... the Night of the Drive-Thrus

Yesterday, the city I live in instituted a curfew. The first night, they started the curfew at 8pm. Today, we all got an emergency alert on our phones, notifying us that the curfew continues today from 8pm to 5:30am.

This was around 4 or so. At about 5:30, we get an updated alert, saying the curfew is from 6pm to 6am! What ensued? Pandemonium!

I had been craving fish and chips from this sports bar we frequently go to. So, we drove over there, called in and was told they ran out of fish! What to do? My wife suggested this burger place we usually go to. Okay. We drive over there, and there is a long line for the drive=thru. Cars were lined up out on the boulevard. In all my years here, we have never seen that.

I didn't want to wait, so I mentioned a fast-food Mexicam restaurant. We drive there. Huge line. Strangley, the In-N-Out burger place was closed! They are usually the busiest, but today, nada.

I said, forget it. We have food at home. Everyone is trying to get dinner before the curfew starts. Many will not be happy. So, we drive home, passing several other fast-food places, all with long lines out into the street. Complete bedlam. I imagine it was just as bad everywhere else in the city.

I can understand it needed to be done. There have been rioting, arson and looting in many cities around the country, in protest of a policeman killing a civilian. Everyone is angry at the government curtailing their "freeedom" by causing businesses to close, wearing masks in public, so the curfew is just one more log for the blazing fire. Is Protest the Answer?

I am pround to be in an organization that gives us direction and tells us to be calm, just follow the medical advice, the government edicts. It's all really for our good, so we are glad to obey.

Luke 21:26 quotes Jesus as saying what will happen during the "last days": "People will become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth..." And that's exactly what's happening. People don't know what to do, so they're lashing out at anything and everything.

Trust in Jehovah, and He will carry us through this time. What we see today will be worse tomorrow. 

Keep the fait, and be safe.

... the text for May 31, 2020

Let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. - Eccl. 11:9

I graduated high school at age 17. I was also baptized that year. I didn't pioneer right away, but I did try to be regular in the ministry, going out during the week.  I had one preaching buddy, a cranky old man, who lived in his little RV. His wife had recently left him for a doctor, leaving him with little. But, he had a faith in Jehovah and was always at meetings and service. So, we worked together often.  He was in his 70s, and i was 17; he was overweight, I was awkward and skinny. Kind of like Laurel and Hardy.

I had thought about Bethel service, but didn't do it. I considered pioneering, but it didn't happen. My folks were not pushy, they didn't try to help me set goals or take part in anything. It wasn't until later, when I was in my 30s and 40s, that I tried doing more. I was able to pioneer for one year. I was in the RBC, working as a help desk for a program that volunteers could sign up for and allows for finding help quickly for special skills, etc.

Now, I'm past 50, and I feel frustrated that I can only do so much with my current disabilities. I can't just hop in a car and drive where ever. I need ridges and help with things. All I can be is a presence in my congregation, and participate in the meetings. I still pray to Jehovah about what else I can do. So, I started this blog.

The idea of the blog is to review the text, but also find applications for me in my life. I have experienced so many things. I thank Jehovah that I am able to have the insight on what the scriptures mean, not only to me, but maybe to some of you as well. If you don't serve Jehovah, reading this will teach you more about him, but also realize that we're all imperfect people. I have made many mistakes in life, but I try to apply what I read. Such as having an "inner truth", so to put that into action, I told myself no to do anything that I would need to lie about.

I say to the younger ones, if you have a desire for theocraic things, go for it. Don't wait for mom and dad to approve. Don't wait for your friends to do it so that you can follow their example. Efforts large and small are always appreciated by God, and he can do amazing things with the little effort you put in.

Do it with a complete heart, and you will be able to look back on your life and have good memories to cherish, and the good memories will cover over the bad, the mistakes that we all make in life.

Stay safe

.. the text for May 30, 2020

Accept the helmet of salvation. - Eph. 6:17

One day, I was preaching with my friend. We were in Pasadena, and we decided to walk through a few stores, using sign language to attract deaf ones.

My friend is a shutterbug. He is constantly taking pictures of whatever with his phone. So, we were walking along the street, I with my cane, he with his phone out snapping away. I didn't know he had stopped to take a picture of a sign, so I kept walking.

Then I noticed he wasn't there, so I turned and looked back. A woman was passing me and as I stood there looking for my buddy, she tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Do you need help?" She was a short, black woman, about 30 or so. I smiled and said, "No, I'm just waiting for my friend," just as he arrived at my side. She smailed and nodded. I thanked her for her help.

We talked to a couple of people at a bus stop, then crossed to the other side of the avenue, and walked back. We were getting hungry, and we wanted to meet up with other members of our group who were off elsewhere, so we headed back toward the car.

As we walked along, the same woman that tried to help me, she caught up with us and tapped me on the shoulder. She exlaimed, "I didn't realize that you were deaf and blind, I'm so sorry!" She went on to tell me that when she was younger, she had a temporary blindness that afflicted her for a week. She also said that she has tender feelings for those who are disabled. Then she said, "I will pray for you."

I graciously thanked her, but she kept on, "No, I will pray for you. I can put my hands on you, and you will receive sight!" I then understood, she was a faith healer. She confirmed it when she said, "I am a pastor and have my own church. I can lay my hands on you and pray, and your eyes will be opened. Don't you want that?"

I told her, "I truest my God, Jehovah. He has an appointed time, and will heal me. Meanwhile, I will continue to do what I can with the aid of my friends. She became incredulous. "What? Don't' you want to be healed now? I can do it in no time." "No, I truest God and will wait patiently for him to ..." "But," she interrupted, "why go through the suffering, what's the tpoint of it?"

My friend and I showed her scriptures and tried to explain that Christ's true followers would suffer and endure. We had to pick up our torture stake and follow him. My torture stake happens to be my eyes and my ears, and I go through it.

"What would you do, if I heal you, right here, right now?" First of all, if she was going to pray for me, she needed to have her head covered. I didn't point that out. I also knew that the truth was, if she could have healed me, it wasn't with Jehovah's backing, and it would be the work of Satan, who blinds people to the true knowledge of God, Jesus, death, and many other teachings. I said, "I trust my God."  She threw up her hands, and walked away, "Okay, keep on sufferin'!"

The comments today in the text say this:

Satan surely knew that Jesus had the hope of eventually ruling mankind. But Jesus would have to wait until Jehovah's appointed time. And before then, he would have to suffer and die. So Satan offered Jesus the chance to fulfill his hope sooner.

That helmet is an important part of the armor. Let the helment of salvation protect our thinking, in that we wait for Jehovah, the one who can heal. I keep repeating it as a mantra, the words of Micah 7:7, which says, "I will keep on the lookout for  Jehovah, I will show a waiting attitude for the God of my salvation."

Keep the hope alive. It will be here; it will not be late.

... the text for May 29, 2020

The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one. - 1 John 5:19

Recently, a couple returned from a road trip to Chicago and bck. They related that on this trip, when ever they stopped, they wore their masks. In some areas, people were not wearing masks and so others looked upon this couple with hostile looks.

In Minnesota, people are rioting and burning down buildings and looting. All this in protest of the government institting a lockdown due to the pandemic of COVID-19. Many are angry.

It is clear from the scripture above why things are the way they are. How does it start?

The comments today make this point:

He [Satan] understands that storytelling does much more than entertain us; it teaches us how to think, feel, and act.

 We have a slew of films and television shows that promote violence, rebellion, anger, contempt, prejudices, hatred of family members, and so on. We must be careful what we watch. If we keep watching these types of entertainment, we start to emulate and think the same way. It's not good.

Soon, the ruler of this world will be cast out, along with the people that follow him. Gone will be the vile and selfish "what's in it for me" attitudes that is so prevalent today.

Imagine a place where everyone smiles and is truly your friend, with no motives or selfish reasons attached. I long for that world, and it's getting closer everyday.

... the text for May 28, 2020

Jehovah became furious at Solomon. - 1 Kings 11:9

Jehovah was righteously angry with Solomon, because He had warned him about seeking other gods. How did Solomon end up on this path? Well, he did have many wives, who did not worship Jehovah. In time, he turned away from God, the one who gave him supassing wisdom.

When I was married to my first wife, it was good for a time. Then what happened was that she didn't feel like going to the meetings. I was serving as a ministerial servant at the time. Monday nights were our book study (about 27 years ago). We carpooled to work, so on that night, my wife would cajole me into going to a sports bar. Then it became regular, and so, our meeting attendance started to drop.

In time, I was removed as a minsterial servant, because I was absent all the time from meetings. I did love my wife, so I allowed her to influence me in that way.

I was inactive for five years. When I mustered up the strength to go to meetings again, and studying, my wife started to persecute me. She would purposely start a fight with me on meeting nights, so that i would be too angry or upset to go. I caught onto her game, so I went to the meetings mad and upset anyway.

She had even gone so far as to tell me that she wanted me to love her even though she wanted to be worldly. I told her I loved Jehovah first, so it became a competition with her to get me to sin against Jehovah.

Eventually, I gave in, haviing met a woman at a computer club meeting. I got divorced, and that was that. But, the damage I had received was so great, it took almost 10 years after my divorce to feel whole again.

It's important to remember, Micah 7:6 says your enemy is your household. That's exactly how Satan uses the situation. So, one would be weaker than the other and the effect is similar to a bowl of apples. If one rots, it affects the others so that they're rotten to. It's crucial to have the resolve that nothing will get in the way of your worship to Jehovah. Evem an innocent action like missing the occasional meeting, not studying, skipping Bible reading, sleeping in when you should be going in service, these can have a cumulative effect, so let us work hard to maintain a strong spiritual routine.

Bad associations come in two flavors: one is very clear, the other very subtle. Satan uses the subtle because it works gradually, slowly eroding away the faith and the habits until it's gone.

Solomon was the wisest man on earth, but he lost it all with associating with the wrong people. It's a good thing to make friends who want the best for you. Anything else is dangerous.

A preaching experience from Sweden

An experience from an convention in Sweden. I received the video, which the brother translated into English:

The brother who was interviewing asked the first sister if she finds it easy doing store-to-store service and she answers right away, "No. It has never been easy for me. It has always been a struggle to find the courage to do it, til one day I mustered up the courange and I entered a shoe store, and simply put the magazines on the counter and said to the lady, "These are for you", and then I left the store quickly because of feeling uncomfortable.

Then the microphone was passed to the second sister and she said, "Yes, I am that sales lady at the shoe store. I began to read the magazines very quickly, and in a short while I said to myself, 'Incredible! This is the truth'!And I read all the magazines with great interest, and said to myself, 'If these magazines are so interesting and so practical, they probably also will be for someone else, so I gave them to the owner of the shoe store."

Then she passes the microphone to the brother next to her, and he says, "I was the owner of that store. And I read the magazines in the park during my break. And the deeper I got into the material, the more it became clear to me that this is the truth! This is fantastic! I want to give someone else this opportunity to read these magazines, so I left them on the edge of the park bench."

The brother passes the microphone [to the brother next to him], "I was someone who did not have a home or a place to stay anymore. I happened to sit on the bench and saw the magazine, and said, 'I was already once a Jehovah's Witness, but I had left the truth because I thought of living my life, I wanted to explore and see what was out there, but things went from bad to worse, to the point of losing everything. After that point, it was not clear to me that Jehovah was waiting for me to return, but on seeing the magazines, it helped me to understand that. And by reading them, it helped me to take the step to return to Jehovah."

And he [the first brother] asked the first sister if she had anything else to say, "Yes! You see, this young man who found the magazines on the park bench, he is my son."

... the ringing in my ears

Since I was born deaf, I can only hear really loud noises. I can take my hearing aid off at a concert and hear just fine. Recently, the hearing aid broke, so I don't hear much of anything, except the dog barking.

Don't imagine that everything is peaceful and quiet. I really have the most horrendous case of tinnitus or commonly known as ringing in the ears.

I had endured this all of my life, and I don't think there's a cure for it. I hadn't looked, anyway.

At first, it would sound like a bomb dropping. It starts at a high whistle, then lowers through the octaves and then stops. No explosions. Other times it's just a comstant sound, like someone holding a key on an organ and just holding it there indefinitely.

Lately, it is more of a hissing buzz. It moves on to static, as if I have the dial set between radio stations. To ward it off, sometimes I play music in my head, but even that is getting on my nerves.

Two years ago, my hearing aid was getting warranty work done, so I did not hear for a week. During this week was a special medley of David Gilmour (of Pink Floyd fame) playing guitar solos. Shine On You Crazy Diamong, Another Brick In the Wall Pt. 2, and other various tunes. I try to switch it up by playing classical music in my noggin, Mozart mostly. But, it doesn't drown out th emonotonous buzzing or motorcyles, static, bombs.

Sometimes the tinnitus provides a counterpoint to the music I'm thinking of, and if there was a way to attach electrodes to my head to hear the music, I'd be famous like Beck or Kraftwerk, who are known for their interesting musical accompaniments. I love them both.

But, I endure. Just ahead will be a time when I won't need a hearing aid, and instead, I'll be putting a pillow over my head to block real sounds of crickets and other nocturnal life.