Big day, tomorrow … and not just for all Christians, but for all peoples … that’s what I believe.

“We are the Easter people,” Pastor Jim Miles of First Prez-Fort Stockton would remind us, and not just in the days leading up to Easter, but throughout the year. And that is what we affirm tomorrow, the day for which we have been preparing over the past six weeks, the day for which we live – or at least try to live – at all times.

A promise was made on a joyful, star-lit night, in a stable in Bethlehem … but that promise was kept on a bloody, storm-darkened day, on a hill outside of Jerusalem … and later in a place of tombs in the early morning.

Big day tomorrow, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ … big day … THE day, really. But I find myself wondering what it was like the day before The Day … what was it like during those long hours that passed between Christ’s crucifixion and his resurrection? I can’t help but think it’s easier for us, two-thousand years later, with the benefit of hindsight, with the Word in our hands, our minds, our hearts. But back then … right then, right there? What was it like for the followers of Jesus on THAT very first day before The Day?

I’ve always felt a little sorry for Peter, one of the first (and perhaps the greatest) of Jesus’ disciples. How many times have I listened to some discussion in Sunday school that included talking some smack about Peter and his shortcomings … it’s especially pronounced now, as we are reminded for the umpteenth time of his denial of Jesus outside the house where Christ was being held. What must it have been like – that day before The Day – for Peter?
[Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy by Jeff McDonald
No Comments »

Through my tenure as an Early Reviewer for LibraryThing, there is only one book that I have failed to read through to the end … but, there have been a few where I came close, where I persevered and completed my read, cover to cover, even though there were moments I considered calling it quits.

To this small – really, very small group – I am adding Ana Faktorovich’s “The History of British-American Author-Publishers,” published by Anaphora Literary Press.
[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing by Jeff McDonald
1 Comment »

A snow day. Ah, the glory. We’d be out all day, frozen, free. A lot of the stuff was dangerous, some was illegal, but (mostly) no one got hurt. [Read more →]

Tags: virtual children by Scott Warnock by Scott Warnock
No Comments »

10. “And God created light, and saw that it was good. Then God created man, and saw that it was hilarious.” – Genesis 12:5

9. “As ye sew, so shall ye rip.” – Galatians 6:7

8. “And the Lord said unto John, ‘Come forth, and receive eternal life.’ But John came fifth, and only won a toaster.” – Leviticus 12:18

7. “Then the three disciples went to Mount Olive, but before they could, Popeye swooped in and beat the crap out of them.” – John 3:18

6. “Many are cold, but few are frozen.” – Matthew 22:14

5. “Then Doubting Thomas asked, ‘If we’re all God’s children, what’s so special about Jesus?’” – Mark 11:16

4. “And God said unto Abraham, ‘Be not mistaken, and doubt not that widescreen is the best.’” – Sony 16:9

3. “Thou shalt not raise thy hand to thy child. It leaves thy groin unprotected.” – Corinthians 9:7

2. “The lion and the lamb shall lie down together, but the lamb won’t get much sleep.” – Deuteronomy 13:3

1. “In the beginning, there was nothing, and God said, ‘Let there be light.’ Then there was still nothing, but now you could see it.” – Genesis 1:1
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, religion & philosophy by Bob Sullivan
No Comments »

• Part 3 of my argument AGAINST blanket divestment

As the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA meets in St. Louis this year and considers demands for an immediate and total, blanket divestment of the denomination’s investment funds from “fossil fuel producers,” I have to ask … is blanket divestment the answer? Shouldn’t we, instead, consider reinvestment of those funds into responsible – even moral – fossil fuel producers?

A phrase often used by fossil-fuel protesters – online and on the street – is Keep it in the ground! In response to their demand, I have to ask them … have you considered what else we’d be keeping in the ground, along with the oil and natural gas? …
[Read more →]

Tags: environment & nature, religion & philosophy by Jeff McDonald
No Comments »

10. Every St. Patrick’s Day, when they dye the Chicago River green, it just looks like pond scum

9. People always making fun of the size of his shillelagh

8. On his day, number of people fraudulently claiming Irishness just to get a kiss

7. Compared to Saint Nicholas’s helpful elves, St. Patrick’s leprechauns are nothing but a bunch of drunken troublemakers

6. After you’ve heard “Top o’ the mornin’ to ya” a few million times, you’d kill for a simple “Hello”

5. Only saint whose name is associated with massive hangovers

4. When St. Patrick’s Day revelers get sick on green beer, they look like Linda Blair

3. The way Trump can’t open his mouth without a big lie falling out

2. Hasn’t had his Blarney Stone kissed in years

1. Snake bites
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, ends & odd by Bob Sullivan
No Comments »

The passage of time in the course of advanced space travel – the way that passage varies between the travelers and those they leave behind, and the effect on even the strongest of relationships touched by that variation – has been a popular topic in fantasy and science fiction for a long, long … uh … time.

I remember watching “The Twilight Zone” as a youth, where an episode called ‘The Long Morrow‘ touched upon that effect. And I’ve enjoyed plenty of other treatments of that topic, in a variety of media, in the decades since … including Cynthia Felice’s “Downtime,” which I reviewed for LibraryThing a couple of years ago.

Now comes “Cyan,” written by Syd Logsdon, published by EDGE-Lite and Hades Publications … and a welcome addition to my shelf.
[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing by Jeff McDonald
No Comments »

10. The Internet: Where men are men, women are men, and children are FBI agents.

9. I can still remember a time when I knew more than my phone.

8. My brain just logged me out due to inactivity, and now I can’t remember my password.

7. A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kickboxing.

6. I’m at my most insecure when Word asks me if I want to save my changes, and I don’t remember making any.

5. Twitter is worth $4 billion, and that’s just in lost productivity.

4. I pushed too hard against my eardrum with a Q-tip and reset my brain.

3. Whatever my obituary says, I just hope it’s not, “He is survived by his Internet history.”

2. The only thing Google can’t tell you is what you were looking up in the first place.

1. Smartphone owners, that blurred bit just off the edge of the screen is called life.
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, technology by Bob Sullivan
No Comments »

• Part 2 of my argument AGAINST blanket divestment

As the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA meets in St. Louis this year and considers demands for an immediate and total, blanket divestment of the denomination’s investment funds from “fossil fuel producers,” I have to ask … is blanket divestment the answer? Shouldn’t we, instead, consider reinvestment of those funds into responsible – even moral – fossil fuel producers?

Try this … let’s turn the demands around, upon ourselves …
[Read more →]

Tags: environment & nature, religion & philosophy by Jeff McDonald
No Comments »

10. What did the clock do after it ate?
It went back four seconds.

9. How do you make an octopus laugh?
Ten tickles.

8. How many great men were born in New York City?
None, just little babies.

7. How do you make a rock float?
Put it in a glass with some ice cream and root beer.

6. What’s the worst thing your wife can say during sex?
“Honey, I’m home!”

5. What’s the difference between roast beef and pea soup? Anybody can roast beef.

4. How do you find a blind man in a nudist colony?
It’s not hard.

3. What do the Starship Enterprise and toilet paper have in common?
They both circle Uranus looking for Klingons.

2. Did you hear about the guy with the invisible penis?
He came out of nowhere.

1. Why does Donald Trump sleep with a tub of hummus?
Because there’s nothing he LOVES MORE than having a chickpea in his bed.
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, ends & odd by Bob Sullivan
No Comments »

My daughter has hit us with some doozies through the years, so when, recently, during her so-far bumpy first year of college, she told me with great gravity, “Dad, I want to talk to you about something,” I was expecting a confession about, say, her leadership of an international bank heist ring. [Read more →]

Tags: education, virtual children by Scott Warnock by Scott Warnock
1 Comment »