Advertising and Gravesides - Driving and Funeral Processionals

I am sometimes shocked at how unashamedly people advertise.  Perhaps the worst example I have heard of - yesterday a gentleman told me that following an internment (burial) a representative from the graveyard stepped up and began to advertise their services to those gathered.  Hmmmm.  Tacky or Whacky? 

While I am at it - frankly - it always aggravates me how people no longer pull over for a funeral procession.  There are times when people should not - it is too dangeorus.  But many times, people refuse because they don't want to be bothered.  It might make them two minutes late.  There was a time when more respect was shown.   People even use to remove their hats.  Now they are too busy talking on their cell phones to notice or care.  I have seen cops stop and get out of their cars and stand at attention.  That is nice.  By the way, someone from a funeral home told me it is currently illegal to pass a hearse that is in a funeral procession.  But, it does happen.

Lavender Toilet

This past week someone had deposited a lavender toilet in our yard.  Where I grew up, this might not be a surprise, but in Gibson City . . . Upon closer inspection, we discovered the motive was right.  It was there to raise money for cancer research.  The connection?  You make a donation to Relay for Life to have the toilet removed from your yard.  And, quite deviously, you get to choose the person into whose yard it is deposited next.  Turnabout is fair play.  So, we sent it on to a neighbor.  It is an ingenious idea.  I certainly did not want the thing permanently placed in our front yard.  Again, some places I have lived may not have had an issue with a purple toilet in the yard.  But, in Gibson City, not so much!

The Use of Euphemism

Recently, someone kept referring to a dead family member as being "gone" or "lost".  For some reason, that rankled me.  I felt that the person using that phrase was not facing up to the reality of the situation.  I attributed it to our current culture's reticense to face death squarely.  Dying, death, dead are not words to be used in polite conversation.  When is the last time you heard someone say "My wife is dead".  The more I thought about it, the more self righteous I became.  If there was one thing my mother taught me, it was to seek to grab reality by the throat.  "Don't sugar-coat things"!  So, I thought, we need to grasp firmly the harsh reality of our own mortality - we are dying!  In doing so, we are in a much better place to prepare for the inevitability of that experience.

And yet.  When I read the bible - it does not hesitate to speak of death AND to use euphemisms.  The most common - sleep.  Paul speaks of dead saints as those that are "asleep".  Why?  Perhaps it is to take the edge off of the harshness of saying they are dead.  Jesus spoke of Lazarus being asleep.  Because, for the Christian, the harshness of death has been taken away in Jesus.  The essence of the euphemism is true. Our loved one who has died is "gone".  They are, if believers, absent from the body and present with the Lord.

Using a euphemism does not mean we are have not grasped the reality of the situation. The next time someone tells me that their Christian oved one is "gone", I shall not protest.  Gone indeed!

Fireball

Last evening I was out with one of my telescopes.  It was a beautiful evening.  There was very little wind and clear skies.  After 90 minutes or so I was beginning to pack everything up.  Several targets had given me great delight - M3, M13, M81, M82, Saturn, etc.  Suddenly, toward the North and a bit West, there was a very bright flash and a few lesser flashes.  It was a bit disorienting.  I checked the computer and knew it was not weather related.  Perhaps, I thought, this was the big one.  The nukes were dropping and the world as I now knew it was coming to an end.  (you never know!)  It turns out it was a very bright meteor entering the atmosphere somewhere over Wisconsin.  I did not actually see the fireball, my view was blocked by my house, but I did see the consequences.  Keep looking up.  Just when you don't expect it (Him) . . .

An estimated 50,000 years ago a meteorite slammed into earth's surface near Diablo Canyon, New Mexico.  The impact left a crater approximately 4000 feet in diameter and (today) 570 feet deep.  The object which made the crater was an iron-nickel meteorite estimated to have been 54 yards across.  Most of it was vaporized by entry into the atomosphere and the smash into the New Mexican plain.  But, bits of it were scattered about and can still be had.  One of them resides on my desk.  It is about the size of a peach pit, is very heavy, and metallic.  My brother gave it to me as a gift.

Witnessing a "falling star" is an exciting event - at least for me.  Having a piece of one in my possession is quite another story.  I wonder about it - the orginal rock - where did it come from?  How long was it circling through the solar system?  How far had it traveled before ending up in New Mexico? 

Sometimes meteorties actually strike people or houses or cars.  You probably can get insurance for the damages they cause.  People have seen them as signs from above - messengers of judgment or blessing.  I keep mine on my desk as a reminder that the solar system is a big place and that the Lord rules where ever my meteorite piece originated.       

Illinois Earthquake

For the second time in my life I have been awakened by an earthquake.  It happened early this morning, between 4 and 5 o'clock.  There is an unnatural tremor unlike any thing else that accompanies an earthquake.  That bit of anecdotal evidence is the result of being awakened by two earthquakes - take it for what it is worth.  I had always wanted to feel one.  I have come close enough. 

This is especially true when I think of Haiti.  250,000 estimated dead.   Our county only has 14,000 residents.  Champaign county has 196,000; McClean county 170,000.  I cannot,  in my wildest dreams, imagine that many people disppearing from the planet as a result of one catastrophic event.  And yet, it happens with some regularity on our planet.  And, the questions fly.  Why this, why them, why there, why, why, why?  Maybe I should be asking why not here?  Why not me? 

I am not wise enough to pronounce it an act of judgment, although all such occurences are wake up calls for us all.  A tower fell crushing to death several people.  Jesus said they were not worse sinners than those who did not die.  But, all of us better take note.  Life is a vapor.

Two earthquakes, both since coming to Gibson City.  Hmmm. 

Check Out Mars!

A lot of misinformation has been on the web about how large Mars would appear to the naked eye at this particular period of time.  Some sites were claiming Mars would be as large as the moon!  That is impossible unless Mars and the Earth moves a significant distnace closer to one another.  Which, if that happens, would give us bigger issues with which to concern ourselves than how big and bright Mars appears.

What is true is that this month Mars is closer to us than it has been or will be in our life time and that it is bright.  In fact, it is the brightest object in the evening sky except for the Moon and the star Sirius.  You know it is Mars because it is rust colored.  Look in the Eastern sky around 8:00 P.M. You do not need a telescope or binoculars to enjoy seeing it.  All that does need to happen is for the clouds to part! 

And, while you are looking at it, think about the two rovers currently sitting on the surface of Mars and the biggy brains necessary to get them there.  I think the initial life expectancy of the two rovers was 90 days and they have been going strong for 6 years.  Pretty amazing.