April 2024 Thread

What an Easter service. Our pastor started his comments with, "Around here, we celebrate Easter every week." But today was pretty special. It felt like the very FIRST Easter. Halfway through, a thought came to mind: "Preaching was in the worship, and worship was in the preaching." Hope your church was blessed, too.

And this evening, halfway through a big family dinner, a herd of 100+ elk thundered by the house. It just doesn't get any better than today.

After next Sunday's service, the wife and I will be driving 3 hours to another church's evening service, where they will be showing the documentary, "Letter to the American Church."

It's actually a bonus. The primary reason is to scope out their church's needed repairs. My church plans to send a team out their way. The church's website has a picture of their congregation...lots of canes, walkers and oxygen tanks. Saints all. Small churches helping small churches.

what a miserable day. Cold & rainy all day. I got to be out in it quite a bit this afternoon

joecool wrote:After next Sunday's service, the wife and I will be driving 3 hours to another church's evening service, where they will be showing the documentary, "Letter to the American Church."

It's actually a bonus. The primary reason is to scope out their church's needed repairs. My church plans to send a team out their way. The church's website has a picture of their congregation...lots of canes, walkers and oxygen tanks. Saints all. Small churches helping small churches.  

A VERY enjoyable trip with good fellowship. Yes, they're brothers and sisters in Christ, but it felt like more than that. They were kinfolk.

And now for the mundane. I live in a rural area, so there aren't very many services. There is a county trash collection site not too far away, which I use for a few things. But for 19 years, I've paid a private company to pick up the usual household trash each week. Until now. Last year, they raised the rates by 20%, and now they've notified us of another 30% raise. So, it's goodbye.

How can the gov't say that the rate of inflation is only 3%? Are they only tracking a few things, like Biden's favorite ice cream? I know that his administration changed the list of tracked items a few years ago. Cherry-picking data to keep themselves afloat. Meanwhile, the rest of us are sinking deeper and deeper.

Update: Just read that if the gov't was still using inflation criteria from 1983, then our current inflation rate would be assessed as 18%. Yep. That puts an accurate number on what it feels like.

joecool wrote: Update: Just read that if the gov't was still using inflation criteria from 1983, then our current inflation rate would be assessed as 18%. Yep. That puts an accurate number on what it feels like.

On the positive side, our cars now hold twice the value in gasoline that they used to, and we can lift $200 worth of groceries with one hand.

joecool wrote:

Update: Just read that if the gov't was still using inflation criteria from 1983, then our current inflation rate would be assessed as 18%. Yep. That puts an accurate number on what it feels like.

If the numbers tell an inconvienient story, then just change the numbers or make them secret! It worked for Doug Marsh, why not for Joe Biden?

ccm2361 wrote:

joecool wrote:

Update: Just read that if the gov't was still using inflation criteria from 1983, then our current inflation rate would be assessed as 18%. Yep. That puts an accurate number on what it feels like.

If the numbers tell an inconvienient story, then just change the numbers or make them secret!  It worked for Doug Marsh, why not for Joe Biden?

OOH, OUCH, FIRE!

Chris is making things pretty Toasty, here!

Good news upon waking up this morning. 99% of Iran's drones and missiles were intercepted outside Israeli airspace. A couple got through and did minor damage to an airfield. And some of the weapons were launched from Yemen and Iraq. What will Israel do at this point? Escalate or cool things down?

How can so many things go wrong in the last few years? There are so many hot spots that you can't find a place to chill your feet. Did something significant happen 39 months ago to cause all of this?

While I fully support Israel's right to break Iran's nose from this incident, I think that having much of Israel's success coming from U.S. supplied equipment, and approximately 70 of the drones neutralized by U.S. warships gives Israel a face-saving way of stabilizing the crisis.

Again, if Israel wanted to strike back, I think that they would be totally justified. But if they did it unilaterally, and to the disapproval of the Biden administration, they may risk having the carpet pulled out from under their feet.

America (through Joe Biden) is on the wrong side. Biden & the Democrats are so terrified of losing the Arab vote, they are trying to ride the fence & appease both sides.

Claymore wrote:

ccm2361 wrote:

joecool wrote:

Update: Just read that if the gov't was still using inflation criteria from 1983, then our current inflation rate would be assessed as 18%. Yep. That puts an accurate number on what it feels like.

If the numbers tell an inconvienient story, then just change the numbers or make them secret!  It worked for Doug Marsh, why not for Joe Biden?

OOH, OUCH, FIRE!

Chris is making things pretty Toasty, here!

Yet, my name is spoken with derision at hq instead of Chris

Did anyone catch the eclipse? A lot of religious types calling for the end of the world after the eclipse.

I remember a couple of years ago when the Salvation Army was catching a lot of LGBTQ flak for their hiring practices. It wasn't enough that the SA helped anyone and everyone, regardless of their lifestyle. No, they had to include "Lifestyle Libs" in their employed ranks. No doubt lots of corporations were putting pressure on them, as even Chick-fil-A pulled back their donations. (I quit buying their product back then.)

I don't know when it happened, but the Salvation Army caved in to the pressure. Their website states that they hire people regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Another great Christian ministry has compromised and thrown Jesus under the bus. Why? Is it "the love of money is the root of all evil?" The Salvation Army's income in 2018 was $3.75 billion. In 2022, it was $4.8 billion.

Evil is enabling people to live non-Biblical lifestyles at the risk of eternal separation from God. I don't want to be part of that. Our church gives to the Salvation Army every month. Time to discuss it at the next leadership meeting.