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The Power of Continuous Prayer: It's Not What You Think

9/30/2019

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Prayer applied to everything you do is very powerful.
Always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
                                                     - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT)


On many occasions I’ve thought about the concept of continuous prayer. After all, it is mentioned more than once in the Bible but, thinking about it, on the surface it seems rather impossible.  How would we have time to get the earthly things done that we must to survive if we continually pray?  Actually, there’s a quite simple answer to that and it involves how you pray and, if done the right way, it can actually be a lot of fun. But first, what is prayer?

Prayer is really nothing more than a two-step process of opening our heart to the Holy Spirit. By taking that first step, we make ourselves vulnerable and when that vulnerability is presented with earnest praise to God via the Spirit, the communication channel is open and receptive to God, step two.  Communication is using that channel to both praise God and ask Him to help us with our problems.  While God is always standing by, our all-knowing Father who knows what we are thinking before we even area aware of it, He nevertheless wants us to open the communication. It is one way we can show Him how much we love Him for the love He gives us.  When we prayer earnestly through that open and receptive channel, God knows we are sincere. It also puts Him in a receptive mode for what we want to tell Him. So, how do we do this continually, particularly when we have things to do in human life hat take close attention to detail and so much time? 

Simply put, here’s what we need to do. Keep the communication channel open while you are doing whatever it is you have to do, and tell God the play-by-play of exactly what you are doing and what problems you are having with getting it done.  It doesn’t have to be done out loud if you are in a work center with many others around, let your silent thoughts speak the words as you describe them internally.  It is especially helpful when you are in a predicament or angry, for discussing it with God through that open channel will calm you, soothe you and keep you from saying something or doing something you might otherwise regret.  Maybe it’s your meeting with your child after he has really messed up?  Maybe, like me, it’s when you are handling a chore with the horses and one of them goes rogue.  Maybe it's when you are in a difficult meeting with a skeptical boss. Or maybe it’s when you and your spouse are having a disagreement and God can show you the way to bring it to a satisfactory and peaceful conclusion for both of you demanding souls.  It can be anything, but once you get in the practice, it just might be surprising what it does for you in the future and in the case of prayer, silent or out loud, it gets better with practice.
 
Consciously try it for thirty days and see if it doesn’t make things better.  And remember, if you are truly open and in God’s wavelength when you offer your prayers through praise first and then with your request for help, you should consider it done even though it may not be according to your impatient wish. God works by His time, not yours.  And also remember, you don’t have to ask for something to pray. Prayers of praise are always accepted and God truly loves knowing when we appreciate what He does and who He is with no special strings attached. I know a florist who always praises God while arranging the glorious and beautiful flowers that only God can create.  It’s all about trust and if you don’t trust Him, you really can’t be open to Him. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way.  Try it and follow through;  it will astound you.


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SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN: We Need the Lord, America

9/29/2019

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An Old Frontier Church: The Spirit that was America.
What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.  What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.   
                                                                          - Isaiah 5:20-21 (NLT) 


I received this picture Saturday morning from one of my best followers and it really struck me as something very special. What could be a better example of the America of years past going all the way back to our foundation as a nation under God?  The rough and rugged style as a log cabin church clearly marks it as a place where rough and rugged settlers in the wilderness, men and women who worked hard but also understood the importance of faith in God, could come together on the Lord's Day and give Him their thanks while also asking for His help. Times were tough, outlaws and Indians were ever present and each day was a time of showing their ability to survive against often harsh odds.

But then, thinking about how it also shows its age and lack of care, showing itself as just an empty shell of what it was, I think about the problems that we find ourselves facing in this land of ours today.  Just like this church is something of the past, it sadly seems that God is to many something of the past as well.  We hear talk of how what was right is wrong and what was wrong is right and we see so many examples of people who truly believe that. Who needs God, they say, thinking themselves capable of doing everything on their own and living for their own pleasures and not in a manner that God intended for all of us. They deny His status as Creator, talk about "big bangs" and what not as the creation and then they scorn those who fail to believe as they do.  They have no concept of a Spiritual Law which overrules all other rules of life and as a consequence, they create laws designed to outlaw any disagreement with their jaded thoughts.

So, taking from the passage from Isaiah that opened this commentary, what is wrong and what is right?  And the answer is really surprisingly simple.  What God tells us through the power of the Holy Spirit in His Word and in our hearts is the truth.  When we open our heart to Him and truly believe He is who He is, we also receive the gift of discernment when we keep our inner self alive to Him and it tells us what we want to know.  There is no law or no truth that is really valid without applying His discernment to it. And when, through discernment, we are given the ability to truly see Truth, we know how we must live and act and it will come as a true blessing. Oh, the scorn will still be there and there might be some suffering and pain, but it will be in the realm of the human life mortality and will ultimately be surrendered to the Spiritual Life of Eternity with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit within us keeps us on that path in this world if we listen.  We will in our own selves be transformed to wonder so great that it is unimaginable and in our eyes that old wilderness church will appear as if it is the day it just opened its doors, fresh and new.

Isaiah was a great prophet who predicted accurately so many things that would follow after his death, including the birth and life of Jesus. Listen to his words above, they can help us deal with the rising storm of evil that continually runs rampant on this earth, even here in America. Only the truth through the Living Truth of our Lord can set us free.      
                   
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"I Had a Dream About Summers at Old Nags Head"

9/27/2019

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Fishermen putting the dory to sea.
Some of you might have seen and read my blog yesterday about the "Unpainted Aristocracy" which also mentioned the old fishing days and the local fishermen who used dories like the one shown up the beach in that blog.  Those fishing days were special memories and I wondered why my family never had any pictures of them being pushed out to sea on the way to place or retrieve their nets to harvest some of the local bounty of the sea. It was a story that I sometimes relive in my dreams and I always wish I had a picture of the event.  Well, this morning my prayers were answered. But first, let me explain why my fascination for such pictures is so strong in the first place. 

​Of all the places I have ever spent extended periods of my life, none ever captured me the way those "Summers at Old Nags Head" did. I think the reason is pretty clear. After all, I spent so much of my summertime there from the year of my birth in 1947 until graduating from high school and what young boy of the time wouldn't feel that way? There was so much beauty, such a peaceful blending between mankind and the sea, and such a glorious aura about all things it represented that it likely would have been impossible for me to have not had such impact.  Despite all those memories and what they mean, however, many of the things I most remembered were not captured on film.  

Oh, I have lots of pictures, but the lack of one about those wonderful fishermen of the day has especially bothered me. During most of my years there, usually at least twice a week if the weather allowed, local fishermen would put their nets out in the ocean directly in front of our cottage and then retrieve and empty their catch the following morning.  It is a story I tell in “Summers at Old Nags Head,” for the leader of the fishing group was none other than the Commander in my book, Sherman Culpepper, our next-door neighbor and a retired Coast Guard officer and Outer Banker by birth.  Mr. Culpepper was like a father to me after my dad died and I spent considerable time picking and sorting fish with other boys in the area to help gather his catch.  When they were pulled ashore in the early light after capturing the goodness of the sea overnight, time was of the essence. So, we all went to work so that the catch was sorted in baskets and taken to the shade of the cool garage before sun could spoil the sea’s bounty.  When the fish market truck came, they were quickly loaded and taken away and we boys went home with our morning’s breakfast to the delight of Mom.

So, this morning when I awoke, I went to see what had taken place over the evening hours via the internet, and there waiting for me was the picture shown above and it’s one I didn’t have. It was sent by Mr. Culpepper’s  grandson, my childhood pal at the beach, “Frankie,” now Frank, also growing older like me, but I’m glad we keep in touch.  We had good times together helping out on the sandy beach and now I have the real deal of a picture of what it was I dreamed about. The man shown in rowing position is  "Bubba," Sherman Culpepper, Jr., son of the fishing leader.  The man with back to the screen, on the starboard side near the stern and looking forward is Eldon Culpepper, brother of Sherman, Sr. and the Commander from my book, Sherman Culpepper, is at the stern in the cap, trying to direct traffic over the wave. On the port side next to him is Pete Poole. Both Sherman, Sr. and Eldon were brothers to my Uncle Hal, so the connection is a strong one.  What a great picture it is to have and what memories it gives of a simpler time and the simpler pleasures that filled our lives in those “Summers at Old Nags Head.”  And thank you, Cousin Frank, for sending it this morning.  Another little empty niche in my picture book to go with my memories is now in place. 

So, you see, my stories are very, very real indeed and if you take them into your heart, you'll likely have dreams about them, too.  What could be a better place or time to place in a dream than "Summers at Old Nags Head?"  I'll just add that the event as captured by picture was in 1950, not in summer but probably later fall from the looks of the clothing worn. It was take the same year that my portrait, drafted on the beach with my guardian dog, Laddie Boy, was painted. I was too young to pick fish back then but there were many years to come until it was banned. Glad I wasn't there for that.
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Portrait also served as the Kindle cover picture for "Summers at Old Nags Head."
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The Blending of Man and Nature During "Summers at Old Nags Head"

9/26/2019

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Nothing can compare to the joy, serenity and beauty of "Old Nags Head."
Sometimes with so much of today's news and the seeming insanity of it all, I get away from it  by reminiscing over some of the pictures my family collected over the years spent at "Old Nags Head."  Yesterday was just one of those days, with the news filled with the same old, same old political mumbo-jumbo repeats and seeing people running about looking very unhappy. I just wanted to divorce myself from all of it.  Lo and behold, this picture popped out of the stack and it just grabbed me. It freed me of concerns for the here and now as I was captured by the glory of the past. On the back was the annotation "Old Nags Head Aristocracy" in my late mom's handwriting but it didn't have a date. I recognized the scene, however, from my first memories around 1950-51 on that beach, I remember it well.  And as I got older, my walks grew more frequent and this was a favorite place to think about what it was really like in the old days long before my own good old days.

Nags Head was much more than a beach back in those days.  It was a way of life, a place built with the natural beauty of the land kept in mind as cottages were designed to blend in with the environment while also affording protection from it. In those days, the close knit community was made up with families who got to know each other and became friends. In the case of the owners of the unpainted aristocracy cottages, many of them knew one another from their planter and agricultural relationships back on the Inner Banks where many of them lived in the cooler months. They originally came both to escape the oppressive inland and the threat of malaria which was rampant in the area.  They came for the entire summer, bringing everything they needed with them and they were so enamored by what they found that they even originated an Episcopal Church chapel nearby since most of them were Anglican. Prior to that, most who were faithful were either Methodist, Baptist of of the Holiness tradition by choice. And the gradual development of other portions of the beach were similar, only the cottages were often smaller yet of the same environmental standard with deep pilings to the raised foundation, shutters which could be quickly closed manually, extra nails in the cedar shingles and a porch.  They represent a style that is all but gone at Nags Head and with that, the beach town has lost its uniqueness as it becomes just another  city on the sea. 

There is one other thing of note and it is the dory pulled up on the beach in the picture.  For generations, Nags Headers fished for their supper in the ocean directly in front of their cottages.  Fishermen would gather in the late afternoon to take the nets out to sea by dory and set them for the night.  They were anchored to form a V with the top of the V onshore, with anchors placed onshore at both tops of the V and the third at the ocean midpoint. Then in the early morning before the dawn's light, the nets were retrieved and spread open on the beach, length-wise parallel to the surf, where fisherman and young boys would empty and sort the catch before it was distributed.  We even did that in my early days and many was the morning when I had fresh fried fish wrapped in bacon with hashed brown potatoes and cornbread for breakfast.  Yum, yum, that was a special morning. 

When the fall arrived and the opening of school, all of the what I call permanent summer residents packed up and went home for the winter. We bid goodbye to those neighbors we wouldn't see in the off season, but you can bet it was a grand reunion when the next school year ended and we all gathered together for another summer. It was old home week all over again.  It was small town USA in the summertime and it was a time to be footloose and fancy free with no fears and no worries, just sun, fishing and the sea.  Oh, we had hurricanes and other storms, but we took them in stride and lived through them. The beach handled it back then better, for nature had the room and the places to send the water through and capture the loose blowing sand, before it sent it back where it came from.  The water either flowed back out or percolated through the sandy soil that was at that time the not populated, scrub growth flatlands of the interior.  Maybe, just maybe we ought to look back to our past to find out where we went wrong and what we could do better.  Just a thought, my friends, just a thought. 
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Not an aristocracy cottage, but we loved it. Used the same building concepts in 1947.
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AMERICAN HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT  101: What is Impeachment?

9/25/2019

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Impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson by the Senate, May 26, 1868
Impeachment.  It's a word that's been thrown around a lot lately and it is often not understood for what it means and what it represents. With it now appearing quite likely that we will soon see the third impeachment process coming to a reality, a look at how it takes place is in order, for the public perception leaves a lot to be desired.

First off, in the case of a duly elected President of the United States, impeachment is not the removal of the Chief Executive of the national government from office. Impeachment is the approval of articles of impeachment by the House of Representatives by a simple majority of members and their referral to the United States Senate for trial.  Think of the House action like a grand jury action which are then referred by a prosecutor with charges to the court. The House appoints their prosecution team to try and convince the jury, the United States Senate, that the charges warrant removal from the office of President of the United States.  The judge officiating over the trial is the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  So, if we think this is just a political action as so many of the pundits say, we are dead wrong.

The first presidential impeachment approved and referred by the House to the Senate was on February 24, 1868. President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, the former Vice President under Abraham Lincoln, who became President upon the assassination of Lincoln in 1865 was impeached.  He had a rocky road with Congress due to his desire to quickly try and return the old states back to locally functioning status in the Union and was impeached over his removal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a violation of the Tenure in Office Act. The law was enacted to preclude the President for taking action against a senior employee in the Administration since Stanton was not appointed by Johnson.  Johnson, a Southerner who retained allegiance to the Union during the Civil War, while Stanton was a Radical Republican who wanted retribution. The trial was held in the Senate and Johnson retained the presidency by a one vote margin. The Senate was one vote short of the required two-thirds majority vote to convict. 

Most of us should remember, of course, the second impeachment involving President Bill Clinton in 1998 over a perjury impeachment article which was approved and referred to the Senate.  In this case, Clinton was also acquitted yet he did later lose his law license since the entire impeachment process only involves Congressional action, not civil or criminal complaints which might otherwise be dealt with.  He served out his term and retired with full benefits and privileges. 

Now it appears that President Donald Trump is likely to face impeachment based upon the comments made yesterday in a press conference by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.  And while this commentary won't address the issues at hand, that is something for all to decide for themselves, it is worthy of note that the procedures being employed have changed the standard way of doing business from the processes previously used.  In the case of both President Johnson and President Clinton,  the entire House voted on whether or not the action should warrant the initiation of a formal  impeachment investigation preparatory to action.  In the current case,the House of Representatives in the personage of the Speaker decided yesterday that the formal investigation preparatory to any further action will be handled by the six committee chairs of the House. The People's House has decided to leave the determination of the charges based upon a group of seven as opposed to allowing the entire House to take individual positions and debate the action before it even gets to the point of action.   Why?  There are a number of theories but let's just wait for the Speaker's next steps to find out.  Decide for yourselves but realize that impeachment is a very serious matter and is one that is likely to tear the nation apart. It should never be taken lightly or initiated without good solid facts, not second and third person accounts. Is an ongoing battle with no needed legislative actions taken for the next year or longer what we want? Well, that's what happens during an impeachment trial. Think about it.
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For Pete's Sake, Let the Children Be Children

9/24/2019

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Greta Thunberg in action. Photo; Stephanie Keith/Getty News
Pictured above is Greta Thunberg, a sixteen year old Swedish girl who has become the poster child of liberalism for the Climate Change movement.  Her claim to fame came from establishing school strikes in Sweden, now emulated even in the United States, and the United Nations has seemingly taken her under their wing as another means of attacking national sovereignty and the right to choose for themselves what needs to be done to consolidate all decision-making under a One World Order concept of international governance.  Poor young Greta, a child suffering from attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and is demanding change by governments or else. It is interesting, however, that her call for action, both while in Washington before Congress and her UN speech singled out the United States and four other advanced Western nations while failing to mention the world's number one culprit by far, China and other nations in Asia that are spewing out so much filth into the air and water that most of America looks pristine in comparison. So, there is clearly an ideological agenda here.  But my real purpose for this article is not to get into the climate change argument but to suggest that young people like Greta be allowed to grow up as normal children and make their own decisions on what is important to them in life. It is clear that her mother, an avowed supporter of the New World Order and someone who wanted to be well known in the process, has played a major role in molding her child to her way of thinking.

Children need to develop good relational skills and master the critical subjects of life before being assumed to be wizards of the world.  To find this young lady, the child of a Swedish opera star and an actor who have clearly strongly influenced not only her belief system but also her outward actions, doesn't lend itself to someone with a good emotional balance.  Perhaps the full reasoning for her ADHD is found right there.  Children, even high schoolers, need to have time to play, to dream and to be creative, not be captured by cultish movements that are based on ideology and dogma rather than clear factual support.  Science is, after all, never really settled and subject to many changes as new things are learned, yet Greta's speech never mentioned another side to the argument, assuming that only she, still a youngster, knows best. I find that laughable since there are thousands of brilliant minds with an opposite viewpoint, yet her group pretends they don't even exist. It's the way she has been taught, it lacks the ability to openly debate and defend a point of view, but instead just spout boiler plate statements and emotion as the basis for the argument.   And the fact that on her trip she came to New York on a zero carbon footprint yacht from a royal family in the Mediterranean clearly indicates someone in high places is pushing her action.  Always look for the money that backs up any sudden new mouthpiece for a cause. Young students at sixteen should be learning the full ramifications of what nations are, how they operate and how they can work both with their own sovereignty and in cooperation with other nations, not lecturing world bodies with ultimatums, a snarling persona and even tears.  It's not her fault as she was brought up that way. Let her grow up first.



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My Fiftieth Anniverary of Being Told, "You're in the Army Now, Son"

9/23/2019

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New Army recruits, fresh out of the barber shop and on the way for their clothing issue.
Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the day I entered the Army. On September 23, 1969, fresh out of college and summer reprieve before entry, I boarded a Greyhound  bus in Hampton, Virginia at 5:30 a.m. for the trip to Richmond and swearing in.  After a long day of being tested, poked and prodded and standing in line with many others in my undershorts and a stale boxed sandwich with nearly warm milk, I was sworn in.  As the enlistment officer then handed each of us our signed enlistment papers, he said as he smiled with a smirk on his face, "You're in the Army now, Son."  That was the last time I was ever called son but instead many other terms I won't mention here.  But now so many years later, what did service in the Armed Forces teach me and, looking back, am I glad that I was called to serve?

The answer is that it taught me a lot and I am very proud that I served my nation in my younger days.  I was a pretty decent kid growing up, never got into any serious trouble although at times I had  a rebellious streak. I did pretty well in high school and went to college, studied hard but also had a little fun and in June of 1969 I knew I faced a likely draft. It was just before the lottery numbers were used and since I had been summoned to take my Selective Service physical, passed it with the always dreaded 1-A evaluation, I knew my number would be up soon. I was right and just two days later I got the word that I would be subject to being chosen beginning in July.  I opted instead for a delayed entry enlistment, good for ninety days, and with it received the Officer Candidate School (OCS) option after Basic and Advanced Individual Training.  And so, September 23 came and I was in.

I have to tell you, however, more about why the Army was good for me and once the initial training, including the tough OCS course of twenty-six week were over, why I also grew to enjoy it.  Nowhere else could a young man have so much responsibility at a young age as a new "butter bar" Second Lieutenant and, with that, learning what real responsibility was.  Every soldier regardless of rank quickly learns that actions and choices taken have consequences and the Army and all military branches instill that very well. But the new commissioned officer learns that regardless of what takes place, there are no excuses made that will ever get you off the hook.  Get it done, come Hell or High Water and sometimes you might face both. Oh, we had plenty of  good days with the bad ones, but overall they were a wonderful learning experience and I am so glad today for what I experienced.   And even though I decided to leave service approaching the eight year mark, the lessons learned have been retained and the memories have been tempered by the mind not wanting to remember the bad as much as the good.  

Looking back, I think one of the biggest mistakes we have made in this country is to create an all volunteer force which, as we are finally beginning to realize, won't be sufficient to meet our obligations and responsibilities as a world leader. At some point if we want to remain free and honest, the draft will have to be on the table.  And some of you will not agree with me on this, but I really don't want to see our young women in foxholes.  I feel that way because I am a traditionalist and I know there are so many non-combat jobs that need to be filled so that our fighting men can fill the combat role.  Perhaps a middle ground would be to allow women who want those roles to compete for them, yet subject to the exact same standards, not a lesser one which just lowers the readiness of the entire force.  Even then, we face biological differences that can't easily be managed with men and women in the same foxhole when the action starts. Political correctness will never win a war and I know the Russians and the Chinese know that well.  Honestly seeing the world we have today, war is never something that is ever off the table when tyrants continue to exist on this earth. And they do in large numbers,  Yes, they do.

But whatever our specific view on that one  particular aspect of today's service, spending time in the military develops good working habits, the ability to face difficult problems and deal with them rationally and with coolness and an understanding of why when we start a job we should have no thoughts of grandeur until we learn and prove we can carry out the basics first.  It teaches knowing how to deal with a NO and learn and profit from that experience. From what I see today, we have a large number of young folks who need that lesson.  Nothing is ever really free in this world, we have to work hard and earn the things we want.  Military service does a great job of teaching that.
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SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN: The Temple of God

9/22/2019

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King Solomon's Temple: Notice the extravagance of it all.
 Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?  God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
                                                                                    - 1 Corinthians 3:16-17


When you hear the term TEMPLE, what do you imagine? Well, many of us immediately have dreams of a grand place, very ritzy, fancy and with every detail perfect. It would be a place to show how utterly beautiful it was for all the world to see and it was often a central theme and goal of the Jewish elders in Jerusalem.  In all fairness to them, they were responding in their earthly way to the wisdom they had learned and were trying to apply it to what God had in mind.  But, in the process, they frequently put themselves in the mix as well, wanting to show what a beautiful place they had created for God while also letting the people know that they had done it and they deserved credit for it.  They had substituted their earthly wisdom for God's wisdom and there is no comparison between the two.

Now, that's not an unusual event and even we Christians today in modern times and here in America do the same thing.  Oh, we don't call it a TEMPLE, we call it a CHURCH, and many leaders enter into a bold plan to create and build the largest and most grandiose CHURCH they can, believing that the glory of God needs to be shown in grand array just for the sake of doing so.  Unfortunately, in the process, they find they require huge sums of money to pay the note on that new and imposing facility and the main thrust of their efforts become attracting new members and new money sources in order not to default.  And in that very process, the search for the truth in the Word of God and its teaching becomes secondary to whatever it takes to get more new members regardless of what their belief is. 

Now I don't want anyone to take this as saying that any large and imposing church means the center of their attention is off base, for there are examples of such churches that are very much followers of the Word as it is written.  But there are many that are not and that brings to mind the message that the Apostle Paul was trying to bring to the men and women of the Christian faith in Corinth.  The Church in Corinth was very divided in what was really the way of God.  Many were corrupted by the very nature of their city, one which was beset with high immorality and continuing worship of the Greek gods.  But they were truly impressed by Paul, hence their desire to start the Church and it is why he is writing to tell them the error of their ways.  And the most important thing for him is to tell them exactly what the Church really is.  It's not a temple or a big imposing church facility, no, it is the people. It is the people who when united make up the Church and he wants them to understand that.  God created us in His image and He wants us to live for Him first and foremost in a manner that He desires from us.  Doing so is a matter of the heart which opens us to the Spirit.  When those who want to be Christians open themselves to the Spirit and follow the action steps given, they develop the discernment to determine what God want.  They become aware of the greater spiritual knowledge that comes to us from the source of life in a different world through His Son, Jesus Christ. And people, joining together with the Spirit are thereby in tune with the Holy Spirit who gave it to us and that in turn links us to Jesus Christ who is our mediator with God.  So, as Paul so aptly put it, we are that Spirit and that makes us a Temple of God. And that Temple of God which joins us together to worship and love God is the Church.  It's a group of believing Christians, trusting God's Word and accepting it as God gave it to us and loving Him.  Again, that is the Church, not the trappings that we sometimes think are so important.  I think that's critical for each of us to understand.  Have a blessed day.

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The Good Old Days on the Outer Banks: Manteo RFD

9/21/2019

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Homecoming at Manteo HS with two landmarks, the Pioneer Theater and Fearing's Drug Store, 1963
As I entered high school in Newport News in 1960, I remember a night at home watching TV after homework when the new show, The Andy Griffith Show, starring Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, first came out.  Mom and I loved that show and she said that it was about a small town like Mount Airy in the area he grew up in western North Carolina.  Andy was, however, well known in Manteo, having played the role of Sir Walter Raleigh at The Lost Colony, a show that got much of its talent from the Carolina Players in Chapel Hill where Andy had studied.  He also loved Manteo, building a home there where he spent the last years of his life after Hollywood fame.  But when I saw that show I knew that wasn't Mount Airy or anything like it. That had to be Manteo and she could never convince me otherwise.  The show was just too much like Manteo back in the 1950's and '60's and I'm still convinced.

In those "Summers at Old Nags Head" durng all of the 1950's and the first half of the 1960's, visits to Roanoke Island were numerous for my family while at the beach. Mom, of course, was a native of Wanchese and loved to spend time with her large family of siblings and, up until 1962, visiting her mother as well.  Those visits were eye-opening and I loved keeping records of what I learned which certainly came in handy when I decided to write about those days.  But even so, as I entered the teenage years, sometimes a few of us younger family members wanted to see something else, so we were allowed to drive up to Manteo.  I had been there many times as a young boy, but there was something about going to town on your own, behind the wheel of a car with some friends, and maybe taking in a movie at the Pioneer followed by a coke float at Fearing's Drug Store that filled the bill in those years which were really quite innocent.  And walking around the little town which was really small back then and watching the smiling and friendly faces of people who were courteous to each other just reinforced my belief that Mayberry RFD was really Manteo.

Back in those days, Manteo High School, by then rebuilt and modernized but at the same location where Mom  went to school in the latter 1920's, still retained the nickname Redskins and the yearbook was The Sandfiddler.  I don't know about the yearbook, but I know the sports moniker was probably changed by political correctness and I have no idea what it is today.  I am sure in my heart, however, that Old Chief Manteo would probably have been proud to have the school's athletic warriors called by their former common name and I bet Old Chief Wanchese would have, too, since students from south Roanoke Island attended that school as well, but times change. Today we forget the heroics and focus on the fluff stuff instead. And I guess it's also why they stopped playing competitive girls basketball on an outdoor court lined with oyster shells. But it didn't hurt those girls like Mom who ended up with my dad, a handsome young doctor. After all, scars heal.

I learned of the exploits of my favorite uncle from times before I was born. Uncle Burr was a decorated Coast Guardsman who spent World War II in the South and North Pacific, from the Solomon Islands to the Aleutians.  The story, of course, involves Manteo. It seems that in 1942, his cutter which was now under command of the Navy was tasked with taking Marines ashore in preparation for the Battle of Guadalcanal, the first step in the island hopping road to the mainland of Japan.  The Japanese had total control of the skies and the charts for navigation were old, dating back to the days of Captain Cook.  Yet the ship made it to the drop off point, turned to port and halted, as the Marines were helped over the side to climb down the nets to waiting landing craft to take them ashore.  As Uncle Burr was helping Marines, he heard a familiar voice and it was his cousin Maynard, a large strapping Marine Lieutenant and the following quick comment was made:

"Hey, Burr, if I get off this island alive and you and I both make it home. we'll get together and celebrate in Manteo," or words closely to that effect. Burr slapped him on the back, agreed and the ship quickly headed away before the planes arrived.

They would both eventually make it back home, Burr in 1945 and Maynard in early 1946 since Marines were always the ones who were held until all was settled. In late winter of 1946, Maynard returned and one of the first things he did was go to see his cousin and the two headed for Manteo.  Now Manteo was not a nightspot by any degree, but it did have a local bar and the two World War II veterans meandered in and were given free drinks by many patrons since they were recognized and all the boys who returned were rightly saluted.  But after perhaps one too many, they decided they would christen the homecoming with a drive through the downtown backwards.  As they began the third lap around the downtown block, the Sheriff spotted them, pulled them over and was about ready to take them to jail like Otis of Mayberry, but he quickly realized they were just home from the war.  So instead, he had them park the car and surrender the keys, then said he would personally take them home and they could come back the next day to retrieve the car.

And where and who do you think he took them to?  Well, it was none other than Uncle Burr's older sister and my aunt, Alma, living in the same house then as she did during our later visits. The Sheriff knew she would whip them into shape.  Many years later when I asked my uncle about the story, he never really answered the question, but just looked at me with a shy smile and said, "Never drink and drive, Jimmy, it doesn't turn out well." I think the smile gave him away but I could never really be certain.

That was Manteo RFD and the closest thing to a serious problem that normally took place involved either alcohol or underage kids trying to get into the Nags Head Casino. And no, I don't know how many bullets a deputy carried, but I don know they were very successful in talking down a situation before it ever got out of land. Also, speaking of the Casino, I know about the teenage thing personally but that's a story for a different time. Seriously, however, most of the work for the Sheriff was on the beach when someone had just too much of a vacation.  As for  Manteo itself, with it's limited showing movie theater and the best fountain coke in the world served iced cold at Fearing's, well, it's still the real Mayberry to me.
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MAN VS. WATER: In the End, Water Always Wins

9/20/2019

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Picture
Floods come and go, but the aftermath is always horrific and repair is expensive
America is continually faced with weather-related crises, as storms roll through, ripping apart homes and businesses, flooding those same facilities and at other times burying them in drifts of snow and life-threatening cold when the power goes out.  In the case of the picture above, it shows a small Florida town which has grown rapidly and can no longer deal with the mass volumes of water created when the flow of the  land is changed by man.  Many lay the blame on man made climate change, an argument which has many shortfalls including modifying criteria in climate models, but empirical experience offers, at least in my humble opinion, a better answer and it begs a question.  Do we humans properly evaluate the land that we want to develop before we do so?

Storms like the ones we continue to have are nothing new in nature. After all, we've had ice ages, warm periods and what not since the earth was created, yet we try to justify our problems based upon a very short period of data, something in the neighborhood of one hundred and fifty years.  And one major eruption of a large volcano like Krakatoa can lower the temperature and turn the skies gray for years, so empirically the evidence shows nature doing as it wishes no matter what we do.  So, in looking at the question posed earlier, I think the answer is that no, we develop and change the lay of the land irregardless of what is its best use, for sadly, it usually is all about money. Let's face it, folks, almost everything in this world today seems to be about money and the quest for it. So, in the quest for money, when we figure we can jam large numbers of people into places that common sense shows doesn't make sense, storms will have an impact far greater than ever before and we are finding that they do.  It's not climate change, it's land use change where we think we can put anything anywhere we want with no consequence therefrom. 

When a developer wants to use his talents to lead the creation of a new community, he knows he must buy large parcels of land and he therefore has to find a place that is affordable.  So, he looks out in the hinterlands and finds cheap land in lowlands and heretofore undeveloped, hard to reach places and, with the support of investors who seek to make a killing, he gobbles up the land often from people who don't even understand it's value.  One key method today is the creation of real estate investment trusts (REITs) and a prime example of them today are major timber companies.  Once focused on timber harvesting and regrowing, today they operate timber operations to maintain cash flow while they look to sell their land to the highest bidder. And seeing most prime timber lands are either in low areas or hard to reach areas where they get the land for pennies on the dollar.  So, what's the best way to make money on a cheap massive piece of land?  Why, you up zone the land to maximum use capacity and develop a plan for a master new community that is sold as progress, a job creator and almost "manna from heaven."  It takes, of course, the support of politicians but with large campaign contributions and the old wine and dine routine, that part is relatively easy.  Then the plan is rushed through and approved since most people don't read the small print announcements in the newspaper.

Even in places like a beach that is still low key and not so built up, they can afford the price when they know they can replace the former single family small cottages and motels with massive hotels and McMansions which are really just a one owner home principally used as an income source.  And the same thing then happens to the beach that happens to the former unused farmland or lowland.  And as the poor locals realize what happened to them as they are taxed right out of their land, the overuse of the land and it's susceptibility to flooding now becomes a major disaster due to the large population that should never have been there in the first  place. 

Don't believe me? Just take a look at the two most recent storm disasters in the United States, the heavy flooding of Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island in North Carolina and the ongoing flooding in Southeast Texas.  Both areas are prone to flooding either from the sea or rain or both and they have flooded seriously many time if you look back at the records,  but when areas that are low like this are overpopulated for the lay of the land, with the growth comes the disaster.  It's not man made global warming, but it is misused land by man.  And while many complain about it, it just goes on.  And here's the little catch.  As long as we elect officials who continue to do the same thing, that being putting their own interest above the interests of all citizens, not just the select few, it will continue. But that is just one man's opinion and you are free to think whatever you want.  After all, it's life and life is what WE make it. But remember this, we were tasked by our Maker with using proper dominion over the earth and all living things on it. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to realize that proper dominion was not building downtown Houston below sea level or putting massive facilities on a narrow, above ground sandbar that is at places thirty miles out in the ocean.  Let's use common sense, people, common sense.


Picture
Southern Hatteras Island during Dorian
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    Hi, I'm James, a writer who studies nature,  animals and all things created by God. I also write from time to time about what I think God expects of us.  I would love to hear your thoughts on these subjects. I hope you enjoy my comments.

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