Happy New Year.

We project happiness into the New Year that sooner or later will stop like a derailed train. There will be sickness and death, accidents, disappointments. We rebuild. The broken bones, the tracks, the train. We start again. Tonight. Happy New Year.

Surprise

Everything about Christmas is a surprise. The Annunciation - you are pregnant! Christmas itself - God in a manger! The angels, the shepherds, the kings, the Great Herod. We, too, surprise people with gifts - surprise! Even the Great Herod receives the gift of God although he tries to kill Him. He never is receptive to receive the Gift of gifts. Ready or not he receives it and throws it away.

Playing Santa

I am playing Santa. Lots of packages to deliver to the front doors of people. Today I am the substitute facilitator for a bible class in the next village. I love see people grow spiritually. My friend John called last night. I had taken packages over to the Church of the Six Flags over Jesus and waited for people to come out after services. It has to be done all by stealth and secrecy otherwise the pastor throws a tantrum and threatens people. John is afraid that this could lead to a habit of going over there. I assured him it would not. It was nice to see old friends, tho. What is interesting is that some of the most pious people over there avoid me now because they want to be on the good side of the pastor. Rose, Betty and Teresa Jonquil - you can see it in their eyes and body language. Well, every day brings good and bad.

Are elephants in the bible?

I recently heard a lecture on "Animals in the Bible." The speaker claimed that elephants were used at the time of the late O.T. as warfare machines but she could not find any specific mention in the bible as such. I looked it up in the Strong Concordance and there is nothing under elephants listed but to my surprise I did find elephants mentioned in the bible in Maccabees (2Mac11:4) which I happened to read last night. Then I discovered that the Strong Concordance is based on the Protestant Bible which leaves a few books out - the Maccabees being one of them. So, if you are Protestant, elephants are not in the bible but if you are Catholic they are.

When does the head come off?

I was invited to my friends' sixtieth wedding anniversary. Services started last night at 6:15 p.m. Much has changed since I was there last. Noisier, loaded with kids. It was fun to watch. Dinner and a dreidel contest afterwards. The rabbi and the cantor don't get along. That was obvious. We all laughed because nothing was said to me and I just told my friends what I observed and I was dead right. I always had that gift, entering a room and picking up on division.
I am reading the newspaper. Saw an ad for a Marie Antoinette action figure - the head comes off. Was told that the head of the cantor will come off soon, too.

Gator Club

I went to be bi-lingual gator club yesterday. They worship gator and speak gator. I used to speak gator fluently myself. Yesterday I just went to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Mr. and Mrs. Gator were there. It surprised them that I had shown up although I did not stay for the worship of the gators.

I still have a lot of presents to wrap. I enjoy handing out little gifts. Here there - everywhere.

The Office

I went to work today and the secretary unburdened herself about the boss. Every office I have worked in recently seems to have very similar problems. Here I am the veteran giving out advice to a younger generation.

Rush

The days are full. I went and saw my friend Fred on Thursday. He is the one who collects toys for homeless children and I helped him this year. It went very well. Fred set up the tables and seem to be worn out when I left him but all the toys were nicely arranged and it looked beautiful. We also talked about the pastor at Six Flags over Jesus Church. Fred thinks that he is a frustrated homosexual who hates to admit that to himself. He can't live with that and therefore he keeps people at a distance. Fred should know! Fred stayed at his house a couple of times. Sort of funny - when you think about it.
Yesterday I went to a retreat. The retreat was wonderful but the topic about ministry was not the right topic for me. I had a hard time not running away crying. Last night Jimmy was in town. We went and each of us had a nice juicy steak for dinner. Today I have another meeting in the afternoon. I am sort of bothered by a mild headache. I will have a cup of tea and go back to bed and read my book.

Life today

I have a prayer group at my house and today we had several special cases for which we had to pray. I am blessed that my life is so normal. Well, the pastor from the Church of the Six Flags of Jesus raises his ugly head sometimes but he is emotionally incompetent and so one makes allowances. With the normal people in my life I have no problems. The Christmas tree went up today - half way - tree and lights only. Tomorrow we will finish adding the decorations. On Thursday I will drop off a carload of toys at a nursing home - for the children of the workers. On Christmas Eve morning I will make another round to the big city next door and pass out doughnuts with my friend Eve and her family. I like advent. I have a wonderful advent CD. I will give one of those to my friend Jane with whom I study the Bible on Fridays. She sings. I don't but I like music.

Pressure

I am doing so many things at the same time. I need a brain compressor. On Saturday I went with my friend Sammy to purchase some second-hand catholic books. She wants to start a library in honor of her mother. We dug through piles of books in a quaint little basement and had to carry out 7 boxes - up some rickety basement stairs and out the front door. Yesterday I had several friends with me and we fed the homeless in the big town next door. We took fresh doughnuts. We had a great time and the people were very appreciative. I showed my friend Amanda the house with the huge dog. The dog is a plastic contraption as big as the house. I thought she'd be horrified as I was but she was enchanted. She told me the dog was famous. A famous character dog! Dubidu - I have no idea how this is spelled. I can just picture dubidu cookies on the table, dubidus around the Christmas tree, dubidu sliced thinly for appetizers and dubidu as fertilizer after Christmas. Well, dubidu to you, too. Last night I worked on my lecture: "How the grass was kept green in the Bible." I know it will be a thriller.

Cheers

I walked my dogs tonight. The neighbors have their holiday decorations up. During the past few years it has become in vogue to put up huge inflatable plastic figures. One house had lots of light bulbs and one huge Disney dog guarding the house. I am sure it is very biblical, I just must have missed it somehow. Just what happened this morning when my friend Cynthia was here and I thought I had won the million dollar lottery in bible trivia and she pointed out to me that I had overlooked something and, not only that, I missed something but out of the Book of Numbers which I am currently teaching. OK dog, why did you not bark to wake me up? I need a huge inflatable animal that boings me in the head to keep me on my toes.
We have wonderful balmy weather. Tons of new books arrived tonight. I have tons of books to read if and when the weather gets bad. Currently, we could have a new ice age and I still could not read all the books I buy. I am seriously considering adding on a library to the house. Otherwise, the dogs and I will have to live in the shed.