You Provide the Caption #4

Here we go again. I'm sorry that I haven't been posting more substantial stuff lately. I pray that things return to normal soon. Enjoy the caption game.

Picture "A"

Picture "B"

Have at it.
Tom

You Provide the Caption Weekend Edition winners

Thank you for letting me run that YPTC (weekend edition) all the way till Tuesday. Here are the results.

Picture A

"I'll tell you everything you don't have to squeeze it out of me!"

Picture B

"Agent Orange"

Congratulations go to everyone, but especially to Loni and Solo on their quippy quotes.

For the record, my captions would have been:
Picture A: "Troubled to the brink, Sunny considered ending it all as his once true love looked on having lost her appeal."

Picture B: "Whew, I've really got to cut back on my citrus intake. I can't keep carrying around this juice belly."

Thanks for playing. We'll be back on our YPTC Wednesday schedule um ... tomorrow.

Have a great day.
Tom

You Provide the Caption (Special Weekend Edition)

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for your prayers for Dawn. Wednesday was a bit busy, so we'll play the caption game this weekend. I received these pictures in an email (some of you may have seen it). I thought them a little strange, very creative and funny. Let's see how we do for captions.

Picture A

Picture B

Good luck and have fun.

Thanks,
Tom

Update on Dawn

I've been a little busy the past couple of days. Dawn is doing alright. She's still in a lot of pain but we have some hope that this operation has a good chance of helping her with her RSD. Some of the medicine that they had given her for the RSD hadn't worked prior to this surgery, but is now giving her some relief. Please keep her in your prayers. If this doesn't work to fix the RSD she will have to undergo some significantly difficult procedures.

Thank you for keeping her in your prayers.

Tom

Operation, The Wacky Doctor Game

Dawn considering a test drive just before we bought our Honda Odyssey

Dawn made it through her second hand surgery. This one was to loosen her tendons and ligaments so that she could have use of her finger, but more importantly so that perhaps the RSD would be somewhat relieved. She has been in significant pain in her hand, up her arm and across her shoulders. She is in a lot of pain at the moment, but we are hoping that as her finger re-heals that her pain receptacles in her brain will reset and she won't feel the constant pain she was in before. Please keep her in your prayers.

Thanks,

Tom

The Big Bank Theory

The Big Bank Theory is a Pew Mouse Production.

These little guys will hopefully be helping kids (and parents) in our area open their minds a bit to God. As of now, what they've done is just a bit of interesting web reading fun. Take a look at the following link and let me know if you think the book is too difficult to use. It will really help me to have your input.

http://www.tabernaclecofc.org/childrens_book.html

Thanks,

Tom

Two Things Today

Light the Fire

Last evening we had a wonderful time of singing hymns and spiritual songs around a blazing campfire at one of our members homes. This was followed by smores, perfectly roasted marshmallows, brownies and other goodies. It was a wonderful evening of family, friends and fellowship. During times like this I am often taken back in my (wild) imagination to what it must have been like for the disciples and Jesus when they were traveling from place to place, or after a long day fishing when they would settle around a similar fire and eat and sing. Tomorrow is Sunday and I'll appreciate the padded pews and PA system, but it was good to feel, for a second, a little of the way it might have been back then. So if you get the chance to sit around a blazing fire with its light flickering orange on the faces of brothers and sisters in Christ, do it.

Have you ever stood in the family, with the Lord there in your mist,
seen the face of Christ on your brother?
Then I'd say you've seen,Jesus my Lord.

Have you seen Jesus my Lord? He's here in plain view.
Take a look open your eyes, He'll show it to you.

This is the one song I forgot to sing last night (visualize me kicking myself)

Real or Photoshop

I want to do a fun new segment that allows you to give your input on what can be done with pictures these days. I'll put a picture or two on the blog and you get to guess if the picture has been significantly doctored. I'll begin with this image currently on display at http://tomsplace4photos.wordpress.com/.



So my questions are: is this picture Real or Photoshoped, and what do you see that makes you think it's been changed?

For return visitors, I had a picture on of Hilary Clinton demonstrating a fictitious hostage situation in Bosnia (just after her sniper incident) in which she had a little blue water gun pointed at her own head. Thinking that this may bother someone I had a pole to decide to keep it or not. One of the options was "take the picture off, it's horrible". I told myself that if I got one vote of this kind that I would remove it. Well, true to my word, it's gone. My apologies to anyone who this picture bothered. Unlike a politician I will not make excuses as to why I put it on, nor will I defend it in any way. I meant no offense, I was wrong. It's gone and that's that.

We can continue this game with the blueberry picture. For the record the Hilary picture was absolutely "Photoshoped".

Blessings,
Tom

Idol Musings (American Idol loves Jesus)

I'll admit that I don't watch American Idol. I have never watched an entire episode. I'd like to employ some moral high ground here so you could all be impressed with my piety, but I can't. While there are good reasons that I don't watch American Idol (here-to-for listed as AI), any compliment these reasons might give to my character are erased by the fact that I hardly ever miss an episode of "The Apprentice". So regardless of the reasons why; it is my habit not to watch American Idol. The point is that I didn't see the segment below on its regular airing, I found it on another blog (and now I can't remember which one). I'm glad I was blog surfing because I'm delighted I found this part of the show. I'm sure I would have otherwise missed it. Had I been watching AI that evening on TV I'm sure I would have been surprised and even managed some delightful goose bumps at what occurred. To make matters worse, I would have probably looked on AI with a less contemptuous glare. So, with apologies for all the things I've said negative about American Idol, take a look at this clip. Oh, and don't worry, I'm sure AI will give me more carnal ammunition to complain about as I change the channel to "Survivor".

Enjoy the clip, Tom

So, do you watch AI and does this change your view of the show?

You Provide the Caption #4 winner

Yes we have a winner. Our collection of impartial judges (that's what I like to call myself) have thought diligently and come to a contusion (I mean, a conclusion). I like Wednesdays because I know I'll get a laugh from someones caption. This week I laughed a lot. Congratulations to Tim. Here are the pictures and the winning captions for ...

"When Animals Attack"

Picture "A"

"That's right... using only her lips, Petunia has balanced herself perfectly on this baby's head... and the child is completely unharmed!"

Here is the rest of the picture for those of you who don't believe. There wasn't much of a crowd around that day, but they did have quite a cerimony.

Picture "B"

"Tigers. Tigers? I'm telling you... there's not a tiger within miles of this place."

Thanks to everyone who participated. As you know from previous weeks, we have had difficulty keeping track of ROSCOE (the golden statue prize).

He thumbed his way to LA to find his brother OSCAR.

He had a mishap on the red carpet.

And once out of the body shop he went camping.

Well, there is some good news. He's back from all his gallivanting. I had a meeting with him this morning to tell him how far behind he is on his prize duties. The meeting went well and he is very sorry to have disappointed prior winners. Then he requested a leave of absence due to a movie deal he struck while in California. He is apparently the lead in a new epic called Roscoe's Riders. In the movie Roscoe teams up with two stars from other films to put out a truly "Golden Age" film. He gave me an early promo shot and told me I could post it so you would all know how serious this is. He asks that you please accept his apologies.

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You!

Apparently they think he has the mettle to become a big star.
Sincerely,
Tom

You Provide the Caption #4

After a couple of days of some super scary topic blogging, were back to Wednesday, which as everyone knows is "You Provide the Caption" day. (Waiting for applause to settle down). This weeks instalment includes a bonus image and our theme is

"When Animals Attack"

You have your choice of pictures to caption. You can choose one or both. Again the ROSCOE will be awarded to the best caption as judged by - well - me.

Picture "A"

Picture "B"

Good luck and have fun.

Tom

Lead Zeppelin

No, I’m not talking about Robert, Jimmy, John and John Paul, a mean guitar riff or even a reunion tour (past, present or future); I’m referring to the inability of my last blog post to get off the ground. Oh well, it was Monday and I did toss out something very difficult to deal with.

You see, there are verses in the Bible that sometimes go under explored. Most of the time we can quickly point them out if the verse in question supports our vista while debunking someone else’s.

“Why, if they’d just take the whole Bible, instead of only part of it …”

I’ve said it myself many times.

It seams so clear, what I read in the Word of God. This verse obviously means “this” and that one surely says “that”.

But then, along comes a passage that is somewhat more difficult. What then? We read it of course. We have too; it is part of God’s Word. Speaking only for myself, I find that it becomes easy to “gloss” over a difficult passage; to quickly read through it so to minimize my chair squirming.

Let’s be honest for a second, we aren’t going to understand everything God has put in His book (at least I’m not). Still though, that fact needs to be balanced with a healthy dose of “What in the world does that mean?” questioning.

Is this kind of questioning good to do or is it not?

I sat in a Bible class once while we discussed the way Jesus healed the blind man at Bethsaida. You’ll recall the story found in Mark 8:22-26 where Jesus spits in the man’s eyes and puts his hands on them but the healing doesn’t seem to "take" and the man can only see what looks like “trees walking around”. Jesus touches him again and then the man’s eyes are opened and he sees everything clearly. In class, I asked the question “Why did Jesus heal the man in this way?” One of the men thought I shouldn’t ask that question. He thought me disrespectful to question his method. I explained that I meant no disrespect to the Master, only that perhaps there might be something to learn from asking this question (and the many other questions that come to us in our study time).

Was I being disrespectful or was I digging in the Scriptures?

And what of our previous blog post (I mean besides “the crickets”)? Does Paul's mention of "baptism for the dead" in 1 Cor. 15:29 change anything for us? Let me make three statements and see if this pushes us to any further thought processes (and please allow me the freedom not to necessarily believe what I state herein).

1. If I can be baptized for someone who is already dead, then I can argue that baptism is more of a symbol of a relationship with God and less of a critical factor in the development of that relationship.

2. If baptism for the dead is viable without the dead person’s consent or agreement, then I can argue that infant baptism is certainly valid (since the infant is at least alive at the time of the baptism).

3. Also, if baptism were so important to the early Christians that they would go so far as to be baptized for someone who had died, can we afford to blink at its importance for us today? (Alright that was a question and not a statement, but who’s counting?)



My thanks to all for letting me play "devil's advocate" and especially to Jel for sharing in the sweet melodious sounds of cricket chatter with me (last post). I've laid out a few thoughts here that could be discussed, but I'll also re post the picture of the confused lady with the Bible so we can talk about how silly that is, if nothing else.


Thing Two:
Please go see the movie by Ben Stein “Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed”. He is challenging “Big Science” on evolution and intelligent design. I don’t know if this has been highly publicized, but it should be. Here is a link to his site.
"http://www.expelledthemovie.com/"
Thanks,
Tom

Big Bible Brain-Twister

I have a Baptism Brain-Twister for all of you, but before I put this out there I want to lay down the “Rules of Engagement”.

“Da Rules”
Rule #1: If you have an opinion about baptism, you probably fall into the category of “Christianity” please keep that in mind as you post. Thoughts and opinions are welcome, spit and venom isn’t.
Rule #2: Refer to rule number one.

Alright, realizing that there is a “Baptism Fence” that people are usually firmly entrenched on one side or the other, I’ll lob this tough passage in the middle and see what happens. How and where does it fit in your ideas about baptism? Does it change your thought process? Do we have to ignore this passage to hold onto our view point?

Here’s the passage from 1Corinthians 15:29

29Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?

Paul expresses to the church that there was a practice of being “baptized for the dead”. He neither supports it nor condemns it, but verifies that it did occur. With regard to your hermeneutic (biblical authority based on “command, example or inference”) how does this verse fit in? Have at it, but remember rule number 1.

Tom

You Provide the Caption #3 winner

This was one of my favorite pictures thus far, I guess because of the silliness of the bull going "Head over Heels". The winner is gm! Congratulations are in order. Here is the picture and the winning caption:

"..and the latest couple to get booted off DANCING WITH THE STARS..."



gm, we've located ROSCOE. It seems that after his mishap at the awards ceremony he's gone on a camping excursion. He should be returning soon and will be able to take up his position as your prize (though he is getting pretty backlogged).

Tom

You Provide the Caption #3

It's Wednesday, which means time for another "You Provide the Caption". Last weeks picture was a good one. This week I had two I wanted to use. I've decided on the one below. Let's see someone can "horn in" on the winner's circle. Good Luck!



Alright, give me your best caption.
Tom

"Trip" the Light Fantastic

Two things tonight:

First (Trip the Light Fantastic);
I know, it’s a dancing reference, but you have to know from whence I have just come. My boy, Christian, and I attended his school’s annual roller-skating party this evening. I skipped out on Men’s class at church so that I could enjoy this time with my son. I soon found myself inside my 42 year old body on roller blades making many left turns while weaving in and around a mass of very small bodies. The good news is I didn’t squish anyone. Actually, I didn’t fall down at all. Christian has only been on blades once before and the ones he had this time were brand-spanking-new. He is at the stage where he definitely wanted me there, and he wanted me to see him skate, but he didn’t really want me to be right beside him all the time. I’m alright with that. He hovered near the wall and worked out the newness of his wheels. He clomped around for a while and then as he got warmed up he started really doing well. I of course watched from a distance. With the knowledge that he didn’t want me right beside him, I did what any overly silly, wacky dad would do; I skated. The DJ played music more suited to my two youngest (girls) than me, (I’m referring to songs selected from the likes of “High School Musical Two”). Not once did I hear “Don’t Bring Me Down” or “Pin Ball Wizard” which were “hip” at the skating rink when I was much younger. Still, music aside, there I was wheeling around beneath a sparkling light ball that refuses to go out of style, enjoying the beat of whatever song was playing. I had found a time machine which took me back to when, as a child, I would go to our local rink for a skate-a-thon to raise money for some great cause that now slips my mind. We would skate all night long. I’ll not soon forget the blisters I earned while skating beneath an original version of the same sparkling light ball. Good times, good times.

Fortunately, today I have no blisters to speak of, but I do have good memories of the evening. At the end of the night when my feet were tired and Christian was “on a break” we played a rousing game of air hockey and a car driving game. Just then they announced “The Last Song” and my boy looked at me and said, “Come on Dad, let’s go skate.” And we skated; nothing fancy, just a dad and a son working their way around a slatted wooden floor together. He fell once and though every ounce of my daddyness wanted to help him up, I didn’t. I remembered 10 years prior, looking through a crack in the door at my small infant boy as he struggled to sit up in his crib. Every ounce of my daddyness wanted to go in and scoop him up kiss him and sit him up. I knew then that he had to work it out for himself, and I know the same thing now.

My prayer is that in 5 or 8 years from now when he has the opportunity to fall down on bigger ways, that I’ll have the same wisdom to help when I can but let go when I must. Father, help me be a good daddy!


Thing number the second (love pants);
One dad at the skating rink cruised the hardwood with his very small daughter. Almost everything was perfect. Having two little girls of my own, I could feel the specialness of the moment. The music playing, the lights working their glitter on the walls and floor, the tiny hand held within his safe fatherly grip. I am still touched by the scene as I type this blog post. Still, I did say “almost perfect” one glaring thing ruined this for me; one thing that I’d like to use this blog to rail against. This wonderful loving father who powerfully skated with his little girl protecting her from every fall, every encroaching little boy skating far too fast and far too reckless and every possible danger, this father had let his little angel wear a pair of pants with “Love” written across her bottom. While I appreciate he and his wife for wanting to advertise the loving spirit that this world needs so much to hear; I’d rather not see it written on a 5 year old girls back pockets. Please, please, please if you have a daughter of any age, don’t make her rump into a bulletin board. Please also, if you are a teen girl and you are reading this blog, please don’t wear pants, sweats or shorts (really anything) that places words on your buttocks. Boys will notice you well enough without you having to draw their attention by taking out an ad. There are far too many wacko people out there who can’t be trusted, and they are also looking.

I’d like to announce that I am now stepping down off my soap box. Tom

There's a Sweet Sweet Spirit ...

"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." (Psalms 8:2) Enjoy

Scary, Woe, and Squirrely

Saw this on Greg Englands blog http://gregengland.com/ loved it, had to share. I usually don't go all political on everyone but this is worth viewing. My apologies go out to the families of the Stooges.



Tom

You Provide the Caption winner #2

Congratulations goes out to Lisa our winner. Here is the origional photo with the winning caption. Lisa will be awarded our second ROSCOE award.

"nah-nah-nah-nah-NAH-nah, you ca-an't get me"


Lisa, I'm sorry to say that ROSCOE had a bit of difficulty while trying to get in to see his brother OSCAR at work. As I understand it nothing was broken but unfortunatly things were dented in the end. Roscoe should be out of the metal shop really soon and ready to resume his duties as your prize.

You Provide the Caption #2

It's that time again; time for every body's favorite game show "You Provide the Caption!" The rules are simple, take a look at the picture behind curtain number (uh - alright, there are no curtains) so just look at the picture and give me your best caption. The winner will be chosen Thursday night and awarded the coveted ROSCOE (he looks a lot like his big brother Oscar and has a bit of a jealousy thing going on, but we like him anyway). Good luck and have fun.

Tom

Gentlemen (and ladies) start your diesels

Today I took a busload of farmers (past, current and future) on a trip to Trenton, New Jersey to protest the Governor's decision to kill the Department of Agriculture (Garden State, duh!). It was quite a nice day. I got a hat and a support sign to poke into the ground at the farm (ref. the cranberry farm where I work, for those of you who don't know). I met some very nice people and got to experience a bit of the ballyhoo though most of my time was spent tethered to the bus since I had a few elderly folks who needed to take advantage of the couch seating somewhat frequently. I did hear a muffled loudspeaker in the midst of a crowd and understood, by an uproar of cheers, when the muffled voice made some proclamation or statement that was largely agreed upon. I'm sure to read a summation of the statements in one of the local papers in the coming days so I'm not too torn up about what I missed.

It's what I didn't miss that is of some interest. Horses and tractors were the key elements of this rally. As I understand it there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-30 equestrians and in the vicinity of 120 tractors all motoring (or hoofing it) through the New Jersey capital city. It was indeed a sight to behold. There were many a small boy beside the road with eyes wide and mouth agape as tractor after tractor of various sizes tooled down City Street after City Street. Along with the horses and tractors were some other supportive farm related vehicles. There were a few produce delivery trucks, an alpaca bus, a truck pulling a very large wooden carved pig (seriously) and our farm's Cranberry Harvest Tour Bus. Aside from these there was one other noteworthy vehicle; a hearse. Yes, a decked out older hearse complete with casket in back (empty I hope) and a supportive phrase lettered on the side having something to do with "Not Killing the NJDA". I am prayerful that the rally does what it was intended to do and the Dept. of Ag. manages to survive. For what it's worth, I'd like to point out that on a day when truckers everywhere across this country pulled over or slowed down in traffic to make a valid point about the cost of fuel, hundreds of farmers entered the capitol of NJ on horseback or tractor seat (and bus) and we did this without even slowing down rush hour traffic. These people are, for the most part, good people of the soil who work hard and sleep well. They don’t complain much and they enjoy staying to themselves. I’d like to make a plea for these people.

When you go to the grocery store and pick up anything to eat; anything at all, please remember that someone somewhere grew that from a seed, a vine, an egg or a youngling. No farmers equals no food. Nuff said.

Tom