Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a

Good Morning All!

Happy Birthday to our friend Honor, “the pride of Winterset, Iowa”, who celebrates her birthday today!  Here’s to you, Honor!  The world’s a much better place because you’re in it!  Have fun on your special day of celebration!  And here’s to actor Tom Selleck of TV’s “Magnum P.I.” and “Blue Bloods” fame, who is 75 today; to singer Louie Perez of “Los Lobos” fame, who turns 67 today; and to diving champion Greg Louganis, in my estimation the greatest diver of all-time (Johnny Weismuller of “Tarzan” fame is pretty good too!), who is 60 today.  Happy Birthday to all of you!

There’s been much said and written of late about the plight of the homeless.  It seems as though it’s a major problem all across our land, most especially in urban areas like Spokane.  One organization that is doing such great work in addressing this challenge here is Union Gospel Mission (UGM).  I’m keen on what they are doing in our community.  There are two young ladies that have graduated from their recovery program and have become members of our church fellowship and I marvel at what committing their lives to Jesus has meant to them and to their families.  It has literally changed everything for them in such a great way!  We’ve been able to provide affordable, decent housing for them and their families and they have turned the corner in providing for themselves and their families.  Without UGM and the support of our church fellowship, they might have faced homelessness and all the bad things that come with it.  Phil Altmeyer, UGM’s Executive Director wrote a piece on homelessness recently and I thought it was worthy of sharing with you…it’s entitled “Meaningful Investment” and starts off with a quote from John Piper, a favorite author of mine:

“I think we’re all made to find our significance by being attached to the ultimate.  All human beings are created to attach their tiny, little lives to something absolutely majestic and glorious so that their life takes on a sense of wonder and eternal significance.  It takes on significance not because of who or what we are in ourselves, but because of how we’re attached to and participate in the life and purposes of the Creator of the universe.”

Phil goes on to write…”I’m guessing that you, like me, have had those moments when you’ve felt incredibly insignificant compared to the enormity of creation—staring up into the sky, standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, or walking along the Oregon Coast.  You and I are just two of 7.7 billion people in the world.  The Bible says we are but dust, that our days are like a breath, a passing shadow.

The amazing think is that, as small and as brief as our lives are, we matter to the King of the Universe.  We have direct access to Him.  He listens to us when we speak, and He invites us to join Him in His work.  “For we are God’s fellow workers (1st Corinthians 3:9).

We know His plan includes caring for the poor, and He has invited us to be a part of that work—to bind up the brokenhearted, to comfort those who mourn, to defend the weak and share our food with the hungry.  He is the one who changes hearts, but He uses us in the process, and we get to witness Him at work.

In my almost 65 years of life, I’m convinced more and more that it is a relationship with our Creator through belief in what Jesus has done that truly changes people’s lives and provides true restoration and renewal for our souls.  It’s give ultimate purpose for our lives in this world.  I hope that more and more of our government leaders will look to faith-based efforts to effect real change in the condition of homelessness, mental health and substance abuse, so that all of the people will have a safe & decent place to call home and achieve a life of purpose.  What do you think?

 

I think I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy reading “Rural Montana”, a magazine published by the Montana Electric Coopertives’ Association.  It’s first-rate in my book and has great color photos and fascinating articles about people in their service area making a difference in their communities.  The January, 2020 issue features an article entitled “Co-op member invents a better fence fastener.”  It’s a story about Curt Almy and his daughter Toby-Jeanne Almy and their invention of the “Cat’s Claw fence fastener.”  The Almys own a ranch Tongue River area of southeastern Montana and often times found that they whacked their fingers while driving a fencing staple into a post.  “Pain—and suffering,” as they said, led Curt to invent a better post/fence fastener.  After wrestling with a post that was leaning away from fence wire and trying to get the staple over the fence and into the post…as Curt said, “It was just a circus, it looked like an octopus trying to put this gosh-darn staple in.”

“After wrestling that post, Almy had an idea for a better fastener.  He grabbed a couple screws and a feeder washer, and went to work.  “I solve a lot of problems with screws and feeder washers,” Almy said.  He started with two screws, but realized that was cost-prohibitive if he was to make a marketable product.  He then bent the washer and carved some teeth into it, and used one screw to secure the washer.  However, when he pounded the washer into the post it went flat.  “It was too weak,” Almy said.  “But the concept was there.”

He then went to a friend with a plasma arc cutter and, after some tinkering the “Cat’s Claw” was born.  The teeth on a Cat’s Claw allow it to dig into the wood and hold a fence wire tight.  The final design features a bent bracket with teeth, and a single screw hole in the middle.  The wire runs under the bracket.  A cordless drill is used to drive the screw into the post, clamping the toothed-bracket over the fence wire and into the post.  How about that?

Almy said it takes about 151 pounds of force to pull a fencing staple out of a cedar post.  It takes approximately 644 pounds of force to pull the Cat’s Clow out.  The Almys are now mass-marketing their invention and it is quite popular with ranchers across the country.  What a great thing came out of one family’s idea!  The Almys have a web site at www.catsclawfasteners.com if you’re interested in finding out more about their nifty invention.  Here’s to the Almys and all the wonderful inventors out there!

 

Here’s the trivia question for the day:

Q:  A sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet is called a 1) Oxymoron; 2) Pangram; 3) Simile; or 4) Palindrome?

A:  2) Pangram—A pangram is a sentence using every letter of the alphabet at least once.  Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and keyboarding.  The best-known English pangram is “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”  It has been utilized by Western Union to test data communication equipment for accuracy and reliability, and is now used by a number of computer programs (most notably the font viewer built into Microsoft Windows) to display computer fonts.  And now you know!!!

 

Here’s the word definition for the day:

Gelastic:  “Laughter provoking” or “Relating to a specific kind of epileptic seizure.”  I don’t know about you, but doesn’t it strike you as weird that the same word could be used to describe/define two totally different things?  Just goes to show that English can be a weird language!

 

Here are some thoughts for the day:

“If I could do anything over, I’d have spent more time with my first set of children.  I would have taken more quality time with them, for sure.”

—Lee Trevino, PGA golfing great

 

“Come behold the wondrous myst’ry, Christ the Lord upon the tree.

In the stead of ruined sinners hangs the Lamb in victory.

See the price of our redemption, see the Father’s plan unfold.

Bringing many sons to glory; Grace unmeasured, love untold.”

—Matt Boswell, Matt Papa & Michael Blecker, “Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery” (2012)

 

Here’s to a great Wednesday and lots of love & good wishes always!

Press on,

Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)