Musing The Millio

The book forming Part I, covers various write-ups on current events etc. that appeared in various dailies, my blog and papers presented in various forums till 2015. This will be followed by Part II and Part III covering the periods thereafter.

According to most dictionaries, “Musings” are periods of reflection or thought. After so many years of living (a lot of years!) I’ve been able to experience God in so many incredible ways. In my Family, my Marriage, my Kids and Grandkids, my Ministry and my Music. Call me simple, but I look for God in all activity in my life. From my greatest victories to the most horrible failures, God has been right there in the mix. Nothing happens to me without Him knowing about it. There are still plenty of things I cannot figure out: Why does the creator of the universe who named all the stars think about me - and why so often? Why does He lavish such love on me? Why is He working behind the scenes orchestrating all things for my own good. I just don’t get it. You? There I go again ‘Musing’. That’s the story of my life. Enjoy my Musings; hopefully they will bring a smile, an “LOL” or a tear as you read some of my most intimate moments with God.

Many times, ordinary happenings in our lives serve to beautifully illustrate and reveal God's truths to us. Jesus set the example by using everyday happenings (parables) to illustrate the truths in all His teachings. And if we simply keep our eyes open, we could observe that God is still teaching us in the same manner. We could also be aware that even many well known Scriptures may contain beautiful truths that are often overlooked by the casual student. In this study, a lifelong Bible teacher with an unusual passion for searching out these little hidden lessons, not only by observing and applying everyday happenings to illustrate the meanings of various Scriptures, but also looking at several familiar Scriptures through different lenses in an effort to find additional truths. Herein, he shares some of these little hidden treasures with us.

Since the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, I have posted numerous essays and other commentaries on Facebook. They are of varying length on matters of politics, law, history, and other subjects as well. My first book on social musings contains 142 Facebook posts. This book is a continuation of my posts, an additional 118. I believe in an informed citizenry that relies on facts, logic, critical thinking, and reasoned judgment. It is hoped that the essays and commentaries in this my second book on this subject will inspire dialogue and further citizen involvement in their communities.

“There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War This book is an ensemble of strategy notes. The author effectively gives an enchanting fusion of theory and practice to the corporate strategy thought process. Management students on the threshold of entering the industry will derive great value from these application oriented articles.

Aldous Huxley wrote: “If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful and we prefer the pleasures of illusion.” One might infer from this remark that seeing ourselves as others see us—and acknowledging our very obvious imperfections—is the beginning of true wisdom. Oscillating between parody, parable, and prophecy, ALL ABOUT EARTHLINGS is a work of hyper-realism. As author William F. Wu writes in his introduction, “[it] is journalist W. E. Gutman’s most chilling dystopia. The historical retrospectives that undergird his narrative and the apocalyptic inferences they evoke prompt Gutman to conclude that humans are neither able nor willing to control their collective destinies: Greedy, hedonistic and reckless, they are engrossed in the here-and-now of their personal lives. Scouring through humankind’s most sordid chronicles of cruelty and hypocrisy, corruption and apathy, suffering, despair and death, and extrapolating from the lessons they impart, Gutman envisions a scenario of otherworldly retribution that seems as fitting as it is horrible to contemplate. “His use of a science fiction device (he doesn’t maroon Earthlings on some faraway planet; instead, he transports an alien emissary to Earth and gives him a voice) only tends to harden the sinister nature of his auguries. In the process, Gutman takes on and unapologetically slays some mighty sacred cows: God; religion; the papacy; evangelism; imperialism; militarism; capitalism; corporatism; mercantilism, and consumerism, all of which, he reckons, incestuously conspire against peace and tranquility on Earth and which, should Earth survive the evils their combined influences wreak, could one day spread beyond its celestial frontiers.”

The book depicts the saga of a man who rose to a very high position of a Vice Chancellor, looked back into several decades of his life to be able to recollect experiences of varied nature and managed to put them together in the form of a memoir.

"Contradiction after contradiction, said the man, the Bible is full of them." I wondered what Bible he was reading. Most apparent paradoxes resolve themselves with careful study and research. I love the old book, it is my God, speaking to me. Oh, there are love stories that would make a romance novelist author blush and tales of extra-terrestrials that surpass the fiction of television and movie space travel. There are also truths about how to enjoy life and how to live it to the fullest. I've spent many years in the book and I hope to spend more. For forty years I've studied the end days and what we are to expect in the future! A short course in what heaven is like and the condition of today's churches is included in this book. Warning, not all churches will be automatically represented in heaven. When I was born, there were less than two billion people on this earth, now, there are more than seven billion. The earth can't hold many more. Despite wars, that kill many, and crop failures the population growth soars. The earth's population is soon to peak. Soon, the end will come.

Incarcerated by the Communist regime in Yugoslavia for five arduous years, Alija Izetbegovic penned these treasured philosophical reflections on diverse topics such as freedom, politics, history, religion and morality. Confined to his cell in Foča Prison, Sarajevo, he filled thirteen notebooks with these wonderful pearls of wisdom and managed to smuggle them out with the help of a fellow inmate. These notes are now presented for the first time as part of a series. Notes from Prison is Alija Izetbegovic’s spiritual escape to freedom and makes for an outstandingly unique read, both in form and content.

For a quarter century, I’ve pursued genealogical minutiae—the particulars of family compositions in the townlands of Eastern County Mayo and nineteenth century records of the Juchnewicz families of Girdziunai village in Lithuania. But genealogy is more than the obsessive collection of baptisms, marriages, and deaths. The study of family history is also the study of history. Musings traverses the sometimes grim, sometimes odd, events that occurred at the fact-jammed intersection of family history and history—a Revolutionary War massacre, the Black Tom munitions explosion in 1916, the embarkation of troops from Hoboken in World War I, the Women’s Army Corps in World War II, the lives of longshoremen in the New York harbor, and the lives of slaves on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. In our time—and a step ahead of a category 4 hurricane—Musings explores the history and culture of Jacksonville and Saint Augustine. We meet memorable characters on these journeys through time—miserly German spymasters, a psychologically astute general, a luckless Polish legionnaire, groundbreaking female soldiers, two runaway slaves in a Virginia jail, and the Cazique of Poyais, sovereign of an imaginary country. And we meet two timeless characters—the banshee and Count Dracula.

The book is a collection of short stories. The stories attempt to understand the emotions, feelings and thought process of its protagonists.

Dr. Robert H. Schram has been employed by BARC Developmental Services since 1977 as its Executive Director. BARC Developmental Services is a large community nonprofit organization serving people with intellectual disabilities and Autism. He has advanced degrees in Political Science, Counseling Psychology, and a Doctorate in Public Administration. He received recognition as a Fellow by the American Association on Mental Retardation for meritorious contributions to the field. He was nominated for the Grenzebach Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation. He is trained in Jewish Shamanism, Spiritual Direction, and Himalayan Healing Bowls. He is President and Founder of the Rehaschra School of Yoga and Meditation. His three other published books are: Maximize Life by Living for Peace, Harmony, and Joy! Oh My God it is all the Same! Life is but a Dream!

My morning musings started at least five or six years ago. They have been a treat, and they have given me such wonderful answers to what’s going on in the world and why bad things happen. But as I feel such terror about tomorrow, I also believe that since we are in the hand of she/he who made us (my God), God may actually have set up this worldwide scenario to remind us what we already possibly know—that there must be a God, since without any knowledge or investigation, poor Adam and Eve (or their other cultural variations [see other cultures creation stories]) began their supposed singular life on this earth with the gift of two baby boys, Cain and Abel.

Evangelical Christianity--the faith professed by one in four Americans--exerts an enormous influence in American society. Believed by some to have originated as a reaction to the social revolution of the 1960s, evangelicalism as a distinct subculture in fact dates to the advent of radio. The evangelical faithful flocked to the airwaves, developing a nationwide mass culture as listeners across denominational lines heard the same popular preachers and music. Evangelicals left behind the fundamentalism of the early 20th century as broadcast ministries laid the foundation for the culturally engaged New Christian Right of the late 20th century. This historical ethnography presents the era's major radio evangelists and songwriters in the own words, drawing on their writings and recordings, as well as songbooks, liner notes and "song story" anthologies of the period.