Billing by e-mail. What...! These cheapoid corporations are too stingy to hire billing clerks, that's what.

Old me, was watching my mailbox, waiting for that bill to arrive, so i could write the check and get it out of my hair.  No bill.  So i called them - and per Godly miracle, i wasn't subjected to that "your-call-is-very-important-to-us" line of bull-crap.  The operator, a real person, picked up like within a minute.  He told me i had been signed on to the e-billing, and then he straightened that out to put me on real billing (i.e., statement comes in the mailbox).  He even said that e-bills tend to get buried.

By the way, the bill is for something basic and important.  Ya know, if you don't pay yer cable teevee, they cut ya off - and unless you pay an insane reconnect fee, you are denied having sewage pouring into yer home.  But you still have your lights, water, heat...

E-bills.  Worse than cheapskate.  Being in debt is a fast-track to confusion - which is precisely where evil wants ya.  Being in debt means that if ya miss one payment, the handlers - who claim they wanna help...yeah, they wanna help alright - help themselves to yer stuff.  And then there's the ridiculous servIce charge$.

Come on, who hasn't sent in a late payment / or has written a rubber check at one time or another?  Back in the day (raspy old voice) there was something called mercy.  Now-a-days it's like there's an active hope to see regular people financially stumble - and then preach at em (in subtle mocking tones, of course).

Got to get ready for work.

Glad a nine year-old didn't hear what i just heard. Here's the skinny: somebody was

talking about 3k all inclusive va-ca (in a certain (southern) nation where idols are everywhere, the government about as corrupt as 3-day roadkill...hmm, how that always goes together.   Oh wait, then comes the third cord:  those armpit places treat their citizens like garbage - uh, no wonder they're coming up here. 

Anyway, the other couple made it perfectly clear, kids aren't welcome - i.e., don't bring her kids.  Well, the woman doesn't really want to go, for one or more reasons.  Sounded, in the tone of her voice, like she had been taken aback by the very vaIn comment.    Yeah, Jane is the sort of woman who likes her kids, likes being around them. 

For what it's worth, that's my impression of Jane.  She married (a Man -- ya know XY chromosome) had two, maybe three, children.  And the couple enjoyed their kids' company.  Those kids are grown now, and it seems like Jane had been offended by the vaIn comment because it's as if ms.vanIty just trashed one or more persons with whom Jane enjoys social activities. 

Btw, saw an ad for one of those "all inclusive."  Yeah, all the food was included, but they said "more" but not "all" drinks.  Yeah, that's how them repros get ya.  DrIIInks, they can pour the lot of 'em down the crapper - where booze belongs.

Back in 2010, or 11, i came across Charles Spurgeon sermons - and it was like he had preached them last Tuesday.

Last night, was listening to Jason Cooley at sermonaudio.com and he was saying that Spurgeon had preached to thousands at a time.  Yeah, i had read of the great crowds Spurgeon had attracted, but until a few moments ago, hadn't really thought about the fact that 150 years ago, most people didn't have the time or money to gad about looking for entertainment.  No movies, no football games, no internet.

Yeah, back then there were barrooms and dance halls, but respectable people back then were far more choosy of how they spent their precious, and limited, free time.  In other words, even unsaved people would go to hear a KJB (because the newFANGled bibles weren't out yet) sermon, and read them in the weekly paper, or buy them for a penny or so at the local bookshop. 

Today, we download (skanky) movies.  Back then, it was common - even among the working class - to go hear a lecture/sermon.  The former would cost a nominal fee - which many working people couldn't spare, while during the latter, a plate was passed around - if you could only spare a penny, then you gave a penny.  If you had no money, you weren't the only one in the audience with that issue.

Anyway, have to get ready.

Was listening to a preacher last night. Have noticed that preachers with a scottish accent,

(he hailed from north carolina, i think) draw a hard line.  But anyway, Bible is right, and i'm an idiot for arguing.  He said some  things that resonated.  Besides that the world has a judgy tude that would outdoany dour-faced old fundie broad, he was saying the world wants to shove Christians back into tiny churches.  He said, the reason why some churches want to build a school, a gym and such is because, these congregations are so FED UP with the garbage they see day to day.  In short, these parents want to be able to take their kids a place or two where the kids aren't subjected to non-stop rubbish.  Ya know, ya can't even stop for a pizza without some TEEVEE blaring some sort of ... weirdness.

While he did not mention tithing, he did mention putting money where one's mouth is.  Athletic centers cost money.  Got to thinking about the tithe and all.  i only have a quarrel when preachers manipulate their financially pressed congregants to fork over money, while housing bills get partial payments, if that / are paid with a credit card - which already has a balance of ... yikes!

Uh, aren't there Scriptures against not paying your bills/taxes?  Are there not Scriptues against stiffing your neighbors, who will end up taking the slack?  Uh, that same Bible tells us to give to those in need.  Well, one way to do that is to relieve the burden of others is by not becoming a burden to others.  Uh, others who have enough to deal with ... keeping their kids clothed, fed and interested in constructive things.

Want to share my blog with a few people, but am really skittish. For one thing, am one of those people

who (oh dare i say) believes that President Donald Trump is waaayy better than the two previous ones.  Shame though, that our President has caved into the weirdo faction - uh, them psyco-freaks will NEVER be satisfied.  Hey, i didn't write the history - ya know, once is enough, but the attempted break-in happened twice, because the perps wanted to do th' EW! thing.  Nuff said...for now.  Uhm, there's a saying about evil prevailing when good (which i am not) people do nothing.

Anyway, i hesitate to share this, just am not in the mind-frame to deal with scorning rejection right now.  Rejection for being too direct in my own blog.  Over at other people's blogs, i don't want to use rude words to describe people who are just plain bad news waiting to come off the press.

All's i know is: i may not like what the Bible says, but guess what:  the Bible isn't going to soft-peddle or go away because susie doesn't like what the Lord says here and there.  Why even basic algebra frustrates and just ticks me off at times; math laws aren't going to soften up because susie's having excel formula issues.

More latet.

Guess the demons are in rare form this morning. Yikes! i can hear that

vile mmuuse-eech from a neighboring cube.  And the dude listening to it has on earplugs.  Uh, how does he concentrate?  Hhmm, maybe that's why such and such report was, again... uh, ya get the picture.  Anyway, what prompted this short post was what a for-real preacher (over at sermonaudio.com) had said about how everywhere ya go - even for a newspaper - there's that LOUD music playing.  He made the very discerning statement about people so full of demons that want to rest a bit.  Guess demons are more into zeppelin than into ronnie milsap.

Anyway, it's 8 o'clock.

Yesterday was Charles Darwin's birthday. People celebrate the evidence of evolution.

Surely, among a few of those well educated people, were individuals who had to declare bankruptcy - even though the evidence had been on the books (in the form of rather unclear transactions) for some time.  Can and does happen, when people go into business together.  Years roll by, and things seem good, the partners get along well - the two families have a history of going on ski trips and cruises together. 

And although one of the men has been saying and doing things, here and there for the last year or so, that don't quite add up, the other business partner assumed male menopause, or whatever, and simply had no idea the phrases, facial expressions were warnings, that the man was trouble waiting to happen.

The (much lauded) evidence undeniably came in.  And it's too late.  Mr.male-meno has left his wife (and children in a lurch) and took off with most of the company's profits.

In short, people ignore/misinterpret evidence all the time.

People must have been stronger back then. All's i know is, during that

battle with a band of narcs, called amalekites, (they were the nasties who preyed upon the weak, the stragglers), when Aaron and Hur put that stone under Moses - so Moses could sit down, while the other two kept Moses's arms raised - i know that Aaron was in his early 80s, and a cubic foot of granite weighs 160 pounds.  From what i gather, Moses was taller than a child, so he'd need a seat fit for a 5 foot 10 inch adult.  So i am guessing that Aaron and Hur quickly found a stone, and it weighed about 300 pounds.  The three men were on a hilltop, Exodus 17:10-12 doesn't mention anyone else, but the three, on that hilltop.

i guess 80 back then was like 50 today.  i am sure two 50 year-old men could "take" a stone from 100 feet or so over there and bring it over here, and still have the energy to change a tire, and later on, secure a length of down-spouting.   Oh, but wait, the two guys STOOD in place, holding up Moses's hands till sunset.  Uh, no sitting down to rest a bit before the next task.

Tasks.  Time to put blogger away.

Yeah Peeps, i hear ya - and sure don't blame ya - going on about rich churchians.

As you have also mentioned, the pews are occupied by families.  Sure, can make a person feel conspicuous sitting alone.  i go anyway, and it's only the Lord's grace that keeps me going to church every sunday.  Because, frankly, if it was up to me, i could very easily find other things to do with the time, and there's plenty of things i could put toward buying myself with the money - like the teapot, the two or three dresses, the curtains, another set of sheets (that i don't really need, but want anyway) the old engli$h rose bushes (come spring) the big flower pots, topsoil ... oh, the want-it-but-can't-afford-it list goes on.

Anyway, guess it was about two or three years ago - before my husband passed - was in church, and one of the fffaaammilies had family, from a far state, visiting.  Number one: 800-some mile road-trips aren't cheap.  Oh ya shoulda heard the rather well-heeled man singing loud and strong.  Uh, would that dude have the same joy-joy tone if he had issues concerning everyday expenses? 

But it's not just about money, or lack thereof.  It's a culture thing.  While i've been faithfully attending church for (this spring will mark) eight years, things still - and probably always will - come off like being in a room where everybody is speaking Spanish.  Yeah, i know enough that they're talking about the parable of the sower - and so recognize some of the words - and their expressions and body language indicate for-realness...i guess when you've grown up and spent most of your years in a far country...

Yikes, it's getting late.  Need to get ready for work.  Bet mr.praisey-pearce is comfortably retIred by now ;/

When reading blogs - and in these twit-times, blogs with sentences - containing

more than five words - and paragraphs - containing more than three sentences - are becoming scarce.  Anyway, interesting blogs aren't just everywhere.  i also enjoy reading people's comments.  But what rankles me, is when i read a good comment, and then follow the readers link, there's no blog - or much of anything else in the profile.  So much for finding another interesting blog.

i am so NOT!! interested in the main-stream, wIdely-read publications; if i want fake news, i'll buy a freaking television set, thankyouverykindly!  i desire to read what regular people are thinking about.  Back in the days when everyday people actually WROTE articles, hey you could even find their blogs per google.  Not so much anymore.  Nowadays, it's major mags, and they want you to $ub$scribe.  No thanks, not interested in funding the typical pro-pervert social-darwinism creeping-in-unawares dogma.

Lunch is nearly over.  And part of reading the Bible is, getting a sense about things.  Things like, it's stealing to blog while on company time.

Thing is, lost people get treated to praisey-maisey platitudes, only to go their way...LOST!

The woman is blessed, she is a housewife - in other words, her husband actually provides for her - shock, shock.  She even said that following Jesus Christ is easy and peaceful.  Uh yeah, i guess a person can feel free of stress, when he or she stands to inherit about 1/3 of a million dollars.  That sort of provision, if managed well, will yield a decent supplement later in life. 

In the meantime, she drives a car that isn't being held together with gorilla tape.  Another thing that bothered me was her lack of empathy toward women who have to work - that is, if they want their kids to eat something better than sodium-soaked noodles, and wear clothing that doesn't come from smelly rooms.  She flat out said that women chose to go to work.  Uh no!  Reality is, wives went to work because pee-wee was a freaking worthless idiot.  THAT'S why, wives went to work!

Not the first time i was treated to praisey platitudes, and - even these falling-away-in-droves days - sure won't be the last time i am subjected to invalidating speech.  Thing is, the general 'tude is deadly poison to lost people.  And lost people have heard it several times.  Oh, once is more than enough.

Busstop ahead.

MmKay, so yer social security is the Lord Jesus. Yaay you! Glad to hear you've the faith,

which dispatches (financial) worries straightaway down the crapper, where they belong.  Seriously, lady, yaay you!  But not everyone shares your (ultimate) reality.  Uh, if i remember correctly, even Paul - PAUL!!! - worried at times whether or not he'd finish with shield in hand - or end up being carted home upon it.  Anyway, i'm just one of many sorry-arses who struggle.  In other words, i'm not singing happy-hymns all the day long.

Guess it's easier to let the world go its way when you're young.  Come to think of it, it's far easier to learn the metric system or Spanish at 10, than it is at 60.  At the store was a bag of dry-goods that i had considered buying, but the label was written in Spanish, so i didn't know if it was that bleached/enriched stuff - that i don't overly trust.

i was raised in a social-darwinistic environment - secular calvinism, to th' nth degree, babah!  In a jam?  Well, too bad for you, you should have ... bla bla bla!  Yeah, OK Herbert Spencer ;/   No, neither he nor charles were discussed or quoted.  The works of those two didn't have to be, their watered down phIlo$ophies came through the TEEVEE - like backed up sewage during a freak rain storm.  So the stench is hard to get rid of.

"Nothing new under the sun."  So i'm not alone in this.

Okay, Boomer. Just remembered something that happened about 30 years ago.

Had to be that timeframe, because i hadn't yet met my (late) husband.  Was at a party.  On the grill was some steak and some chicken - these were for the adults.  The, ugh, hamburger didn't look so good - that was for the children. 

But things worked out...that time.  You see, while the (ugh-hem) "grownups" were over there getting smoked/coked up, the good stuff was ready, and the children had some steak and chicken.  Frankly, i believe the "adults" were a bit too high to either notice or care.

That was 1990, or maybe early 91.  Either way, those children are now approaching middle-age.  Gen X? Y?  Don't know, or even care.  But i'll bet those 30-somethings haven't forgotten certain things from 30 years ago. 

Yeah, like that Halloween party a year or so earlier - ugh, why'd the adults have to take down the cardboard haunted house?  The kids wanted to play in it - instead, the children were predictably shoo'd elsewhere.  Oh yeah, that's right, the large painted cardboard boxes had been placed a bit too close to the smoke-n-coke buffet...silly me;/

Today, those kids surely wonder if there will still be a job next season, if there will be any social-security funds for them when they reach 68 or 69.  All the while, noticing the retIred  boomers going out for breakfasts and dinners.

Uh yeah!  Who wouldn't feel resentment?

OK Boomer! Raises some thoughts. First off, accusations of young people

being lazy and feeling entitled.  Well, that goes like this:  in an economy where sustainable jobs are difficult to find / hold on to - and qualifying for jobs, that are basically glorified clerk typist positions means going THOUSAND$ into debt (when you're not even old enough to buy a pack of smokes) ...  Meanwhile, rents are insane and splitting expenses with a roommate...yeah, good luck with that drama. 

Young people are resentful???  Young people aren't stupid.  While, during childhood - and not quite able to articulate - tell me these 20 and 30-somethings didn't have a sense of possibly being less than welcome, of being in the way (while mom's moving in her boyfriend, and dad?...he's living somewhere in.. oh wait a sec, he's not there anymore).  How many young people lost a sibling?  Not to a car accident or a freak fever, but to a pre-planned (and inexpensive) appointment at the local moloch-mill. 

We've been a society which has been less than child-welcoming.  Predating the vapid for-the-children memes by several decades, there came out movies to separate the generations.  Prior to the late 60s, mom and dad could take their kid to a movie and not have to worry about language used or things done on-screen.  Back then, movies for adults were simply boring to children.  When the cop shot the crook, there was no detailed blood-scene - the bad guy just keeled over dead.  Hmmm, back then, more than a few producers and actors had served in the war, or had a brother of cousin who served - and saw things, and after so many years, still wasn't right in the head.

Nuts, getting late, got to get ready and roll.

One thing a certain 10% minimizer did mention in his (on-line) sermon did resonate.

He discussed how the congregation will amen sermons against fornicating, drinking, smoking, gambling, gossiping...  But mention tithing, and the people stiffen up.  Uh, yeah!  Could it be, the men and women in the congregation - who do give sacrifically - are barely able to keep their bill's paid, and set aside for things like tires and tooth-fillings?  The group he was preaching to generally are parents of more than one or two children - some have like six or eight.

All's i know is, the various stats around generally point to 20% of families are so strapped that a trip to the grocery store = an anxiety exercise.  There is of course a white-washed term for it - food insecurity.  In light of some one out of five adult americans between the ages of 18 and 65 in need of employment that actually affords lodging that doesn't smell funny, there's the pressure.

See that pressure anytime i drive.  Rarely, do i see a clunker.  It's like most the vehicles are late model, no dents for the most part, and they shine.  Are people actually afraid to be seen driving a dented soda can (that runs safely)?  Car payments suck the flour and the green beans out of the kitchen, the ammonia and soap powder from the utility shelf.

How do people afford it?  Really!  Not every driver is making $30 or more an hour.  From what i gather, average annual income is around 60k - two and three bedroom lodging takes up about 15k - 25%, which the economists say a higher percent, like 30%, is financially crippling. 

All's i know is, i get really tired of hearing how spoiled americans are - like we're supposed to apologize for not living in a cardboard box right alongside a running sewer.  Uh no, our forefathers said nuts to those armpit places and got out of those hells-on-earth - ya know, the same sorts of places where multiple gods are kowtowed to, and there's graven images of 'em every freaking where.  Yeah, funny how that works out, huh!

Godda roll.

my pastor, who has a small church just down the street (yeah, the Lord is good -

getting me to a real church, when He knows i have driving/car-maintenance anxiety).  Anyway, in the eight years i've been going about every Sunday, i have NEVER heard anything even approaching a fork-it-over...dimwit sermon.

Pastor used to build houses for a living, but he's old and can't do that stuff anymore.  Neither have i heard of him clocking air miles to sunny-town conventions.  Uh, no.  The preachers' meetings he attends - IF he has time/resources - are local, like an hour or two by car.  Gone in the morning, back by evening.  Uh yeah, Pastor puts his family's needs before any desire to go hang out somewhere.

My pastor would like to have a bigger church, but is Biblically grounded about that desire - ya know, it's usually the small churches where the sheep get fed real food, and are grounded enough to feed themselves throughout the week.

Put a sock in it, Dave! A certain well-known (and well heeled) churchian

financial consultant was stressing the importance of submitting to the Sunday morning shakedown.  But what really rankled this blogger was, he was telling people who were in serious debt bondage that tithing should remain a priority.

Bondage!  Hey dude, my mom left church at a very young age, because she sensed a serious lack of compassion - and that realization stunk.  i don't believe the issue was about money, but was about people who act all pious, and then turn around and make snide little i'll-pray-for-you comments - yeah right.

And predictably, whenever that certain stickup subject comes out of, even a KJB pulpit, preecher-creecher manipulatively minimizes what 10% off the top really means to people who struggle with legit expenses (ya know, heat groceries, gas).  Oh, but the heist doesn't end there.  Ten percent?  That's just the bare minimum, preecher-creecher and his decon-crew want more (hey, there's a conference coming up - and it happens to be in some sunny fun-town... go figure).

Oh, and don't forget the missions fund.  And by the way, jack, [dern] you really should see a dentist - ugh, just talking to you...gross!