Tuesday, October 31, 2023
That Paul was living an adventurous life
Acts 22:22-23:11New International Version
Acts 22:22-23:11
New International Version
Paul the Roman Citizen
22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”
23 As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. 25 As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”
26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”
27 The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes, I am,” he answered.
28 Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”
“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.
29 Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.
That Roman citizenship - worth a lot in those days.
Bears. They're just being bears, as bears are wont to do.
Back in my youth me and another like minded soul would camp out on the Mokelumne River up in the Sierra. Across the river and about three miles upstream was an old hunting camp. Nothing left but stone fireplaces and an abandoned apple orchard. The trees were wild but still producing, and if we hiked up there in the fall we'd load up with apples and bring them home.
The orchard was also a Mecca for the local black bear population in the fall, and you have never seen so much bear poop in your life scattered among those trees. Tree fertilizer. At night they feasted on all those sweet apples, preparing themselves well for winter hibernation.
That old orchard is probably still there, feeding the descendants of those Yogis, as well as any hikers fit enough to stroll up the river.
In addition, fishing for trout along that semi remote stretch of the Mokelumne was not too bad. Caught some nice browns during the years I haunted those parts.
