Nothing Like It Had Ever Happened

 The apostle John wrote later: 

 Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, 

“We will come with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing. 

But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know it was Jesus. 

So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish do you?” They answered him, “No.”

And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side and you will find a catch.” Soo they cast, and they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.

Therefore John said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work,) and threw himself into the sea.

But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from land, but about one hundred yards away , dragging the net full of fish. 

So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish place on it,,  and bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.”

Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples ventured to question him, “Who are you?” knowing that it was the Lord.

Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. 

This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.

King of Soul

                                            Wonderful   things  happen  at  the  seaside. Tell everybody.

                                                        

All Quiet

 From 1914 to 1918, the European world was caught up in a dreadful war. It was the worst war in human history. It was ultimately the stupidest war in human history. . . 

But from our perspective, the armies of the German kaiser had to be defeated, so we Americans sent an Expeditionary Force over there to help the Brits and the French finish off those (at the time) deranged krauts. In my novel, Smoke, the last page (spoiler alert) describes a young American who sees, for the first and only time, the grave of his own father in a grassy field in Belgium.

But I digress, just as the world does from time to time.

I mean, that first world war was a titanic act of stupidity, initially, in its beginning, before it devolved full circle into a challenge of necessarily heroic proportions for the Allies who showed the kaiser who was really in charge in the 20th century!

At least, until the little Austrian colonel with the purloined swastika came along and cranked it all up again. 

But Germans are not like that any more, thank God!

I say that first world war was a titanic stupidity because of the way it started: In 1914, one gunman in Sarajevo, Serbia, assassinated an Austrian archduke;  a few weeks later the German kaiser sent his armies packing into Belgium and France to raise hell for the next four years. It just doesn’t make any sense.

This morning I was reading All Quiet on the Western Front, the classic (anti)war novel about that first world war. Erich Maria Remarque, a soldier in the German army during that war, had published his reflection upon that war in 1928.

I was reading this All Quiet classic this morning, this Saturday morning between Crucifixion Friday and Resurrection Sunday, or as they say in the wide world, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

I was contemplating writing this, because the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was a bloody event, like that war, and because it was a world-changing event, like that war, and because on that Saturday between crucifixion  and Resurrection, the tomb in which Christ’s body had been laid was, no doubt, quiet . . . all quiet, all quiet on the Christian front.

We have come a long time since those days, those days of 37 A.D. and now 2024 A.D. And as the tomb was quiet on that Saturday, my house is quiet on this Saturday morning as I write this in North Carolina, far, far from that garden tomb, far from those European battlefields that Remarque had written about a hundred and ten years ago. 

Here’s one memory that Remarque included in his classic novel: 

“The days go by. On a foggy morning another of the Russians is buried; almost every day one of them dies. I am on guard during the burial, the prisoners saying a chorale, they sing in parts, and it sounds as if there were no voices, but an organ far away on the moor. The burial is quickly over.”

But sad to say, in this present day, now the Russians, fiercely driven by the deranged vladimir putin, have degenerated to cruel aggression; they have reversed themselves and are now doing what the german kaiser had tried to do to Belgium and France in 1914 and then again when the little nazi colonel had tried to do in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, France, and Russia again.

But on this Saturday morning in America, 2024 A.D. I reflect on all of it, pondering the temporary quietness of the war front in that first world world war, and the quietness of that tomb in Jerusalem long ago when Jesus Christ was laid into it—but only for two days.

You believe that? I do. That’s my story and i’m stickin’ to it.

Smoke

Crucifixion

 Here's an historical event that, like it or not, believe or not, changed the course of world history . . . and my personal history:

"The soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around him. They stripped him and put as scarlet robe on him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they knelt down before him, saying “hail, king of the Jews.” They spat on him and took the reed and began beating him on the head. After they had mocked him, they took the scarlet rode off, put his own garments back on him and led him away to crucify him. . . When they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of the skull, they crucified him."

Golgatha, or Calvary, as it appears today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lament, rendered in song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iVuCJ7_Yyo

Glass half-Full

Profile in Courage: Pence

 Thanks to the righteous Resolve and Leadership of Vice President Mike Pence, our United States of America, our Constitution and our Rule of Law survived a destructive, rebellious Insurrection on January 6, 2021. 

The Insurrection was instigated, summoned and inspired with the former President, donald trump. His rebel co-conspirators were led by the “proud boys” who were responding to trump’s command to “stand back and standby.” Along with other conspirators, most notably the “oathkeepers” and “threepercenters” and hundreds of other insurrectionists, the defeated chief officer  perpetrated a violent, criminal assault on our Congress.  Their Constitutional duty was to count the Electoral votes that already been delivered by our 50 state legislatures to our House of Representatives and Senate gathered together. 

Our Vice President, Mike President, stood ready to do his duty to God and country, which was to gavel into session by which the Electoral votes would be counted.

Outside of the Capitol, this is what trump’s gangsters had prepared for Mike Pence:   

But the US Secret Service agents whose duty was to protect our Vice President ushered him to a safe location. The hours spent in that safe space were productive and successful, mainly for two reasons: Mike Pence declined his protectors’ request to get in the car that would whisk him away from peril, possible death and the performance of his Constitutional duty to US, We the People of these United States.

As a Christian, I will take the liberty to mention that Pence’s Counsel, Mike Jacobs, made use of the time by seeking wisdom in the Bible. He later testified that he was reading in chapter 3 of the book of Daniel. Verse 18 reads this way: 

“. . . let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

This decision by Daniel resulted in his being thrown, with others, into a pit with lions. But Daniel survived, in spite of his refusal to worship the king.

Likewise, Mike Pence survived the lion-like wrath of the mob who, inspired by the chief insurrectionist’s dictate to “be strong” (what bullcrap!) had erected the scaffold outside. 

Twelve hours later, Vice President Mike was back in his dutiful station, gaveling in a early January 7 (resumed) session of our US Congress in joint session. 

For this act of valor, Mike Pence deserves an opportunity to be nominated by the party of Abraham Lincoln to serve as President in the same office that the Declarer of the Emancipation Declaration had occupied in 1860.

As for his formerly treasonous boss, donald trump must suffer the penalty of never again being allowed the privilege to occupy the Office of the President, as our Constitutional Amendment XIV, section 3 states so clearly. . .

even if the Supremes are confused on this issue. 

Bottom line. Mike Pence has demonstrated the character, courage and chivalry that any US President must embody. donald trump has failed miserable. Send donald back to Mar Lardo.

P.S. I voted for Nikki in the North Carolina primary, but I am hoping there will be a path to my marking the ballot for Mike in ’24! When the Republicans find themselves in dissent and disarray in Milwaukee this summer, let them gravitate toward true leadership: Mike Pence!

Glass half-Full

 

Profile in Courage: Pence

Climbing Jacob's Ladder

"You’re the men and women, individuals made in the image of God,  who stumble up the hill toward the Jerusalem on the hill, the shining city on a hill.” . . .“It’s the call to divine responsibility.”

You may want to hear some words of encouragement from Jordan Peterson as he addressed the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, four months ago.

 This Rubin Report youtube video brings the message online:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTS57hkAUk

In his message, the world-reknown psychologist addresses the issue of each one of us finding a place of effective family and/or societal service, even in the midst of today’s culture and identity conflicts.

Dr. Peterson makes allegorical use of the inspirational and motivational power of an ancient story. 

“Simple stories scale upward; that’s Jacob’s Ladder,  the eternal link, a vine that unites our material, proximal realm with the eternal realm  of heaven."

First, he poses a fascinating question: How do we construct and climb Jacob’s ladder? How do we even comprehend it?

The explanation begins with something as simple—yet as lengthy as—training a child. He explains how teaching a child how to clean his/her room is an effective beginning, then moving forward to setting a dinner table and other chores. Then we extend our instruction and training further and further as the child grows up. . . into the realm of co-existing with other people, accepting responsibilities, learning courtesy, generally progressing forward in personal behavior in a manner that opens a place in human society instructing us how to ascend into roles of service and responsibility.

Teaching the child a hundred “microvisions” of helpfulness, proficiencies, skills, courtesies constitutes a “glorious vision of how to unite (the purposes of) heaven and the ways and means of this earth.

In so doing, we “scaffold ourselves upward from the finite to the infinite” purposes for which we humans were created. . . ultimately, if you’ll permit me the metaphor. . . to a heavenly, communal arrangement of what we do on this earth.

As we mature past childhood, we expand step by step into a lifestyle that encompasses not only personal well-being and responsibility, but also community and societal well-being and progress.

So we are building, metaphorically upward, a ladder on which we ascend to a life of personal and societal responsibility and progress.

The ancient, biblical image of this challenge and its subsequent ascent was presented to the ancient patriarch in a visionary dream: Jacob’s Ladder. 

To illustrate, here’s the image that I used on my musical album cover, “Revelation 5:9” a long time ago:

http://www.careyrowland.com 

Stairway to Dignity

 I grew up in the deep south. Now my old age is spent in the high south of the blue ridge.  

Down in Louisiana, where I was born and raised, I had come from two strains of folk. The Scotch-Irish side came from my dad’s heritage. The French side came from my mother’s. 

My mother’s side directed me into a Catholic high school. As a senior, I served as Student Council President, an experience that afforded me some life direction for a while. After graduation, I traveled the dozen miles to the other side of town to attend our Louisiana State University.

I learned a lot there. As a worthless English major, I learned to read. After a coupl’a years I switched to Political Science, haha! I served as Chairman of the LSU Union National Speakers’ Committee. In that capacity, I was privileged to introduce Dick Gregory and William Buckley to audiences on campus. Imagine that! Dick Gregory and William Buckley, ha!

I later wrote a novel about it, King of Soul, which you can buy on Amazon, thanks to Jeff Bezos! Obviously, there’s a place in this world for both the big people and the little people. My education in the school of hard knocks has proven productive.

Since bustin’ loose from University,  I have spent a life as jack-of-all-trades. Somewhere in all that I was able to attract, by the grace of God, my wife, Pat. God bless her. She gave me three young’uns, who are now grownups like me and you, and one grandaughter, so far. 

A few years ago, I built this stairway onto our mountain home, so’s we could have guests through Air Bnb and VRBO and Furnished Finder.

That has worked out advantageously for us.

Before learning the carpenter trade, back in ’80’s, I had put food on the table by means of a hodgepodge of jobs: shoe salesman, advertising salesman, insurance salesman, printing salesman, log-cabin-factory worker, rodbuster on the Blue Ridge Parkway Linn Cove Viaduct, and a few other oddity jobs here and there, including one or two from which I was fired. haha! nananaboo.

As for the stairway, I can remember the day I was cutting the boards in my driveway, while listening to Congressional hearings on NPR.

I mention that because, I generally like to keep up with the news. 

Speaking of the news, I will conclude with this mention of Heather Cox Richardson’s blog on substack today. Here’s her comment, which I approved, about our President, Joe Biden:

Biden responded to the RSC budget, saying: “My budget represents a different future. One where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and biggest corporations no longer get all the breaks. A future where we restore the right to choose and protect other freedoms, not take them away. A future where the middle class finally has a fair shot, and we protect Social Security so the working people who built this country can retire with dignity. I see a future for all Americans and I will never stop fighting for that future.”

And I do confess, y'all, that I am now living on that infamous "Social Security." Read 'em and weep, ye magamaniacs!

Postscript: Along the way, I was able to publish four novels, record two record albums, and compose 1200 blogs, such as this-here piece of journalistic shenagnigans. By the grace of God, y'all! because I did get, as they say, "saved", along the way, 1978.

Glass half-Full

The Tragedy of Soul

 Ever since Cain killed Abel, we’ve not been able to shake this tragic trait from human experience: Men killing men. 

Sometimes the killing happens between two men. One walks out while the other never sees the light of day again.

Other times, the killing is in organized battalions. We have graveyards where brave soldiers are laid to eternal rest and memorialized with in a gravestone identity. At Gettysburg, President Lincoln lauded the fallen soldiers who had given their “last full measure of devotion” for the cause of freedom.

In war—especially in modern, mechanized warfare, the Tragedy is most often a friggin’ mess. In Edward Dvorak’s book, Elite Bastards, the Combat Missioms of Company F LRP Teams in Vietnam, Ed describes the battleground tragedy that took the life of his platoon buddy Dickie Gross:

“ The willie peter (grenade) had hit him square hit him square in the face and his face looked like someone had taken a torch and melted it! Where his eyes, nose and mouth should have been were nothing but holes partially covered by burned and melted skin.”

It sho’nuff ain’t pretty when men blast the life breath out of other men.

But it has been going on for a long time, since Cain killed Abel.

Other times, the killling is just random, as when some rabid murderer decides to open up with his lethal tool, for no good reason, as happened at Sandy Hook, or Joliet, or Austin, or Lewiston, or Philadelphia, or Allen,  Henryetta,  Nashville,  Half Moon Bay,  Monterey,  Enoch, or Chesapeake,  Colorado Springs, Charlottesville, Raleigh, Uvalde, Buffalo, San Jose, Indianapolis, Boulder, Atlanta, Muskogee, Chicago, El Paso, Virginia Beach, or Parkland Florida.

In 2017, I wrote and published a novel, King of Soul, about what happened to our nation during the war in Vietnam. The story I tell is concluded when the main character, Donnie, and his friend take a road trip in early May of 1970. While night-driving through Ohio, approaching their destination of Kent,  the car radio  in the lamenting voice of Ray Thomas of the Moody Blues when radio airwaves bring in the wafts in the musical lament  of Moody Blues’ , Ray Thomas, singing:

 “When all the stars are falling down

  into the sea and on the ground 

  and angry voices carry on the wind. . .”

Hear the lamenting voice of Ray Thomas as he sings:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0SFTA24M-M

The next day, when they reach Kent, what they find is: (Jeff)

In ancient times, there was one man whose death came when he was nailed to a cross. But He survived death three days later, by Resurrection.

My personal victory over death will come when He retrieves me from that that death event. Perhaps you’ll join us in that victory. See your local Bible for the key to that victory of Soul over Tragedy.

King of Soul

Life's Mountain Ascent

A long time ago, the Prophet Moses ascended a mountain called Pisgah. From that lofty perspective, he was able to view the land below, where his people would settle, after their escape from slavery in Egypt. Since those days of ancient history, Moses’ last ascent before leaving this world has been an inspiration for many people. 

Several millennia of time have passed since that Exodus ascent.

In our present era, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke prophetically on the night before he was assassinated in Memphis in 1968. Harkening back to Moses’ historic example, our nation’s pioneering Civil Rights leader said:

“. . . I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!”

Dr. King was one of many Americans who have found inspiration in the mountaintop quest and its accompanying  experiential peak.

For instance, on a lighter note, John Denver brought forth a song in 1972, about his personal mountaintop challenge, a life-changing experience on a Rocky Mountain peak.  In one verse, he sang: “. . . Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I’ve seen it raining fire in the sky. You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply. Rocky Mountain high. . .”

I, too, have had mountaintop moments of inspiration. In 1975, I left my homeland in the Deep South and moved to Asheville. Near that vibrant North Carolina city, I ascended Mt. Pisgah, which had been named after the biblical peak from which Moses glimpsed the promised land.

During my 5-year season in Asheville, I attempted to start a newspaper, which we named The Eagle. On the masthead was printed a line from Denver’s song: “. . . though he would be a poor man if he never saw an eagle fly.”

The newspaper didn’t pan out. But at least, I won't be a poor man. haha!. We saw our Eagle fly for a few issues. . . I suppose, just for the experience of it. The learning experience was worth the effort. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh? Now I write novels and blogs. Go figure.

But soon after that, I was given, thanks to Tom Behrens, access to a Nashville sound studio. Among the eleven songs that I managed to record there, Mountaintop was my tribute to Moses and to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  The song was included in my 1977 album, Something for Everyone, Songs of Rowland.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3hQNMr0A48

This tribute song and five others can also be heard on Spotify: 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hP0FJaURz0jJ3zRIrHHsu

http://www.careyrowland.com 

RIP: Republican Party

Well, it was a good run, while it lasted, for 170 years.

 The Republican party, founded by Abe Lincoln and an alliance of anti-slavery ex-Whigs and Free Soilers, was founded in 1860. But now, in 2024, it has ceased to exist.

Abraham Lincoln, elected in 1860, became the first Republican President. His principal duty during those Civil War years was to preserve the Union and to eliminate the practice of slavery in the rebel states of the South. During that war, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, setting free the slaves. He then promoted the 13th Amendment, which Constitutionally abolished slavery.

After Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, Ulysses S. Grant served as the second Republican President.

Other Republican presidents followed in later years:

 Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, George W. Bush.

The last Republican president was donald trump. When his term was terminated by American voters in 2020, he concluded his term in office by mounting an insurrection against the US Congress on January 6, 2021, thus disqualifying himself, as per the 14th Amendment, Section 3, from ever holding the office again.

During the three years following his term in office, donald trump has absconded the Republican party, terminating the GOP’s traditional role as defender of the Constitution, destroying the party’s historical emphasis on the rule of Law. 

donald trump’s Make America Go Astray (MAGA) rebel faction absconded the Republican party in 2016. Since that time, the main purpose of the MAGA has been to assist donald trump is his campaign to establish his identity as the most obnoxious jerk to ever occupy the oval office. For that role, he has earned his place in the history books. 

Glass half-Full