QUARANTINE BLOG # 340

March 5, 2021

One year ago today, your favorite cruisers boarded Carnival Miracle for a cruise from Miami, through the Panama Canal, to Los Angeles.  We docked March 19, and haven’t cruised since, and no sailings in sight.  Insert crying face emoji here.

👉  There is some sanity out there.  Yesterday I devoted the whole blog to the story of Dr. Seuss Enterprises banning books, and the issue of censorship and the gradual disappearance of the right of free speech.  In the United States it is becoming dangerously apparent that right to free speech is only afforded those who follow the politically correct line.  Finally, there comes a story about a national court with some sanity and, if you will pardon the phrase, with some guts.  

Two years ago, British citizen Kate Scottow, was arrested, convicted, and ordered to pay £1,000 compensation ($1,380 U.S.) to Stephanie Hayden, born a man but now identifying as a transgender woman.  Scottow said Hayden was a man, a racist, and “a pig in a wig.”  Overturning the conviction, Lord Justice Bean and Mr. Justice Warby in the [British] Court of Appeal, said: “Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having.”  Mr. Justice Warby explained that the relevant parts of the Communications Act “were not intended by Parliament to criminalize forms of expression, the content of which is no worse than annoying or inconvenient in nature.”

Perhaps here in the colonies we can learn from this straightforward, intelligent decision.

👉  In QB 329 I told you about a Big Mac Museum in Huntingdon, PA.  

Well, in case you have planned a trip, or are planning a trip to the Keystone State, you may want to check out another offbeat place nearby.  For instance, the Headless Muffler Man.  He is actually a headless statue of legendary woodsman Paul Bunyan, but painted in Pittsburgh Steeler colors, and wearing Tommy Maddox’s number 8, he is an advertising sign for a muffler (that’s automobile, not neck scarf) shop in Greensboro, PA.  Those folks must be real Maddox fans (or really dislike him to put his number on a headless statue) because he retired from the Steelers in 2005.

While you are in Greensboro, drive half a mile to see Optimus Prime in the parking lot in front of Stone and Company (a concrete company).

Down the road a piece in New Alexandria is the Rural Space Shuttle.  Judging from the rust, I’d say it is retired, like the real thing (which was retired before the United States had another way to get astronauts into outer space – oh yeah, we rented seats from Russia – not smart).

Pennsylvania folk sure have a lot of time on their hands.  There’s more, but we’ll save that for another day.

👉  Q:  How many U. S. Congressmen (or Congresswomen) does it take to screw in a light bulb?  A:  Two.  One to assure the public that everything possible is being done while the other screws the light bulb into the water faucet.

Q:  How many programmers does it take to screw in a light bulb?  A: None.  That’s a hardware problem.

Q:  How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?  A: Only one, but the bulb has got to really WANT to change.

Q:  How many believers does it take to change a light bulb?

Doing some other research, I found this in an issue of the Presbyterian International News Service, Inc.

👉  The first Friday in March has several national celebrations, some silly (like National Cheese Doodle Day and National Potty Dance Day), and others serious.  

“Dress in Blue Day” is dedicated to the fight to end colorectal cancer.  On the day, people wear blue and raise funds in order to raise awareness about this cancer and to honor those who have had it as well as those whose lives have been impacted by knowing someone with this cancer.  The day also serves as a reminder to get screened for this cancer.

“World Day of Prayer” is an international ecumenical Christian laywomen’s initiative.  It is celebrated annually in over 170 countries on the first Friday in March.  The movement aims to bring together women of various races, cultures and traditions in a yearly common Day of Prayer, as well as in closer fellowship, understanding and action throughout the year.  Pray saints!

👉  Speaking of prayer, put this piece on your list.  On February 1, 2021, democratically elected members of Myanmar’s ruling party, the National League for Democracy, were deposed by the Tatmadaw – Myanmar’s military – which vested power in a form of government headed by military chiefs.  The coup d'état has received little notice in Western media outlets beyond the initial telling of the coup, but it is having a serious adverse effect on the citizens of Myanmar, and notably for me, a missions group with whom I shared ministry in Russia, and the Christian work they support in Myanmar.  

State Counselor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi (left) who won in a landslide, and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (right) who overthrew the will of the people.

Partners In Ministry International supports Pastor CB Philip Thang and the Win Children’s Home.  Since the coup, PIMI has been unable to get funds to Pastor Philip for the support of the children, and because of the coup, relief to them has been cut off by the military leaders.  

The coup leaders have instituted a deadly crackdown against protestors.  Please pray that the coup will be overthrown and that support will reach the children and Pastor Philip.

👉  Are You Dead Yet?

“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’” (Mark 8:34).

Today it’s a piece of jewelry.  Worn on a chain.  Dangling from ear rings.  It is not a place to die, but when Jesus told his would-be followers to take up the cross, they knew exactly what He meant.  The cross was a place to die, a place to die a slow, painful death in the most excruciating manner any human being had ever devised to execute another human being.  The Romans crucified so many people that in parts of their empire, they ran out of trees on which to nail their victims.

It could take days for the crucified person to die.  That’s why when Joseph of Arimathea approached Pontius Pilate for permission to bury the body of Jesus – only six hours after He had been nailed to the cross – the governor was astonished.  “Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time” (Mark 15:44).

Cross bearing does not refer to some irritation in life.  Rather, it involves the way of the cross.  The picture is of a woman, of a man, already condemned, required to carry her cross, his cross, on the way to the place of execution, as Jesus was required to do.  It means we die out to us.  We live for Jesus.

To take up our cross means a loss of identity.  He was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, but no one calls him that any more, and if I had been asked to tell you the birth name of Pope Francis, without the help of Google I could not have done it.  People who know me, still, properly, call me David, but when I became a follower of Jesus, my identity changed, otherwise I did not change. 

That is why Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

You picked up your cross.  Are you dead yet?  If you are, you now live for your Lord and Savior.

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