Wisdom

There are many people who have wisdom.  They know how to make decisions based on foreseeing and knowing how that decision will turn out. For example, consider the man who needs to decide who to marry. 

Grace is a beautiful woman in appearance and has a pleasant personality that draws the attention of everyone, everyone. She knows she is beautiful and uses her beauty to gather attention and favours from others.

Ruth on the other hand is good looking woman but not considered beautiful like Grace is. Ruth is warm and friendly, loves her little nieces and nephews, and respectful of her parents. She is the kind of woman that will mow the lawn to help her parents.

The man loves both of these women and wants to get married.  Is he wise, will he decide to marry Grace? Or Ruth?  Will wisdom enter into his decision or will he decide foolishly?  The man of wisdom can foresee the outcome of his decisions before he makes them. - Proverbs 2:10-11

The foolish man will not consider his way, and will rush headlong into calamity. Following his treacherous heart, he will suffer for his lack of wisdom.

Wisdom is not the possession of all men, just a few.

Wood Working

I would like to have a wood shop, and this requires expensive tools and building that has eluded me so far.  Also, my life course led me to the construction trades of plastering and tile setting.  These trades involved gypsum and cement mortar, not wood. As a consequence, my experience and knowledge is lacking in the wood trades.  I will remedy that shortfall.

My grandfather made furniture for his own home, in his shop out in his garage. He taught me how to use his various tools safely, and had faith in me to keep all my fingers attached to my hands. So, as a young boy I could go out to the shop and make various items, to keep my self amused.
My father also was expert in fine woodcraft, making all manner of clocks, trophies, and furniture.  I still have many of the items they made dating back to the early 1930's.


So, I also want to have a wood shop, to learn the trade well and make fine furniture and custom horse drawn carriages and wagons.  That would be so much fun.

Someday .....

Faith

The world of mankind has always been filled with religious faith of one sort or another. The heart of man needs to worship a god or multiple gods and they form various personalities and attributes to these gods. In so doing they have come up with thousands of religious faiths that they adhere to, and enslave themselves to, with varying degrees of intensity.

Why so many religions?  Did not mankind start with the recognition of only one God?  Why then did religion get so confusing and divisive, leading to wars and hatreds?
The answer is obvious, mankind in general refuses to acknowledge the sovereignty of the original and true Creator God of Genesis chapters 1,2,3.
They prefer to invent their own "designer" god or gods that will suit and endorse their independent ideas and aspirations. They have created imitation, substitute gods for themselves.

So now, man has what man has invented;  wars, hatreds, prejudices, immorality, and horrendous crimes of all sorts, to the point of producing absolute agony upon the religiously divided human family.  False religion and the ferver it produces must bear the responsibility for all this chaos.

Flight

Birds fly with such ease and grace, majestic in their form and design.  Their colours are displayed for mankind to see and appreciate.  We marvel at their individual abilities  to procure food, each species having their own specialized methods.

Sea Birds can spot a dinner from altitude and steeply dive toward their goal, pierce the water and swim to secure it.  They actually swim/fly through the water and then surface to again fly to altitude;  Marvelous!

The Goshawk is a fast, low flying predator that can weave its way through dense forest trees and limbs, folding its wings, flying sideways, upside down, through tight openings that require pushing against limbs with its feet to control the squeeze through the opening.  All this while flying at great speed to catch its prey;  Complete flight control, Fantastic!

The Kingfisher perches on a rock or tree limb over the waters edge and searches the surface for a fish.  When spotted, the Kingfisher dives into the water, spears the fish, resurfaces, and flies back to his perch all in one quick motion.  And the bird never misses, never.  Incredible! 

I could mention each and every bird we know of with the same appreciation of their unique abilities and this blog would go on forever.

Man can fly.  But we do it with machines, noisy contraptions that we design and manufacture. We produce wings, inspired by birds. We take great pride in our airplanes and boast over our achievements, and rightly so, because they are magnificent machines.  But can we match the beauty and gracefulness of birds?

I want to praise the Great Creator God Jehovah for his designing and creative genius. - Ecclesiastes 8:17

Cars

If there is anything of a material object that stirs mankind's interest, it seems to me the automobile is at the top of the list.
Who is the man who does not want a car?  A nice car with all the things he considers important?

The Ferrari.  The Ford GT.  A nice new Honda Accord is good.  We really like cars.

My first car was a used 1941 Chevrolet Club Coupe that I bought before my 16th birth date.  I paid $200 for it and it was in great shape, black with grey interior.  I sanded and prepared the exterior for a new paint job and my Dad and I painted it blue.  I drove it to school every day.  I was proud of that car and wish I still had it.

Why do we love cars so much? They are just machines after all, just a tool to get to places we need to go to. We wash the car, we take care of it, even pamper it, like it was a extension of our self, our person, maybe even our perceived personal worth.  Our perception of ourselves is often displayed in the vehicle we choose to drive.  There are men who only want a pickup and will not drive a sedan.  There are others who will not drive a yellow car, or a green one.
I cannot bring myself to buy a car with a black interior, it has to be of a brown colour.  Why is that? I don't know, it is just the way it is.  It is bigger than me, it's in our wiring from the very early days of our childhood.

If I had the means, I would buy a new Aston Martin Vantage or  a restored 1940 Ford Pickup.
Just goes to prove I appreciate all kinds of cars.  Their style, their sound, their personality, all of them have a reason to appeal to our interests and prompt us to pay big money for the privilege of driving them around.

We are a very interesting and complex people.

Surfing

I was a surfer once upon a time.
I bought my first surfboard around 1962 and was a orange coloured Hansen.  In those days of freedom from care, we would trek on down to Huntington Beach and spend the weekends goofing around with our friends.

I was able to surf in Del Mar, Encinitas, and Leucadia often as I grew older and have good memories of those times.

After a long absence from surfing, I am older still, but in my mind I am 18, so two years ago I got the crazy idea to buy a new surfboard and get on the beach again, to have a good time there.  I was so excited as I took the board out of my truck, trekked to the water and,,,, I could not "get up!"  I had lost my balance, my dexterity, and my agility and I was embarrassed by my 'oldness'.

To realize that is shocking, shocking to a man with a 18 year old mind that resides in an old body.  I went home and cleaned up the new surfboard and hung it up in the garage.

My surfing days are over.   However, I thank my God I still have my young mind.

Photography

When I was in High School, my father, who was a U.S. Navy aircraft mechanic during WW2, gave me some advice.
I asked what I should try to do when I joined the Navy, which was my plan in 1963.  What goal or job should I seek?  He suggested I be a Navy Photographer, to document Navy operations.  He told me to seek out all the education that the Navy offered and photography would be good for me.
Well, as it turned out, due to various circumstances, I never did join the Navy and I never became a educated photographer.  Instead I went into the construction industry, got married, had children, and enjoyed a different path.

I truly enjoy the wonderful work of the skilled photographers in this world.  They produce such wonderful images and I can spend hours admiring  their creative genius, a skill I wish I could have developed.
My favourite subject is landscapes, and how they draw me into the scene, making me wish I was there.

To all the photographers;  Thank you for your work.