Is It Soup Yet?

How many times have we as parents heard, “Is dinner ready?”, “Are we there yet?”, or “When is this going to be over?”. Being patient is hard for everyone, especially children. Most of the time it really comes down to boredom management, but that is a whole other story. Spiritually, being impatient can be a real problem. "Hurry is the death of prayer" is a well-known quote, often attributed to John Mark Comer, from his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.  I know the quote, sadly I haven’t read the book, yet. We often pray fervently, trust God, and look for the answer, yet spiritually tap our feet while we wait. The following is a mix of my thoughts and the musings of one of my favorite pastors, Dallas Jackson.

·       Trust – Once you give it to God, leave it there. He has a great memory

·       Patience – The waiting part. Being patient in a microwavable society is probably the hardest thing to do. Please remember that God is super-efficient. He’s not only working out things in your life, He’s intertwining events into a gorgeously complex interaction that affects many others. Who knows, maybe you are waiting for someone else to get up to speed. (It makes you think twice about obeying God right away, doesn’t it?)

·       Be in the moment (enjoy the journey) - Often the journey is half the fun. Sometimes it is the fun.  Don’t forget to notice the little things God is doing as He brings it all together.

·       God has our best interest in mind – Always remember that God is doing thing in our life to bring about the best result. I sometimes think we question God more that all the other “professionals” in our life (doctors, mechanics, remodelers). He knows what he is doing.

·       Noah was in the ark for over a year – Sometimes you have to wait for the flood to go down.

·       Do what you need to do while you’re waiting – Make sure you take care of your regular duties while you wait. By all means, rest, but don’t be idle when you have things you can do.

·       We don’t know the big picture – God is God and you are not. Don’t try to understand everything. Sometime you just need to go with it.

·       Don’t lose your joy. Watch for the butterflies 😌 – This goes hand-in-hand with being in the moment. Keep your head on a swivel and notice God’s hand at work.

·       Waiting makes us better. Lately we have been watching a lot of cooking shows at dinner time. The concept of resting meat comes up often. I’ll have to admit, when I cook, I am just hungry and want it now. Often, I tend to rush things. Maybe that’s why a steak from a good restaurant tastes so good. If you Google “resting meat” here’s what you find:

Resting meat after cooking allows the juices to redistribute throughout the meat, resulting in a more tender and flavorful dish. If you cut into it immediately, the juices will escape, making the meat dry.

 Waiting is hard no matter how you look at it. How we react to it makes all the difference. I hope this helps!

Why Does Ice Float?

 

(For the first time ever, I’m blogging about the same thing in this blog and the one for my grandchildren, Notes From Papaw. This concept is fundamental to life, and I think, evidence of an intelligent Creator).

It’s really hot outside and you go into the house to get something cold to drink. You get your favorite cup and put in some ice. Then you fill it with your water favorite drink. You may not notice, but the ice is floating at the top. You might think “duh, it always does that”. But did you know ice floating is really unusual? Water is one of the few substances that expands when it freezes. Only a few rare metals, like gallium, can do that. 

So what’s the big deal? Well, if ice didn’t float, life would probably cease to exist on our planet. Imagine a lake where the ice sinks after it freezes. Ice actually acts like insulation and helps keep the water down below from getting colder.  Without an ice layer,  water can keep getting colder and colder and the lake would freeze all the way down. All the fish and plants would die.

In the ocean, ice that freezes on the surface is actually fresh water. If it sank, fresh water would keep sinking to the bottom and the ocean would get saltier and saltier until nothing could live in it. 

So how does ice expand? When water is a liquid, the molecules can slide past each other up close. But when it freezes, it forms a crystal structure. Imagine you have a bunch of friends over. How many can you get in your living room? Probably a lot. But what if you had to join hands with your arms straight out at 90 degree angles? This is kind of like a crystal structure. Now you can’t fit as many in the same space. Density is how much matter (or friends) you can fit in a certain space. The less friends, the less you all weigh. If you weigh less but take up the same space you would be less dense and would “float” (well, if you were ice). You can see the expansion of ice by putting a water bottle in the freezer. Look at the bottom of the bottle once it’s done. 

The current humanist world view would say this is just a happy accident. I myself think it’s evidence of a great design. Either way it’s incredibly amazing!

If this is still confusing, that’s ok. Many people get confused about this. You may find this site can help. 

https://www.thoughtco.com/why-does-ice-float-604304

Ok, now I’m thirsty. Time to go get a cold bottle of water! 

It’s Not Enough to Love Nature…

 Environmentalism seems to be at an upswing lately, which, in many cases is a good thing. We humans have a tendency to harm/destroy nature either by lack of knowledge, overindulgence, selfishness, or just greed. Even those passionate about nature can be at fault. They feed animals that shouldn’t be fed or worse aren’t even supposed to be there. (At present, we have a huge feral cat problem in the Central Valley parks that are decimating our native bird populations. please stop feeding them!) Residents balk at regulations that are intended to stop the spread of nonnative/invasive species because they are inconvenient. In most cases, that does more harm than good. You see, it’s not enough to love nature, you need to understand it.

Cases in point.  

#1 I had a good friend who was a biological consultant (independent I might add)  investigating the ExonValdez oil spill. Their report after a thorough investigation was: 

1. clean the oil off of birds and mammals. 

2. Soak up any loose oil (They have these cool diaper-like things that only soak up the oil.)

3. Put a barrier to keep more oil from washing up on the coastline. 

4. Spray the oil with a naturally occurring bacteria that eats hydrocarbons. (It was originally found around naturally occurring oil leaks.) 

Their prognosis was that in 6-9 months the beach would be basically back to normal. Instead, due to pressure from media and some radical environmental groups, Econ decided to steam clean the whole shoreline. Estimated recovery time? 80-100 years. 

#2 There is a cement company near Santa Cruz that implemented a trial of using 40% old tires for part of their fuel used in baking the cement. 3 different agencies verified that the tires burned so cleanly that toxic emissions went down since they used less coal. The steel in the radials was just the right amount as what they were already adding that they didn’t need to get any extra iron from mining. It was a win-win. Yet they had to shut it down because Greenpeace ran a campaign that “ Everyone knows tire burning is bad”. (Roll clip of a pile of spent tires on fire.) This was even after being presented with the piles of independent data! 

Gary Larson, most notably known for writing “The Far Side” comics, summed it up nicely in his book, “There’s a Hair in My Dirt”. It’s not enough to love nature  you have to understand it also. 

So before you complain, or are appalled at what scientists and conservationists are doing to solve a problem, find out what is really going on. It might just surprise you!

Amazon: Here’s a Hair in My Dirt

https://a.co/d/gQ4aFf3

Trash

While walking back from the beach I was picking up trash on the way.  My grandson asked me why I was picking up other people’s trash. If you don’t  already know I work for the California State Parks in the summer months. It’s what I do all I’m day, pick up trash. I explained to him that if I didn’t pick it up, someone else might not pick it up either. If that keeps up, the trash just builds up. What amazes me is that most of the trash is within a few feet from a trash can! Why would someone just throw it on the ground? Entitlement, carelessness, a poor sense of environmental concern? Na, I think it’s mostly laziness. It’s too inconvenient to walk all the way to the trash can. I have even heard people say. “Hey, I’m giving someone a job”. Seriously? There are lots of jobs to do. Picking up your trash should not be one of them! I do know that sometimes animals can get in the trash cans and make a mess, but that is the exception. I see people almost on a daily basis who throw their soda cans, candy wrappers, or napkins on the ground. And they were going to walk right past a trash can! Humans, we can do better than this! 

Here’s how you can help. 

1. Be responsible for your personal trash.

2. If you see something on the ground in front of you, go ahead and pick it up. 

3. Encourage others to be respectful and responsible. 

4. Put the cover on the trash if possible to prevent animals from getting in. 

5. Volunteer on clean up days. 

6. Stop being lazy. (I just had to throw that one in.)

The State Park’s Motto, 

“Take only pictures, leave only footprints” 

is a good thing to remember. Will you do your part?

Sheeple

 

I don’t often get political, but again, something has gotten stuck in my craw. Over the past couple weeks I have come across the word sheeple several times. Merriam-Webster defines sheeple as people who are docile, compliant, or easily influenced. It is normally meant for those that believe what they are told without finding out the facts or doing any study. It comes from the very nature of sheep who tend to follow the group from place to place. In many cases the reference is well placed. We as a people have often been deluded by smooth-talking adds, promises, and especially politicians. It generally has a derogatory meaning.

The disconcerting element here is that it is now often being used for anyone who decides to be a law abiding citizen. It kind of reminds me of the “Hippie” movement in the 60’s. (Ya, I’m that old.) “Don’t let the Man tell you what to do! Stick it to the Man.” I also noticed this during the Covid era. Even if you did your due diligence, studied the data, and made an informed decision, if you ”took the jab” you were called a sheeple. Honestly, I remember both sides throwing the term around at each other.

 Recently I read a post of one guy complaining about Fish and Game checking for fish limits & fishing licenses. He said something to the effect of, “When are you sheeple going to stand up against these bullies?” Seriously? Um, It’s actually their job. They are there to help preserve the fishery. Since when did obeying the law make us sheeple?

Yesterday I was reading about the golden mussel problem we are facing in central California. Again, there were several outspoken voices saying, “They don’t have any right to do boat checks”, “It won’t make a difference” and other, can I say, less educated statements. I’ve been through boat checks. They do take time away from fishing. It can be boring waiting. But it can make a difference. Following the law is not the same as being a true, mindless sheeple.

The Bible calls us sheep. In fact, it says we have a tendency to go astray. That’s why we need The Good Shepherd. If I am following the Good Shepherd, I will always end up in the right place, no matter what happens in between. I don’t mind being a sheep. In fact the other option is either a goat or a wolf. And you know what the Bible has to say about those…

Memorial Day May 26th

 

When I was growing up Memorial Day was a memorial day, but not for what it really was intended.  It meant the end of school. The local swimming pool, aptly named Memorial Pool (dedicated to WW2 soldiers) opened for summer swimming. It meant a parade with flags, horses, bands, floats, gun salutes, and then a picnic with family. Everything a young boy wanted to see.

Memorial Day has its roots in Decoration Day, started shortly after the end of the Civil War. There were many national gravesites dedicated. It was a day for the nation to remember their dead and decorate their graves with flowers. It wasn’t until May of 1950 that they officially declared the last Monday of May as Memorial Day.

It was not until I started researching my family heritage that it became more important.

While I was researching the Cross family line, I came across some interesting facts. The first is that the War of 1812 cause us much grief in that most of the records from Maryland where we Crosses lived before moving to Illinois were burned during the war. I can trace my family back to Jacob Cross, born in 1814, but really no further. Even the man who has tried to write an all-inclusive history of the Cross name in America was stumped. I guess my family heritage is just playing “hard to get”. We did find that Jacob and his two sons, William H. Cross and Joshua D. Cross all fought in the Civil War on the Union side. Jacob and William returned home. Joshua, who was in an Illinois Cavalry regiment associated with General Sherman’s campaign in Georgia, was wounded in the battle of King’s Tanyard and taken prisoner. King's Tanyard He died at the infamous Andersonville Prison in Macon, GA on September of 1864.  

It is the many soldiers from the Civil War onward that we remember on Memorial Day. All around the nation there will be parades, flower placements, wreath laying, and times of solemn prayer. Gettysburg, Arlington, The Arizona Memorial, and many more will honor those brave men and women who gave their lives for their country. As you go about you day, take some time to be grateful for their sacrifice. Always remember, Freedom isn’t Free. Rest in peace dear patriots!

 Source: https://www.cem.va.gov/history/Memorial-Day-history.asp

 

Coolidge on Education

 
This is the third installment in the Calvin Coolidge series from his persistence quote.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

As many of you know I have spent the majority of my teaching career teaching at Christian/private schools. One of the mantras in Christian education is that we don’t just teach the mind, we teach the heart. Teaching good moral values can go a long way, but it can only go so far. In science we normally talk about what can be done. Many classes stop at this. I have strived to explain to the students that they are not just scientists who are there to categorize, observe, explain, and in some cases manipulate nature, but also free moral agents who must decide the proper use of what they learn. Science can tell us how, which, when, and why things are or do what they do. It is up to the scientist to determine if the knowledge gained is appropriate to use in a certain situation. There have been many great discoveries that have later haunted the discoverer because they ended up being used in ways unimagined by the scientist. Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist who among other things, revolutionized blasting in mining and engineering by inventing Dynamite. Dynamite and the blasting cap made explosives a great deal safer and more predictable. It was a great discovery. Yet when a newspaper article erroneously publishing his obituary after the death of his brother Ludvig stated, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday" he was appalled. It was then that he decided to, after his death, donate most of his wealth to create the Nobel Peace Prize. Was Nobel wrong to invent dynamite? I would say no. It revolutionized mine safety and saved many lives. It was those less educated who applied his discoveries to more nefarious pursuits. I remember one of my professors in Bible College saying that “it was his job to also educate the heart. Otherwise we are just creating clever devils.” The science is great. How you choose to use it is greater. Talent, genius, and education are all important, but what is more important is what you do with it.

That being said, there is one part of Coolidge’s quote that I have some trouble with. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” Science has arrogantly exalted itself as the final answer. Frankly, most of the time it seem more like for every new discovery, we make three more new problems. Science is simply a tool that can be used for good or bad. It needs properly educated scientists to use it correctly. Always remember that Jesus is the answer to the human race.

 

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”  - Calvin Coolidge