April 2016

Speaking of what's going on with Warhorn Media, My Soul Among Lions is back at work creating strong Psalm settings. We're working on the next set of ten (Psalms 11–20), and want to share some of the first fruits of our labors:

If you didn't get in on the Kickstarter campaign for the first album or haven't heard the first ten Psalms we've done, they're available for sale in our Bandcamp store.

Prince ...was able to negotiate God and sex in his subject matter in a way that we had never seen before. Every song was either a prayer or foreplay.  
         - Prince's former hairdresser, Michaela Angela Davis

So far this year, our wicked world has witnessed the death of two of its androgynous gods. First it was Bowie, now Prince.

Here's Prince playing lead on the occasion of his 2004 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The song is "While My Guitar Gently Weeps":

More recently, Prince claimed conversion to the Seventh Day Adventist faith (but note correction in comment below). Other than that, he and Bowie were birds of a pair sharing a debauched affect, debauched music, debauched coupling...

The world will keen for Prince as it did for Bowie. Religious language will describe their loss. Decadent societies' artists are their gods.

A couple days after future Hall of Fame pitcher, Curt Schilling, was fired by ESPN for his FB post saying men playing dressup as women and demanding entry to the Ladies Room is "pathetic," Prince joins Bowie in the grave...

[NOTE FROM TB: A dear sister in Christ e-mailed this to my wife and me a couple days ago. We've spent years benefitting from her wisdom privately, so when we were together recently, I asked her to write up some of her wisdom so others could benefit. She declined, but a couple days later she surprised us with this gem. I hope there are more, forthcoming. We're running this piece under the pseudonym "Anonymous" because, while I am resigned to slanders on Baylyblog against the men who write here, the worst bile spewed out on Baylyblog was directed toward a dear woman we love very much. Her post was one of the best, but since it was critical of the abandonment of femininity by women today, it aroused hatred unlike any we've seen before or since. We won't allow any woman to be attacked like that again.]

When my husband and I moved to a new town in 1986, we came with the hope that we would purchase our first home. We had set our budgeted price at $55,000 and began to look at houses. We saw several we liked in the $60-65,000 range, and then I found the home I loved. It was in the neighborhood of our new friends, and it was beyond cute. The asking price was $65000. I called my father and said to him that it seemed that the homes that we would like to buy were about $10K more than we felt we could spend, and that, in fact, we had found a home that we loved for that amount. This was his cue to say that he would give us $10,000, which would have been nothing to him. In fact, I believe that his impulse to do just that must have been very strong, and that it almost certainly took a tremendous amount of self restraint to answer as he did, "Then you will need to find a cheaper house."

This answer was in sharp contrast to the backdrop of my life.

In kindergarten, I was the only child in my class to have a new box of crayons half way through the year. The crayons were provided by the school, but I didn't like the way they looked by January. So my father found out who supplied the crayons and purchased a box, which he delivered to the kindergarten.

In high school, I remember a day that the choir was to sing, and I had a run in my stockings...

Over the years, some businesses we've used have saved us a ton of money and become trusted friends. Here are a couple:

TREES AND SHRUBS:

First, order trees from Arbor Day. They're cheap, and if you take out a $10 membership, along with your order being a third less, you'll get a bunch of free trees. People like to plant older and bigger trees they buy from a nursery and we have some of them, but bare-root plants take hold quickly and almost catch up with nursery trees in a few years. There's no comparison with the cost.

CLOTHES, SHOES, BOOTS, CAMPING GEAR, HOUSEHOLD ITEMS:

Second, order everything you can from Sierra Trading Post. The company was owned by Christians until they sold the company in December, 2012. You won't find clothes, shoes, boots, tents, sleeping bags, briefcases, down coats and vests, or anything else they sell any cheaper anywhere else. Excellent quality at seconds prices and I've never been able to see why anything I've bought has been labelled a second. We've been buying from them for fifteen or twenty years and we love them. Top brands.

CARS AND TRUCKS:

Third, buy salvage title cars and trucks. In our church, we have maybe fifty cars and trucks we've bought from T&T Repairables here just outside Bloomington. They sell all over the world, so you can use them, too—no matter where you live...

Our current emporer seems to think it's his prerogative to crown our next one. News sites are quoting The Obama saying, "Mr. Trump is not succeeding me."

Would someone who knows the man personally kindly inform him it's still "We, the people" who choose our president? Also, that many of us would consider The Donald a massive upgrade over the violations of the rule of law emanating from His Imperial Highness these past eight years? But he should not think this is because we are positive about The Donald. Rather, it's because we are repulsed by him and his fellow Harvard snobsters casting their supercilious glances down on working men who loved Merle Haggard.

Joe Sobran used to say if voting did anything it would be illegal. I wouldn't put it past President Obama to sign the legislation outlawing it, while assuring himself he was only doing what was best for his fellow countrymen. After all, they might abuse their electoral privilege as badly this November as they did eight years ago.

I'm so ready for this man to vacate the White House. So very, very ready. I'll take a loudmouth huckster over a supercilious drone any day.