Thursday, July 12, 2012



1873- DON’T DO THE CRIME IF YOU CANT DO THE TIME


Last night I was arrested for impersonating a cop.

Okay- not really [see last Facebook post- real time].

No- the title comes from one of my favorite TV shows as a kid.

Barretta.


How many of you saw the interview he did last night with Piers Morgan?

I rarely watch this show- but the night before I saw a quick plug for it- and decided to watch the thing.

It was one of the weirdest interviews I’ve seen.

Blake [Robert Blake played Barretta in the cop flick].

He made it into the headlines a few years back because he was suspected of shooting his wife- Bonnie Lee Blakely.

It became one of those viral type stories- you know- the whole ‘movie star’ is in trouble thing.

He was eventually acquitted- but found guilty in civil court.

I was surprised to hear Blake talk about God- a lot.

He cursed Morgan a few times- rambled about his past- and it was genuinely a wacky interview.



I started thinking about the old TV shows when I was a kid.

Okay- what one was your favorite? [Between 1970-80].


I’ll never forget this one episode of a show simply titled FAMILY.

It was one of those down to earth Walton type things.

I used to watch it with my sister.

This one episode- the star of the show- I think the actor was Gary Frank [show name- Buddy?]

Anyway- I guess he was the latest ‘cute kid’ that the girls flipped over.


I hated having to compete with these guys.

You know- how can you impress the girl in class if she’s thinking of David Cassidy all day?

So- in this episode some ex-con knocks on the door.

Buddy gets it.

The guy introduces himself and then the mom comes.

Buddy walks away- and the convict says ‘That’s one tough looking dude’.

Huh?

Where in the world did the writers come up with a line like that?

I mean it was so out of the blue.

This convict just spent 10 years in the hole with murderers and all.

Yet- his first impression of Buddy was ‘he’s tough lookin’.



So- as we laughed- hard.

I told my sister ‘I know- Frank’s contract must have been up- and instead of a raise- he wanted this line in the next show’.

Ahh- vanity of vanities.



Okay- the other day I got with the homeless guys.

I was surprised- Mike [the artist] had a gift for me.

As we sat at the mission- outside on one of the benches.

Mike pulled out a new CD- still in the wrapper.

Boston.

I told Mike- you wont believe this- I just asked my girls to get me the Boston CD for father’s day.

They made me about 5 cd’s from the internet.  [I told my future son in law- after he informed me of where he can burn them- for free. I said ‘I do the same thing- I just Google ‘burn illegal songs without getting caught’ and a bunch of real good sites pop up- even from the FBI]

Actually- he did burn me some good tunes.

But Mike remembered that I said I liked Boston [the rock group- not the state]

And he picked me up the CD.


I also had another good long talk with Dirk.

Dirk lives in his van- has been for the past 25 years- ever since I’ve known him.

Dirk can't stand the homeless guys- even though he is one.


One good friend Henry [written about a lot over the years] is also the ‘street Deacon’ for a church that’s called ‘Church without walls’.

Brother Ray- a street preacher- runs the ministry.



Dirk often talks bad about Ray- and the people that go to the free meals he serves [Dirk being one].



So Dirk was once again ranting about the bums and addicts and all.

He often says ‘the bible says you’re not supposed to help these people- if they don’t want to work [like Dirk] then they should not eat’!

He is blind to the fact that he is actually one of them.

He mentioned the apostle Paul’s writing to the Corinthian church.

Paul did say ‘don’t eat with the heathen’.

Dirk said ‘see’.

I spent a little time trying to put it in context.

Let’s try.


Jesus was accused of being A FRIEND OF SINNERS.

Notice- it wasn’t just ‘I have a ministry to homeless folk’.

No- a friend.

That’s what irked the ‘heck’ out of the Pharisees.

I mean they were willing to ‘minister’ to them [by judging them].

But no- Jesus was their friend.

Actually- there’s a famous song on this very theme.

Okay- in the city of Corinth- well- you had a lot of stuff happening.

Corinth was on the way to Athens [the center of philosophy of the day].

And it would be considered one of the more ‘liberal’ cities of the day.

It was like the Amsterdam of our day.

Prostitution was legal and open on every corner.

Paul told the women in the Corinthian church to ‘wear head coverings’ when they went to church.

Huh?

Why?

More than likely- a cultural thing just for the day.

The way the ‘street ladies’ put on the Red Light was to wear no veil/hat.

So Paul told the women in the city- wear your hat.

You had a few other things like this- where the context explains the meaning.

So- another big thing at Corinth was eating ‘at the table of idols’.

One of the local customs was you would buy some type of animal- use it as a sacrifice to one of the idols- and then the meat would be sold ‘at the shambles’.

A sort of market where you bought the meat at a cheap rate.

This stuff became an issue at Corinth- and they wondered whether it was okay to eat the meat.

They also had a controversy over the Lords Supper [Eucharist] and some other stuff.

So- Paul did say ‘don’t eat with the heathen’.

But- in context- he was telling them not to be a part of the custom of eating at this idol type buffet thing.

See?

They were having their own meal [Lords Supper] and they ought not to be worshipping the idols at the other table.

Okay- that’s context.


That’s why Jesus did eat with the prostitutes and sinners- and he was not violating the law.

Okay- there are lots of things like this when you study the bible.

And I do see the point that Dirk was making.

You do want to encourage people to not become a permanent member of the welfare state.

You do want to try and help them get on their feet.

The apostle Paul did say ‘if they don’t work- they should not eat’.

Talking to the actual church members- he did not want people ‘coming to Christ’ for the free stuff.

But- we always have people in need- and we’re commanded to love/help them.


Okay- that’s it for now- maybe I can catch a re- run of Barretta tonight?

I have not seen it yet on the guide.

I try to avoid Family- Buddy scares me.




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