November 21, 2021  -  A New Beginning

4:45 AM I awoke this morning, for the usual reason and, coming back to bed for a couple of more hours sleep, found my mind churning out crazy thoughts…..like signing on to blogger.com to start a new segment of posts.  My posts had begun in February, 2010.  By April I had entered five posts.  Brain- exhaustion determined a lapse from this exercise until June of 2020, when Idiotocracy gained strength across the country and I was roused to some reflective thinking.  After a year and five months it seemed time to give fingers to the computer keys and gain perspective on this life’s experience.  Let my fingers do the thinking, so-to-speak.

1940–1960  With two or three intermissions, I grew up between Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley) and Napa Valley, California.  View points on life were shaded from WW11 and a rigorous work ethic, by the security of pretty good parents and a religious understanding of our cosmos that promised hope in a great future, no matter the present circumstances. Expectations in this present life included earning an honest living, treating people fairly, resisting racial inequality, being courteous to women and old people.  As to young men and boys….I guess they had to earn respect.

I was chubby from ages 9-16, and was teased a fair amount.  I took that fairly well, unless teased by other boys.  Fighting became an accepted part of my life.  Mostly, it was just wrestling.  Fists only came into play if we were really angry.  I didn’t win fights with older boys, but never quit until they did.  I don’t remember my parents ever getting after me for fighting, though my mother did make me memorize Proverbs 15:1.  Look it up.  Maybe that was after I threw a book at my sister and it split her lower lip.

Dad had majored in botany, while in college, and his love of nature rubbed off on the whole family.  We were always going for hikes or camping.  My sister and I learned to identify birds, flowers and trees in our part of California.  In high school, my goal was to study biology in college and become a zoologist.  I was eager to be out in the bush, observing wildlife.  What a grand adventure that would be!  A romantic idealism helped me in my naivety.

At the age of 12 the students in our parochial school were given Bible studies and invited to “give their hearts to Jesus” and be baptized.  The majority of us did.  It felt good, but I really didn’t know what I was doing.  It just seemed to be the right thing to do.  And it made my parents and teachers happy.

In the1840s my great-grandfather joined with quite a few others in becoming a Millerite, or Adventist, as those who accepted the teachings of William Miller were called in the early 19^th century.  The Great Religious Awakening had begun in Europe in the middle to late 18^th century, spreading to this country and causing quite a stir in the New England states.  They believed that Christ was coming back to this world very soon, to take “the righteous” home to His heavenly home.  It became quite a piece of religious history.

Because of my religious heritage, my parents and their friends and peers, seemed to assume that I would carry on the family religious tradition.  I began to resist this attitude and became rebellious.  I had friends who were pretty straight and friends who were rather wild.  The wild side really appealed to me, though I wasn’t ready to embrace it totally.

During my first year study of biology in college, I attended some religious meetings.  Though the topics appealed to me, my guard was up.  No emotional spiritual appeal was going to pressure me to make a decision that would change my life.  But, I was didn’t consider the reality of a Higher Power’s presence.  That round went to God.  Impulsively, I change my major from biology to theology, with the goal of becoming a church pastor, or maybe a missionary to Africa.  It was a different sort of animal that would now be my study!