Wisdom of Solomon

Chickens have been making a takeover bid for my back yard, which is fine by me. I like to watch them scratch about, during the odd interlude in the fast paced, high pressure clerical lifestyle.

I was doing just that when DWN (Dog War Neighbor) knocked on the fence and asked if he could have a talk. DWN, who is a disabled vet and writes patriotic letters for me to give to George Bush - he's convinced I know him - wanted some advice. 

He used to have a small pick up truck in his drive, which a young NDW (ne'er do well) wanted to buy. DWN said "$1000", NDW offered $800. DWN accepted and NDW paid $700, on the spot, with a 'verbal' to pay the balance in two weeks.

DWN then took a working battery from his van and put it in the pick up to show NDW that the vehicle worked. NDW promptly got in the truck and drove off, with the battery, leaving DWN down one battery and owed $100. 

No title had changed hands and the pick up was still insured in DWN's name, which brings us to the present. A month after the 'deal', NDW still hadn't paid the balance and DWN was worried, on two scores.

Most importantly, for him, was the principle of the thing. If NDW was allowed to get away with casually walking off with other people's $100 he'd never learn responsibility in life. Secondly, the truck was still insured in DWN's name and he didn't want to be liable when NDW crashed the vehicle.

DWN was perplexed. He had prayed about it pretty hard and been to the police, who told him that repossessing the truck over a paltry $100 was kind of mean; DWN thought so too, but principle mattered. So he had taken the key to the truck (it was in the ignition) and the battery and left the vehicle outside NDW's house.

"Now pastor," said DWN, "what should I do?"

In the spirit of Solomon, I gave him two choices. He could keep the key with the proviso that NDW could have it back when he paid the outstanding money, at which point he'd get the truck and the title. Or, far better choice, DWN could give NDW his money back and repossess the truck.

The problem with 'option 1' is that lack of a key isn't going to stop NDW from driving the truck...

There's a moral in this, somewhere.

It's all going on in the countryside, I tell you.

LSP

New Place To Ride Ordinariate

There's evidently this rural myth doing the rounds of Malone about some man who walked his horse 20 miles just so he could find a new place to ride...

With that in mind, and with the caveat that the myth won't be repeated, I'm happy with the place. A good mixture of dirt road and large fields to move around in; I'd say the variation is good for the horse's mind. Doesn't do the rider any harm either.

the space is deep

In other news, Cardinal Wuerl looks set to make an important announcement about the Ordinariate in CONUS. This is Benedict XVI's arrangement for Anglican clergy and people to convert to Rome while keeping elements of their liturgical and pastoral tradition. It also allows the former Anglicans a degree of permanence and self-governance, which was perhaps lacking under the Pastoral Provision.

where's that dik-mik?

Several friends have suggested that I join the Ordinariate and I'm very sympathetic. But I'm not about to abandon Bishop Iker and my Missions while we're being sued for all we're worth by the Pelosionite followers of Inclusivechurch. I think that would be disloyal.

Perhaps as a nod in the right direction I should rename the horse -- "Ordinariate" has a certain ring for a Thoroughbred.

Stay in the saddle,

LSP

Ariat? Wolverine? Boot Review.

Wolverines

A couple of years ago I swapped out a miserable pair of Bates combat boots for a pair of Wolverine Wellingtons. The combat boots were hard to ride in, the sole delaminated and they trapped water; useless if you're planning on crossing soggy fields, creeks, or anywhere that involved them getting wet.

Ariat

The Wolverines did well but they didn't have a lot of support, which I wanted for riding, so I invested in a pair of Ariat "Brown Bomber Heritage" crepe soled boots. Great support, thanks to their special, patented, sounds like a gimmick but maybe isn't, insole, and I thought they looked good too.

The plan was simple. Use the Wolverines for getting out in the field after rabbits, dove and low level hunting. Use the Ariats for riding.

Great plan; how did it work out? Two years into the experiment I have the result and I've got to admit I'm surprised. The Wolverines win. Why? 

Cheaper, waterproof, don't spread

Because they haven't spread, they're far more waterproof and they're cheaper. 

After a year, I found that the Ariats were becoming too wide to fit into English style stirrups. They had mystically grown by at least a centimeter. With Western stirrups, which are generally wider, it wasn't a problem, but with English? A disaster. If your boot gets caught in the stirrup and you have to get off the horse... well, who likes being dragged behind a charging animal.

Mad horse

Also, even in Texas, you're going to come across water when riding. Perhaps when you hose the animal down in the searing heat of the summer, or maybe when you get off at the stock tank for a bit of target practice and plinking. Whatever, the boots will get wet. The Ariats failed. They leaked and started to squelch with even a little exposure to the rare and valuable Texas water. Now, I really dislike a squelching boot and I don't like knowing that my feet can't get out of the stirrups if necessary, so it was back to the Wolverines.

After all this time, two years, I've found that they actually offer more support than the Ariats because they haven't spread. They're more waterproof and don't trap water, perhaps because they're unlined and, this is important for people on a budget, they're cheap.

Spur

At a little more than $70 I have a boot that works on horseback and is perfectly adequate for beating about the countryside. A great all round, inexpensive, durable boot. The Ariats are fine as far as they go; they look good, they're tough, the strange widening doesn't matter for Western style riding -- and I'll continue to use them for that, but in the end, the Wolverines are simply better bang for your buck. 

God knows we all need more of that.

Sorry Ariat.

LSP

Remembrance Day

May their souls rest in peace.

And may we not forget.

LSP

Mark Of The Beast II

Following alarmist end-times reporting on the turbulent state of the market and with the caveat that "numerology is a mrk (sic) of the truly loopy!" I feel it's only right to point out that the Bank of Italy believes it can bear an 8% yield. Many would argue that this absurd and superstitious obsession with so-called "mystical numbers" is little short of insane.

But an Ontario reader has this to say:

"Worth remembering though – it wasn’t long ago that no Government could borrow for as LITTLE as 8%. The modern era of low interest rates is quite a recent phenomenon, and it’s one of the things that made the huge superboom from 1992-2008 possible. No-one would have borrowed money for sub-primes at historic interest rates. Ironically low IRs followed from low inflation... and everyone borrowed, Texas consumers to Italian politicians alike..."

Interesting. Perhaps our worship of Mammon has destroyed the West's collective memory? Still, as the annoying phrase runs, that was then, this is now...

God bless,

LSP

Mark Of The Beast

According to Reuters, the Elephant Bar and everywhere else, the yield, or interest rate, on Italian bonds hit a 14 year high this morning, surging to an apocalyptic 6.66%.

Italian bonds are now well within the 6 percentile "danger zone", reflecting an increasing lack of confidence in Italian debt. If this trend continues Italy will default, sparking a fiscal Armageddon not seen since the days of Ancient Rome.

Ancient Rome

Noted Anglican Divine and genius exegete, Austin Farrer, comments on the mystical sixfold numeral; bear in mind that Solomon is both a type of Christ and of Antichrist also.

"From the queen's (Sheba) departure onwards the King (Solomon) breaks the law of kingship clause by clause."

After going against the divine interdict concerning multiplication of horses (LSP beware) and wives to himself, Solomon proceeds to contravene the final kingly rule given by God, "Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold." But what does Solomon do?

"The weight of gold that came to King Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold." (1 Kings x, 14)

Farrer has this to say, "The damnable number appears in the very next verse after the withdrawal of the Queen of Sheba. The root of all evil begins the King's downfall. St. John's use of Solomon's history as a source-book of numbers makes it virtually certain that he found the number of the Beast here... Why is it so deep and so blasphemous a mystery?"

To find out, you'll have to read  chapter nine of "Rebirth of Images."

Bond Traders, Frankfort Cabal, you have been warned.

LSP

All Saints, All Souls

The Church celebrated the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls this week; some Christians find this strange and wrong. They think that asking the intercession of the saints is unnecessary at best and idolatrous at worst. The same thing applies, for them, to prayers for the departed.

They believe that the dead, saintly or otherwise, are sleeping "under the heavenly altar" and even if they weren't their prayers are redundant because Christ is the "only mediator" between man and God.

But what about the two great Jewish Saints, Moses and Elijah, who talked with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration? They weren't sleep-talking now, were they. Neither are any of the holy men and women who have left this life for the next, and so we ask for their prayers just as we would ask the same from a holy person here on earth. This doesn't detract from Our Lord's mediation but reinforces it.

SMOM

Likewise for the departed, we pray for them as we would for anyone else. Idolatry? Hardly and don't get me wrong, I'm not some kind of comsymp lefty, but perhaps we need to look elsewhere for the Golden Calf of our troubled age - money, perhaps.

Jean Vianney

Jean Vianney, the Cure D'Ars, is the Patron Saint of parish priests. He abhorred dancing, which was a problem in rural France, and lead a life of remarkable austerity, eating little more than a potato a day. Vianney was often afflicted by Satan, who would drag his bed across the room while shouting "old potato eater!" Hundreds of thousands of people traveled to Ars to make their confession to him. A remarkable man who worked out his salvation in the fear and trembling proscribed by St. Paul.

Saints intercede for us. Faithful souls, rest in peace.

LSP

Halloween

Contrary to popular opinion, tonight isn't Satan's birthday, it's the Eve of All Saints, or "Hallows". I pray they intercede for us all.

Reports that The Episcopal Church is run by a gang of devil clowns are entirely without substance.

Cheers,

LSP

SS Simon & Jude

wake up and open the church, LSP

It's the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude today and I celebrated Mass at a church in Dallas at the old school time of 6.45 a.m. I do this every Friday so the resident priest can have a "day off." It's an impressive set up and makes for a good break from the country - the place always reminds me of the Army, for some reason.

But regardless, the books assure us that we don't know very much about Simon and Jude, except that they were Apostles who found martyrdom in Persia. There's plenty of that going on right about now.

Yusuf Nadarkhani

You might say a prayer for the Iranian Christians, especially those who convert from The Religion of Peace. 

God bless,

LSP

Here's That Song In Full

more weaving

Some of you may have enjoyed the brief excerpt from "Weave us Together" by singer songwriter Rosemary Crow. It's a favorite at The Episcopal Church's (TEC) Executive Council and other gatherings of Pod People. Here it is in full.

Weave, weave, weave us to-geth-er,
Weave us to-geth-er in u-ni-ty and love,
Weave, weave, weave us to-geth-er,
Weave us to-geth-er, to-geth-er in love.

pod person

We are man-y tex-tures, we are man-y col-ors,
Each one dif-f’rent from the oth-ers.
But we are en-twined with one a-noth-er
In one great tap-es-try….

Weave, weave, weave us to-geth-er,
Weave us to-geth-er in u-ni-ty and love,
Weave, weave, weave us to-geth-er,
Weave us to-geth-er, to-geth-er in love.

We are dif-f’rent in-stru-ments, play-ing our own mel-o-dies,
Each one tun-ing to a dif-f’rent key.
But we are all play-ing in har-mon-y
In one great sym-pho-ny….

Weave, weave, weave us to-geth-er,
Weave us to-geth-er in u-ni-ty and love,
Weave, weave, weave us to-geth-er,
Weave us to-geth-er, to-geth-er in love.
A mo-ment a-go, still we did not know
Our u-ni-ty, on-ly di-ver-si-ty.
Now the Christ in me greets the Christ in thee

In one great fam-i-ly….

What can I say? Bask in the genius. In the meanwhile, TEC continues its headlong slide into oblivion.

Ubuntu,

LSP

Invasion Of The Pod People

The Episcopal Church's (TEC) Executive Council released a statement this afternoon, which included the following:

"We are living into a new season of weaving our threads of interdependence together in the spirit of ubuntu – you in me and I in you, the theme of our last General Convention."

weavers

TEC's communique was punctuated by lyrics from the "Weave Song" by Rosemary Crow, previously famous for her song "You Can Be a Heretic, Too." Weave goes like this:

Weave, weave, weave . . .
Weave us together in unity and love.

We are many textures, we are many colors,
. . . we are entwined in one another in one great tapestry

We are different instruments playing our own melodies. . .
But we are all playing in harmony in one great symphony.

Weave, weave, weave...

What does it mean?

ascend the pod

I'd say that was obvious. The Pod People have landed.

According to latest statistics TEC lost around 2000 members a month from 2009 - 2010. Perhaps the off-world weaving wisdom of the Pod will reverse this interesting trend.

God bless,

LSP

The Cotton's Gone

William

I walked the few minutes into town this morning to go to the Post Office and met William; he's 71 and does a bit of "scrapping" though he used to work on the cotton back when that was the industry of the county. He told me how the sound of the cotton press filled the air, but that was some time ago.

County Seat

Now the cotton's gone and the town's declined from a population of 20,000 to less than 8,000. That trend looks set to continue as there aren't any jobs; a concerted attempt to turn the place into an antiques and gift shop emporium failed miserably. Fine by me.

Once a bank, now a failed gift shop

At the turn of the last century things were different, with the Square being notorious for cockfighting, drunkenness and lewd behavior of all kinds.

Bad behavior gone

I understand that things were cleaned up by the '30s. Now there doesn't seem to be much behavior of any kind, which is a shame. I'd like to see a pub, butcher, tack shop, gun shop, and a place to drink coffee and buy books.

Why cut down the trees?

Surely that's not asking for too much? As it is, Hillsboro's starting to get that deserted "turning into a ghost town" feel. Surely it doesn't have to be that way.

On a different theme, there was big commotion in my neighbor's chicken coop. I thought it was a cat until a great hawk glided up and over the fence. Wish I'd taken a picture.

It seems to me as though the place is reverting to nature and maybe that's no bad thing. Neither should it be an obstacle to getting a pub...

Cheers,

LSP