QUARANTINE BLOG # 563

October 14, 2021

We begin this Thursday with “Sayings by Mac.”

Mac: “Are burgers called hamburgers?”  Yes.  “Do they have ham in it?”  No, it comes from cows.  “Then why are they called hamburgers?”  I do not know.  “Cows make milk, not ham, mama.”

Luke and Mac each took a Coke out of the fridge.  Amy said, “Can I have a sip?”  Mac said, “You can have a sip of my brother’s.”

Mac; “My nose is stuff.   It won’t blow up.”

Mac: “If you pick a wife that doesn’t pray, pick another one!”  Amen!

👉  Some more smiles:

👉  And a trio from our “Ooo You’re Gold” collection:

The Kardashians are the only people I know who are famous for being famous – no other qualifications.  I did not write that “Gold,” but I would have if I had thought of it first.

👉  QB has commented on fashions before – the fashions coming out of major design studios and famous international shows.  Maybe I should say “so-called fashions.”  Well, “they” are up to it again.  New fashions for 2022 do not feature one style fits all, but classic “girls clothes,” worn by men (and they are not talking about RuPaul’s Drag Show – they expect everyone to really wear this stuff).  Okay.  Here goes:

👉  In the days of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been many shortages with the results being inflated prices.  Ammunition and weapons are one category where prices have increased 500% and in some cases more.  Now the price of the weapon pictured below may have nothing to do with the Chinese virus, but it’s still a lot to pay for a pistol.

That is Al Capone’s favorite Colt .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol, which sold at auction recently for $860,000.  The gangster who was responsible for murder and mayhem in the Roaring 20s, was put in jail for income tax evasion, and later died of complications of venereal disease.  It won’t have any connection to “Murder, Inc.,” but Sportsman’s Outdoors Super Store offers a .45 for $439.99.  Who said crime doesn’t pay?

👉  Today’s license plates:

👉  This may be an unusual lead in, but one of my all-time favorite Broadway musicals – and I have many favorites – is “Wicked,” the backstory of the land of Oz.  In this one, the main character is not a little girl from Kansas, but two witches who become best friends.  Okay, no more spoilers, but you know that “Wicked” may be called a spinoff of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz.”  And with that intro, I have found some things about that great 1939 movie that I did not know.  Maybe you, too?

“Over the Rainbow” is one of the most well-known songs of all time, but it almost didn’t exist as we know it.  “The Wizard of Oz” had a very long run-time.  It was two hours long, and producers decided it had to cut it down by at least 20 minutes.  “Over the Rainbow” was originally cut because producers thought the black and white scenes dragged, and that younger audience wouldn’t understand the song’s message.  Instead of cutting the version Dorothy sang in Kansas, they ended up cutting the reprise when Dorothy was imprisoned in the Wicked Witch’s lair.

It’s hard to imagine "The Wizard of Oz" without Judy Garland, but she almost didn’t play Dorothy, and while she was always a studio favorite for the role, she wasn’t the studio favorite.  Executives thought Shirley Temple was a better fit – she was a better age and a bigger star.  Despite Temple’s fame, producers worried that she didn’t have a good enough singing voice for the part.  Fortunately for Garland, Temple was contracted to 20th Century Fox, not MGM.  MGM wanted to trade Clark Gable and Jean Harlow for Temple, but the idea was shot down when Jean Harlow died unexpectedly at the age of 26.

I knew that Buddy Ebsen was poisoned by the original makeup for the Tin Man, but Jack Haley, who took the part after makeup artists switched from aluminum powder to aluminum paint, contracted an eye infection.  The costume was also incredibly stiff.  Haley couldn’t rest in the costume whatsoever because he couldn’t sit down.  He couldn’t even get up on his own if he decided to lie down on the ground.  This forced him to stand up for the entire time his costume was on, and his only relief was leaning against something.

Tomorrow, the ruby slippers.

👉  Today’s close, “Our Incomparable Companion,” is by Charles Stanley.

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:16-18).

Most of us don’t like being alone for extended periods of time. In fact, we are not designed to live in isolation. Even at the very beginning, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). But sometimes situations in life leave us separated from others. Or perhaps we simply feel lonely, even though we live with our mate or family. But whatever your situation may be, if you are a believer, you’re never alone.

Knowing His followers could feel abandoned after His crucifixion and ascension, Jesus promised to send them a Helper who would never leave them – the Spirit of truth. The same One who came to them at Pentecost still abides within every believer. He has been sent to walk alongside us as our comforter, enabler, and guide.

The Holy Spirit, unlike human companions, is perfectly adequate to meet our every need. Since He knows us intimately, He can comfort us in pain and loss when no one else can. Anytime we find ourselves in a quandary, He knows exactly what we ought to do. Since the future is laid bare before His eyes, He’s aware of all the details that concern us. What’s more, He promises to guide us each step of the way, calming our fears and overcoming our inadequacies.

Because we were created for God, only through His Spirit are we made complete. He is the ultimate solution to man’s aloneness: He’s always available and will never forsake or forget you. When others let you down, the Comforter is present to lift you up with the reminder that you’re not alone.

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