Listening

This is not an inspirational picture. It is a stop on the way. It has been a rainy night, a time of confusion, and achy knees. My phone and internet have not worked for over three weeks. A time of ultimate absurdity. Phone call after phone call to strangers who do not understand.. Everyone speaking in strange languages. Mav ikiiiii help you.

Some times life is like that. Nothing moving forward. Not a time to dance as the good book says, but a time of sloth where everything subtracts not adds.

But I did get a new droid 4. I like it. Keyboard is nice. I don't do well without a keyboard. And there has been a death in the family, lots of hospital visits, waiting!! Many texts.

I am sick of theatrics and slogans and thoughts that make no sense. Everyone seems to be talking over my head with blatterings, useless rhetoric, and endless chatter. My twits are limp and disorganized. Facebook is a game of hits and misses. Winter never happened.

The somewhat good news is baseball season begins soon. I have always said, "life gets better when baseball season begins." For some reason I expect little from the Braves this year. I may rely on Angels boxscores to see how Pujois hits in American League.

And Jeremy Lin has become mortal. He did great until Melo returned and now the Knicks have fired their coach. It says something about chemistry.

So John Boy, guess its good night. The rain has stopped. Tomorrow internet service is suppose to return. Guess I can finish watching Harry and Tonto then. Vandy beat Kentucky. Peyton Manning has been to town. And its quite in the mall. Sweet dreams.

After the Storm

Rainy day.

droid 4

i just got my droid 4 two days ago. i have waited for it a long time. my previous droid is over two years old and unworkable. i am hoping this frees me up to blog more. i love the keyboard, the speed which is 4g. motocast may be a plus when i get it figured out. now if I could figure how to make a Capital. It has been cold today. it was below 20 degrees this morning. More later.

My Toe Hurts

A Monday Morning Exercise

For those retired, like myself, Monday is the gift day of the week, a day of paraphrasing who and where I am, usually a blank schedule, and a place of quiet.
 
My diabetes numbers are high which bothers me. There is no reason other than a busy weekend. I taught Sunday School and taught a course on journaling at the Church of Latter Day Saints in Nashville. It was an attentive group. They seemed appreciative of what I was doing.

When I got home I had one of my dizzy headaches and slept for a couple of hours. Earlier in the day I had dropped a bottle on my foot and my toe began to throb. I looked and it was black and blue. I walked with a limp. It changed my mood. A defective toe will do that.

I watched Downtown Abbey at 8. It is one of my favorite shows but it left me depressed. Everything was bad; dreams destroyed, deaths of primary characters,  strange maniputations, and faults of characters suddenly emphasized. It caused my foot to hurt more, but reality is like that. There are days we need to forget. Days assembled from darkness not light.

A word of encouragement comes from Isaiah 41, "Be strong! Be an encourager." WORTHY WORDS. Important words. Words rarely spoken.

The sun is out today. The temperature in the sixties. Nice. A day to be thankful, to watch birds and sunlight and dream. Leave the newspaper closed, the hurtful words will be there tomorrow. Drink deeply of the air, feel the sunlight, rest the hurt toe. REJOICE!

Review of Spiritual Journaling by Dan Phillips

A Review of Spiritual Journaling- God’s Whispers in Daily Living

By Dan Kenneth Phillips

Circle Books, London, England, 2011

In speaking of his journals, Phillips says, “A frayed journal is precious. It often has torn pages, water lines dribbled throughout, ink stains scattered, forgotten names in inappropriate places, words misspelled, tear stains on blotted ink, crayon marks of a child, wrinkled pages, bible verses scribbled in darkness, or an article from a deceased newspaper columnist.” He describes the journey with a journal as an awakening, an hour of anticipation, a sacred time.

Using his own journals, Dan Kenneth Phillips describes events and experiences where God’s presence was real to him; a patient on his way to surgery becomes a source of inspiration as he faces death, standing on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, sensing the voice of the Apostle Paul, or as he prays by a statue in a dimly lit corridor of a hospital, he realizes the important of life and how the leftovers of our life can be the source of new life.

His inspiration for a spiritual moment can be as simple as a lingering sunset, waves softly rubbing the shore line, a sentence he reads in an ancient book, a kiss, or a prayer in an ancient garden. He describes these moments as “points of light like a meteor showering the sky.”

He emphasizes the importance of buying a special journal.  A Buffalo Journal he bought in Montana says, “This ‘Oh-sooo-soft’ leather is double thick with a natural battered rough edge, the kind a traveler may have taken with them on that long journey, chasing the western sunset.”

Jonathan Montaldo, editor of many of Thomas Merton’s Journals, says of Phillips, “Written with simplicity and revealing great humanity, Spiritual Journaling continues the work of a master teach of contemplative living who finds God’s energies everywhere in all the events of life.”

Phillips is a long time chaplain at a leading hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, a former religious editor, and a blogger. His blog, Monasticskete (http://danphillips.blogspot.com) is read by numerous people each day as is a result of many of his journal experiences. He also leads retreats on Developing Your Spiritual Life, using journaling as a key element. Spiritual Journaling-God’s Whispers in Daily Living, can be ordered from Amazon or Kindle at http://amzn.to/qQz6Ng

Catching the Sheep

Thomas Merton wakes me up sometimes. I often begin with A Year With Thomas Merton. Today he is in the sheep business, dealing with verses that Jesus said, like "My sheep hear my voice." As he describes himself while writing this he confirms he is restless, stubborn, surrounded by events and living a complicated life.

Guess that sums us up to. Complicated. Ears itching from the latest rumors. Animals need to be fed. We have a headache. The dog jumps on the bed at 4 a.m. and wakens me, so I get up and study of all things, "The Art of Worldly Wisdom."

So Merton pretty well describes us, but it leads him in a different direction than us. It develops into prayer. His, I call it, The Shepherd Prayer, stirs something in me. He hits home, a home run. Complications become moments when we turn ourselves over to the master.

THE SHEPHERDS PRAYER BY THOMAS MERTON

"Good Shepherd, You have a wild and crazy sheep in love with thorns and brambles. But please don't get tired of looking for me! I know you won't. For you have found me. All I have to do is stay found."

Question: Has the shepherd found you?
http://amzn.to/qQz6Ng

Thoughts on a Rainy Day

Thoughts Today:

I am certainly excited that Professor Newt called this morning asking for my vote. Just to think that he took time from his many visits in Iowa to call me. How is that for personal attention!

And then there are the dishes! Since many guests have been here in the last week, I have been in charge of emptying the dishwasher. However, there are to many dishes and not enough places to put them. I believe this is a conspiracy. When anyone dies, there is always a rush to give a way dishes. Here is her complete Twiddly Winks set of dishes. I know you will love them. Right?

Dishes have complicated the world. There are too many to handle. Was it Thoreau who said, "Beware of any enterprise that causes you to buy a new suit." The same compulsion is with dishes. You need special dishes for: Halloween, Good Friday, Christmas, dishes for the Kentucky Derby, a special dish for your birthday, Columbus Day dishes, and of course Mother-in-law Day Dishes.  What a scam. Why won't four dishes, a cup, a saucer, and a few forks,etc. do? Did I miss something? Let me know. Maybe I could start the dish sell network.

More Seriously:

I have updated my blog, added a different picture, and changed the introduction. Try it Dan's Blog

My high school friend, Jim  Pemberton, got his ham license today: KK4FUW. I look forward to talking with him.

Quotes:

The love of solitude is the beginning of the love of God.

A monk is a man of prayer.

Do I hear the voice of Christ singing in the Psalms?

It is easier for parents to have children than for children to have parents.

I remember the music
I meditate in my heart
My spirit ponders (dreams)
      Psalm 77:6)

Have a nice day/

Bro. Dan

Midnight Dreams-AN ADVIL MOMENT

Sometimes I have difficulty sleeping. It is my knee. It aches badly. It is arthritis, a gimpy disease disturbed mostly by a cold front entering my life.

I get up at 2 a.m., make half of a mayonnaise sandwich, drink some buttermilk, then take an Advil PM. It causes me to dream strange things, like last night, I was in Washington D.C. attending an old downown church. It was a flimsy story of how things had changed. The once famous church was now attended by just a few people, the walls were bare and unpainted, the mutterings from the pulpit were mostly un-understandable, the parisoners were old old and mean. (One said to me, "don't have your Bible open when the preacher is speaking."). And of course the finance committee was looking for extra money to pay the preacher, or maybe hire a choir director.

Nightly, I listen to Milt Rosenberg on WGN Radio in Chicago. Two nights ago someone told him that the best book he had read all year was TRAIN DREAMS by Denis Johnson. Since I come from a long line of railroaders, I kindlelized the book and read it yesterday. It was a great book, but a reminder, like the midnight dream, that times change, and often slowly. The problem is that we do not often recognize it.

So the dream is in Washington D.C., a city once of great dreams, the capital. Now it is broken. Money disappearing. "Old type ladies" running the show in eccentric fashion. I need a remedy for my knee, instead I get a dream that tells me my story. Searching for the past in a rundown church. Going to a city where reality not only depresses, but causes us to be dumbfounded by the fact I really lost my flashlight and the batteries are dead and I can't find my way.

This is not suppose to make sense. Little makes sense today. We are hunting the illusive god particle, finding planets millions of miles away that should have life and we don't even have a spaceship big enough to cast a man into orbit. Our progress has become a nightmare. We aren't who we think we are. Our drones are uncontrollable, and Santa Claus does not have enough gas for his reindeer. Something to think about. Dream Time. AN ADVIL MOMENT.