socks

Aww, thanks y'all. :o--> glad you like 'em Oaks! baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

Aww, thanks y'all. :o--> glad you like 'em Oaks! baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

I feel the earth moooove Under my feet. I feel the sky tumblin' down, A-Tumblin' down. baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

WG that reminded me of this - driving back from Emporia, KS one winter, driving a truck loaded with Way Productions eq, stage stuff and assorted crap, I mean stuff. Driving out to Emp the snowstorm was one of the worst on record, we inched along, I think it took about 26 hours to get there from New Knoxvile. But we did. We called ahead. I think the first thing I heard was "you're LATE!" And these were my buds. Hey, half the loads on the road didn't even drive thru the night at all. But we're all dix at one time or another I guess. Anyway, we do the doo and pack up Sunday night and on the way back the storm started up again full force - we'd had no sleep in about 4-5 days and it was early morning coming out of Kansas so we had to pull over and get more coffee. We inch back up the on ramp to get back on and figure, screw it, and pull off to the side behind another truck to take a nap for "just a few minutes".Zzzzzz. Next thing I know, BB's grabbing my shoulder, "Wake up, we gotta go!" chugging coffee now, we're inching back up on to the lane ahead, and it's snowing hard still. He turns to me and says "Man I just had the weirdest dream! We were sitting in the snow in the truck and got hit, a truck just slammed in to us!" We're getting some steam now, 20 mph or so and suddenly there's all this metal scrinching and brakes grinding behind us, we're brushing off the rear view mirrors and there behind us coming up strong was an 18 wheeler jack knifing and carving up snow in front of it, I mean it was spraying. It slid right through the spot we'd been parked in and landed upright believe it or not. So getting out of the way was good for us and that driver. Cooooool. baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

Cool story, WG! It's weird isn't it, how that happened? Of all the things that led to that moment and then all the things that you could have done, you did that. Boink. Sweet. : ) baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

Hopefull sed :I don't know what happened to Mike when he had his OLG epiphany but it reminds me of when you are dreaming and you wake suddenly thinking you have found the key to the universe and you write it down and in the morning you read what you scribbled at 3 am and it says something like, "eat more ice cream and play blackjack for a living." :D--> :D--> :D--> Oh, you're read my stuff before!!! :D--> Sorry, just had to comment, that seemed too good to pass up. I'm back to pre-planning a thread on Threads, which I think I'm going to call "The Key to Life is Having One Good Pair of Comfortable Shoes". :D--> Stay tuned, it'll set you free. well just look at that girl with the light comin' up in her eyes, she's got to be somebody's baby, she's so fine.... (jackson brown)

Coinkidinks - Mosh Man. Best one I remember is one night long ago a bunch of us were driving off to, you guessed it, a class. We had to stop to get gas and use the rest rooms. I was driving and got out of the car while the gang released with boldness. :D--> I looked under the car and peeked around and lo there was a steady drip of something under the back of the car. The gas tank and there was small, slow, but steady leak. I reached under and felt for the hole and smelled it. Yep, petrol. We asked the guy in the garage what we could do. He went to the sink and got a bar of soap and said "get under there and dry it off really quick and rub this around that hole, it'll plug it". I did, and it did. He let me keep the soap just in case. We got it repaired the next day. (I still carry a bar of soap in my tool kit in every car I've ever owned, just in case. Plus, I can always be clean. :P--> ) The coinkidink part of it was that I had no idea why I got out of the car and looked under there. The leak must have just happened on that drive and it wasn't all that big at the time. I didn't smell gas, other than what was coming out of the rest rooms. I just did it and afterwards everyone asked how I knew it was leaky. "Revelation???" Frankly, I had no idea and still don't. I just did it, with almost no thought. Side note: "socks" is not synonomous with "mechanic". I did the guy thing under the hood with great flourish, but only knew the parts of any car if I'd had to change them out. :D--> Today I am of course a licensed Dude-Man of the Car and able to change out all kinds of things. baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

Piece of a sidebar to a tangent that may be relevant or not... IMO how anyone views VPW (or anyone else who attempts to function as a pastor, teacher, overseer, etc. to the church) has to include the overall standards for that kind of work and those kinds of "jobs". I think Timothy was referenced above and those things that Paul told Timothy would certainly apply. Why did he tell him...because as time went on and the church grew there would be increased need for service and help to the followers of Jesus Christ, of all kinds. Well, here we are, perhaps much further down the line than Paul saw, but nevertheless the standards of Timothy are applicable. (as well as so other things too, of course). VPW, like so many others, was self-employed. He started his own church, organization, ministry whatever you want to call it. He hung out his shingle and opened for business. How that organization was set up was determined him. The whole concept of the Board of Trustees as a governing body for the Way was supported by him. Yes, there were "leaders" meetings up the ying yang for region, limb, area, department coordinators held by him, but anyone who ever attended any of those knows that the doctrinal direction of the Way wasn't determined by the concensus of that group. Direction was very well crafted to support the overall themes and interests set forth by the prez of the Way. Right or wrong, that's the way it was, with the "Way Tree" system as the primary means to communicate. Point - nothing was set up within the Way to collect, evaluate or assess the performance of the President in detail. No performance criteria, other than "what the Word says", and no means of redress if it was felt that the "Word" wasn't being reflected properly in performance unless you want to count writing him personally - no one else knows and there's nothing requiring VP to respond - or publically discussing it with him, to which he could simply dismiss you or deface the validity of your claims in other ways. Short version - One man, one Boss, Answerable to No One, other than his brother, his closest supporter, and uh, God. This experience in the Way taught me that's not a good way to do things. Within the constraints of anyone's own authority it's always possible to cover up our own mistakes or excuse our own behavior. The more open things are, through both personal accountability and through processes, the more our behavior can be honestly evaluated. And look at the benefit! Perhaps VPW would have ended his endeavors in a more constructive and dynamic note than where he did. I think anyone can see that the qualifications to serve the church in a trusted, offical capacity requires above average tenacity, honesty and meekness. Without those things it's a meat grinder of a world of hurt. It would be hard to see VPW in any other light than someone who needed the kind of help the church itself can provide. By shielding himself from that, he suffered and others did too. Getting up close and personal with the things of God is an honor and a privilege. When that's forgotten and abused, your day will go very, very dark indeed. baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

Hope, yeah, you're right. The whole ECU men's "Way Home". Hadn't thought of that for awhile. That was some Prime Beef coming out of there. Randy A, great guy! The West coast had the Anti-Version I think. VP was bound and determined to get California past The Great Split, but it never really happened IMO. I hear ya. What to do when we grow up? :D--> I've been working on a Communications degree, I think I have enough credits, classes and "life's experience" portfolio credits to be a Doctor of All Fluff 'n' Stuff. :P--> Raising our kids and having families that aren't little Wayfer Units prepping for WOW, Corps, and a lifetime of assignments...now THAT'S a victory. You made me think though, way back when, my first "job" of sorts when I was about 18 was working in a data processing installation on the graveyard shift, learning "bursting" of forms while I took computer classes, operator stuff, started Fortran. I cut my hair, and had the classic "day job" while I played nights. The hair grew back, I left after a couple years. Lo 'n' behold in '92 I walked into a job, graveyard shift, in a data processing department with a company I'm still at and one of the first things I cross trained in was - bursting! Dammed if the machinery looked familiar. It was weird but gratifying in a way. I've moved around quite a bit since then in the company. Talk about "starting over" vibes. I just dug in. But you KNOW the thing I emphasize to my kids is...get your degree. Experiment, look around, try stuff, take a break if you want, but focus and work on the education now. well i'm a space cowboy bet your weren't ready for that i'm a space cowboy i'm sure you know where it's at, yeah yeah yeah (steve miller) [This message was edited by socks on December 28, 2003 at 1:25.]

SRTS, leftovers ROCK! The Wif' is doing her magic right now in the kitchen with some. We went simple, had a turkey breast, crock potted, with simple accessories like stuffing on the side. Put the turkey breast in in the morning, add a cup of white wine, bunch of cracked garlic cloves, and some spices. Let fill the house with good smells all day. Carve it up. Everything you want, nothing you don't. Plenty for raiding later. We're not huge eaters although we are black-belt snackers so this is a good solution. The kids had made a dent in them too. :)--> baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

Oh geez. I thought this was the thread about clothes shopping, daddio. --> Never mind. baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

Hope, VP was a Walking Contradiction in many ways. He clearly articulated that to do anything at all, a person needed to go in the Way Corps and get the training, etc. to "really" learn how to stand, etc. He pushed some people to go in he wanted there, others he didn't. If you had something going for you like an education or money or an influential family all the better. If not, he often expressed an attitude like "well, you're not doing anything worthwhile anyway, you should", yada yada yada. He was always "on", always promoting and selling some aspect of the Way. He was a good example of what he wanted the Corps to be, able to go forth in areas of concern, interest and need and sell. I think I've mentioned before we were thinking of going in to the Peace Corps before the Way came along. When everyone was taking one of the first PFAL classes out here, we were taking a Pottery class we'd signed up for together and we didn't want to miss the last few sessions so we waited for the next one. :D--> I think the last class I took before dropping out and dropping in was a computer class, and figure this was 68, 69. Which is right where I picked up again a couple years after moving back out West. :P--> baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

What be dat, Paw? :)--> baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

Thank you, Lady Linda! Happy Merry Christmas and a Big Fat Joyful HO HO to you and to everyone! Best wishes and be careful out there if you're travelling! May your gatherings be sumptuous and your exchanges heartfelt. shower the people you love with love show them the way that you feel.... (james taylor)

It sounds like an honest question, JT. I'm just not sure what you're trying to find out. If the criteria is me and only me as the first hand witness, yes, yes yes I've seen and/or experienced many, lots, quite a few, a bunch. Last month I had a serious problem at work I was working on, a program I'm writing and I was stuck at certain points. I woke up one morning and a section of code was in my vision, right in front of me. Bingo. I knew immediately that was the problem and it proved to be so. Very much like finding a needle in a haystack. I'm very sure that was the spirit of God telling me what was wrong. Earlier this year I was talking to a friend, someone I don't know well but see now and then. She was having a bad day and I put my hand on her shoulder. A series of events ran through my mind and I saw her in them. They turned out to be what she was dealing with. The final event was something yet to happen and I made a suggestion as to how she might handle the whole thing. It happend the way I saw it. I can think of quite a few others over the years, including the whole period that coincided with my involvment in the Way. I don't know if they're "big" enough for what you're looking for though. An auto accident, broken rib and internal bleeding. I was prayed for and the injuries were healed within minutes. I felt it inside as it occured. Do they happen? As far as my own experience goes I'd have to say yes, and they're not limited by the times or circumstances. As far as my own experience goes they just happen when they do. While it may smack of old Wayfer talk, there are certain times when I know "inside" to do something or say something, or know about something and am able to participate in what's unfolding. From my standpoint, it's already happening and underway and I'm just observing it, although I guess it might appear at times when these kinds of things happen that "I'm" calling it. I'm just really not sure that's what's happening. At times I guess those involved might call it a miracle or something of that nature. To me, it's a normal part of my faith. I don't really know why others don't, I don't really think about it that way. I assume there's always a high possibility that something extraordinary can happen at any time. After all, "He's God." Maybe they're not miracles at all, but if the outcome's good, I'm happy to have seen it. baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs) [This message was edited by socks on December 22, 2003 at 22:08.]

Oaks, you sound like you're quoting those records like, well, records. :)--> A "believer" would say they happened just like that. An "unbeliever" would say they're lies, stories, myths, mistakes or embellishments. Frankly, I do think things like that happen today. I once read in a book I wish I still had, I think it was titled something about Surviving. It was a collection of incredible accounts that had happened to people, "miracles", but not a religious book. It had to do with survival in extreme situations. One account was of a guy who was lost at sea, believe it was a plane crashing in the water. He floated around in the water for awhile, trying to tread water. He eventually made it to land, miles away. He said that as he was trying to stay afloat, a huge sea turtle popped up out of the water near him and floated there for awhile. He was going to sink and drown so out of desparation he swam over to the turtle and shuffled up on the back of it trying to hold on. Suddenly the turtle took off and he just held on. The turtle swam to within land and before it beached, it turned around, the guy let go and he swam to shore. He swore that's what happened. I don't remember if it said he prayed or not. Another story in that book was about a kid in the midwest somewhere who fell through the ice on a lake and was submerged in freezing water for 11 minutes. Basically, he drowned and was dead when they pulled him up finally. He revived. These kinds of stories aren't exactly fire from heaven. Or are they? "Weird" things happen all the time, somewhere. Some of them have religious insinuations, some don't. On the other hand, when I think of things like Jesus walking on water, it's obviously an impossible thing that no one could do. Or is it? If He did it, apparently it can be done, it's just a matter of how it was done, what the cause was. Turtles saving drowning men? Coincidence? Or...? what...? baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

You might be a newbie on GS if... You got registered on GS but haven't posted yet because you're waiting to receive the list of Approved Topics that you can teach-um, I mean-share on. When it's your turn of course. If you used to think that "Email" was the Hebrew name for one of the sons of Ishamel ...you just might be a newbie on GS and the 'net. If you're sending Pawtucket 15% of your ISP host fees every month for fear he won't let you connect if you don't....yeah. You're probably a newbie. If the words "domain name" makes you dust off your old AC Syllabus pages on casting out of spirits, yup. You get a Newbie Cap. Oh, if you answered the questions in your personal profile on GS using more than 5 scripture references and now have a genuine suspicion that the one about "show tunes" may actually be a subliminal reference to the gay takeover of the arts, bingo. Free Snapple for the Newbie, we feel your pain. There's gotta be more signs.... :)--> baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs) [This message was edited by socks on December 13, 2003 at 22:14.]

Did something happen??? I thought you were talking about the Way. Something actually HAPPENED there??? :D--> Call Lima! Get the Wapak Bugle on the phone! No, this is big! Call the Dayton Examiner!!! :D--> baby's calling me home, she keeps on callin' me home.... (boz scaggs)

Cool. :)--> It's like a "group hug". I know one thing a lot of us used to dislike was being told what we had to do via Way Tree bureaucracy, whatever the next Big Thing was for our fellowships, yearly themes, "get the tape" instructions, "teach this", don't teach that. People here talk about the "old wineskins" thing of everything being tossed out from the past, etc. etc. etc. and it being anathema to reference certain things, yada yada. I can see that's not where you're at. :)-->But yeah, community stuff might be something cool to do for those who want to. It's a "sermon we can see". I often think of Jesus and the ol' loaves and fishes. The Samritan helping the guy who got attacked. Hungry peop's, gotta eat. Its' so very far away, takes about a half a day to get there, If we travel by my dragonfly.... (Jimi)

Hey Keith, ditto to Vickles. One thing you might consider is community involvement, helping the needy. Food Banks that provide meals and groceries to people. United Way has lots of organizations under their umbrella, you can give them a call. Just cleaning out your closets and garages and taking all your old coats and clothes and stuff and donating them to people. It's Christmas. Some people aren't going to have much to share or share with others. Wouldn't it be nice to know some kids out there got something to make their season a little better? Life is hard for a lot of little ones who didn't ask for it to be that way. Might be someone out there that needs you, you've got a lot to offer. :)--> Its' so very far away, takes about a half a day to get there, If we travel by my dragonfly.... (Jimi)

Ex asked: The ability to twist a square peg in a round hole and say it "fits like a hand in a glove". :D--> Its' so very far away, takes about a half a day to get there, If we travel by my dragonfly.... (Jimi)

double post-a-go go syndrome... Its' so very far away, takes about a half a day to get there, If we travel by my dragonfly.... (Jimi)

Neat! 's the 'olidays! Well, I loaded the cd player just the other day. -Nora Jones -"Cool Yule, a Jazz Christmas", various artists versions of Christmas standards. -"Aaron Neville's Soulful Christmas", standards sung by The Voice. :)--> -Mix CD-assorted Shawn Colvin (Fat City, Few Small Repairs) stuff, miscellaneous Beatles and James Taylor. -Fiona Ritchie's NPR "Thistle and Shamrock" CD sampler of Celtic and Irish music. -"Liquid Spank" ©, CD of stuff I've recorded last couple years. In heavy rotation: Aaron Neville-The Grand Tour, Neville Brothers-"Live on Planet Earth", Johnny Mathis 5 CD compilation, "Venus Isle"-Eric Johnson, Reflections - Guitar, The Fender Guitar 50th Anniversary CD. Its' so very far away, takes about a half a day to get there, If we travel by my dragonfly.... (Jimi)

Very cool, Danny. YOu reminded me of omething I'd all but forgotten about, a friend years ago in Florida who was looking into symbol ideas and came up with the anchor, and anchored cross. He was so excited! "This is a great image!" He made some drawings and things from it. Cool info, thanks! Its' so very far away, takes about a half a day to get there, If we travel by my dragonfly.... (Jimi)

Y'know, in terms of symbols, the cross is a good one. Like the biblical references to the cross, it speaks to the whole of the event of the crucifixion itself, as well as what Christians believe it means. Even though it's so commonplace, it begs the question, "what's that mean?" For a Christian, it's more than a 10 word answer. The dove too, is a good symbol. I've seen some neat little thingies that are images of the cross, with a dove on the top or arm, about to take flight. And the tomb, with the cover/stone rolled away to the side is a powerful image. Death, and it's place, overcome. As Coolwaters said, the giving of oneself for a reason isn't unique to Jesus. "Greater love hath no man" indeed than to give all for a reason and many do so in life and in death. From the standpoint of the biblical writers, it was the series of events of his life, death and resurrection that came full circle on the day of Pentecost. One of the coolest pictures I saw was in an ad for a poster, several years back. It was of a young girl, littly tyke, and she's standing there looking up at someone, Jesus, with a worried look on her face as she holds his open hand showing the huge scar on the palm. In the caption she's saying "What happened to your hand?" It's very poignant, especially when you consider what his answer to that situation might have been. It's a state of mind, isn't it? An attitude of true gratitude. We have redemption in Christ, but that redemption isn't fully realized yet with this "token" we have today, but we have this sacrifice for sin in Jesus's death and the wholeness that it allows today and in the future. In the future, we "know as we are known". Today, the humanity of our spirituality is to our benefit when we live in the midst of this "saving grace." Its' so very far away, takes about a half a day to get there, If we travel by my dragonfly.... (Jimi)