WHAT'S NEXT

 On the last two Tuesdays, I've been sharing some of my thoughts and wonderings about the afterlife.  More recently, I've been thinking about what leads up to "the end." 

Sudden death is tragic for us humans.  So much we could have done.  So much we could have said.  Too bad we are not prepared.

Most people are on road to death for months or years.  A few years ago, a friend told me at his wife's funeral that she told him before she passed that she didn't think dying would be so difficult.  She had lung cancer and the doctors had given them no hope.

I lost another classmate last week.  I'm told he was in hospice care for several weeks.  I have another funeral to attend.  

My experience is that death does not come quickly.  Sudden death is actually rare for those I've known.

Who knows when death begins?  When you look back, you might be able to pinpoint a date or event.  In real time, we never know.  Our need for positive outcomes won't allow us to imagine the worst.  Some would say, death begins at birth.

I wonder when the dying realize that it is happening.  What thoughts they have; if they have as many regrets as those they are leaving.  

Live your life with a smile.  😊  The best is yet to come!

IRISH AMERICANS

  This is dedicated to lesser known Irish Americans.  Everyone is aware of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie (her mother was from County Clare).  Sure Ronald Regan was Irish as was Maureen O'Hara and Bruce Springsteen has a bit of the "green" in his heritage.  Walt Disney's father was Anglo-Irish.  Bareknuckle boxing champion, John L. Sullivan's parents were both Irish immigrants.  Henry Ford's father was born in County Cork.  Both of Eugene O'Neill's parents were Irish immigrants.  Of course, you know that he won the Nobel Prize for literature and also his plays won four Pulitzer Prizes for drama.

Have you ever heard of Thomas Francis Meagher?

Tom Meagher was born in Waterford City in County Waterford, Ireland.  He was an Irish nationalist and, as a young man, fought the British in the 1848 Rebellion.  He was captured and sent to prison in Australia.  He escaped there and made his way to the United States.  He studied law and worked as a journalist in New York City.  Meagher joined the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War.  He recruited the Irish and led the Irish Brigade in battle.  He rose to the rank of Brigadier General.  After the war, he was appointed by President Andrew Johnson to Secretary of State and acting Governor of the Montana Territory.  He was an Irishman of whom we should be proud.

FOURTH OF A SERIES

FUN & GAMES ANSWER FOR 7/24/26

 For those who played last Friday's game, here are the answers.  That creature which kills the most humans in order from top to bottom.

1.   Mosquitoes

2.   Humans

3.   Snakes

4.   Dogs

5.   Freshwater snails

6.   Kissing bugs

7.   Sandflies

8.   Roundworms

9.   Scorpions

10. Tapeworms

11. Tsetse flies

12. Elephants

13. Bees, wasps and hornets

14. Big cats

15. Crocodiles

16. Jellyfish

17. Hippopotamuses

18. Spiders

19. Bears

20. Sharks

21. Gray wolves

FUN AND GAMES

 

AGE IDENTIFICATION!

1.  Can you touch one elbow to another - bone to bone?

2.  Can you touch your right elbow to your left knee?

3.  Can you see your nose without a mirror or any device?

4.  Can you stand on one foot for 30 seconds without help?

5.  Can you sleep 7 hours without waking?

6.  Can you drive a golf ball 250 yards?

7.  Can you recall what caused all the pains you have in your body?

8.  Can you put your head between your knees?

9.  Can you clip all your toenails without chopping off a little skin?

10.  Can you remember why you read this blog?

Let me know your age and the number of yesses by commenting anonymously.

THE RACE

Yes, I was surprised by this note I found in a medical release.  Yikes!

Right here, in the ultra-modern USA, on average, about 250 cases of leprosy are recorded each year.  Can you believe it?

I go to my dermatologist as often as any of my personal medical professionals (not counting my children who are scanning me for medical problems very regularly).  I'm going to ask that guy about leprosy.  My skin is falling apart.  Touch me gently - I might bleed.  I have humps and bumps and eruptions on my epidermis in more locations than I can remember.  He calls them innocuous names like "old age" spots or he says "don't worry about that one".  Are those real medical terms?    

If 250 cases are reported to the CDC each year, how many do you think go undetected?  And anyway, do you think a guy in Ohio would recognize leprosy if it crawled up on me?   How many cases has he ever seen?  I understand it is a slow developing disease.  I might hang on for a while before one of my arms falls off.  Is there a local leper colony that would harbor me?  

I already have so many things to worry about and now this.  I may have mentioned before that I felt my skin and my heart and my lungs were in a race to see which could do me in first.  I wonder if this pushes the odds of skin winning out ahead of the others.

   

MIDWEEK PRAYER

As I have a few times previously, I'm going to the music industry for this week's prayer.  Well, it's sort of a prayer just like it is sort of a real performance.  An AI character called both Arthur Hayes and Michael Bennett has fooled many for a few months now.  It's all beyond me.  In any case, I love the lyrics and the AI singing as well.  Whatever machine put the lyrics together did a good job and I'll pass it on.  Amazing what AI can do.  Who needs me?

Lord, please sit close; the night is loud; the rain falls hard beneath the cloud

I try to keep my head up high while storms are breaking in my sky.

There's mud and smoke upon my coat, the truth is stuck inside my throat. 

I have no holy song to share, just sit with me and pull a chair.

Just sit with me Lord, let me feel your presence near

I am running thin and the darkness brings me fear

I've been losing sleep and fading, If I cannot hold my ground,  

let me lean upon your shoulder till the morning light is found.

I know my sins by their first name, they shadow me in quiet shame,

My faith is like a halfburn match, a little warmth but fading fast.

I don't need answers dressed in gold, just mercy with sleeves rolled low.

I have no holy song to share, just sit with me and pull a chair.

Just sit with me Lord, let me feel your presence near.

I am running thin and the darkness brings me fear.

I've been losing sleep and fading.  If I cannot hold my ground,

Let me lean upon your shoulder, till the morning light is found.

The dawn won't end it all, shadows wait upon the wall,

but if you stay in this room, maybe hope will start to bloom.

Just sit with me Lord, let me feel your presence near.

I am running thin and the darkness brings me fear.

I've been losing sleep and fading.   If I cannot hold my ground

I'm not healed but I am standing, till the morning light is found.  

Here it is on YouTube sung by AI with shots of AGT imposed.  https://youtu.be/t8K1rJ_ev6A?si=WbcPMF291UTNH7WL

WHAT'S NEXT

Last week, on Tuesday, I delved into the "What's Next" question and today I'll take it further. 

This time I'll refer you to Luke's Gospel verse 20, starting on line 27.  Go ahead, get out your Bible.  I'll paraphrase it.  In brief, the Sadducees, asked Jesus about the woman whose husband died and she remarried.  In the afterlife, they asked, whose wife would she be.  

Here was Jesus answer.  "The men and women of this age marry but the men and women who are worthy to rise from death and live in the age to come will not then marry.  The will be like angels and cannot die.  They are the sons of God, because they have risen from death."

From this I take that all human relationships will be null and void.  So great will our focus be on God that we will not even consider past or future relationships.  I'm sure this goes against what most people think and what many hope for.  It gives humans a great feeling to think that they will be re-united in some kind of bond with friends and relatives after death. Many believe, hope and pray for it.  

I'm not so sure.  Of course, I don't know but my thinking, at this point, is that human relationships are not what the afterlife is about.  

Further, the Sadducees were a group of Jewish priests and teachers who didn't believe in anything except what was written in Jewish law (including the afterlife and angels).  Jesus rebuked them saying that even though God was the God of the living not of the dead, as far as He's concerned, ALL are living.     

IRISH AMERICANS

 This is dedicated to lesser known Irish Americans.  Everyone is aware of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie (her mother was from County Clare).  Sure Ronald Regan was Irish as was Maureen O'Hara and Bruce Springsteen has a bit of the "green" in his heritage.  Walt Disney's father was Anglo-Irish.  Bareknuckle boxing champion, John L. Sullivan's parents were both Irish immigrants.  Henry Ford's father was born in County Cork.  Both of Eugene O'Neill's parents were Irish immigrants.  Of course, you know that he won the Nobel Prize for literature and also his plays won four Pulitzer Prizes for drama.  

Now, a little more obscure but no less notable

Francis "Frank" McCourt an Irish-American author and teacher.  He won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel "Angela's Ashes".  It is a tragic memoir of his upbringing as one of five children of impoverished immigrants.  His father was from County Antrim and his mother from County Limerick.  

McCourt was given the Golden Plate Award by the American Academy of Achievement.  He was named the Irish American of the Year by Irish America magazine.  The New York City Department of Education founded the Frank McCourt School of Writing, Journalism and Literature.  The Frank McCourt Museum was opened in 2011 in Limerick, Ireland.       

THIRD OF A SERIES

SUNDAY

It's SUNday.  Tomorrow is MOONday.  Then comes TWO'sday.  Then comes WODEN'sday.  Then THOR'sday.  FRIGG'sday and finaly SATURN'sday.

Sure, Pat, you made this up. No, the Norse did a lot of it.  Norse means not just Norway but all of northern Europe; Germanic countries, if you will. 

You've got the Sun and the Moon.  That's easy.  Tuesday is the second day of the week.  Woden is the Germanic form of the Norse god Odin.  Thor is the Norse god of thunder.  Frigg is the Norse god of love like Venus.  And Saturn, the Roman god of abundance and peace who fathered many planets and stars.

✋

Maybe you were wondering if I still loved and followed the Tour de France.  Yes.  Ive watched almost every day for three weeks.  Tadej Pogacar will ride into Paris today as the repeat champion.  He is the greatest rider of this era by far.  He's a Slovac and his name is pronounced Toddy Pogotcha - if you ask me.  His friends call him Pogi.  The entrance into Paris will be different today because of wildfires burning ourside the city.  

✋

Let's not forget that today is the Lord's Day.  Be thankful!

WONDERFUL WORDS

 The marvelous author, Jane Austen, wrote in her novel Emma:

"There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart."

I love it.

WHAT'S NEXT

 On the last two Tuesdays, I've been sharing some of my thoughts and wonderings about the afterlife.  More recently, I've been thinking about what leads up to "the end." 

Sudden death is tragic for us humans.  So much we could have done.  So much we could have said.  Too bad we are not prepared.

Most people are on road to death for months or years.  A few years ago, a friend told me at his wife's funeral that she told him before she passed that she didn't think dying would be so difficult.  She had lung cancer and the doctors had given them no hope.

I lost another classmate last week.  I'm told he was in hospice care for several weeks.  I have another funeral to attend.  

My experience is that death does not come quickly.  Sudden death is actually rare for those I've known.

Who knows when death begins?  When you look back, you might be able to pinpoint a date or event.  In real time, we never know.  Our need for positive outcomes won't allow us to imagine the worst.  Some would say, death begins at birth.

I wonder when the dying realize that it is happening.  What thoughts they have; if they have as many regrets as those they are leaving.  

Live your life with a smile.  😊  The best is yet to come!

FUN AND GAMES

 Okay, test yourself.  Try to guess which creatures cause more human deaths than any other.  I've listed 21 killers in alphabetical order.  Your mission, should you accept, is to put them in the proper order from those that kill the most to least.  Good Luck!

1.  Bears.

2.  Bees, wasps and hornets

3.  Big cats (lions, tigers, etc.)

4.  Crocodiles

5.  Dogs

6.  Elephants

7.  Jellyfish

8.  Freshwater snails

9.  Gray wolves

10.Hippopotamuses

Hint (because you'd never guess):  Freshwater snails kill more people than all but one on this list so far.  Now you should know that some kill by the diseases they spread. 

11.  Humans

12.  Kissing bugs (chigas)

13.  Mosquitoes

14.  Round worms

15.  Sandflies

16.  Scorpians

17.  Sharks

18.  Spiders

19.  Snakes

20.  Tapeworms

21.  Tsetse Flies

If the task is too daunting, at least guess the top five.  Answer comes next week.

SENSES

Yes, I do act as if I have no sense, at times.  I definitely talk nonsense way too often.  Human senses are awesome, so interesting, so important, and sometimes so mysterious.

We don't know for sure, but we assume we see, hear, taste, smell and have the same touch feeling as everyone else.  It makes some sense.  On the other hand, we ARE all different.

How about music?  Do we have the same appreciation for every song?  No!  When you listen, do you hear the melody or the words?  Which do you pick up on first?  Do you have to listen to a new sang many times before you understand the words?  Or, do you seperate the words immediately from the melody?  How about musicians?  Do they hear what we don't hear?

How about art?  Do we have the same appreciation for every work of art?  No!  When you see, do you see more form or color?  Which do you pick up on first?  Do you have to look at a picture for a long time or many times before you understand or appreciate it?  How about artists?  Do they see what we do not see?

How about food?  Do you eat almost anything?  Do you have a taste for most foods?  Or, are you very limited or very discerning?  

How about smell?  I don't!!!

How about touch?  I love soft!!!

Think about your senses.  They are gifts.  Not everyone has them all. Be thankful.  I think you can embellish them or overwork and abuse them.  Treat them with respect - they are precious.

MIDWEEK PRAYER

 I found a prayer like this on the funeral program of one I attended recently.  It prompted me to investigate if, in fact, Christopher was still considered a saint.  The answer is yes although the Catholic Church has removed him from their litergical calendar.  

He may be mostly legend, you know.  He lived in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries in the Middle East.  Several noted artists, a thousand years later, produced paintings of him doing his thing.  He is depicted as a large muscular man.  After he converted to Christianity, he devoted his life to helping people.  He spent much time helping people cross a dangerous river.  Once he carried a child across the river and the child revealed himself as Jesus when he set him down.  Thus, the most common picture of him holding a child and making him the patron of travelers.

Christopher was martyered for his faith.  His day of rememberance is usually in the later part of July. 

Dear Saint Christopher, protect me today in all my travels.  Give me a warning sign if danger is near.  Be at my side and direct me when my vision blurs.  Carry me safely to my destination as you carried the Christ child across the river.  See that I am safe.  Amen

WHAT'S NEXT?

I've been struggling with that question for a while now.  What is next?  Different things make me think of it.  Of course, it's a wonder.  I wonder. You wonder. Everyone wonders.  How will it be when the life we have is finished?  

No!  I don't know and I'm not going to try to convince you of anything very much.  A person's idea of the afterlife is effected by what they have been taught - directly or indirectly.  Some people don't think about it.  Some don't believe in it at all.  Some think of heaven as a special place in their own mind's eye.  

I believe in God.  I believe in Jesus Christ and that he is God, the son of God.  If you do as well, check out in your Bible the first letter Paul sent to the people of Corinth not long after Jesus died.  In the 15th chapter of that letter, verses 35-49, he explains that we are fools if we think we will have human bodies in the afterlife.  We will have a heavenly body; a spiritual body.  It won't look like our human body.  We won't have human needs.  Our heavenly body will be different but distinct. 

Paul also references Jesus' parable about the seeds.   A farmer spreads seeds; some on the pathway, some in rocky ground, some in weedy ground and others in good earth.  They have varying success.  This time, going back and reading this parable, I think - not of the good things I can do as the farmer but that God is the farmer and we are the seeds.  We are seeds all our lives.  Seeds do not become all they can be without dying.  It is in death that seeds sprout into a plant.  It is in death that we can become all we can be.  Like the farmer, only God  knows what we will become; what we will look like and what abilities we will have.  

We must live as Jesus taught us to live.  We will become what God wanted us to be.