Well, on another beautiful rainy morning here in the Dakotas, with a heavy week just past in terms of news and tragedy, I thought we’d take some time and look back at Today in History. Actually, in terms of proper logic and English, Today in History is only today – we are much more accurate if we were to call it “Things that happened on a similar date in a year in the past.” Or even, “Things that happened on different August 28ths in History.” But that takes too long, so here we go:
1676 – King Philip, the Indian Chief Metalom, was killed by English soldiers, as they battled between the English and the native Americans. 1833 – Britain abolishes slavery. 1837 – John Lea and William Perrins manufactured Worchester sauce, of course, in Worchester. Chex Party Mix in the future thanks them for their service… 1898 – Caleb Brodham names his new soft drink “Pepsi-Cola.” 1938 – Northwestern University in Chicago bestows an honorary degree of “Master of Innuendo and Snappy Comeback” to Charlie McCarthy, ventriloquist dummy for Edgar Bergen. Who says higher education funds are wasted? 1973 – both “The Monster Mash” and “Smoke on the Water” go gold. 1980 – (41 years ago) the first MRI was used. 1963 – Martin Luther King offers his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. 2005 – Hurricane Katrina hits category 5, and the Superdome is opened as a hurricane shelter. 16 years later – today and this weekend, another hurricane is expected to hit New Orleans. There are actually dozens more important, and no so important goings on during other August 28s, but apparently the world is a busy place at the end of August. By the way, it’s also a date that holds the birthdays of lots of mostly famous people: Gene Shalit – 93 Gloria Steinem – 85 Anita Bryant – 79 Elton John – 72 Marcia Cross (like the last name) – 57 Sarah Jessica Parker – 54 And Danica Patrick, retired race car driver – 37. By the way, it must be nice to retire at that age… Of course, today is far more significant than everything we have registered and remembered above. You know where I am heading: today – this day – is the day the Lord has made. It is a unique moment in time – no other date will contain all that will happen in your life today. Other days may be similar, as we blend time into each other, but the words, the actions, the thoughts, the ideas, the victories and the failures are exclusive to today. Tomorrow carries its own, and yesterday is already in the history books. Today. What will be your legacy of August 28, 2021? How will you begin well, and finish well this unique 24-hour space of time? Of course, it is yours to waste, and to just fritter away with things that don’t matter, or worse, with things that destroy or cause pain or keep a grudge heated up. Today can be the day when you truly do bring something horrible to this earth… Or, today – you can intend, on purpose, to rejoice and be glad that God has made this day, and presented it to you for your care, and your own imagination. This could possibly be the finest day of your life! This could be a day that will go down in history – as the world records what marvelous thing came to pass by your hand. The simple truth is that it is up to you, and, again, your intentional life, or whether you will just live careening through the day accidentally, with no purpose, no focus, no aim, or that you would fill it up with things that don’t matter, that are not lasting, or that hobble the future, instead of freeing it to be created as another truly holy gift from God. Your choice. Choose wisely, but choose. Blessings to you today, and each day. Word for the day: sinistrality. Pronounced sin-ess-STRAWL-ih-tee. I’ve actually known this word for decades. You see, I am sinister. The Latin, sinister, is translated simply, “left, or left-handed.” Nothing wrong about that, of course, until you lay on top of the simple definition centuries of bias handed out by right-handers! Even the “ambidextrous,” is specifically translated as the ability to use both of your right hands. Whereas something or someone sinister is evil, or unable to be trusted, or “underhanded,” as when someone is given a left-handed compliment, or such. In all the sensitive developments of how words hurt others, this one never gets mentioned, except for people to believe that the left-hand is the wicked one, the one unable to be trusted. Pretty sad, when you realize that everyone is born left-handed. True! They only turn right-handed after their first sin…
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AuthorAfter 43 years of ministry, Randy Cross lived his "fourth life" and shared about retirement, living boldly and intentionally in our world. To be sure, there was some North Dakota thrown in. Archives
March 2023
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