Thought for Today

 311: Edict of Toleration ends persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire 1492: Spain announces it will expel all Jews 1789: George Washington inaugurated 1803: Louisiana Purchase Treaty signed in Paris 1859: "A Tale of Two Cities" published 1897: Discovery of the electron announced 1900: Casey Jones dies in the crash of the Cannonball Express 1916: Germany is first country to have daylight savings time 1939: Lou Gehrig plays his 2130th and last game 1966: Church of Satan founded in San Francisco--started much earlier 1975: Fall of Saigon 1989: World Wide Web launched in the public domain [source code published on this day in 1993] 2004: Photos of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison released 2009: Chrysler files for bankruptcy 2020: President Trump says Covid virus originated in a lab in Wuhan Born: Carl Gauss [mathematician], Alice B Toklas, Eve Arden, Robert Shaw, Johnny Horton ["Battle of New Orleans"], Cloris Leachman, Don Schollander, Isaiah Thomas, Michael ...

 1429: Joan oif Arc arrives at Orleans 1764: John Newton ordained a deacon -- "Amazing Grace" 1852: First edition of Roget's Thesaurus published 1918: Tris Speaker has 4 unassisted double plays 1943: Dietrich Bonhoeffer arrested by Nazis 1945: 31,601 liberated from Dachau 1961: Wide World of Sports premiers 1990: Wrecking balls begin destruction of Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate 1992: Rodney King riots begin after policemen acquitted 2004: Last Oldsmobile produced 2018: "The Simpsons" passes "Gunsmoke" in number of episodes Born: William Randolph Hearst, Duke Ellington, Hirohito, Danny Davis [Nashville Brass], Rod McKuen, Willie Nelson, Zubin Mehta, Bernie Madoff, Duane Allen [Oak Ridge Boys], Johnny Miller, Dale Earnhardt, Jerry Seinfeld, Michelle Pfeiffer, Reggie Miller, Andre Agassi, Uma Thurman, Jay Cutler, Justin Thomas Died: Abraham Gesner [kerosene], Alfred Hitchcock, John Kenneth Galbraith, Bob Hoskins, Calvin Peete Thought: I have turned ...

 1749: First performance of Handel's "Music for the Royal Fireworks" 1773: Parliament passes the Tea Act--Boston does not agree 1805: Marines attack the shores of Tripoli 1810: Beethoven composes "Fur Elise" 1865: Cornell University chartered 1937: First Social Security payment 1982: Trial of John Hinckley for shooting President Reagan begins 2020: Confirmed Covid cases pass 3 million Born: Samuel Morse, U.S. Grant, Rogers Hornsby, Walter Lantz [Woody Woodpecker], Jack Klugman, Coretta Scott King, Judy Carne,  Died: Ferdinand Magellan, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward R Murrow, Al Hirt, Ruth Handler [Barbie] Thought: Reading Proverbs 3:1-8 this morning where we find one of the well-known verses. Yesterday, in chapter 2 we read about seeking to know God as a hidden treasure. Today, notice how chapter 3 begins--don't forget the teaching that you found when you earnestly sought God in His commandments and don't just remember it, keep it. Don't be a hearer, b...

 1654: Jews expelled from Brazil 1835: Chopin's "Grand Polonaise Brillante" premiers 1859: First successful use of temporary insanity defense in the U.S.  1865: Army of Tennessee surrenders at Durham NC 1877: Minnesota Governor calls for a day of prayer for deliverance from a locust plague. For 2 days warm weather continues to cause grasshoppers to hatch and scoffers laugh; on the 4th day a late freeze kills them all. A Chapel at Cold Spring commemorates the answered prayers. 1920: Debut of ice hockey in the Olympics 1941: First organ at a baseball stadium--Cubs 1954: First mass inoculations with the Salk vaccine 1986: Reactor explodes at Chernobyl 2018: Bill Cosby found guilty of sexual assault 2019: Survey response--No religion--23.1%; Catholic, 23%; evangelical  22.5% Born: Marcus Aurelius, John James Audubon, Frederick Law Olmstead, Charles Richter, I.M. Pei, Carol Burnett, Donna de Varona, Jet Li, Melania Trump Died: John Wilkes Booth, Gypsy Rose Lee, Count Basie, Br...

 1507: Martin Waldseemuller is first to use "America" on his map 1684: Patent granted for the thimble 1719: Daniel DeFoe publishes "Robinson Crusoe" 1792: "La Marseillaise" composed--later French national anthem 1886: Freud opens his first neurological practice in Vienna 1926: Puccini's "Turandot" premiers in Milan 1953: Crick and Watson publish discovery of double helix 1959: Saint Lawrence Seaway opens 1971: 200,000 anti-Vietnam war marchers protest in Washington 2011: 300 killed in tornado outbreak in the South Born: Oliver Cromwell, Guglielmo Marconi, Ella Fitzgerald, Al Pacino, Adam Silver,  Died: Anders Celsius, Ginger Rogers, Harry Belafonte Thought: Reading in Micah 7 today. Take a look with me at 7:7-8 and 18-20. The first 6 verses of chapter 7 talk about a terrible time--no grapes to pick, no figs to eat, no godly person. Both hands are set to evil. All the people are at best a briar or a thorn. There is no one to trust and your own...

 1184 BC: Greeks enter Troy in Trojan Horse 1800: Library of Congress established 1872: Mt. Vesuvius erupts 1877: Last Union troops withdraw from the South 1897: First reporter assigned to the White House 1898: Spain declares war on the U.S. 1950: Jordan annexes the West Bank 1962: First TV signal sent by satellite 1990: Michael Milken pleads guilty to violating securities laws 2011: Hundreds of Christians arrested for Easter celebration in Beijing public square [they had been stripped of their churches] Born:Robert Bailey Thomas [founded Farmer's Almanac], John Russell Pope [architect for Jefferson Memorial and National Archives], Robert Penn Warren, Justin Wilson [chef], Shirley McLaine, Barbara Streisand, Richard Sterban [Oak Ridge Boys], Cedric the Entertainer, Chipper Jones, Lee Westwood, Kelly Clarkson Died: Daniel DeFoe, Bud Abbott, Wallis Simpson, Pat Paulsen, Estee Lauder Thought: Yesterday, Micah wrote about the coming last days when peace would reign and fear would be no...

  1597: Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" first performed--Queen Elizabeth attends 1789: George Washington moves into Franklin House in NY, the first official Presidential residence 1861: Robert E Lee named commander of Army of Virginia  1900: First known appearance of the word "hillbillie" [NY Journal] 1939: Ted Williams hits his first home run 1954: Hank Aaron hits first of 755 home runs 1969: Sirhan Sirhan sentenced to death for killing Robert Kennedy--commuted to life 1984: AIDS virus identified as acquired immune deficiency syndrome Born: Shakespeare, James Buchanan, Shirley Temple, Timothy McVeigh [Oklahoma City bombing], John Cena Died: Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, James Earl Ray, Boris Yeltsin Thought: Micah chapter 3 ended with a bad picture of Jerusalem's fall about 100 years after Micah wrote.  Today I am reading 4:1-5. How gracious and loving is our God? How forgiving! The destruction and desolation of 3:12 will not last forever. God...