Summer License Plates

 SUMMER LICENSE PLATES

    My interest in personalized license plates continues.  I find them fascinating, not only because of the clever words and phrases drivers come up with, but also for the intriguing way drivers choose to identify themselves.  After all, a license plate is basically a message from the driver.

    The tiny, happy car in the picture above was tucked away beside a building in the beautiful, rich country of Monaco.  They might call it a "nice car," but that is a giant stretch when most cars there cost the price of a house!  But, hey, it's nice to show a bit of confidence and attitude.

    My interest in license plates led me to research which state in our country has the most personalized plates.  Can you guess which state has 1 in 10 of the personalized plates for all of America?  I will give you the answer at the bottom of this blog.  In the meantime, here are a few statistics:  The state with the highest percentage has 19.1% personalized plates of its state’s plates.  The next highest is little ole New Hampshire with 13.99%, followed by Illinois with 13.41% and Nevada with 12.73%.

     Here’s another bit of trivia:  31 of the 50 US states require a front license plate, and 19 do not.  No doubt that has been a burning question in your mind for years.

 Here are some of the recent plates I’ve collected:

For those interested in locations --    
CAYMEN      SLT&SND      UNI PEG       MAPIT2

For the beauty, brain and attitude crowd –
BU-T1FUL     SNAZZY     SMARTT

GONWLD     APAGAN     B1G BABE     KNG KIM

POTY MTH      LDY PWR     SASSY     SKEPTCL
 

Miscellaneous plates abound –

HRT PUP      T BIRDIE      WHO DEYY      BG SLICE      HOT KPR

MARCH25     B1G MAD     4CASSY     BOB4LIF       WGRHT5

V8DR2 – on a little sporty Camaro     SPEC EDD     MAMA CAS

CMYBOZ     YAS DUDE     AS3NT      WN – on a Calif BMW

SONSHYN - car with fish & cross      MYPUPS     BESTEST 

DSNERD      4UMAGIC     NCWORM       QUILT 4 

CPENYGO     TU-TER     SEL HOME     DREMYA

It hurts just to read this one!

RTCANAL  

 

One of my favorites that reminds me of what we always told our kids

when they asked for something we didn’t want them to have  --

W8&SEEE

 

I especially like the plates with meaningful messages and these five are special --  

PRAIZ GD       PRAYN4U2     HIS HAND     EPH 4-5     GD WRKZ

Think on these things

And here is the answer to the question you've been longing to know:  Which state has the highest percentage of personalized plates in America?  Virginia.  It's no wonder I see so many personalized license plates as I drive along the highways and parking lots -- I live in a state that's full of these clever tidbits of personality.  I think that's pretty cool!

 

Did Elvis Really Leave the Building?

 

DID ELVIS REALLY LEAVE THE BUILDING?

    Sure enough, it was Elvis!  My sister Ava and I hurried over and got a picture with him before he left the building.  We were excited - I mean, it's not everyday you get to see Elvis!

    Of course, we were just having a bit of fun.  Even though this man looked like Elvis, talked and sang like Elvis, he was not Elvis.  Elvis actually left the building way back in 1977.   In this case, we visited the Legends Theater in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and watched the delightful show featuring look-alikes for a half dozen well-known celebrities.  A few of the performers were spitting images of the entertainer they were impersonating and their singing sounded like them too.  It's actually a bit disorienting at times.  Your mind can be tricked into thinking this is the real thing.

    As I thought about impersonations, I couldn't help thinking of Satan - the great imposter.  While the entertainers we watched pretended to be famous singers, it was all done in fun and no one actually believed this person was the real Elvis, or any of the other celebrities were real.

    Sadly, in the real world, people are sometimes fooled by Satan and his emissaries.  Scripture warns us about such impersonators - "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves," Matthew 7:15.  Talk about being disoriented - imagine a seemingly kind and gentle preacher (a prophet in sheep's clothing) speaking about how there is no hell - God loves everyone and will surely not leave anyone out of heaven.  Does that sound like the truth to you?  Some people believe such lies and other false statements, and don't realize that preacher who is acting all cheerful and kind is really a ravenous wolf sent by Satan to lead people astray.

     The warning continues in 1 John 4:  "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

      If what you are hearing is not in line with the truth of the Scripture - God's Holy Word - then, it is false and not from God.  And so, it's important to be familiar with what God says to us.  "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workmen who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth," 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV.  

     When Jesus was talking about being the Good Shepherd and caring for His sheep (we who are Christians), He said that His sheep follow Him, "for they know His voice," John 10:4.

     And so, the moral of the story is this -- watching a fake Elvis, fake Alan Jackson, fake Karen Carpenter, and fake Reba, is great fun!  But, falling for a false preacher/prophet is NOT - in all caps.  Don't let a trickster trick you into believing a lie.  Jesus said, "If you abide in My word, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," John 8:31.

Dinosaurs

 

DINOSAURS

     I felt fortunate that the dinosaur I was petting didn't turn around and bite my arm off.  We saw this mural on the wall of a business in Norfolk, in a charming little area called Chelsea.  Of course, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to become part of the picture.  Fun!

     It's also cool that I'm shown standing beside a dinosaur, because there was a time - early in earth's history that people may have interacted with at least some species of dinosaur.  I doubt the T-Rex was ever warm and fuzzy, but some of the plant-eating variety might not have been so dangerous.

     I know the popular belief is that dinosaurs became extinct before man came on the scene, but not only are scientist and historians disproving that belief more frequently now, the Bible has a couple of important facts to add to the dialogue.

     One of my favorite sections regarding this is found in the ancient book of Job.  There, God not only describes what appears to be a brontosaurus (or maybe an apatosaurus), but talks about it being an animal Job is familiar with.  Here's a bit of the scripture:  "Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; he eats grass like an ox.  See now, his strength is in his hips, and his power is in his stomach muscles.  He moves his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.  His bones are like beams of bronze, his ribs like bars of iron..." 40:15-18.  I'd say that's a pretty good description of a dinosaur.

     Of course, in Genesis 1, when God describes His creation of the earth and all that's in it, He tells us that He created all the land animals on the sixth day of creation - which would include all the dinosaurs.  

     Another of my favorite proofs is found on an 800 year old carving at an ancient Hindu temple Ta Prohm in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.  All of the stone carvings at this temple are of real animals the people would have interacted with.  This carving bears a striking resemblance to a stegosaurus.  How would these people have been able to carve such a beast if they had not seen one?

       Over the centuries of written history, there have been many sightings of dinosaurs.  The word "dinosaur" was not coined until 1842 by Richard Owen.  Prior to that, the beasts were often called "dragons."  In the third century, Flavius Philostratus wrote, "The whole of India is girt with dragons of enormous size; for not only the marshes are full of them, but the mountains as well, and there is not a single ridge without one.  Now the marsh kind are sluggish in their habits and are thirty cubits long (that’s 45 feet long), and they have no crest standing up on their heads.”

      An unexpected scientific discovery in 2000 of “elastic, like living tissue” from inside the femur of a recently excavated Tyrannosaurus fossil nicknamed “B. rex” was an incredible discovery.  A report read:  “It looked like the soft tissue you would have expected to find if it had been modern bone. This was impossible. This bone was 68 million years old!” The report stated that “being a fossil, there should have been nothing left. But there was.”

      In recent decades, soft, squishy tissues have been discovered inside fossilized dinosaur bones more frequently. Scientists admit, they seem so fresh that it appears as though the bodies were buried only a few thousand years ago.  

     I know that this post is controversial and yet I decided to write it anyway.  I think it's nice to look at things from a new perspective and think outside the box. I'd love to hear what you think about this subject.  I'll end with these words from Ecclesiastes 3:  "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven...He has made everything beautiful in its time," 1 & 11.

If the Shoe Fits....

 

IF THE SHOE FITS....

     Aren't the cowgirl boots on the top row cute?  These boots were in Virginia City, Nevada - definitely cowboy/cowgirl country!  I especially like the pair in the middle - brown with green hearts.  I would love to be able to wear cowgirl boots, but they never fit me.  I've tried pulling a pair on, but I can never get my foot past the tight ankle area.  Sadly, these boots aren't made for walking in my case.

Here are some very different shoes - these are made out of wood and painted with windmills.  We saw these shoes in Amsterdam.  Have you ever tried on a pair of wooden shoes?  As you may imagine, they are stiff, hard, and noisy.  No sneaking up on someone in a pair of these clogs!  Nope, these wooden boats didn't fit either.

This is my favorite display of shoes.  My five-year old granddaughter packed these shoes for our recent Outer Banks vacation trip and then carefully arranged them on a shelf in her room.  I think she did a great job, both with her choices and her arrangement.  She takes after her Meemaw with her fondness for footwear.  As much as I love the pink boots and sandals -- they obviously won't fit my size 7 foot.

Here's a question to ponder:  If Cinderella's shoe fit perfectly, then why did it fall off?  

As I consider how important it is to wear shoes that fit properly, I'm reminded that it's also important to "wear" the correct shoe in our spiritual walk with the Lord.  In Ephesians, Paul tells us that along with putting on the whole armor of God, it's important to have our feet shod "with the preparation of the gospel of peace," 6:15, because "beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!" Romans 10:15.

God gives us a really cool and powerful promise about our feet in Romans 16:20:  "And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."  

When an angel came to break Peter out of prison, one of the first things he said after telling him to, "Arise quickly!" was, "Gird yourself and tie on your sandals," Acts 12:8.  

These are just a few thoughts about not just the right footwear, but more importantly, the right direction our feet take us in this world.  Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  And so we should say, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him," Colossians 2:6.

Here are shoes that fit my feet to a "T."  In fact, they're one of my favorite pair of shoes and I feel happy when I wear them.  In this picture, they're standing on a beautiful mosaic floor of the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Do you have a favorite pair of shoes?