Good Morning All & Happy Thursday!
Happy Birthday to Dana, childhood friend, fellow high school band member (Dana played the french horn, if memory serves me correctly!) & fellow class member of “The Amazing Class of ’73” of Olympia High School. He turns the magical 65 today…welcome to Medicare Dana! You’ve arrived my friend! Also, Happy Birthday wishes go to a favorite actor of mine, Andrew (Andy) Garfield of “Hacksaw Ridge” & “Spiderman” movie fame, who is 37 today; to T.V. weatherman Al Roker, who is 66 today; to political figure Ron Paul, who turns 85 today; to another favorite actor of mine, Amy Adams of “The Fighter” movie fame, who is 46 today and to singer/songwriter Robert Plant of “Led Zeppelin” & “Stairway To Heaven” fame, who turns 72 today. Here’s to all of you!
I was sad to learn that family friend Slade Gorton passed away yesterday at the age of 92. He had a distinguished career in public service, having served as our state’s Attorney General and then U.S. Senator for three terms. He was a champion for consumer protection and, as our state’s Attorney General, was instrumental in ensuring that Seattle had a professional baseball team after the Seattle Pilots was moved to Milwaukee…resulting in the creation of the Seattle Mariners (now if they can just come up with a winning team and make the World Series someday…hope springs eternal!). While his stand on Indian fishing rights was controversial, he did conduct himself with honor and integrity throughout his career. Later in life, he served on the 9/11 Commission and also on a commission that sought ways to achieve Campaign/Election Reform in an effort to try and remove the undue influence of money in political campaigns. I had the pleasure of knowing Slade as a young person growing up in Olympia. He was a man of faith (he served on the Board of Directors of “Discovery Institute,” an organization dedicated to promoting the “Intelligent Design” theory in how the Earth was created and acknowledging the existence of a Creator, an “intelligent designer.”). There’s a funny story related to Slade Gorton & me that I like to share from time to time:
I usually served as an altar boy at the early communion service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Olympia while Slade Gorton was the Attorney General and he was known to attend the early service each Sunday. One particular Sunday morning came a bit too early for me and I showed up at church in a generally “sleepy” condition. Well, as I was taking the communion wafers up to the altar to be consecrated by Father Perry, I tripped on one of the steps leading up to the altar and the whole plate of wafers proceeded to flip up into the air and all of the wafers started to fall like confetti on to the altar…it looked like something out of a New Year’s Eve celebration! Needless to say, I was mortified and Father Perry informed me that we had to get down on our hands and knees and collect up all of the wafers and go find a new supply of wafers quick as can be. Well, as you can imagine, the audience in the pews, including Slade Gorton, found this all quite amusing. In fact, I could hear Slade’s laughter, as he usually sat in one of the pews closest to the altar. I couldn’t get out of church fast enough that day! Everytime I would see Slade subsequent to that fiasco, he would smile and laugh and recount the story of the great “communion wafer caper.” Here’s to Slade Gorton for his many years of service to our state and our country. Our world is certainly a better place because of his life.
Speaking of Slade Gorton’s involvement in the “Discovery Institute” and our current coronavirus challenges, have you ever wondered about whether God exists? I’ve been reading a book by John Piper entitled “Desiring God” and in it, Piper devotes part of the Appendix to discussing the question “Does God Exist?” Here’s an excerpt:
“Suppose I try to go back a million billion years to imagine the nature of original reality. What was it like? What I see is the stunning fact that there is a fifty-fifty possibility that original reality was a Person rather than a gas. Just think of it. Since whatever originally was has always existed, there are absolutely no causes which could have disposed that original reality to be a gas rather than a person. Every reasonable person must admit that it is a toss-up. Maybe some undefined stuff existed from eternity—or maybe it was a Person!
Admitting the reasonable possibility that ultimate reality could be personal has a way of freeing you to consider subsequent evidence more openly. My own inescapable inference from the order of the universe and the existence of human personhood and the universal sense of conscience (moral self-judgment) and the universal judicial sentiment (judgment of others who dishonor us)—my inference from all this is that Ultimate Reality is not impersonal, but is indeed a Person. I simply find it impossible to believe that the human drama of the centuries, with its quest for meaning and beauty and truth, has no deeper root than molecular mutations.
So when I consider where enduring happiness is to be found, I am driven to search for it in relation to God—the personal Creator of all things. Nothing seems more reasonable to me than that lasting happiness will never be found by a person who say they believe in God but live as though happiness were to be found by giving him 2 percent of their attention. Surely the end of the ages will reveal this to be absurd…”
What do you think?
I came across a collectible card from the late 1950s that features a “Rotor Craft RH-1,” a one-man rocket powered helicopter. It was designed in 1954 to provide military personnel with a simple go-anywhere vehicle. It was basically a strap-on device…sort of like “rocket man!” It relied upon liquid propellants to power a tipjet at the end of each rotor blade…it was scary looking to say the least! My collectible card says that “Being very light in weight and able to fly at sixty miles per hour, it allows the pilot to set down in an area so small it could be called “foot room” and is not limited by rough terrain.” The 1950s saw a rash of “personal military helicopter” designs which were seen as giving mobility to the soldier in the field. Several companies were given development contracts by the U.S. Army, including the “Rotor-Craft Corporation.” The Rotor Craft project was eventually abandoned as being too complex for Army operations. Here’s to the “Rotor Craft” and the pilots who flew like “rocket men.!”
Here is the definition for the day:
“Mirth” (Mer-TH): A pre-12th century Old English word meaning “Amusement, especially as expressed in laughter.” Like what Slade Gorton and all of those early morning church goers thought of my “communion wafer caper.” Here’s a sentence that would sum up that pretty nicely: “The communion wafers falling like confetti on the altar inspired chuckles of mirth from early morning church goers.”
Here’s the trivia question for day:
Q: Which 1950s hit song features the line “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom”? “Great Balls Of Fire;” “Rock Around The Clock;” “Tutti Frutti;” or “Jailhouse Rock”?
A: “Tutti Frutti” is a song written and first recorded by Little Richard in 1955. It would become Little Richard’s first major hit record. It became a model for rock and roll itself. The song introduced several of rock music’s most characteristic musical features, including its loud volume and powerful vocal style. In 2012, “Rolling Stone” magazine declared the refrain “the most inspired rock lyric every recorded.” Here’s to Little Richard and “Tutti Fruitt.” Good Golly, Miss Molly!
Here are some thoughts for the day:
Today marks the birthday of one of my favorite singers/songwriters, Isaac Hayes of “SHAFT” fame…he was one “cool cat!” He lived from 1942 to 2008. Today’s thoughts for the day come from him:
“Guys in slavery sang praises to the Lord to deliver them from bondage.”
“I first heard African drum rhythms and chants at the movies. Then, when I had the opportunity to go to Africa and visit the villages, I heard the real, raw, true rhythms and realized the origins of the old Negro spirituals I grew up with in the South.”
“I think the kids today need to hear more about morals and values.”
—Isaac Hayes, American musician & “soul music” icon (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008)
Here’s to a great Thursday and lots of love & good wishes always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)