Shake, Rattle, and Roll

~ JodiLea
And here in California we thought we were special!

Around 5:00 pm, PT, there was a jolt and a little shaking. Another and slightly larger jolt followed that with a considerably longer shake that rattled everything in the house. In the next 10 minutes there were three aftershocks in a row. Maybe it was three more earthquakes, and the aftershocks came later. I’m no seismologist. I am, however, a native Californian and I have felt earthquakes before.

You get complacent because you feel itty-bity shakes often, that register as earthquakes in your brain, but they do not effect you otherwise. Last night was not like that. Just when you relaxed another shaking would begin. My eleven year old granddaughter (also a native Californian) never experienced such a disturbance in the force. Grandma never had either – not since the Bay Bridge collapse in 1989.

Seeing the map this morning made me think of Jesus’s apostles in Matthew 24: 3-14.

While Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives,  his disciples approached him privately – ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the end of this system of things?”

In answer, Jesus said to them ”… You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars.  See that you are not alarmed for these things must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another.  All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress. Then people will hand you over to tribulation and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations on account of my name… And because of the increasing of the lawlessness, the love of the greater number will grow cold.  But the one who has endured to the end will be saved.  And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then, the end will come.”

Okay then. I think we know we are feeling ‘pangs of distress’. My question is – Just how close are we to preaching the good news to all the inhabited earth?

TTFN

Look Out! It’s the Weekend…

~ JodiLea

It is Friday, before the 4th of July weekend, so our little mountain town is getting invaded. The traffic to town began to get heavier yesterday evening and today the roads are crowded and people are getting impatient to get their groceries and unpack their stuff so they can relax.

When you are a full-time resident, you are not up here looking for excitement. And you certainly do not expect any. So, imagine our surprise when we got a call from our son as he was leaving town, telling us we should go down the hill to the market and see the Subaru sedan that drove into it. What!?! We did not want to miss this, which we would have if we did not receive a heads up.

Excitement at the “Drive-in” Market

It is pitiful that this is the most excitement we have had this summer. I do not know the story behind the crash. I do know that this is the first vehicle I ever saw that ran into a building in real life. I see this a lot in the movies and on TV.

Was I a little bit embarrassed about how eager I was to get a good photo so I could post it here? Not as much as I should be. I dashed out to the truck without combing my hair or putting my bra back on. I did not even look in a mirror.

My readers, y’all who are reading this, are worth the occasional faux pas, and embarrassment that come with my provocative reporting. National Enquirer, here I come!

TTFN

Reality is Not Always Real

~ JodiLea

While researching popular Reality Shows, to see which one was considered the best, I came across a list of ALL the USA reality shows out there – past & present. The quantity startled me (600+) and, well, if the titles were any indication of the show’s quality, times were getting horribly desperate out there in Hollywood.

The first ‘reality show’ I ever watched was Candid Camera. Back then (in 1948) the term ‘reality show’ did not exist. I loved that show! It was so funny and the pranks were clever. I still miss that show, and I hope that one day a wise and creative producer will be inspired to do another show.

Survivor came out in 2000 and remains to this day. After the first season and the beginning of the second, I voted myself off the island. The physically challenging competitions were OK and the tribal ceremony was corny but fun to watch. What disappointed me was all the “drama” going on – it seemed scripted and fake to me. The other thing that got on my nerves was the fact they kept passing the show off as real.

Most Reality Shows are about as real life as WWF wrestling. They are game shows with no questions, just stunts and competition. They have more ‘drama’ than my soaps did.

These people are not abandoned on a deserted island, or in the wilderness, left to survive on their own . They are on a taped TV show. There is a film crew that I assure you does not sleep in homemade huts and eat bugs. There are medical staff at the ready (probably for insurance purposes.) And even if the camera crew and medical staff have to rough it a little, I’m pretty sure that Jeff Probst is living at the nearest 5 star hotel and commuting to the wilderness set.

Think about it.

To download the list as a PDF file Click Here

TTFN