A blue moon

First a fortnight and now... well, I guess it hasn't been quite that long, but it has been a while. What follows is a brief update of life in the Batchelder household family since my last post.

Drinking with Calvin and Luther
A friend and fellow congregant at FPC removed the remaining book from my wishlist (see books sidebar on the right). Thomas Davis gave me a copy of Drinking with Calvin and Luther by Jim West and thus far it has been everything I expected and more. It, as the title implies, is a superb account of the thoughts of Luther and Calvin on the propriety of good drink, not only for necessity but for pleasure. Some particular quotes of note (I am only in chapter three):

"Whenever the devil harasses you thus, seek the company of other men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Somtimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, aye, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: "Do not drink," answer him: "I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to." One must always do what Satan forbids. What other cause do you think that I have for drinking so much strong drink, talking so freely and making merry so often, except that I wish to mock and harass the devil who is wont to mock and harass me."
Martin Luther

"We are nowhere forbidden to laugh, or to be satisfied with food... or to be delighted with music, or to drink wine"
John Calvin

These two fathers of the reformation also had very strong thoughts about the use of wine in the sacrament of the Lord's supper. Luther proclaimed in one of his table talk sessions, that "If a person can't tolerate wine, omit it [the sacrament] altogether in order than no innovation may be made or introduced." Calvin likewise shared a similar belief. In learning the catechism, his students were asked, "But why is the body of our Lord figured by bread, and his blood by wine?" To which the appropriate response was that, "by wine the hearts of men are gladdened, their strength recruited, and the whole man strengthened, so by the blood of our Lord the same benefits are received by our souls." Very interesting stuff. I highly recommend the book. If anyone is interested in borrowing my copy, I'd be glad to share (once I'm finished of course).

Insurance Update
No real news. There are rumors swirling, but nobody I know has anything in writing yet. It does appear though that the insurance company has changed their approach at least three times. The first directive was to deny all claims based on the water not wind argument. The second directive was to send out engineers to 'assess' what portion of the damage was water or wind. Now apparently there has been a third directive due to increased pressure from Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale to pay some percentage of claims whereever possible (i.e. if there's any indication of wind damage, the companies are being firmly encouraged to pay something). Maybe the CL revealing the contents of his campaign coffers has helped him see that his future as the MSIC is in question.

Other cool stuff
I think Holly has some things she wants to post, so I won't steal her thunder. Be on the lookout for something from her this week.