~ Ride Safe ~
Sparky
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Bluer Than Blue
I just can't seem to shake it ... the overwhelming saddness I have felt since Maxie died.
It's been nearly a week.
I thought I would "feel better" by now. I think I've tried everything: cleaning the house, putting away or throwing out her things, talking to Sweetie about it, going for long walks, getting enough sleep, a B-12 shot, prayer, reading God's Word. We even had our good friends over (in whom's company I always enjoy) and watched our favorite funny movie "Young Frankenstein".
Nope. I'm still a dope.
I still see her in my mnd's eye. I can still feel her near me and I start crying all over again. I can't concentrate or feel happy about anything. I'm scared to death to ride. Case in point: I almost had a bad accident when I lost a dear friend to ovarian cancer in January 2007. We went for a ride on our respective metal steeds soon after Maggie went to Heaven and I almost ran mine off the road! Thank goodness the new rumble strips on the roadsides shook me out of the stupor and I put the bike back on the road without any further incident. Dang! One mustn't be distracted when riding. It's not like being on four wheels where mistakes are a little more forgiving.
This is so unlike me! I'm almost always so cheerful. I seem to be stuck in a perpetual Pity Party. [sigh] I gotta shake this thing.
Oh, well, maybe tomorrow will be better.
~ Ride Safe ~
Sparky
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Two Minutes With The Bible ~ Everlasting Life
Everlasting Life 
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
When a sinner places his trust in Christ as Savior he is justified before the bar of God, because Christ’s death and righteousness are imputed to him. This is a judicial matter
But at the same moment something else happens: the Spirit regenerates and gives new life (Tit. 3:5). This is a law, an inexorable, unchangeable law. The sinner who sincerely places his trust in Christ as Savior is given life by the Holy Spirit. It is always so; it is never otherwise.
I John 5:12 says: “He that hath the Son hath life….” John 3:36 says that “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” and Col. 3:3 declares that the believer’s life is “hid with Christ in God.”
Thus the Apostle could say: “The law of the Spirit, [that of] life in Christ, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Adam forfeited his life by sin, but the believer’s new life can never be forfeited, for this life is nothing less than the life of Christ, in whom the sinner has already died and paid for his sins — and in whom he now stands perfect and complete before God.
It is a law, a fixed unchangeable law, that sin brings forth death (Rom. 5:12; 6:23; et al). This is called “the law of sin and death,” but the believer has already died for sin in Christ and has been given new life by the Spirit. Thus “the law of the Spirit,” that of “life in Christ,” has made the simplest believer “free from the law of sin and death.”
Thank God for “the law of the Spirit,” everlasting life through the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins.
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the
newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for
many years, so that local, national and international events are
discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date
such articles, we have left them just as they were when first
published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially
since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper
articles."
We hope that you'll agree that while
some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths
taught therein are timeless.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Film Review: The Butler (More Hollywood Leftist Lies)
And yet another Hollyweird Leftist film I'll be sure to miss. I hope it's not "against the rules" to post this article intact. I can't find the link for it on-line. Michael Reagan is one of my favorite political authors. I think his piece says it all, especially since he was there.
~ Sparky
= = =
The Butler
By Michael Reagan · August 22, 2013
There you go again, Hollywood.
You've taken a great story about a real person and real events and twisted it into a bunch of lies.
You took the true story of Eugene Allen, the White House butler who served eight presidents from 1952 to 1986, and turned it into a clichéd "message movie."
"Lee Daniels' The Butler'" stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, a fictional character supposedly based on Eugene Allen's real life.
But let's compare the two White House butlers.
Guess which one grew up in segregated Virginia, got a job at the White House and rose to become maître d hote, the highest position in White House service?
Guess which one had a happy, quiet life and was married to the same woman for 65 years? And who had one son who served honorably in Vietnam and never made a peep of protest through the pre- and post-civil rights era?
Now guess which butler grew up on a Georgia farm, watched the boss rape his mother and then, when his father protested the rape, watched the boss put a bullet through his father's head?
Guess which butler feels the pain of America's racial injustices so deeply that he quits his White House job and joins his son in a protest movement?
And guess which butler has a wife (Oprah Winfrey) who becomes an alcoholic and has a cheap affair with the guy next door? (I'm surprised it wasn't the vice president.)
After comparing Hollywood's absurd version of Eugene Allen's life story with the truth, you wonder why the producers didn't just call it "The Butler from Another Planet."
Screenwriter Danny Strong says he was trying to present a "backstage kind of view of the White House" that portrayed presidents and first ladies as they really were in everyday life.
Well, I was backstage at the White House -- a few hundred times. I met and knew the real butler, Mr. Allen, and I knew a little about my father.
Portraying Ronald Reagan as a racist because he was in favor of lifting economic sanctions on South Africa for its policy of apartheid.
If you knew my father, you'd know he was the last person on Earth you would call a racist.
If Strong had gotten his "facts" from the Reagan biographies, he'd have learned that when my father was playing football at Eureka College one of his best friends was a black teammate.
Strong also would have learned that my father invited black players home for dinner and once, when two players were not allowed to stay in the local hotel, he invited them to stay overnight at his house.
Screenwriter Strong also might have found out that when my father was governor of California he appointed more blacks to positions of power than any of predecessors -- combined.
It's appalling to me that someone is trying to imply my father was a racist. He and Nancy and the rest of the Reagan family treated Mr. Allen with the utmost respect.
It was Nancy Reagan who invited the butler to dinner — not to work but as guest. And it was my father who promoted Mr. Allen to maître d'hote.
The real story of the White House butler doesn't imply racism at all. It's simply Hollywood liberals wanting to believe something about my father that was never there.
My father's position on lifting the South African sanctions in the '80s had nothing to do with the narrow issue of race. It had to do with the geopolitics of the Cold War.
But facts don't matter to Hollywood's creative propagandists. Truth is too complicated and not dramatic enough for scriptwriters, who think in minute terms, not the big picture, when it comes to a conservative.
Despite what Hollywood's liberal hacks believe, my father didn't see people in colors. He saw them as individual Americans. If the liberals in Hollywood -- and Washington -- ever start looking at people the way he did, the country will be a lot better off.
Copyright ©2013 Michael Reagan
~ Sparky
= = =
The Butler
By Michael Reagan · August 22, 2013
There you go again, Hollywood.
You've taken a great story about a real person and real events and twisted it into a bunch of lies.
You took the true story of Eugene Allen, the White House butler who served eight presidents from 1952 to 1986, and turned it into a clichéd "message movie."
"Lee Daniels' The Butler'" stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, a fictional character supposedly based on Eugene Allen's real life.
But let's compare the two White House butlers.
Guess which one grew up in segregated Virginia, got a job at the White House and rose to become maître d hote, the highest position in White House service?
Guess which one had a happy, quiet life and was married to the same woman for 65 years? And who had one son who served honorably in Vietnam and never made a peep of protest through the pre- and post-civil rights era?
Now guess which butler grew up on a Georgia farm, watched the boss rape his mother and then, when his father protested the rape, watched the boss put a bullet through his father's head?
Guess which butler feels the pain of America's racial injustices so deeply that he quits his White House job and joins his son in a protest movement?
And guess which butler has a wife (Oprah Winfrey) who becomes an alcoholic and has a cheap affair with the guy next door? (I'm surprised it wasn't the vice president.)
After comparing Hollywood's absurd version of Eugene Allen's life story with the truth, you wonder why the producers didn't just call it "The Butler from Another Planet."
Screenwriter Danny Strong says he was trying to present a "backstage kind of view of the White House" that portrayed presidents and first ladies as they really were in everyday life.
Well, I was backstage at the White House -- a few hundred times. I met and knew the real butler, Mr. Allen, and I knew a little about my father.
Portraying Ronald Reagan as a racist because he was in favor of lifting economic sanctions on South Africa for its policy of apartheid.
If you knew my father, you'd know he was the last person on Earth you would call a racist.
If Strong had gotten his "facts" from the Reagan biographies, he'd have learned that when my father was playing football at Eureka College one of his best friends was a black teammate.
Strong also would have learned that my father invited black players home for dinner and once, when two players were not allowed to stay in the local hotel, he invited them to stay overnight at his house.
Screenwriter Strong also might have found out that when my father was governor of California he appointed more blacks to positions of power than any of predecessors -- combined.
It's appalling to me that someone is trying to imply my father was a racist. He and Nancy and the rest of the Reagan family treated Mr. Allen with the utmost respect.
It was Nancy Reagan who invited the butler to dinner — not to work but as guest. And it was my father who promoted Mr. Allen to maître d'hote.
The real story of the White House butler doesn't imply racism at all. It's simply Hollywood liberals wanting to believe something about my father that was never there.
My father's position on lifting the South African sanctions in the '80s had nothing to do with the narrow issue of race. It had to do with the geopolitics of the Cold War.
But facts don't matter to Hollywood's creative propagandists. Truth is too complicated and not dramatic enough for scriptwriters, who think in minute terms, not the big picture, when it comes to a conservative.
Despite what Hollywood's liberal hacks believe, my father didn't see people in colors. He saw them as individual Americans. If the liberals in Hollywood -- and Washington -- ever start looking at people the way he did, the country will be a lot better off.
Copyright ©2013 Michael Reagan
Friday, September 6, 2013
In Loving Memory Of A Very Good Dog
Maxie
07 June 2005
In better days
I hope this doesn't seem like I'm trying to solicit more sympathy, this is not what this post all about. Those of you who have already been so kind as to e-mail me separately offering condolences and sympathy, feel free to pass this one by, if so desired. And Thank You again for all the kind words and prayers. But I'm of the mind it would be nice to share with all here why I'm so silent for awhile. Maybe it's a little therapy for me too. [grin]
My little dog Maxie of almost 15 years passed away Wednesday, September 4th. During her last days it was exceedingly rough on all of us. Due to aging, she had suffered from severe cataracts, was almost completely deaf. She'd lost her cute little squeaky bark and the Cushings Disease caused her limbs to be almost completely atrophied. It was pitiful to watch. During the last few hours of life she was going into renal failure. I had to do something. Quick! So, our kindly country Vet opened his office late in the evening for us. Hubby and I held her while he administered the drugs. She dozed off very peacefully while I stroked her head and spoke sweetly into her good ear. I told the Vet, I was sorry he had to be the one to do this (sometimes we tend to forget, doctors have feelings too). Thanked him. Then we drove her earthly remains home to rest next to our other little fur babies under the majestic oaks next to the cemetery next door. She is buried with her favorite bed and squeaky ball.
That little dog was very near and dear to my heart. I used to always proclaim "I won't go anywhere Maxie can't go!" and I meant that. Yesterday was beyond hard. I kept
feeling her all around me. So, to ease the pain of separation, I set to cleaning the
house. I stored or threw away items that remind of Maxie. It was amazingly therapeutic. I think things are better today. I'm only tearing up a little. [smile] Hubby misses her terribly too. I know it will take some time
to heal. Truthfully, dealing with an aging pet was hard to begin with. I
had to make special concessions for her, which I didn't mind, but that
stress is gone now.
Anyway, for those of you don't already know, I made a memorial for her at one of my favorite websites: FindAGrave. If you're a member, please do leave a "flower" or comment here. I do appreciate everyone's kindness beyond measure. I plan to buy her a little doggie tombstone as soon as I find one that's appropriate. Nothing is too good for that little dog.
God bless you all.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Happy Rosh Hashanah
Memories
When I stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ
And He shows me His plan for me;
The plan of my life as it might have been
Had He had His way, and I see
How I blocked Him here and checked Him there
And I would not yield my will,
Shall I see grief in my Savior’s eyes;
Grief though He loves me still?
Oh, He’d have me rich, and I stand there poor,
Stripped of all but His grace,
While my memory runs like a hunted thing
Down the paths I can’t retrace.
Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break
With tears that I cannot shed.
I’ll cover my face with my empty hands
And bow my uncrowned head.
No! Lord of the years that are left to me
I yield them to Thy hand.
Take me, make me, mold me
To the pattern Thou hast planned.
—Author Unknown
May God give us the strength to redeem the time wisely. Only one life; ’twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.
"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:31
"For He says: 'In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2
"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Revelation 22:20
Happy Rosh Hashanah
Monday, September 2, 2013
Hubby's Home!
... and he is one cool dude too.
This photo was snapped by his little sister on her cell phone.
Turned out really good, didn't it?!
Makes me question why we have all this fancy photo equipment. *lol*
~Ride Safe~
Sparky
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