Believe it or Not 

     Your blogger knew someone who lived during our Civil War. How is that possible? 

     First, the "someone" was born in 1864. The Civil War did not end for another year. Ora Dilley would eventually become my grandfather.

     He fathered three boys and three girls, one of which eventually became my mother, Mary Elizabeth. She was born in 1906, gave birth to me in 1938 and named me James. She lived 97 years. 

     Grandpa lived 36 years in the 19th century and another 53 years in the 20th, for a total of 89. He went way beyond average length of life in those times. Even beyond today's average. 

     I lived the last 15 years of his life. There were occasional visits to or by my grandparents. The man born during the Civil War. 

     The 162-year total for the three of us isn't over...yet. I inherited long life, but we take it a day at a time as the Lord commands.

            James

PS. Grandpa Ora did a variety of work while he was still single. There were no cars or trucks in the 1800s. Maybe trains, and horses. He lived near Pittsburgh when he chose to walk all the way to Edinboro, 58 miles, carrying two suitcases. He attended a school, but we don't know what level. Come time to return home, he walked again. 

Tuesday: My very own book

   

America's Christian Roots

     How many of us attended or will attend church today? "Christianity is central to any honest account of our history," says R. Robert Mohler. "The entire culture was saturated with Christian influence."

     By 1776, over 90 percent of the people identified with a branch of Protestantism. "Those people had no explanation for the universe, for their own lives, for the passage of time, or the meaning of human liberty and dignity," wrote Mohler. He says, today, "If secular liberalism reigns, civilizational collapse is inevitable. If Americans reclaim the affirmations held by our founders, there is hope." 

    "Secularism offers no basis for genuine hope. It provides no cement to hold society together. Is America a Christian nation? At the very least this would require a recovery of the Christian consensus that existed in 1776. We must pray that it can and will."

Baby Born Twice 

     A Florida child is celebrating his first birthday after surgery allowed him to be 'born twice,' and saved his life. 

     Thirteen weeks into pregnancy, the parents learned their son, Cassian, had a potentially fatal condition that blocks the airway. At 25 weeks, doctors partially delivered Cassian during a C-section while he remained attached to the placenta. They inserted a temporary airway tube, then returned him to the womb. 

     Mother delivered the boy six weeks later, and after 132 days in the NICU, Cassian came home. He faces likely challenges, but his mother told reporters, "God turned what was our greatest heartbreak into a leap of medical science, and now there's a whole new era of treatment for these babies." 

                       Jimmy

The Salesman's Call

     "In all our encounters with our fellow human beings, what must never be forgotten is that the person with whom we are speaking, whatever else he or she is - sailor, soldier, salesman - is first of all an image bearer of God. This is most basic." - Andree Seu Peterson. 

I call upon Americans to bend low before

God and to go to their knees as Washington

and Lincoln called us...years ago. No nation

is ever taller than when on its knees.

Hidden Blessings

     "The spiritual benefits of suffering are well known: the destruction of our illusion of self-sufficiency. Spiritual purification and deeper trust in God. The awakening of spiritual seriousness. Writing from a quadriplegia after a diving accident, Joni Eareckson Tada describes disability itself as both grievous and spiritually transformative." - Lynn Vincent

Socialism's Salesman

     "While Mamdani's socialism no doubt appeals to many Jews in New York City, this largest Jewish community outside of Israel should not rest easy while pro-Hamas Mamdani runs the city." - Howard Killion, Ph, D.

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Isaiah Knew Him First 

     "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter." - Isaiah 53:7. 

     Jesus was falsely accused, unjustly beaten, publicly mocked - and He stayed silent. Not because He was weak, but because He knew who and what He was fighting for. He trusted the Father who led him from birth, especially his last three years. 

     Hanging on the horrible cross, He said, Father, forgive them. 

     Forgiveness is not an emotion; it's a decision to obey. We're still human. We can't erase our own memories. 

     What do we do? We pray to God, "Help my emotions catch up to my obedience." We can forgive (like Erika Kirk) despite the emotion we don't feel yet. Silence is not weakness; it aligns with the Lamb who was silent while taking the punishment that saves those who trust and obey.  

Mostly provided by our pastor

Did You Know?

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent blocked $99 million that had been sent to deceased people year after year. 

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Communist Cuba runs a global ideological campaign to turn people against the United States. Seeding into our radical left, subversive narratives, and terror. We thought Cuba had forgotten communism. 

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Mrs. Donut celebrated her birthday this week, with best wishes from two friends here in Florida, two in New York (where she lived long ago), two in South Carolina (where we lived long ago), one in Colorado (another old friend), and one in Israel (an old friend once in Pennsylvania) and an unexpected greeting from Pennsylvania. Of course, women can talk endlessly, but Mrs. Donut made time for me take her out to dinner. 

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New language: infrastructure, computational, footprint, usage and hyperscale. Whatever. You won't find such language here.  

         Jimmy

 

Power for a Poor Nation

     On Tuesday we wrote about loving others, caring for our neighbors. 

     How about caring for people on the other side of America who have no electricity? Our power company sent 18 employees to "Light Up Navajo 7" 1,800 miles from Florida. A nationwide effort, the Florida crew energized 18 homes in two weeks. They worked in challenging conditions, often spending hours digging through rocky terrain to install power infrastructure.

     For many families, this is life changing. Among them is an 86-year-old. "Seeing the smiles and gratitude from families is something that stays with you forever," said the team leader, a district manager in our county. We take our electricity for granted - except for occasional outages. We appreciate crews who work into the night when a storm cuts off power to a whole neighborhood.  

     Crews considered it a privilege to provide electricity to the Navajos who have lived without power for generations. Electricity enhances safety, educational opportunities, and improves quality of life. 

     My dad and two uncles had degrees in electrical engineering. During the depression, dad and a crew provided electricity to farmers. It wasn't that long ago. Thank George Westinghouse and an employee who learned how to provide electric power over thousands of miles. Well, electricity doesn't go anywhere, except lightning, and rapid back and forth when a power plant "excites" it. Thomas Edison created the light bulb. Westinghouse put it to use, for the whole world.   

        Jimmy

 Wednesday

Proof - God Exists 

     He made the antelope, beaver, bear, beetle, bison, chinchilla, centipede and the cheetah which can race 60 mph. He made the calf, caribou, cat, crusado, cow, deer, elk, fox, frog, goat, grizzly, gorilla, gazelle, guanaco and the gila monster. 

     God also made the human, horse, hare, jaguar, kangaroo, lion, lynk, lamb, longhorn beetle, leopard, mole, monkey, mouse, okapi, ox, penguin, porcupine, rat, red squirrel and red lechwe. There is the snake, snow leopard, spider, tiger, toad, wolf, woodland deer, wild boar and zebra. 

     We might have included the alligator and crocodile, but they spend too much time under water. So, we'll stop at 54 including humans...we creatures who often act like animals, or worse. Humans can't run 60 mph, or bite like a gorilla, but we can invent things that harm others, out of hatred, or financial gain.  

     There is a lake with 1,400 animal species, but we can't fit all that in a blog. Sorry. Nor can we list some 500 different birds, or unknown numbers of creatures living in the ocean. 

     What's with the Bold animals, above? 

     In the book of Isaiah, 11:6-8, God tells us the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, cow with bear, calf and lion together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. This, and a child can play next to the hole of a cobra, when Jesus takes over the world for a millennium of grace and teaching.