A Wake and a Farewell
Allen April 23rd, 2008
Today has been a rather exhausting day. I’ve been working overtime in order to attend Dr. Belknap’s funeral tomorrow. When I arrived home, my wife and I attended the wake for Dr. Belknap at Resthaven funeral home. We had to cut out early because we needed to eat dinner and then meet…
with our next Eagle candidate — Paul. Paul is developing a butterfly garden for a local park.
Our troop has a set of adults who are Eagle mentors that assist the young men in obtaining their Eagle rank. Some time after my son David obtained his Eagle rank, I started mentoring Eagle candidates in our troop. Every Eaglet that I have mentored has probably accomplished more in terms of handling responsibility and planning a large project than most adults. And that is the key to Scouting.
Paul wanted to attend the wake as he is not able to attend tomorrow’s funeral. So back we went to Resthaven and another visit with our extended Scout family.
I will miss Doc B’s infectious laugh and his weather-beaten hat. I will miss his deep love of these young men. I will miss someone who was like a grandfather to my children.
I close with one of Doc B’s favorite quotes from Lord Baden-Powell:
It is easier to bend a boy than mend a man.
Dr. Hal Belknap - Let Light Perpetual Shine Upon Him
Allen April 22nd, 2008
Dr. Hal Belknap, passed away this past Sunday morning. He was not only our family doctor and friend, but Scoutmaster to our son. Dr. Belknap and the Eagle mentors his troop set up were invaluable in assisting our son, David, in obtaining his Eagle rank. I have rotated out my current quote at the top of the page and replaced it with the following from Lord Baden-Powell.
No one can pass through life, any more than he can pass through a bit of country, without leaving tracks behind, and those tracks may often be helpful to those coming after him in finding their way.
Or “I thought this stuff up the last time I was stoned”.
Allen April 22nd, 2008
Do people who say, “I really have a problem with organized religion” mean that they prefer that their religion worship Shiva one day, Jesus Christ the next day and commune with wood spirits the next?
Is the problem with organization? Or is the problem really with religion?
I think generally you can translate “I really have a problem with organized religion” with “I really don’t like to think about what I believe.”
A Four Verse Review of the ABC Show, “Oprah’s Big Give”
Allen March 31st, 2008
Matthew 6
1“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Karl Marx
Allen January 24th, 2008
For some now, the leadership of the Episcopal Church has seem more and more intent on adhering not to a Christian theology but a progressive theology. While I think we are called as Christians to tend to the poor, I think our leadership believes the main purpose of the church is to advance progressive ideas.
So I am discouraged but not surprised to read that the some within ECUSA have suggested a replacement for the Stations of the Cross. Rather than remembering the suffering that Christ underwent when He redeemed us all, we should all look forward to how the UN will save us all through the Millennium Development Goals. Hence we now have now the Stations of the MDG.
For some time now, I’ve called the leadership of ECUSA “God’s Little Socialists”. I think some would like to replace the Holy Trinity with the Holy Quaternary: Father, Son, Holy Spirit and …
The Fallacy of ‘None of the Above’
Allen January 23rd, 2008
For a long time, I’ve said that I would like for all elections to have a ‘None of the Above’ choice. That way, if ‘None of the Above’ won, all of the candidates would be barred from running for office for 3 or 5 years. They would be told that perhaps they need to get a bit more ‘real world experience’ and to try again in a few years.
While that sounds like a nice way of letting those gas-bloated wind-bags what we really feel about them, a recent essay by the Anchoress has changed by mind.
If Ronald Reagan were alive right now, watching the GOP split into these tantrum-throwing factions (whereby “perfection” is duly defined as “pro-life, pro-gun, pro-free-market, pro-worship, pro-Bush-doctrine, pro-tax-cut, pro-ship-back-all-illegals” and then, as each less-than-perfect candidate’s failure on one or more issues is noted, each are thus deemed unworthy of the support of the pristine and uncompromising “base”) I think he’d be disgusted with the lot of you.
Perhaps that ‘None of the Above’ would be come ‘None of the Perfect’ and we never finish this interminable campaign.
As a note, the Anchoress is ready to leave the Republican party to become an independent again. I’m arriving at the same conclusion from the other side of the mirror. I’ve about decided that the Democratic party is no longer the party for me.
Fixed the array_key_exists() Upgrade Blues
Allen November 28th, 2007
As noted earlier, a recent upgrade to WordPress caused problems with array_key_exists() in the theme in use. A quick search on the WordPress support forum found a fix.
Flickr Photos
Allen November 28th, 2007
Some of the old photos I had available on my old site (acornsfromanokie.typepad.com) is now available on Flickr. In addition, I have some new photos as well from a recent trip to Washington DC.
Enjoy!
[Added: And now I can insert Flickr photo sets into the webpost.]
Photoset for the closing of the Oklahoma City Plant:
Photoset for a recent trip to Washington DC:
Problems with WordPress
Allen November 28th, 2007
Well, I upgraded to the new WordPress and it seems to be giving me fits. Something to fix another day when it isn’t so late.
More backlogged posts and more guilt about not writing here more often.
<sigh>
