Gardening and Stormy Llewellyn

Mrs. R. is in her wheelchair on the front porch. Priscilla is spreading mulch in the final front flower bed. I got another 900 pounds around 9:30 a.m. We have enough to finish the front bed and the two beside the shop. Last year I planted around 120 bulbs in those two beds. Maybe a dozen came up, and maybe five flowered. Temperature now is 76, with forecast high of 86. Tomorrow has a 50 percent chance of rain and assured rain on Friday. We will get all of the mulch done today, tomorrow morning at the latest. I came into the house about an hour ago (bad back taking my strength) and now have lunch cooking.

I am about to start more work on a continuing story of a man who dies and is sent to a place where his abilities are used to battle the armies of other gods.

Stormy Llewellyn told Odd Thomas this world is Boot Camp, and if you do not give in to evil here, you get to battle it in your afterlife.

G-d said we were to have no other gods before him.

You can take that several ways. Literal: We are not to place representations of other gods in his presence. Another literal: We are not to worship any gods other than him, the “before” meaning of primacy. Or, we are not to recognize other gods as his equal.

Other Bible books say we are not to bow down to false gods.

Were gods and goddesses extant 5,000 years ago all false gods? Anat, a war goddess, waded in blood as she lopped off heads and arms; Ishtar, goddess of fertility, also was a goddess of sexuality and war. And what of Hadad and Dagon?

Which are false and which are real? Western education would say none is real; therefore all are false. Greek and Roman logic and rationalism would say the gods could not exist in reality, but who can trust those beginnings of Western civilization, when both had their tens or dozens of gods? The “false gods” disappeared only when Christianity conquered Asia Minor and Europe.

Conjecture, conjecture. All is conjecture.

Not the 900 pounds of mulch for spreading. That stuff is real.