Thought for the day

Just read this in an e-mail...... 

We often try to fix problems with WD-40 and duct tape.

God did it with nails.

Movies of note

Other bloggers I read mention favorite movies they've seen recently or in the past. Today, one was talking of dialogue sequences that she finds extremely romantic. 

An interesting piece (I won't go so far as to call it my fav) that I have in my small little library of VCRs, is an old old Richard Gere & Sam Shepard movie called Days of Heaven. Can't even remember how I got onto it, know I had to order it special order someplace, but I was not disappointed. And its not for the romance, or the characters or the plot. Its because of the setting. An old time harvest crew on the prairies supposed to be  the 1916 Texas panhandle, I think it was filmed in Alberta if I remember correctly. There are rolling fields of ripe wheat which are thrashed by hand using large crews of migrant European immigrant types that come in by train. Having been raised in the era of combines, I only heard about thrashing from the old folks of my time and found this portrayal of the actual practice, especially with crews that were not made up of only neighbors to be very interesting.  The plot is sort of disgusting but if you can get past that, you can learn a lot from it. 

Workin' Cattle

My office mate is taking off a few hours next week to help work cattle. Believe it or not, I'm a little envious! Working cattle was something I took pride in once upon a time.  But we didn't do it cowboy style. It was a quieter get-er-done style.

First was the gathering and bringing in.  For the most part it wasn't done on horseback. It was more apt to be done with a pickup load of feed for bait and a few strategically placed people on foot or horseback (this was pre-four-wheelers) to block escape routes. The truck driver needed a strong voice to  call 'em in; every caller I ever knew had his or her own style but the trick is that the cattle have to know it means feed.  

Then once they were in the lot, you relied on gates and fences, plus a little more voice work and some instinct for thinking like a cow. Some of the voice work was calling, but more of it was encouraging the herd to move ahead of you. Stockmen I have seen vary on whether they use voice or not. Some don't like the voice cause it riles up the herd. But I always figured a little use at the appropriate time helped, just so you didn't over do it. And if the herd knew the voice was a plus. Some talking to 'em seemed to get them a little familiar with you and somewhat accepting.

Working cattle on foot works if the herd is used to seeing men on foot. I've seen cattle shipped in from the open range that had never seen a man off a horse, and they went plumb loco at the sight.  Kind of like sending a country boy to the big city - its a scary experience.

Styles of sorting cattle vary but I always preferred to work with one other person that was used to working with me. The two of us with an easy going dog (not a specially trained one) could do more with a little patience and some good body English than a whole raft of cowboys on horseback. Not that we didn't have use for those cowboys on occasion. For instance if a wily critter went to a neighbor's pasture, especially if it was a young bull, hiring a good cowboy on a good horse was worth it. But for the most part, our horses were more for our pleasure than for stirring up the herd. Course, that couldn't have anything to do with our cowboyin' abilities, could it?

Might change for the next generation: my 9-yr-old grandson has taken up roping in junior rodeo. Now when his dad has a sick calf in the pen that he can't catch, he goes and finds son to come rope it for him.  Way to go, Brody!

Even so, one of my favorite stock paper cartoons was of 2 fellas watching a pot-bellied old codger with a bag of feed on his shoulder leading some cattle across the pens. The caption: Joe can do more with a 50 pound bag of feed than 6 cowboys on horseback.  

Yes, there's more than one way to work cattle and I suppose whatever fits your situation is the right way. Right?

Christian Guilt

I heard somewhere recently (some tv commentary, don't remember who) that guilt is a Judeo-Christian concept. Which reminded me of an acquaintance I once knew who was lamenting having not spent more time with a recently deceased loved one. I said not to feel guilty and he said he didn't ever feel guilty; that was something for Christians. Which brought me up short. One, this meant he was not a Christian. How sad. But also, why should I feel guilt as a Christian? Wouldn't I feel guilt even if I didn't believe in Christ as my Savior? I didn't get it.

Now some years later I have a bit more insight into that concept. Not to say I completely get it but here's what I think. Because of the way we are taught as children and because of how we are wired as human beings, we think we should be "good".... better.... better than others, better than we are, just better.  And we kick ourselves because we can't get there.  And feel guilty.

Now we know from the Bible that we can never be free from sin. Or perfect. So we are beaten before we even start. Then we feel guilty because we can't do it.

I think this guilt keeps us from embracing the most basic of Christian beliefs. Christ died to take all those imperfections we can't correct. And He loves us, warts and all. And He won't give us brownie points for trying to be "better". So, if we really believe in Christ and our relationship with Him, are we not questioning His love for us if we allow ourselves to feel guilt for our imperfections? If we are to be Christ-like, shouldn't we love ourselves as we are instead of beat ourselves up for what we aren't?

Now don't get me wrong. I'm sure God wants us to try, just so we'll feel uplifted and so we can have others be lifted up as well. After all, if we are to love others as Christ loves us, we will want to make things as good as possible on His behalf..... for them...... and for ourselves.

But I also think we should be wary of going for "better" if it is going to make us appear to be better than our neighbors. God loves us just the way we are, and He loves them that way, also. So shouldn't our neighbors see that in us? Not see us trying to be "better" all the time? How can they understand He will take them as they are if we don't demonstrate we have been taken that way already?

Christ's love for me was the hardest part for me to get. I'm not going to let it be ruined by my guilt.

God, I know I'm guilty of sin, but I also know you took that sin. Thank you! Thank you for loving me just the way I am.

Christmas Post Update

For those of you who may have already read about the Christmas decorations at our church, I've updated that post with an excellent picture of Grandma Elsie playing at Christmas time. I can say that because I didn't take it; a fellow church member did. I asked him to share it electronically and he graciously agreed. So I'm sharing it with all of you.

I'll bet she's playing a keyboard in Heaven!

Experiment

Whenever I insert a photo, it goes to the top. Sometimes you want to talk about something and insert photos about it. So here goes. This is an experiment. I've been stumped at how to get a photo placed within the text of a post.




Well, I sort of get it. Not sure I quite understand but at least I got it moved.

By the way, this photo is a year old now but aren't they good looking! Brody and Ebony!

Sedalia Church - Christmas

This is a photo of my neice's wedding ceremony one year ago, Jan. 5, 2008, at Sedalia Church. Note the Christmas decorations and the beautiful tree.

Jump forward one year:

Last  night we met to un-decorate the Christmas tree at the church. Only four of us showed up and none of us were the super athletes who might have more easily climbed the ladders and man-handled the big tree. But the four of us still managed to take things down and pack it up.  Hopefully, some others have put it all away.

We all were reluctant, not because of the work, but because we all hated to see the beauty of the season packed away for the year. My sister and I especially enjoy it since we used some of our mother's memorial money to buy the tall slender tree. Our church is a beautiful but small old historic church out in the country.  Check out a fellow church member's site - Sedalia. It has an interesting story which I'll save for another day.

Anyway we've always tried to find a live tree that was tall enough to look good in the front corner, yet not so big around as to poke the pianist in the back. My Mom, respectfully known by all as Grandma Elsie, when alive played for second service. And she had many a pine needle poking her at Christmas time.

So after she took those fragrent pokes all those years, my sister and I decided to finally find an artificial tree that fit the space. Too late for Mom to experience, this was the second season we have used it. We're all enjoying it. Thanks, Grandma E!

The tree came with a zillion lights attached and so far they have worked beautifully. The ornaments are a collection of primarily angel ornaments given in memory of loved ones already gone. Green swags w/red bows, log ornaments w/candles and lights, old fashion lamps, and several nativity sets complete the festive dressing. Only the alter candles are lit now days in respect for safety.  I loved it when we lit the oil lamps in the windows for Christmas eve but I can understand the concern. There's only one door and the minister always told us at the front of the church not to fear, he had a hatchet in the pulpit and we'd all go out the windows.

Grandma Elsie played for Sunday School and Bible School as well as for church for many, many years. The kids all loved her. 

We are a congregation of many descendants of local settlers but also include many newcomers; being near a large university and a large Army base means we have folks coming and going thru the neighborhood all the time. One little boy went to visit his grandparents out-of-state but after a few days told his Mom he wanted to go see his other grandma. Knowing there weren't any other grandparents besides the ones he was visiting, they couldn't understand what he meant until he said, you know, Grandma Elsie!

Yes, that tree and the beautiful decorations mean a lot to all the church family, but especially to me. Its like Mom is right there with us, only not being poked in the back!