May 14, 2008

Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)

@#$%

I messed up in KDXXVII.

HRC only creamed BHO in one primary yesterday; and if you'd like to know why, go back to KDXXVII (3rd section).

Go back to KDXXVII (2nd section) for why HRC will cream BHO in Kentucky - whenever it's scheduled.

@#$%

BHO's gonna get the nomination.

And I may lose that bet on who's gonna get elected on 11/4 (see the 5th section of KDXXVII).

HRC is 20 million in debt already; though I think she'll recoup before I get those 12Gs.

@#$%

I just filled up the Caliber at almost $4 a gallon.

I thought of how President Reagan emasculated the Soviet Union through an arms race which they couldn't afford.

Handing over the honorarium for a memorial service earlier in the day to pay for the gas, I apologized to the clerk for transferred ventings from folks who are running on empty; and that thought in the preceding sentence of what happened then was provoked as she commented on what's happening right now: "This is what happens when ragheads run wild, greedy Americans control the economy, and you've got an incompetent President."

@#$%

My bet isn't looking good.

@#$%

I started writing this KD about five hours ago.

I've been detoured by nine telephone calls and seven drop-ins in addition to today's calendar.

But I've learned I'm never interrupted.

Scheduled, unscheduled, appealing, or annoying, they're divine appointments.

My challenge/opportunity is to discern what He's up to through 'em.

@#$%

One telephone call was from someone whose name was unfamiliar to me.

She asked for the telephone number of someone whose name is familiar to me because I've visited him in the hospital on many occasions but he left the church about four years ago when everyone was hating each other in a Christian kind of way.

The call came after an especially draining memorial service.

I was tired and unguarded.

I didn't have it; so she asked if I could go into the church office and look for it in another staff member's Rolodex.

I said we don't keep the numbers of friends who are former members; and then I said, "I'm sorry ya'll left during those times. ___ and ___ really were getting into it and..."

She interrupted and wanted to argue with me about what they were arguing about four years ago.

I didn't.

After hanging up, I thanked the Lord that she and they left about four years ago; and I prayed for another divine appointment to invite them back.

@#$%

One drop-in dropped in right after the call.

He said, "I really hope our building program succeeds; and I'm praying you don't leave if it doesn't."

I responded, "Me too; and I'm called to stay regardless."

He smiled.

I smiled.

Thank You, Jesus.

@#$%

Our family of faith is at a crossroads.

My ministry is at a crossroads.

We will become a safe haven, beacon, and mission post; or slip from museum to mausoleum.

My evangelistic call will increase or I will begin presiding at another memorial service.

@#$%

People have asked how the motion went to reduce the number of inefficacious ecclesiastical meetings in my particular judicatory.

It went, uh, well.

Actually, it was a first reading of a seconded motion and will be up for vote at the well-attended-by-folks-who-live-to-attend-meetings July meeting; and as the maker of the motion, it means I will have to be there.

Where's that Alanis song about irony?

@#$%

Even the officers of our judicatory like my motion; though they can't admit it publicly.

One presbyter got mad at me for having fun with it.

She/he doesn't like my Daliesque literary genre.

She/he doesn't get it/me.

Come to think of it, I'm not always on the same page with myself.

Go back to the first sentence of this KD.

@#$%

TC was a guest at 2nd in Kansas City.

He said to our elders, "People get mad because I'm earthy and slip with the S word every now and then. I wish they cared as much about the poor, starving, slaughtered, and unsaved."

That's why I look through the filter of twisted humor.

I'd cry all day for our world and mainliners if I didn't.

@#$%

Bess Truman was asked, "Could you use your influence with the President and get him to stop saying manure?"

She replied, "It has taken me 20 years to get him to start saying manure."

@#$%

Speaking of manure, most ecclesiastical meetings are more full of it than substance.

I think of our church office's change from caffeinated to decaffeinated coffee.

Tastes O.K.

No punch.

@#$%

Angel Cabrera is 38 and won the U.S. Open at Oakmont last summer.

He's already learned what it took too long for me to learn and which I hope you've learned: "People will think what they want. That stuff doesn't matter to me. Whether they think well of me or not. I'm trying to do things as best I can. I can't change the way people think."

I was in a seminar for corporate executives about 25 years ago; and I've never forgotten what a shrink said: "You are not responsible for what anyone else says and does. You are only responsible for what you say and do and how you respond to what others say and do."

Not bad.

Sounds like Jesus: "No one can serve two masters."

@#$%

Getting back to HRC's 20 million and my 12Gs, she's, uh, expecting and so am I.

But as I wait, I'm offering an unopened, sealed, collector's edition of Sister Gertrude Morgan's Let's Make a Record to the highest bidder in a kind of KDbay.

Bidding opens today and ends, uh, whenever I want it to end...like 12Gs later.

@#$%

If you haven't heard of Sister Gertrude Morgan, that means you're probably one of those mainliners who talks about the rainbow diversities of our Lord while worshipping in a Brooks-Brothers-button-downed-Weejun-wearing world of homogeneity.

Or something like that.

Anyway, SGM was a preacher, missionary, artist, musician, and poet who hung out on the streets in New Orleans.

She was a spiritual street-walker.

She died in 1980.

But before she died, she recorded Let's Make a Record: SGM, tambourine, and Holy Spirit.

@#$%

My favorite is "Take My Hand, Lead Me On."

It's worth, uh, 12Gs.

Bidding starts now.

@#$%

Go to www.npr.org and search for the 9/30/05 edition of "All Things Considered" (viz., Sister Gertrude Morgan).

Be careful.

If you listen, you'll be the highest bidder.

@#$%

I had one more interruption.

Uh, divine appointment.

I went down to our Midweek program and one of my favorite teachers asked one of my favorite little boogers, "What is Dr. Kopp supposed to do around here?"

The boy said, "He's supposed to teach us about Jesus!"

@#$%

I'm thinking about taking him to my next meeting.

@#$%

Blessings and Love!