Wonder how He did it? How did God “invent” the spectacular animals that inhabit the planet we call earth? Was there a blueprint laid out in the heavenlies, or was all in the “mind” of God–from tiniest of insect to the impressive girth of the Orca whale to the fuzzy down of a yellow duckling? Huh? How came such glory?
Probably we never will know such answer, but I revel in the love God had for us humans when he created the remarkable animal kingdom. What joy these beings give to us. I bring you three exception specimens today. Take a look–and a listen.
From the Daily Mail
His name is Chilli and he’s described as a gentle giant.
Which is just as well for his handler, Tara Nirula, pictured by his side.
His owners have contacted the Guinness Book of Records who are currently assessing his credentials and comparing them to other big bovines.
The black and white Friesian bullock weighs well over a ton and at the same height as a small elephant, casts a shadow over his cattle companions who are about 5ft.
More information about this spectacular animal is here.
08 May 2008
Author: Paul Iva
Courtesy of BBC
For some of us the prospect of waking up at 4am to catch the dawn chorus is little more than a dream. If you are one of these folk, now you won’t even have to leave the comfort of your bed because you can download our specially recorded dawn chorus.
On International Dawn Chorus Day, last Sunday, Team WOtM set out for a wood in Gloucestershire to experience the cacophony of bird song that is the Dawn Chorus. This is the time of year when the UK Dawn Chorus is at its best, because the migrant birds, warblers, flycatchers and of course, the nightingale have arrived to add their songs to the chorus.
I just clicked on the link below that says download the audio here. The bird sounds are lilting, comforting and peaceful. Beautiful.
Probably the song the late Dottie Rambo is best known for is He Looked Beyond My Faults and Saw My Need. In a tragic accident on Mothers’ Day, Dottie was killed. From Today’s Christian is the story behind the writing of this beautiful song.
Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, Dottie Rambo, her husband Buck, and their daughter Reba, made up The Singing Rambos, one of the most successful southern gospel trios of all time. As the group’s main songwriter, Dottie was prolific. Today, hardly any modern hymnal fails to include one or more of her 2,500 songs. Dottie’s best-known song, by far, is the inspirational “He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need.”
In 1970, Dottie began writing a song about the grace of God, but was unable to finish it. When her older brother was hospitalized with cancer and told that he had only weeks to live, Dottie sat by his bedside and ministered to him. Within a few days, she persuaded him to marry the woman who had borne him five children. Dottie read the Bible to him and prayed with him. One day, after singing at a concert, she returned to ask: “Have you given your life to Jesus since I’ve been gone?”
Eddie, 37, stared at her with sad eyes. “After the wicked life I’ve lived, the Lord won’t raise a person like me,” he muttered. He reminded her of his time in jail and his addiction to drugs and alcohol.
“The Lord left the 99 to bring a lost sheep like you back to the fold,” Dottie told him. She continued to pray for his salvation. Then she went home and finished “He Looked Beyond My Fault.” For years Jimmie Davis, the southern gospel singer and former Louisiana governor, had asked her to write a song to the tune of “Danny Boy.” With this song, she finally discovered the inspiration. Later that day, she returned to the hospital to sing the song to Eddie.
Both Danny Boy and He Looked Beyond My Faults are taken from the melody called Londonderry Air, reputed to be an ancient Irish tune. There is strong oral evidence in the Roe Valley area to support the following version of the origination of the tune. This information is taken from the site called: The Origin of Danny Boy
Jane Ross (1810-1879) stated that she had taken down the tune in Limavady in 1851 when she heard it played by an itinerant fiddler. One of Ireland’s most distinguished folk song collectors, Sam Henry, states in “Songs of the People” a regular weekly feature in the Northern Constitution (1923- 1939), that blind Jimmy McCurry (1830-19 10) was the fiddler referred to by Jane Ross.
One day Jane Ross heard Jimmy playing a beautiful melody outside the Burns & Laird Shipping Office, which she had never heard before. She came over to Jimmy and asked him to play the tune over and over again until she had taken down every note. Jane thanked him and gave him a coin for his moving rendition of the tune. When she departed Jimmy rubbed it against his lips, as was his method of determining the denomination of coins, and discovered it was a florin instead of the customary penny. He set off in pursuit of Jane and when he caught up with her he told her that she had made a mistake. Jane refused to take it back and asked him to keep it as a token of her appreciation of his music.
Jimmy McCurry
Jimmy was born in the flatlands of Myroe and his favourite spot for playing the fiddle on market days was outside the Burns & Laird Shipping Office in Limavady. It was customary for the farmers of the day to bring their produce to the Limavady market by horse and cart. After they had unyoked their horses they left their carts with shafts on the ground all lined up along the Main Street. Jimmy usually took up position between the shafts of one of these carts just opposite the home of Jane Ross, who lived at 51 Main Street.
The rest of this lengthy and very interesting article is here.
And here with the Gaithers is Dottie Rambo singing a couple of her outstanding songs.
During recent days, Professor Stephen Hawking at 66 years old is reported to have traveled to South Africa. Despite suffering from motor neurone disease which has left him almost completely paralysed, Hawking has made the journey to launch a project in which he and other key intellectuals and scientists will be searching out the very brilliant who reside in the continent of Africa. He and others have plans to create Africa’s first postgraduate centers for advanced maths and physics
“The world of science needs Africa’s brilliant talents and I look forward to meeting prospective young Einsteins from Africa,” said Hawking.
Hawking’s keynote lecture this afternoon is expected to be the highpoint of the ceremonies in Cape Town. When he gave a talk at the Caltech campus in Pasadena in the United States, he was wheeled out of the auditorium to a standing ovation and took a victory lap in his wheel-chair while the crowd shouted: “We love you, Stephen.”
Hawking is expected to repeat his call for a global effort to enable humanity to colonise space, starting with the moon and then Mars. Turok’s hopes are more down to earth: he wants to persuade the British government to rethink its refusal to fund the Aims project.
What a brilliant, courageous man is Professor Stephen Hawking.
One of the world’s great gospel singers and composers has been involved in a tragic accident.
MOUNT VERNON, Missouri (AP) Gospel singer and songwriter Dottie Rambo has been killed in a Mother’s Day highway accident.
She was 74.
The Missouri Highway Patrol says Rambo’s tour bus ran off Interstate 44 and struck an embankment. Seven other people on the bus were hospitalized with moderate to severe injuries.
Joyce “Dottie” Rambo was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame last year. Some of her more than 2,500 published songs were recorded by Dolly Parton.
From KNX.com
Rambo has had more than 2,500 published songs, including gospel classics such as “He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need” and the 1982 Gospel Music Association Song of the Year, “We Shall Behold Him.”
From the Associated Press is the background story of this very popular holiday.
GRAFTON, W.Va. — On this 100th anniversary of Mother’s Day, the woman credited with creating one of the world’s most celebrated holidays probably wouldn’t be pleased with all the flowers, candy or gifts.
Anna Jarvis would want us to give mothers a white carnation — she felt it signified the purity of a mother’s love.
Jarvis, who never married and never had children, got the Mother’s Day idea after her mother said it would be nice if someone created a memorial to mothers.
Three years after her mother died in 1905, she organized the first official mother’s day service at a church where her mother had spent more than 20 years teaching Sunday school.
Today, the former Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church is the official shrine to mothers around the world. On Sunday, the shrine will celebrate the 100th anniversary, giving each mother attending a special service a white carnation.
The shrine also serves as a “reminder to the accomplishments of these women and to the issues mothers still deal with today, trying to do the balancing act of being everything to everyone,” said Cindi Mason, the shrine’s director.
From my heart is a Mothers’ Day tribute to four young women who are special to me.
Rebecca is the only girl in our family, and she is the best daughter it is possible to have. She is dear and precious to me. She loves God, loves her son, Nathaniel, loves her mom and dad and the rest of the family. She truly cares for people and goes out of her way to assist needy and troubled people. She has suffered greatly in her life and has been at the point of death several times. I admire her courage, grit and honor.
Dearrah is married to Steve, my eldest, who pastors a church in Chula Vista, CA. Dearrah is from Louisiana, and certainly she epitomizes the term southern hospitality. I have never known a more gracious or talented hostess than Dearrah. She is talented in many other ways as well–leads their church sanctuary choir and is the national ladies leader of the Worldwide Pentecostal Fellowship. She’s a great mom–has two sons, and five grandchildren.
Melina is married to Mike and they live here in Lake Havasu. She is a gourmet cook, an entertainer of the first degree; she works out every day (and has the body to prove it), and has been a viable member of the team that has made Buxton Drywall the tremendous success it is. She is such a splendid housekeeper and decorator that, in my opinion, their home should be on the cover of a magazine. Mike and Mel have one son, three daughters and three grandchildren.
Shawnna is married to Andrew, my youngest, who is “planting” a church in LaMesa, CA. Of a quiet and reserved nature, she moved smoothly into the role of pastor’s wife. Shawnna is an exceptionally dedicated mother to their five children. They live in a very small house, but I have never heard her complain about it. (Now, she may have, but I haven’t heard it. ) Because of the ages of their children, and Andrew’s work and preaching schedules, she often stays at home while Andrew travels.
I’m honoring these four special women this morning, and wish them a happy Mothers’ Day.
A happy day to you also–you others who are mothers.
You may remember the story from about a year ago of the Coble family, where, on the I5 freeway, the three children pictured here were killed. The van their mother was driving was struck by a semi-truck, reportedly traveling at an excessive speed.
TRAGIC LOSS: Emma, 4, Katie , 2, and Kyle , 5, were killed in a auto accident with a big-rig on the south-bound lanes of the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway in Mission Veijo.
PICTURE COURTESY OF THE FAMILY
The parents became involved in restructuring of laws concerning traffic of trucks on America’s highways.
Time has passed–almost a year now. Mom and Dad coped with their loss.
And now, as of Wednesday night–almost a year to the date of the tragic loss of their children–God has blessed this strong couple, and she has given birth to triplets. Take a look at the happiness recorded in this link.
In the news today are stories of three unique women. Take a look at these interesting people.
The first is Jenna Bush who today at the ranch in Crawford will be married to Henry Hager. The link shows lots of pictures including the caravan of cars traveling to the rehearsal dinner, decorations in the little town, and souvenirs being sold in the shops. I wish this couple a long and happy life together.
May 10: President George W. Bush and Jenna Bush prior to Jenna’s wedding to Henry Hager at Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas.
The second one remembers everything she has done since she was fourteen years old.
Jill Price, 42, can remember every part of her life since she was 14 but considers her ability a curse as she cannot switch off.
She described her life as like a split-screen television, with one side showing what she is doing in the present, and the other showing the memories which she cannot hold back.
Every detail about every day since 1980 - what time she got up, who she met, what she did, even what she ate - is locked in her brain and can be released to come flooding back by common triggers like songs, smells or place names.
From Daily News
The last one, Jenny, is celebrating a significant birthday.
The world’s oldest gorilla celebrated her 55th birthday today with a four-layer frozen fruit cake and banana leaf-wrapped treats.
Jenny’s caretakers at the Dallas Zoo say she’s having a few joint issues and her eyesight isn’t what it used to be but she still looks good for an old ape.
“It’s a special milestone for us,” said Todd Bowsher, curator of the zoo’s Wilds of Africa exhibit. “It signifies that we’ve made great strides in veterinary care, nutrition and animal husbandry.”
From AP News
Three unique women…wish them all well…and you–wish you well also.
I believe I have mentioned somewhere that I am having a good deal of dental work done these days. Some crowns that I have had over 20 years had to be replaced, and for one tooth that called for a root canal–which I had a couple of weeks ago, and which caused me absolutely no pain, even though my dentist had prescribed Vicodin. When I told her about having no pain, and that I wanted the same experience with the root canal I would be having this morning, she smiled brightly, and said, “Sorry. No promises.”
Seems the pain is unpredictable. “Even in the same mouth with the same dentist,” she continued. “One root canal is relatively painless, and the other may result in some pain.”
Image from Google
So, I was all set this morning, having positive thoughts, but being realistic and knowing I might suffer. Guess what! I didn’t even need the root canal. As the dentist began working, she called for another X-ray and decided I wouldn’t need a post for the new crown–thus no root canal. Yeah.
If any of my readers can top this Mother’s Day story, I have a special prize for you. I’m not referring to finding a better story, I asking if any of you have more than 18 children! Think my prize is safe with me.
AP
Michelle Duggar, 41, is seen here with her family. She is expecting her 18th child in January.
It’s a happy Mother’s Day for an Arkansas woman — she’s pregnant with her 18th child.
Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year’s Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.
“We’ve had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us,” she said, laughing.
The Duggars’ oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.
The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are home-schooled.
They’re better for you than white ones, you know, so I reached in a cupboard in my motor home where I knew I had one more I could bake for Jerry and me to eat for dinner. As I grasped the long tuber, my hand grazed across something lacy, and when I looked, I saw our dinner had taken on a farming specter.
Perhaps it would have been okay to eat had I carefully trimmed the potato, but when I saw those sprouts, I recalled having sweet potato plants in our home when I was a child. From its place on the outside table, I brought this green pot, filled it with water, and am hoping for the best. I can’t remember exactly how to do this–seems we inserted toothpicks to suspend the potato over the water. Not sure.
Then it was off to Crestline again, and when we were approaching Victorville and the Cajon Pass, we saw this heavy appearing cloud of fog lying in the valley ahead of us. Wisps of fog began blowing around us, and within a ten-minute period, the temperature dropped 28 degrees–from 78 to 50. It was uncanny.
The fog stayed with us as we turned onto the mountain road to take us to Crestline, and as we passed trees that had turned now into ghosty beings.
Sometimes the fog would clear, then close in again. It was clear as we passed this station, but the sight was so ugly, I turned my head.
I had brought a few groceries, and as I opened the cupboard to place a couple of onions in the onion container, I was greeted with this sight. A forgotten bulb startled me, but he is so pretty, I took him out, posed him and snapped his picture.
A THOUSAND PIECES
The story of Jerry's remarkable recovery from a tragic
accident. This very popular book is going into its 4th printing.
ROAD TALES
A fascinating blend of Bible studies, of fiction and of
biographical accounts that in a rare way speak to the
philosophy of travel along the road of life.
LINK TO EXCELLENCE
Shirley Buxton and 47 other ministers' wives write about
how to be a godly woman. They each include a great recipe!
CLICK MY BOOKS FOR PRICES AND ORDERING INFORMATION
BLOGLINES
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Mike and Mel have one son, three daughters and three grandchildren.
