lips moving when brain thinks

Don't you dare cross my line in the sand.
CROSS
Well, you'd better not cross this one.
CROSS
Now see what you've done: now you've really got me mad.

We say "cri-MEE'-a" with a "long-I" and the accent on the second syllable, but last night on television I heard a native there say "CRI'-me-a" with a "short-I" and the accent on the first syllable. OK, we also pronounce "Tanzania" as "tan-za-NEE'-a" while the natives there say "tan-ZAYN'-ee-a," which proves that we aren't always right -- to quote Gomer or Goober, "surprise, surprise, surprise."

Speaking of right, it would be right if the president learned to express diplomatic cautions in less bellicose, in-your-face schoolboy bluster language. To threaten "there will be costs" if Russia intervenes in Ukraine knowing gardenia well that it is inevitable that Russia will intervene because Russia sees events in Ukraine as threatening to Russia's VNI and to Russian people there, was here-we-go-again as in "there will be costs if Syria uses chemical weapons" and being caught again on the wrong side of a don't-you-dare-or-else. Like Calvin of "Calvin and Hobbes" -- after saying something unwise to Moe and lying smacked down on the ground, Calvin says "my problem is that my lips move when my brain thinks."

In adult Sunday school this morning we are going to look at the wonderful lectionary readings for today, the Last Sunday of the Epiphany Season. For the First Sunday and the Last Sunday of Epiphany, the church observes "grand epiphanies" which are actually "theophanies" -- God's own self present and speaking about Jesus, "this is my beloved Son." Then a busy week ahead: Monday morning a repairman coming here, Tuesday evening pancakes as we shrive ourselves of sinful fat and sweets, Wednesday ashes morning, noon and night.

And along with ashes, our usual Wednesday 11:30 Noon Eucharist with Lunch and Bible Study. And whoever gets the coin in his bite of king cake gets to preach hellfire and brimstone Wednesday evening.

TW+