deltabohemian

7:44

Don's thoughts on Duty; Pat Conroy and Anne Frank; Importance of Reading

Chilly's Billy's Spontaneous reflections on Tha Moon: Don Smith’s recent pastoral thoughts on Duty; Pat Conroy’s remembrance of Anne Frank; the importance of reading; and, my responding sentiments!

22 days ago 69 views 1 comment

4:19

The Good Samaritan, an Ass-Whuppin’, and Long Hairs in Church

Chilly Billy discusses The Good Samaritan, an Ass-Whuppin’, and Long Hairs in Church. Hey, man. This is Chilly Billy Howell and I'm out yakkin' on Alcorn Island in the middle of the Moon in my Gitche Manitou Mystic Moonglow Stellar S16G2. I was filming with the GoPro but it got too hot. Imagine that. It is over 100° heat index. I've been thinking about The Good Samaritan. Madge and I went to St. Peter's Episcopal Church last Sunday when we sometimes worship when we are in Oxford. They had a visiting padre ( Rev. Hank Dunn ) that spoke about The Good Samaritan, the importance of helping the broken, not being judgmental, not leaving things undone. In the Good Samaritan story, the Jews and the Samaritans kinda hated each other back in the day after Soloman's reign, when the 10 tribes went north and two tribes went south, Judah and Benjamin. At the time, the Jews considered the Samaritans as being unclean and unworthy. The story is a young man asked Jesus, what must I do to be saved? And Jesus said, you have got to love God and love your fellow man as yourself, and love your neighbor as yourself. Basically. And the man said, who is my neighbor? And Jesus told the story of The Good Samaritan. A Jewish man was walking down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. He got robbed, got his butt whupped, got beat up and left half dead. A priest walked by; he didn't help him, he walked on the other side of the road. A Levite walked by and did the same thing. You have got to remember the priests were Levites but all Levites weren't priests, but that is for another day. They wouldn't even help him even though they were supposed to be uber empathetic by nature of their position. Then a Samaritan came by. They and the Jews didn't even get along. He stopped and helped the man, nursed his wounds, put oil and wine on them. Took him to an inn, and paid for the innkeeper to take care of him, and said any other fees that are charged, just let me know and I will come back and pay those too. That's a good samaritan! Also, Rev. Dunn said something really good aboutfind within ourselves what we criticize in others. Wow! I deal with that a lot. And the coup de grâce was a quote by Frederick Buechner, a Christian apologist back in the day, who said that God calls us to a place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep hunger. Because we can't solve every problem but if we have something we really get joy from, and that isn't self-interest. It's like the difference between happy and joy. Happy is a feeling; joy is intrinsic. Same thing here. A deep gladness is where that God-shaped vacuum within us tells us what it is we are uniquely put here to do. That was all so powerful to hear. Then I get up during the tithe, not because I was avoiding it, but I had to go to the restroom. So I'm walking back to the restroom and this guy smirking on the back row looks up at me and he mimics cutting hair, like I needed to cut my long hair. I just went, "Hell no." I kept walking. I did smile. The difference is if I was still in active addiction I would have probably head-butted him, whupped his ass or at least tried to, or at least we would have had a come to Billy meeting. But, I didn't do that. I did do better. I smiled. Said two words. Came back to my seat and didn't mess with him. That's what I did do. The in addiction is what I would have done. And what I should've done is just smiled at him and kept going. That would have pleased God more. I got back to my seat; told Madge and we kind of chuckled. And then she pointed at a picture of Jesus behind the pulpit with long hair. Now I'm not making a comparison, I'm just sayin', hair ain't the big issue. If that's what you have got to judge me over, there are plenty of other things you ought to be judgin' me for. Let's all be a good samaritan. Y'all have a good day. — Chilly Billy Howell Please comment and share and subscribe. Find us on RUMBLE.

2 years ago 116 views

Chilly Billy - An Addict Talks About Addiction

5:31

5:27

Muggeridge, Lust, Lepers, Freedom & Spirituality

Today, my erstwhile kinsman, Malachi Montroy, who travels with me solo when we kayak, he wrote, we haven't even begun to see the beginning of woes. That is not because he is excited about it, and it ain't because he is a prophet. But you can look at things in the natural and see that there are some hard times possibly coming. And then after that, after Madge and I had our devotional this morning, we started that back when covid hit and its the highlight of both of our days before she goes to work or I go to work. Afterwards, when we have time, we talk. This morning she was reading me an article out of the Epoch Times by Annie Holmquist titled "Finding Hope As Gas Prices Rise and Society Tanks". Holmquist noted, sometimes when tough times hit, it isn't anything like what we want, there is nothing pleasant, but out of that can come more spirituality. Madge was reading the article to me and it mentioned Malcolm Muggeridge's name. I hadn't thought of him in awhile. When I was in bible college back in the '80's, I remember hearing a speaker that came through who mentioned Malcolm Muggeridge; it was the first time I had heard his name. The speaker gave an analogy of what Malcolm said sin or lust was like. Muggeridge had been in the Indian Ocean swimming and looked in the distance and saw these brown, gorgeous women swimming who he thought were nude. He swam over there in a hurry full of lust and he got there and it was a leper colony of women. That is not to diminish lepers. Jesus sure loved them and wasn't scared of them. Muggeridge went over there thinking they were these gorgeous women and they were all disfigured and missing noses and ears and arms. It shows that often what we lust after isn't what we get. How often does that happen? Like, all the time. Malcolm Muggeridge is quoted in the Holmquist article a good bit. Essentially, Muggeridge was a complicated cat. When Muggeridge was in, he was all in. His dad has been a big socialist and politician in England back in early 1900's. Muggeridge as a young man went to Russia. He was enamored with communism in the '30's and early '40's, during the Stalinist era. He got over the Russia and figured out, socialism and communism wasn't quite what he thought they were. So he became a rabid anti-communist. Basically the article was saying that Muggeridge said that our western lifestyle is going to end up being the undoing of us. And, I think its true; we have got so much prosperity and we are used to so many amenities. But this article talked about how Muggeridge was moved by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn had been in a gulag for many years and ended up being demonstrably anti-communist. I have read one book by him (One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich) and started another one but it was just too big, called The Gulag Archipelago. Sometimes, until we lose our freedom we don't appreciate the fact we have freedom and in losing our freedom, I think Muggeridge quoted Solzhenitsyn saying that he and other folks that had been through the gulag system, in the eastern block in political prisons, that often when they lost their freedom is when they found it and that is when they looked to their spiritual man and not just the physical. In looking to the spiritual, your spirit is saved, and possibly, your body. But if you take care of just the physical, and not the spiritual, then both are lost. Muggeridge went through a Christian conversion in the '60's. He was the guy that introduced Mother Teresa of Calcutta to the world. Y'all have a good day. —Chilly Billy Howell Read more on DeltaBohemian.com

2 years ago 51 views