Jesus, The Messiah

"To the question, whether this hope has ever been realised--or rather, whether One
has appeared Whose claims to Messiahship have stood the test of investigation and of
time--impartial history can make only one answer. It points to Bethlehem and to
Nazerath. If the claims of Jesus have been rejected by the Jewish Nation, He has at
least, undoubtedly, fulfilled one part of the Mission prophetically assigned to the
Messiah. Whether or not He be the loin of the tribe of Judah, to Him, assuredly, has
been the gathering of the nations, and the isles have waited for His law. Passing the
narrow bounds of obscure Judaea, and breaking down the walls of national prejudice
and isolation, He has made the sublimer teaching of the Old Testament the common
possession of the world, and founded a great Brotherhood, of which The God of Israel
is the Father. He alone also has exhibited a life, in which absolutely no fault
could be found; and promulgated a teaching, to which absolutely no exception can be
taken. Admittedly, He was the one perfect man--the ideal of humanity, His doctrine the one absolute teaching. The world has known none other, none equal. And the world
has owned it, if not by the testimony of words, yet by the evidence of facts.
Springing from such a people; born, living, and dying in circumstances, and using
means, the most unlikely of such results--The Man of Nazerath has, by universal
consent, been the mightiest factor in our worlds history: alike politically, socially
intellectually, and morally. If He be not the Messiah, He has at least thus far done
the Messiah's work. If He be not the Messiah, the world has not, and never can have
a Messiah."
Alfred Edersheim, The Life And Times Of Jesus The Messiah
Mi Chiamo
Donnie

When They Handed Out Brains.......

Thing is, Uncle D. has been very busy lately. Been working alot on account of my
clients have been pumping out the projects and you gotta make hay when the sun
shines, right? It's all good! I mean. if I'm busy the less trouble I can get into;
at least that's how it should work, all things being equal and all, right? Don't
they say that idle hands are the devils workman,or is it workshop. I dunno, but you get my meaning. Uncle D. needs to stay busy, and I need to be busy with work that
pays, capisci mi?
I ran across this other truism recently.....some(read most)guys are just dull enough
to think they have an opinion, and dumb enough to think it viable! I say, if I want
your opinion, I'll give it to you. You know what I mean? Here in Oregon we just try
to keep it simple. Simple is as simple does, right? I agree! I mean some of these
guys are like this: when they handed out brains, you thot they said trains, and you
missed yours. Fuggetaboudit! What can I say? Whattayagonnado, whats done is done!
Shut up aboudit and move on.
I'm not sayin.....I'm just sayin.
Til next time,
D.

Heathen, Heathen, Get Away From That.........

Uncle D. hadda outta town project this past weekend. Yeah, hadda go to Astoria.
Not New York wiseguy, Astoria, Oregon, out here in the northwest, not the northeast.
Sheesh, try to keep up, alright.
Anyways, my son-in-law Bryon Shitzal went with me, and helped alot. See, Bryon,
sometimes referred to as Braindead,goes back a long ways with mi famiglia, and he
was trained in whatever he does now by me, Uncle D..He's a good guy and practically
grew up in my work van, where he learned that whatever happens in the van, stays in
the van, you know what I mean? Anyways, he got the privilege to wed my secondi girl,
K.. In a sense they kinda grew up together, on account of we knew his famiglia pretty
well, and we attended the same church. I know itsa small world, and the older I get
(read; the younger I get), the world seems to get smaller and smaller. Now, I say
that, to say this, that Bryons sister, Mrs. Armstrong just happens to be married to
my crazy, not so young friend anymore, Zak Lohrts Armstrong, aka,Don Sparky.
The stories, I could tell, fuggetaboudit! Itsa small world after all, right?
Good people!
So on the way to Astoria, we thought we'd stop and put the food bags on and grab
some lunch. Since we both agreed we hadn't had food poisoning for a while, we chose
Dairy Queen. Luckily, we survived. On the way out I heard some mom screaming to her
son,"HEATHEN, HEATHEN, GET AWAY FROM THAT DOOR!" I thot, that's a strange name for
a little boy, though he was acting a bit like Satan. To my surprise, she was actually
screaming,"ETHAN, ETHAN, GET AWAY FROM THAT DOOR. Which proves that you can"t
always trust what you hear....especially at Dairy Queen!
I think that food affected my hearing!

Whattayagonnado
Don

The Separation of Church and Steak

So last week me and my trophy wife Betty attended a fund raiser, a gala, I think
they called it, at a church which will remain nameless, on account of this place
was a freaking palace, you know what I mean? Now, Uncle Donnie is the last person
to cast aspersions,but fuggetaboudit, you shoulda seen this place....it rocked; so
maybe a bit of lampooning is called for. You drive up to this place and you begin
to think, this has gotta be a five-star place; this is a church that looks like a
valet service is gonna take care of your car, and the doorman(read usher) is gonna
escort you to the shuttle system to connect you to any number of destinations, like
The SS wing, or the cafe which offers Starbucks, actually I think there was a
Starbucks there, or the Youth Ministry Resort,or maybe to the Preaching Pavilion,
where an attendant will meet you with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and
a bottle of Perrier. I mean this was quite a place, capisci mi? I'm sure it hadda
Concierge service to help your attendance(read stay) be a happy one, and probably
a service to book your after church tee times and make lunch reservations at one of
their fine eateries, Marone, It wassa little too nice and a little too much! Remember, Uncle D. is from Eagle Creek.
Enough of my vituperations(hadda look that one up)and insinuations. Just pokin a
little fun, you know what I mean? Who am I to judge? It's like in Godfather2 when
young Tessio asks young Vito,"Wattaya think about the girl, Vito?" To which Vito
says,"I'm happy if your happy." Churches are like that; If your happy there, I'm
happy.....whattayagonna do?
Did I mention that the Ushers were wearing top hats and tails?
Just a little pasquinade.
Your Pal,
Donnie

Happiness or Righteousness

Uncle D. read this from LLoyd-Jones, on the Sermon on the Mount:
"Blessed-or happy-are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. They are the
only true happy people. Now the whole world is seeking for happiness; there is no
question about that. Everybody wants to be happy. That is the great motive behind
every act and ambition, behind all work and all striving and all effort. Everything
is designed for happiness. But the great tragedy of the world is that, though it
gives itself to seek for happiness, it never seems to be able to find it. The present
state of the world reminds us of that very forcibly. What is the matter? I think the
answer is that we have never understood this text as we should have done. Blessed are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. What does it mean? Let me put it
negatively like this. We are not to hunger and thirst after blessedness; we are not
to hunger and thirst after happiness. But that is what most people are doing. We put
happiness and blessedness as the one thing that we desire, and thus we always miss
it; it always eludes us. According to the Scriptures happiness is never something
that should be sought directly; it is always something that results from seeking
something else."
"The world is seeking for happiness. That is the meaning of its pleasure mania, that
is the meaning of everything men and women do, not only in their work but still more
in their pleasures. They are trying to find happiness, they are making it their goal,
their one objective. But they do not find it because, whenever you put happiness before righteousness, you will be doomed to misery. That is the great message of the
Bible from beginning to end. They alone are truly happy who are seeking to be
righteous. Put happiness in the place of righteousness and you will never get it."