February 2021 Thread

[joecool]

Well, besides myself no one's posted anything since Jan 10th, and only two of us since last year. This follows another quiet season from late 2020. Looks like Ranger Chat has outlived its purpose as a live forum. If it comes back, it will have to be with those who are in the "read only" mode. Short of that, it will be a repository of wisdom, wit, and (sometimes) wailing, gathering dust like ancient tablets.

If some of you old-timers ever look here again, please know that I really appreciate the close fellowship over the years. He is risen.

Joe Cool (AKA, Bruce in Montana)

[ccm2361]

Sadly a lot of us are out of Rangers now.
I try to look in now & then, but I will endeavor to be on here more.


Man is it cold here

[ccm2361]

Wow even Mark is gone-he hasn't posted since October

[Claymore]

Hey, Bruce & Guys.

I've been checking the Site, but haven't posted much -- for several reasons.

This is all inter-related to the current Covid Situation.

1. Our attendance in Rangers & Church is down: REALLY DOWN.  I have been barely maintaining Rangers, with 1 or 2 kids in Class, and so I haven't had much exciting to report.  Church attendance had previously been about 140.  It has dropped to 65 to 70.

2.  With that, someone came to church, and infected a BUNCH of folks.  Of the 70 in attendance that Sunday, more than 40 have become infected.  Several have had to go to the Emergency Room with Pneumonia and other issues.

3.  I was one of the folks who became infected.  Actually, I got it in the second wave.  My wife got it in the first, and I came down with it about 4 days later.  (You're not going to be able to live with someone who has the virus, and avoid it.)

4. The virus has left me sick, weak, and in a fog for the past 3 weeks.  I was interested in seeing what you folks (meaning primarily Bruce) had to say, I just didn't want to risk saying something stupid, due to my lightheadedness.

5.  Like many conservative folks, I have been hunkering down and preparing for the Clash that the Left is threatening.  I have been getting my reloading components together.  Powder, Primers, Brass, and Projectiles won't do you much good in a firefight, unless they are assembled into cartridges.  

6. After a day of practicing drills on the Range, the Wife went to my Gun Safe and traded her .38 Revolver for a 9mm Glock. I had to refresh on my old Police Armorer skills, and surprised her with a set of Tritium Night Sights on the Pistol for Christmas.

7. Also, on Christmas Day, we would normally have about 16 to 20 people at our house for Christmas.  This year, we had 2.

8. So other than sitting on my hilltop in Quarantine, reloading ammunition, making Range Cards, and laying in Pre-Planned Sectors of Fire, I have nothing much to report.

9. Oh, and I lost a REALLY good Friend to Covid, on the week prior to Christmas.  Business Owner & Employer, Church Elder, Credentialed Church Staff Member, and at about 52 years of age, left a family with one boy still in school.  (And he carried a Sig.).

But with all of this, I try to remember what the poor farmers in Belgium went through during World War 1 & 2, when armies went rolling through, destroyed their houses & barns during battles and took their livestock to feed their troops, and they saw their children starve for lack of grain, meat, or milk; or the Vietnamese peasants who had their villages burned and were loaded into trucks & helicopters for "Relocation & Pacification".

And I think to myself, "There's probably some guy in North Korea who is having a worse week than me.".

[joecool]

Just back from a trip and had to endure a 75-degree drop in temperature between the two locales. We were with rabid Chiefs fans and had to feign disappointment when Brady beat them. The wife and I softly giggled in bed that night. Thanks to the NFL's woke-ness, that's only the third game we've watched the last few years.

Claymore, glad you and your wife pulled through. It took us 2 months before we were free of the weakness and symptoms, though. The COVID thing has hit the Christian community hard. We went from 110 to 70, but there's been no loss of faithful tithers, a huge blessing.

[joecool]

Sadly a lot of us are out of Rangers now.

And that's why 95% of my posts are non-Ranger related. It's still in my blood, but my comments are more church-wide now. Claymore recently mentioned a friend who was "church credentialed," so I have a question for him: What was his level of credential?

A few weeks ago, I was reading an Army chaplain's book and was in his "vision" chapter when the verse popped into my head about "completing the good work begun in us." Seconds later, I recalled that I was once an interview away from receiving accreditation as a Certified Minister. But I backed off when I saw and heard things that made me not want to work under the senior pastor. I kept on as the lay leader, though.

So years later, am I now supposed to go ahead and finish this step? That would mean resigning as a deacon and church treasurer, and I definitely didn't feel led to do that. My wife isn't in favor because she thinks pastors are going to be singled out by the government. I didn't puff my chest out and say, "Bring it on!" But I took her counsel and prayed over it, waiting on the Lord. It wasn't long until He reminded me of an article I'd come across years ago.

The AG approved of something called a "Local Church Credential." It's kind of like bringing on an intern, but I think with a little more seriousness and intentionality. So maybe this is how I get the before-mentioned completion. I've put together a proposal on how our church could do it and am waiting to hear back from the pastor.

Any of you guys have any experience with this?

[Claymore]

Claymore recently mentioned a friend who was "church credentialed," so I have a question for him: What was his level of credential?

We're Church of God, down here.

The first level is "Exhaltor". That gives a person credentials to preach under the supervision of a Pastor.

The next level is "Minister". Pretty self-evident. Our Pastor is a Minister.

The Youth Pastors are Credentialed Ministers. This is encouraged at their level, but not a requirement.

My friend was a Credentialed "Minister". He assisted the Pastor with Services, Opening Prayers, etc., but his real mission was as the "Outreach Minister". He was right at home, in visiting and encouraging other folks in the local area.

He owned his own business (Commercial Carpet Installing, like movie theaters), and he traveled around the Nation & to Hawaii. So he could be right at home speaking to a Farmer in blue jeans or a Bank Officer in a business suit.

There are a few people that you can say you are proud to know, and he was one of them.


(break)

I am leaving for a funeral in about 12 hours. My aunt, and last surviving ancestor, passed away in Wisconsin. I will try to take my Ipad to check on the Forum, but it is pretty clumsy to type on it.

Be back, about next Tuesday.

[joecool]

Claymore, sorry that you've lost the last relative of her generation. I still have a bunch of uncles from my Mom's side, but they're not much older than I (one is younger). Hope you're flying up there. Either way, stay safe.

[ccm2361]

BRRRRR 0 degrees when I left for work this morning

I am back on road as a driver quit Tuesday. More hours for me though.

Our church is still plugging along. Our average Sunday morning attendance is 12. once in a while we hit 15.
precious few of us left.
my kids are still the only kids in the church.

[joecool]

Our church is still plugging along. Our average Sunday morning attendance is 12. once in a while we hit 15. precious few of us left. my kids are still the only kids in the church.  

And COVID certainly didn't make things easier as far as outreach goes. During the lockdown, which I think was pretty severe and long-lasting in your state, was your church able to move services online?

For all of us: Is the general populous sedated and still trusting in the government? Or did a lot of the fence-sitters have their eyes opened and realize that their trust was incorrectly placed? Can we now get them to look in a new direction, and how do we do that?

[ccm2361]

[quote="joecool"
During the lockdown, which I think was pretty severe and long-lasting in your state, was your church able to move services online? [/quote]

No, our church was closed for about 4 weeks & then reopened. We are so small we were able to get under the capacity limits set by our Imperial Governor.

[joecool]

We are so small we were able to get under the capacity limits set by our Imperial Governor.

Have you ever considered trying a home Bible study that neighbors could be invited to? It's easier for the un-churched to say "yes" to that, than an invitation to attend church. That could come later.

[ccm2361]

Have you ever considered trying a home Bible study that neighbors could be invited to? It's easier for the un-churched to say "yes" to that, than an invitation to attend church.

No. Some of my neighbors are VERY anti God. They hate us, because we are Christians.

[ccm2361]

Help! Stupid snow


Man is it cold. -12 tonight

[ccm2361]

Praise the Lord for some warmer weather. Been up in the 40's for the last few days

Much needed. We have had a host of truck problems at work over the last month. That prolonged bitter cold snap is tough on the equipment.

[joecool]

I must have done something wrong in raising my boys. Both of them have a toilet out in their front yard.

(Actually, they're both remodeling.)

[ccm2361]

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