The astonishing thing is, is that offering to bake cookies is the most active thing Artemis has done to raise money since I started following them!! 
Baking cookies once a week or even once a month and selling them locally would have been an actual income and might have been enough to cover for some of the stupidly low costs that managed to surprise them EVERY fucking month. 

For someone who despises dancing, Gary seems to do a lot of quasi-dancing during his sermons. That picture with his arms outstretched bears a strong resemblance to Tevye in a community theater production of Fiddler on the Roof. I wouldn't be surprised if he burst into a rousing chorus of "Tradition!" 

Looks like Gary enjoyed the experience, and Donald felt the need to shout about it:

I kept getting interested in the Rod thread when I took my breaks from cleaning, and taught a piano lesson in there, as well, but I think I have time to tackle some of Gary's inspiring words before bedtime.

This morning, Gary preached at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Murfreesboro TN. That means that Becky had to ride for about 83 miles each way, rather than the usual 42 to Family Baptist.

The video is almost three hours long, but don't be alarmed, from the 52 minute mark to the end, the service was over. A man in shorts and a woman in a skirt above her knees (I bet Gary was not happy about them!) chatted for a while, the lights got turned out, but the camera was still on for another two hours!

As the video starts, Gary is already into his message, so I don't hear his bible reading. But the first sentence I hear tells me it must have been Job. Gary just loves Job. Suffering, persecution, boils, dead children - right up his alley.

Gary says, about Job: "We got a man here that's had his world turns upsahd down. Now, here's the title of the message: When Your World is Turned Upsahd Down."

He talks about the things that turn a person's world upside-down - in his case, his mother's final illness and death. He says he misses her more now than when (well, of course he says "whenever") she passed. He talks about the fact that they are without a pastor - he doesn't know who God will send to them, but he tells them "don't quit," and comes down from the pulpit to pace.

"Ah know that - ah know how it is; mah daddy was a church planter, an' stuff lahk 'at, an' ah know how this works out an' everything, but listen hey, when the - what is it - when the cat's out playin' around, th'm- when the cat's gohn, th'mouse go t'playin', amen?"

🐁 

He looks at the back of the church and says, "Y'all c'mon in." Someone must have been hesitating due to that bizarre cat and mouse statement.

He babbles about how persecuted Jesus was, and the church still is. He says he's going to give them some examples of people whose worlds were turned upside down (from the bible, of course), and "show you that they done it, we kin still do it in 2024, amen? Turn t'Ginisis, chapter 41. Ginisis, chapter 41. Ginisis, chapter 41, look in verses, uh, 40 - uh, let's see here - verses 41."

I'll meet you there tomorrow, to hear all about Fay-row and Joseph.

4 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

Holy crap. Out of curiosity I looked up the cost of moving from Seattle to Miami (basically the furthest point in the lower 48 I could think of offhand, assumed Alaska and Hawaii would cost more) and found "Hiring movers for a studio apartment or one-bedroom home from Seattle to Miami will cost between $1,902 to $8,021."

So one of the "fun" things about rural living is that cost of moving had less to do with distance and more about common routes. Seattle to Miami will cost less than Bellingham to Tampa. 

Regardless, wtf. How are they asking for money to move again? They haven't even been in their place for a year.