Aspirations And Reflections

Recent And Upcoming Adventures

Jun 02, 2026

Hello, good day everyone! I trust that you had an uneventful Memorial Day weekend and week. My last article took several days to compile, and I'm battling a terrible rash that I have had for a week. I don't know what I got into, but pulling weeds at the cemetery and tending my Mother's grave exposed me to nettle. The following day, I took a picnic at our State Park, and took some pictures of my surroundings that I'll share with you. I could have gotten into some poison ivy, although I didn't touch anything. I sat in my van and camped out for a while and enjoyed listening to Dr. J. Vernon McGhee's Bible Bus episodes that I had missed during the week. It was quite peaceful! I needed some downtime and time to reflect on the weekend's happenings regarding my mother's grave, and I guess I won't go into detail much about that, except to say that my decorations weren't entirely acceptable to some of my family members, and I was asked to take down, what looked to them, like Christmas decorations. I did take them down, but with much bitter tears, anguish, humiliation, and embarrassment, then I decided to take them back.

I wanted to let you know that I'm planning to start doing some live broadcasts, and am hoping to include a guest from my hometown, who is doing a similar thing on his new podcast, that I am doing on my podcast. What I'm interested in trying to do with the live feed is to take questions from subscribers in real time, and try to provide answers to those questions based on what I know of Biblical interpretation and commentary, and let the conversations just go where they lead. I recently got stuck on a verse in Isaiah about one ox and two sheep who give butter and milk, and I found the answer in a commentary of qbible archives that were compiled from James Fausett Brown, Matthew Henry, and John Wesley regarding the lack of substance in a formerly plentiful land, and the people being thankful to have little to supply their needs. This passage is also intertwined with the Messiah and his upbringing to eat honey and butter, and how he would know righteousness from evil. What it was saying, is that the basic fundamental sources found in nature of sustenance would be the only producing things found during the captivity and siege of Jerusalem by Babylon. These are the kinds of questions that we need answers to, to further our walk sometimes, but it also keeps that hunger and thirst for his kingdom and his righteousness alive in us, and keeps us seeking to find. So, I hope you'll be watching for that, and have your questions ready. If you'd like to join, I will announce the day and time ahead of time, so that you can plan to attend. The live feed will be published later as an article if you are not able to attend so that you can watch it at your convenience. I will probably do a video, but the audio option is also available, and I haven't decided yet.

I'm going to try to start practicing playing the piano, and if you're interested in learning, I've found an easy method that holds true everytime with the major chords, as long as you know where middle C is, you won't get lost. The secret to it is counting on a 3 point ratio, being the thumb, middle finger, and pinky finger. If you start at the chord key that you want with your thumb, you will count 3 keys over to the right, including black and white keys, and then you will place your middle finger on the very next key. From the position of your middle finger, you will count two keys over, including black and white keys, and place your pinky on the very next key. It is true everytime, so in recap: thumb on chord key that you want, count 3, use the next key, count two, then use the next key. We are looking at a 3:2 ratio, and by using the following key after those counts. This is the diagram from a website that I found.

The important thing to remember is that the piano keys are in alphabetical order from A-G, then they start over in that order going to a higher octave. The minor keys are made by switching the ratio of 3:2 around to 2:3, the 7th uses a 4th finger with a 3:2:2 ratio, augmented uses a 3:3 ratio, and diminished uses a 2:2 ratio. I know you're not trying to learn to play the piano, but you could! But, just in case you do, I've included it for you. If it doesn't make sense, just try to count it, and it will. Even if you need sharps or flats using the black keys to start out, it will still work on the count of major and minor chords. I'm not too worried about the 7th, augmented, and diminished, because I actually have no idea what that means, but I do know of Cmaj7 from guitar, and so on. I'm no musician, but I'd like to be! Never give up on your dreams, that's the reason for this article. Keep getting better! Look forward to the future with enthusiasm and expectations. The Lord always has something good in store for us to bless us with, but sometimes we need to ask questions and look for it. I hope you have a wonderful day, and God bless!