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Love and marriage are the greatest adventures in life, and they point they way to our relationship with the Almighty.

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Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Over To You (Tell His Story)


Been running a high fever for a few days, so coherency is an issue.

But I can't leave you without a starter for conversation, so...

What's you favourite Beatles song?


The video is charming.

Sylvia likes it too.




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Thursday, October 31, 2024

God Don't Make Junk


Regardless of what President Biden says, people are not garbage.

Not even him.

I don't hold with what you hold dear;
it, to me, does not ring true.
But may I make this very clear,
I still believe in you.
My conscience tells me something,
yours says something else,
but let difference that we bring
sit on a dusty shelf,
and let us both behold the Christ 
that shines out of our eyes.
Accept what He has sacrificed,
and thus reject the lies
that tell us that Our Side is the best,
and let the devil take the rest.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is UNEXPECTED.

It was quite unexpected,
the things some people said.
I really felt rejected,
and they wished that I was dead
because I could not quite agree
with what to them was true,
and it seemed they could not see
that you are me is you.
Is this what Christ died for?
Is this why He rose again,
that we might close and bolt the door,
and in darkness remain
with just the warmth we generate 
through hearts that are brim-full with hate?

Three minutes.

Sylvia, having once been thrown away, heartily agrees.


Tuesday, October 29, 2024

I Command You To Vote For...(Tell His Story)


 Someone. Just vote for someone, according to your conscience.

Both of the major candidates (and all of the lesser ones) are imperfect, and there's no Abe Lincoln among them (and if you've read Shelby Foote, you know that Honest Abe was pretty badly flawed as well).

Nonetheless.

I would suggest you follow Russell Crowe's advice from this one-minute clip from Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World 

Besides, why pass up a chance to see Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany?

Sylvia agrees.



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Thursday, October 24, 2024

Aw, Come ON!


 Things are really messed up with my left leg; it finally fractured at the metastasis in the femur, and walking any distance (like, one step) takes everything I have.

So no apologies for the sonnet below. It pretty well reflests the you've-got-to-be-KIDDING! mood.

It has seemed so very long,
at least that's how it seems to me,
and now it's like the Beach Boys song
about the troubled Sloop John B,
whose singer and his old grandpa
through Nassau town did fighting roam,
and falling afoul of law
just really wants to head for home,
and I can understand the feeling,
because my leg, it fin'ly broke,
and I don't really look appealing,
as with staff and sandals (it's no joke)
I gimp under the desert sky,
like some bearded Bible guy.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is WEIGHT.

It's now one of my best friends
in this really painful state,
tennis balls fixed to both ends 
and thick enough to bear my weight.
It's 'bout four feet, a little more,
and it is never out of reach
unless I want to hit the floor 
(My, oh, my, what pride can teach
when I think it's just a short way,
so why must I retrieve my staff,
and then as on the floor I lay
I hear the saints and angels laugh
that they've really seen it all,
how pride doth go before the fall.).

Three minutes and a bit.

And here, for your listening pleasure, is Sloop John B 

Sylvia thinks it rather funny, actually. She had a broken leg when we got here; why am  complaining?



Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Songs (Tell His Story)


 Just for fun, songs about Chihuahuas.

To the tune of Let The River Run...

Let Chihuahuas run!
Let all their barking wake the neighbours,
they sleep too long anyway!

Or, from Mary Poppins...

Chim, chimney, chim chimney, chim chim, Chihuahua,
they watch T. D. Jakes and they watch Creflo Dollar!
Chim chimney, chim chimney, chim chim Chi Chi,
they're learning about Christianity.

Sylvia wants a song now, too.




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Thursday, October 17, 2024

Name It And Claim It


The only way that I can claim
the blessings of these dreadful days
is to endeavour to attain
a life of constant thanks and praise
from which 'I wish' is banished,
and 'if only ' turned away,
'why me' forever vanished,
to make a room where grace can stay.
I cannot look behind me now;
the dead, they must entomb their own.
It is for me to practice how
to do that which I've always known,
that however high the toll,
I am His, He makes me whole.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is UNDECIDED.

Some may be undecided,
but I'll say now that I ain't.
God will not be derided,
and I have no complaint
about the hard cold circumstance
that I daily face.
I will choose to laugh and dance,
be caught up in the grace
that transcends metastases,
and a failing heart.
Even in shadow of these,
I can still play my part
for the Lord that I believe 
until it's time for me to leave.

Three minutes thirty on the first attempt, which the Internet ate. Three minutes for what's above.

Sylvia says, Yeah, but I was His FIRST.



 

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Social Metastases (Tell His Story)


 Been thinking about metastatic cancer. I have a couple, one that lately fractured a femur, and another in my humerus on the same (left) side, which strikes me as funny. Geddit?

But what about social metastases?

Here's one. 

In the 1960s, the United States Supreme Court effectively redefined the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to remove religious influence from public schools. That's the cancer.

Today, rather than being taught basic skills, elementary school kids are being invited to explore their own pronouns, which they likely can't even spell. That's the metastasis.

This isn't intended as a blanket condemnation of teachers, but rather of the administrative environment in which they're compelled to work...and, yes please pay attention to school board elections!

Can you think of other examples?

Sylvia likes being a 'she'. Thinks it makes her scarier.


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Thursday, October 10, 2024

Deference


 There are those who might well think
that cancer's a hard fall,
but my life did not just sink
in wind and wave that ruined all.
Yes, it's very hard to breathe 
and harder still to walk,
but I have blessings to receive,
and so I dare not talk
in front of those who stand today
in ruins of a well-loved life,
who saw possessions swept away
with children, husband, wife,
and I'll respect their misery
with no words 'bout poor, poor me.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is FLEE.

I really don't know how t'would be,
to pack my lifetime in a truck,
and join the passing throng to flee,
trusting to both God and luck
that there might still be something left
when at last we're bade return 
to that stolid warp and weft 
of what we'd worked so hard to earn.
Is it worth the the sunny days
and the balmy tropic nights
beneath which the soft ocean lays
awash in coruscating lights,
hinting not of cold blank fury
when they become both judge and jury?

Sylvia says that was spoken like a true Pittie, except that she hates getting wet and WILL complain.


Tuesday, October 8, 2024

The Politics Of Disaster (Tell His Story)


 Another storm due to arrive
on the Gulf Coast's sandy shore,
s chance to keep folks there alive,
but some like politicking more.
Disaster's now a photo-op
and sound bite for a TV ad, and all of that's not gonna stop
'till we realize we've been had
by people who pretend to care 
'bout apple pie, kids, Mom and Dad,
but only are really aware
of the polls that hold the keys
that keep constituents on their knees.

Sylvia doesn't like politicians, and she saw the last group of canvassers off in her own inimitable style.


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Thursday, October 3, 2024

Ake Ake Kia Kaha (For Ever, And Be Strong)


 Spent much of last night screaming in pain, from the leg metastases. Can't really walk now.

Barb prayed me to a place of rest, and peace.

When earthly hope is failing
as the devil sings his song,
and in the night you're wailing,
and still the night goes on,
remember to hold as you can
to that tiny dancing spark,
the heartbeat of the Son of Man
beating with you in the dark,
and make the effort to recall
through all the pain and tears
that for you He faced it all,
and He knows your fears,
and that you'll never be alone 
until He comes to take you home.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is TWO.

I guess you might expect two sonnets
this week, for the price of one,
so I am right here and on it,
so let us go and have some fun
with words like Frogularity
(which term, yes, I did invent)
to bring a certain kind of clarity
to my weird writing intent,
and while the word has not caught on
beyond my dedicated circle,
its potential is yet far from gone
(though it's moving like a turtle)
 to bring me fame, riches, renown,
and make me king of my small town.

Three minutes of total nonsense, but I had fun.

Music for Barb, from the Dropkick Murphys, with Forever 

Sylvia thinks I need more calcium, via ice cream, so the bones don't fracture. She'll even share hers.


Wait, that's not Sylvia! These are the Chihuahuas' stuffed animal friends. Every afternoon they swipe the TV and VCR remotes, and hide them with Monkey (wearing my sunglasses), Frog (under my cap), and Kitty Cat (with my gloves). Ladron taught them the game; they expanded on it.

With Sylvia's help.



Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Shelter From The Storm (Tell His Story)


 For those imperiled by the storm
that came from distant seas,
let not anguish be their norm,
let them find God's peace
coming from across this land,
from an unknown neighbour's care
to extend a helping hand
across the distant air.
Give as only you can give,
give from what you need yourself.
Do not let the Christ's face live 
in a frame upon a shelf,
but in your eyes let others see
His love as it is meant to be.


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Thursday, September 26, 2024

Not Going Gentle

 

 

It's been a really hard week, and I can only express it through analogy.

From the King I took my shilling,
and I am on my Oerlikon.
I'm in the fight and I am willing,
and the Carley floats are gone
as water laps across the deck;
right bugger has this night become 
on this listing burning wreck,
but load another drum
and engage with gritted teeth
the savage enemy,
wondering what might lie beneath
the waves that roil once-peaceful sea.
If needs must I will sell life dear,
but someone GET ME OUT OF HERE!

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is ADVANTAGE.

They say it's advantageous
to claim an attitude 
that marks one as courageous,
but I think it's just rude
to beat the drum, one's own behalf,
a real one-man parade.
It kinda sorta makes me laugh,
'cause that ain't how life is made.
Climb high above humility,
thinking you have it all,
and soon you'll fall from Eden's tree
and God will break your fall
with the cushion of His hand,
and some stern words of reprimand.

Just over four minutes.

And, by the way, Peanut's celebrity grows, courtesy Woman's World

If you go to the article, you also get to see a current picture of me. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Sylvia would get me out of this, if she but could.






Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Celebrity (Tell His Story)


 Almost went to meet Jesus today, but He rescheduled. Feeling pretty rough, so over to Peanut, courtesy of an article in Women's World.

And you even get to see a picture of Belle, and me.

Sylvia is too cool for mass media 


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Thursday, September 19, 2024

On The Other Side Of Calvary


 Last night when the screaming ended
(the kind after I try to eat),
it felt that all this could be mended
only at God's judgement seat,
and meanwhile I must endure
for sake of those placed in my care,
and write witness, clean and pure,
that these trials are not unfair,
but that they fold unto the story
of a world that lost its way,
and reflect the love and glory 
that walks us through the darkest day
and takes our hand to help us see
the sunrise beyond Calvary.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is MATTER.

Sometimes the pain is so intense,
I feel like glass, about to shatter,
Humpty Dumpty on the fence,
but really, does that even matter?
I know, yeah, that to God I do,
but He loves me, not my deeds,
and when this weird-ass life is through,
was I the thing that someone needs?
I'd like to think that maybe, yes,
someone out there found some meaning
in my words, but I oft guess
that when I think this, I am dreaming,
but I'll go on against the night
because it's fun to do what's right.

Four minutes, and I don't quite know what I was trying to say.

Sylvia has no words, but she does have ice cream.


Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Is This Really Us? (Tell His Story)


 They say that MAGA must be stopped,
that the movement is a crime,
and thus Trump was nearly topped,
for Pete's sake, for the second time,
and it never ceases to cause wonder,
never ceases to amaze 
that the ones who call the thunder 
do not see the end of days
in which the wish becomes the deed
and what goes out will come around,
and I think we really need 
to find ourselves some common ground
before this country, once called great,
has name prefaced by 'the late'.

Sylvia really hates violence. She was the victim of it, before God brought her to us.




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Thursday, September 12, 2024

Let's Make A Deal


 We want something for something,
a deal whose outcome we can see,
but in this want we dare to fling
aside the gift, obtained for free,
held out to us in nail-scarred Hand,
held out to us with trembling Smile,
and still we cannot understand 
that there's no agenda, guile,
or any condition that is hidden,
a bondage to which we need submit,
obligation to we are bidden
except to give our heart to it,
the Love our Saviour wants to give,
and an eternal life to live.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is PRESERVE.

We think we can preserve our dreams
in the aspic of our labout,
and it truly often seems
that God looks on our work with favour,
and self-assurance comes thereby,
pride in our exalted state,
and we see no reason why
we should not leap from good to great,
but we see blessing where there's chance,
and in good luck see His approval
when He would rather circumstance 
would guide us to the quick removal
of the haughty beam that's in our eye
ere it comes our time to die.

Four minutes thirty and a bit. Slow, but I made it!

Sylvia likes free stuff, especially if it's ice cream.




Tuesday, September 10, 2024

A Bit Of Humour (Tell His Story)


 

It's been a really rough week. I need a laugh. How about you?

How did Jesus keep track of His Apostles and disciples?

He used an evangel-list.

After Jesus renamed Simon, did He hum the theme from 'Rocky' whenever Peter entered the room?

What are Jesus' favourite karate moves?

Lamb chops.

When Jesus cleansed the temple, did the merchants and moneychangers get Lambinated?

Sylvia's groaning. But I had fun.




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