Enjoying the book of Hebrews

I think I’ve mentioned before my favorite books of the Bible. In the Old Testament I can read Genesis over and over again. The character that I feel most like is Jacob. There was one night when he had a dream of the ladder to Heaven. His reaction was that he was terrified. Jacob was a thinker and was always planning. It was only when he had to that he sought out God. Jacob never seemed to grasp his heritage and his blessings.

My favorite books in the New Testament are the Gospel of John, the Acts of the Apostles and the epistle to the Hebrews. I read other books in the Bible but I come back to these over and over again. John shows Jesus as the Son of God and I see in it the beautiful and artless way that he deals with people even while going to the cross. The Acts of the Apostles shows the gospel starting out in Jerusalem and then spreading to the Gentiles by the apostle Paul. His experience on the road to Damascus makes him an apostle. My favorite chapter is when he goes to Mars Hill and addresses the thinkers of the day.

To me Hebrews is a rising crescendo. It takes all the things that a Hebrew would value from their religion. He then brings in how Christ fulfills that and supersedes it. To me the book rises in chapter 1 to chapter 11 and then talks about what we refer to as “the Hall of Fame of faith”. Paul identifies many different people and their faith and the effect on their lives. So many of these don’t fit in with our preconceived ideas of what faith should look like.

Lately I have been enjoying these verses:

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Hebrews 4:12-13 KJV

in my own case I learned this firsthand. I started reading the Bible to find evidence that it was not true. I read and read and read. I came to Proverbs and there are so many verses that seemed to divide my good intentions and my bad intentions and clearly outlined the fallacies I held. I remember clearly coming to a conclusion that the Bible was the truth! The main evidence was that it clearly had me figured out and spiritually dissected between good and bad. I can only praise Jesus for what was then an emotionally and pride crushing experience. The Bible says “let God be true in every man a liar”.

Blog Posts – Week of Memorial Day

I’m not sure how much I will be able to post. My voice recognition software is pretty flaky anyway. It is totally confused there is any background noise at all. So to create a post I can’t have the TV on, music on or pretty much anyone talking in the background. My wife is working summer hours she will be here on Fridays. I am on the screen porch so that I can get away from the noise and create a blog post.

Tom is going to visit with his dog Atlas. I really enjoy their visits While they are here there is usually background noise so I am not sure how much I will be able to post over the next week. It’s a lot of work to move my computer set up on to the porch and it is very humid so I’m not sure how often I will feel up to dealing with the humidity.

I have really been enjoying our finch feeder. The male goldfinches are so beautiful. The females have almost the same patterns except they are a yellowish green body and set of black on the wings and head it is a more natural brown. I’ve come to appreciate the beauty of the female more than the male. We also have hummingbirds again. They are so tiny and amazing.

My son Matt tried to get a photo of them at the bird feeders yesterday. When he went over by there to take a photo they flew away and would not come back. It seems strange they were afraid of him in the window but the cat can be right next to the window and they ignored her. When I get a photo I will post it on my blog.

Racism — Bigotry

While I feel totally unqualified to address the situation of black people in America I do feel I have some experience with bigotry. In the late 70s I work at a place called LeFebure. I was a welder there. In my department there were many races and bigots. In those days I spent a lot of time outdoors fishing and such. I tanned up pretty well and had fairly dark skin due to my time outdoors. Because of this I experienced strange reactions especially for one particular coworker.

That particular coworker was named Dennis. He was always commenting on my nationality, guessing at it due to my looks. He told me I looked many different nationalities over the course of the years I worked with him. To him I ranged from Syrian, Arab, Jewish, Iraqi and other such nationalities. All 4 of my grandparents came from Europe. 2 from Ireland, one from Scotland and my dad’s mother was born in France. I looked exactly like her father. So I looked very French and as a consequence slightly Mediterranean.

This was enough for Dennis. He was an unbelievable bigot and racist. He not only told me I look like different nationalities but he told other people. People I didn’t even know would come up to me and ask was I Jewish? Was I Syrian? That is at a strange fascination with my nationality. I’m pretty sure I was treated with some bigotry due to that. I would just attributed to Dennis except that many years later when I worked as an engineer I ran into another nationality issue.

This particular case I had spent many many days fishing on the Mississippi and had the darkest tan I ever had. I worked with a man named Bruce. One day Bruce came to me and said another engineer named Tim asked him if I was Mexican. Tim always acted strange to me and I always felt this Had something to do it. I found that these bigots do not want to change and are just looking for someone else to be the center of negative attention.

While this does not qualify me to understand black relations in America I think it does entitle me to understand a little bit of bigotry. I’ve not sure why it mattered to the people at LeFebure if I was Jewish or Syrian or whatever but it did seem to matter to them. I pretty much just ignored them. I can’t say I was innocent of racism back then but my treatment at the hands of others and their strange views taught me something.

TV Show – the Voice

We have watched the voice for many years. Tuesday night one of Christina Aguilera contestant won. Her name was Allison and she was fantastic. Clearly the best singer on the show no doubt about it. They have a four-person finale so you are never really sure until the final show. Blake Shelton’s country singers usually do well with the voters. This time is singer was bested by a far better voice.

My wife tells me I sometimes crossed the boundary of inappropriateness. This is probably one of those times. The three best things on the show this year were:

Christina Aguilera’s pipes – her singing voice is unbelievable

Christina Aguilera’s rack – she showed a lot of cleavage this year

Her singer Allison this year – may be the best singer I’ve heard on the show in all these years.

Temperature Sensitivity

I have to say one of the strangest things about my MS is how temperature sensitive I have become. Monday and Tuesday I was having problems with my right arm, shoulder and hand. Not much response and a lot of stiffness. It was really bumming me out. Then I woke up Tuesday morning at 4:30 AM and I could not bring my right hand out of the covers. I felt like I was burning up. I had to wake my wife up and have her help me get cooled down. She checked the temperature and it was 76°. This is too hot for sleeping and I realized unfortunately it was time to turn the AC on.

I feel like such a pansy. I used to be able to sleep well until it was high 70s or low 80s at night just with the ceiling fan. Now 1° either way is too much. It’s very maddening and seems impossible the disease can act like this. My neurologist told me engineers have a hard time because were always trying to figure out why this or why that. I have to fight this urge to try to figure out everything. It is what it is and I just have to figure out how to address it. Or more accurately my wife does.

Last night the AC was on and I slept like a baby. My right arm, hand and shoulder are much more functional. I’m glad to get some of the use back in them and am glad it turned out to not be permanent. I suppose some day in the near future it will be permanent but for now I get to use them. Yesterday I enjoyed nothing and was in a foul mood all day. Today I’m enjoying reading in Hebrews. I love the book of Hebrews. I think it’s because I started reading the Bible at the beginning and learn of the Jewish system before I started the New Testament and read of Jesus. I had so many questions reading the Old Testament of why was this significant and why was that significant. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews makes it our all clear that Jesus supersedes and fulfills all of the Old Testament practices.

Today I was enjoying these verses:

“But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.” Hebrews 7:24-27 KJV

Every detail of the Jewish system of laws and worship were pointing to Christ and his fulfillment of all of our needs.

Great Weather – Rough Weekend

We had beautiful weather this weekend and it made me realize something. Weekends of great weather are tougher for us then weekend with bad weather. This seems contrary to common sense because weekends like this last one are pretty rare. The reason it was hard was because of my MS and it made me realize what MS is taken away for me. There is very little to enjoy outdoors now.

Most of the time I’m either in bed or in the living room in my wheelchair. I can no longer open the door to the screen porch by myself. Saturday I didn’t get out of bed till after 1 PM. Before MS we would’ve either gone kayaking, biking or walking. We often would find an area to kayak or bike in and then afterwards we would wander around some type of shopping area, like Galena and such. Now with being in a wheelchair none of these things are possible. Even if I can get in the shops, which is very rare, they’re usually too congested for me to move around without running into things. This really limits what I can do and it makes for a very boring time when it shouldn’t be.

Sunday I got up around 10:30 AM. I went outside for a while and it was very nice and as long as I stayed in the shade. I went out into the yard under a shade tree and stayed there until the gnats started biting my ears. This is frustrating because I can’t swat them away or even scratch when they itch. I have my iPhone with music playing and went into the screen porch with my wife’s help. It was very comfortable and I stayed out there watching the trees and birds until about 5 PM. We hesitated to go anywhere because of the parking problems we normally run into. Actually rainy weekends or cold weekends or really hot weekends are easier to deal with because we can’t do anything anyway. This last weekend made me feel the effects of my MS and my mood swings were all over the place this weekend.

Color me Confused

last Friday we went to Uptown Friday night. Parking is always a problem there but we had found a nearby bank that had a couple of handicap parking spots. There used to be a few handicap spaces on the street but the city did away with those. In general Cedar Rapids outdoor Auditorium seemed very unfriendly to disabled people. The weather was perfect Friday so we thought we would try it. As you can see by this photo we were outwitted by stupidity.

I got to the car first and I this idiot had parked where my ramp would go out. I was tilting my chair back so I could put a gouge in the side of their vehicle with my foot plate. My wife came up about then she told me not to do that. She had to back out so I could get the ramp. She took this photo so she could submit it to the Cedar Rapids police.

We know there are people who drive around to stores and take photos of people illegally parked and submit to the police. Years ago by father-in-law got a photo and citation from the Cedar Rapids police saying he had parked illegally in a handicap spot. In this photo is a handicap placard was obvious. He still had to go down to the police department to get it taken care of. Because of this I know they responded to photos. When my wife called them they told her they don’t. I think they were just being lazy. They told her she needed to call them immediately and then wait. Thanks a lot Cedar Rapids police for nothing.

I realized the problem is not just this individual. Parking down there is really bad. Also there are probably 25 other people drove by and thought about parking the same way. It seems pretty common that people think disabled people are just pretending or something. There seems to be this anti-disabled attitude that some people have. As a consequence we will probably never go to uptown Friday night again.

It’s hard enough to get ready and into the van. We also have to guess whether parking will be a problem or not. This is not just the only place. We go to Cedar Ridge where there are two handicap spot. If those are all I have to be let out and then my wife asked to park far away. After this last episode it’s going to be harder than ever to think about going places. It’s hard enough without dealing with obvious stupidity!

Poor little Kitty

Macy is getting pretty stressed out today. The finches are hitting the birdfeeder pretty hard. She seems pretty agitated by the little birdies more than the big ones. The window in the bedroom is open and the birds outback are chirping like crazy. This seems to be stressing her out and she is not acting like she ever has before.

A little while ago she tore down the hallway in the living room at full speed. She ran in a circle and let out the strangest growing meow I’ve ever heard from her. I wasn’t sure was her at first but I saw her mouth moving. Then she meowed clearly five or six times. Then she went behind the TV. She hardly ever makes a noise so this seemed very uncharacteristic. These birds are driving her crazy! It’s very entertaining for me and we don’t even have the hummingbird feeders out yet.

She is tearing around a lot right now but I’m sure that later she will go hide under a bad so she feels safe from these evil birds.

Looks a little bit like Macy

the cat in this photo is from a Facebook video and looks like it could be Macy’s sibling. Macy does not like treats. She does put her paw on our hand or arm when she wants her neck or ears scratched!

Racism – Part 1

I feel totally unqualified to discuss the subject in relations to black people. I grew up in Omaha and in Cedar Rapids. I’m almost 60 years old and I have never really known any Blacks or been friends. My mom passed away when I was 10 and we had a black nanny for a short time. Mrs. Spells. This was my only real experience with the African-American culture. It didn’t last for long because my sister was 11 and it was decided the cost outweighed the benefit. My sister took care of my infant brother while my dad was at work.

In my junior high school there was one black person. He was a grade behind me and I never knew him. In high school I don’t recall any black people. So when I see some of these protests and riots I can’t say I understand their frustration. All I have is history books that I’ve read. Some of the books that have affected me were “Black Like Me”, “the Chanceyville incident” and recently a book called “The Black Count” I also watched the series “Roots”and the movie 12 years a slave.

I just finished the book “the Black Count”. It was a history book about the father of the author Alexandre Dumas. Dumas wrote “the Count of Monte Christo” and the Three Musketeers series. It was fascinating to learn that Dumas’s father was born of a slave and a French person on the island of Santa Domingo. It was one of the islands in the Caribbean that the French used to grow sugarcane. The sugarcane plantations used African slaves to plant, harvest and process the sugarcane into my glasses and white sugar.

I was amazed to find out from this book that the French slaveholders in the Caribbean preceded American slavery by quite a number of decades. There were even worse conditions for the sugarcane French slaves than the cotton slaves America used. The sugarcane slaves were basically starved. They were not allowed to eat the sugarcane. If they were caught eating it they were shot. If they tried escaping they were shot. Some are even made to wear metal masks to prevent them from eating the sugarcane while harvesting it in 100° heat. When they died which was frequently they were just replaced with a new one. After reading the horrors of slavery in this book, other books in the series and Roots it is hard to fathom the awful ways the Blacks were treated.

One of the saddest things the Africans were sold by other Africans who would conquer another tribe in a war. On the East Coast of Africa Muslim slave traders ruled the day. The horror of slavery has had many many awful components even before American slavery.

Yesterday – Hard to Get Out Of Bed

Yesterday, Monday, Tom was still here and kept asked me if I wanted to get up. It was pretty tough to say yes. Macy is no longer terrified of the big galoot and tolerates his presence. The only time she gets upset is when his head comes close to her or he actually sits on top of her. When his nose comes close to her she pounds on it even if he doesn’t notice. Sometimes he sits on her because he doesn’t notice she’s there.

Yesterday morning they were both cuddled up with me. She tolerated him even though he was actually laying on top of her of little bit. She even put her head on my chest and went to sleep even though the big galoot was there! They were both being so sweet I didn’t want to get up.

Weekend – Birthday

This last weekend included my birthday on Sunday the 15^th. It was a very enjoyable birthday. My sister and her husband drove from Des Moines and brought lunch around noon. Then my brother-in-law Ed went and got an ice cream cake for my birthday cake. I really like ice can cakes. We went outside and there was very little breeze in our backyard and the sun warmed me right up. It was almost perfect weather for me. My sister Cathy, played fetch with Atlas for a long time. He never quits. I hope her shoulder is not too sore today.

Later in the afternoon Matt and Tom were done with golf and joined Janette and myself. Ed and Cathy had already left. The boys gave me a card where the dog had a mustache. In the photo Atlas got to give me a birthday kiss. He didn’t need to as he already gave me a birthday hug before I got out of bed in the morning. I got my usual cuddling with Macy so was a very good day. My son Dan called to wish me a happy birthday also. I have to mention that my wife Janette did her usual work to take care of me and keep me happy and feed me. I felt very blessed all day.

Throwback Thursday – Kayaking

I wasn’t able to post yesterday so this is throwback Thursday’s post. I know my readers will humor me. I was watching a show last Saturday call Rock the Park. In this show there is a snippet where the 2 men were kayaking around Devils Island which is the farthest out in the Apostle Island chain. When my friend Jamie and I went kayaking up there this was our destination to begin with. The weather prevented us due to high winds and our sheer terror at the craziness of the waves.
We did get to the mainland sea caves which were on the lee side of the wind. Also the wind died down a few days later and we went to Sand Island and camped. Some of these photos are from the mainland sea caves and some are from Sand Island. Seeing the TV show and Devils Island I realized the ones we saw were just as good as the Devils Island ones. I’m glad we didn’t force the issue and try to fight the wind to get out there.

Tuesday – Yesterday Ups and downs

I have started stretching my right shoulder and arm a little more than before. I find that as the shoulder and arm tightens up it affects my fingers and their mobility. Yesterday morning when I woke up it was the best my right hand has been for quite a while. The day started out really good. We had dinner plans with our friends Julie and Tom H. I really look forward to seeing them, they are one of our favorite couples. We planned to meet them for $5 pizzas at a nearby bar and grill.

I tried to rest a couple of times and take a nap but I never fell asleep. I ended up not feeling the best but went to dinner anyway. If I wait till I felt good I would probably never leave the house. We had a great visit. I feel bad for other people because my voice is so weak I have trouble participating in the conversations. I feel like I should but I get more out of listening than I do talking.

It’s really kind of weird about my appetite. When I wake up I’m starving and really enjoy breakfast. Lunch comes around 1 PM and I’m not really very hungry but I eat a small lunch. Then by dinner time I have 0 appetite and usually have to make an effort to eat. I think this is from sitting in the chair and having no real movement. Some days it’s worse than others. A few days I am hungry at dinner but that is more rare than common. I ended the day yesterday glad we went to dinner but also glad when it was time for bed. MS is a strange companion.

“The kindness and love of God”

“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;”

Titus 3:3-6 KJV

I’ve been enjoying these verses perhaps you will find them beneficial also. I was in the 1^st group sometimes foolish, disobedient… For many years. One part that really jumps out to me is where he says “but after that”. It was after my foolishness and disobedience that is grace found a place in my heart. And it was not only has love but his kindness that won me over. I think of all the times in the Gospels that he was patient and kind.

My mother was very patient, kind and loving. She passed away when I was 10. After that I was not immersed in a very loving atmosphere. I’m sure my father was loving but he was neither kind or patient. After my mom passed away the balance that came from both of their personalities was gone. After he remarried we became a blended family that never really meshed. So me seeing the patience the kindness of our Lord was huge in my case.

Atlas the wonder pup!

Tom and Atlas came to visit again this weekend. Tom and Matt took us out to dinner for Mother’s Day Sunday evening. Saturday afternoon Tom took me up to Pinicon Ridge. We found a spot in the backwater trails they have that Atlas could fetch his dummies out of the water. I sat under a tree in the shade. Perfect day, no bugs and the temperature was just right. I watched Tom throw the dummy into the water for about an hour. Atlas loves to fetch and love the water. He was still game to fetch more and we could not believe how much energy he has.

I could not get the video to show up correctly on my blog. I put it on Facebook and it seems to work. Go there if you want to see the video.

“Great God and our Saviour”

Yesterday I was in a brain fog from MS until after dinner. It's a very strange thing but not really bad. I felt like doing nothing all day except daydreaming mentally. Today I feel more on the ball and willing to fight my voice software and post.

I’ve been reading and studying the Bible since I became a follower of Jesus when I was 25 years old. Sometimes I feel very dull of hearing and sometimes the words of this great book echo in my soul. I’ve been reading in Titus and have been enjoying these verses:

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:11-14 KJV

There is so much here I don’t feel qualified to elaborate on it but have enjoyed it immensely. It is definitely worth meditating on! I have tried other translations like the NIV and the NASB which are good translations but I’ve come to enjoy and love the King James and keep going back to it. Please enjoy these verses in whatever translation you prefer.

Visit from John

Visit from John

Today I had a visit from my friend and brother in the Lord, John. Like us, John has 3 sons. I used to play basketball with the “old guys” like John and I against the young guys John sons and others. These games were some of my favorite memories. Over a decade ago John suffered a farming accident and due to that is in a wheelchair now.

It was great having him visit. He understands some of the thought processes I deal with and have to resist. Of course resistance without the Lord’s help and the Bible is futile. It was a great visit and I have come to appreciate John even more than I used to. I still see John as a father of 3 sons and a very active person. I still don’t view him as a wheelchair-bound. He will always be the other John to me! I know people see me as being in a wheelchair but strangely I still have a self-image that doesn’t include that. It still seems like I’m going to wake up some day and MS will be gone.

Postings– History of Dumas the author

Tom and Atlas visited over the weekend so I didn’t post much. I wish I could take pictures But my hands don’t work well enough to do that anymore. Of course Atlas got a new toy and he really enjoyed. Yesterday, Monday, Tom took me to Perkins for breakfast. I had been wanting to try their Smasher since I keep seeing it on TV in their commercials. It was really good. With Tom here I also got a lot of coffee. He’s the only other person in our family that Drinks coffee. He keeps the coffee coming for me.

I recently finished a book named “The Black Count “. It was a book about Alexandre Dumas’s father. While reading this book I think of that line that people view is a curse. It is “May you live in interesting times”. Dumas’s was the author of “the Count of Monte Crisco” and the series with the Three Musketeers. I have read the Three Musketeers books and loved them. I’ve seen the movie the Count of Monte Crisco. Parts of these books are based on his father’s life. His father had a fascinating life and I hope to mention portions of it in following posts.

What makes it interesting is that he was his son of a mixed-race marriage in one of the French held Caribbean islands. These islands were to the French economy through their production of sugar cane. He also lived through the French Revolution as a member of the French army. I was very surprised to find out that French held slaves proceeded American slavery by many many decades. The horror these slaves encountered as French slaves was beyond comprehension. The French plantation owners treated them as disposable. At the same time during the French Revolution they were freed, sort of. Since Dumas is his father was mixed-race he gained his freedom and joined the French army. There is a decade of the French Revolution that race was insignificant.

Dumas served with great distinction but when Napoleon rose to power his career was derailed. Napoleon hated him, mostly because Dumas’s was a true French revolutionary and was honorable. Napoleon comes across in this book as a narcissistic devil. He makes himself an Emperor and slavery is reinstituted, and the advances of the Blacks during the revolution were repealed. Dumas’s his father lives do so much it’s hard to put it into a blog posting. The book does deal with the subject of slavery, the American Revolution and its effect on the French. Also I brought up that the French were integral in the American Revolution. They attacked the British everywhere in the world which meant the British could not concentrate on the Americans. This is how the American colonies were free. At the same time France went broke and the French Revolution followed. Most of the guillotine and the death of Marie Antoinette. I leave off here and open future postings to have more on the subject of racism.