Thankful for Indoor Plumbing

A good cleansing shower feels so good after a long day at work. I often think how thankful I am for indoor plumbing.

Less than a hundred years ago, when my dad was young, his family got indoor plumbing. That was a big deal. Something we take for granted today was a near luxury then.

The first thing to come in those days was running water in a home, just plain water - cold water. The next step was a back boiler, which was a device that attached to the wood cooking stove and would heat the water as it ran through it. Later the outhouse out in the back was replaced by a toilet inside and how wonderful to have a bathtub.

And how about when the wood stove was replaced by a furnace that heated all of the rooms? What an improvement that was.

Look around right now and see the things that are so common but should have us shouting with joy and gratitude.

Oh, another good thing: as a teenager, my dad ended up working for the plumber who added the bathroom to their house. After many years of training, school, and work, he became a journeyman plumber.

Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction by Judith Grisel

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Interesting thoughts:

"Desperation in any form leads to depraved acts. Social psychology has shown that a primary difference between upstanding citizens and depraved criminals is our circumstances, including many of which are beyond our control. Inherited proclivities, early experiences, and current environments combine to constrain many of our choices. It is not heroin, alcohol, nicotine, or cocaine that makes one an addict; it is the drive to escape from reality. I remember sharing a crack pipe with a homeless man for a while. Though probably only in his early forties, he had few teeth left, and those were dirty and broken. He hadn't showered or even looked in a mirror in weeks and was filthy and emaciated. Yet he'd pull on the pipe and wax on about how he was on top of the world. Even then I was reminded of Huxley's soma, required in some dystopian future in order to cope with society's dementia. Lest we feel above such depravity, we might remember that chemicals aren't the only way to escape. There are plenty of internet and entertainment addicts, food, shopping, or work addicts, maybe as many as there are people who have problems with substances."

~From Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction by Judith Grisel

Here is info about the book on Amazon:
Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction

Pilgrim's Progress Map Chart

The Pilgrim's Progress animated movie is showing in theaters this Easter weekend. Here is a map of the journey.

Pilgrim's Progress Map Chart
by Your_Treasures

A Plan of the Road From the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. This map comes from "The Pilgrim's Progress," a religious allegory by an English preacher, John Bunyan. It was first published in 1678 and has often been called the most read book in the English language but for the Bible. "The protagonist, named Christian, faces temptations and digressions that could prevent him from reaching his goal, God’s celestial city.

New Year’s Predictions

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Here are some of my predictions for the coming year:

• A lot of good things will happen but there will be some bad thrown in the mix.
• Many people will experience great health and others will live through sickness.
• People will be born and people will die.
• There will be ups and there will be downs.
• Some days you will be happy and some sad. There will be some things you can control and others that will elude your grasp.

The overall outcome of the coming year will be largely determined by what you focus on. Will it be the things you can change or the things you have no control over? For example, I can’t control if I will get sick but there are many things I can do that will make me healthier. I can do something about that.

I can control if God will be given first place in my life. I can make the decision to make prayer, Bible study and self-examination a daily part of my life. Those things will have the greatest actual impact on my life in the coming year. Proverbs 16:16 says that it’s much better to get wisdom and understanding above silver and gold.

So what about those New Year’s resolutions? My advice is to avoid the dramatic; make small changes that you can stick with and live with for life. That’s much better that the big flash that comes and goes and you are left with the same old existence. Make God’s Word a daily part of your life and start a list of people and things that you talk to God about each day. Get those right and you will be surprised about how many of the other things fall into place.

So to my final prediction for the New Year: some people will and some won’t.

Philip