At dawn at Virginia Beach..
The sunrise with ships does us teach
God is still in control
but we too play a role.
Please pray! Peace may still be in reach!.
Category: faith
Potica, a bread for life and celebration, a Limerick.
Potica, now cherished in Rome.
Slovenia is really its home.
So the Pope was all right
to Melania’s delight;
that nutcake fits Donald’s genome.
Visiting the Vatican, President Trump, his wife Melania and daughter Ivanka had a meeting with His Holiness, Pope Francis. The meeting started out tense, but after the half an hour private one on one audience, the President and the Pope emerged all smiles. President Trump said: “Thank you. I won’t forget what you said.” Later he tweeted: “Honor of a lifetime to meet His Holiness Pope Francis. I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue PEACE in our world.”
The Pope, smiling broadly even cracked a joke with Melania Trump. His Holiness the Pope asked Melania (in Italian): What do you feed your husband? ‘Potica?’ Melania laughed and answered in Italian “Potica, si, … yes”, the perfect answer. After all, Melania is fluent in six languages: Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, Italian, German, English and conversational French. The Pope is fluent in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, German, Ukrainian and Piedmontese and, of course, Latin.
The mike feed wasn’t all that great, so many newspapers got it all wrong. The Guardian(UK) thought Melania responded “Pizza”. Huffington post seemed to indicate the Pope suggested that Trump looks like he’s filled with yeast, milk, butter, eggs and lots of nuts. Washington Post got it all wrong and called it an awkward exchange. The Pope and Melania understood each other perfectly in Italian, but the interpreter (interruptor) had to mistranslate Potica to Pizza. The Pope loves Potica, and it is the traditional cake for Christmas and Easter in Slovenia, Melania’s native country. It was the perfect small-talk.
Speaking of nutcake, or more properly nutbread it is really much more healthy if you mix in nuts or almonds with the bread as a substitute for shortening. We used to live in Lancaster County, where Ephrata Cloister is located. Once visiting the cloister we took a tour of the graveyard and noticed the brothers and sisters lived long lives, most reaching their 70’s, a rare occurrence in the 1700’s. They lived an ascetic life, sleeping six hours a night in two three hour shifts on a 15 inch wide wood bed with a wooden block as a pillow. They ate only one meal a day, vegettarian, but … it was rich in nuts, walnuts, black walnuts, Chestnuts, Lancaster County is rich in nuts. My wife tried them all in breads and cakes, also almonds, filberts, pecans, but not macadamia nuts, and no cashews.
Life is wonderful.
President Trump’s first foreign trip for peace, salaam, shalom; a Limerick. (Update 1)
Arabia, Israel, Rome;
then Belgium and Sicily, Home.
Donald Trump has the strength
and he talks to great length:
Bring peace, and salaam, and shalom!
This I call a welcome peace gesture!
Shalom! President Trump meets with Benyamin Netanyahu who said:
“I … look forward to working closely with you to advance peace in our region — because you have noted so succinctly that common dangers are turning former enemies into partners. That’s where we see something new and potentially something very promising. It won’t be simple. But for the first time in many years — and, Mr. President, for the first time in my lifetime — I see a real hope for change.”
Then it was time to lay a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. Credit (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times)
Off to Bethlehem to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas made no concessions and will continue to reward the families of “Martyred” terrorists when their sons have killed Israelis.
Over to Rome to meet the Pope. Melania is again getting properly dressed for the occasion.
The audience with the Pope started out tense, but at the end all were smiles.
After meeting with the Pope President Trump said: “Thank you. I won’t forget what you said.” Later he tweeted: Honor of a lifetime to meet His Holiness Pope Francis. I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue PEACE in our world.
After the private audience the Pope was all smiles and even cracked a joke with Melania Trump. His Holiness the Pope asked Melania (in Italian): What do you feed your husband? ‘Potica?’ Melania laughed and answered in Italian “Potica, si”, the perfect answer. After all, Melania is fluent in six languages: Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, Italian, German, English and conversational French. The Pope is fluent in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, German, Ukrainian and Piedmontese and, of course, Latin.
The it was off to Belgium to meet the King and Queen. Melania Trump was again dressed in a bluish grey dress and coat, a color perfectly suited for the country of Belgium.
Will the rest of the trip bring forth peace? Tomorrow is NATO and then off to Sicily and G7. Keep praying.
The Muslim Clock boy lost again, a Limerick.
The Radio Shack Clock boy is back:
A frivolous lawsuit attack.
But the judge cleaned his clock;
for the boy quite a shock!
Dismissed out of hand! What a quack!
A 14 year Muslim boy finds a 30 year old alarm clock from Radio Shack, opens it and modifies it slightly so it can be used as a timing device for bombs. He shows it to his science teacher who tells him – Good, but don’t show it to anyone. He does carry it in class the rest of the day, and when it beeps (that’s the circuit you splice to the detonator) his English teacher freaks out and calls the police. He refuses to cooperate and gets arrested.
His father, a Muslim activist complains to the white house, and from then on there is no end to the humiliation the boy must suffer for his misdeed.
Mohamed claimed he suffered “severe psychological trauma” because of the case.
He had to suffer meeting President Obama on social media and an invitation to the White House, where he met the president on the South Lawn at an astronomy event, and even worse, had to meet Bill Nye, “The Science guy; then he had to meet with Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google at a science fair; being praised by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg; being named the beneficiary of a $20,000 fundraising campaign; getting an invitation by a Canadian astronaut to visit; endure an appearance with Dr. Oz; being humiliated by MIT scientist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein for being “my ideal student”; suffer the indignation of a proclamation by New York City of “Ahmed Day”; getting scared out of his wits by visiting Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide; then he had to meet the Prime Minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu; endure a trip to the Middle East during which, as the Huffington Post described it, he “hung with Jordan’s Queen Rania”; and last but not least had to make a pilgrimage to Mecca as an honored guest of Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
How much severe psychological trauma can a young boy endure?
In spite of this the judge threw out all charges, finding no cause for intentional discrimination.
Different strokes for different folks. Who’s bowing now? A Limerick.
Melania, no hijab in Riyadh
was greeted as equal, I’m glad.
For King Salman shook hands;
bowed to western demands.
Obama submitted, bowed down. Sad.
Three pictures say it all: The 81 year old and in frail health, King Salman Himself welcomes President Trump and his wife Melania as Air Force 1 arrives.
Compare this with 2016, Apr 20.President Barack Obama is greeted by Ambassador Joseph W. Westphal, U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as he arrives. No royal welcome at all.
A few years earlier Obama showed his true colors: The gesture of submission. Times change and elections have consequences.
Is healthcare a privilege or right? A Limerick.
Is healthcare a privilege or right?
For unborn, let’s fight with all might.
Equal rights are for all,
doesn’t matter how small,
they’re precious in God’s loving sight.
A 20 week old unborn child sucking the thumb.
The source of wisdom according to Job. Look up to the sky.
20 “From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
And concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Destruction and Death say,
‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’
23 God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
24 For He looks to the ends of the earth,
And sees under the whole heavens,
25 To establish a weight for the wind,
And apportion the waters by measure.
26 When He made a law for the rain,
And a path for the thunderbolt,
27 Then He saw wisdom and declared it;
He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.
28 And to man He said,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’” Job 28:20-28 (NKJV)
These are the words God gave Job, originally written in old Aramaic, before Moses wrote the Torah. We do not know much about him, but this we know: Before the law was given, God revealed Himself in his creation and how the environment works. Job even knew and wrote about his redeemer: “I know that my redeemer liveth“, and his language and images are from nature in all its form.
This is where it hit me. Even in this, the oldest book of the Bible they grasped the source of all wisdom: Fear God and shun evil. Truth comes from God and is manifested in His creation, even in the way water vapor plays a role in keeping the earth not only watered, but in ecological balance and prevents the earth from overheating no matter how much damage we as humans do to it.
Let me explain. If there was no water the earth would be a dry planet with the average temperature much colder than today at the poles, but warmer near the equator. The night would be more than 100 degrees colder than the day and no life would be possible. With water the oceans act as a stabilizer, and at sea there is really not much difference between day and night temperatures. What does matter is if you are in the sun or in the shadow. In the winter you welcome the sun, but in the summer “All sun makes a desert” as the Arabic proverb says. Thanks to clouds there will never be a risk of the earth overheating, or even get warmer than it was 6000 years ago during the Holocene peak temperature between the ice ages.
People living in the country side can and do look up to the sky to see what the weather is going to be. When they see the cumulus clouds (the fair weather clouds) form they know it is going to be a pleasant morning. Those clouds reflect up to 300 W/m2 of the sunlight back into the sky, heat that would otherwise warm the air. This is a major reason the earth will not be overheated. Yes, water vapor is a greenhouse gas, and keeps the earth at an optimum temperature for plant growth and as long as there is enough humidity to produce clouds. The best example is the monsoon in India. Springs are unbearable hot. The air is dry and temperatures can reach 120 degrees F during daytime. Come summer the monsoon arrives, thunderstorms roll in and temperatures return back to the low 90’s, still uncomfortable because of the humidity, but the rains water the plains and produce a rich harvest.
People living in cities seldom make the connection that the clouds are the major temperature governor of the climate. In the tropics it works nearly perfectly, and as long there are clouds the amount of CO2 does not matter much, in fact a doubling of CO2 will heat up the earth much less than one degree.
Yes, people living in the country can see daily how the clouds work and keeps the earth from overheating. People living in the great cities are experiencing the urban heat island, it is getting warmer and warmer, and they are more likely to believe climate change leading to all kinds of catastrophes.
In short, next time you see a cloud forming in the sky, thank God for arranging everything so beautiful. If you see a thunderstorm, thank God, but get inside, if you are expecting a hurricane take precautions, if you are expecting a tornado take cover, but above all, in everything give thanks, for this is is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
If you are interested in a more technical explanation read https://lenbilen.com/2017/04/10/thanks-to-clouds-the-temperature-governor-is-alive-and-well-on-planet-earth/
V-E day 1945. A childhood memory from Sweden.
V – E day 1945. Ah, yes, I remember it well.
In 1944 my father bought a shortwave radio to listen to news from the the Finnish war. He sat up at night, at exactly kaksi, kymmenta kaksi (22:00) there was a ten minute condensation of the war news. Sweden had taken in more than 70,000 children from Finland to keep them from being ravished by the war. In addition we had some Estonian children and a few Jews in the school where my father taught. I was not yet four years old, but I was fascinated by the news, asking my father what it all meant. Then came the spring of 1945, and the family sat around the radio to listen to the noon news. They told that Denmark had been liberated the day before, and that the German army had surrendered. The day was May 5. So I asked my father what that all meant. My mother interrupted and smiled broadly “That means, we are going to have peace.” Being not quite four yet, I remember answering “But what are they going tell us on the news then?” Up till then, all I have heard on the news was war news. They assured me that from now on there was only going to be good news on the radio. We all hugged and sang a song, I don’t remember which one, but we often sang “Blott en dag” (Day by day). This has become our family song, and we have sung it as good night prayer for years with both our children and grand children.
| 1 | Day by day, and with each passing moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here; Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment, I’ve no cause for worry or for fear. He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure, Gives unto each day what He deems best, its appointed part of pain and pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest. |
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Every day the Lord Himself is near me, With a special mercy for each hour; All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me, He whose name is Counselor and Pow’r. The protection of His child and treasure Is a charge that on Himself He laid; “As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,” This the pledge to me He made. |
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Help me then, in every tribulation, So to trust Thy promises, O Lord, That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation, Offered me within Thy holy Word. Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting, E’er to take, as from a father’s hand, One by one, the days, the moments fleeting, Till I reach the promised land. |
The national day of prayer in Boalsburg. Power and prayer restored.
Today is national day of prayer. All over the country, and in places overseas people, in small groups, usually around a flagpole, but here in Boalsburg at the Military Museum, gather to pray.
Normally we are joined by our Congressman, Glenn Thompson, but he was otherwise occupied by trying to pass a new and better healthcare bill, so he sent his assurances some members of Congress met today early to pray, as they did daily when the nation was founded.
On Monday, at 6:35 P.M. a squall line came by our quaint little village. The down-burst did, as so often happens in historical villages with old trees, take down a few trees, which luckily did not do much harm to the buildings. The trees had been for the most part been well pruned, except a few maple trees that had just done this year’s growth and were at their most vulnerable, so a few secondary power lines went down. The major problem was four poles in a row along the major road snapped, even though no falling trees were involved. How can that happen? These were wooden poles, showing their age, badly overloaded with one high voltage line on top, one intermediate voltage in the middle, telephone and cable lines galore below, placed too far apart so the power lines resonated and swayed harder and harder until the lines snapped. We lost power for one day, most lost power for two days, and power is not yet restored to all customers.
This is when it hit me during the morning hour of prayer for the nation:
We are like the four power poles, overloaded, showing signs of age, getting brittle and lacking maintenance and stabilizing supports. When a down-burst comes, we too can snap if we are not anchored properly with multiple supports.
Our nation’s power grid is vulnerable not only from an EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse from either the sun or a nuclear blast) but also from hurricanes, tornadoes, down-bursts, terror attacks, overloading and lack of maintenance.
Likewise, spiritually we are like the overloaded power grid. We are vulnerable to attack from all sides, and without proper maintenance of daily prayer we too are in danger of losing power.
The nemesis of ISIS, the boar, a Limerick.
As ISIS wage war of Jihad
What’s worse than be killed by Assad?
To be killed by a boar,
path to heaven no more.
Their courage was but a façade.
For a Radical Islamist, the goal is to get to heaven.
The normal five pillars of Islam are not enough, they never know if they have been sincere enough to get to heaven. But there are ways to improve the odds.
First, spread the reach of Islam by emigration and converting the countries to Islam and enact Sharia Law.
Better yet, join ISIS and die a martyr’s death fighting Jihad.
In the meantime you can exercise Sharia law in the conquered territories, decapitate or crucify Christians, lop one hand and one foot off common thieves, rape women infidels, in short, do what led to the early successes after 632 A.D, keeping the surrounding tribes in fear till they surrender.
There are a few pitfalls, If they get killed by a woman soldier they will not go to heaven. The Kurds have set up battalions of female soldiers, and ISIS turn and run when they meet a female platoon.
The ISIS are cowards, they flee
when women as soldiers they see.
For they go right to hell
if they die, that’s the spell.
CIC Sarah Palin to be?
The only thing worse is to come in contact with a pig. Then you are unclean and there is no longer any possibility to enter heaven, instead you do go directly to hell, This happened a couple of days ago:
Three Islamic State terrorists have reportedly been killed by a stampeding herd of wild boars during a failed attempt to set up an ambush in Northern Iraq.
According to Iraqi News, the trio of militants were killed on Sunday night after an altercation with the wild beasts in southern Kirkuk. Quoting local sources, The Times reports that the boars also injured a further five militants in the bitterly contested area.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 
