QUARANTINE BLOG # 312

February 5, 2021

Today’s observance is just for observance, not for celebration.  It’s Disaster Day.  The observance is held today because it was on this day in AD 62 that Pompeii and Herculaneum experienced an earthquake that is estimated to have measured between 5 and 6 on the Richter scale.

Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in the background.

The earthquake may have been a precursor to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which destroyed the same two towns.  On August 24 Mount Vesuvius violently spewed forth a deadly cloud to a height of 21 miles, ejecting molten rock, pulverized pumice and hot ash at 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

The restored version of John Martin’s “Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum.”

The remains of over 1,500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum so far, although the total death toll from the eruption remains unknown.  Plaster casts have been made of many of the victims.  Over the centuries many of the bodies decayed, but the layers of ash maintained the form of the bodies.  Plaster of Paris injected into the shapes made the casts. 

Via dell’Abbondanza, the main street in Pompeii.

A man and his slave, discovered November 21, 2020. A study of the bones showed that one was younger and appeared to have done manual labor, and the other was older.

👉  Another portrait from history, 1,905 years later.  Clara Peller was a manicurist and American character actress.  Her parents, Judith and Wolf Swerdlove, had eight children.  Wolf left Russia when he was being drafted for the second time, and they settled down in Illinois.  Clara married at age 20 to a local jeweler; she was divorced eight years later, with two children, a boy and a girl.  She worked for 35 years as a manicurist at a local Chicago beauty salon.  At age 80, Peller was hired as a temporary manicurist for a television commercial set in a Chicago barbershop.  Impressed by her no-nonsense manners and unique voice, the agency later asked her to sign a contract as an actress for the agency.   

You may not recognize her from all of that, but in 1984 Clara became nationally famous when she starred in the “Where’s the beef?” advertising campaign for Wendy’s restaurants.  The commercial aired for the first time on January 10.  Here is the original commercial.

👉  Here are two reminders from The Way Back Machine.  Raise your hand if you remember:

👉  U.S. Customs agents seized nearly 13 million counterfeit face masks in the 12 months that ended September 30, as the COVID-19 pandemic spurred demand for protective equipment.  Other items intercepted included nearly 37,000 so-called antivirus lanyards touted to prevent COVID-19 infection and which contain substances prohibited by the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  China – the source of the coronavirus – was the origin of 51% of the seizures.  It is hard to get much slimier or much lower than profiting off disease and death.  If Dante updated his Inferno for the 21st century, these people would go into the lowest pit of hell.

👉  “Significant” passenger cruise operations might not return to Florida waters for another year or longer as fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continues, according to a port-industry lobbying group.  Michael Rubin, Florida Ports Council vice president of governmental affairs, said that cruise lines are working to meet an “onerous” list of requirements from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and simply hope to have some vessels operating at half capacity this summer.  “I’m not sure we’ll have significant cruise operations until perhaps next year and even beyond that,” Rubin said.  “This is really, really troubling.”

QB notes, at least you were cruising!

👉  Today’s close is by Tony Evans.

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”  (Matthew 6:25).

God says that if you will seek His kingdom first and His righteous standards first, then He will willingly grant you the things that often make themselves the focus of your worry.

More than 40 million US adults suffer from a diagnosed form of anxiety.  Countless  millions more suffer from worry or anxiety on less severe levels.  Worry is a common issue plaguing people today.  Perhaps it is even plaguing you?

Whether it’s worrying about jobs, safety, health, relationships, flying, income, terrorism, the future, or anything else – worry eats away at many people’s ability to enjoy the gift of life that God has given them.

God tells us in this foundational principle for kingdom living – that of seeking Him and His kingdom first – that we actually don’t have to worry at all.  God Himself is the very antidote to worry.  In this same sermon by Jesus in Matthew 6, we also read:

    “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life ... ” (v. 25)

    “And who of you by being worried ... ” (v. 27)

    “And why are you worried ... ” (v. 28) 

    “Do not worry then ... ” (v. 31)

    “So do not worry ... ” (v. 34

That’s enough reason right there to put God first!

Prayer: Father, there are so many things that I worry about.  Sometimes I call these things concerns, but it’s worry.  I don’t want to worry but I do.  Help me to focus on You and live in the peace of Your sovereign control and perfect will.  Amen.

-30-