The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Greetings ta ever one in western Illinois and all readers of "The Quill".
Well, we had quite an enterest'n snow last weekend fer this late inta spring. Snow on Easter Sunday and now snow on the follow'n Sunday. That is an enterst'n combination.
Fish'n.
My fish'n guide shows the best fish'n days of the month are April 14 through April 17, April 21 and April 22, and finally April 27 through April 29.
The rest of the days betwixt April 13 through April 30 are good and better fish'n days but, not as good as the best.
Looks ta me a good time ta dig out yer pole and take a family member or friend fish'n.
That a ways should anyone ask how yer fish'n went ya can always say ya had a least a "good" day of fish'n whether ya caught anything or not.
Here is a wonderful true story as an example of our christian heritage concern'n the moon and God.
THE MOON AND GOD!!
What was the first liquid and food consumed on the moon? I'm betting that most are unaware of this story.
Forty-nine years ago (July 20, 1969), two human beings changed history by walking on the surface of the moon.
But, what happened before Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong exited the Lunar Module is perhaps even more amazing, if only because so few people know about it.
I'm talking about the fact that Buzz Aldrin took communion on the surface of the moon. Some months after his return, he wrote about it in Guideposts magazine.
The background to the story is that Aldrin was an elder at his Presbyterian Church in Texas during this period in his life; and, knowing that he would soon be doing something unprecedented in human history, he felt that he should mark the occasion somehow.
He asked his minister to help him and so the minister consecrated a communion wafer and a small vial of communion wine. Buzz
Aldrin took them with him out of the Earth's orbit and onto the surface of the moon.
He and Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a few minutes when Aldrin made the following public statement:
"This is the LM (Lunar Module) pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way."
He then ended radio communication, and there, on the silent surface of the moon, 250,000 miles from home, he read a verse from the Gospel of John, and he took communion.
Here is his account of what happened:
"In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine.
"I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup.
"Then I read the scripture: "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit...Apart from me you can do nothing.'
"I had intended to read my communion passage back to Earth, but at the last minute [they] had requested that I not do this.
"NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew's reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly."
"I ate the tiny toast and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon and very first food eaten there were communion elements."
"And, of course, it's interesting to think that some of the first words spoken on the moon were the words of Jesus Christ, who made the Earth and the moon- and who, in the immortal words of Dante, is Himself the "Love that moves the Sun and other stars."
How many of you knew this? Too bad this type of news doesn't travel as fast as the bad does.
The nicest place to be is in someone's thoughts, the safest place to be is in someone's prayers, and the very best place to be is in the hands of God. AMen.
With those thoughts, heres another wonderful story fer ya:
In a mother's womb were two babies. One asked the other: "Do you believe in life after delivery?" The other one replied, "Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later."
"Nonsense" said the first. "There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?"
The second said, "I don't know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can't understand now."
The first replied, "That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded."
The second insisted, "Well, I think there is something and maybe it's different than it is here. Maybe we won't need this physical cord anymore."
The first replied, "Nonsense. And moreover if there is life, then why has no one come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere."
"Well, I don't know," said the second, "but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us."
"Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That's laughable. If Mother exists than where is She now?"
The second said, "She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. WIthout Her this world would not and could not exist."
Said the first: "Well I don't see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn't exist."
To which the second replied, "Sometimes when you're in silence and you focus and listen, you can perceive Her presence and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above."
May be this was one of the best explanations to the concept of GOD.
Well there ya have it then, something fer the boys ta dwell on fer a spell.
Have a good rest of the week.
Hope'n ta see ya in church this week
Remember, wherever ya are, whatever ya be a do'n "BE A GOOD ONE!"
Keep on Smile'n
Count yer many Blessings
Catch ya later,
Barnyard Bruke