November 2022 Thread

[joecool]

Claymore recently posted about a gun safe and his back. I feel for him, and know how he feels. I just finished three straight days of moving my sister-in-law's stuff out of her house. Filled a 2-car garage, and then some, with everything. (She moved in to a cottage on the property, and is renting out the main house.) My ankles don't like me.

October was Pastor's Appreciation Month and on Sunday our congregation got him a certificate to have a custom fly rod made specifically for him. You never saw a guy smile so big. We also gave gifts to his wife and kids, as they are a big part of his ministry, too. And then I got blown away. My wife and I were called up and given a gift card for a dinner out, for leading children's ministries. Actually, it was our second of the morning. The pastor handed one to us, too, right before the service started. In all our years of ministry, we've never had a pastor thank us like that, out of his own pocket. We were touched.

[ccm2361]

In teh 70's today. Which odd for Michigan in mid November. But the wetherman says snow on saturday, so normalacy is returning (Weatherwise anyway)

[joecool]

Hey, veterans! This is our day for a little recognition, so get it while you still can. Actually, Veteran's Day will be around for as long as gov't workers want a day off. (Sorry, I couldn't resist. Although it may one day be renamed as Social Activist Day. SAD, ain't it?)

Buffalo Wild Wings offers a free meal of wings and fries to every veteran today. I'll be going to a ceremony later this afternoon at our Memorial Park, which includes a monument to honor a WW2 US-Canadian special forces regiment.

[ccm2361]

winter is here. .sigh

[joecool]

Well, bummer. The school where I was a teacher and principal has just been given notice. Twelve years ago, it saved a church which was essentially broke, moving in to their education wing. But now they want it back, and a school with 230 kids needs a new home.

There are no existing suitable buildings for sale or lease. And even if there was, the price would be exorbitant. Even temporary solutions are out of reach. I heard about a local preschool that tried to get a portable classroom. But the price for a 6-month rental was $90,000.

God will provide, but only if the faithful pray and trust in Him.

[Claymore]

Joecool, are there any old Catholic schools around? When they started losing their free teachers (decline in Nuns), many closed.

They may, however, have been long-repurposed, as most of the ones where I grew up started shutting down between 1970 and 1980.

[joecool]

Joecool, are there any old Catholic schools around?  When they started losing their free teachers (decline in Nuns), many closed.

There was an older boarded-up, elementary public school. But it was re-activated when all the out-of-staters moved into our area the last two years. Interestingly, there's a "cowboy" church outside of town that has grown and has big plans: soccer and baseball fields, missionary training facility, indoor riding arena, and trails and cabins to go along with their fishing pond. They once asked our superintendent if he would consider overseeing a new school on their campus. Maybe that door is still open as a possibility.

[joecool]

Woo hoo! Hoping to reduce their enlistee shortfall, the Navy is now accepting those up to 41 years old. Boot camp at 20 was just too easy for me. If I shave off my beard and buy a fake ID card, I think I could fool a desperate recruiter. Boot camp at 68 would be a worthy challenge.

Claymore, want to join up under the buddy program?

[Claymore]

We had guys like you, back in Special Ops.

They'd beat on their finger with a hammer, just because it felt so good when they stopped.

[joecool]

So I got an e-mail today from our AG district office, which contained a link to something I hadn't heard of before. "He Gets Us" is a $100 million advertising campaign which is attempting to appeal to the twenty-somethings. It boils down to "Jesus was human, so he understands what we're going through." The district says that it's wildly popular and reaching a new generation, and we should consider partnering with it.

My Monday night men's group is going through a video series called "Jesus In A Secular World," which says we need to speak to younger people in a language they can understand. I can agree with that, so I dug a little deeper into He Gets Us.

Let's see now. What does their website say? Essentially it's "Jesus was a social justice activist, just like you...Jesus hated politics, just like you. He had to deal with conservatives and liberals, too, but they were called Sadducees and Pharisees."

Hmmm...

[joecool]

Let's see now. What does their website say? Essentially it's "Jesus was a social justice activist, just like you...Jesus hated politics, just like you. He had to deal with conservatives and liberals, too, but they were called Sadducees and Pharisees." Hmmm...

Did a little more reading about "He Gets Us," finding an interview with the advertising agency's head guy. They did their research and found that skeptics (he won't call them the unsaved) like Jesus, but hate Christians. Why? Because we hate first, and have a religion full of "don'ts." The agency's experts say that we should leave all our don'ts behind and just work on developing relationships with the skeptics. That this will result in us earning their respect, and eventually their ears. Their experts admit that this may take decades, though.

Personally, I don't think we have that much time. And if we spend all our efforts and years trying to get their respect, what's going to happen to the next two generations coming up through the school system and the culture? We'll just get further and further behind. A person's worldview is largely established by the time kids are 13. Some may get called to minister to Millenials, Gen X, Z and whatever else, but I'll continue to Reach, Teach and Keep the younger ones.

[Sponsored content]