Florida Visitors Beware     

   Don't fear the snakes or gators. It's rental car companies taking bites out of visitors' wallets. 

   Manned toll booths are giving way to overhead electronic devices. Florida residents purchase transponders that SunPass records each time they pass under. Drivers pay later by check or automatic withdrawals. 

We interrupt this blog

to inform you,

It's a boy!

We are grandparents again.

And now, we return you to our blog.

   Originally, Florida advised visitors to check with rental car companies before making reservations. Those companies are removing any doubts.

   Some offer two options: pay a daily fee for handling electronic tolling - in addition to the cost of the tolls, or, opt out and be held liable for the tolls and pay high administrative fees. 

   Hertz (PlatePass) starts at $4.95 a day, up to a max of $24.75 per rental, plus the tolls. Avis charges $3.95 a day for its e-Toll program for the rental period. The service begins the first time you cross under a toll gate, and continues daily even if you don't pass another one, up to a max of $19.75 a month. 

   Dollar's spokeswoman said its fee for PlatePass administrative service ranges from $8.99 to $21.99 depending on location. If you don't buy PlatePass, the agency will charge $9.99 administrative (in Florida) for each toll, up to a max of $90, plus the cost of the tolls. 

   More states are moving to electronic-only toll collection. Call ahead.

Source: Washington Post 

      Jimmy

Coyote Encounter     

   Apologies to anyone who feared that a curious coyote attacked me Sunday night. 
I promised to write a Monday blog after I unplugged our outdoor Christmas lights and safely returned to my den. Didn't happen. 

   There are other subjects to address today. Let me just say - coyote meat is more tender than pork, when boiled.  😏

To the Rescue
   Thick smoke rose from the grassy field. A small Indago drone with an infrared camera located the flames. A twin-rotor helicopter filled its bucket with 3,000 gallons of pond water and extinguished the fire. 

   Then a Desert Hawk located a camper who was trapped behind the fire, and helped lead a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter, which identified a suitable landing zone, providing the camper the means to escape.

   All the above aircraft were unmanned drones, demonstrated by Lockheed Martin and its subsidiary, Sikorsky.

AIR & SPACE magazine

Protecting the Flock

   Coyotes attack sheep. Another kind of flock is vulnerable as well - faith congregations. Attacks on churches aren't new, but the killing of 26 in a Sutherland Springs, Texas church spurred more efforts at protection.

   Security conferences and plans are underway, along with risk assessments. Mike Gurley, a security consultant, believes every church needs a security team. Whether it's one person or several - security is their only job.

   Gurley advises clients to hire a uniformed officer if they want armed security on site. The use of deadly force should be reserved for people with proper training and experience.

   After 9/11, we were concerned with terrorism. But Gurley says interpersonal conflicts, especially among families, pose the most danger. Members of at least 10 churches have died in shootings since 2012.

WORLD magazine

      Heaven help us!   
             Jimmy 

Can You Picture This?    

   Sunday night at 9 o'clock, and we don't have a blog for Monday morning. It's dark, and coyotes are  
howling in the distance ... on fairway 4 ... which is par for the course many nights.  

   You can't hear them, but can you visualize a
foursome of hungry canines under tonight's full
moon? Now, where were we? Oh, need a topic
for Monday...

   Before we get to that, did you know, coyotes now have dens in most every state? These Canis latrans (barking dogs) have lost their fear of humans in urban areas. 

   Males, called dogs, are closely related to the gray, eastern and red wolves, and are in the same eco niche as golden jackals in Eurasia. They weigh up to 44 pounds and can run 40 mph. 

   A female is called a bitch, and howls when looking for a mate. Pups can be tamed and trained, but as adults they are, well...

   They feed on deer, sheep, cattle, goats - even rattlesnakes. Coyotes come in low, then go for the throat, flanks, hindquarters, skull and spinal regions, depending on the prey. 

   Most attacks on humans occur in Los Angeles County - a sanctuary for undocumented canines - averaging about 10 per year. 

   Here in Florida by the sea we're trying to learn their language: 

woofs, growls, huffs, barks, yelps, whines, wow-oo-wow's and yips. 

Some sounds mean alarm, some mean contact, and others, greeting. 

   This knowledge will help me, like tonight when I have to go outside to unplug our Christmas lights. I must protect my hindquarters; besides, I can't run 40 mph.

   I'll just post this for fun, and write Monday's real blog when I return safely to my den tonight. 

      Jimmy      ...prey for me   


      

   

  Department of Personal Defense  

I am a Christian. My battle is not with Buddhists, Hindus or Muslims.

I am a Protestant. My battle is not with Catholics.

I am a Gentile. My battle is not with the descendants of Abraham.

Our battle is with our own inclinations.

I'm inclined to use my freedom to indulge my nature.

I want to live by the Spirit, but I don't do what I want.

I want to be justified by obeying the law - not by faith, expressed in love.

If we allow the Spirit to lead us,
these qualities will be evident. 

   Joy 
    Love 

   Peace

    Patience

      Kindness 

      Goodness

       Faithfulness

      Gentleness

        Self control 

                                

        There is no law against these.

      Galatians chapter 5

Getting No Respect Here!      

   We're a little envious of idle, NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. First, GQ magazine embraces him as "person of the year." Then, Sports Illustrated follows with an award. 

   What did he do but kneel while others stood? We want attention too.    

   So, we need to get better known, then demonstrate to the nation that we too are unhappy about injustice ... that we have a conscience.

   Okay. The Tampa Bay Bucs' quarterback, Jameis Winston, was out with an injured shoulder for two weeks. We could have subbed for him.

   Well, the Bucs would look at our experience - none, and our age - old. Excuses, excuses.

   We would be glad to help the New York Giants, what with star Eli Manning being benched. He's old too. But, nothing doing. The G-men will tell you we're not tall enough, or heavy enough. Not enough arm strength. 

   Colin is unemployed the whole season and he's Mr. Wonderful. We get bypassed  and nobody notices.

   It seems ... it could be ... that GQ and SI don't look for results. They want the proper attitudes, some touchy-feeley stuff. America is bad, stuff. 

   Okay. We can do that.

   We're disappointed with the injustice of bad schools in the inner city. Troubled by the "rights" of criminal, illegals at the expense of actual citizens. 

   Disturbed by an epidemic of drug overdoses. Angry that military chaplains are not permitted to mention Christ. Upset about liars and cheaters in every facet of society. 
Is that enough for starters?

   Now, if an NFL playoff team will just give us a tryout...

      Call me- Joltin' Jimmy

It is a Mystery      

   So, how does unbelief result in serial murders?

   Augustine acknowledged the problem centuries ago. He asked, what if evil is the absence of a thing? 

   In The City of God, he wrote: "...the loss of good has received the name "'evil.'"  

   C.S. Lewis wrote: "The whole difficulty ... is that the thing to be understood is so nearly nothing." 

   Janie Cheaney, in WORLD magazine, says, "Rejecting God creates (or leaves) a hole in the human soul, and whatever fills that emptiness is the residue of corrupted being. It is a mystery."

   "That doesn't mean that unbelievers are potential mass murderers. That requires a particular skill set. But we all partake of emptiness." 

   One good came out of 51 days of fright. The people living in Seminole Heights rallied together. 

   The 24-year-old has no police record locally. He is a college graduate, but not working in his field, sports management. Friends who once knew him best say his demeanor had changed. 

   His last victim was a 60-year-old who had turned his life over to God, and was killed early one morning on his way to volunteer at a church food ministry. 

   The shooter may have a mental issue that sometimes affects people in early adulthood. In any case, he had no fear of God, or he wouldn't have shot four strangers. That's our unprofessional opinion. 

   He has cooperated with police, but has not admitted crimes. We really don't know if there's a spiritual or some other answer.   

        Jimmy

Empty Hearts; Loaded Guns      
    
   You probably heard the good news on national TV yesterday. After 51 days of furious searching, a 24-year-old man was arrested in the senseless killing of four, random people in a Tampa neighborhood. Four different nights; four victims.

   Police say they have "extremely strong circumstantial evidence." 

   His motivation wasn't terrorism, racism, jealousy, family problems or gang violence. How to explain this? He is a local man with a good reputation from school days. 

   We sometimes blame evil. One might justify that - true or not - when people of God are slaughtered. 

   But when someone without faith murders strangers - some of whom also are without religious connections - maybe Satan gets too much credit. Maybe the answer sometimes is - nothing. 

   We have a book, The Fear of the Lord, in which John Bevere describes great revivals and even miracles where people displayed a healthy fear of God. In my formative years, it was normal to attend church, even if we weren't all that saintly during the week.

   Who hadn't read or heard of "God fearing people?" Even a nonbeliever might be inclined to obey civil norms in a culture that acknowledged God, and when presidents frequently referred to God, and secular movies and music didn't strive to offend God.  

Tomorrow: Is it evil, or nothing?                

       Jimmy