QUARANTINE BLOG # 176

September 22, 2020

Today is the first day of Fall, also known as The Fall Equinox or Autumnal Equinox.  The day is marked when the Sun crosses the celestial equator – an imaginary line in the sky directly above the earth’s Equator – from North to the South.  During this time the sun shines directly on the Equator, and the length of day and night is nearly equal.  Days continue to shorten in the Northern Hemisphere as the earth’s axis begins to tilt away from the sun.  And in just 39 days  you can “Fall Back.”

👉  Italo Marchiony was a New York City ice cream seller who had immigrated from Italy.  On September 22, 1903, he applied for a patent for an edible ice cream container.  He claimed to have been making cones to hold ice cream since 1896.  The following year, during the St. Louis World’s Fair about fifty booths sold ice cream, many of them presented in Marchiony’s invention.  Today, in honor of the EICC, we celebrate  National Ice Cream Cone Day.  Get yours filled – flat bottom, pointy bottom, or waffle.

👉  Two black leaders, Bob Woodson and Ian Rowe, are launching “1776 Unites,” a new high school curriculum that aims to combat the victimhood culture in American society – and the New York Times’ “1619 Project” – by telling the stories of black Americans who have prospered by embracing America’s founding ideals.  The curriculum’s goal is to “let millions of young people know about these incredible stories, African-Americans past and present, innovative, inventive, who faced adversity, did not view themselves as victims, and chose pathways to be agents of their own uplift,” said Rowe.

The Times’ “1619 Project” is an attempt to reframe our nation’s history by declaring that 1619 – the year the first slave was brought to North America – represents the country’s true founding.  The message of the 1619 Project, Woodson said, is “that America should be defined as a racist society where all whites are culpable and guilty of having privilege and therefore should be punished and all blacks are victims that should be compensated,” a conclusion that he called “a very corrosive and dangerous challenge to these traditional values.”

An interesting in-depth look at the two curricula from The Atlantic magazine is here: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/historians-clash-1619-project/604093/.

👉  In a change from their earlier position, the CDC says in new guidance that the coronavirus spreads most commonly in the air, through droplets or other tiny respiratory particles that apparently can remain suspended and inhaled.  The smaller particles, known as aerosols, are produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes and can be inhaled into someone’s nose or mouth and into that person’s lungs.  The CDC says that, in general, indoor settings without good ventilation increase the risk of contagion.

“There is growing evidence that droplets and airborne particles can remain suspended in the air and be breathed in by others and travel distances beyond six feet (for example, during choir practice, in restaurants or in fitness classes),” according to the CDC website.

This week, the scientific journal Indoor Air accepted a paper for publication that found that many of the 53 choir singers who became sick after attending a March 10 practice in Mount Vernon, Washington, likely caught COVID-19 through airborne transmission.

👉  The record stood for 87 years, 440 consecutive games, but the old saying that records are made to be broken proved true Sunday.  As the late Bob Prince, the one time voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates used to say, “It’s that old hidden vigorish.  The more you win, the closer you come to losing, and the more you lose, the closer you come to winning.”  For the Dallas Cowboys and the Atlanta Falcons, hidden vigorish was revealed in the Cowboys unlikely 40-39 win over the Falcons.  Since 1933 no pro football team has lost a game after scoring 39 points and surrendering zero turnovers, a 440-0 record.  Now it’s 440-1.

👉  Carnival Cruise Line is taking steps to terminate and/or not renew the contracts of employment of 20% of its officers and crew members throughout its fleet.  As many as eight captains, five staff captains, five guest service managers, six executive chefs and six hotel directors are among the top ship employees who are being laid off.

This drastic move is an insight into the state of Carnival’s dire financial affairs.  The company stated that as of August 31, 2020, “approximately 45 percent of guests affected by the company’s schedule changes have received enhanced future cruise credits and approximately 55 percent have requested refunds.  Total customer deposits balance at August 31, 2020, was $2.4 billion, the majority of which are future cruise credits.  The bottom line is that loyal cruise fans are essentially providing a free loan to Carnival of several billions of dollars.

👉  Enough news.

👉  And some other humorous thoughts:

👉  Today’s close is from Tony Evans.

In the book of Mark, chapter six, we read that the disciples got into a boat, at night, and took out across the sea.  In their obedience to Jesus, the disciples ran directly into a storm.  Their obedience literally took them into the nucleus of a disaster.

I wish I could tell you that following Jesus means you will never have to face any storms.  I wish I could tell you that following Jesus means that the waters of life will always be calm.  I wish I could tell you that following Jesus means life will be rosy and all of your days sweet.  But I can't.

These disciples were following Jesus, and they ran right into rough-seas.  The disciples discovered, as many of us have also discovered, that you can be both in the center of God’s will, and still be in a storm.

There is a lot of preaching today that tell you that if you follow Jesus, than you will never have to face any challenges in life.  That wasn’t true for Jesus, or for anyone else I know who has followed Him.  Following Jesus doesn’t offer immunity from troubles.  What it does give is the opportunity to experience Him in the midst of the trouble.

Life comes with troubles, regardless of whether or not you follow Jesus.  You get to choose if you want Him to join you in your troubles.  Don’t go through them alone.

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