live by the sword, die by the sword

1.  This morning we woke up early and went out to the goddess temple.  We had tea with our friend C and pumpkin-flavored mini cupcakes.  It was good to talk with her, but I wasn't expecting to see her.  She and Ming had miscommunication on the phone.  

Then we sang in the temple.  It felt good.  

Then we walked on a dirt road, careful of rattlesnakes.  It was warm but not hot with a pleasant wind.

Then we were going to hang out on the grounds, reading and writing, but there was construction going on and it was too loud.  

2.  So we left and went to Corn Creek, back toward Las Vegas, to the Desert Wildlife Refuge.  It's the largest US wildlife refuge excluding Alaska's.  The visitor's center was closed, but we walked on a trail.  We got lost and walked longer than we intended.  We liked the spring and the signage and the jimson weed.

"Sacred Thorn Apple," I said to Ming.  "Datura."  We stared at it.

3.  Someone at the prepper meeting mentioned Jesus telling his disciples to sell their cloaks and buy swords.  He was citing it as evidence that Jesus wants us to have guns.  I was amazed / flabbergasted.  So I looked it up today, and Jesus doesn't say that at all.  It's clear from what comes after the verse that he's not telling us to arm ourselves, and I felt stupid some random ignorant prepper could misuse Jesus' words in such an ugly way.