Cougars
Chiropratic
To Japan Mission Connection
Population Changes
Dimples and Ridges
Sophomores
Former Missionary Gathering
Trip
Death Penalty
Nuts
A New Psaltery
Dinners and Diners
Cougars
01/06/01
This message was stimulated by a recent newspaper article which bore the title: "Cougar encounters increase in the West". The newspaper was published in the southeastern state of Florida so "the West" in the title denotes the western part of the United States. But it was the word "cougar" that attracted my attention. What is a "cougar", I thought. I don't recall ever seeing a cougar, but the article noted that a lady who lives in a wooded area on the outskirts of a large city in the western state of Oregon saw a cougar come into her yard from the woods. She screamed and stared at the animal, which looked straight back at her and slowly wandered back into the brush. Checking my reference books, I found out that a cougar is a mountain lion. It is also called a "puma". These large wild cats are still found in many places in North and South America. The article noted that there are an estimated 34,000 of them roaming the United States and Canada. They have been mostly eradicated from the eastern states by ranchers and hunters, but in some western states they are protected, so it is illegal to kill them. As western states become more populated, however, encounters with cougars or pumas have increased. Although they usually avoid contact with human beings and seldom attack them, 36 attacks by mountain lions have been reported since 1990, seven of which resulted in the deaths of the human beings. Lions have been called the king of beasts, but according to Ecclesiastes 9:4, "a live dog is better off than a dead lion." (270)
Chiropratic
01/06/03
Some people have ideas or dreams of things that are very unrealistic, but if we say that an idea is "practical", it means that it can be put into "practice" and thus be made useful and effective. To "practice" may mean to do something regularly and there is an English proverb that "practice makes perfect". Both "practical" and "practice" are rooted in a Greek word meaning "act" or "do". There are a few English words beginning with the prefix "chiro", derived from a Greek word meaning "hand". "Chiromancy" is the art or practice of telling a person's future by studying the palm of that person's hand, which is also called "palmistry". And "chirography" is a more sophisticated word for "penmanship". When we combine "chiro" and "practic", we get "chiropractic", which denotes doing something with the hand which should be effective. "Chiropractic" is a system of therapy in which small bones in the spinal column or elsewhere are manipulated to ease the pain of a patient. A person who practices chiropractic is called a "chiropractor" and the first chiropractor in the United States began his practice in 1895. Since the residents of this retirement community are all senior citizens, many of them experience back pains and regularly visit chiropractors to get relief. Sometimes the handiwork of the chiropractor is effective, but at other times it is not. We must be careful when choosing the person into whose hands we entrust our bodies, but we may find comfort and assurance in the final words of Jesus before his death, recorded in Luke 23:46: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (275)
To Japan Mission Connection
01/06/06
Monday, May 28th, was a holiday in the United States of America. It is called Memorial Day and on that day many people visit a cemetery to pay their respects to relatives, friends and others who have given their lives in the service of their country. At the Penney Retirement Community, a memorial service was held in the Community's cemetery. Before the short meditation, the names of about forty present members of PRC who had served in the Armed Forces were read. In the morning of the following day, my wife and I left in our Toyota Camry for northern Illinois where the Japan Mission Connection was scheduled to be held on a university campus from May 31 to June 3. On our first day of traveling, we drove about 900 kilometers to Nashville, Tennessee. There, we spent the night in a motel. The second night, we stayed in the home of my elder brother in Urbana, Illinois, where he taught in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Illinois for over forty years. On the following day, we drove to the home of my eldest sister in DeKalb, Illinois, west of Chicago, and had lunch with her. Afterward, driving through heavy rain, we arrived at our destination, north of Chicago, a few minutes before the meeting began. About 120 former missionaries to Japan gathered there for times of stimulating talks, singing, worship, meeting old friends and reminiscing. We personally knew about 80 of those in attendance. I served on a panel that discussed "The Christian Movement in Japan" and also led a Mini-Group on "Japanese Ancestor Worship". (284)
Population Changes
01/06/08
Many English words are rooted in, or derived from, words of other languages. The most popular such language is Latin, which is now considered a "dead language" because it is no longer spoken among common people today. The word "popular" is derived from a Latin word meaning "the people". Related words include "popularity", "populous", "populace", "populate" and "population". One hundred and ten years ago, a new political party was organized in the United States of America called the Populist Party which sought to represent the populace, meaning the common people, especially farmers and laborers, but it was not successful. "Population" denotes the total number of people living in a specified area. In many countries in the world today, a regular census is taken to determine the population of that country and to note how it changes. The U. S. Census Bureau has indicated that the population of the U. S. A. is now more than 281 million, which makes it the third most populous country in the world, following China and India. What is of special interest is the fact that the 32.7 million increase in population between 1990 and 2000 was greater than in any other 10-year period in American history. In China, there are laws which limit the number of children in a family and in Japan, the number of births has declined without legal restrictions, but immigration into the United States continues to be popular and increases the population. It should be remembered, however, that it is not only the number of people but their quality and character that is important. (276)
Dimples and Ridges
01/06/11
On the faces of some people, dimples appear when they smile. Dimples make faces more attractive and, in some cases, make attractive faces beautiful. A "dimple" is a small, natural indentation in the flesh on a part of the human body, especially in a cheek. A "cheek", of course, is that part of the face below the eye and between the nose and the ear. We may also call a slight depression in the surface of anything a "dimple". If you look closely at a golf ball, for example, you will see that it has many "dimples" on it. Can you guess how many there are? I have not counted them myself so I cannot verify it, but I read that there are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball. I cannot imagine someone taking the time to accurately count all of those dimples. Nor can I imagine someone counting the ridges around the edge of a coin. A "ridge" is a long, narrow section of something. Some coins have ridges around their edges, including American silver dollars, half dollars, quarters and dimes. A dime is a silver coin that is equal to one-tenth of a dollar, or ten cents. The phrase "a dime a dozen" denotes something easily obtainable and thus considered cheap. In my childhood days, a "dime store" was a store where a wide variety of low-priced articles were sold, many for five or ten cents, but nowadays, low-priced articles may be found in what is called a "dollar shop". Again, I cannot verify the statement I have read that a dime has 118 ridges around its edge. The coins in use in Palestine in Jesus' day included the Jewish shekel, noted in Matthew 17:27, and the Roman denarius, noted in Matthew 22:19. (277)
Sophomores
01/06/13
At most colleges and universities, it requires four years of study to graduate and there are different words to indicate which year of study a student is in. A first-year student is called a "freshman", for that student is still "fresh". A fourth-year student is called a "senior", indicating a superior rank. If there is a "senior", there must also be a "junior" and that is the name given to a third-year student. The most interesting class name, however, is for second-year students. They are called "sophomores". This word is a combination of two Greek words with opposite meanings. "Sophos" is the Greek word for "wisdom" and "moros" is the Greek word for "foolish". The implication, therefore, is that a "sophomore" is a person who may be both wise and foolish, a person who is "on the way up". This term could apply to most people, whether students or not. Do not all of us have times when we appear to be quite "sophisticated" while at other times we seem quite "moronic"? A scholar or thinker may be called a "sophist", but "moron" denotes a mentally retarded person or one who is stupid. Thus, we may consider the word "sophomore", signifying a "wise fool", a kind of "oxymoron", which is an expression in which contradictory terms are combined. Most of us may go through life in a sophomoric mood, but it is preferable to maintain the spirit of a "freshman" even as we approach the rank of "senior citizen", remembering the advice found in Proverbs 16:16 that it is better to get wisdom and understanding than to get gold or silver. (279)
Former Missionary Gathering
01/06/15
The University of St. Mary of the Lake is located northeast of Chicago on a beautiful campus which includes a pretty lake. The Center for Development in Ministry, related to this university, was the place where the gathering of former missionaries to Japan was held that my wife and I attended the first couple days of June. After two days of driving almost 2000 kilometers from our residence in Florida, we arrived shortly before the conference began. We were happy to meet and talk with former missionary friends we had known in Japan, some of whom we had not seen for many years. One couple who had also served in the Nagoya area now lives in a house very close to the meeting place. They invited us and a couple of other former Nagoya area missionaries to their home during a free period. At general sessions, our attention was focused on "The Christian Movement in Japan" and the "Ainu". During "mini group" sessions various specific topics were considered. The only "outside" speaker was the young Japanese lady who serves as Japanese Vice Consul in Chicago. We enjoyed the worship services and times of fun and fellowship along with the meal times when we talked with friends while we ate. On the last day, a Sunday, the final meeting ended earlier than scheduled, so instead of staying for lunch, we hurried away and were able to get to the church in my hometown, about 20 kilometers away, before the end of the worship service there. Following that service, we were able to meet many friends and then went to the home of my sister who continues to live in that town. (285)
Trip
01/06/18
One meaning of "trip" is to stumble or to cause another person to stumble. If we look carefully as we walk, we can avoid tripping and we should also try to avoid tripping others. This is also true in relation to our "journey" through life. If we can go through life without "tripping" in a moral or spiritual sense or causing others to "trip", we will be very happy. In another sense, "trip" is a synonym of "journey". My wife and I are now back in Florida, following our two-week trip that totaled almost 4600 kilometers, while passing through twelve different states. The trip was made in the 1993 Toyota Camry we purchased second-hand after our arrival here in 1999 and, since my wife does not feel confident about driving in this country, I did the driving. Most of the time we used interstate highways on which there are no traffic lights or stop signs and where the speed limits are high. To get gasoline or food, however, it is necessary to get off of the interstate highway. We chose routes to and from the conference in the Chicago area so that we could stop and visit each of my five siblings and a couple of other friends along the way. While driving such a long distance, we may spend time talking or listening to the radio, but we both enjoy listening to a variety of tapes. Some of the tapes are musical. Others include lectures or sermons of famous scholars or ministers. But those we especially enjoy include the voices of our parents or of our children many years ago. Listening to these tapes and stopping to spend time with my brother and four sisters plus a couple of others made this an especially enjoyable trip. (286)
Death Penalty
01/06/20
When used as a noun, "capital" may denote the city where the official offices of a government are located. It may also denote wealth in the form of money or property. And it may even mean simply a capital letter. When used as an adjective, however, it signifies something of great importance or very serious. "Capital punishment" means killing a person to punish that person for a crime he or she had committed. Recently, in the United States, amidst great publicity, a criminal was executed, put to death, killed, by the federal government because he had blown up a federal building and caused the deaths of many men, women and children. There was no question about the guilt of this person and the heinous nature of his crime was recognized by all. Nevertheless, because of the widespread interest in this particular case over a number of years, questions about the legitimacy of the death penalty itself are again being raised. Along with the question of its legitimacy are questions related to the fairness of its application. The so-called "law of retaliation" ("an eye for an eye, a life for a life") seems logical and is included in the Old Testament as an important concept of justice (Deuteronomy 19:21). In the New Testament, however, Jesus' teaching had a different emphasis that superseded the Old Testament law (Matthew 5:38-48). And the one time when he was faced with the question of whether to approve of the death penalty prescribed in the Old Testament, he refused to do so (John 8:1-11). It is well for us to again seriously consider the various aspects of this moral issue. (290)
Nuts
01/06/24
The theme of today's message is "nuts." There are a number of different meanings of this word, not all of which will be noted in this message. One kind of "nut" is a small block of metal with a threaded hole in the center for screwing onto a bolt. This kind of "nut" is used by carpenters and others to connect things together. In colloquial English, a queer, foolish or eccentric person may also be called a "nut" as well as a person who is very enthusiastic about something. These days there are an increasing number of computer "nuts." The more common meaning of "nut," however, is the small, hard, dry kernel, or fruit, produced by various trees or bushes. Such nuts are eaten by birds and animals and provide nutritious additions to the diet of human beings as well. Most nuts have a high content of oil as well as ample amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. The fruit of the large oak tree is a tiny acorn. Other common nuts that are used in baking or as snacks include chestnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, almonds, cashew nuts, pecans and walnuts. Peanuts are grown on a vine and ripen in seed pods underground. There are many uses of peanuts; it is even one of the ingredients of dynamite. In English slang, "peanuts" denotes a small, insignificant amount of money. I will close with a couple of encouraging rhymes for your consideration related to acorns. "Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow." So, "don't worry if your job is small and your rewards are few. Remember that the mighty oak was once a nut like you." (281)
A New Psaltery
01/06/27
Two years ago, when my wife and I celebrated our golden wedding anniversary, my brother and sister-in-law gave us a couple of blue T-shirts with our first names printed in small, gold letters on the front and the words "50 YEARS OF HAPPINESS" printed in large gold letters in the shape of a circle on the back. We wore them when we visited Disney World with our son and granddaughter on our anniversary and were given special consideration by park attendants. Many people greeted us with their congratulations also. Since then, we had a "plus" sign added after the number "50" to more accurately reflect our present situation. We wore them again recently when we visited the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in northern Florida on our 52nd wedding anniversary. In her childhood, my wife had been informed by her father that she was a distant relative of this famous songwriter, so we had a special interest in the life and work of this man. The Folk Culture Center is located about 110 kilometers from our retirement community along the Suwannee River which became famous because of a Foster song which became the State Song of Florida. In the Craft Center of that park, we met a craftsman who constructs psalteries and harps. A "psaltery" is an ancient stringed musical instrument which is noted in the Old Testament book of Psalms. In some modern versions, it is translated "lyre", but we bought one for my wife and she will now begin making music on it to "praise the Lord" as the Psalmist commands (in Psalm 150:3 and elsewhere). (291)
Dinners and Diners
01/06/29
It is customary for citizens of prosperous countries to eat three meals a day: in the morning, at noon and in the evening. The morning meal is called "breakfast", for at that time the "fast" which continued throughout the night is "broken". The main meal of the day is called "dinner." If it is taken in the evening, then the noon meal is called "lunch". If dinner is taken at noontime, then the evening meal is called "supper". The verb "to dine" means "to eat dinner" and people who dine may be called "diners." But there are two other meanings of "diner". The railroad car in which meals are served is one kind of "diner" and a restaurant with a long counter and booths that originally resembled such a railroad car is another kind of "diner." Before the proliferation of fast food restaurants, there were many such diners in the United States and many people enjoyed eating at these diners. According to a news article, the American Diner Museum recently held its fifth annual conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and reported an increase in the number of diners in operation today. According to the report, there were 6,000 diners in the U. S. A. in the 1950s, but there are only about 2,500 today. However, there is a renewed interest in diners at present and even some well-known fast food restaurants are remodeling their restaurants to look like diners. In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 14, verses 1-14, there is a story of Jesus having dinner at the house of a prominent religious leader followed by the teaching he gave after observing how the diners acted and his advice about whom to invite to such dinners. (292)