When I checked in with Facebook this morning I saw that there was a blooper reel from the recent GOP debate, and I thought that would be a fun thing to watch. Until I realized it wasn't the blooper reel, it was the highlights. If you missed it, Marco Rubio took his own water to the debates, Mike Huckabee thinks that he is part of the A-Team, Carly is going for the feminist vote... I really can't understand what's going on in the USA anymore.

When I was in Myanmar I re-read all the George Orwell books so they are still in my mind. The fake crowds, the backwards talking (also called lies), the sheer hubris of Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina, it's all so newspeak, so ministry of information. I mean, even Sarah Palin -- and I am no fan of Sarah --  but, she had the decency not to run. Whether she realizes she is an idiot or not, I don't know, but somehow she realized that she couldn't be president and didn't run. The others... I don't know where they get off. It's just wild.

So I stopped watching that. Obviously. The state of USA TV almost makes me glad that Netflix is now making TV shows. Almost.

I am thinking about the children this morning. Jesus says to welcome the children. Yet, Australia sends them back out to sea to die, the USA is not a lot better, nobody wants the children refugees any more than they want the adult refugees. (Anyone who is different must be a terrorist, you know.) Forty percent of African-American children live in poverty. Honestly, how did we let that happen? But also, and here's something I do when I think about scripture, I go: Who, What, When, Where, Why... it's simple, but usually it's one of the WH questions that speaks to me.

So, regarding the children we have Jesus, the children, the disciples, and the children's parents... that's the who. 

The what is, teaching and welcome.

When, is between who is the greatest and if you're not against us you're for us -- compared to a later statement that if you're not for me you're against me (Matt. 12:30)... confusing Jesus, very confusing. Mark is the earliest of the canonical synoptics and it is assumed that the writer had a variety of early texts to borrow from. Not that the saints would EVER plagiarize... different times, different standards. But the when is within Jesus' lifetime.

The why is teaching. And I think Jesus may be working out his own vision for the kind of reign he imagines.

The where is Capernaum, simple enough. They had come down a mountain -- transfiguration, remember -- and were walking through The Galalie. We are always going to Jerusalem, remember. Twists and turns, but always headed to Jerusalem. Later they will head beyond the Jordon for more teaching. So, between a mountain and a river. In The Galalie. In a house. But, that's really just the location.

Where is Jesus? Well, if you believe the pictures in the children's Sunday School rooms, Jesus is sitting on a big rock. You've seen the picture, I'm sure. It's not an actual photo, but it must be accurate or it wouldn't be in all those Sunday School rooms. And, actually I don't have a beef with that image. The story in the Bible is that Jesus was in a house and had called the disciples to him, but it's just a story and I like the outdoor setting with the rock just fine. Also, the teacher would have been sitting and the students standing... a configuration I wish we'd return to, btw. So, to have Jesus on that big, white rock is OK.

So, now we have set the scene and can start thinking.

The first thing I like to do is change the time zone. 

Who are the children today?
What are they doing? What should I be doing?
When:  TODAY. The time is always NOW.
Where are they right now?

I will write more about this later. But for now I need to have a ride on my scooter.

Love to all.