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Posted on 05/24/2004 11:25:03 PM PDT by JustAmy
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What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
- Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Mornin', everybody ! Happy Wednesday !
Have a cup while you Freep !
Why are yall on the old thread? I'll ping yall over in a second.
Read: 1 John 4:16-21
This commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. —1 John 4:21
Bible In One Year: 2 Chronicles 17-18; John 13:1-20
Deep in a Wyoming canyon I came across the biggest porcupine I've ever seen. As he lumbered toward me, I watched him closely and gave him plenty of room. I was not about to get near a guy whose quills looked like missiles. No wonder he was alone!
But he's not alone all the time. Every November and December, porcupines get close enough to produce offspring. During that time they choose to relax their quills, then they return to their prickly selves.
In nearly every church, there will be a porcupine or two, with sharp quills of criticism or sarcasm or arrogance. We want to avoid them, but God places us in communities of believers for fellowship. He commands us to love one another—including the porcupine types. And in our honest moments, we have to admit that we have quills too.
John wrote, "He who loves God must love his brother also" (1 John 4:21). To do this, we need to ask God to help us "relax our quills," even when other people are prickly. The Holy Spirit will help us stop being so defensive or critical or controlling, and enable us to love our Christian brothers and sisters. It's the way we show the world that we love God (John 13:35). —Dave Egner
Morning Mayor. What's with everyone hanging out on this old thread? I get so confused some days.
I don't know, Mama pinged me to it, I'm confused.
She pinged me too! So I tried to ping her to the new thread. I'm going to go make a pot of coffee. My two drive to work cups are wearing out.
For years I lived in Shame,(just outside Birmingham), then I moved to Despair, (near the Mississippi line). I thought about living in Sin, (too easy), so I have now settled in the State of Confusion. I love it here because I have so many good neighbors.
I'm not kidding you... the government of the state of Queensland, Australia (which I currently call home) changed the long-held slogan on our car license plates from "The Sunshine State" to "The Smart State"...
Everyone laughed at "The Smart State", and wouldn't buy cars with the new logo. The (left-wing loony) government was forced to change it back again.
There's a lesson in there somewhere - if only I wasn't too dumb to figure out what it was... ;-)
Florida is the Sunshine State. You guys will have to change it. I almost moved to Australia in 1976 when I got out of the USAF. Only the fact that my then wife now ex wife wanted to move back to Alabama to be near her sick mother stopped me.
I guess it was a lucky thing for me because it looks as if your government is taking freedoms away even faster than mine.
I've forgotten my history. When was Florida declared a state? How many days a year of sunshine does it get, anyway?
Queensland's bigger than Florida, anyway. On that basis alone, I say we win. :-)
As for the "taking away freedoms" argument - if that's a reference to our gun laws, please leave me out of the discussion. For one thing, gun ownership was never as widespread here as it is in parts of the U.S., and for another thing, well, I suffer from bipolar disorder and lost my (American, FReeper) husband to suicide (no, not by gun) just over six months ago. If I had access to a gun, in my worse moments I'd probably exercise the "freedom" to use it on myself.
I nearly ended up living in America. Well, actually, I did for a little over a year. The state of Oregon stole my heart (yes, I know, too many liberals, but I'm used to living in the belly of the beast, so to speak.) I'd have liked to have lived near Portland (and I believe my late husband felt the same way), if events and circumstances hadn't overtaken us.
St Augustine Florida was the first permanent in the US. However Florida is our 27th State and did not gain statehood until 1845. As for sunshine, everyday for at least a while.
Guns are only one freedom. Many more freedoms are gone or at risk, both here and there. Socialism doesn't work unless you are a member of the ruling class which allegedly doesn't exist anyway in a socialist state.
I love the Northwestern US too as a nice place to visit. My state, Alabama is a beautiful place with a nice balance of problems to benefits. I am an outdoorsman and Alabama is great for hiking, boating, hunting, fishing, camping, or justa about anything.
I had posted with Chris but did not know you were his widow until I just read your profile page. My heart and prayers are with you.
David
My dad's in Florida at the moment (sales conference, I believe). Thanks for the potted history.
As for Australia's faults, yes, it has them... but we're a young nation (103 last January) and I think a young nation is entitled to a few mistakes, provided its heart is in the right place (as I believe Australia's is).
Alabama is one of the states I didn't get to visit, or even pass through, during the time I lived in the US... Chris loved the outdoors too, and the two of us attempted to thruhike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border to Canada, only to drop out with injuries some 250 miles in. Still, I will always treasure those times in my mind, and I was struck by the similarities between the arid parts of Southern California that we hiked through, and some of the terrain I was familiar with in Australia.
FReeping keeps Chris alive for me, in a funny sort of way. He introduced me to this place, and was constantly alerting me to threads, but I didn't really start posting here until after his death. I still miss him terribly, but being an active member of his favourite forum helps me remember exactly how many lives he touched, even if only in an online sense.
Australia will be fine as long as the right doesn't cave in.
What was his favorite forum? I ran into him on various threads.
I love hiking. I spent 3 months on the Appalacian trail, back in the 80's. I have hiked the high desert of California foa a few days. Now days I am lucky to find time for a day hike.
Chris, like me, tended to dive head-first into FR, and see where the mood took him. He would sometimes ping me to the most bizarre threads...
He was also a New York Yankees fan, and I believe spent a fair bit of time on the live playoff threads last year.
Here we call hiking, "bushwalking". My part of Queensland tends to get very hot and humid summers, so winter is really the time to get active and out there. June 1st marked the start of our winter... I really must get out there this season, get away from it all...
(Right now, though, I'm going to bed. It's after 11pm here and I'm tired... goodnight!)
Good night.
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