“The End Is Near!”

Two weeks from next Tuesday at the latest if

David L Lewis has anything to say about it

Some 20 years back I taught a Basic Introduction to the Bible’s text as it has come down to us in English. This was a basic outline course of background, original readership’s viewpoints, and outline of what author may have been attempting to get across. Then, we got to the Revelation to Apostle John. I knew my class expected any explanation would conform with whatever interpretation was popular that week. What I gave the class was a disappointment to them, and perhaps as equally a disappointment here.

Guidelines to Biblical Death and End-Times Interpretation

#1) It’s a take-it-or-leave-it kinda thing. All doctrines, traditions, and beliefs proposed by Christians for over two millennium (agreeing and conflicting) are based on this Bedrock premise: At a given time and in a given place on earth, by means beyond comprehension of humans, Jesus of Nazareth, called the Christ or Messiah, was born to be known as a Jew and live in the land of Palestine, die by crucifixion according to the will of a divine God, be buried in a sealed tomb, raised from the dead and returned to heaven, leaving to His believers the promise of an unseen heaven. The Message of Christ stands or falls on this bedrock, if it is not true, all faith in this thing called Christianity is simply sifting sand on the desert of time….”if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.” (I Corinthians 15:13-15 KJV)

#2) As to the Revelation to Apostle John, the only time any Christian can definitively say any prophecy is fulfilled is when the New Testament says “this is in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesy….” Anything beyond that is an opinion or tradition or both -- to which we are certainly free to hold to degree it does not contradition clear teaching of Scripture.

#3) The Clergy will get it wrong! The Celery has always gotten it wrong.! Hey, it was they who failed to recognize Christ the first time! Clergy spend their entire lives attempting to know it all, then miss one of the most all-reveling text of Scripture which clarifies why they can’t know it all: ‘”For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then shall I know, even as also I am known’.” (I Corinthians 13.26 KJV)

4) Everybody will be surprised by the End -- despite all that extremely eloquent preacher talk: “...as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (I Corinthians 2:9 KJV)

For those of you keeping score at home, come April 20^th there will be a world-wide day of recognition of the place in human history of the Resurrection of the Christ (a day sometimes called Easter Sunday).

TheDaddy!

If You’re Keeping Score

At Home

This was 2024 as played by David L Lewis

These were the Three Goals from my December 31 2023 Blog

and How I Score the Results:

2024 GOAL #1

   Stay out of hospital! This should be easier than it sounds, unless I’m unlucky enough to get one of them diseases touted in TV ads. Turns out in-home Hospice gives you just enough really kool meds and loving care to keep a fellow at home.

RESULT:
   Did it! For first time since 1995 went a full calendar year without going to any hospital for any reason! Yes, there were multiple times when I could have justified such. But, as predicted, Hospice care kept me home, especially that new drug they gave me which cannot here be named. For this we all must thank the two nurses named Jennifer in my life (you know who you are).

2024 GOAL #2
   Reach 3,000 Solitaire matches on my computer! This, of course, is solely because we old folk have to keep our brain alert. It is definitely Not because I am some kind of Obsessive Compulsive Player.

RESULT:
   Came up just a little short. Didn’t realize how many games that meant; and did lose a lot of time with all those problems related to not going to hospitals.

2024 GOAL #3
   Continue writing my inane ramblings; although less often -- I’m running out of anything to say. Only started writing to find out what I think; now it’s more a matter of finding out if I’m still thinking at all. As youngest son Benjamin put it, am I still me?

RESULT:

   Good news is I’m (probably) still me. Bad news is that I realized one fine day I just didn’t have anything more to say worth the effort. For the record I have made a few folks mad with my YouTube comments, so there’s that for my scorecard.

This Is What I’m Proposing For 2025:

#1) Not watch ‘News’ until there is some, if ever. Now-a-days the game goes too quickly, has no obvious rules, and nobody seems to know who the players are or care what the score really is. This is Not how we learned to watch the game called News in olden days.

#2) Watch YouTube while laying in bed playing solitaire. I often wonder what my father would think of me sitting here, attached to nothing, having access to all the world’s knowledge, music, beauty and ugliness; and sometimes even actual News. And, as I tell the nurses, I do good if I don’t do anything! Calmly choosing what to watch helps a lot in keeping out of hospitals. Truth be told there is nothing else I have to do.

So, Babe, how’s my score so far? Am I still me?

theDaddy!

Post-game Analysis: I have long held to a personal theory that people all have a varying predestined capacity for the good – both immediately viable and unknown in one’s lifetime. People, by my theory, play the game called life until they reach that capacity. By this theory I have not expended all that much good in my world, and expect to be playing the game for a while yet – I’ll try to keep score at home.

 

 

Santa, meet Matthew

After a number of re-writes and rejected submissions to various publications, this was posted to the Brazil Times website on December 22, 2008.  I have always suspected no one would publish it because that at first read it seems like a bit of fiction, but it is all true.

Matthew is grown now, with children [and grandchildren] of his own… and I have immeasurable pride in him.  But, once upon a time he was five, and this is a true story for true believers. Maybe such things only come once in a life for anyone.  Usually it only happens with children, anyhow.  It did happen one Christmas which somehow seems just a few years back. Santa came to bring Matthew one lone gift.

It's nice when they believe in Christmas.  The best years are from about three up through Kindergarten -- roughly the time between when they really feel the excitement for the first time and the last time they only ask for one special thing and are delighted if they get it.  After the first grade, though, they become little mercenaries.  They still say they believe, but it's only to get a higher percentage of the items on ever growing lists.

Matthew was five the year of Santa's final true visit.  Matthew took his little sister to see Santa; she was a mere three so she needed his help.  "There's no reason to be scared, Susan.  Santa is here to help.  Just tell him what you want for Christmas and he'll come Christmas night -- if it snows."  The historical record is unclear as to what, if anything, Susan requested.  It's quite possible when it comes time to actually talk to Santa three-year old sisters are not troopers at all.

All Matthew wanted himself was "a machine gun" ...like the one he'd seen ...at a flea market ...one time…six months before.  Santa wasn't sure if such a thing was still available.  The problem when dealing with a five year old is that they really do only want one thing.  Nothing else will do.  When they ask for a thousand toys, no one item is missed.  When they want only one thing, a thousand other toys would disappoint.  Santa would find such a weapon, somewhere (and maybe a few other things, too).  Matthew had, it may fairly be recalled, been a very, very good boy.  And, Matthew was a believer.

From Matthew's point of view there was only one problem:  "Santa can't come if it doesn't snow.  He has to have snow for his sled to ride on or he will stay away."  It was going to be hard to get around that fact.  If a machine gun showed up on Christmas morning but snow didn't, it wouldn't be from Santa.

The weatherman, -- obviously not a believer-- intoned there would be no white Christmas for the St. Louis area that year.  Matthew broke the sad news to Susan:  "If it doesn't snow Santa can't come.  That means we won't be getting any toys.”

Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus went to bed that night assured the hard-to-find "machine gun" would be arriving on schedule, but they were not the least bit sure how Matthew would react (or what he'd believe) if there was no explanation for lack of snow.

Truly one of the great rewards of parenthood is Christmas morning.  You lay there pretending to sleep and listen.  With the very young come squeals, with the older there are stage whispers.  The older, begin most experienced, send the younger to wake mom and dad.  They sneak into the room, afraid to wake you but wanting desperately for you to get up.  No one dares to touch a single thing until mommy and daddy say O.K.  You feign disbelief.  Are you really sure Santa left something for you?  Weren't you a couple of baddies all year?  Maybe it's all for daddy!  Then you get up.  If you're lucky they let you go to the bathroom first, but absolutely no breakfast or morning coffee until the very last package is opened.

This particular morning it was Matthew's voice which aroused the family like a Los Angeles earthquake, "It snowed!"

There it was.  Not enough for to call snow in Indiana.  Not really enough to be worth shoveling -- it'd be gone by noonday.  But, it had indeed snowed at least an inch.

Then there were the tracks across the front lawn.  Matthew himself showed us not only sled tracks in the "drifts", but deer prints!  Here was indisputable proof Santa had come -- just as Matthew had believed he would.  And there, this Christmas, unwrapped and leaning on the Christmas tree, still in its original package, was a toy machine gun.

Big brother Nathan, who was at best a doubter, thought maybe, just maybe, the sled tracks had been made by the paper boy's bicycle -- and the neighbor's Great Dane had paws as big as a reindeer.  These doubts we neglected to communicate to Matthew on that particular occasion.

As the years passed the lists grew longer in direct ratio to diminishing enthusiasm for store front Santas.  There would always be gifts, and Christmas, and family.  As far as anyone at our house can determine, though, Kindergarten was the last time Santa came to a true believer who deserved a real visit from Santa.

There still remains one thing I've never understood.  On the day of Santa's last visit I had to go to work.  As I left the driveway and drove down the block, I turned the corner and noticed a peculiar thing.  Under a cloudless sky, on a relatively warm December day, there was no snow to be found.  Nowhere else in the neighborhood, nor in the city, nor in the state, nor in the two state area.  Only in Matthew's neighborhood did it snow.

 

After voting in every Presidential election since 1964

Here Are 5 Reasons Why I’m Not Voting This Year

by David L Lewis as observed these now 81 years

#1 No, My Vote Really Doesn't Count

In last Presidential election our County voted apx, 90% for the winning Party. The winners don’t need my vote, and it wouldn’t help the other guys. And, there are no ‘None-of-the-Above’ choices available to honest voters in Honest Abe Indiana.

#2 Flipping Coin Won’t Do Any Good

Americans by law and tradition are free to attack any sitting President or candidate therefor. The three Presidents judged our greatest -- Washington, Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt – are said to be the three most hated and reviled during their administrations. Seems Presidents can’t even please half the people half the time no matter how coins flip.

#3 I’ve Done My Bit With Nothing Good/Bad Having Come Of It

Taught since childhood the answer is to vote. This I have done beginning at age 21years, 2 weeks, 5 days; never missing a Presidential election. Only two times have I voted for those other guys; both friends in their Primaries, they lost. None of my votes have meant my candidates’ promises were fulfilled. It is not all all clear we’d be better off if they had won. It is not at all clear we would not have been better off with those two other guys.

#4 The System Don’t Work Anyhow

As President Harry Truman supposedly said, “No problem which actually has a solution gets to the President’s desk. Someone lower down on the pyramid has already solved it.” I’ve lived long enough, am historian enough, and watched these politicians close enough to observe that if the problem could be solved, it would already be solved. And, from this observation, claiming they can solve all problems seems the campaigning formula for both a one Party and/or multiple Party governments. Upon through review it appears hope changes nothing, and my vote won’t change that.

#5 I Won’t Be Here When The Work Needs Doing

In the 1970’s we were attending a small church group which had grown large enough to hold vote on whether to buy their own building. I did not vote one way or another. When asked why not, I explained we were leaving the area soon and I would not be there to do the work. As one with living memory of eleven Presidents come and go, I feel somewhat that way about coming Presidential election. Whatever happens, with Hospice folks schlepping through the house 4 to 5 times a week, I may well not be available to do the work.

Of course if “None-of-the-Above” were on ballot, I’d vote for him/her/it...

theDaddy!

 Posted to Brazil Times Blog September 11 2017

We were there

We were there when everyone from Maine to California said it was a beautiful day to fly.

One of those clear days that gives a lie to coming events.

We were flying for business reasons

We were flying for a deserved vacation

We thanked God we had not flown today

We were there when someone announced something we did not quite understand,

something that would be new and different and troubling.

We quietly waited to find out what would happen

We joined others thinking to take back what we did not know had been lost

We remembered all those horror stories and felt reassured in our vague fear of flying

We were there to appreciate the unbelievable view from the Bastilles. Few before noticed how far you can see on a clear, beautiful day as they pass through on way to somewhere else.

We sat at a desk absorbed by the day’s tasks

We stopped by the break room for some coffee

We feared what it might be like to work in a big building in a big city,

when as always there was one more thing to do.

We called home, leaving a message of love

We helped someone we’d never met before that day

We prayed for people we did not know and can never meet

We were there when radio and TV from Taneytown to Terre Haute to Tucson interrupted with Special Report just in: An airplane, size unknown, had crashed into some building in New York.

We ran to avoid the falling dirt, debris, the bodies and buildings

We knew someone who fell, knew no one who fell, knew everyone

We watched TV until we couldn’t remember what was live and what was repeated

We were there in far away as Indiana when no one knew how to respond, when an odd sense of controlled panic gripped us -- a grip on a nation never loosed entirely since.

We closed businesses in fear of something, somewhere

We stayed at our post, somehow unwilling to be defeated

We went home and hugged our husbands, wives, children, anyone

We were there when none on airplanes, none watching on TV, none living in small towns across the continent knew of how many trillions of dollars would be expended because of that day..

We routinely handed photo ID to the guard

We checked pockets before going through the metal detector

We watched with suspicion perfectly innocent people as they went about their lives

We didn’t know it for awhile, but the world before that day would never come back. Future generations with no memory of life before that beautiful day to fly will not know why life is as it has come to be afterward. Seeing only a remote event and not our common experience, they’ll accept life as it now is.

We were there.

 Photos for Maggie & Justina from their favorite uncle! More or less in some kind of order.

This is probably about 1958

Phil Lewis with the one and only grandchild he knew, Janet.

Phil & Ruth 1966

Age 55 & 75

About 1999

Sorry, best I could do,

theFavoriteUncle!

Crossing a line in the Ether

Written but not published May 8, 2016 by David L Lewis

On a Sunday morning some years back an elder came and asked if I’d sit in with him while he counseled a single woman. No man, it should be here noted, need ever be alone with any woman except his wife.

My task at the time was to sit silently, unobtrusively. Me, being me, of course had to speak out of turn. What came to mind and which I told the woman at the time has served me well these now 30 years on: “I do not know how you feel because none of my life’s experiences match your circumstances. This does not mean I do not care, only that I do not understand.”

It was with this in mind that I wrote last year in a blog entitled “Sorry for your loss”:

“Maybe it’s what we saw on some TV show. Maybe it is just what we’ve come to say because we don’t really know what to say. For my part, I take a person at their word. I believe they really are sympathetic, even if they can’t find other words.

“Overall ‘sorry’ seems better than ‘I know how you feel’; unless, of course, the speaker really does know. The most strengthening words come from those who simply say: ‘I’ve been there. It will never be the same, but it will get better than it is now.’”

I keep thinking I need to Google the stages of grief, if only to figure out if I’ve gone through them and have yet to come out the other side. I suspect I have not; or at least not as long as I cannot bring myself to visit the grave. [see FOOTNOTE]

Today, though, I crossed a line I didn’t know was there into something like liberty. A pastor who’d been a customer and whom I didn’t really remember called about a computer problem. He reminded me he had prayed for us right after we reopened the business and had said at that time, as people do, “I know how you feel.” The caller wanted to apologize for having said that – it’s just what you say.

It seems this man of God had similarly lost his 30 year old daughter Easter Sunday; and only now could honestly say, “I know how you feel”.

Somehow I found myself the counselor, assuring him of what others had told me at the time and which I’d since seen confirmed by a year’s experience: “I’ve been there. It will never be the same, but it will get better than it is now.” To which was added -- just not today.

And thus I found myself having crossed an invisible line in the Ether. There will always be grief in our hearts, of course. But somewhere I’ve crossed from losing my son and close friend to being a voice of those who really are “sorry for your loss”.

theDaddy!

FOOTNOTE: Posted to Facebook May 31, 2018
THREE YEARS SIX WEEKS

First year in tax preparation business an “older” woman came in explaining that filling out forms was something her husband always did. She cried as she thought of him. Being a wanta-be pastor I asked the obvious, when did he pass? “Seven years ago.” I hadn’t much actual experience with grief, but did think seven years was enough. Time and life teaches otherwise.

It has been quite a while since I thought “I’ll ask my dad” – only a few less years since I started to call my brother, Terry. It’s been, more or less, about a day since I had something to tell Nathan.

Once told Susan I was going to live in Brazil until I die, and be buried beside my wife and son. But, I had not been able to bring myself to visit Nathan’s grave.

Today, because Kay was with me, I went to his grave site.