point, it's not what you say—it's what they hear, and all they will hear from your words and memory is disapproval. Furthermore, you cannot claim that you "don't want to appear ungrateful" on account of it being "hard to correct the helper," and then have your record of wrongs published for all the world to see after it's too late for the helpers to correct any of them.
It's one thing to be unwilling to confront people directly because you are uncomfortable with conflict, which is itself inexcusable as a pastor; it is quite another thing, as a pastor(!), to be unwilling to confront people directly and then proceed to slander them publicly, calling their motives and intentions into question to be tried in the court of public opinion, much less to do so in reference to a youth group. Surely you would not do the same to the youth of your church, had they done the same. Why do you think it is appropriate in this case? Is it because they come from a "wealthier church" in a "wealthier town?" That is a hell of a way to excuse yourself from the need for any nuance in a discussion about power dynamics. You, at any rate, were not a helpless victim in this power dynamic, nor did this "missions project" involve any linguistic or cultural barriers inhibiting you from clearly and constructively addressing your grievances in real-time. You are a pastor, and they are a youth group. They see you as their spiritual authority, and some of them may very well internalize your judgments as those of the God you have the terrible responsibility of representing as a pastor. So, for future reference, when you see a puddle from a paint can left on one of your tables, either clean it up yourself or kindly ask one of the kids or their leaders to, but don't, for God's sake, sit there and stare at it, brooding over it because it has "stayed there for days." You are capable, you have agency, you are not powerless in this situation!
I think it needs to be pointed out how your framing of power dynamics in this article was misleading. You began in the very first line with a caricature obviously intended to frame the entire account in terms approximating the power dynamics between rich and poor. They are a "wealthier church from a larger, wealthier town" and you are a "small, rural church that has many needs." Let's be clear—this is not a story about rich people hurting poor people through a careless and insensitive "half-hearted" service project. You "needed" your deck painted and flowers planted, not food and water. And the pastor from that "wealthier church" you described as "throwing around…outrageous" amounts of "dollars," obviously intending to reinforce the caricature of burdenless wealth and privilege, was not throwing money "around" without a care in the world. He was it at you! He was throwing all those outrageous amounts of dollars at you and your church, and doing so, by all appearances, with great care and generosity. And you took it, freely, in the form of materials and labor, and then turned around and painted a dishonorable picture of him and the youth he sent into your service, but also into your care. You are a pastor.
What I see in this situation is one church giving freely and another church assuming they're entitled to more, or at least their pastor so assumes. But you weren't entitled to any of it, so perhaps you should reconsider your attempts to put them into a debt of your victimhood.
Dear Victimhood Culture, you are a life-sucking parasite on our society and a mental illness to the American conscience. You imprison people in the deception of perceived powerlessness, all the while training them to use their victimhood to overpower others who ever live under the threat of being charged with any manner of abuse. You blind people from seeing how those who abuse their victim status are immune to criticism, are neither responsible nor accountable, and are forever entitled to the sympathy, or at least the pity, of others. You deceive many into thinking pity is not only a form of love but the highest form of love they can receive, and so you make them incapable of intimacy and ignorant of love. You obscure the lines between actual victims and perpetrators of abuse (who should be treated as such and for whom justice should be served) and those for whom victimhood has become an identity, sometimes because of a lifetime's worth of unprocessed pain, sometimes because they have learned it to be an effective, and a socially acceptable, way to manipulate people. Those lines have become so obscured that the situation we find ourselves in today is a world where victims create perpetrators as much as perpetrators create victims.
When victimhood becomes an identity and unprocessed pain is detached from an identified cause or specific acts of abuse, everyone becomes a potential target of the victim. In our world, a person can wake up sad every morning and by early afternoon have found the one who "caused" their pain, without irony. They are pain looking for someone to blame, and no one is safe. You, Victimhood Culture, are the courtroom of wrongful convictions, creating false victims, hiding true ones, and damning all.
Dear Christianity Today, you should be ashamed of yourselves for publishing this. Your insistence on profiting from the clickbait market of social outrage, which nurtures the culture of victimhood that suckles its toxic milk, is dishonorable and compromises your integrity. You should know better. Find better material, and a new editorial staff.
Building a Home for the Easter Apocalypse
May 12, 2022 May 12, 2022 / KifuCoffeeRoaster / Leave a comment
The Terror of Easter
April 17, 2022 April 17, 2022 / KifuCoffeeRoaster / Leave a comment
The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb by Hans Holbein the Younger
"Religion is the opiate of the masses."
~ Karl Marx
I used to think this claim had at least some merit. And I suppose to the degree a given religion gets reduced to wishful thinking about some version of an upgraded "afterlife," Marx is right. But no religion reduces itself to such platitudes, despite what its adherents might at a popular level. And as for the claims of the the Gospel, and specifically the resurrection of the dead, I'm left to conclude precisely the opposite: atheism is the opiate of the masses.
If Jesus stays in the tomb, it means that the world can continue on its course, unaccountable, free of any absolutes–other than death–and so we can shrug off that nagging Voice of our conscience without consequence. If Jesus stays in the tomb, there is no Lord to answer to, no Voice from without, only fleeting, if competing, echoes from within, and at any rate all voices are moving toward a finality of silence. All fades to black.
That, to me at least, seems much easier to deal with than the prospect of the destruction of death itself, of darkness itself, the prospect that I will be raised from the dead into a light that will expose the truth behind all my words and deeds and the thoughts and intentions of my heart (Mk. 4:22; Lk. 12:2; Jn. 3:19-21; 1 Cor. 3:13; Heb. 4:12-13; et al). It's much easier to imagine death brings a certain finality to all that I have done and not done, said and not said, all that I have thought and intended, to all the willfully missed opportunities to love and help and give and forgive, to my violence, my greed, my self-indulgence, my insistence that 'my will be done.' Practically, I confess, that I have repeatedly claimed lordship over my own life, so the thought that I have a Lord who will greet me in judgment to examine the substance of my confession—that Jesus Christ is Lord—is, quite frankly, unsettling.
I can't help but think it would be far easier to make peace with death if I could anticipate a closure to all of my deeds and misdeeds, rather than anticipating that my life and my will and my secret thoughts and intentions are wide open to an eternal future, a future in which I am decidedly not Lord and death is not an option, a future from which that nagging Voice I've so often ignored has, all along, been issued from a throne, a throne that alone is Absolute.
There was terror that first Easter (Mt. 28:1-10; Mk. 16:1-8; Lk. 24:36-43). And I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. The world has lost its autonomy. Death no longer affords any escape routes. Life is laid bare to an infinite existence that we know now only as a Voice, and often just a faint Whisper, but then we shall see Him face to face. And thank the living God that on that day we will stand in his presence only by grace.
What a glorious—what a terrifying—day tomorrow will be.
"Then I turned to see the Voice that was speaking to me…and when I saw Him, I fell as though dead" (Rev. 1:12-17).


Calling all artists! Expand your skills and learn from an accomplished watercolor artist.
Betty Bea Washburn will hold a watercolor workshop here at our Cottage Gallery on November 3. The workshop runs from 10 am to 3 pm and lunch will be included for participants.
Focusing on "The Maple, the Birch and the Pine," she will share her intuitive approach to watercolor painting. Techniques including floating and pouring will be addressed.
"The watercolor painting of tree formations can be versatile and entertaining. Trees can stand alone as a subject or can be part of a design including other subjects such as architecture, people and animals," says Washburn.
Participants are asked to bring their own paints and brushes, with paper provided.
The cost is $110.00 per person. All levels of experience are welcome to join in this one-of-a-kind event, and need to be at least 15 years old.
"We are so fortunate that Betty Bea Washburn has carved out time from her busy schedule to share her watercolor expertise with us. It is always a treat to see the method behind her magic," says staff at Twisted Fish Gallery.
Please contact Twisted Fish Gallery for a full supply list and to reserve your place. 231-264-0123.


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Le Mouton is a luxurious Bed and Breakfast in the heart of the beautiful Loire area.
A luxurious Bed & Breakfast in the beautiful Loire area.
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Home FindLaw Launches Legal News Site: 'Legal Pulse'
FindLaw Launches Legal News Site: 'Legal Pulse'
By Robert Ambrogi on November 23, 2011
FindLaw and Lawyers.com are among the most highly trafficked lawyer directories and consumer-facing legal sites. Now it appears that both are taking steps to beef up their coverage of legal news — no doubt in order to further beef up their traffic.
First came the announcement from Lawyers.com in September that it had hired well-known legal marketer and former legal journalist Larry Bodine as editor-in-chief. "In this role, Larry will be responsible for shaping and developing site content we produce around current legal news and topics of interest to consumers and attorneys across the United States," said the announcement.
Now comes news from FindLaw that it has launched FindLaw Legal Pulse:
FindLaw.com is introducing FindLaw Legal Pulse, a new content area that offers continuously updated legal headlines from around the world, along with news, photo feeds and analysis from such sources as Reuters, the Associated Press, New York Times and Washington Post. The content covers a broad range of law-related topics-everything from Supreme Court decisions to legislative updates, everyday legal issues and even sports and celebrity news.
FindLaw has gained a reputation in recent years for aggressive SEO tactics. There are elements of this new section that suggest SEO is at least one reason FindLaw launched it. For example, the page contains a section titled "Popular Topics" where the listed topics include "Car Crash News," "Child Custody News," "Divorce News" and "DUI News." While these are clearly popular phrases for legal SEO, are they really popular topics for legal news? Also, the page contains a section, "Other Legal Headlines," that appears to consist solely of posts from FindLaw blogs.
That said, the two main sections of Legal Pulse, "Editor's Picks" and "Top Legal Headlines," contain newsworthy articles on a broad range of legal topics. The Editor's Picks section appears to be just that, highlighting articles based on their content rather than on their timeliness. By contrast, the Top Legal headlines section highlights current news stories from AP, Reuters and other sources. Each of these sections has its own RSS feed.
It should be noted that FindLaw is owned by Thomson Reuters, which has its own Legal News & Insight site. The site features news from Reuters — which has significantly expanded its legal news coverage in recent years — along with features such as the On the Case blog written by Alison Frankel, a long-time writer for The American Lawyer, and analysis written by lawyers and others. Let's hope there might be some symbiosis between the FindLaw and Reuters legal news sites.
There are any number of choices for sites that aggregate legal news. Two that I rely on heavily are Law.com and the ABA Journal Daily News. Still, no single source is sufficiently comprehensive to cover everything I'm interested in. That is why I track an array of blogs and news outlets. For now, I'll add FindLaw's Legal Pulse to my aggregator and see what, if anything, it adds.