3:10 to Yuma

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A heart-rending whistle cries out to the horizon, then fades into a long trail of charcoal and ash funneling high into an arid sky.

Her life will never be same again.

But this is not the story’s end. Just a new destination.

The life she led before she will lead no more. From this day forward, with every thought and every breath, her heart will beat for someone else… for everyone but herself.

Though around the bend storm clouds may descend. But in the fear and doubt of night, she will recall the vows she swore before her Father and the pledge of devotion to her one true love. She will look back on this day and find hope.

This is a new beginning. A date circled in luscious red, warmly recalled, and blessed.
She may not remember the moment she first fell in love but she will remember today.

Each of us may find our Come to Jesus moment along a different road to Damascus. Some may remember the heart-touching moment in enraptured detail, whether amid the jubulant throng of an open-air crusade or the soulful reflection of an empty quiet. Others… only the journey.

But wading into the river Jordan… that’s a day to remember. A sign post on the trail between nowhere and somewhere to glance back on… from that moment on and forever more.

Thou shalt eat ice cream?

Some teachings don’t require a whole lot of obedience. Just a bigger spoon.

Others may be harder to swallow. But walking the walk is not a menu of convenience: You can’t pick and choose your faith like toppings at Baskin Robbins.

Immersion is more than sunday school pageantry or an entry on a checklist: T’do and be done with.

“Just do it.”  Acts 2:38 (Nike Edition)

To be buried in Christ and raised anew is to confess that you were redeemed and choose to follow Him. But you must deny yourself to claim His name.

Charades is party game all about herself:

…arrayed in white satin (which no one expected), on the arm of an authority she never respected, she was given to a man whose name would never be accepted.

Her prize: A faux-leather gender-neutral NIV rent of Ephesians Five.

The unredeemed preach fulfillment in freedom from him. But in running from one of life’s most cherished pleasures: Needing and being needed, they end up liberated and alone on an empty platform far from home.

To find yourself you must lose yourself. Surrender all: No turning back.

“…no turning back.” ♬

Tickets are all one way.

Jail breaks are the boyhood fancy of Hopalong Cassidy and Saturday matinees: A twilight whirlwind of hell-bent mustangs and desperados kicking up prairie dust for the border. Yeah… the outlaws flee but are never truly free. Just as wedding vows can be cast aside but cannot be unvowed.

“For love’s sake, I am a prisoner of Jesus Christ.”  Philemon 1:9

In the years following the close of its infamous prison, Yuma notably regained fame as the go-to getaway for couples escaping Californy’s denial of drive-thru weddings, who valued being married over getting married.

Leave your baggage at the station.

…for in a chorus of lace-trimmed kerchiefs and tearful farewells, a new story begins at the end of the line: Two tickets, one heart, and a preacher waiting in Yuma.

The Way Outs
Kids need less classtime and more playtime, time with dad, and the Flintstones.

Free Parking
How did a roll of the dice flip-flop a stop n’ shop into grab n’ go? Yeah, be careful what you wish for.

R is for Redskins

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Not for rose. But what’s in a name?

A shadow vaults a fortress wall then steals silently through a forbidden grove to the castle of his enemy. On a moonlit balcony unaware, a fair maiden appears. She speaks:

“O Melvin, Melvin, wherefore art thou Melvin?”  Melvin & Juliet – Scene 2 Act 2

Of course, Shakespearean purists will be quick to critique: Juliet wasn’t asking where Melvin was but why he was.

Melvin.

…which he wasn’t.

To thine own self be true but his one true love hated his name though not him, or so she claimed. So, was it any wonder that her romantic misplay “Refuse thy name!” ended in tragedy.

What’s in a name? Would an overall’d farm lad straw hat and cap gun, sneak into a Saturday matinee double-play featuring Marion Morrison in Soggy Oatmeal followed by Not Jane Russell and the Rather Harmless Man?

Not likely.

If a rose were an elephant, would you really want a dozen? What if they were Redskins? or what if Moses supposes his toes were roses… ♬

Opinions ain’t Hollywwood musicals. In a free society, All the world’s a stage and offending someone is inevitable, maybe necessary. The First Amendment not only protects free speech, but guarantees unpopular speech.

Amendment XXVIII: What Right doth Thou have to be Offended?

Constitutional arsonists defiantly deny the downright declarations inked in the Bill of Rights, insisting on silly stuff like… you can’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater. But what if there is a fire in the theater? or worse, what if there are…

“Redskins!”

Or what if you just need some devious diversion to rescue other hapless husbands from an evening worse than shakesperean death (…which might be preferable once they’re all discovered down at Mel’s Grill & Ale with a wench in one hand and a pint in the other.)

But with a charred wonderbra in one hand and a nutcracker in the other, society’s Juliets set out to cancel everything that offends them – everything that is not them:

Columbus day
Chik-Fil-A
The Dukes of Hazzard

And without the consent of the fans of Major League Baseball, the Cleveland (no longer the…) Injuns now suit up as dreaded Guardians – door-t’door insurance salesmen striking fear in the hearts of harried housewives everywhere.

What a bunch of pussies we’ve become.

But blinded by their own contempt, the unhinged pink pussyhat brigade failed to also censor the home of the franchise formerly known as the Redskins (a name which is actually older than the team itself) which honors the original white male himself – the one and only redskin-fighting Father of our Nation.

Guess now they’ll hafta move.

The Cowboys will be next – soon to be rebranded as The Beta Male Livestock Managers, followed by the Tampa Bay Semi-Aquatic Wealth Redistributors.

Approved rules package for the new NFL season:

• No tackling without permission
• Quarterbacks will be uniformed in pastel pleated mini-skirts
• Half of winning score differentials credited to each losing un-winning team

…resulting in – you guessed it (and fractions).

The woke League ought to grow a pair and recoin all their teams according to the fantasy protocols found in backroom bars and poolhalls. Something like…

Flaming Rat Breath Snot Nosed Puss Picking Belly-Button Lint Lickers.

…or the new Jets. (Oh, c’mon – this is football: Wear a helmet!)

If changing your name doesn’t change your identity but you change your identity anyway, maybe you should just go ahead and change your name: The National Hm-hmm League – yet another Shakesperean tragedy.

Yeah… the truth hurts.
The truth nobody wants to hear is hate.

But names don’t hate. Hate is not a logo, a monument, or a flag painted on an orange car. Hate is heart issue – yours. You are what you see in others. And when everything you see is hate, hate is everything you see.

So there can be no Redskins, no Dilbert, no Blazing Saddles – not until the closed fist is replaced by an open heart…

The Golden Rule
a few Beatitudes
and Love thy Neighbor

The ground is level at the foot of the cross.

Juliet may have been right about one thing: The Redskins by any other name will still be smelly.

X is for Christmas
If your neighbors accused you of being a Jesus freak, would there be enough evidence in your seasonal display to convict?

Dear Diary
Day 1: Hello, I must be going! I cannot stay, I came to say, I must be going… ♬