Home Remedies

A friend sent me these, and I thought they were funny enough to post.  I mean, everyone can use some truly useful advice every now and then.

AMAZINGLY SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES

  • Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop.
  • Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.
  • For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer.
  • A mousetrap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
  • If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives; then you’ll be afraid to cough.
  • You only need two tools in life – WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn’t move and should, use the W D-40. If it shouldn’t move and does, use the duct tape.
  • If you can’t fix it with a hammer, you’ve got an electrical problem. But there’s nothing to worry about since Boss Compliance has a team of professional electricians who can handle any electrical repair.

It’s Begun! (28/28)

The conference tournaments going on all over the US right now are usually just a preface to the real March Madness.

But the 6-OT battle royal between UConn and Syracuse last night confirms… it’s on already!

Highlights…

Israel Shots (26/28)

It’s been nearly a year since we spent time in the Holy Land–a truly fantastic trip–with our infamous traveling partners, the Pattersons, affectionately known as the Griswalds.

Recently plowing through the digital pile of photos that we took, I pulled out a few favourites to post.

Some ruins of an old church building built atop Mount Tabor, from the story of Jesus’ transfiguration…

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The shore of Capernaum, with the Sea of Galilee behind…

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Somewhere near here was where Matthew 5-7 were spoken…

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The Griswalds… er, Pattesrons in Hezekiah’s tunnel, in the City of David…

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A couple glamour shots of the youngest Patterson. That Jesse, he’s a looker!

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Here, he’s posing in Caesarea, in front of a plot of land where Herod used to watch chariot races.

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Close-up of an olive tree near Gethsemane. Some trees in that garden are dated at over 2000 years old. I couldn’t help but think, “If trees could talk…”

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My love and me ready for sunset on Mount Sinai…

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Us seated in ruins of Capernaum’s synagogue. It was in an earlier version of this building on the same location that Jesus spoke of eating and drinking him in John 6…

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The amphitheater at Beit She’an, one of the best stops on the trip. This city has history way back into the OT times. Among many stories, the city wall here is where Saul’s and Jonathan’s bodies were put on display by their enemies after they were killed.

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The main street of ancient Jerusalem. Jesus almost certainly dragged his cross on this street. If you explore the underworld a bit, you can actually get to some of those very stones.

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The Wailing Wall…

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More of the Wailing Wall, one of the most interesting places to me to just sit and observe…

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Above the Wailing Wall is the Muslim holy site, the Dome of the Rock. I caught a father praying, despite his son’s invitations into something “more fun”.

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The Dome of the Rock, a cute girl, and some guy…

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Our favourite beast of the Middle East…

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How much do you like him, Shan?

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Who can resist an animal that has long eyelashes and a smile?

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This guy was up on Mount Sinai with us, and I HAD to shoot him. I mean, he could have been Moses in his pre-burning bush days! Too cool for me.

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Parents Pray (23/28)

My job, along with some of the relationships I enjoy, gives me regular chances to pray with people.  My efforts to pay attention to those encounters have led me to a conclusion.  You can mark this down as fact–the first thing every parent I know prays for is their children.  Barring a crisis of some sort that receives first mention, parents’ prayers are consumed by their kids.  I’m even talking about parents who don’t “pray”.  Hand-folding and head-bowing aside, every parent I know has their deepest desires (spoken or not) tied into the lives of their sons and daughters.

When you become a parent, you become a pray-er, whether you believe in God or not.

If you’re a parent, you’ll know what I mean.

If you know me, you’ll know that I only recently began knowing what I mean.

I’ve heard the most heartfelt prayers and sensed the deepest emotion in prayer when parents pray for their children.  Rooms get quieter, as it seems as if heaven itself stops to listen in.  And joy?  You’ve never heard relief or thankfulness in a voice until you’re heard a father or mother’s prayer of gratitude for a lost child finding their way or for a faithful child thriving in every way.  There’s no doubt why the prodigal’s return home spawned a bash that rocked the whole neighbourhood–because that is what kids to their parents’ hearts.

The sweetest thing of all this is that we are not limited to our families in experiencing feelings of this intensity.  Love flows from person to person, and there is no exclusion for those whose parents don’t fit the above descriptions.

THE Father feels these things for us.  THE Son is our non-stop intercessor, bringing our name before God with a flow that never stops. I have taken comfort before in the promises of friends or relatives to pray regularly for me.  It is a sobering thought that my name arises in prayers spoken by divine lips into divine ears.  In a sense, we are encircled by the highest prayers available.

My experience says that this is what parents do to their kids.

G-E-I-C-O Trophy (21/28)

Yes, I know.  It’ s March.  I did not complete my February blogging, but I’m taking solace in the fact that all the good Februaries have 29 days, so I’m not that far gone.  Add to that the fact that I didn’t even start my 28 entries until the 5th, and I’m still on track.

Today, we re-visit a previous post about Geico buying out the game Horse at the NBA All-Star Weekend.  Kevin Durant went on to win that competition.  As is normal, he was presented with a trophy.

Check the photos on this…

A bit of a close-up…

If you’re thinking that that looks a lot like a Barbie horse glued to a piece of cardboard, you’re not alone.  Even Durant is wondering why he tried so hard.

The trophy was so bad that it prompted TNT analyst Kenny Smith to say this:

“Are you kidding me? Are we that cheap?”

Yes, Kenny, apparently you are.

And now we know how Geico offers such affordable insurance.