Scribbler
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
Monday, April 1, 2024
Where Did the Easter Bunny Come From?
I often wondered where the Easter bunny came from but didn't look into it until there was an article in the newspaper last week with a fraktur of a rabbit carrying a basket of colored eggs. The fraktur was drawn about 1800 by a German immigrant in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. It is in a museum in Wilmington, Delaware. The newspaper article said the Easter rabbit came from German folklore and was imported in the 1700s with the Germans who became known as Pennsylvania Dutch.
The old PA Dutch story involved a mythical figure known as Ostara, who was the symbol of fertility and new life in the spring. According to the legend, Ostara changed a pet bird into a rabbit to amuse children, and the rabbit laid brightly colored eggs. Ostara gave the eggs as gifts to the children.
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
The Folded Napkin
The detail of the folded napkin is found in the account of Jesus’ resurrection in John 20:7. “And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself” (KJV). Different respected translations of the Bible handle this verse differently. Three of them translate the verse with the word napkin (KJV, AS, RSV). Others translate it with “burial cloth” (NIV), “handkerchief” (NKJV), or “face-cloth” (NASB). The Greek word is saudarion, which comes from a Latin word for “sweat.” It can refer to a towel for wiping sweat from one’s face. It is used in the Greek to denote a towel or cloth, but not specifically a table napkin.
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Easter Anthem
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Isaiah 49
Friday, February 9, 2024
Not Made to Fly
Thursday, February 1, 2024
Man Cub
In June we were delighted to learn that our prayers had been answered and our youngest son and his wife were expecting their second child. Gerald and Kelly were married nine years before their first child, Abigail, was born in 2020. (My post from March 6, 2020, tells how that came about.) They hoped to have a second child as soon as possible but there were multiple roadblocks and disappointments. It took a year longer than they hoped but in June they brought Leroy a Father's Day card with the news tucked inside. In July they let Abigail tell everyone with this picture.