Anatomy of Lightening Creek, Part 1

01satviewsourceAs always, click on any image to see it full-sized. CTRL-click will open the image in a separate browser tab.

02golfcourseLightening Creek is so named because of the frequent flash flooding. It was that way before it was settled and development only made it worse. The Wikipedia article is wrong, of course; the source is technically Brookside Golf Course at the corner of SE 89th and Shields Boulevard (correct Google Maps link). 03birthlighteningcreekA topographical survey would indicate this used to be a swamp with poor drainage. By opening a drain that connects to Lightening Creek (image right),04basina it becomes defacto the source as the longest branch. If you glance at the satellite image above, you’ll see the golf course on the right and you may be able to pick out where a water course runs across that north-south divided highway, and then pops out the other side and runs around an industrial lot and into Catchment Basin A, AKA Crossroads Sports Complex. Refer to the satellite view again for the sheer size of that massive pit, but the image above left here shows how high the retaining wall around it is. That little steel building is probably the gate house.

05intoritzyneighborhoodLike magic, the creek simply pops out from under the other side of the street and enters a tortuous route through a pair of ritzy neighborhoods where every house has a high wood fence to block the view of the creek from the street.06brookwoodpark I believe the area is generally called “Ranchwood.” About the only way you get to see the creek is where it enters Brookwood Park. What you see in the image is stagnant water this time of year and you might see some waterfowl swimming around. From there it turns around behind an equally ritzy apartment complex and comes out alongside SE 89th Street.

07sharpcornerThe sharp turn (image right) shows the creek has been pushing and washing out the dirt, so we should expect some complaints after the next couple of heavy rains when it starts to undercut the street. However, today there was almost nothing flowing yet, just a few stagnant pools here and there. Eventually it turns under the street and runs northward behind a shopping center and several more businesses before crossing under Western Avenue.08basinb It runs behind some more businesses and it should be clear by now the course is no longer wholly natural. It zigzags some more on the west side of Western and eventually crosses back over into Catchment Basin B (image left), which is also used as a sports field called “Lightening Creek Park.” It’s just a little smaller than Basin A and the image shows where the creek now has just a trickle of water running along the north edge of this field. Obviously these fields are evacuated when storms hit this part of the city because they flood some.

09underi-240This is the last time we get this far west, as Lightening Creek seldom wanders far from Walker Avenue. Indeed, you can see a sluice gate of sorts in the background of the image from where it runs between some more businesses and apartment complexes until it ducks under Interstate 240 (image right). On the other side is a peculiarity in OKC: the Southern Oaks district. 10winchesterdrive-inThere isn’t much on the exterior main routes around it to tip you off, unless you happen to notice that it hosts one of the few remaining operative drive-in movie theaters in the US — The Winchester Drive-in Theater. That huge blue thing in the background there is the projection screen. This part of town hosts some very old homes, too, that were standing way back before OKC annexed this area. Somehow they escaped a lot of regulations, because there remains a hidden cow pasture in the middle. And not too far north of here are some folks who have chickens in their backyards. There’s lot of ratty old places mixed in with opulent old-money mansions.

11anothertributaryHere we see the creek (left side) joined by a rather substantial tributary (coming in from the right), and I’ve seen pictures of both carrying flood waters up near the top of the concrete walls. Now keep in mind that we’ve already passed two massive catchment basins that can hold incredible lake-sized volumes of water before we got this far. 13acrosswalkerThe creek continues wandering among suburban sprawl, across SE 59th and then back across Walker into the South Walker district (image left), which also contains pre-annex housing with chickens, cows and so forth. It was quite refreshing to hear them inside the city limits.

15draperparkEventually we come to Draper Park, which starts near SE 44th and strings along the creek banks all the way up near SE 29th. It’s here in this park where most of the folks get caught by flash floods, because the creek is quite accessible and very popular with kids when the water is running just a little.16draperpark As we follow it farther north toward Grand Boulevard, we can see where a short section is without the concrete bottom, a low spot that stays full of water year-round. It’s used as an unofficial swimming hole, but I’m not sure I could tolerate the odor of the stagnant water.

For today I stopped the survey at the Grand Boulevard Bike Trail and headed home. I’m not sure how far I rode, but it took about four hours for today’s part.

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What Hath God Given?

Cycling elevates your awareness of terrain.

Why do I invest so much time into surveying creeks and rivers, and then posting about it on the blog here? Pretty pictures? I’m teaching what I know of God’s Creation. I want you to learn how to think in terms of your environment, not as a green weenie devoted to some mythical Mother Earth, but as someone who knows in your heart that God gave us certain things to use for His glory. Sister Christine will teach you a lot about flora and fauna, among other things, and I will teach you terrain awareness. When possible, I’ll also teach about climate and weather, because it’s a part of geography.

All of these things are part of our proper awareness of God’s provision. Without that awareness, I don’t see how you can walk heart-led in this world. Without that, I cannot see how you can seize fully the redemption our Father offered in His revelation, because a core element of that revelation is how to manifest His glory as we walk about in this world He created.

So I encourage you to start thinking about where you live by chattering about where I live. It’s a demonstration of what I believe represents a proper consideration. If not you personally, then someone in your life needs to consider these things so that you get the full range of what Our Father has given us. He grants each of us gifts of varying kinds of awareness so that we can come together in spiritual communion to hammer out a moral path of conduct that makes Him smile.

For example, perhaps a few of my readers are aware that just about 15 miles south of my residence is one of the prime target areas of tornadoes. It’s the City of Moore, Oklahoma. Of all the places in our state, this one area catches the biggest and baddest storms and it happens consistently. No other part of our state sees such frequent and total rebuilding of destroyed structures. Something about the terrain there invites tornadoes to form and grow in strength. And while the reasons are more complex than meteorologists can currently understand, I can tell you part of the reason: The land there is very flat for quite some miles around while also having a high relative elevation.

I suppose some of you might know a little about using the online mapping services. What you might not know is that most of them offer some kind of alternative perspective that indicates relative elevation. It’s what we call topography. While the controls offered by the various mapping services vary, somewhere in the interface is an option to view elevation markers, usually brown lines overlaid on the map to indicate a certain particular elevation above sea level. By following that elevation around the terrain, you get a feel for where the hills and valleys are.

If you viewed the elevation markers around Moore and other topographical features, you’d see that a great many streams and creeks originate there. It’s called a “watershed” — one of the definitions of that word is the highpoint elevation between two water features, the point where rainfall runoff divides between them. Three of the creeks I’ve chased start within a two mile area near Moore, all close together, because that area is the watershed between to very large river courses: the Canadian and the North Canadian. Those two run kind of parallel for hundreds of miles, but they wander all over the place in this central part of the state. Rivers wander in loops where the terrain is flat, where the change in elevation is spread out over long distances. We have hills around here, but they aren’t that high. Moore sits on top of a very wide high watershed between two of the biggest rivers in this state.

Our state slops from NW to SE, with mountainous areas in the NW, SW, south central and all along the eastern end. Prevailing winds are west-east. That means that while we get some awful storms in the west, they have to fight surface impediments until they drop down into the central plains. Storms are up high, but tornadoes are on the surface. They can still form in rough terrain, but in terms of predictable consistency, they form better in the plains. Moore is a primary target zone for tornadoes.

Why do people keep rebuilding there? That’s a study in history, economics and sociology. In a wiser world, that area would be reserved for cattle and horses. Instead, it’s a dense suburban area with an awful lot of upper middle class homes. It’s also one of the best shopping areas, with a high density of all the most popular franchises in one small space, well-planned by the marketing folks. It’s a prosperous area of the state, close to the Big City (OKC) but far enough away to be insulated from the worst effects of urban density. All of this and it’s on land far better suited to agriculture. It’s a place God Himself marked for storms, but people do what they do. The massive tornadoes don’t come every year, but seem to average about every five years or so.

You could say that, on one level, it’s just the basic fallen instincts of humanity. But there are people there who need to hear the truth. So if you felt called to live among them and share your message, you’d have to go in faith and trust the Lord. But that trust includes a certain level of awareness about the likelihood of destructive tornadoes every few years and being ready to face the consequences of that choice.

When I ride out towards Moore, I can’t help but notice that long, slow climb up to the peak of the watershed. Lots of water courses are sourced out there. I often stop and taste the wind that always blows; Oklahoma has precious few moments when the air is relatively still. There are a few square miles of open range between I-240 and the northern edge of Moore city limits, but Moore itself clearly shouldn’t be there. So I stop and pray that God allow us to spread the truth of His word: If you don’t shift your sense of self into your heart, you cannot truly know God’s will for your life. You might be driven to certain choices that won’t let you rest, but you won’t have the foundation for making that a norm in your awareness.

Maybe you understand that it’s really not a question of the loss of property and life. We are in this world, not of it. We belong in Heaven. However, we are here for a time to bring Him glory. That includes birth in a fallen world that is both full of sin and full of glorious sweet provision. It’s the paradox of Creation and Fall. The answer is redemption through God’s revelation of His divine character. It’s in written Scripture, but it’s true meaning is your own heart committed to finding His truth in Creation itself. All of human knowledge is potentially useful, but it must be guided by the moral priorities of a heart set on His glory.

We can’t all become experts in hydrology, climate and other specialties under the heading of geography, but we can learn more about what Our Creator has done.

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Cycling: Grand Blvd.-OK River Loop

01okcskylineAs always, click on any image to see it full-sized. CTRL-click will open the image in a separate browser tab.

02devondockThis was another cycling trip and the pictures were simply incidental. All I had was my iPhone and I wasn’t really intending to shoot much. As it was, only half of them turned out usable. My real interest right now is working the knee without hurting it. So we start with a view of the OKC skyline from the head of the Grand Boulevard Trail. I suppose the only remarkable thing I noticed on the Grand Boulevard part of the loop was the presence of a couple of vagrants each sleeping in their own cars, the only two using that remote parking lot at the head of the trial.

03twincreekAnother thing was that I’ve noticed lately God has been taking very good care of me. Whenever I hear of a collision or other unpleasant cycling event, it’s always far from where I am at the time it happens. Indeed, I’ve also noticed quite often there has been no waiting when I cross busy thoroughfares. 04nearskylineIt’s as if the cars and trucks all disappear right when I get there. Not every time, but way more often than before.

Most of these pictures were taken on the return part of the loop, along the OK River bank. You can see the Devon Energy public boat dock, the mouth of Twin Creek just before it empties into the river, and a near skyline shot from around SE 15th Street.05lowerdam There were some folks fishing just off the lower dam of the OK River section; it’s obvious the water level is low right now. What I didn’t shoot was a surprising number of homeless folks all along the park areas on the bank. I saw of pair of dogs hitched to a tree with a sturdy chain, and knew that their owner was probably not that far away, either scavenging somewhere or maybe stepping into a store someplace where dogs aren’t allowed.

06crookedoakcreekThis final image shows that Parks and Recreation are keeping the mouth of Crook Oak Creek closely manicured. Someone spent several hours with a string trimmer to make it look like this. While I prefer the natural look, I can understand how most folks don’t like that.

At any rate, I’m just beginning to tolerate standing on the pedals when I need to power through some rough spot and my knee continues to lose more of the residual swelling by small increments. Thanks for riding along.

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Mission of the Heart

(This article is intentionally cross-posted on both my blogs.)

I’ve always been a missionary. Everywhere I’ve gone, every job I’ve performed, was always a cover for my real mission in life.

In my personal experience, there have been three missionary journeys so far. The first was my first military enlistment, a near-total failure in mission terms. I did see people come to Christ, but that had more to do with God using me despite my weaknesses at that time. Isn’t it good to know He does that? The second mission was much more redemptive; of course, it was another stint in the military. My wife and I had a very noticeable impact on folks. The third mission was to mainstream churches, and it simply proved that I didn’t belong in that environment because they aren’t ready. It was painful but fruitful in a different sense.

I still have at least one more mission in me. I’m still burning and yearning for one more shot at taking the message into some context that is ready to hear it. While I can’t pretend to know whether it will be under yet another secular sponsorship or something more openly religious in nature, I do know beyond all doubt that I’m not done yet. I’m still an arrow in the quiver, held for yet another battlefield.

On the one hand, it would be easy to find distraction in pursuing the excitement of prophetic anticipation. It’s real, but it’s beside the point. Just because I know that the battlefield is somewhere in the near future, with a fairly significant rise in social turmoil we haven’t seen before, it’s no excuse for getting wrapped up in the ability to see it coming. That’s just a tool for preparation; the mission is not in the visionary gift.

On the other hand, there will be no mission unless we come up with some thing that grabs human attention. One of the most important take-aways from the Parable of the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30) is that you cannot have a movement of faith without folks who don’t really belong there. If we plant the crop, there will always be a mixed harvest. The mixture is not harmful to the fruit of the Spirit; let God sort them out in His own time. But we must plant those seeds and let them grow together, because that’s how the fruit comes.

While I am personally most comfortable with Radix Fidem as the general shape of our religion, and even more so with our specific Kiln of the Soul ministry, I know those things aren’t the thing that carries our broader mission. It’s just the results of something which is more likely to provide the substance of our thing that we should use to grab human attention.

The fundamental issue — quite literally the foundation (fundament) of our work — is the shift from cerebral awareness to heart-led awareness. You probably can’t carry it too far without mentioning how it marks Western Civilization as a death trap, but that’s secondary. It’s something we can’t avoid discussing eventually, but it’s unlikely to be the starting place in most contexts. Everyone has to find their own path and the degree of sanitizing against Western culture is a matter of individual calling. Our main point is simply calling people to regard the heart as the seat of a higher consciousness that is most certainly not just another level of intellect.

This is the thing we show to the world, the one gift we have in our hands that really does need our efforts on the human level to spread. We can trust God to take care of what follows that transition in their lives; heart-led is the essence of faith. While we may still represent Radix Fidem as a religion and even Kiln of the Soul as our parish, those things can easily pass into the grave with us. The one thing we have to offer that will outlive us is faith itself, and we are convinced faith without that heart-mind awareness is not really faith. This is the thing without which we have nothing to offer.

And by now you surely know that I’m not interested in having my nifty little books about this stuff pushed on humanity. I’d much rather you simply grab the ideas in them and take off on your own expressions of faith. Write your own books, and poetry and songs and other artistic expressions of faith. If this same fire does not burn in you, then I’ve accomplished nothing in the first place.

Join me in this mission.

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Start with Me

In the Bible, the image of contemplation is far more than mere cerebral processing. It is the image of deferring to the heart, bouncing ideas off your convictions to discern the moral truth that only your heart can know. In this way alone can you know what God wants from you and for you.

Polling data is a product of the mainstream media (MSM). What you may not recognize is that the MSM is your enemy. Contemplate this for just a moment. I’m reluctant to hold your hand too tightly on this because I revere the power of God to speak to your heart, same as mine. What I ask is that you try to become aware of sources of news and information that are not MSM. Granted, the alternative news sites are a minefield of fakes planted by the MSM, at times even funded behind the scenes by government agencies. But if you take some time in prayerful contemplation in the face your convictions, I believe you can discover that some of these alternative sources are at least sincere. To imagine that the MSM reflects the will of the people is too stupid to answer.

I’ve previously noted that major portions of our government are globalist in sympathies. Globalists are folks who are determined to destroy all national governments and pull us all under a single global government. And the philosophical tilt of that government will be leftist, AKA socialist-communist. It is highly materialistic with a false veneer of altruism and other moral pretenses. The true nature of it is the Cult of Oester, the devious arrogant mother figure that promotes “smothering” instead of mothering. All the most despicable forms of political correctness and social justice warfare are a trademark of that cult. This is what lies behind the MSM, most forms of entertainment that get any air time, and a significant portion of the technology industry. And they will not hesitate to deceive and manipulate those who don’t agree with them.

Most computer geeks are also socially liberal, but still somewhat in favor of anarchy, so they tend to be hands-off about content on the Net. Thus, in effect, the Internet community is libertarian, which is why you can still find online a lot of antidotes to the MSM message. Reading widely online, you can discern that, while we are beset by a very loud minority of globalists and imperialists, the vast majority of the American population is quite nationalist. The globalists are everywhere, and terribly influential, but when things get chaotic, that nationalist instinct kicks in very quickly. To whatever degree the average American might seem to espouse some measure of social justice thinking, it’s just a fragile shell held in place by massive MSM noise.

So while Congress tends to be a raucous mixture of globalists, imperialists and nationalists, the administration is globalist. The Supreme Court is somewhat less so, but still quite progressive compared to the population. A critical element in what globalists are doing to manipulate us is to make the whole world such a hideous mess that they can sucker us into accepting their brand of global government. Of course, they blame the mess on everyone who opposes them. “If you would have just done things our way, we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Can you not recognize that as the best single manifestation of the influence of The Cult?

If you are part of the nationalist majority of ordinary Americans, the MSM and current Whitehouse occupants are your sworn enemy. For a slightly different reason, the imperialist Pentagon is also your enemy. The globalist CIA is your enemy. The NSA is their own thing, though they overlap somewhat with nationalism; they surveil but don’t do much with the data they collect. The FBI is nationalist with globalist leadership, and very near to an internal revolt. Most of the several million federal bureaucrats tend to be nationalist, but they still aren’t your friends because they are under the sway of the paranoid hive mind. And for all of my evangelical patriot friends, I warn you that the Zionists are lying globalists, too, with no intention of meeting the actual requirements for your End Times dreams.

But for those of us who live by the heart-mind and are loyal to Christ on that higher level, we only appear to some as globalists because we offer very little genuine loyalty to any of the partisan interests in the US (or any other government, for that matter). Those partisans are our enemies because we don’t offer sufficient enthusiastic support for their agenda, but we aren’t hostile to them. We are critical of their immoral agendas because we are committed to a higher moral plane to which they are hostile. There are times we can play along with their choices because it offers us a chance to promote a heart-led life in seeking the glory of God. But by no means does any human agenda attract our loyalty. We know that the whole mess of human politics reflects the hand of God herding cattle, beasts that refuse to rise above their beastly level of awareness. We don’t fight what they are doing because that’s not our calling.

So we keep an eye on the passing scene because we seek opportunities to exploit human folly for Our Lord’s glory. There’s a high probability the US will drag NATO partners into a war against Russia, and/or China, very soon. There’s a high probability we may face various kinds of Internet disruption in the near future. It’s virtually guaranteed that the global banking system will break down in one sense or another. Lots of trade will be disrupted and general economic welfare will decline. Western nations are currently being overrun with hostile migrants, refugees from alien cultures intent on destroying Western Civilization.

And if you haven’t noticed the rising plagues and natural disasters, you aren’t paying attention. Here in the US, NASA predicts a 20-30 year drought in the southwest. Picture Hollywood crumbling into a desert waste. California agriculture is already declining rapidly. And every week a new plague pops up that threatens food or humans directly in some part of the country.

God’s wrath is upon America, and maybe other countries, but that’s not my calling to say. But as I’ve explained before, His wrath is woven into His blessings. That is, what we see is God turning His attention on this country, and His attention burns away sin. Whatever sin has produced goes with it. If you cling to sin, you’ll get burned. If you are eager to shed your sin, His attention brings blessing because it’s cleansing. So with all the saints watching us in Heaven, let’s cry out:

Bring your wrath against sin, O Lord, and start with mine.

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Psalm 119: Daleth 25-32

In this octet is the Way of Strength, as the word for “road” is used repeatedly. The psalmist complains of a human frailty he finds all too obvious. The first line refers not to some kind of desire, but that he cannot avoid wallowing in the dust from which he is made. Without the breath of God in His soul, there is no life. He confesses that his fallen existence is loaded with false desires, and he knows the Lord has received his confession and repentance, and now he eagerly awaits instruction.

He is altogether certain that, once his fallen mind begins to grasp the logic of conviction, it will settle into his soul like the most brilliant answer to every question. With such power and conviction, who could remain silent? Not just his eyes with tears, but his very core of awareness weeps like melting ice in the fire of grief over his sin nature. Only God by His revelation can build him up to a useful life.

All too well does he know the road of deception; he pleads with God for deliverance from it. He knows he cannot obey God’s Laws without the mighty grip of grace. Divine truth is his choice. It’s the only level ground on which we can stand in this world.

He clings to the revelation desperately and pleads that he not stand before God ashamed. He is driven like a whirlwind, ready to jump and run at God’s behest. He longs to live in the grand tabernacle spread wide in his own heart.

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The Treasury of Souls

I wish I could say this quickly and succinctly, but our cultural miasma won’t let me.

In another of the long list of false dichotomies foisted upon us in the West, we have two bogus images perverting what Jesus taught. One promotes the sacred figure of the noble soldier; the other is the noble martyr. All that’s left is deciding whether the person on the other side of a confrontation is a real enemy or some sacred authority figure.

How do you respond when a policeman pulls you over and you know beyond all doubt he’s wrong? While the official answer is to obsequiously accept what happens and fight it out in court later, there is a place in our culture for a careful resistance to abuse of authority. In the latter case, it’s a sacred duty of another kind; this is what’s behind activism.

What’s wrong with trusting in God, keeping your composure, and waiting to see if God opens a door for something really important in this encounter? Can you not be the shepherd?

One of our biggest problems in Western Christianity is a lack of awareness that our cultural background is radically different from that of the Bible. Westerners value the wrong things and so read a false value system back into the Bible. As I often explain, the most valuable asset anyone has is their kinfolks, either blood kin or covenant family. Any eastern potentate knows instinctively that his treasure is his people. His domain is the people, not the land or possessions — those things are fungible. So if the worst comes and he loses all his wealth and is driven out into the wastelands, it is his people who can gain new wealth and build a new home somewhere else. Take away his people and he would quickly trade everything for a covenant tribe, because nothing matters like people.

While you and I would hardly seek to build ourselves up as eastern potentates in our Western world, we can surely play the shepherd at God’s command. We can accept material losses in favor of making friends, not for ourselves, but for the Kingdom of Heaven. That such a friendship will surely bring us rewards is a part of the larger blessing. This is why most people don’t understand what’s going on with the Parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1-14). The Unjust Steward understood the one thing the Pharisees had forgotten. Their embrace of Hellenized rationalism had made them materialists who worshiped Mammon, versus the steward who understood that friends were far more valuable than property. It didn’t make him a good guy, but it showed him wise in understanding the nature of reality in our fallen world.

Our Western sense of justice arises from a heathen Anglo-Saxon value system, one that is quite amenable to Aristotelian logic because both assume that this world is all there is. Jesus was teaching that His Father owned it all and could end it with a mere flicker of thought. Meanwhile, our souls will outlive this universe, and eternity in His Presence won’t be any fun if we shared nothing of His moral values while we were here. We must understand that Western values were not built from the Bible, but from a deeply perverted heathen background with Bible verses on mere paper pinned to the outside. One gust of God’s spiritual wind blows that away to expose the filth poorly hidden.

Well, that wind is blowing. The storms of tribulation are here and the heathen core will be exposed to God’s wrath. This will not be pleasant. We cannot afford to keep any investment in a damned system. Instead, we should be ready to absorb material costs for the sake of any blessed opportunity to reach out to lost sheep. Don’t play the soldier or fake martyr. The vast majority of our encounters will be with people who don’t understand God’s moral character, including the likes of police officers and whole range of other folks. Every one is a potential friend, or even a potential covenant family member. They need a sample of your peace with God, a shelter in the storm for their souls.

You don’t have to like everyone you meet, but you can pour out some compassion until God transforms them into something you can’t help but love. That’s the way it works when your heart leads through conviction and your reason simply organizes the task.

We don’t need to worry about the money lost to a bogus traffic citation, or the myth of concrete justice against false accusations. Those things are not biblical values. Nor should we tremble in fear of the sword of human government. Nor is it some snickering cynicism about stupid cops. We remain confident in the power of our Father to create situations where His glory will shine. Even if we don’t turn that situation around, something in how we respond plants a seed of glory to harvest later.

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Cycling: Draper Is a Long Flat Ride

01ready4asphaltToday was more about the ride than any pictures. I rode out to Post Road, south and onto Draper Lake Drive and around clockwise. While the crews weren’t working anywhere near the east end today, I took this shot to show that it’s all ready for the actual paving to begin. I believe they still have to pack down a gravel surface first, but they don’t usually do that until they are ready to lay asphalt on top of it. It’s all pretty much one operation over several days. I avoided the whole area this time.

02clearlakeOn my way around I noticed that the water was quite clear and blue. That’s very unusual over the past few years. I suppose this indicates they’ve finished upgrading the pipeline to Atoka Lake 100 miles southeast, because today the water was flowing through the outlet. That would help explain the clarity of the water, because Atoka Lake is very clear, nestled in a rocky area. They’ve had quite a bit more rain in that part of the state than we have here.

03lavenderflowersI need to work on shooting flowers. These tiny lavender blossoms grow as underbrush in forested areas only in the fall. Keep in mind that Central Oklahoma is part of the Cross Timbers belt. That describes a mixture of small meadows, with trees varying between thinly scattered to dense and impassible. Most of them are scrub oak (AKA Blackjack oak), cedars, various kinds of elm, pine, etc. However, this varies with the terrain — high Cross Timbers is different from low lying Cross Timbers, but it’s all on a spectrum that varies little from north to south across the entire state. The soil type is the primary controlling factor.

But the primary reason for taking this loop around the lake is that it’s mostly flat. The Post Road route on the east side is slightly hilly in places. At the other side (west) is the Sooner Road route with very few hills. It’s more about the distance. If I went the least bit east of the lake, I’d be in brutal hills, but that’s too far from home right now. I’m praying for a pickup so I can take my bike out farther and see more countryside. I’m also just about ready to get some fenders for this thing. Wet weather is coming. While we are predicted to have a gentle winter, I’m keeping the knobby tires for now. They do slow me down on long rides, but they grip better in bad weather. Once we get past the spring storms, I’ll be ready for something with a smoother tread.

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Let Me Blather

I don’t take myself too seriously, and neither should you take me seriously. Listen to your convictions. Indeed, your heart will point out to you that reality itself cannot be trusted. This is why we cannot let the intellect rule, because the intellect, on its own, cannot see past apparent reality. It’s stuck in the Shadowlands and requires a word from our Creator to know how to approach things.

Political analysis is a hobby for me. On the one hand, nothing of any great moral significance happens in human politics. If humans will not turn to a heart-led life, then they will not have the blessings of God’s moral guidance and they will never quite understand this broken reality in which we live. Nothing they decide will be more than moving dirt from one place to another. On the other hand, moving dirt does have some practical implications in the sense that it shapes the perspective of our human perceptions. We apply the moral truth of God to the context in which we live; the heart informs the brain. While I claim that my analysis is heart-led, I cannot pretend that it stands on a par with prophecy.

It’s likely I will miss things. What you should learn from this is how I apply moral truth to what I see. And keep in mind that my sense of calling is somewhat confined to the United States. I want the whole human race to walk in heart-led truth, and I’m glad to share with anyone who can understand my words, but in terms of actual hands-on work, I’m called to serve Americans. Thus, my political blather is mostly about the US, and I’m quite sure I can trust God to reveal to everyone else how any of this applies to their lives.

Whatever we might have had in the past, America is no longer a two-party system. We still have the form of one, but what’s actually going on behind the scenes is something entirely different. I’m hardly the only person to see this, but most of those who share this perception aren’t writing in these terms. We have three partisan agendas:

1. Globalists — I’ve described them variously as communists or socialists because they are some of both. However it’s not true to doctrine because that merely explains how these oligarchs plan to govern the rest of us. Indeed, it’s very doctrinaire in another sense: These people are perfectly willing to destroy everything in order to force all of humanity under one governing elite. They don’t care at all how many lives are lost in the process. This includes all of the folks who are feminist, social justice warriors, resting on political correctness, political liberalism/progressivism, etc. They are just a vicious and spiteful as those they castigate.

2. Imperialists — This is the best label for how neocons look at things. Again, it calls for an oligarchy that does not share it’s wisdom with the subjects, but manipulates and lies to everyone outside their circle. They are also ideologues in the sense that they are convinced they alone properly understand what is good and right, and they don’t care what they have to destroy to assert their moral vision on humanity. So they are perfectly willing to engage in nuclear warfare, because if they can’t have their vision imposed on the world, no one else can have theirs. “If we don’t do it, someone else will.” They don’t care a whit about liberalism versus conservatism, but will wear whichever mask allows them to herd the sheeple.

3. Nationalists — They consider themselves realists. These are the true believers in the nation-state doctrine of different strokes for different folks, but keep it inside your borders. You can have your religion any way you like it, but the interaction between nation-states must remain utterly secular and rational. The secularized cynicism is obvious. They are aghast at the idea of nuclear war, but don’t mind keeping a few nukes around just in case. And it’s not too bad an idea for everyone to have some nukes, so long as the government that holds them plays by the secularist rules. There will be wars, of course, but it works a lot better if you can negotiate trade to get what you want. Here in the US, this third one is currently associated with middle-class materialism and conservative values. It tends to fascism.

When in the course of human misbehavior we come to economic collapse, you can bet the nationalists are going to win. And we are almost there. Take a look around the world and you’ll see a rise in nationalist brutality because that is the default answer of human reason when things get tough economically, particularly in light of the social unrest that comes with it.

We experienced a major political shift between WW2 up to about 1970. Since that time, the Democrats have generally been a mixture of mostly globalists. The Republican Party was mostly a combination of imperialists and nationalists. However, times are getting tough and there is a realignment under way. We have to learn to recognize where we are and where things are likely to go from here. This may well be the last election with those two parties controlling the process.

Here in the US, the entire entertainment/news establishment is globalist. A large portion of our political leaders are globalist, as well as a significant number of plutocrat wealthy folks. They have a lot of money to invest in their dreams, and some of them are more about the money than the vision. But the global economic system is grinding to a halt, so these folks are in panic mode. The gloves have come off and the mainstream media (MSM) no longer pretends to be objective and unbiased. If you pay attention to the MSM, you’ll hear nothing but desperate globalist lying. A majority of the technology industry is also on board with this.

Of course, imperialism is all about the money. It’s nothing but plutocrats, the politics of corporate plutocrats who aren’t tied to the media. Sure, you’ll find some few wealthy media and technology folks in this camp, but not many of the ones you would likely recognize as household names. The ones who do make some noise are still trying to retain their grip on the nationalists. However, the extravagant waste of imperialism has run its course and the system is breaking down, so they are also starting to panic.

Meanwhile, a significant portion of plutocrats realize that when the global economic system fails, their only hope to is to reduce debt liabilities by pulling in their bets behind the national hedge. We cannot estimate any numbers, in part because some of those plutocrats are wavering opportunists. However, the smart money is on nationalism, and this is attractive to a lot of lesser plutocrats who couldn’t stomach the kind of choices necessary to be bigger players in the global debt system. They realize that the biggest players are going to lose it all very quickly and this is their day in the sun.

This realignment is fundamental to mass human nature, so long as humans ignore the guidance of their hearts. Thus, even if Trump gets assassinated or Clinton’s activists hijack the voting process, she will have gained nothing. This is the direction we are going. And if the imperialists kick off a major war, it will only hasten the process of economic collapse and fascism will be even uglier than it already is. Yes, Trump will open the door to fascism, but it can be a little softer if the globalists and imperialists are throttled by current political processes.

The only prophetic element in all of this is the warning that those affected by American political policies need to organize their thinking along the lines of seeing the fall of the economy and the rise of nationalism.

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Photography: North Hills Again

07stonebankAs always, click on any image to see it full-sized. CTRL-click will open the image in a separate browser tab.

01buffingtonI just wanted to see those stone banks again, and that meant a long ride up to Memorial Road and Hiwasee, out north of Jones. I tried to vary the normal route some. There are a few things I couldn’t shoot simply because the summer roadside foliage includes massive quantities of sandburs (Cenchrus spinifex; locals inaccurately call them “goatheads”). They aren’t always easy to see in the mixture of grasses, but that will change in a week or two.02oldcabin Some are starting to ripen into purple, but many just fall off and turn pale beige, hiding nicely in the sandy dirt. I note in passing that we haven’t had any frost, just a scattered few nights in the mid-40°F range (7 C), but it’s cool enough that native grasses are going into hibernation.

04oldstationSo here we start with just a few shots from the westward run on Memorial Road starting around Post Road and turning south at Hiwasee Road.05oldbarn Memorial is just over the watershed into Deep Fork drainage, so it’s very hilly. That was a great workout.

The temperatures were cool and the wind was out of the north most of the time. We had a cold front roll in yesterday.03farm It’s funny how the same air temperature (50°F — 10 C) feels colder when the wind blows from the north. The skies were overcast, which meant that there was no bad angle. It also meant the pictures turned out a little dark, but I managed to get most of what I wanted.

Projection: Cylindrical (1) FOV: 163 x 63 Ev: 12.44

Projection: Cylindrical

This was the panorama I made from three successive images. I’ve noted in the past that where the North Canadian River crosses Hiwasee Road is the northernmost wander of the river course in Oklahoma County, and it cuts up against a low sandstone bluff. It’s a fishing and swimming hole in warmer weather, but I am always intrigued by the purple layer exposed in the face of the bluff. I rode down to the sandy beach on the south bank to get this panorama, plus the long telephoto I posted first up at the top.

08justbricksFrom there I did some more zigzagging on the back roads until I caught the long angled Spencer-Jones Road. If I remember correctly, this fragmentary brick wall is what’s left of a brick building that was still standing not so long ago. A lot can happen when you are laid up for six months without riding. But at last I’m back out and able to handle those longer rides; today was somewhere north of 30 miles.

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