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"Helping Others Communicate"

"WHAT’LL YA HAVE?”

11/29/2021

 
The annual football game between the University of Georgia and the Georgia Institute of Technology is often referred to as “Clean Old Fashioned Hate”.  This past Saturday, the Bulldogs played the Yellow Jackets in their yearly gridiron grudge match. 

This time, at least, the Bulldogs came out on top.  Actually, they came out way over the top.  So much so that I can already see how the sarcastic bumper stickers are likely to read:  “Culture 0, Agriculture 45”.


As I watched the game, I reflected on my own various trips to these two schools and their respective stadiums over the years.  Samford Stadium and Bobby Dodd stadium are at once uniquely different and somewhat similar. 

In Athens at U.G.A., the defining feature is surely the hedges, between which the game is played.  In Atlanta at Ga. Tech, it is likely the city’s skyline looming up and over the field of play in every direction.


One thing they have in common is their respective proximity to a world famous restaurant known as “The Varsity”.  The latter now has multiple locations all over the metropolitan Atlanta area.  But its principle location has always been directly across the street from Georgia Tech.  Not surprisingly, its first expansion was to open in Athens, Georgia, not far from the University of Georgia’s campus.  

Billed as the largest drive-in restaurant in the world, the original downtown Atlanta location takes up two entire city blocks, and can accommodate up to 500 cars in the parking lot and 800 indoor diners simultaneously.  Known principally for its chili dogs and fries/onion rings, as well as it frozen Orange drinks, it can serve as many as 30,000 hungry customers in a single day!

According to its website (https://thevarsity.com/):

“The original Varsity was opened in 1928 on a 70' X 120' lot with a white picket fence by a man named Frank Gordy; a man with a $2000 nest egg and "million dollar taste buds." Through his dedication to freshness, superior quality, advanced technology and serving the best food fast, he gained a reputation that is known worldwide.”

A pastor I know, who grew up in Atlanta and attended the now defunct O'Keefe Junior High School, the property of which has since been subsumed by Georgia Tech, once told the following story about how the Varsity Restaurant was founded.

He related the story of how a sharp young man once flunked out of the Georgia Institute of Technology.  Upon his expulsion, the young man was purportedly told by the Dean of Students that he would never amount to anything.  Thereupon, he promptly went across the street and opened up a restaurant, known as The Varsity, determined to prove the Dean wrong.  That he soon did!

I have searched the internet and have been unable to verify this story.  It seems that after graduating from Reinhardt University, a certain Frank Gordy did indeed go on to enroll in the Georgia Institute of Technology. 

For whatever reason though, in 1925, he left and started his now famous restaurant in 1928.  One website says he decided that Tech “was not for him”.  Yet, Ga. Tech’s own alumni page proudly proclaims that he came back to Tech and graduated in 1929.


It is obvious, therefore, that after ninety plus years, the intricacies of these various transitions in Gordy’s life are ambiguous to say the least.  Why exactly he left Georgia Tech and then went back is not clear. 

And yet, none of this, takes away from the power of the story I first heard some forty years ago and related above.


How many times has someone with a vision had that dream all but squelched by nay-sayers?  How many times have visionaries been told that they would never succeed? 

Praise God, therefore, for people who have vision.  But praise God even more so for people with both vision and passion!!!  After all, it is one thing to have a vision.  It is another thing altogether to hang in there and see that vision through to fruition. 


Frank Gordy seems to have known all of this.  He seems to have known in his heart that his restaurant would succeed, and, for this reason, he worked with all his might to make this happen.  On his very first day in business in 1928, he served 300 people. To put this in perspective, when hot dogs were selling for a nickel a piece, he brought in a whopping $47.30. 

A year later, on the very day that the stock market crashed, he posted $68.30 in receipts.  What is more, by the end of the 1930s, during the Great Depression and the bleakest economy in U.S. history, he had already made his first million dollars!


Let's apply this. 

Do you have a dream?  Do you have a vision?  If so, then don’t surrender it in the face of nay-sayers!  Instead, have a passion as big as your vision!  Then, just plan your work and work your plan.  In due time, who knows?  You may well see the reward for your efforts!  Frank Gordy certainly did.


So did a young man named Joseph in the Old Testament.  He had great dreams about his future.  And he dared to share those dreams with others, who then chose to frown on them.  Yet, he believed, he persisted, and in due time, he triumphed.  You can read more about him and his journey in the Old Testament Book of Genesis, chapters 37 and following.

To this very day, if you enter a Varsity restaurant and approach the counter, you will hear someone say, “What’ll ya have… What’ll ya have?”  I close this post with the same question.  What will you have out of life?  What will you have today, tomorrow, and on into your future? 

Perhaps the best answer to this question is, “I’ll have my chosen vision with a side of passion!”  Trust me.  That selection should both fill you up and sustain you for quite some time!

SOURCES:
 
https://thevarsity.com/; 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gordy;
https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/dining/the-varsity-turns/jr5gVAXtsUIIBQCJyu49wI/.

SCRIPTURE:

https://biblehub.com/niv/genesis/37.htm.

UP FOR DISCUSSION

11/25/2021

 
“Looking for something to talk about around the Thanksgiving Day table to keep Uncle Eddie's stories from becoming a pre-tryptophan snoozer? FOX Weather has you covered! Every day, we go beyond the headlines to find the weird, the ugly and what everyone will be talking about in the weather world. 

So, before your grab your first plate of stuffing or that slice of pumpkin pie, make sure you have the FOX Weather app open and ready to make small talk with the stories that could keep your relatives blabbering well beyond dinner's first helping.”


Thus began the intriguing article from www.FoxWeather.com titled:  7 Thanksgiving Day Table Conversation Starters From FOX Weather:  From The Weird To The Ugly, FOX Weather Has You Covered With Stories That Are Guaranteed To Light Up Any Holiday Table.

The list included the following:

1. The first story to read about comes from the State of Washington, where a photographer encountered something that looked like it came out of a Ghostbusters movie.  This was followed by a link to a story of a fungus glowing green on a dead tree in the dark along Washington's Kalaloch Beach back on Nov. 19, 2021, all brought about by a lunar eclipse.

2. You can always count on a good Florida story to keep the dinner conversation alive. And while we don't have any galleries of mug shots to scroll through, what a child found in a drain could be just as surprising.  The link attached led to an article showing a huge alligator in a sewer drain.

3. Keeping on the living theme, biologists put out their annual warning regarding fuzzy caterpillars. Why you have a reason to run away from not only your Aunt Mary, but these creatures too: from the creatures.  The succeeding link takes you to a story about poisonous fuzzy caterpillars.

4. If the caterpillar warning wasn't alarming enough, did you know NASA is working on a plan to protect Earth from a giant asteroid?  The attached link explains why facing up to it is not as simple as just sending Bruce Willis up there and blow it up like in the movie "Armageddon".

5. If sports are more your theme, you can't go wrong with a good football story. Do you know why NFL games are largely played on Sundays?  Here, the link attached leads to an article explaining why money, television and a Congressional act helped cue the rise of football weekends as we know them.
 

6. It was 81 years ago this month that a windstorm led to the demise of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge – also known as "Galloping Gertie". No humans were killed during the collapse, but the event did claim a life: Tubby, a three-legged black Cocker Spaniel that remained trapped in his car as the bridge wobbled, then fell.  The attached link reveals the three heroic attempts to save him first.
 

7. Keeping on the history theme, this story will have any political novice talking. During the energy crisis of the 1970s, President Richard Nixon asked Americans to keep their cool - literally.  This last time, the link connects to an article about what was unique about the thermostat back in the day.

Anticipating that even these seven previous stories may not get one through an entire meal, FOX Weather included even more story links that one could keep handy in case of a “conversation emergency”:


8. Yams vs. Sweet Potatoes: What are you actually eating on Thanksgiving?
9. How a volcano gave birth to ‘Frankenstein’
10. We all love the movie ‘Twister,’ but is it scientifically accurate?
11. Do hot drinks really warm you up on cold days?
12. What causes turbulence and why you shouldn't be afraid of it
13. Gobble Gossip: No, turkeys don't drown looking skyward in the rain

14. Paw-lickin’ good: This bear caught breaking and entering for KFC

The article concluded with the following tidbit: 

“If you are still looking for stories to avoid the gravy boat being thrown across the table, FOX Weather has entire sections devoted to keeping you the most informed person on Earth. Check out our Learn, Earth & Space and Lifestyle sections for more!”


I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the article and the various links detailing greater information and explanation.  And in truth, I may well bring up one or two of these intriguing facts/stories around the family table this Thanksgiving.

But I would be remiss if I did not point out the obvious.  After all, what is missing from this list if not the most appropriate thing for discussion around the table this weekend?  Surely the first thing on the list should be the things we are thankful for as individuals, as families, and as citizens of the greatest country in the history of the world!
  

I think I will save this list for Thanksgiving “Table Talk” with my family.  But I will be renumbering them from items 1-14 to items 8 through 21.  I will do this because I plan on replacing the first seven items with the top seven things that I am especially thankful for this year:


1. My physical life and health.
2. My eternal salvation, and all its associated spiritual blessings.
3. My parents and the upbringing they gave me.
4. My precious wife (and all those who wrought her), plus all she means to me.
5. My children and grandchildren, and the blessings they all are to me.
6. My political freedoms as an American citizen.

7. My material blessings.

King David of old understood this well.  As he puts it in Psalm 103 (verses 1-5, CEV):

1With all my heart I praise the LORD, and with all that I am I praise his holy name! 2With all my heart I praise the LORD! I will never forget how kind he has been. 3The LORD forgives our sins, heals us when we are sick, 4and protects us from death. His kindness and love are a crown on our heads. 5Each day that we live, he provides for our needs and gives us the strength of a young eagle.

I’m glad David was up for discussing such things.  I pray I will always be as well.  Will you?

ARTICLE SOURCE:  https://www.foxweather.com/lifestyle/7-thanksgiving-day-table-conversation-starters-from-fox-weather.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE:  https://biblehub.com/cev/psalms/103.htm.

“YOU GO, BOYS!”

11/21/2021

 
Saturday was a red letter day for yours truly.  To begin with, I forced myself to rise early and exercise – a feat for which I am now especially grateful.  I then managed to squeeze in a walk before my beloved Georgia Bulldogs played their eleventh game of the season, remaining undefeated as they annihilated the opposing team by a score of 56-7.
 
Simultaneously, their final opponent of the season, whom they will play next Saturday, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, lost to Notre Dame by a score of 55-0.  Hopefully, therefore, my Dawgs will finish the regular season undefeated for the first time since 1980. 

That was when they won a National Championship with Herschel Walker.  And while that may not happen this year, at least they will now play Alabama for the SEC Championship in two weeks.

After the game, I found time to complete several projects on my to-do list before the highlight of my day unfolded:  our oldest grandson came over to spend the night.  Together, we played with everything from Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots to Hot wheels to Dinosaurs.  Then we feasted on popcorn – the greasy, salty, buttery coated kind from our original 1970s West Bend Stir Crazy machine!

As we munched, we watched “King Kong vs. Godzilla”.  Not the 2021 job, but the original 1963 version!  Granted, it was campy from start to finish.  But it was perfect for us!  We oooed and ahhed as the two behemoths dueled to the finish!  Then, early this morning, we dutifully jumped up in order to get him back before church.

Since then, I have spent much of this day reflecting on the events of the previous one.  Aa a result, I have concluded that what all happened yesterday does not begin to compare with what all happened last night.  To begin with, I can work on a personal to-do list any day of the year.  But this is not really what I have in mind.

What I do have in mind is this.  While I love the Georgia Bulldogs, I will have to admit that no one associated with them, not a single coach nor a single player nor a single trainer nor a single statistician nor a single administrator nor a single broadcaster even knows who I am!

What is more – I have absolutely no control ore even influence over how they play and whether or not they win a single game.  I am a mere spectator.  In fact, I am one of millions of spectators who have no involvement or interaction with the team per se.  As such, if I am to be honest, all I can do is root from afar.

But such is not the case with my precious grandson!  Him, I know personally!  Him, I interact with.  Him, I influence.  Him, I have a great deal to do with how he turns out!

Given this, to which of the two highlights of yesterday’s activities should I truly give true priority?!  The answer, I dare say, is obvious!

The Lord has chosen to bless me with not just one, but seven precious grandsons.  And my role in their lives is not limited to that of spectator.  Rather, my role in their lives includes that of actual interactor.  And for this reason, my role in their lives also includes that of influencer, and ultimately, even, that of mentor!

Let’s face it.  No matter how much I might root form the peanut gallery, I have zero impact on the outcome of the Georgia Bulldogs season.  But chances are that I can and will have a significant impact on how each of my grandsons all turns out.  And for this reason, I have committed to redouble my effort not just to be a spectator but an actual participant in their lives!

As the Bible says,

“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children…”


Over the next few weeks, I’ll be by the television saying to the Georgia Bulldogs, “You go, boys!”  Especially when they score a touchdown or make a critical tackle. 

But for the rest of my life, I’ll be by my grandsons saying “You go boys!  And here’s a little advice on how to proceed from here!”  And I’ll do that whether they score the winning touchdown and spike the ball or fumble the ball and lose the game. 

After all, isn’t that what grandfathers are for?!

SCRIPTURE SOURCE:  https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/4-9.htm.

ONE-EYED JACK!

11/15/2021

 
H. G. Wells once penned a famous short story titled “In the Country of the Blind” about a mountain climber who stumbled into an isolated valley of blind people and mistakenly presumed he would be able to set himself up as their lord and master.  I will not tell you how it ends; but will affirm that his story helped coin the sardonic phrase that “In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king!”
 
I will also affirm that such a concept may be true in theory, but not in the real world – at least the part about being a one-eyed man.  I can attest to this as someone who has spent the last 36 hours with only one functioning eye.

It all came about when some miniscule foreign object got into my left eye, which I then rubbed in a vain attempt to cleanse.  Apparently, in the process, I must have scratched my eyeball (or something akin to that).  In due time, my eye was quite red, and pouring tears.  Long story short… everything I read said to close the eye so as not to blink, then to place a patch on the eye to keep the lid closed, and finally to wear this patch for a couple of days.  It seems the human eye will essentially heal itself in such a process.

I am happy to report that, as a result, I am now doing much better.  My eye has indeed recovered, largely losing its redness, its tears, and its sensitivity along the way.  Better yet, in the process, I have learned a lot.

To begin with, the whole matter has made me aware of how thankful I am for my eyesight, something which I will admit that, heretofore, I have all too frequently taken for granted.  But more than this, the experience has given me a whole new appreciation for the phrase “The Blind Side”.

I say this because the fundamental issue I have faced over the last 36 hours concerns my depth perception.  Trust me, when a person accustomed to looking at the world with two eyes suddenly looks at anything with just one eye, depth perception quickly becomes a major issue.  It is honestly hard to judge just how far a given object is from one’s eye or one’s hand.

Perhaps the best way to describe it is to say one suddenly finds that he or she has a limited perspective on reality.  And it is disconcerting to say the least.

As I have pondered this, I have concluded that life works much the same way spiritually.  After all, do not we, as human beings, have a limited perspective on reality?  We see things from our perspective; and that perspective is clearly limited.

God, however, sees things form a different perspective.  Unlike us, He sees the full depth and breadth of our situation.  That is to say that He sees both the gravity and the scope of our condition in this life.  And this He sees in its entirety.  Thus, He sees not only what is behind us, but also what is before us, and what ids ahead of us.

Given this, is it not in our best interest to trust Him and His perspective rather than our own?!  And part of trusting His perspective entails our trusting in His forgiveness for yesterday, in His care for today, and in His guidance for tomorrow!

Back in the day, Johnny Nash had a number one hit with his song titled “I Can See Clearly Now.”  More than ever before, I can relate to its lyrics.  More to the point, I can relate to the notion of seeing more clearly than I once did.  And I long for the day when I shall see more clearly than ever before. 

For, as the Apostle Paul says (in First Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 12):

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”


On that day, praise God, I will see things more clearly than I have ever seen them before!  And when I do, “One-Eyed Jack” will finally and forever become “Two-Eyed Jack”!

SOURCES:

H. G. Wells’ Story:

http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/3/;

Johnny Nash’s Song:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Can_See_Clearly_Now;

God’ Word:

https://www.biblehub.com/1_corinthians/13-12.htm.

​“MERCI BEAUCOUP!”

11/10/2021

 
In her May 18, 2020 “Tolley’s Topics” blog post titled “You Could Have Heard A Pin Drop…”, Sheila Tolley shares the following story…

Robert Whiting, an elderly American gentleman 83 years old and a retired High School History teacher arrived in Paris by plane with a tour group. At French Customs, he took several minutes to locate his passport in one of his coat pockets.

“You have been to France before, monsieur?” a French customs officer asked sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.

“Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.”

Mr. Whiting replied “The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.”

“Impossible, French law requires all Americans to have to show their passports on arrival in France!” said the French customs official.

Mr. Whiting gave the French Official a long hard look, then, quietly explained, “Well, when I came ashore in 1944 it was at Omaha Beach on D-Day to help liberate your country. At that time none of us could find a single Frenchman to show a passport to.”


The validity of this well-travelled story is often debated.  But there is no denying what actually happened on the seventieth anniversary of D-Day back on June of 2014.  In what may be a case of life imitating art, a London Daily Mail article reports as follows…

On D-Day, they defied fierce German shelling and machine gun fire to reach the Normandy beaches. Seventy years on, and much frailer, our Second World War heroes have come up against a new adversary as they return for the landmark anniversary - French bureaucrats.

The authorities require veterans’ groups to complete lengthy forms at short notice or risk being turned away from the battle sites on June 6.  Ken Smith, 89, was one of the youngest – and luckiest – soldiers to survive the D-Day landings after a radio he was carrying on his back deflected two bullets.

D-Day veteran Ken Smith, who braved bullets and barbed wire to storm the Normandy beaches 70 years ago, faces a new obstacle to this summer's commemoration - French bureaucracy.  The former signals operator, who is organizing an anniversary trip for 40 people, was given just four weeks’ notice of the demands. 

It seems that a two-page form must be completed for every person attending, including personal information and contact details, as well as rank, regiment, ‘role’ performed on D-Day, medals awarded, events they plan to attend and details of their travel arrangements.

Mr. Smith, from York, was forced to spend hours on the phone, along with  his wife Gloria, to gather all the required details from the veterans, their careers and friends in their  party in order to fill in the 80 pages of forms by last weekend’s deadline.

You have to love his response:  “We didn’t need to fill in a load of paperwork last time I landed in Normandy,’ he said. ‘I didn’t even need my passport.”


I share this as a simple reminder of what all we owe those who came before us and sacrificed in order that we might enjoy the many freedoms that we now have.  May we neither overlook nor underappreciate what they did on our behalf.

This Thursday is Veteran’s Day.  As you have the opportunity, please take a moment or two to seek out any men or women you know of who stood tall in the face of tyranny and/or oppression in order to ensure that freedom prevailed for you and me today as Americans.

Remember, their service, no matter how small or how great, was not without sacrifice.  And for this reason, they deserve both our respect and appreciation.


SOURCES: 

D-DAY ANECDOTE:

Available widely on the internet.  See for instance: https://tolleystopics.com/2020/05/18/you-could-have-heard-a-pin-drop/.

Another version is found at:  https://worldwarwings.com/wwii-vet-forgets-passport-france-doesnt-take-crap-customs/. This one comes with the following disclaimer:  “This is one of those stories which has been passed down for many, many years. Although we don’t know if it actually happened, we sure hope it did.  Having talked to a few World War II veterans ourselves, we know they can be quite snappy and don’t take crap from anyone. This leads us to believe that one day, somewhere in the past, this interaction actually took place.”

SEE ALSO: 

https://www.poliscirumors.com/topic/an-american-tale.  Note that the comments section of this version includes the following addendum:  Reminds me of the urban legend about a British commercial airline pilot who landed in Dresden. The pilot wasn't familiar with the airport diagram there and messed up the instructions from ground control about the route to take taxiing to the gate. The German controller got frustrated and said, “Haven't you ever been to Dresden before?!” and the pilot replied “Yes, several years ago, but I didn't bother to land - I was just dropping something off.”

DAILY MAIL ARTICLE:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2609532/WE-didnt-need-paperwork-time-I-landed-Normandy-D-Day-veteran-stormed-beaches-70-years-ago-struggling-return-commemoration-French-red-tape.html.

​MY HOMETOWN

11/5/2021

 
Long before Bruce Springsteen had his #1 hit on the U.S. Adult Contemporary Chart with a song from his Born in the U.S.A. album titled “My Hometown”, the writers of The Andy Griffith Show had already explored this theme.
 
In Episode 30 of Season 6, titled “A Singer in Town”, Jesse Pearson guest stars as “Keevy Hazelton”, who makes it big with a song about Mayberry titled “My Hometown” written by (Aunt) Bea Taylor and Clara Edwards.

While I did not grow up in the fictional hamlet of Mayberry, North Carolina, I was privileged to grow up just outside a town not too dissimilar in nature from it called Fayetteville, Georgia.  And I will say that I have nothing but fond memories of my hometown.

Of course, even though I refer of it as my hometown, it was never really mine alone.  Thousands of others called it their hometown as well.  Still, I have often thought that if I had ever miraculously won the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes, I would gladly have purchased the entire town and preserved it (like some episode of The Twilight Zone) just as it was in my memory.

Sadly, neither of those things is apt to occur.  To my knowledge, the city of Fayetteville, Georgia is not for sale; and given that I have never once entered the sweepstakes, the odds of my hearing the doorbell ring and responding to find a small entourage celebrating my newfound mega-wealth are not all that high.

But I did read about another town that is up for sale.  It seems that the entire municipality of Water Valley, located in Maury County, Tennessee, is up for sale.  Located about an hour south of Nashville near the famed Natchez Trace Parkway, the asking price for this town of approximately seven acres is $725,000.

Should anyone fork over the money, not only would he or she be a homeowner, but they would also be the mayor and/or the chief of police - provided of course, that they had a mind for that.

Or the new owner could choose to be a store owner.  After all, Water Valley consists of no less than four general stores.  Other options include farming, as the town contains a barn, and/or the owner of a bed and breakfast run from a circa-1900 creek-side home, complete with “updated wiring and plumbing”.

In fact, according to real estate broker, Christa Swartz, who is handling the sale, “You get to make the decisions and make the rules for your own little town if you get Water Valley.”  

Oh, if I only had $725,000 to spare!  But alas, like most people, I don’t.  And so I have accepted that fact that I will not be able to claim this town as my very own.  Water Valley will never be my hometown.

But that is okay.  Why?  Because I have been promised another city which will be mine for all eternity.  That city, the New Jerusalem, is described in great detail in the Biblical Book of Revelation (chapters 21, verse 9 through chapter 22, verse 5).

9Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11shining with the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious jewel, like a jasper, as clear as crystal. 12The city had a great and high wall with twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve angels at the gates. 13There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15The angel who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16The city lies foursquare, with its width the same as its length. And he measured the city with the rod, and all its dimensions were equal—12,000 stadia in length and width and height. 17And he measured its wall to be 144 cubits, by the human measure the angel was using.

18The wall was made of jasper, and the city itself of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19The foundations of the city walls were adorned with every kind of precious stone:  The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.

21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.

22But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24By its light the nations will walk, and into it the kings of the earth will bring their glory.  25Its gates will never be shut at the end of the day, because there will be no night there.

26And into the city will be brought the glory and honor of the nations. 27But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

1Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be within the city, and His servants will worship Him. 4They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5There will be no more night in the city, and they will have no need for the light of a lamp or of the sun. For the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.


Wow!  What a place to call one’s hometown for all eternity! 

And the greatest part of it all is that we do not have to pay for it.  That’s right – its price has already been paid in full when God’s One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, purchased entry to this place for all who believe!

My hometown in this world is a little place called Fayetteville, Georgia.  Sadly, that place has already changed substantially from how it exists in my memory.  But praise God, I have another hometown that will never change.  That place is the “New Jerusalem”, more commonly known as “Heaven”; and I am going there to dwell forever one day because of God’s love, God’s mercy, and God’s grace, all made possible by God’s Son.

Remember, Heaven can be your hometown too!  I invite you to go and dwell with me.  More to the point, so does Jesus Christ!

STORY SOURCES:

https://www.overtoncountynews.com/lifestyles/tennessee-town-up-for-sale/article_ea1a0834-3c12-11ec-b33a-8fbbc1e5f720.html;

https://www.foxbusiness.com/real-estate/tennessee-town-on-sale-for-725k.

SEE ALSO:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Hometown;

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0512394/.

SCRIPTURE:

https://biblehub.com/bsb/revelation/21.htm;

​https://biblehub.com/bsb/revelation/22.htm.

TIME AGAIN…

11/1/2021

 
Once again, the debate is raging.  As fall time change Sunday approaches and we prepare to set our clocks back one hour, people are once again wondering why.

Witness a recent article by Jennifer Earl on www.foxnews.com titled “Daylight Saving Time: When and Why We ‘Fall Back’:  The Tradition of Changing Clocks Officially Began in The U.S. on March 19, 1918”.


The article, which appeared back on October 11, 2021, began with a friendly reminder:

“Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 7, which means we still are a few weeks away from turning those clocks back. Theoretically, we'll gain an hour of sleep. But we'll also be losing an hour of evening light through March 13, 2022 — when it's time to ‘spring’ forward. The tradition of changing clocks officially began in the U.S. on March 19, 1918.  Here's what you need to know about the century-old tradition…”


The article then asked four questions…

Question number one was:  “When did daylight saving time start?”  This was the answer:


It was established during World War I as "a way of conserving fuel needed for war industries and of extending the working day," the Library of Congress explained in a post online.

But it was only temporary. The law was repealed about a year later, on August 20, 1919, as soon as the war was over.

"However, the sections of the 1918 law, which had established standard time zones for the country, remained in effect," the library said. "In 1921, Congress readjusted the western boundary of the standard central time zone, shifting parts of Texas and Oklahoma into this zone."

The topic of daylight saving surfaced again during World War II. On Jan. 20, 1942 Congress re-established daylight saving time.

More than two decades later, in 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Uniform Time Act, declaring daylight saving time a policy of the U.S. and establishing uniform start and end times within standard time zones.


Question number two was:  “What are the rules?”  This was the answer:

Daylight saving time and time zones are regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) under the Uniform Time Act. Daylight saving begins each year on the second Sunday in March, starting at 2 a.m.

"If a state chooses to observe Daylight Saving Time, it must begin and end on federally mandated dates," the DOT says.


Question number three was:  “Does everyone change their clocks?”  This was the answer:

No. Hawaii, most of Arizona, and a handful of U.S. territories — including American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands — do not observe daylight saving time.

A bill called the "Sunshine Protection Act," which allows Florida to remain on daylight saving time year-round, was passed in the state House and Senate in March. Gov. Rick Scott then signed the bill into law. However, Congress still needs to amend existing federal law to allow the change.

If approved by the federal government, this will effectively move Florida’s residents one time zone to the east, aligning cities from Jacksonville to Miami with Nova Scotia rather than New York and Washington, D.C.


The fourth question number may be the most significant one:  “Why does it matter?”  And this was the answer:

There are several reasons why officials believe daylight saving time is beneficial.

Some say it saves energy because people tend to spend more time outside when it's lighter out. The DOT claims it also "saves lives and prevents traffic injuries," because visibility is better.

However, some believe the process is a "hassle."

Proponents of scrapping daylight saving time argue it's generally unnecessary, disturbs sleep patterns and has recently become even more complicated. In 1986, Congress extended daylight saving from a six- to seven-month period and extended it again in 2005 to eight months — mid-March to mid-November.

"Congress really gave us a wise compromise in 1966 with six months of standard time, but because of the lobbies on behalf of daylight we now spring forward in the middle of the winter," Michael Downing, author of "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving," told Fox News in 2015.

Disagreements over daylight saving aren't new. In 1965, before the Uniform Act was passed, 71 major cities in the U.S. with a population of over 100,000 were using daylight saving, while 59 others were not.

"People do not like the hassle of adjusting their clocks twice a year," Downing added.


I have chosen to quote extensively here from the source article as it does about as good of a job addressing the key issues involved as any article I have read. 

Now, for me personally, given that I have spent my entire life “springing forward and falling backward”, the concept of “time change” is not really all that troublesome.  That being said, I actually prefer as much daylight as possible. 

And so, for this reason, if a change is ever made, then ironically, I would prefer permanent Daylight Savings Time as opposed to permanent Standard Time.  But that is me.  Others are equally entitled to decide how they feel about the matter.

But irrespective of the differences on display in our varied opinions about semiannual time changes, perhaps there is one thing we can all agree upon with regard to changing time.  Who among us would not welcome the opportunity, if we could, periodically to roll back the clock?

For many, the desire to roll back the clock might be due to a desire to relive a given moment.  This is especially true if that given moment was favorable in one’s memory.  For others, that might mean not just reliving, but also changing a given moment.  In this case, such a moment might be remembered unfavorably; and the desire might understandably be to undo or redo that instant.

And even if someone manages to get to old age without any regrets, they might still like to roll back time so as to have a bit more of it.  After all, losing daylight is one thing.  But losing the time of one’s life is quite another.

One last reason we might want to control time might not so much be to rewind the clock as to just make it stop for a little while.  After all, when things are going well, do we not wish for the time to last?  In the Old Testament (Joshua, chapter 10), Joshua prayed that the sun might stand still while the children of Israel were having a great victory over their enemy, the Amorites; and the Lord allowed this very thing to happen!

Sadly, of course, no matter how much we might desire to do so, most of us simply cannot reclaim time.  But this is precisely what makes all moments precious in this life.  Every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month, every year, every decade, every lifetime, once gone, cannot be recalled.

Ben Franklin once made the following observation:  “Dost thou love life?  Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
​

I’ll simply take a moment of time here and say, “Amen!”


ARTICLE SOURCE:

https://www.foxnews.com/science/daylight-saving-time-when-and-why-we-fall-back.  The writer, Jennifer Earl is an SEO editor for Fox News. She can be followed on Twitter @jenearlyspeakin.  Note:  Fox News' Matt Finn and The Associated Press also contributed to this report.

QUOTE SOURCE: 

https://www.fi.edu/benjamin-franklin/famous-quotes.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE:

https://biblehub.com/bsb/joshua/10.htm.

    Cleo E. Jackson, III

    Occasionally I will add
    a few thoughts to my blog. If you find them inspirational, I will be
    honored.

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