My son John who lives with his family in Tulsa spent most of last month in Baltimore MA, which is homebase for the Social Security Administration that he's been with for the past several years. So he told me what an interesting place it is. SSA's headquarters is big as a college campus, he said. It's historic for a first meeting of the Continental Congress. And two of the citie's famous native sons are buried there, Edger Allan Poe and Francis Scott Key. I had known that it's named for Lord Baltimore who established Maryland as a Roman Catholic colony in the New World (thus he named it for the Virgin Mary). And when I think of Poe, I'm always ready for Halloween. My late father, for whom John is named, was a fan of that spooky poet and could recite so much of his verse that I picked up several myself, including "The Raven" and "Annabell Lee." Both carry a note of deep sadness. And I've heard Poe used opium too. But like all Americans, I proudly remember Key for our national anthem. What dynamic and heroic poetry! Key took an old British drinking tune, "Anacreon in Heaven," and transformed it for his magnificent poem to be sung as "The Star Spangled Banner." It's anything but sad or spooky and it always brings us to our feet, just like the dawn it first mentions for that gallent generation of patriots at Ft.McHenry being shelled by the Brits in 1812 or shortly after.
I talked to one of "the greatest generation" last night who used to attend PV Rotary, but now lives in Norman's assisted living center. He recognized me for calling him "Colonel," as I always did after we lost Col, Bosa from the club. Told him how the new center in PV right back of the hospital is shaping up so fast. Cal Barton said he misses PV and I told him how he was missed. He and Joe Colley were a regular show at Rotary as they often hasselled each other. He's sharp and alert, so I had to call late to get him since they have lots to do in those facilities. His number's 321-8972. His generation (and mine) wasn't from the gasping thirties or the fabulous fifties, but THE VALIENT FORTIES. Mentioned seeing Ralph Vandiver at Dr.Varner's office. Cal remembered how we three had our special table at Rotary. Now I'm the same as them, another "honorary member." Also saw Alva Retta Ward there at Varner's, who once lived at my grandmother Hightower's "Room & Board" house, 403 N. Walnut. Talking to her made me feel like her's was "the yet greater generation" (during the terrible depression). I lived with grandmother Hightower then and played in that front yard catacorner to First Presbyterian. Even though I went to the Methodist, it always seemed to be just how a church should look. I didn't know it then, but all those steps where I loved to play were a pattern of the one Jacob saw in his dream with angels coming and going; fifteen steps up plus one rise above that. Alva was on a walker but she wasn't asking anyone to help her; typical of that "greatest yet generation" and so much like my grandmother, who was a high tower.
Jeff's report on digital driver's licenses for OK caused me to consider the transition away from analogical. It's like switching from right to left brain. Back in the seventies we discovered that the right side of the brain has our non-linear, hang loose, artistic, poetic consciousness; while the left is linear, sequential, logic, mathematical, linguistic, specific, scientific awareness. I sort of see it as prose vs poetry in literature, or meter vs melody in music. So you can guess which side I prefer. But power and control is digital/left brain. So it continues to take over more and more. "That two and two are always four, and never five or three, the heart of man has long been sore and long is like to be" said some English poet in the past. Ever since Max Planck, the German physicist, formulated quanta physics in 1900, all of philosophy and thought have leaned in that digital drection. A quantum is the basic measurement in the entire physical universe, which is digital rather than analogical. A quantum can't be divided, so there's something or nothing. Thus we can't study things beyond this physical creation (which discards metaphysics as mere speculation), because science is digital, I see the analogical as especially valid for knowing the "superverse" or highest heaven, which is named in the seventh word of Scripture as "heavens." (Heb. shamayim) It's stated plural because myriads of eternal angels were created along with that realm which lies beyond the rim of our visible universe, were he Hubble space telescope is now trying to peer, but cannot approach because the rim receeds almost as fast as light travels in return. And into what does it expand since no more space exists? Jesus used parables, or analogies, to tell about the superverse (Father's house that is so huge as to be infinite). When my daughter was small she once asked me if there were really angels. I said yes, they exist. So she asked "Then why can't we ever see them?" and I said that they were more like thoughts. She concluded "So they're not real." As my semnary professor Earl Marlatt used to describe life's journey in Christ: "We grow out of the thing world of the senses, through the thought world of the mind, on into the power world of the Spirit." It takes a lifetime, you see.
What a crowd of school busses and youth athletes we had Thursday on the east side of WW for the annual Cross Country Races. They packed the Snak Shak and David's Food Center too. And the weather was perfect. Great event! It helped off set the bad news about all those tires being slashed. School's back in full swing now, though folks are concerned about Chris Padrick's serious injuries last Saturday afternoon in his wreck north west of town. Buckle up, young folks; and not only with your seat belts but with allegiance to the Lord Jesus, who loved you so much He died to save you from eternal destruction. I like the name of that Cross Country and pray we can live on this earth as a Cross country in 2003. We don't put other religions down, but lift Jesus higher. All the other prophets, gurus, maharajis, psychics etc. fade into oblivion in comparison to Him. Prepare for His glorious return as in Eccleastes 12: "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth."
Ronnie Patton of First Presb told me that this Sunday begins combined worship at their church with First Christian's congregation. Negotiations on a merger will continue until Jan.1, 2004, at which time it will be determined if both agree, in which case the latter's building would no longer be used. ANGELFIRE is wishing them success. Presbyterians could take Communion weekly and Disciples could learn that "descended into hell" is part of the original Apostles Creed. Also that the Bible says "forgive us our debts" rather than "trespasses." Not big deals at all.
FEB'03ANGELFIRE COLUMNS FOR JULY '03 MAR'& APR 03
7-16-03
Today (Wedesday) is the sixteenth of July. "Uranium on the Cranium" was the headline for Fox News about all the noise being made over what president Bush said last Jan. in his State of the Union address. It was about Saddam Hussein's effort to purchase that nuclear bomb material from Niger (not the N word), an African nation. So the Democrats are claiming he lied to the American public and polls are showing that they may have challenged his credibility. Of course that was just one part of the case he made or going to war with Iraq. Yet it touched on the issue of WMDs, which made most citizens ready to take the plunge. Now that things have become so difficult in Iraq, the president's critics are really jumping on him, though this writer continues praying for our leader as well as the troops now deployed. The so called "lie" is those sixteen words of his speech. Now Tony Blair's coming over to lend backing to Bush, just as the head of our intelligence service has done already.
Another 16 that's been before us is the 16 days of that Columbia shuttle mission which disintegrated over Texas on Feb. 16. The final report from an exhaustive investigation is at hand, and it may mean that manned flight in space is just way too expensive. Columbia never even went to the InternationaL Space Station. But it's seven astronauts just finished their experiments and headed home, not knowing that their fate had already been determined by that large piece of insulation falling back on the wing right at lift-off on Fe. 1 in FL. (Though 90% of their experiments were saved) So they were only moments away from seeing their families again when things all came apart. Now it will be required that future crews be able to do outside repairs while in flight. It may just be time to shift over to robots for long ventures out there. . Remember how the USSR made that shift early in our space race with them. Of course it cost them the race and then the USSR collapsed as the evil empire.
When I think of 16, I recall my graduation in '44. My ambition then was to get into the navy, but I'd have to be 17 for that. So I went out to CA (second time) and lived with C.L. and Eleanor Hightower, my aunt and uncle in Oakalnd, while working at the shipyard there in Richmond as an electrian helper. WW II was at it's peak and we had to drive with our lights on dim after dark for fear of an air attack. Oh yes, that was also the year I got my driver's license, though gasoline was rationed. So sixteen seems a pivotal number to me. And getting past this bunch of baloney about the president's 16 words will be a pivot for America' as I see it. I just hope the British prime minister will have decisive information for us to dispel all the doubts being raised. Decisions always have to be made on less that absolute data, and Bush showed that he can make up his mind in time to act effectively. That's a quality I respect. I only regret our putting up that $25 million reward for Saddam because it indicates that he's alive (which I doubt). Since the same offer hasn't caught ObL, what sense was there in a repeat? Just says to the terrorists and others that we think enough cash can solve any problem. That's folly.
So here's a Bible verse written by the wisest man ever, Solomon: Proverbs 16:16 "How much better to get wisdom than gold! And to get
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A month ago there were a zillion of those pre-built homes out west on highway 19 just beyond I-35 for that auction, but when I was out there Wednesday they were all gone. Then over on the east side I'm told that a new Mexican resturant has opened near PV High School. And down south (on past SORC) the new Liberty Baptist church is becoming visible with the old structure nearly torn down. Pastor Marion Oden's on my route, so I see the progress there each day. Here at The Daily Democrat, center of it all, we have a former carrier now working up front, Christie Parks. And the guy who came from Guymon, chief editor/manager Jeff Shultz has made his office in the newsroom instead of up front. Did you notice that "Flood Control" story the very day before rain came on Wednesday; power of the press I suppose. But let's also thank the Lord for it, and ask if He'll send more. Also thank Him that PV hasn't had to face lay-offs like the Wrangler jeans employees of Ada and Seminole, nearly a thousand all together. No wonder they're angry about NAFTA (North American Fair Trade Agreement), since eleven dollar an hour jobs are going down to Mexico where wages are under just five dollars A DAY!.
My Wednesday column didn't arrive in time to get printed, but you can read it on my web page at
I got a card this past week following my surgery which ended "thinking of you three." Now long time readers will know that means me, my wife Niece and our beloved dog Critter. She's the same little animal we've had for a dozen years and doesn't seem to be aging at all. We took her for a ride up to the new house in PV last night. It was her first time in the car with us for nearly a year. And how she enjoyed it! Still likes to put her head out the window and feel the wind blow on her face. She still gets excited about going riding and runs circles in our back yard.
Some things do seem to go right: Jerry Springer has backed awayfrom running for Senator nationally and Arnold Schwarznegger has come forward as a condidate for governor of CA. That could swing the whole state back from it's 38 million dollars of debt. If elected, he might get some other Hollywood celebrities to join him in paying it off. Maybe something good could finally come from that fabulous factory of deception, delusion, defilement and degradation.
"Bridge Concerns Merit Atention, Action" says our state transportation director, Gary Ridley. Webbers Falls where 14 died in that I-40 collapse last year, could "pale in comparson" he said. Finally it seems that the work on # 77's Washita bridge where you turn east toward WW is finished There were flagmen out there for several weeks it seemed. And i felt sympathy for them standing on duty so many hours each day during such heat as we sat in aircondiioned vehicles.. It was also a bother to wait your turn to cross the river, especially when you go back and forth as often as Niece and I do. Washita is such a clean sounding name, like "wash it all." But if you accent the second syllable instead, of the first, the name gets sort of nasty and smelly. So always say it right (even when angry) because it refers to a valley much larger than just PV, which reaches clear down past WW. Our new WW Baptist church is really getting extra help from outsiders, volunteer workers called "Baptist Builders." Their mobile homes are all parked at the old church location as they do carpentry, wring, plumbing etc. on the hugh new building out east of town. When I saw all the steel frame work of that structure first put in place, I knew where to go for any future nuclear attack. But with the Cold War long over, who ever thinks like that anymore? I was once the civil defense director of Adair county when I pastured Stillwell Methodist in the early '60s. Our push back then was for building private fall out shelters. I remember how the issue of being ready to shoot anyone that tried to crowd into the one you had prepared for your own family. Seemed grizzle then, and so even now in recollection. Yet I'd be afraid to even consider crashing my way into that new First Baptist facility, ha. Did you know WW has a second park? The first street as you come in from the bridge loops off left and around where several old houses burned up. Some wag has posted a joke sign there saying "WW's Recreational Park." Which must mean it's a place for midnight parking and similar activity.
In contrast, PV now has a real no joke candidate for the state legislature. Isn't it fine that Patrick Grimmett has announced for the seat being vacated by Lindsay's Bill Mitchell who has served his limit. A congressman from the seat of Garvin county seems appropriate at this time. Also appropriate, though not intentional, is th two week delay in PV's start of school. Just think how much that will sae on the electric bill for air conditioning, considering how hot this August continues to be. If you watch channel 2 at 8pm Tuesdays, you know the singing group keeps growing, Looks like a whole congregation now. Also the sheriff's hour is just before it. And our sympathy to sheriff Bill Roady in the death of his father, whose funeral was at Katie on Thursday. Since it's my very favorite subject, I'd like to hear the song he wrote called "Homesick for Heaven" that was to be sung at his funeral.
Well it was in Minneapolis that the Episcopal church shocked Bible believers last week with their endorsement of a gay bishop who had been elected in New Hampshire. I've visited Minneapolis a couple of times; once to go fishing with a navy pal who lived up there after WW II. And again in '79 for study at Augsburg University, when I saw B.J.Hagen again, my old shipmate in the '40s. I was impressed then how Lutheran churches were all over that city, like Southern Baptists are down here. So the threat sounded plausible to me that dissenting Episcopalians would walk out and go join the nearest Lutheran church, though the latter is of German origin rather than English. If any did, I missed hearing of it. But Anglicans (Church of England) world wide are now being called to a convocation in Canterbury Cathedral for mid-October to deal with this crisis by their arch-bishop Rowan Williams, a gay sympathizer. We've heard so much about Roman Catholic crisis gatherings (that have done so little about clergy pedapyles) that this meeting to represent all 77 million Anglicans doesn't seem likely to change anything either. I've been taught that the bridge between Catholics and Protestants was the Anglican communion. Yet this could make the bridge collapse. So maybe the Lutherans (the first Protestants in 1517) are a safer bridge now. From my own denomination's history, I know it was something written by Martin Luther himself that reached the soul of John Wesley that May 24, 1738. He heard it being read in an evening prayer meeting at Aldersgate, east London. He wrote that his "heart was strangely warmed," and that he did trust Christ alone for his salvation ("the just shall live by faith"). Methodists are celebrating Wesley's birth at Epwoth England three centuries ago this year. And I'd say that his new birth happened at Aldersgate, a place I have visited along with, Epworth, plus St.Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and numerous other sacred shrines in Britain. Wesley had been deeply moved by a service at St.Paul's during that same day. It's an Anglican structure built by Christopher Wren to compare with St.Peter's in Rome. Raising money to fund the latter caused Luther's protest over the sale of indulgences. Thus, just as Canterbury rivals Rome's Vatican square, I've heard some even speak of the English Catholic Church of a much smaller scale than the R.Catholic. And it's head is their arch-bishop instead of the pope. Henry VIII was once so loyal a Catholic that the pope titled him "defender of the faith." But when he wanted a divorce and the Vatican refused, he made Anglicanism the state religion instead of Catholicism. The Protestants in Germany had shown him that he could get away with it, though the Anglicans don't claim to be Protestant. That's a summary of what I've learned in church history. GOD must have been with Henry VIII because after 8 wives to have an heir, he was given Elizabeth for his successor to the throne. And what a queen she was! Even the Puritan revolt could not destroy the foundation lain under her rule. And by the time of George III, our George Washington was still an Anglican (until the Revolution caused Americans to call it Episcopal instead). And John Wesley in England died an Anglican even though blessing The Methodist Episcopal Church begun in America 1884 through Thomas Coke whom he sent over as his deputy.