Daniel Elton Harmon

A Little Excitement, BIG Response

2009-04-24T18:19:00.005-05:00

I ran my new scooter into a ditch last summer. (I’ve learned how to turn it since then.) No major damage, but as I was standing at roadside nursing a banged forearm and dealing with blood from my ring finger, several passersby stopped to check on me. A volunteer fireman pulled over in his pickup truck. Then came an ambulance, a highway patrol officer and—TA-DA—a fire engine!

Hey, it's nice to feel loved, but this was ridiculous. My scooter was the only vehicle involved. There were no serious injuries, no gasoline spill. (I rode the scooter home.)

I heartily applaud our emergency responders for their daily diligence; they save many lives. I had to wonder at the time, though, whether this procession was really necessary, and how much my small adventure cost city and county taxpayers.

Mark Twain, in Pudd’nhead Wilson, described a comical fire scene in an 1850s Mississippi River town. “[T]he fire-boys mounted to the hall and flooded it with water enough to annihilate forty times as much fire as there was there; for a village fire company does not often get a chance to show off, and so when it does get a chance it makes the most of it. Such citizens of that village as were of a thoughtful and judicious temperament did not insure against fire; they insured against the fire company.”

Alive!

2009-04-12T20:44:00.003-05:00

When my good pagan friends drill into me (as they enjoy doing) their enlightened conclusion that Scripture is a matter of "personal interpretation," I remember a statement one of them issued to me a year or two ago at Easter time. He said, "It all comes down to the question of belief, doesn't it?"

Profound. There it is—from a pagan.

Rev. Gordon Pols, writing in Today: The Family Altar for this Easter Sunday, explains: "Easter trips up the mind. . . . It flies in the face of all our experience. It contradicts the laws of nature. . . . Resurrection defies all we have ever seen or known. But of course! That's the whole point of Easter! How else could Easter be good news for a fallen, sin-seared, grave-filled world?"

Until you understand that you indeed are fallen and sin-seared and in desperate need of a Saviour . . . Easter and its Good News will mean nothing to you.

GPS Sports

2007-01-20T11:25:00.000-05:00

Have you read of the GPS (global positioning system) engineered to help golfers maneuver around sand traps, roughs and other hazards on golf courses? Duffers no longer can claim they didn’t know about that big pine tree hidden from view behind the nearer pine tree. Distances, angles . . . everything is automated.

Soon, professional football players will have GPS-based, robotic audio units built into their helmets. A quarterback might hear: “Weak-side linebacker dodging block; approaching from left rear at rate of 22-miles-per-” SMACKO!

Quotes to Live By

2007-01-05T08:14:00.000-05:00

From Charles Spurgeon, probably my favorite Christian author/teacher:

Sons of light must not have fellowship with deeds, doctrines, or deceits of darkness.

The further from worldly conformity the better.

A Fresh Take on Christmas Commercialization

2006-12-16T13:30:00.000-05:00

Steve Brown makes a beautiful statement in his December newsletter from Key Life re the commercialization of Christmas. "There are many smaller businesses that will or will not exist after Christmas based solely on how well they do at this time of year," he points out. "If the stores don't make it, there will be a lot of people out of jobs. . . . It isn't that commercialization is wrong . . . it's just so different than what God had in mind the first Christmas. . . . It's not just at Christmas. It's all the time. Everybody has an angle, a product to sell or a vision from God to change the world. It's important, they say, that we win elections, that we are beautiful, that we smell good, that others like us, that we buy the right stocks and read the right books. . . ."

Steve's insights are always worth reading. Check him out.

Just Another Guy?

2006-12-15T16:24:00.000-05:00

The pagan media have gone to extremes to persuade us Jesus of Nazareth was the ultimate historical con artist (or, at very best, one of countless "prophets" who became famous but who ultimately mean nothing). Contrarily, I believe the earnest shepherds of old have far more credibility than the learned journalists of present. One scriptural verse to summarize: "And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them." (Luke 2:20).

The shepherds were simple people. They could tell you only what they saw and heard. Modern-day journalists are not simple people. They're quite "learned." They feel qualified to tell you a lot more than what they personally see and hear . . . and their reportage is grounded in their personal politics. They report to you (as "news") their version of what they figure those other people must really have seen and heard 2,000 years ago—as it conforms to their 21st-Century politics and social views—and they expect you to accept their "enlightened" interpretations of history. (Were they the eye-witnesses? No. Are they free of bias in their reinterpretations? Well, why don't we ask them?)

Whom do you believe, really?

Foundering or Floundering?

2006-08-23T07:26:00.000-05:00

The difference between a founder (one who establishes or begins to build something) and a flounder (a weirdish fish) is apparent to everyone. Not so clearly discernible are the verb forms. To founder and to flounder mean the same thing, in the minds of countless speakers and writers. Both verbs suggest dire situations, it’s true, but of a substantially different nature.

The Titanic foundered. It did not flounder. The Latin fundere meant to found, or cast; it also meant to slay, or lay low. (In a sense, it could mean both to build and to destroy.) The Middle English foundren meant to collapse to the foundation, to fall, or—its most common usage in modern times—to sink.

Etymologists believe flounder may have derived from founder, but it suggests a different type of problem. It means to thrash wildly, to move about awkwardly, or to attempt impulsive, desperate schemes and solutions, all of them futile. If you’re floundering, you’re basically lost or helpless, struggling to find your way.

The Titanic, by contrast, was driven purposefully, straight and haughty, through the North Atlantic on a cold, moonless night. It grazed an iceberg accidentally, came to a dead halt, settled gradually for two-and-a-half hours, then plunged to the bottom. While its passengers and crew floundered in the frigid sea, praying for rescue, the ship itself foundered into the depths.

Weekly Folk Music Quiz (22may06)

2006-05-22T08:14:00.000-05:00

The Chieftains recorded their 1988 album Irish Heartbeat with what legendary Irish rock star? a) Tommy Sands, b) Neil Diamond, c) Van Morrison, d) Ian Anderson.

Weekly History Quiz (22may06)

2006-05-22T08:13:00.000-05:00

During the great famine of 1845-50, approximately how many citizens did Ireland lose to starvation and emigration combined? a) 20,000, b) 200,000, c) 2 million, d) 20 million.

Weekly Amusement (22may06)

2006-05-22T08:11:00.000-05:00

Question on a history test: “Why were the Middle Ages also called the Dark Ages.”

Student’s desperation answer: “Because it had so many knights.”

Weekly Folk Music Quiz (17may06)

2006-05-17T19:28:00.000-05:00

Mandolin orchestras became popular around: a) 800, b) 1300, c) 1700, d) 1900.

Weekly History Quiz (17may06)

2006-05-17T19:27:00.000-05:00

Yaroslav the Wise gave Kievan Russia what was probably its finest leadership . . . in what century? a) 7th), b) 11th, c) 16th, 19th.

Weekly Amusement (17may06)

2006-05-17T18:33:00.000-05:00

Veronica decided to keep her goldfish in a bathtub. Her friend Marian raised several concerns, all of which Veronica had worked out.

“But what will you do with them when you take a shower?” Marian asked.

“Tell them they have to close their eyes.”

Weekly Folk Music Quiz (6may06)

2006-05-06T15:44:00.000-05:00

The rommelpot is a toy drum native to: a) South Africa, b) Brazil, c) Bavaria, d) Flanders.

Weekly History Quiz (6may06)

2006-05-06T15:42:00.000-05:00

President Franklin D. Roosevelt died 12 April 1945—how long after beginning his fourth term in office? a) less than three months, b) just more than 11 months, c) exactly two years, d) exactly one week short of completing the term.

Weekly Amusement (6may06)

2006-05-06T15:27:00.000-05:00

Definition of “infinity”: The place where two parallel lines never meet.

Weekly Folk Music Quiz (29ap06)

2006-04-29T17:44:00.000-05:00

Niel Gow, considered by some to have been the foremost Scottish fiddler in history, was born in: a) 1326, b) 1584, c) 1727, d) 1895.

Weekly History Quiz (29ap06)

2006-04-29T17:41:00.000-05:00

Samuel Adams, one of America's most famous founding fathers, lived in what colony (state)? a) Virginia, b) Pennsylvania, c) New York, d) Massachusetts.

Weekly Amusement (29ap06)

2006-04-29T17:35:00.000-05:00

Has your dog had puppies this year?

Nope, just fleas.

Weekly Folk Music Quiz (19ap06)

2006-04-19T19:49:00.000-05:00

Doc Watson became a legendary performer on what folk instrument? a) guitar, b) dulcimer, c) fiddle, d) banjo.

Weekly History Quiz (19ap06)

2006-04-19T19:44:00.000-05:00

Christopher Columbus died 20 May 1506 in what city? a) Sevilla, Spain; b) Valladolid, Spain; c) Port-au-Prince, Haiti; d) St. Augustine, Florida.

Weekly Amusement (19ap06)

2006-04-19T19:38:00.000-05:00

What steps do rodeo clowns take to escape charging bulls?

Long ones.

Weekly Folk Music Quiz (11ap06)

2006-04-11T18:50:00.000-05:00

The six-volume Scots Musical Museum, published between 1783 and 1803, contained approximately how many songs written by Robert Burns? a) 10, b) 90, c) 200, d) 600.

Weekly History Quiz (11ap06)

2006-04-11T18:43:00.000-05:00

British Queen Victoria (Victoria Regina) died in: a) 1813, b) 1860, c) 1901, d) 1956.

Weekly Amusement (11ap06)

2006-04-11T18:40:00.000-05:00

Jen: Where've you been? I've been trying to call you for the past two weeks.
Min: We were on vacation in Switzerland.
Jen: Oooh, fantastic! Berne?
Min: Oh, no. We quite froze.