Preparedness Notes for Monday — July 6, 2020

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July 6th is the anniversary of the 1994 Storm King Mountain wildfire that took the lives of 14 firefighters. Weather changes, resulting in 45 mph wind gusts, caused a modest wildfire to erupt into a blazing inferno, which threatened homes in and around the town of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Firefighters from around the country were called to assist in fighting this wildfire. We will never forget the young men and women who lost their lives battling this fire:

Prineville (Oregon) Hotshots: Kathi Beck, Tamera Bickett, Scott Blecha, Levi Brinkley, Douglas Dunbar, Terri Hagen, Bonnie Holtby, Rob Johnson, Jon Kelso

Missoula Smokejumper: Don Mackey

McCall Smokejumpers: Roger Roth, Jim Thrash

Helitack firefighters: Robert Browning, Jr., Richard Tyler

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Today we present another product review by our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio.

Century Arms C308 Sporter, by Pat Cascio

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If you’ve been on the firearms scene for any length of time, you will surely know the company called Century Arms. Century used to import a lot of military surplus long guns and handguns, at quite good prices. Then, some years ago, they started making AK-47 style rifles – using a mix of used mil-surplus parts and some brand-new parts. Now, if you know anything about the AK-47 rifle, you know it is simplicity at its best. They were designed that way, so they were easy to maintain by fighters in Third World countries, who didn’t know anything about firearms. The AKs were used and abused, and rarely cleaned. However they had a reputation of working without any lube or being cleaned – not the most accurate battle rifles, but they worked.

It has been widely reported that Century Arms, were using trained chimps to assemble their semi-auto only version of the AK-47. There were a lot of problems with Century Arms AK-47s not functioning. I know, I owned a few of them myself. Fortunately, I was able to do a little gunsmithing on those guns and get them up and running. On one gun, it simply needed the gas piston rod straightened out – who would have been so stupid to install a bent gas piston rod? Obviously, Century doesn’t test-fire the guns they assemble The good news is that Century Arms has improved their quality control. They are now taking extra care in assembling the military pattern rifles that they are selling.

Many years ago, I purchased a used Century Arms rifle that was marked “C308” and it looked very similar to the H&K Model 91 (“HK91”) battle rifle, with only a few slight differences. One difference was it had a faux flash hider on it, not a deal-breaker. And, whoever owned it before I did, performed a fairly decent spray paint can camo paint job on the entire gun – again, not a deal-breaker. And, best of all, used, but as-new Aluminum light-weight paratrooper 20-rd magazines were selling for 99-cents each. That was a give away price on magazines. I believe I had at least a hundred spare mags for that C308.

As is the case at times, I got stupid, and traded that rifle off, and I regretted it the moment I did the trade. The rifle never had a malfunction of any kind, using a good variety of military surplus 7.62 NATO ammo – and it was plenty accurate, too. A few weeks later, I was back in that same gun shop in Boise, Idaho and spied my old C308 – no one had bought it. So I bought it right back, and was happy. But then I fell on hard times and I was forced to sell it – not trade it. And, that was the last I saw of it.

My regular gun shop that I now haunt in Oregon bought a large gun collection. And in that collection was a brand-new Century Arms C308 – I did a quick trade and brought it home. It was assembled with a mix of brand-new and surplus (used) parts. The barrel and upper receiver are brand-new – made by PTR, who produces some outstanding clones of the original H&K 91 battle rifle. There are a few more U.S.-made parts, to meet the requirements of the Federal Section 922(r) import law. The remainder of the parts are used military parts – from military surplus HK and CETME rifles from around the world. The H&K Model 91 is a civilian version of the select-fire G3 rifle. All of the parts should be interchangeable – but some are and some aren’t. The main differences are in the fire control group — to prevent illicit conversion to full auto.

But a C308 could be made up of military surplus parts from a variety of countries – you just don’t know. The pistol grip and trigger housing holds the trigger. The variety used on mine is called a “Navy” lower – it is made out of polymer. The innards are partly military parts and partly civilian parts, to keep this rifle strictly semi-auto.Continue reading“Century Arms C308 Sporter, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Potatoes Persillade

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The following recipe for Potatoes Persillade (Parsley) is from The New Butterick Cook Book, by Flora Rose, co-head of the School of Home Economics at Cornell University. It was published in 1924. A professional scan of that 724-page out-of-copyright book will be one of the bonus items in the next edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. This 15th Anniversary Edition USB stick should be available for sale in the third week of January, 2021.

Potatoes Persillade

Ingredients
  • 1 dozen small new potatoes or 6 medium-sized old potatoes
  • Butter or butter substitute
  • Salt, to tatse
  • Juice of one-half lemon
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
Directions

These are dependent upon finely chopped parsley, not only for their name but for their attractive appearance.

  1. Scrape new potatoes or pare old potatoes and cut the size of a small egg.
  2. Boil until tender
  3. Add salt just before cooking is completed.
  4. Drain, place in a saucepan with sufficient butter or butter substitute to coat all the potatoes.
  5. Add the lemon juice.
  6. Sprinkle with minced parsley.
  7. The potatoes should be well coated with parsley when served.
SERVING

These are excellent with boiled fish.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the ill-fated Zimbabwean Dollar. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold price to hit $1,950 in Q2 2021 – Natixis

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Egon von Greyerz: History Tells Us To Own Gold When Central Banks Run Out Of Control

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Gold & Silver Forecasts: Both Shining

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Goldman hikes gold price forecast on debasement fears and a weaker dollar

Economy & Finance:

U.S. banks are ‘swimming in money’ as deposits increase by $2 trillion amid the coronavirus

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At Zero Hedge: Americans’ Biggest Financial Regret Is Not Saving Enough Before The Coronavirus Hit

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Governments eye new taxes on cigarettes, homes and tech giants to pay for budget shortfalls

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First published in The New York Times: ‘We could be feeling this for the next decade’: Virus hits college towns

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — July 5, 2020

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On July 5, 1810, P. T. Barnum, the great American showman, was born. He died on April 7, 1891. He is often credited with the phrase “There is a sucker born every minute.” While the actual attribution of the quote is suspect with many versions of the story abounding, the concept remains valid, especially when one considers the economic state of the entire world. Only in a world of fools could the economy of entire nations, indeed the vast majority of the world, be driven solely off of debt.

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The big Independence Day sale for Elk Creek Company ends this evening, so get your order in soon!

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We’re Short of Articles!

We are short of articles to post for the current round of the writing contest. So here is a special reminder for the kind folks who have recently left some long comments, in our Comments section. Many of those comments range from 800 to 1,200 words in length!  You might as well combine two or three of your comments, re-edit them and send that in as a feature article, for posting and judging in the writing contest. Am I begging?  You bet I am!

Round 89 of the contest ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

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Today’s feature article was too short for consideration for judging in Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum.  Thanks!

Is It Time To Worry?, by Jim S.

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All the readers of this blog have been preparing. Prepping for disasters, both man-made and natural. We even prepped for Financial Crises and Economic collapse.

But were we anticipating an insurrection? Not really. We all on this blog believe in America, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. We also believed the American Dream and that our way of life would survive almost any disaster.

Now come groups, mostly college-educated that say America is 100% racist, amoral, evil and their solution is to destroy it. “BURN IT TO THE GROUND” says the BLM New York City leader.

Last week I saw a video of a couple in a grated neighborhood that had to stand in front of their home holding an AR-15 and a pistol to protect their family and home. Rioters/protestors had broken down the grate to their private community looking for their mayor. Several were armed with weapons.

This has nothing to do with the murder of Mr. Floyd. These people think every white person is privileged and that even African American police are evil too. The hatred espoused by these groups is at an all-time high and they are backed with large sums of money and corporate support…Coca-Cola, Google, and others.

Several conservative radio hosts have called for everybody in the middle (my father’s Democratic Party) and on the right to stand up and peacefully protest and push back for patriot freedoms and liberties.

But we fear being called a racist…if you don’t drink 100% of the Kool-Aid, even if you disagree with any of their philosophy, then you are dubbed a racist, period. These groups have even threatened liberals who want to debate the issues and they are called racists and that they need to be boycotted and destroyed.Continue reading“Is It Time To Worry?, by Jim S.”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at polo shirts and AR-15s.

Slow Earthquakes in Cascadia are Predictable

Reader C.B. spotted this over at Phys.org: Slow earthquakes in Cascadia are predictable.

Armed Couple Fends Off Gate-Smashing Rioters

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Armed St. Louis couple who defended their home from angry mob speaks out. JWR’s Comment:  I wonder if he picked that pink polo shirt, so that the rioters would think he was a sensitive AR-15 owner. You know what they say… Guys who are secure in their masculinity, don’t shun wearing pink.

Moldova Shuts Down Bootleg Helicopter Factory

Our Editor-At-Large Mike Williamson sent this: Moldova Shuts Down Bootleg Helicopter Factory

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.

So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” – Romans 1: 8-19 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — July 4, 2020

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Happy Independence Day!  Today, Americans go through the motions of celebrating the remnants of our once preciously cherished liberty.

July 4th is the birthday of both Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) and General Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882)

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Today’s feature article was too short for consideration for judging in Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. Note that we are presently running out of articles to post, so if you’ve been dawdling in finishing up an article, this is a good time to complete it, and send it in. Round 89 of the contest ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry.  Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Prepare Now for Post-Election Chaos, by A. Deplorable

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The days that followed the presidential election of 2016 were incomprehensible to most Americans. Protesters filled the streets with shouts of “He’s not my president,” a statement that was echoed by a member of congress. Only a few months before the end of his term there are countless persons who refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Trump presidency.

Things will be worse after Election Day on November 3rd, 2020 if Biden fails to win. The protests, rioting, looting, and murders that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis were only slowly beginning to diminish after more than two weeks. What followed after Floyd’s unjustified death is a preview of what will happen if Donald Trump is re-elected. The fury that will follow will be deadly.

There are several reasons for this disturbing prediction. Protesters are no longer random collections of disgruntled voters whose candidate lost; they are a well-organized force, funded and directed by those groups and individuals, within and beyond our borders, who seek to destroy the United States.

Mayors, city councils, and governors have emasculated the police. Looters, if they are arrested at all, are released within hours and no bail is imposed. Businesses are allowed to burn with no attempt by firefighters to save them. Government officials literally have stated that rioters should be allowed to vent their frustrations. When the president suggests that he might send in federal troops to stop the insanity he is told that the Constitution does not allow him to do so, even though presidents have done just that at least a dozen times since the founding of our nation.Continue reading“Prepare Now for Post-Election Chaos, by A. Deplorable”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I’m now back at the ranch and have plunged into a flurry of activity. Presently, I’m cataloging, packing Elk Creek Company antique gun orders, and catching up on the “Honey Do” list.

Our Independence Day Sale is still in progress and ends on the evening of Sunday, July 5th.  So that has me very busy. We’ve already had seven orders, so please get your order in soon! All of the guns are “first-come-first-served.”

On Monday, in addition to packing some orders, I plan to fire up one of our pair of Stihl Farm Boss chainsaws.  The Husqvarna size-equivalent is the Husqvarna 455 Rancher. I consider them comparable, and from local reports, the Husqvarna is slightly better. So, if I had to do it all over again, I’d buy Huskies.

Remember our motto: “Two is one and one is none.” Some folks like to have one small saw for limbing and for dropping small trees, and a larger saw for serious felling. But I opted for two of the same model saws each with 20″ bars. That is because we don’t have many trees on our ranch that are more than 24″ in diameter. So I can “make do” with 20″ bars. The big bonus for me is that the two saws use identical bars, chains, spark plugs, recoil starters, et cetera. In my book, interchangeability of parts trumps.  I also still have a smaller, lighter Makita electric chainsaw with a 16″ bar, but it is of course limited by the reach of extension cords.

Thankfully, I am nearly done with laying in our winter firewood supply.

A reader in north-central Idaho saw my request in the blog for a set of shelves to house my antique revolver inventory and offered me a very generous trade for an autographed book, a blog archive USB stick, and some consulting time. He has a seven-foot-tall set of shelves with adjustable slots that should work nicely. Lord willing, I’ll be picking that up, this coming week. My thanks to him, in advance!  And thanks to the half-dozen other readers who responded. The only problem with most of those was the long driving distances required if I had bought any of them. Nothing personal, but diesel fuel is spendy!

And now, over to Lily.

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.

A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.

He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.

Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner.

There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.

The ransom of a man’s life are his riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke.

The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.

Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.

The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.

Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly.

A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health.

Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.

The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.

He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed.

A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul: but the belly of the wicked shall want.” – Proverbs 13 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — July 3, 2020

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On July 3, 1890, the Idaho Territory became the 43rd state in the Union.

July 3rd is also the birthday of both musician Aaron Tippin and of actor Tom Cruise.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  5. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 89 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

How to Overcome Laziness, by Paul H.

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I understand that there are people who suffer from a variety of health-related issues that sap them of their strength and energy. Seek medical attention for these symptoms. Most of us, however, suffer from old-fashioned laziness. These suggestions are for those of us who are… lazy.

I would have written this years ago, but… I’m lazy. So this comes from the perspective of a lifelong practitioner and subject matter expert.

As a child I always figured the easy way out of most everything, especially school work. I would put assignments off until the very last minute and then throw something together. I was smart enough to get by but occasionally I’d be embarrassed. Not embarrassed enough to change my behavior, just embarrassed. I’ll empty the trash… later. I’ll mow, pick up my room, walk the dog… later. I graduated 434th in my high school class of 435. Go figure…

I also got in the habit of never finishing anything I started. It’s easy to get started, but it takes character and resolve to finish most any project. Quitting is a symptom of laziness.

My Time For Change

Things began to change when I became a Christian at age 18. As I read through the book of Proverbs in the Bible, it began to dawn on me that I more resembled the fool than the wise man. Ouch… I was the fool. But until we come to grips with reality, change for the better will not likely occur. Part of that realization was that laziness was not only occasionally embarrassing, it was harmful and therefore sinful.

A curious thing I have noticed over my past 45 years as a believer, is how few mentions of this all too common character malady there are in sermons. Oh maybe an honorable mention here and there, but almost never head-on and at length. I had to search YouTube for an example of an entire sermon dealing with this topic.Continue reading“How to Overcome Laziness, by Paul H.”