Why Didn't Anybody TELL Us?

On NPR today, the reporter was interviewing someone who does fact-checking.  The topic?  Obamacare.  The distress?  People's health plans are being canceled.  They're losing their health insurance.  But the President said that wouldn't happen!  "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan."  That's what he promised us. 

The reporter has discovered this week that the President's promise isn't coming true.  Not only that, but the reporter discovered that the sad fallout was included in the bill all along: about half the people who buy their own health insurance (as opposed to plans through their employer) would be losing their coverage.  The reporter wanted to know: "Why didn't we know this before?  Shouldn't someone have discovered this earlier?  Why did we have to wait five years, until it was time to actually sign up in The Marketplace, before we learned what would happen?  Why didn't anyone figure this out and tell us?"

No one told you, Mr Reporter?

I seem to recall a lot of people saying exactly what you did not know.

Congressmen.
Senators.
Talk-show hosts and their callers.
Governors.
Gobs of citizens who called or wrote to Washington.
Political leaders.
Lobbyists.

Regardless of where people stand on the pros/cons of socialized medicine, this reporter's reaction demonstrates something about dialogue.

There has been no dialogue. 
It's all been a monologue.

For years people have been saying, "This is what will happen."  And the Left did not hear.  They could not hear.  They refused to hear.  Their ideology deafened them. 

And now they're surprised.

Why?




PS:  Here's a thought.  Maybe those people who disagree with the administration's proposals aren't as clueless as y'all thought.  Those fuddy-duddy conservatives had the facts right about socialized medicine.  Any chance they might have the facts right on, oh, say, climate change?  Or what constitutes a marriage?  Or some of that other stuff they keep harping on?

Happy Things

Pictures taken by our friend Rachel.  (By the way, if anybody around here needs high school graduation pictures, Rachel is superb!)

Happy Things

Our reverse-osmosis filter had not been working.  For eight weeks, I was buying jugs of water every time I had reason to be in town.  The counter was constantly cluttered with water jugs, hogging space.



  See this guy?  He's smart figurer-outer.  Yup!

See this knobby thing that's part of our plumbing?  It's where the reverse-osmosis pipe exits the water pipes.  Something in there was plugged up.




Gary and I undid it.  We flushed the opening.  (In other words, we gave ourselves an unsolicited shower as water spurted out.)  We put it all back together.  It only took two or three tries before we made it work without leaking.

And now we have nice drinking water from the tap again.  Without repeatedly running into the grocery store to refill jugs!

Now, that's happy!

Happy Things

Turning into this driveway.

Sometimes after work, I head to church instead of heading home.  Maybe there's class.  Maybe there's choir practice.  Maybe some other activity.   It never feels like I've got One More Thing To Do before I go home. 

Turning into that driveway IS "going home." 

O Lord, I love habitation of Your house,
and the place where Your glory dwells. (Psalm 26)

Happy.

Infant Communion

While doing kitchen work today, I was listening to Issues Etc on the topic of infant communion.  The guest said some good stuff.  But one big thing confused me.

Much of his argument [against infant communion] was based on the fact that Jesus instituted baptism in a different way than He instituted the Lord's Supper.  He said that one was directed to the recipients and one was directed to the ministers.  He said that Jesus did not institute baptism by baptizing people, but by telling the ministers what to do, what to say, and why.  He said that Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper by speaking directly to the recipients (through their mental faculties).

But ...

Jesus was baptizing people.  Jesus and His apostles baptized more than John and his disciples (John 3 and 4:1-2). 

First, Jesus baptized.  And He catechized on baptism (to Nicodemus, for example).  Then later, Matthew shows us the specifics of how He told His apostles to administer baptism.  On Maundy Thursday, Jesus communed His disciples.  Then later, we see what Paul wrote about specific instructions regarding how to administer the Lord's Supper that Jesus had instituted earlier. 

Why are those different from each other?

Trick-or-Treat

How do you know if you're too old?

If you're old enough to buy your own candy (that is, if you could be babysitting, shoveling snow, mowing lawns, delivering papers, etc) then you don't need to be out trick-or-treating.

Can you go with your friends -- and no adult along to keep watch?  That's okay for a couple of years, but it also signals that pretty soon you should be handing out candy instead of asking for candy.

I know most of the rest of American society disagrees with me.  But me?  I think the cute little beggars should be accompanied by parents. 

Happy Things

Reading to children.

Picture books. Chapter books. Old books.  Sometimes new books too.

There's something marvelous about reading aloud and enjoying a book together -- something far different from reading a story to yourself.

Hmmm. I should have a picture of me and Maggie reading together too.

Boy, if there were a way to earn a living reading books aloud to kids, I'd be all over it!

Happy.

Happy Things

My mother-in-law's measuring cups.

Reason #1: For 30+ years, I only had one set.  Boy, it's nice to have a spare so that cups don't have to be washed and dried and washed and dried repeatedly.

Reason #2:  They were the ones Gary had, growing up.

Sometimes Pastor uses the analogy of treasuring things that belonged to our forefathers, such as eating holiday dinners off Grandma's china.  He talks about how that can show we loved and honored the person who gave these things to us.  I always feel guilty when he says that ... and miss the point of the analogy while my mind is wandering.  We (like so many others in America) are overloaded with stuff.  And sometimes, material goods (no matter how pretty, no matter how many wonderful memories, no matter how old) can become a burden.  If the treasures don't fit into my house and my life, I cannot treasure them.  And that makes me feel terribly unappreciative.

So, anyway, it's funny to me how much these measuring cups make me happy.  I love their shape.  I love their feel.  I love how nicely they scoop.  I love their history.

Happy.