"Now . . . God is bringing Amos to the city. And Amos, the country preacher, has a thing or two to say."
Read the whole article--it's excellent!
. . . do you?
***************
You clothe the lilies of the field;
You make the grass to grow.
You paint the sky a million hues
At early morning's glow.
But every cloud that lifts its head
Must somewhere drop its rain.
Why is it that the innocent
Must suffer, sit and suffer?
Why is it that the innocent
Must carry all the blame?
The grass is cast into the fire;
All flowers fade away.
Paint will chip; the rising sun
Sets at the end of day.
Why must the story be unfair?
Why must the righteous fall?
Why is it that the innocent
Must suffer, sit and suffer?
Why is it that the innocent
Must suffer most of all?
Well, surely there is no one good,
But some are not so bad.
Young mother down to infant girl,
Old man to playing lad,
Sorrow does not discriminate,
And time will take its toll.
With certainty, the innocent
Must suffer, sit and suffer.
It's certain that the innocent
Will suffer most of all.
***************
The tune is folksy. The accompaniment is largely nonexistent at this time.
(For the answer, see Hebrews 5:8, Matthew 10:24-25 and John 15:20.)
". . . Soon we must all choose between what is right and what is easy."
--A. Dumbledore
PS: If you have iTunes and a fast internet connection, go for "full screen" (which is not truly full-screen and loads about as quickly as "large").
I'm a bad blogger, not keeping up with any sort of communication, public or private. And for some reason I'm having a horrible time typing tonight.
But enough of that.
Wenatchee was nice. The meetings went well. Apple Blossom Festival was fun. The blossoms had passed, but the weather and entertainment were decent. My mom would have especially enjoyed the craft fair. I've haven't been to one of those for quite some time. I don't know if new ideas have simply spread the national craft fair circuit or if different regions tend to have different specialty items, but the crafts here were substantially different than those I remember in northern Wisconsin and Door County. I ate bad-for-you food that I can't find in Seattle, like a foot-long corn dog. I don't particularly like corn dogs, but since I can get Thai or Mexican anytime I very well feel like it within a block or two of work, I figured a nasty-big corn dog it would be. That Saturday evening I went to the local musical theater to see Into the Woods. The players did a nice job with it, for the most part. (Jack needed to pay a bit more attention to his pitch.) As for the musical itself, I didn't really appreciate it. The first half was fun, but as the fairy tales fall apart in the second half, so does the musical itself. I didn't particularly appreciate the moral concepts/teaching either.
Wenatchee itself is in an odd location. To the west are the Cascade Mountains, some still snowcapped, some quite jagged and imposing. The city then lies on both sides of a large river that splits the valley. Looking east, one sees what appear to be the foothills of another towering mountain range, but the foothills seem to have lost their way and decided to just cap themselves off with a great plateau. It's strange in words but stranger still in person.
The week itself has been largely uneventful. I waited for a call most of the day Saturday and therefore didn't go out until the evening. This afternoon a friend and I went downtown to the Seattle Cheese Festival at Pike Place Market and sampled ourselves full of cheeses from across the country and around the world. Wisconsin had a decent showing and offered some of the best flavors there, in my opinion.
That's about it for now. Thoughts have been brewing, but nothing is taking form at the moment.
I've been in a very hard, slightly dark mood the past week or so. I'm too driven by my circumstances, wonderings and surroundings.
Anyway, I'm off to Wenatchee, Washington, for a couple of meetings this weekend. Wenatchee is on the other side of the Cascades (east of Seattle). I've only been on that side of the state on my way through from Wisconsin to Seattle (or vice versa). They're having the annual Apple Blossom Festival while I'll be there. Hopefully I'll be able to get in on some of the festivities. Our meetings run a good chunk of Friday evening and most of the day Saturday, but maybe we'll finish a bit early.