20230215 &c

What am I doing and Why am I blogging so late, early afternoon instead of early morning?

Well, I guess everyone thinks we climb into the pulpit and the words just come; in fact, at an Easter Sunrise service years ago, a large crowd of townsfolk and us dozen or so members of the local ministerial association were at the end of a pier jutting out into Apalachicola Bay. One of us, a pentecostal holiness preacher, had volunteered to preach the Easter Sermon. (I've remembered this story here at least once in years past). Someone read the Easter Gospel and then turned it over to the Designated Preacher. He started off boldly but quickly went totally silent, embarrassed, and us anxious with him, for him.

After some sixty or seventy seconds of wordlessness, he said, "Ya'll pray for me, cause the Holy Spirit has left me."

I don't remember whether our prayers were efficacious, but I think he struggled through a brief Easter proclamation and we went on to sing "He arose, He arose, hallelujah, Christ arose" and traipsed back home to our own services at our respective parish churches.

So, no. We don't step up there faithful that the Holy Spirit will come through. There's a lot of preparation that goes in to a sermon. I have several on our preaching schedule for the first half of 2023, about "one in four" - - my next turn coming in early March during Lent, and a couple during Holy Week.

These days this age, I like to get a head start, so instead of blogging this morning I was sermonizing. Even so, it's all in faith "the Lord willin' and the Creek don't rise." That ain't Bear Creek or Econfina, it's that the Creek Indians are restless and we can hear the war drums. "The Lord willin'" becomes more and more ominous as the years go by.

So, what? Turned my tax stuff over to The Man yesterday and, long as we were at PCB, swung by Fresh Market for a couple of grocery items, and Dat Cajun Place for noon dinner to sample the gumbo and raw oysters on the half shell. This morning to the Battery Source because Kristen will be driving the Volvo next week while her car is in the body shop, and the dashboard light was warning "low battery" and "replace key fob batteries" then by Publix to check for Hellmann's Mayo on twofer: it was not, but Duke's Mayo was twofer, so we bought two. Seems a little more lemony than Hellmann's, doesn't it.

Also the Taliban ice cream on twofer, so we bought a couple; tried the raspberry chocolate for dessert after noon dinner of salmon sushi and elk burgers. Water for Linda, iced barley tea for me. I meant to pop a cold one to sip with the sushi, but forgot. No matter. It's all good.

No, I know it's not Taliban, but it starts with a T and I can't remember its real brand name. Tallifero or something. IDK.

Coming to read, books by Germans who were there and survived, about the Allied saturation bombings of Dresden and Hamburg during WW2. One author, a child at the Time, chronicles his memories leaving Hamburg, his home town. I do not read German without looking up every word, so had to find English translations. The eyewitness account I most wanted is only available in German so I had to skip it.

Reading what else? short story by Salman Rushdie and two more articles about him and his new book just released. An article about imposter syndrome. Slowly continuing "Goodbye To All That" by Robert Graves working his way through his German family ties and WW1 though I don't find him as gripping as Ernst Jünger. There's plenty to read around here.

Year 2023 in the Common Era, day 46 and counting.

RSF&PTL