Platypus of Truth

I was asking about what I should blog tonight and the answer has come back to me "blog about getting jobs". Hmmm... Well, having gotten several in my life, including the one I'm currently employed in, I think I must have at least some idea of how to do that. Connections seems to be the big key. Every job I've gotten but one I've gotten through connections with employees; everything from teachers to college buddies. In the world it's who you know as much as what you know. Wow, that sounds like a Willie Lowman tirade... The Platypus is not a Willie Lowman.

I have a book to recommend for all you history buffs and fans of the mediaevals out there: Barbara Tuckman's "A Distant Mirror, the Calamitous 14th Century". Tuckman's history is a little dated in terms of theory, so take her portrait with a grain of salt, but the work is intriguing and a good practical background for how the ideas of the mediaevals played out in actual society. Above all, Tuckman doesn't seek to set down a definitive picture of the 14th Century, but rather to show the tensions and competing forces that framed it. 'Sides, the books just plain well-written and fun. The Platypus gets medieval, but only if you try and take his Pizza first...

I checked Bubbs today and in the prayer section there was a post with a series of excerpts from different Bible verses. All of them emphasized trusting in God to provide and the refining nature of patience. Patience is a kind of moral strength. Like building a physical muscle, patience grows with work and practice. Have you ever noticed how incredibly strong patient people are? Have you seen the kind of moral force they exude? Ever wonder how they got that way? God teaches us patience not just for patience sake, but so that we can have the moral strength to do His will. With patience comes peace, with peace comes wisdom and with wisdom comes right action and right attitude. Praise God for opportunities to cultivate patience. The Platypus is patient... except when it comes to food. Beware the hungry Platypus!

I like the idea of disembodied talking heads. -especially if they're spinning. I wish I had Colonel Sanders' floating head following me around (I think Fred Sanders likes his head where it is). Wouldn't that be cool? Weird Al has that in one of his songs: "Everything You Know Is Wrong". I can't remember what album that's on. It's one of his earlier ones. Anyhow, I'm sure all my friends are glad that I don't have a disembodied floating talking head. My own head seems to be quite enough. Besides, the Platypus might get jealous...

I've been busy (to say the least) over the past few days. My travels are not quite over yet as I still have to return from seeing my brother graduate in Thousand Oaks. In the meantime I've been to Thousand Oaks, Santa Barbara, Fresno, Yosemite, La Mirada and back to Thousand Oaks again. Hopefully, as my travels wind up I will be able to go back to regular posting. I hope you have been able to enjoy the posts that are already up there over the past few days while I've been away. In the future, I may be putting up more devotional thoughts if it interests you all. In the meantime, the Platypus knows what the travel is all about, but he's keeping quiet. Good Platypus, nice Platypus...

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert, and streams of water in the wasteland. Isaiah 43 God moves with the inexorability of a flood; a flash flood in the desert that cuts channels through plains, shatters hills and breaks mountains. Aeschylus knew this. He saw the power of God roaring like a lion, and gathering like distant thunder. He understood that He was the wild one: the one who is truly free from all restraint because he is Law Himself. Awesome, inexorable, his thunder-strokes beat against desert of the human condition and in their violence transform a wasteland into a fertile plain. If only Aeschylus had know that it was so much more than pain. If God is awesome in His judgment, how much more so in His grace! He makes things flourish where once there was nothing; and who shall stop Him? He pardons the sinner whose sins are unpardonable; and who shall gainsay Him?

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28, 29 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus and what is the first thing He says after declaring this? There's not lists of demands, no threat of apocalypse (though that cannot be ignored) but a wonderful call: "Come to me and I will give you rest." He has the authority to declare a Sabbath rest for God's people. These are the words of the Prince of Peace. Break time has come, the holiday is near at hand. Throw down the tools of your enslavement! Turn aside from the burdens of a dying race inhabiting a dying world. Here is water, here is food, here is the wonderful secret behind the whole cosmos that has been forgotten by the silent planet: the ultimate reality is JOY! Here is your Christ! Here is no uber man, but God become Man, the One who tears

Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto Thee will I pray. My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up. Psalm 5, KJV "Thee" is the familiar in KJV English. Something to think about next time you're singing an old hymn. The Platypus is particularly fond of Wesley. I agree and would add Isaac Watts, Jocham Neader (sp?) and Fanny Crosby (once a resident of Bridgeport CT) to the list. The Platypus agrees with that too, of course.

So if you've been reading along, you've probably noticed by now that every post has "Platypus" in the title. Why is this? Does James really think he's a small, aquatic, poisonous mammal? In point of fact, no. He might wish he was a platypus from time to time, but he is quite human. The Platypus is a different thing altogether. This site pays homage to the noble Platypus, the Platypus of Truth. He is ever in opposition to the Poodle of Lies and has no part in the Hippo of Shame. When the Platypus speaks, many are they who listen. The Platypus, of course, is much too modest to say such things himself. Besides, he finds it hard to type with webbed paws...

I asked for a title for tonight's log and was told "Write about there being too many idiots". Hmmm... tempting. I was almost annihilated today as someone swerved into oncoming traffic to take a left turn while their lane was waiting at a red light. Don't ask me how that works! So much for my chance to land a big lawsuit and pay for grad school... Still, I like having the use of all my limbs; except when I sit down in the park and my legs fall asleep... The Platypus doesn't have to worry about such things. All hail the Platypus.