A.J. Holst

Been thinking about lepers. In the ancient world, they were discarded, forgotten, and shut off from society. Biblically, it was particularly hard for a Jew, especially with Levitical law. Shut off from society in general and your family, friends, and culture specifically. Religiously, the afflicted had obviously earned God's (or the gods') disfavor or invited in Satan and his minions into your very body. Enter Jesus, heals those with leprosy and shows that leprosy doesn't make a person unclean nor unloved by God. Rings a little bit with James and not judging based on appearance. All in all, the lepers were universally shunned, both by members of their own family and society as a whole. We don't have wide spread leprosy today or leper colonies, so the teaching tied to leprosy seems a bit dated and hard to relate to. It does seem to me that the homeless are treated as modern day lepers. Shunned, forgotten, unwanted, a simple head turn to the right or left and they don't exist.

Win 124 NATO Shoots great in my CZ. definitely the off the shelf local deal

Got my first cell in '97, BellSouth Mobility. Didn't work at my house. Same phone number today and ened up with US Cell when they offered unlimited inbound around 2000

A friend has 2 Tauri revolvers. He is a bit of a gun snob and speaks highly of value and quality. If I was looking, I'd give them strong consideration.

A few years back, I read some of Adrien's (sp?) Undead Diary. On line blog like postings. Not married, but similar urban style encounters. If I recall, his home base was an abandoned private college. Will keep checking in to see if the book is identified.

Senior year of high school, Winter Park, FL. Watched it live from the schoolyard. Cold weather launch, rubber o-ring failed (if I recall correctly)

Wasn't this the start of hermetically sealed OTC drugs?

I did find this, not as good as the the skit I was looking for. https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/the-frostnixon-interviews/3007323

Bears, nature's cute, adorable, eat-your-face-off dogs...

If reliable, a very attractive option, price and looks, in the PCC/PDW segment. Which TGOer will be the first test subject?

Disappointingly, I was uable to find the SNL video clip with Ackroyd as Nixon and Belushi as Kissinger. I think it was one on one of the "best of" collections.

I was 9 and even then, knew Princess Leia something special...

One of the challenges is knowing homeless people do pan handle but not all pan handlers are homeless; it is their chosen career. Had an opportunity to be a secret agent. Was at Kohl's, noticed homeless woman asleep along the parking lot borderline. Approached cautiously, carefully, and courteously. No response, she was in a deep sleep. Placed 2 bottles of water by her back pack and slipped a $10 in a side pocket then scurried off. You don't have to be classified as a saved Christian to do on to others and love thy neighbor

Mac, thanks for the suggestions and your service!

Warning against Prejudice James 2:1 My brothers and sisters, as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, we must never treat people in different ways according to their outward appearance. It not too much of a stretch. to consider our skin is just the covering appearance of our bodies. If that is true or even plausible, I know a lot of racist Christians. Oh, they can quote the Old Testament all right. Do they know it's a Jewish law, written for the Jews, to ensure they stay Jewish? Apparently, even the Law of Moses became perverted when the teachers and keepers of the law added the twist of, "hate your enemy," to "love your neighbor." Perhaps it was to help keep like minded folks about God together and bring in those who were curious and wanted to learn more. Face it, if you are the only Jew ( or Christian) married into a non Judeo-Christian tribe, you'll probably begin to assimilate away from God to worship / fellow / accept the gods of that culture. Fortunately, I've been able to share the above scripture to at least soften the hearts of a few. I also personally learned the more traditional lesson, based not on outward appearance, but outward action from the limited perspective. Traveling south on Broadway one evening, as I passed KARM, I noticed a huge amount of waste on the sidewalk and street. City workers cleaning up "Animals," was my first thought. Yep. Harsh. Ugly. Judgemental. Shameful. Not too different from prejudices or racism. I was begging for forgiveness before I reached Summit Hill. The homeless are people, individual creations, children of God. Next time traveling through, someone installed garbage cans, and very little garbage in the ground. the It represented these people care about their immediate environment and choose to keep it as neat and clean as possible. We have a sizable homeless community / village under 40 on the west side overpass off Broadway. What it has placed in my heart is how to help more. We are able to support KARM on a regular basis, but with cold weather setting in, I figure I can do something to ward off the winter cold. Some kind of small water resistant/proof pack with gloves, hat, socks, rubber galoshes, fleece throw? If I can get unit cost to $10 per, I can outfit 100+ people. Military Surplus a valid avenue? Thanks for your prayers and support, I really appreciate it

Thanks for the clarification, haven't really kept up with Sig, brand new to the brand

When I need a check up, I'll read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and replace "Love" with my name. Its gentle reminder that I've got more work to do to become the man I want to be.

Fwiw, my buddy just did a side by side shoot out comparing his 229 / 224 vs 320FS / 320C The 320s shoot just as well as the 22x for about half the price. Slight nod to 229 accuracy @ 25 yards, slow (1 second intervals), steady fire. Hope you enjoy it!

I was told no Christian is exempt from sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't know where this thread will go, but I hope to learn, encourage and enlighten with positive posts, responses, questions, and critiques. I want to be a better Christian today than yesterday and better tomorrow than today. I hope there will be enough information shared for folks make a decision about Christianity, free from hypocrisy and enough discernment to identify hypocrisy. That's what makes evangelism so hard and so I'll avoid it with the truth. Being 50 year old man, but only an 11 year old Christian, I was sure I wasn't prepared. Not a Bible scholar nor a theologian. Nice thing is I see this Christianity thing as a child does...it's not hard, it's not confusing. It has not been tainted by religion, the bias of my upbringing in the Catholic Church nor blinded by hypocrisy. I was actually saved in a Catholic Church, so the cause and event are probably the best place to start. You should all know I am a sinner; past, prssent, and future. I have broken more of God's commandments more times than I can remember. In 1988 I turned my back on God. Mom passed after 9 months of chemo and cancer. It was obviously God's fault, so I was ready to be like Frank Sinatra and do it my way. Had a pretty successful run, ups and downs but mostly up. Then a strange thing happened while bitching about having to wash some dishes in 1997. I had been married about a year and Mrs GtGs was the subject of my ire. All of a sudden, it occurred to me, if Mom hadn't passed, the likelihood of moving to Tennessee was zero. Not saying I'd still be living at home, but I loved my Mom and still miss her. It also revealed Mrs GtG was His gift to me, to love, cherish, lead and protect. Coincidence I had this errant thought, perhaps. Too much opium trying to connect randon events, maybe. God's plan for my life, with revelation of why I had / have trial and tribulation: this is my obvious choice considering my perspective. It was also a healing moment, my anger and hate towards God evaporated because I had an understanding of why. Here is where I missed the boat, when the anger faded, I was cool with God. I was aware of Him. That was about it, I didn't acknowledge, worship, glorify, or give Him any real credit. My lifestyle didn't change much. Went to church a few times, like any good C&E Catholic, I dropped some spare coin in the collection plate on the high holidays. Fast forward to 2007. Life (on the surface) was great. No cares or worries. Health, wealth, marriage...it was picture perfect. So I bought a bigger boat. The first Saturday I owned it, I was sitting on the bridge after washing and waxing. She was shipshape and in Bristol fashion. While surveying mine domain, another one of those errant thoughs, "I'd never thought I'd have a boat anything like this, I'd better get me to church." Strange to say the least, but at that moment the vague awareness of God manifested into, "GtG, you ain't all that and a bag of chips and somehow you think or know or feel God has been helping you out." So I went and talk about a religious experience. The folks in the pew next me probably thought my family just died or I getting ready to die myself. In the Gospel of Luke, there is a parable of the barren vine, the landowner and the gardner. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' I was rocked to my core. This is what I heard and understood. I was the barren vine which had accepted 40 years sun, fertilizer, care, labor, space, investment, mercy and Grace for no yield. God was done with me and I was going to hell. Even my savior Jesus Christ, as the laborer, was willing to shield me, but I had to do something, because scripture doesn't say how long the season is. That's when my heart and mind opened to the truth recorded in the Bible, as I understand it with my childlike perception. The very next week, another religious experience. The Prodigal Son. Yep, through scripture, God revealed there was a party in Heaven over my return to the flock. So when I have zero doubt of heaven and hell and I was certain I was on the hell express, God showed how much he loved the wretched, selfish sinner I was by sending that message to save me from myself. What if I had hit snooze...yikes. So I found the Lord and got right with God and even went and got saved when times were good. I heard and read about trusting, patience, faithfulness. All those things you actually need when times are bad. Didn't quite understand as that stuff doesn't apply to me since time were good. Pretty important, because things got bad. 2009-2011 are tough financial times, I'm working 2 part time jobs to supplement my full time income, our home environment was not marital bliss. I'm reading my Bible a lot during this time, but truthfully, I didn't or couldn't feel God's presence or understand much of what I read. Except for Psalms and Job. There are some wonderful nuggets in Psalms which capture how I want to speak to or cry out to God. In Job, he praises and glorifies God regardless of his situation. He knows the Lord blessed him in the goods times, this is a test of his faith and he will trust God with tomorrow. I clung to this like a drowning man at the end of the rope. 2012 there was light at the end of the tunnel, it wasn't a train, and life got a bit easier with a new job. In August, out AC broke and so did my blindness. Mrs GtG was not happily married and didn't particularly care about the future outcome of our marriage. You see, like Paul, I was still blind to my sin. Yes, I got right with God, accepted who Christ is and what he does for me every day, began to forgive myself for treating God so poorly, but forgot I thing. Why do you persecute me, through her? In my selfishness, I had become a monster. When I looked at my behavior I was ashamed - I wouldn't want to be married to me either. I confessed and asked for forgiveness. Still married and it's better today than day 1. Well, that's my story and it's still being written. Welcome to the religious thread where all are welcome!

The Dodge retro styling is well done, v6 is peppy and with Chrysler Financial and Santander, they are doing a fair share of below 650 credit scores. The 300 is about the last big US luxury car since Cadillac and Lincoln exited the segment in 2011 (end of DeVille DTS and Town Car) Regarding reliability, all I know is every franchise dealer has a service department full of Hondas, Toyos, Fords, Chevys...

The rumors are Chrysler proper will go the way of the dinosaur. They have 2 or 3 models left, the 300, Pacifica (minivan replacement) and the 200? Word is they will support Dodge and the rebranded truck line, Ram. Jeep is safe, sales and value retention is still quite good (Wrangler specifically)

Holsters...

https://www.ammoland.com/2018/10/fifth-third-bank-joins-war-against-guns/#axzz5TTF60pjM 5rh/3rd is now following Citi and BoA. Big deal because after 2008, with intent to protect consumers, 70% of the baking held by the 7 major bankcorps, now it is only 5 holding that same 70%. Regionals would be next, since the major bank is out of gun business, and the regional shareholders usually want to sell out to the big boys, they will get the gun biz off the books. Pretty insidious way to attack the 2A, choke the financial services needed to run the wholesale/retail industry.

I picked up a 224 .40/.357 a few weeks ago. Still looking for a holster as well. N82 Tactical, original non tuckable is on my short list from current experience with my 75B I'm looking at the Kraft and Alien Gear shoulder holsters - may work with my daily attire / cover garments.