How the Game is Played

The other day Schwartzbeere and family were over for a visit and we were playing cards.

It was Himbeere's turn to deal.

Himbeere has an unorthodox way of dealing cards.

They all go into a pile on the table in front of him, then he plays in them for a bit. You now, stirs them up, moves them around, picks some up and sets them down in a different spot, and so on.  Almost anything but traditional shuffling.

Then he sets them out into piles in front of him. And then the piles get handed out to the players.

Different, but it works.  And in the privacy of your own home, its quite acceptable.  Actually, dealing into piles right in front of the dealer and then handing them out is pretty common at our house.  The rest of it, though, not so much.

So he dealt and we started playing.  Brombeere promptly went out (we were playing Phase 10 and she made her phase on her first play).  Everyone was a little unhappy but mostly Schwartzbeere.  He had three wild cards that were wasted when Brombeere made her phase and went out right away.  I mean, how often do you get dealt three wild cards in one hand, right?!

Commonplace Book

A Commonplace Book. “Commonplace”, from the Latin 'locus communis', meaning “a theme or argument of general application.”  For me, it is a collection of thoughts, ideas, anecdotes, poems, observations, and quotes that stood out and caught my attention, some with comment, some without. Essentially a scrapbook, a repository of thoughts too good to just pass over and let go.

“Many of the things you can count, do not count. Many of the things you cannot count, really do count.”

(Albert Einstein)

"Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate."

(Albert Schweitzer)

“God cannot steer a parked car. We've got to be moving.”

(Mission President, Stake Conference, 25 August 2018)

“We are guided by a living prophet who takes counsel and guidance from a living God.”

(Stake President, Stake Leadership Meeting, 25 August 2018)

“Faith and trust in the Lord give us the strength to accept and persist, whatever happens in our lives.”

(Dallin H Oaks, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Jan. 29, 2002 • BYU Devotional)

“We speak of the pioneers gaining stronger testimonies from the extremities of their experiences. But sometimes I wonder if pushing our family handcarts across the constantly present and intrusive sin drenched, immoral, addictive, landscape of modern society isn't just as much “in our extremity” as was pushing pioneer handcarts in the pioneer era of the church.”

(Sacrament meeting talk August 12, 2018)

“Perhaps the proportion of stupidity to intelligence in America is fairly constant over time, and today just seems especially soggy with stupidity because social media and mesmerized journalists give it such velocity.”

(George Will, Poor Portland progressives: So much to protest, so little time, Washington Post, August 8, 2018)

“Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.”

(Patrick Henry, Second Virginia Convention met March 20, 1775)

“Don’t think your future will be determined by forces outside your control. You are indeed surrounded by forces outside your control, but what matters is how you choose. Everything else will follow from that. Choose the good and good things will happen to you. Choose the bad, and eventually you will suffer. Bad choices create bad people who create bad societies, and in such societies, in the fullness of time, liberty is lost. … Define yourself as a free moral agent, capable of choosing a better future.”

(Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, On Not Being A Victim, Re'eh 5778, August 8, 2018)

A Disappointing Purchase

A while back, Himbeere bought him a truck.  It wasn't new, it was a used truck, but it was the most he'd ever paid for a vehicle and the hope was that it would move him into the class of vehicles that are more reliable than the old rust-buckets he's bought since his first one, an old jeep wrangler, many years ago.  His price range had never allowed him to get out of that bottom class of cars that are just barely running still.  Disposable cars, I've always called them.  Basic transportation, is what most people call them. Not even that, really.

Anyway, it turned there was no escapee with this truck, either.  A few months after he bought it, it began to have engine troubles.  With going through all those old beaters and trying to keep them running, Himbeere has learned a fair amount about repairing cars but the trouble his truck was having escaped him.  Nor were any of his mechanically inclined buddies able to figure it out either.  Finally he took it to a mechanic who determined it had a spark plug issue.  Indeed, the issue was a bad design that prevented the installation of a new plug.  Such that the manufacturer had been sued over it and it had turned into a class action.  Members of the class were able to get the issue repaired at no cost to them.  Unfortunately, Himbeere did not qualify as a member of the class.  He was on his own and really, the proper repair was to replace the engine.  Not a cheap thing to do.

Gradually, the truck's engine performance deteriorated until it became unreliable.  Finally, he parked it in the driveway and bought another old beater while he decided what to do with it.  Back to disposable cars again.  Very disappointing.

Anyway, Christmas came and we had lots of company at our house.  To help accommodate all the vehicles that were around, Himbeere parked his truck out on the street, but far enough into the yard that it wasn't sticking out in the road interfering with the snow plows.

Frankly, I was expecting him to get a ticket but he never did.  The city has an ordinance against parking on the street from October to April so they can plow but he was far enough into the yard that the plows could get by without going around him so they never complained.  The truck sat there all winter.

Pretty soon his truck was pretty much buried, snowed and plowed in.

This wasn't our heaviest winter (at least since we've lived here) as far as snow, but there was more snow than the last couple of years so by late winter his truck was thoroughly stuck.

But spring finally came and the snow began to melt.  Gradually the snow melted off and his truck became visible again.

Little by little, as the days got warmer, the truck began to emerge from under all the snow.  Yep, it was still there.

It was almost like one of those contests to see when the last of the snow would melt.

And then it was all gone.  About that time I began to bug him to move it off the lawn.  It would interfere with mowing and block the sprinklers from doing their job.

Sure enough, unable to mow really close without scratching the truck, I got as close as I could. But it wasn't close enough to keep the grass down.  I don't do the trimming every time - lazy that way, I guess.  And sure enough, eventually some weeds got started and got growing.  And there was a sprinkler head under the truck, near the back driver's side tire.  Every time I brought it up, Himbeere thanked me for keeping the underside of his truck clean.

But, despite his gratitude, Himbeere never go around to moving it. And the weeds got a little bigger.

Then the city noticed it.   I'm not sure if someone complained or if someone on staff at the city noticed.  In any case, we got a letter from the city telling us we had ten days to move the truck and mow the weeds back down under control.  If we didn't get it done they would hire it done and access us the cost of the work.

That finally stirred Himbeere into action.  First thing he tried was to just take the key out and try starting it.  But he knew that wasn't going to work - he already knew the battery was dead.  And he was right.  Turned the key and got absolutely nothing.

The next step was to pull his other truck, which he had recently bought and which is looking like it will be the reliable vehicle he was hoping to get in the first truck, and try jump starting it.  So he hooked the two together and gave the key a twist.  Nothing.  So he left them hooked together a little while so the battery could charge up a little.  But when he tried it again, still nothing.

So we dusted off my old battery charger, which is older than Himbeere, and hooked it up.  We left it on all night.  But the next day, when we tried starting it again, still absolutely nothing.  No crank, not even a click.

So this morning Himbeere went to the local salvage yard and bought a $15 battery.  It sparked a bit as he put it in, that was a good sign.  When he got it all in and put together I got in the truck and turned the key.  The radio came on, along with a few lights - another promising sign.  I turned the key and it turned right over and fired right up!  Hallelujah!  It actually ran pretty smooth for having sat all these months without ever running.

So I put it in reverse (didn't want to hit the mailbox) and took my foot off the brake.  Didn't budge.   I gave it a little gas.  Still nothing.  I checked to make sure the parking brake wasn't on and gave it some gas and it finally busted loose out of its spot and rolled back.  I guess with all the moisture from the snow and sprinklers, it had sunk down into the ground an inch or two.

So I swung around the mailbox and out into the street, bringing a little dirt with me.

You can see the spots where the tire were - a holes a few inches deep.

After I backed it into the driveway I got the mower out and went over the spot a few times to get it mowed down like the rest of the front yard.  I had mowed the rest earlier this morning.  Now we'll see how long it takes for the grass to come back.

So now its back in the driveway, occupying its old spot again.  I left enough room so I could still mow the lawn around it but there it will sit for who knows how long.  Until Himbeere decides what he's going to do with it.  Who knows how long that will be.  He doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry. 

Having if off the lawn really changes the perspective of the front yard.  In any case, the city should be happy.  The unsightly weeds are gone.  And I'm happy to have it off the front lawn.  I'd like it out of the driveway, as well, but I'll settle for having it off the lawn.  It's really unfortunate the truck turned out to be such a disappointment.

The Battle of Gibeah

A while back, like almost a year, last October, I got a text from Blaubeere.  She said, “Reading along, going through the OT with [Dragon], and came to Judges 19. Oh yeah. This is one of those spots Miss Mason refers to as "necessary omissions" when reading to munchkins. 0.o I have no idea what we're meant to learn from that story.”  So, what is there to learn from it?  I decided to read the story and give it some study and thought.

Chapter 19 is the beginning of a story that continues through chapters 19, 20, and 21. This event comes at a time when Israel was in apostasy, transitioning from the civic government being under the direction of a prophet (Joshua) to judges, or “deliverers”, who time after time were able to achieve only temporary deliverance from the consequences of Israel’s disobedience. There were still prophets in the land but some were not always as valiant as one would expect of a prophet, nor did the people pay those that were righteous much heed.  The majority of Israel, while retaining much of the trappings and observances of the law, had devolved into their own form of practice.  And yet, there were, here and there, scattered among the people, those who still did their best to faithfully keep and observe the law.

Chapter 19 chronicles an atrocity committed against the concubine of a Levite, that resulted in her death, at the hands of members of the Tribe of Benjamin.  The incident takes in the City of Gibeah, which was located several miles north of Jerusalem, in the portion of the Promised Land which had been given to the Tribe of Benjamin. The concubine was no paragon of righteousness herself, nor was the manner in which she came into harms way anything to hold forth as exemplary, but that really shouldn’t play into how she was treated; it was still wrong.  All of Israel responded to the incident, representatives from each tribe came together in council to consider the incident and determine a response. The Tribe of Benjamin was asked to deliver the perpetrators to justice but decided not to give up the individuals responsible.  The incident was gruesome and lead to a war of revenge that resulted in the near total annihilation of the Tribe of Benjamin. It made me think of the statement from the prophet Mormon, "But, behold, the judgments of God will overtake the Wicked; and it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished; for it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed." (Mormon 4:5).  The war could be considered Israel's first civil war, with heavy losses on both sides.  A great deal of mourning and lamentation concluded the episode. These chapters are the last three chapters of the Book of Judges. The Battle of Gibeah, as the episode is often called, came at the end of the period of the Judges and played into Israel getting its first king, Saul, who began his reign in about 1045 BC. Interestingly enough, Saul was from the Tribe of Benjamin.

Levites were the temple workers in ancient Israel. The tribe was the only tribe that did not receive a dedicated portion of the Promised Land as an inheritance, instead being scattered among all the other tribes to provide the rituals of the tabernacle, and later the temple, to all the other tribes. They were often considered “God’s portion”. This would have given the crime committed against the Levite, committed by members of the Tribe of Benjamin, added seriousness.

The author or authors of the Book of Judges are not known. It is essentially a compilation of stories occurring between the death of Joshua, the prophet who succeeded Moses, and Samuel, called as a prophet by the Lord as a child, a period of about 400 years. Scholars generally figure it was compiled during the last of the seventh or early in the sixth century BC. It is considered one of the historical books of the Bible. After the Book of Judges comes the short Book of Ruth, which is followed by 1 Samuel, which begins right away with the story of Samuel and his call as a prophet.

So the question is why was this story included in the Bible? The LDS Bible Dictionary does not have a listing for Gibeah. The BYU Citation Index lists no sermons that ever used Judges 19 or the story in a sermon, although there are a few references to a few verses from chapters 20 and 21 as references to characteristics of the wicked. A search of the church’s website turns up nothing where this story is used in a talk or lesson. Still, it's been said that every story in the scriptures is about redemption and deliverance. So where is the deliverance or redemption in this story? Only two things stood out to me.

King Benjamin taught that the Israelites were given many types and shadows of the mission of the Messiah (Mosiah 3:15).  In the Battle of Gibeah, the armies of Israel were led by Phinehas, of the Tribe of Levi (Judges 20:28), who sought the Lord’s direction in the battle. The record says the Lord directed Israel in this battle against the Tribe of Benjamin.  It is interesting to me that the Lord set the Tribe of Judah as the first to go against Gibeah (Judges 20:18), to lead the battle. I think there is symbolism in that arrangement, Judah (the Messiah) first against Benjamin (wickedness). And Israel, fighting against the Tribe of Benjamin, the transgressors, came away with total victory, though not without struggle or loss. The Tribe of Benjamin ultimately suffered utter defeat, reminiscent of God's comment to Satan, “... he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Moses 4:21). That comment is given in greater clarity in the ordinance of the Endowment. The symbolism is Christ's total and absolute victory over Satan and death.  Is this an excessively gruesome, violent type?  Who is to say.  The episode and type of the brass serpent also involved significant loss of life.  Wickedness isn't pretty.  Paul told the Galatians that the law was a schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24,25).  Death was often the penalty for breaking commandments. Much of the history of ancient Israel was pretty violent.  They were slow learners, I guess.

The other things was the armies of Israel actions as they fought against the Tribe of Benjamin. The battle raged for days. Each day the armies of Israel went out to battle, beseeching the Lord for His support before hand.  Praying the Lord to make sure it was the right thing to do.  But at the end of the first day of battle, after suffering significant loss, the armies returned to their encampment without victory.  Israel had gone to "the House of God" initially to seek the blessings and direction of the Lord in battle. At the end of the first day they returned to the House of God, again seeking comfort, blessings, and direction.  They did not return to battle immediately, the next day, but spent a day in prayer, seeking the Lord's direction in whether or not to return to battle.  They went to battle again the second day but again lost a large host of men without gaining the victory.  After the second day of battle they again returned to the House of God, again in earnest prayer.  But this time they combined their prayer with fasting.  This time it was the whole of the people that went up to the temple, not just the army.  And all the people spent the day in prayer, fasting, and making offerings.  The armies of Israel had suffered serious defeat at the hands of the Tribe of Benjamin in their first two attempts.  So, before going out the third time, Phinehas stood before the Ark of the Covenant and prayed whether or not to go out a third time.  And the Lord instructed him to go out again and that He would deliver the victory to him.  And that is what happened.

So, are these the real reasons this story was included in the Bible?  It's hard to say.  But it is what I found in it, after giving it some study and thought.  It fits.  A type and an illustration that by depending on the Lord we can overcome.  Given that the Book of Judges is described by scholars as a collection of stories of redemption and deliverance, it’s certainly a possibility.

Detoured

I was out on my bike this evening.  It was a really nice day for a ride.  I typically plan out my route before I ever leave home and was looking forward to the ride home.  The plan was to go over to the river and come home along the trial that runs along the river.  But as I turned onto the street that ran to where the river trail began I looked ahead and saw what might be an obstacle. A tree blocking the road.

As I got closer it looked like the tree was thoroughly blocking the road.  Often, while a tree down like this could stop a car, it doesn't necessarily mean a bike can't get through so I kept going.  As I got nearer the tree I could see that if I was going to get through I was going to have to walk and pick my way through and around the branches.  There were a couple of utility guys there working on the mess and they didn't way anything as I went by so I started pushing through the branches.  But as I began to emerge out the other side a guy up in the cherry-picker yelled at me to go back.

Apparently there were a whole bunch of wires down on the other side of the tree.  So I backed out, turned around, and spent a few minutes looking for a way around the mess.  Alas, the trail along the river goes out the end of a dead-end road and there was no way around to be found.  Train tracks, fences, and security guards had all the alternate routes blocked off.  So I finally had to picked a different way home and get started.

I had been looking forward to the trial route so I picked a new way home that would still involve plenty of trails and woods.  It also added a couple of miles to the ride, but that was okay.

Fall is beginning to arrive in this neck of the woods, there were quite a few leaves beginning to turn colors.

It made for a very nice ride.  Actually, this is getting into my favorite time to be out.

The days are cooler and the leaves are turning.  It all makes for some very pleasant riding.

My alternate route home still involved a river and pretty soon I was by the water.

This river is a bit smaller and runs a bit slower than the other one.

The result is more wetlands growth along the water.

There were even a few lilies still in bloom.  Very nice.

Didn't see much in the way of animal life on tonight's ride.  But still, it was a very nice ride.

Gradually the trail moved away from the river but still ran through the woods.  Lots of light and shadow through the trees.

As I moved away from the river the vegetation began to change.  Not so much of a wetland any more.

Still, the trails through the woods are beautiful no matter the type of vegetation, wetland or otherwise.  The ride ended up being three or four miles longer than originally planned but that's perfectly fine.  Any time out on the bike is a good time.  I better do this some more!