Beech Tree News Network

I’m a sucker for music movies.  I enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody, though I didn’t see it in theatre. I saw it at home courtesy of Google Play.

One of my granddaughters recently married, causing me to think about weddings. These occasions can be expensive or inexpensive, casual or formal, private or well-attended. Though weddings may be one of life’s milestones, the statistics surrounding the ceremony can be entertaining.

It is Sunday, June 2^nd, and the newscaster informed me that today is National Rotisserie Chicken Day.  I’ve always thought it a bit odd that our country marks every day and every week with some sort of special recognition.  There is a National Wine Day, Margarita Day, Lasagna Day and Cookie Day just to name a few.  If you need a complete list, you can visit nationaldaycalendar.com, the brain child of Marlo Anderson.

Much of what we purchase has an “expiration date”. For example, food products often come with an “expiration date” somewhere on them. Medicines sometimes have “expiration dates” on them as well. Folks with contact lenses may have noticed that their contacts have an “expiration date” somewhere on the box. Certainly, there are many other products with such dates attached to them.

TECHNICALLY

I love a good meme.  I think we all do.  They’re funny.  Well, most of them.  The best ones are funny if you ask me.  The word “meme” is an abbreviated form of the Greek word “mimeme”, which means “something imitated”.  “Meme” was coined by the often controversial evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene.  In it, he states the following: “We need a name for the new replicator.  A noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation.  Mimeme comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like gene

As we begin summer, I’ve been thinking about vacations. Kelly Clarkson said, “The thing I love most about going on vacation is that I get to leave behind any kind of schedule” (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/vacation). Vacations are meant to be a change of pace. Unfortunately, I read in a bulletin that my oldest daughter picked up that the United States is at or near the bottom of the list when considering paid vacation days. 

The first sling (weapon) I recall seeing, Porky Wice had one.  Porky was the son of a Baptist preacher, and sort of a free spirit.  He also had a souped-up motorcycle that would do over 90 miles per hour it’s said.  Porky was 14 then.

Porky had made his sling out of two rawhide strings, joined together at the bottom by a flat, leather pocket for holding a rock.  He would sling that thing around his head and just at the right time pop it like a whip and send forth the rock at great speed.  

One day at work, one of my customers and I were talking about our grandchildren.  She has a grandson who is three years old, and she raises chickens.

“He was the first one through the door on New Year’s Day,” she said of her grandson.  “I was so disappointed, because I was hoping my son would be the first one through the door, but my grandson was the first one.  He ended up being good luck after all.  I have over a hundred chickens now.”

“What do you mean by chicken luck?” I asked.

The Scriptures describe Satan as being active! We see Satan “going to and fro in the earth, and … walking up and down in it” (Job 1:7, 2:2), looking for a righteous man. Peter warned, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (I Pet. 5:8). A lioness will wait patiently for her time to strike and kill the gazelle. In hunting, she is active and has a goal in mind. Satan is also described as being as active as a lion! Jesus said that Satan was a murderer from the beginning and the father of lies (Jn. 8:44).