http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ3XFbMPKgg
Check out this artist.
http://philinthecircle.com
Apr 23, 2008
Apr 8, 2008
Grieving --By Lori Gant
Grieving --by Lori
We all heal in different ways. What is comforting to some may not be to others.
Once, when my sister was grieving, I told her that God must believe her to be strong in order to handle the circumstances that she was dealing with. She told me, "That is not comforting!"
It is always difficult to know what to say when someone else is hurting. At times I feel it is unfair for my life to continue as normal when someone else’s is turned upside down.
Today I received a call from a friend of my husband. He shared with me some heartbreaking news. After the call ended, I explained to my boys what had happened and prayed.
But then, I finished cleaning the bathrooms. It seemed odd to me to be cleaning when a friend was hurting so badly.
Today’s events reminded me of a time when I was deeply hurting and what I found most comforting. I appreciated the flowers we received; it was a reminder that people cared. One girl, who happened to be mentally challenged, simply said, "I’m sorry about ----." That touched me; a simple "I’m sorry" that acknowledged my pain without any words of advice, encouragement or clichés.
When reading the scriptures, I found a passage that provided huge comfort. I have no idea if it would resonate with others like it did with me. John 11 tells of Lazarus being sick. Mary & Martha, his sisters, sent Jesus a message, "Lord, your dear friend is very sick." Jesus didn’t leave immediately to help His friend. He waited until Lazarus was dead. He knew that this sickness was for the purpose of glorifying God and Himself through the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. However, even though He was angry that His followers didn’t have more faith & even though He knew that Lazarus would live again, he still cried. The only reason I can think of for His tears is because it hurt Him to see others hurting. He knew there would be a happy ending, but the pain He saw Mary, Martha and others experiencing moved Him.
It was a huge comfort to me to picture a more emotional Jesus; a God who not only commands us to weep with those who weep, but a God that actually does it. For me, knowing that the Creator of the universe was crying WITH ME….that was a powerful. (4/3/08)
Mar 30, 2008
Faith Leads to Hope, Hope Leads us to Love
[Manuscript from the sermon I delivered today]
(1 Corinthians 13.13)
In the last month Dwight and Walt have had great sermons on Faith and Hope. Listening to them gave me the desire to put together a message linking Faith, Hope, and Love. There will be some overlap but a little repetition is good, right?
As I listened to Walt’s message I realized that:
Faith leads to Hope and Hope leads us to Love. Faith and Hope are directly related to our ability to love.
These actions (faith, hope, and love) are put together in several passages in the NT.
Most clearly in 1Corinthians 13.13 (please, open your Bible to chapter 13) --- 1 Cor 13 - commonly referred to as the LOVE chapter, the Apostle Paul writes,
“But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
In this chapter, Paul is exclaiming the importance of loving others. If you do all kinds of great things, even miraculous things, if they are not because of love then they are pointless. The action becomes wrong; it becomes noisy interference. If my faith is so strong I can do amazing things, but I don’t use my faith for love, he says, “I am nothing.” If I sacrifice all my stuff and my life to gain riches in heaven, but I don’t do it for love, “I profit nothing,” Paul says in verse 3.
It seems our motivation means more than our actions. Think of Ananias and Sapphira. Why do we do the good things we do? Are there selfish reasons? Are we trying to earn our salvation? Impossible. We cannot do anything that will cause God to love us any more or any less. Our salvation is only through faith in Jesus and what He did on the cross.
Faith leads to hope and hope leads us to truly love (right motivations!).
This great chapter ends with the faith, hope and love statement. The chapter is about love. He says that these three abide now, but love is the greatest because I believe he is saying it abides forever. Faith and hope are not necessary in heaven. Because our faith will be sight and our hope will be fulfilled. Love however will continue on forever. God is love … and His dwelling place, heaven, will be all about love.
I would like us to look at each of these: Faith, then Hope and finally Love.
FAITH
Dwight’s message of a couple weeks ago brought out the episode of the two blind men of whom Jesus healed their sight. Jesus made it clear, it was because of their faith in Him that they were able to gain their sight.
Faith is to be placed in Jesus. Only He is capable of healing, of leading to true life, to salvation.
James teaches, recorded in James 2 that faith and works are inseparably joined. Faith leads us to do something. If we are not doing anything, our faith is dead or maybe it never had life in the first place. Note that the two blind men were following Him. Not an easy task for blind men. Two blind men traveling together. They could have stayed home and talked about their faith in Jesus. Saying, “I believe Jesus could fix our sight” and never do anything, no not them, they believed and went to Jesus. They were seekers.
It’s like the man who needs a job to pay the rent and feed his family. He can pray for a job … He can believe that God is capable of providing him a job, but if he simply sits at home and doesn’t search for a job. That’s faith without works, and its useless.
Speaking of blindness, our Faith must not be blind. Blind faith is no good either. Our faith can be powerful (e.g. the faith of a mustard seed and faith to move mountains is available to us). Faith without the facts is what I call blind faith. If we cannot give an answer to why we believe, is not our faith blind? Is our faith any better than the cult down the street or the false religions around the world?
The Apostle Peter writes, “Be always ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.” There’s faith and hope linked again. But his point is you should be able to explain why you have faith and hope.
Not like how my two year old boy answers to why questions. “Why’d you do it?” “Because”. “Because why?” “Because.” “Because is not an answer,” as many a parent has said.
If your answer is … my church teaches or …my parents said or …my preacher said or …you should call the preacher or Elders, cause I don’t know. These are not the right answers. We all should be able to give reasons we believe in God, Jesus, the Bible, the resurrection, heaven, etc.
Do you have to have all the answers? Impossible. But if asked something about the Christian faith you don’t know, you can always say, let me do some research and get back to you. And do it! There are answers to every question. Build your faith and those around you. Faith, what I call factual faith is built by understanding the evidence for faith.
There are different kinds of evidence for faith. In proving historical events you may use the same methods our legal courts use to prove or disprove arguments brought before judge or jury. This involves showing something is fact beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence is evaluated.
The types of evidence used are:
1. Oral Testimony 2. Written Testimony 3. Exhibits (physical evidence).
Do we have Oral Testimony? Well we cannot question the 500+ people who witnessed the resurrection (nor can we talk to Abraham or Noah). However, we can talk to millions of believers today who’s lives have been changed by the resurrected Christ.
Do we have Written Testimony to prove the resurrection? Yes, there is written testimony. The OT has many prophesies about the death-burial-resurrection of Christ. The four gospels tell of the events. The letters of the NT, written by the Apostles and prophets, give further evidence for the risen Christ. Josephus, who wrote a history of the Jews in the first century wrote that “Jesus was the Christ.” He also wrote in his history that Jesus “appeared to them alive on the third day.”
Do we have exhibits? Archeologists have been finding artifacts for hundreds of years. Verifying the history and claims of the Bible and Jesus’ life-death-burial-resurrection. Magazines such as Biblical Archeological Review and Creation-Ex-Niliho continue to publish new evidences that support the reliability of the Bible and everything it says.
Do you have any reason to NOT have faith? The evidence is out there. This is why those who seek Him are promised to find Him.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Mt 7.7
Deuteronomy 4:29
“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”
Proverbs 8
Open your Bible to Heb 11
“Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Heb 11.1 There is evidence, but we cannot see all. Our faith must rest on God and Jesus who are not yet seen with our eyes. Chapter 11 of Hebrews is an amazing list of faithful men and women in the OT who “by faith” did amazing things for God’s Kingdom.
“By faith…Able, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, READ vs. 13, by faith Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, and even Rahab the Prostitute” statements in Heb 11.
READ verses 32-39
They hoped for a Kingdom that they did not get to see. They anxiously waited for a Savior … a Savior we who we do get to know …. and place our faith in.
Read: Heb 12.1-3
Once we fix our eyes on Jesus … we understand Hope.
HOPE
Walt’s sermon directed us to understanding hope. Not a blind hope, not a false hope. True hope … we should understand our inheritance.
“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.” (The Solid Rock)
Randy Alcorn writes in his book HEAVEN,
“As human beings, we have a terminal disease called mortality. The current death rate is 100%. Unless Christ returns soon, we all are going to die. We don’t like to think about death yet; worldwide, 3 people die every second, 180 every minute, and nearly 11,000 every hour … [this] means that more than 250,000 people every day go to either heaven or hell.
… Ancient merchants often wrote the words memento mori – think of death – in large letters on the first pages of their accounting books. Phillip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, commissioned a servant to stand in his presence each day and say, “Phillip, you will die.” In contrast, France’s Louis XIV decreed that the word death not be uttered in his presence. Most of us are more like Louis than Phillip, denying death and avoiding the thought of it except when it is forced upon us. We [sadly] live under a fear of death.” (Alcorn, p. xxi)
However, we have a hope. Heaven should be looked forward to. Eternity in paradise is a welcomed thought for those who have faith and hope.
Jesus came to deliver us from the fear of death. “So that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.” (Heb 2.14-15)
In light of the coming resurrection of the dead, the Apostle Paul asks, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15.55)
Since we avoid the thought of death, we don’t often have the right ideas about it. For the saved, for those who have faith and hope … death is a welcome thought. A pleasant reality … A dream come true.
However, there are unbiblical views of heaven. Some descriptions don’t sound like a place I would want to be.
John Eldredge writes, “Nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service … We have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever, and ever, amen. And our heart sinks. Forever and ever? This is it? That’s good news? And then we sigh and feel guilty that we are not more ‘spiritual.’ We lose heart, and we turn once more to the present to find what life we can.”
[ADDED THOT: There is a praise song, which sings over and over “I Can Sing of Your Love Forever”. It’s a nice tune and it is worshipful, but Lori thinks the thought of this song is crazy for a person who is not a singer. To some this might be more like hell.]
Gary Larson in one of his FAR SIDE cartoons captured a common misconception: In it a man with angel wings and a halo sits on a cloud, doing nothing, with no one nearby. He has the expression of someone marooned on a desert island with absolutely nothing to do. The caption reads, “I wish I’d brought a magazine.”
Huckleberry Finn learned about heaven from Miss Watson, “She went on and told me all about the good place. She said all a body would have to do there was go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn’t think much of it … I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said, not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together.”
Sadly, these are common misconceptions.
Charles Spurgeon had a different take on death and Heaven: “To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labor, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes.”
Jonathan Edwards, the great Puritan preacher, often spoke of heaven … when he was in his early 20s, he wrote a list of resolutions (goals) … one read “Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can.”
There’s for storing up treasures in heaven.
CS Lewis wrote, “Aim at heaven and you’ll get earth ‘thrown in’, aim at earth and you’ll get neither.”
Sometimes it feels like such a long journey, or like my boys are starting to get into the habit of saying on trips, “Are we there yet?” or 30 minutes into a 2 hour trip “Dad, how much longer until we get there?” Death seems like such a long time out, however, its not. Our life is like a vapor, here for a moment and then gone.
I think of another popular country song, “Live Like You Were Dying.” He sings of all the things he would do if time was short, like climbing mountains and riding in the rodeo. However, if we knew life was coming to an end those of us with Faith and Hope should be thinking eternity. The adventures are ok but more importantly we should be seeing with our spiritual eyes.
1952 Florence Chadwick stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean of Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She’d already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still she swam for 15 hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way her mother, in a boat alongside, told her she was close and she could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out. It wasn’t until she was on the boat that she discovered the shore was less than half a mile away. At a news conference the next day she said, “All I could see was fog … I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”
If she could have seen the shore … it was so close. Heaven is close, be looking for the shore. It is there. You can make it. Help others to see the shore. It is so worth it.
The resurrection is something to look forward to … if Huckfinn could have understood that amazing untold adventures await us in the next life he also would have longed for Paradise with God and encouraged his friend Tom Sawyer into Faith and Hope, as well.
Not used but good: CS Lewis’ The Silver Chair – the underworld v. the overworld… pg 12-13 HEAVEN, By Alcorn.
Col 3.1-2 “Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is. Seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
Hope in something so much better than anything attainable here and now.
Once we have faith and our hope is in heaven we can really love.
LOVE
Love is a result of faith and hope. Real love hopes for the best for those we love … which is nothing less than heaven. Love leads back to hope. Which leads us back to faith.
Our love for others desires they have the hope we have because of the faith we have.
Love lived out seems to be a confusing thing. We don’t do a very good job of understanding what it means to love.
There are many books written about love. In fact most books are about love in some way or another. Love stories, well all good stories include good v. evil and love. There are also many-many self-help books on love.
I have an extensive ministry library, one section includes quite a few books on relationships. I pulled out all the books with the word “love” in the title and found about 16 books.
Love- A New Look at a Old Word
Loving Your Wife
Loving Your Husband
52 Simple Ways to Say I love You
The Language of Love
Acts of Love
Love is a Decision
Do Yourself a Favor: Love Your Wife
Love For a Lifetime
The Two Sides of Love
How to Really Love Your Child
Love In The Family
The Five Love Languages
The Five Love Languages of Teenagers
The Five Love Languages of Children
Food and Love
Charlie Brown dealt the difficulty of describing love. Lucy says to Charlie Brown, “You know what I don’t understand? I don’t understand love.”
Charlie Brown responds, “Who does?”
Lucy replied, “Explain love to me Charlie Brown.’
“I can’t explain love. I can only recommend a book or poem or painting. I can’t explain love,” answers Charlie.
“Well try, Charlie Brown, try.”
Charlie says, “Well, let’s say I see this beautiful, cute little girl walking by…”
Lucy interrupts, “Why does she have to be cute, huh? Explain that! Why can’t someone fall in love with a person with freckles and a big nose? Explain that Charlie Brown.”
“Well maybe your right,“ answers Charlie. “Let’s just say I see this girl walk by with this great big nose…”
“I didn’t say great big nose, Charlie.”
In the last frame, his hands jammed down into his pockets, Charlie dejectedly walks away from Lucy and says, “You can’t explain love, you can’t even talk about it.”
In my original notes I wanted to take some time to look at practical ways of loving those closest to you by talking briefly about the Five Love Languages. However, I have gotten long winded and we need to simply know like the popular Phil Vasser country song says, “Love is Beautiful Thing.”
Col 3.14 – Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity
Phil 2 – Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves … look out for the interests of others … do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.
Read: 1 Cor 13.4-8
Love is a beautiful thing, but it is most beautiful if it comes directly from Faith and Hope. Which because of Love, we desire to pass on to others.
If you have not confessed your faith in Christ, been baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, thereby gaining the hope of heaven, we would love to talk and pray with about making those decisions.
(1 Corinthians 13.13)
In the last month Dwight and Walt have had great sermons on Faith and Hope. Listening to them gave me the desire to put together a message linking Faith, Hope, and Love. There will be some overlap but a little repetition is good, right?
As I listened to Walt’s message I realized that:
Faith leads to Hope and Hope leads us to Love. Faith and Hope are directly related to our ability to love.
These actions (faith, hope, and love) are put together in several passages in the NT.
Most clearly in 1Corinthians 13.13 (please, open your Bible to chapter 13) --- 1 Cor 13 - commonly referred to as the LOVE chapter, the Apostle Paul writes,
“But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
In this chapter, Paul is exclaiming the importance of loving others. If you do all kinds of great things, even miraculous things, if they are not because of love then they are pointless. The action becomes wrong; it becomes noisy interference. If my faith is so strong I can do amazing things, but I don’t use my faith for love, he says, “I am nothing.” If I sacrifice all my stuff and my life to gain riches in heaven, but I don’t do it for love, “I profit nothing,” Paul says in verse 3.
It seems our motivation means more than our actions. Think of Ananias and Sapphira. Why do we do the good things we do? Are there selfish reasons? Are we trying to earn our salvation? Impossible. We cannot do anything that will cause God to love us any more or any less. Our salvation is only through faith in Jesus and what He did on the cross.
Faith leads to hope and hope leads us to truly love (right motivations!).
This great chapter ends with the faith, hope and love statement. The chapter is about love. He says that these three abide now, but love is the greatest because I believe he is saying it abides forever. Faith and hope are not necessary in heaven. Because our faith will be sight and our hope will be fulfilled. Love however will continue on forever. God is love … and His dwelling place, heaven, will be all about love.
I would like us to look at each of these: Faith, then Hope and finally Love.
FAITH
Dwight’s message of a couple weeks ago brought out the episode of the two blind men of whom Jesus healed their sight. Jesus made it clear, it was because of their faith in Him that they were able to gain their sight.
Faith is to be placed in Jesus. Only He is capable of healing, of leading to true life, to salvation.
James teaches, recorded in James 2 that faith and works are inseparably joined. Faith leads us to do something. If we are not doing anything, our faith is dead or maybe it never had life in the first place. Note that the two blind men were following Him. Not an easy task for blind men. Two blind men traveling together. They could have stayed home and talked about their faith in Jesus. Saying, “I believe Jesus could fix our sight” and never do anything, no not them, they believed and went to Jesus. They were seekers.
It’s like the man who needs a job to pay the rent and feed his family. He can pray for a job … He can believe that God is capable of providing him a job, but if he simply sits at home and doesn’t search for a job. That’s faith without works, and its useless.
Speaking of blindness, our Faith must not be blind. Blind faith is no good either. Our faith can be powerful (e.g. the faith of a mustard seed and faith to move mountains is available to us). Faith without the facts is what I call blind faith. If we cannot give an answer to why we believe, is not our faith blind? Is our faith any better than the cult down the street or the false religions around the world?
The Apostle Peter writes, “Be always ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.” There’s faith and hope linked again. But his point is you should be able to explain why you have faith and hope.
Not like how my two year old boy answers to why questions. “Why’d you do it?” “Because”. “Because why?” “Because.” “Because is not an answer,” as many a parent has said.
If your answer is … my church teaches or …my parents said or …my preacher said or …you should call the preacher or Elders, cause I don’t know. These are not the right answers. We all should be able to give reasons we believe in God, Jesus, the Bible, the resurrection, heaven, etc.
Do you have to have all the answers? Impossible. But if asked something about the Christian faith you don’t know, you can always say, let me do some research and get back to you. And do it! There are answers to every question. Build your faith and those around you. Faith, what I call factual faith is built by understanding the evidence for faith.
There are different kinds of evidence for faith. In proving historical events you may use the same methods our legal courts use to prove or disprove arguments brought before judge or jury. This involves showing something is fact beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence is evaluated.
The types of evidence used are:
1. Oral Testimony 2. Written Testimony 3. Exhibits (physical evidence).
Do we have Oral Testimony? Well we cannot question the 500+ people who witnessed the resurrection (nor can we talk to Abraham or Noah). However, we can talk to millions of believers today who’s lives have been changed by the resurrected Christ.
Do we have Written Testimony to prove the resurrection? Yes, there is written testimony. The OT has many prophesies about the death-burial-resurrection of Christ. The four gospels tell of the events. The letters of the NT, written by the Apostles and prophets, give further evidence for the risen Christ. Josephus, who wrote a history of the Jews in the first century wrote that “Jesus was the Christ.” He also wrote in his history that Jesus “appeared to them alive on the third day.”
Do we have exhibits? Archeologists have been finding artifacts for hundreds of years. Verifying the history and claims of the Bible and Jesus’ life-death-burial-resurrection. Magazines such as Biblical Archeological Review and Creation-Ex-Niliho continue to publish new evidences that support the reliability of the Bible and everything it says.
Do you have any reason to NOT have faith? The evidence is out there. This is why those who seek Him are promised to find Him.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Mt 7.7
Deuteronomy 4:29
“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”
Proverbs 8
Open your Bible to Heb 11
“Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Heb 11.1 There is evidence, but we cannot see all. Our faith must rest on God and Jesus who are not yet seen with our eyes. Chapter 11 of Hebrews is an amazing list of faithful men and women in the OT who “by faith” did amazing things for God’s Kingdom.
“By faith…Able, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, READ vs. 13, by faith Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, and even Rahab the Prostitute” statements in Heb 11.
READ verses 32-39
They hoped for a Kingdom that they did not get to see. They anxiously waited for a Savior … a Savior we who we do get to know …. and place our faith in.
Read: Heb 12.1-3
Once we fix our eyes on Jesus … we understand Hope.
HOPE
Walt’s sermon directed us to understanding hope. Not a blind hope, not a false hope. True hope … we should understand our inheritance.
“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.” (The Solid Rock)
Randy Alcorn writes in his book HEAVEN,
“As human beings, we have a terminal disease called mortality. The current death rate is 100%. Unless Christ returns soon, we all are going to die. We don’t like to think about death yet; worldwide, 3 people die every second, 180 every minute, and nearly 11,000 every hour … [this] means that more than 250,000 people every day go to either heaven or hell.
… Ancient merchants often wrote the words memento mori – think of death – in large letters on the first pages of their accounting books. Phillip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, commissioned a servant to stand in his presence each day and say, “Phillip, you will die.” In contrast, France’s Louis XIV decreed that the word death not be uttered in his presence. Most of us are more like Louis than Phillip, denying death and avoiding the thought of it except when it is forced upon us. We [sadly] live under a fear of death.” (Alcorn, p. xxi)
However, we have a hope. Heaven should be looked forward to. Eternity in paradise is a welcomed thought for those who have faith and hope.
Jesus came to deliver us from the fear of death. “So that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.” (Heb 2.14-15)
In light of the coming resurrection of the dead, the Apostle Paul asks, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15.55)
Since we avoid the thought of death, we don’t often have the right ideas about it. For the saved, for those who have faith and hope … death is a welcome thought. A pleasant reality … A dream come true.
However, there are unbiblical views of heaven. Some descriptions don’t sound like a place I would want to be.
John Eldredge writes, “Nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service … We have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever, and ever, amen. And our heart sinks. Forever and ever? This is it? That’s good news? And then we sigh and feel guilty that we are not more ‘spiritual.’ We lose heart, and we turn once more to the present to find what life we can.”
[ADDED THOT: There is a praise song, which sings over and over “I Can Sing of Your Love Forever”. It’s a nice tune and it is worshipful, but Lori thinks the thought of this song is crazy for a person who is not a singer. To some this might be more like hell.]
Gary Larson in one of his FAR SIDE cartoons captured a common misconception: In it a man with angel wings and a halo sits on a cloud, doing nothing, with no one nearby. He has the expression of someone marooned on a desert island with absolutely nothing to do. The caption reads, “I wish I’d brought a magazine.”
Huckleberry Finn learned about heaven from Miss Watson, “She went on and told me all about the good place. She said all a body would have to do there was go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn’t think much of it … I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said, not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together.”
Sadly, these are common misconceptions.
Charles Spurgeon had a different take on death and Heaven: “To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labor, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes.”
Jonathan Edwards, the great Puritan preacher, often spoke of heaven … when he was in his early 20s, he wrote a list of resolutions (goals) … one read “Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can.”
There’s for storing up treasures in heaven.
CS Lewis wrote, “Aim at heaven and you’ll get earth ‘thrown in’, aim at earth and you’ll get neither.”
Sometimes it feels like such a long journey, or like my boys are starting to get into the habit of saying on trips, “Are we there yet?” or 30 minutes into a 2 hour trip “Dad, how much longer until we get there?” Death seems like such a long time out, however, its not. Our life is like a vapor, here for a moment and then gone.
I think of another popular country song, “Live Like You Were Dying.” He sings of all the things he would do if time was short, like climbing mountains and riding in the rodeo. However, if we knew life was coming to an end those of us with Faith and Hope should be thinking eternity. The adventures are ok but more importantly we should be seeing with our spiritual eyes.
1952 Florence Chadwick stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean of Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She’d already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still she swam for 15 hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way her mother, in a boat alongside, told her she was close and she could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out. It wasn’t until she was on the boat that she discovered the shore was less than half a mile away. At a news conference the next day she said, “All I could see was fog … I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”
If she could have seen the shore … it was so close. Heaven is close, be looking for the shore. It is there. You can make it. Help others to see the shore. It is so worth it.
The resurrection is something to look forward to … if Huckfinn could have understood that amazing untold adventures await us in the next life he also would have longed for Paradise with God and encouraged his friend Tom Sawyer into Faith and Hope, as well.
Not used but good: CS Lewis’ The Silver Chair – the underworld v. the overworld… pg 12-13 HEAVEN, By Alcorn.
Col 3.1-2 “Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is. Seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
Hope in something so much better than anything attainable here and now.
Once we have faith and our hope is in heaven we can really love.
LOVE
Love is a result of faith and hope. Real love hopes for the best for those we love … which is nothing less than heaven. Love leads back to hope. Which leads us back to faith.
Our love for others desires they have the hope we have because of the faith we have.
Love lived out seems to be a confusing thing. We don’t do a very good job of understanding what it means to love.
There are many books written about love. In fact most books are about love in some way or another. Love stories, well all good stories include good v. evil and love. There are also many-many self-help books on love.
I have an extensive ministry library, one section includes quite a few books on relationships. I pulled out all the books with the word “love” in the title and found about 16 books.
Love- A New Look at a Old Word
Loving Your Wife
Loving Your Husband
52 Simple Ways to Say I love You
The Language of Love
Acts of Love
Love is a Decision
Do Yourself a Favor: Love Your Wife
Love For a Lifetime
The Two Sides of Love
How to Really Love Your Child
Love In The Family
The Five Love Languages
The Five Love Languages of Teenagers
The Five Love Languages of Children
Food and Love
Charlie Brown dealt the difficulty of describing love. Lucy says to Charlie Brown, “You know what I don’t understand? I don’t understand love.”
Charlie Brown responds, “Who does?”
Lucy replied, “Explain love to me Charlie Brown.’
“I can’t explain love. I can only recommend a book or poem or painting. I can’t explain love,” answers Charlie.
“Well try, Charlie Brown, try.”
Charlie says, “Well, let’s say I see this beautiful, cute little girl walking by…”
Lucy interrupts, “Why does she have to be cute, huh? Explain that! Why can’t someone fall in love with a person with freckles and a big nose? Explain that Charlie Brown.”
“Well maybe your right,“ answers Charlie. “Let’s just say I see this girl walk by with this great big nose…”
“I didn’t say great big nose, Charlie.”
In the last frame, his hands jammed down into his pockets, Charlie dejectedly walks away from Lucy and says, “You can’t explain love, you can’t even talk about it.”
In my original notes I wanted to take some time to look at practical ways of loving those closest to you by talking briefly about the Five Love Languages. However, I have gotten long winded and we need to simply know like the popular Phil Vasser country song says, “Love is Beautiful Thing.”
Col 3.14 – Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity
Phil 2 – Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves … look out for the interests of others … do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.
Read: 1 Cor 13.4-8
Love is a beautiful thing, but it is most beautiful if it comes directly from Faith and Hope. Which because of Love, we desire to pass on to others.
If you have not confessed your faith in Christ, been baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, thereby gaining the hope of heaven, we would love to talk and pray with about making those decisions.
Mar 25, 2008
What Costs More Than The Iraq War?
[Forwarded message via e-mail 3.24.2008]
Social Security Change For 2008
The United States Senate voted to extend Social Security Benefits to Illegal Aliens beginning in 2008.
The following are the senators who voted to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits. They are grouped by home state. If a state is not listed, there was no voting representative.
Alaska : Stevens (R)
Arizona : McCain (R)
Arkansas : Lincoln (D) Pryor (D)
California : Boxer (D) Feinstein (D)
Colorado : Salazar (D)
Connecticut : Dodd (D) Lieberman (D)
Delaware : Biden (D) Carper (D)
Florida : Martinez (R)
Hawaii : Akaka (D) Inouye (D)
Illinois : Durbin (D) Obama (D)
Indiana : Bayh (D) Lugar (R)
Iowa : Harkin (D)
Kansas : Brownback (R)
Louisiana : Landrieu (D)
Maryland : Mikulski (D) Sarbanes (D)
Massachusetts : Kennedy (D) Kerry (D)
Montana : Baucus (D)
Nebraska : Hagel (R)
Nevada : Reid (D)
New Jersey : Lautenberg (D) Menendez (D)
New Mexico : Bingaman (D)
New York : Clinton (D) Schumer (D)
North Dakota : Dorgan (D)
Ohio : DeWine (R) Voinovich(R)
Oregon : Wyden (D)
Pennsylvania : Specter (R)
Rhode Island : Chafee (R) Reed (D)
South Carolina : Graham (R)
South Dakota : Johnson (D)
Vermont : Jeffords (I) Leahy (D)
Washington : Cantwell (D) Murray (D)
West Virginia : Rockefeller (D), by Not Voting
Wisconsin : Feingold (D) Kohl (D)
http://rense.com/general79/seniors.htm
_____________________________________________________________________________
14 Facts (I have included the URL's for verification of the following facts):
1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare and Social Services by the American taxpayers. http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two-and-a-half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US . http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report. http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period." http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States ". http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
Total cost is a whooping... $338.3 BILLION A YEAR!!!
Snopes is provided for doubters: http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/bankofamerica.asp
Social Security Change For 2008
The United States Senate voted to extend Social Security Benefits to Illegal Aliens beginning in 2008.
The following are the senators who voted to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits. They are grouped by home state. If a state is not listed, there was no voting representative.
Alaska : Stevens (R)
Arizona : McCain (R)
Arkansas : Lincoln (D) Pryor (D)
California : Boxer (D) Feinstein (D)
Colorado : Salazar (D)
Connecticut : Dodd (D) Lieberman (D)
Delaware : Biden (D) Carper (D)
Florida : Martinez (R)
Hawaii : Akaka (D) Inouye (D)
Illinois : Durbin (D) Obama (D)
Indiana : Bayh (D) Lugar (R)
Iowa : Harkin (D)
Kansas : Brownback (R)
Louisiana : Landrieu (D)
Maryland : Mikulski (D) Sarbanes (D)
Massachusetts : Kennedy (D) Kerry (D)
Montana : Baucus (D)
Nebraska : Hagel (R)
Nevada : Reid (D)
New Jersey : Lautenberg (D) Menendez (D)
New Mexico : Bingaman (D)
New York : Clinton (D) Schumer (D)
North Dakota : Dorgan (D)
Ohio : DeWine (R) Voinovich(R)
Oregon : Wyden (D)
Pennsylvania : Specter (R)
Rhode Island : Chafee (R) Reed (D)
South Carolina : Graham (R)
South Dakota : Johnson (D)
Vermont : Jeffords (I) Leahy (D)
Washington : Cantwell (D) Murray (D)
West Virginia : Rockefeller (D), by Not Voting
Wisconsin : Feingold (D) Kohl (D)
http://rense.com/general79/seniors.htm
_____________________________________________________________________________
14 Facts (I have included the URL's for verification of the following facts):
1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare and Social Services by the American taxpayers. http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two-and-a-half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US . http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report. http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period." http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States ". http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
Total cost is a whooping... $338.3 BILLION A YEAR!!!
Snopes is provided for doubters: http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/bankofamerica.asp
Mar 22, 2008
Boy's Fun Day.
Today was a family day. Lori baked most of the day and the boys and I played, worked in the yard, and BBQ’s some hot dogs.
Did you see the end of the UCLA game? Portland’s own, Kevin Love dominated. Yes, I will root on teams other than Oregon, even the hated UCLA, once Oregon is done. They are a PAC-10 team!
I took some pics of the boys, this morning in front of our family room window and this evening as they worked on our HP Printer. I have said they are geniuses haven’t I? Well, I figured they could fix it, right?
I have some friends who used to work for HP, maybe they can help us ...?
Click on the pics to see them better.
Standing on the window sill, Cade is not so sure about it.
Jumping from the window sill.
They work well together.
Did you see the end of the UCLA game? Portland’s own, Kevin Love dominated. Yes, I will root on teams other than Oregon, even the hated UCLA, once Oregon is done. They are a PAC-10 team!
I took some pics of the boys, this morning in front of our family room window and this evening as they worked on our HP Printer. I have said they are geniuses haven’t I? Well, I figured they could fix it, right?
I have some friends who used to work for HP, maybe they can help us ...?
Click on the pics to see them better.
Standing on the window sill, Cade is not so sure about it.
Jumping from the window sill.
They work well together.
Mar 9, 2008
The Journey Continues – Part SIX
I have narrowed down my career choices and thought I would give an update because it has been awhile. Even if you are not interested, writing it helps me sort out my options and best path.
I have been working in residential construction going on a year (actually 10 ½ months). It has been a great learning experience.
Presently, I am working on three business ideas:
1. Saturday morning I passed my Construction Contractor's License Exam and will be obtaining my license within the week. I will continue to work with my boss as a sub-contractor and begin to build my own business doing re-models, possibly flip houses, and hopefully build some houses. With the home mortgage industry in such trouble it is more difficult to get financing, but there are still possibilities.
As part of this Construction business I am planning to offer a service to Realtors and home sellers. I believe the name will be "1st Impressions Curb Appeal & More" ... the business will come up with a proposal to improve the marketability of the home. Doing everything from landscaping and paint to updating and remodels with the goal of helping the properties sell faster. It could eventually be expanded to include "Staging", as well. If the sellers were intending to continue living in the home … I will suggest ways to de-clutter.
I will also be marketing to the Santa Clara area a Home Services business where I will offer everything from landscape maintenance to kitchen remodels.
2. If you did not know, I finished all the classes I need to get started in a career as an Appraiser. The next step is to do a minimum of 2000 hours as an Assistant Appraiser. However, because of the housing slow down no one has been hiring Assistants this past year. I mailed out 50+ resumes this past summer and did receive positive responses to the resume, however no one was hiring.
I recently started handing out resumes to Appraisers once again. Only this time I am going to their offices and talking to them in person. This is working much better than simply mailing out resumes. I have gained great insights from speaking with a few of the Appraisers. And two of the Appraisers I talked to in the past couple weeks are considering hiring in the (somewhat near) future. One is starting to build a Residential Appraisal firm and the other is a Commercial Appraiser with many years experience.
3. An Oregon adventure tour company. Using a late model 12-passenger bio-diesel van to transport people to explore and enjoy our beautiful state. Hiking, skiing, cycling, wine country tours, sightseeing tours to the coast, the cascades, Crater Lake, etc, etc., etc. I have developed an extensive business plan, which I continually update and improve. I have been meeting with people in the community every couple weeks exploring whether or not I can develop a client base quickly (because I don't have the money to build a business for the expected 3 years which most businesses take). I am meeting with Dale Berg (Berg's Ski Shop and Ski Buses) next Friday.
If you would like to see my business plan let me know. Or if you have any ideas regarding these ideas please leave me a comment or give me a call or e-mail me.
So … those are some things I am working on. I have applied for some "real" jobs, but I am really hoping to develop one or more of these businesses and an 8-5:00 M-F job would make that difficult.
I have been working in residential construction going on a year (actually 10 ½ months). It has been a great learning experience.
Presently, I am working on three business ideas:
1. Saturday morning I passed my Construction Contractor's License Exam and will be obtaining my license within the week. I will continue to work with my boss as a sub-contractor and begin to build my own business doing re-models, possibly flip houses, and hopefully build some houses. With the home mortgage industry in such trouble it is more difficult to get financing, but there are still possibilities.
As part of this Construction business I am planning to offer a service to Realtors and home sellers. I believe the name will be "1st Impressions Curb Appeal & More" ... the business will come up with a proposal to improve the marketability of the home. Doing everything from landscaping and paint to updating and remodels with the goal of helping the properties sell faster. It could eventually be expanded to include "Staging", as well. If the sellers were intending to continue living in the home … I will suggest ways to de-clutter.
I will also be marketing to the Santa Clara area a Home Services business where I will offer everything from landscape maintenance to kitchen remodels.
2. If you did not know, I finished all the classes I need to get started in a career as an Appraiser. The next step is to do a minimum of 2000 hours as an Assistant Appraiser. However, because of the housing slow down no one has been hiring Assistants this past year. I mailed out 50+ resumes this past summer and did receive positive responses to the resume, however no one was hiring.
I recently started handing out resumes to Appraisers once again. Only this time I am going to their offices and talking to them in person. This is working much better than simply mailing out resumes. I have gained great insights from speaking with a few of the Appraisers. And two of the Appraisers I talked to in the past couple weeks are considering hiring in the (somewhat near) future. One is starting to build a Residential Appraisal firm and the other is a Commercial Appraiser with many years experience.
3. An Oregon adventure tour company. Using a late model 12-passenger bio-diesel van to transport people to explore and enjoy our beautiful state. Hiking, skiing, cycling, wine country tours, sightseeing tours to the coast, the cascades, Crater Lake, etc, etc., etc. I have developed an extensive business plan, which I continually update and improve. I have been meeting with people in the community every couple weeks exploring whether or not I can develop a client base quickly (because I don't have the money to build a business for the expected 3 years which most businesses take). I am meeting with Dale Berg (Berg's Ski Shop and Ski Buses) next Friday.
If you would like to see my business plan let me know. Or if you have any ideas regarding these ideas please leave me a comment or give me a call or e-mail me.
So … those are some things I am working on. I have applied for some "real" jobs, but I am really hoping to develop one or more of these businesses and an 8-5:00 M-F job would make that difficult.
Feb 10, 2008
God's Creation is Amazing
Our Creator God has an amazing imagination (that's the understatement of the century):
Check out this video: Freaks of Nature: Self Inflating Fish
Feb 9, 2008
My Son
Zane (he turns 6 on Sunday) says to me, "You read the Bible on your days off, don't you dad?"
I say, "Yeah, I try to read it all the time, every day … today I read the Bible during my lunch, I read three chapters."
Zane says, "Alright dad! Can I give you a high five?"
"Ah … Yeah" … I turn to look at him an he has his hand up for a high five … "Yes you can … you are cool … Zane."
Single? Looking for Mr Right? Or Miss Right?
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 By Nate Fowler
Would Mr. Right Please Stand Up: A letter to the ladies
This generation has become a generation full of Internet. If you need information, you don't go to the local library and search strenuously until you find that perfect source. Nope, you type your subject matter into that little search bar you popped up on google. Well, I'm so sorry to be the one to point this fact out to you, but you're not going to type "Mr. Right" into that search bar and find the man of your dreams.
The waiter walked up to us and quickly put napkins on our table in order to mark as a place setting, showing that we had been greeted. He sharply began our interaction with, "good afternoon, can I get some drinks coming your way". I casually looked at my date, who for the sake of this story will be named Jill, and motioned for her to have the first order. Shortly after he took our drink orders we dove deep into conversation.
Jill has been a great friend of mine for many years. Her and I have seen each other go through great times full of laughter and joy but also the times full of tears and heartache. There was this weird connection between her and I. We were always such great friends, but yet there was no attraction between the two of us. This made for some very interesting conversations.
Jill and I have sat late into the night discussing many different topics that each and every person will go through, and has gone through. Something that Jill has struggled with in the past is finding "Mr. Right". She would often times become somewhat emotional when she began talking with me and sharing her heart pertaining to this matter. I think that this is exactly how many single girls feel today, right now. But ladies don't worry, young men are feeling the same way. Even though many young men would never admit it, we often times think about our future soul mate. Personally, I spend time in thought and prayer for my future wife. Her safety, family, happiness, friendships, relationships, every aspect of her life. I pray that God will continue to prepare my heart in order to be the best man I can be for her. Even though many men do not go about it the same way that I have, they are thinking about and are concerned with meeting "the one" as well. But, the point of this little story is not to talk about what men are doing, but to clarify some issues and challenges girls living in this generation are going through in their search of "Mr. Right".
It was well after 9:30 pm and the restaurant was getting ready to close. Jill and I were deep into a thought that I just couldn't cut short. Our server was finishing his closing duties so he really didn't mind us taking our time. Jill's eyes were red and a bit puffy from tearing as I began to share my thoughts on her tender question. Jill leaned over the table and with a sensitive tone said, "Nate, what is wrong with me? Why can't I meet him? The one?"
When those words came out of Jill's mouth I really didn't know exactly how to react. I took a second to look into her eyes and decipher how serious she was about this statement. It was serious. I took a second to think...
Jill has a pretty outgoing lifestyle. She is always telling me about these guys that she meets downtown that are just so sweet. Things go great for about a week or two, then she finds out a whole different story than the one she received from him upon first meeting. She tells me stories about how she cant find a guy that is honest about his intentions for spending time with her, often times she discovers they want to get the physical intimacy started to warm-up for the emotional relationship. They like to spend all day and every weekend with the boys and do guy stuff. Well, she thinks that's just boys being boys. Well ladies, that's EXACTLY what it is and you're never going to get more than a boy from that. Jill is such a sweet-hearted person and is often times attracted to very outspoken personalities. Guys that would be considered "rough around the edges". Jill shares with me that she has a real heart for these guys, these guys just need some love.
She spends a lot of time with her girlfriends and she loves doing all the girly things. She has sleep-overs with her best friends, drama movie nights, and themed parties with invites to all the neighbors. She is a full time student as well as a full time employee. She goes to a local Christian church once in awhile with her group of friends in order to get a "feel good" buzz and hopefully meet a guy with some decent morals. She always asks her boy interests to come to church with her but of course, he's doing "guy stuff" and can't make it. On the weekends, Jill once again spends time with her friends while wishing her interest was with her. Since she's a student at the University there is always some get together happening on or near campus. She likes to say she's going to have a drink, but ends up getting pretty crazy. She usually makes her rounds at the party meeting new guys, meeting new people, and doing some crazy dances in front of the camera. Jill loves to have a good time. But all the while, Jill is longing for a man that doesn't spend every second with his friends. A man that is going to embrace spending time with Jill without distraction of other people.
These are the thoughts that blazed through my mind before I even tried to speak a word in response to her question. The only thing I could think to say was, "where are you looking for "Mr. Right"?" She slowly mumbled and responded with, "everywhere, I guess..?"
Ladies, if you're going to read anything I have written on this page please let it be this. If you are looking everywhere, then you are going to find EVERTHING! This is the exact reason that Jill was having so much trouble in her search for "Mr. Right", she didn't even know where to look or what she was looking for specifically! Jill simply had it in her mind that she would find any random guy she thought was good looking and make him into what she thought the perfect guy was. If you're just waiting for this magical feeling of love to come sweep over your heart when you see him, then you're going to go through many times of trial and heartache that could have easily been avoided.
To be honest with you, I'm really getting tired of young ladies these days playing the "oh, poor me" card. This card has been in use for far to long and I think it is time for ladies to put it away and stop looking at how there are no good guys left in the world, but start seeking them out where they will be found. Better yet, help shape young men into the man that you are currently seeking.
If you are living a life like Jill, spending your time in constant hunt mode and still leading a life that is just fun and carefree then you are going to fall simply into a feeling of lust, not love. You so badly want to feel this feeling that you've seen on the movies, be swept off your feet and whisked away into a romantic setting in which your love speaks simple nothings into your ear. THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN DOWNTOWN IN THE LOCAL TAVERN, OR AT THE FRAT HOUSE. Ladies, you speak so strongly about how many guys out there are pigs, well I'm sorry to bring this up but we're not the only ones at fault here. Us guys are not the ones going around wearing mini skirts and tank tops, not saying there are not guys who do so, but I feel that you ladies need to step up and take more responsibility in the way that you shape the minds and thoughts of the young men around you. If you are wearing a skimpy little outfit yet you say that you need to find a decent guy, this is playing a double standard. Ladies, if you are not acting and dressing in a decent fashion then why would a decent guy be interested in pursuing you? This generation is so full of exploitation it literally makes my stomach ache. So many young ladies feel that in order to receive attention from young men you must show some skin. To tell you the truth ladies, you could walk in the room with jeans and a turtle neck on and we would still be attracted to you, that's just how we're made. I challenge you to stop looking at all the guys in the world and calling us perverts of society and start looking at one another and the standards that you have set for yourselves. This is not one or another's fault, that's not where I'm going with this. The reason that you feel you need to wear that skirt is because you saw another girl at the mall wearing a similar skirt, or a girl on MTV getting all the attention wearing a skirt like that. Not because a guy walked up to you and said, "in order for me to talk to you I want to see a skirt". If you wear the outfits, of course men will look ladies, come on! You are attracting the very guys that you are trying to avoid!
You ladies are so precious. You have so much to offer your families, friends, and others around you. It makes me so sad when I see you put yourself into a situation with a guy who is not going to offer the same. So many girls today are attracted to the rebels. Well, if that's what you're looking for then that's exactly what you're going to get. You are going to get a guy who doesn't want to see situations, love, or blessings the way that they come, he is fighting life. You are going to get a guy that you are going to have to change. If you are attracted to the guys that need your help to change them, then you are going to spend a relationship of many tears, heartache, and pain. This is not a man, this is boy who has no direction, goals, focus, and who has had very little experience in situations that build character. His lack of character is going to produce lack of responsibility. This will lead to a lack of dependability and lack of dependability will lead to a constant battle of attempts and failures. I am not saying that trying and not succeeding is a bad thing, I am saying that guys who have honestly tried and failed on their own digression seeking their OWN goals will and have built character. You will never be able to instill character into a guy who has not and does not want it for himself. IT'S NOT YOUR JOB EITHER. This is a huge burden that you are taking upon yourselves. You are nurturers by nature, seek out a MAN that will be able to love you as much as you love he. Seek out a MAN that has goals, ambitions, and a desire to treat you as the precious young lady in which you are. Seek out a man of character that is ready to love and support you the way you deserve right now, not after you get done with him.
As these thoughts came pouring out of my mouth a thousand miles a minute Jill looked at me with a somewhat blank stare on her face. I paused in silence for a moment then softly said," did that make any sense?." She looked at me with a half smile, half laugh and half cry and said, "I think so..."
I guess the bottom line that I'm getting at here ladies is; "Mr. Right" is out there but where are you looking and what is your criteria? You know deep down in your heart that you are looking for a man that is going to stand up for you even when you're wrong. A man that is going to hold your hand even when you're in public. A man that is going to softly kiss your forehead and wipe your tear with his thumb as he rests his hand on your cheek. Most importantly, you are searching for a man that is willing to step up and lead the way a man should. You want him to provide for you, to be the one that says it's "ok" even when you know the situation is not good. You are looking for a man of character, not a boy with lack of focus and no heart for anything greater than himself.
My challenge to all of you ladies and in search of this illusive "Mr. Right" is this; are you living in a way that is going to attract this kind of man? Are you presenting yourself by the way you speak, dress, act, and socialize in a manner that would be attractive to this man that you yourself have set such high standards for?
Coming from the words of a 22 year old, newly engaged male, we hold these standards also. If you are looking for love at a party full of boys, you're going to get a boy that likes to party. If you are looking for a man that holds himself with integrity and character, you are going to find a man that has something to offer you that you will not find anywhere else. You do not want to spend your life searching and changing. Spend your life loving, laughing, focused, nurtured, protected, and all the other words you could possibly ever dream of. There are those "Mr. Rights" out there, and they are all looking for that "Ms. Right".
www.natefowler.net
Jan 16, 2008
Politics Today ... What would the Founders Think?
BEST OF JIM COOK
January 3, 2008
HANGING TOGETHER
[FROM: www.investmentrarities.com/ -- 1/16/08]
How do we know our political views are correct? On the left, liberals are certain of their intellectual superiority. This snobbery allows them to scorn anyone with differing views. Among conservatives, the neo-cons aim to make government bigger and more intrusive. On what basis can we build a powerful argument against those on the left or right who want to force their agenda down our throats?
Our founding fathers are a good place to start. When Benjamin Franklin stated, "It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part," he never dreamed the American people would hold still for today's taxes of 50%. Those of us who oppose higher taxes and advocate limited government are in much better company than the liberals and neo-cons who would find no favor with our founders.
Thomas Jefferson put it this way. "A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government." What we have today then is the sum of bad government. Jefferson warned about the eventual outcome of income transfers. "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Jefferson went on to say, "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
It hasn't worked out that way. Socialist schemes administered by government squander our tax dollars and social costs are running away. You can have socialism, but you can't have prosperity. As the great Austrian social economist Ludwig von Mises instructed, "Socialism [modern liberalism] is not in the least what it pretends to be. It is not the pioneer of a better and finer world, but the spoiler of what thousands of years of civilization have created. It does not build; it destroys. For destruction is the essence of it. It produces nothing, it only consumes what the social order based on private ownership of the means of production has created."
Mises further stated, "A man who chooses between drinking a glass of milk and a glass of a solution of potassium cyanide does not choose between two beverages; he chooses between life and death. A society that chooses between capitalism and socialism does not choose between two social systems; it chooses between social cooperation and the disintegration of society. Socialism is not an alternative to capitalism; it is an alternative to any system under which men can live as human beings."
We are in the early stages of the disintegration of our society. Multiculturalism, inflation, high taxes and a huge, growing underclass will see to that. Disparaging the free market is another sign of backwardness and coming chaos. Envy; hatred of the producers, anti-business propaganda, punishment of the rich; expropriation of wealth; the politics of class warfare; all are in vogue.
Worst of all, the government is destroying the dollar. Through its big spending, social schemes and foreign adventures, it must inflate to stay afloat. The flaw in paper money is that it can be created at will by politicians and bureaucrats to meet any contingency. At some point hyperinflation is inevitable. That will tear the social fabric further as the nimble become richer and the masses become poorer.
Each of us carries a responsibility to preserve our freedom and the greatness of our nation. We must gain enough understanding of the threat from within - the reigning dogma of the left. We must become beacons of economic education and influence in checking the inroads of socialism. "It's one mind at a time," said my mentor, the late Bernard Daley. He saw the writing on the walls years ago and vigorously warned about the inroads of socialism and the destruction it would make inevitable.
The socialist leader, Norman Thomas, once said, "The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened." Fear for your country if that proves to be true.
The patriots who drafted the Declaration of Independence risked all. One tragic reversal and Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and the others would have quickly been hung from a tree and you would never have heard of them. The guidance they provided for controlling government has been rejected by the free spending pols of today. We have ignored the guidance of our founders and we will pay a price. Hopefully, the excruciating setbacks we suffer will make us harken once again to their wisdom.
[FROM: www.investmentrarities.com/ -- 1/16/08]
January 3, 2008
HANGING TOGETHER
[FROM: www.investmentrarities.com/ -- 1/16/08]
How do we know our political views are correct? On the left, liberals are certain of their intellectual superiority. This snobbery allows them to scorn anyone with differing views. Among conservatives, the neo-cons aim to make government bigger and more intrusive. On what basis can we build a powerful argument against those on the left or right who want to force their agenda down our throats?
Our founding fathers are a good place to start. When Benjamin Franklin stated, "It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part," he never dreamed the American people would hold still for today's taxes of 50%. Those of us who oppose higher taxes and advocate limited government are in much better company than the liberals and neo-cons who would find no favor with our founders.
Thomas Jefferson put it this way. "A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government." What we have today then is the sum of bad government. Jefferson warned about the eventual outcome of income transfers. "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Jefferson went on to say, "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
It hasn't worked out that way. Socialist schemes administered by government squander our tax dollars and social costs are running away. You can have socialism, but you can't have prosperity. As the great Austrian social economist Ludwig von Mises instructed, "Socialism [modern liberalism] is not in the least what it pretends to be. It is not the pioneer of a better and finer world, but the spoiler of what thousands of years of civilization have created. It does not build; it destroys. For destruction is the essence of it. It produces nothing, it only consumes what the social order based on private ownership of the means of production has created."
Mises further stated, "A man who chooses between drinking a glass of milk and a glass of a solution of potassium cyanide does not choose between two beverages; he chooses between life and death. A society that chooses between capitalism and socialism does not choose between two social systems; it chooses between social cooperation and the disintegration of society. Socialism is not an alternative to capitalism; it is an alternative to any system under which men can live as human beings."
We are in the early stages of the disintegration of our society. Multiculturalism, inflation, high taxes and a huge, growing underclass will see to that. Disparaging the free market is another sign of backwardness and coming chaos. Envy; hatred of the producers, anti-business propaganda, punishment of the rich; expropriation of wealth; the politics of class warfare; all are in vogue.
Worst of all, the government is destroying the dollar. Through its big spending, social schemes and foreign adventures, it must inflate to stay afloat. The flaw in paper money is that it can be created at will by politicians and bureaucrats to meet any contingency. At some point hyperinflation is inevitable. That will tear the social fabric further as the nimble become richer and the masses become poorer.
Each of us carries a responsibility to preserve our freedom and the greatness of our nation. We must gain enough understanding of the threat from within - the reigning dogma of the left. We must become beacons of economic education and influence in checking the inroads of socialism. "It's one mind at a time," said my mentor, the late Bernard Daley. He saw the writing on the walls years ago and vigorously warned about the inroads of socialism and the destruction it would make inevitable.
The socialist leader, Norman Thomas, once said, "The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened." Fear for your country if that proves to be true.
The patriots who drafted the Declaration of Independence risked all. One tragic reversal and Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and the others would have quickly been hung from a tree and you would never have heard of them. The guidance they provided for controlling government has been rejected by the free spending pols of today. We have ignored the guidance of our founders and we will pay a price. Hopefully, the excruciating setbacks we suffer will make us harken once again to their wisdom.
[FROM: www.investmentrarities.com/ -- 1/16/08]
Jan 4, 2008
Women and Islam
Women and Islam
BHUTTO'S BODY AND THE FACE OF ISLAM, GrassTopsUSA Exclusive Commentary By Don Feder 01-02-08
My reaction to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto?
What did you expect?
Let's see: Bhutto was a woman who refused to cower behind a veil. She believed in democracy and human rights, and opposed jihad. And she aspired to govern Pakistan again, as she had twice before, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
So naturally the savages killed her.
Imagine if Alexander Hamilton traveled back in time from the 18th to the 8th century, and tried to explain republican government and capitalism to the knuckle-draggers. They would have torn off his arms and beat him to death with the severed limbs. Thus, Bhutto's fate was inevitable.
Conspicuously absent from commentary on the crime was the word "Islam." It's as if the former prime minister could have been whacked by anyone, say deranged Amway salesmen or a roving band of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Not that there was a lack of finger-pointing.
The United States was blamed for backing Pervez Musharraf. Pakistan's "president" was blamed for not controlling al-Qaeda (whose operations he tolerates, as long as they don't go too far). Al-Qaeda was rightly blamed for pulling the trigger. (The scum gloated that they had "terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat the mujahadeen.")
War-on-Terror hawks blamed "extremists," "radicals", "militants" and (when they were feeling really daring) "Islamo-fascists" -- as if fanatics with armbands had somehow subverted the tenets of an otherwise benign and pacific creed.
Almost no one was willing to cast a critical eye on the religion of peace itself -- for fear that logic and the overwhelming weight of evidence would lead to conclusions both politically incorrect and professionally perilous.
As Bhutto could attest, Islam is particularly hard on women. At a 2005 celebration to mark the end of Ramadan-a-ding-dong, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (who fits perfectly in the intellectual milieu of Foggy Bottom) declared that Islam was not just the religion of peace -- a la George Bush -- but the "religion of peace and love.
Hence, the expression: You always hurt the one you love -- or decapitate the one you love, or choke the one you love, etc.
Last month, in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, 57-year-old Muhammed Parvez strangled to death his daughter Aqsa, age 16. Parvez's homicidal rage was fueled by his daughter's refusal to wear the prescribed Moslem headgear for females, the hijab.
By all reports, Parvez senior was a good Muslim, a cab driver who took a break from his work four times a day to wail toward Mecca.
The reaction of the Canadian Muslim community was edifying. Sheik Alaa El-Sayyed, imam of a Toronto mosque, helpfully explained, "Women who wear hijabs occupy higher positions in Islam, according to religious teachings" -- and those who don't have their windpipes crushed.
The Sheik further elucidated: "We can not let culture supersede religion. If we stay away from the teachings of Islam, we will pay for it."
Adherence to the teachings of Islam also carries a price.
In November, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah magnanimously pardoned a gang-rape victim. No, that's not a typo. The king pardoned the victim.
The unidentified woman was abducted along with a male companion and raped by six men. One taped the atrocity on his cell phone.
If gang-rape wasn't enough, the 19-year-old was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail for the unspeakable offense of being alone in a car with a man she wasn't related to.
According to the Malaysian advocacy group Sisters in Islam, in Pakistan "three out of four women in prison... are rape victims."
And they're the lucky ones. In the Islamic world, and increasingly in Western countries where Muslims reside in large numbers, women who've "shamed their families" (by allowing themselves to be raped, being alone in a car with a non-relation, refusing the hijab, or other shameless and hussy-like behavior) are sentenced to death by male relatives.
Among adherents of the religion of peace and love, these homicides are so common that there's even a name for them "honor killings."
Between 1996 and 2006, there were 48 honor killings in Germany alone. The United Nations estimates that there are 5,000 honor killings a year worldwide. Being a woman in an Islamic society, or family, is almost as much fun as being an African-American in the era of Jim Crow -- get uppity, and out come the whips and nooses.
Much of this flows from the unique position women enjoy in the religion of love and peace.
Women are expected to submit to the authority of first their fathers, then their brothers and finally their husbands. In this world, women play an exalted role, as objects of lust, breeding stock and slaves.
Now, where do you suppose this tradition comes from?
The Center for the Study of Political Islam analyzed every reference to women in the Koran, Hadith (traditions) and Sira (life of Muhammed). In 91% of these citations, women were described as inferior to men.
The Hadith mentions over 20 times that the majority of those in Hell will be women. Their damnable offense? Insufficient subservience to their husbands. Men earn a place in paradise (plus 70 perpetual virgins) for acts of piety, like killing infidels. Women earn eternal reward by being obedient to the men in their lives.
Sexual violence plays a crucial role in jihad.
In 1971, Pakistani soldiers raped a million women in the war with Bangladesh. While Islam frowns on sex outside marriage, infidels -- especially those conquered in holy war -- are exempted from this prohibition. (Religious authorities had declared the Bangladeshis "infidels.")
Rev. Keith Roderick of Christian Solidarity International works with Iraqi Christian refugees. He recently met a woman who fled Iraq with her family after the following horrific incident.
After Muslims began moving into her formerly Christian neighborhood in Baghdad, she received a phone call informing her: "You have several daughters. We want you to give one to us (to marry a Muslim man)."
The mother ignored the demand. A week later, her 15 year-old daughter, Vivian, was kidnapped on her way home from school. When she received another call notifying her that her daughter had been taken, she asked how much the kidnappers wanted for the child's safe return. The reply: "We don't want your money; we just want to break your heart, because you're a 'crusader' (Christian)."
A week later, Vivian's naked body was dumped near the family home. She had been repeatedly raped, tortured and mutilated. In the wide world of Islam, there's a whole lot of lovin' going on.
If you're disturbed by that story, don't worry. In a few years, such reporting will be deemed a hate crime. The jihad lobby has learned well the intimidation tactics of multiculturalists. Under the mandate of sensitivity, they are moving relentlessly to crush any criticism of their delightful faith.
In Canada, an inquisition is underway which could have far-reaching consequences. Author Mark Steyn and Maclean's magazine have been summoned to appear before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal and the Canadian Human Rights Commission on a "hate speech" complaint brought by three Muslim law students.
Maclean's, Canada's leading periodical, published an excerpt from Steyn's book "America Alone: The End Of The World As We Know It."
In the seminal work, Steyn observed: "So it's not merely that there's a global jihad lurking within this religion, but that the religion itself is a political project and, in fact, an imperial project in a way that modern Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism are not. Furthermore, this particular religion is historically a somewhat bloodthirsty faith in which whatever your bag violence-wise can almost certainly be justified."
Other than the qualifier ("somewhat"), what reasonable person can argue with this assessment?
The complaint alleges that Steyn, and by extension Maclean's, are suggesting that "Islamic culture is incompatible with Canada's liberalized Western civilization." What audacity!
Unfortunately, when hauled before a human-rights star chamber and charged with the high-crime of insensitivity, truth is no defense.
Exhibit 1, your honor, the strangulation of 15-year-old Aqsa Parvez.
Exhibit 2 -- The reaction of Canadian Islamic leaders to same.
Exhibit 3 -- A week before Christmas, an Italian Roman Catholic priest was stabbed in the Turkish city of Izmir. Last year, another Italian Catholic priest was shot dead in the Turkish Black Sea city of Trabzon.
Exhibit 4 -- A September CNN poll of Pakistanis, which showed Osama bin Laden's approval rating at 46%, compared to 38% for Musharaff and 9% for Bush.
Exhibit 5 -- A recent poll of our other good friends, the Saudis, in which 36% supported Saudi citizens fighting against U.S. troops in Iraq and 51% want Muslims to continue fighting Israel until the Jewish state is obliterated.
Exhibit 6 -- A Pakistani couple that converted to Christianity went into hiding after credible death threats. The death threats came from Muslim relatives.
Exhibit 7 -- Also a week before Christmas, an Egyptian national named Mohamad Sayed was arrested in the southern Philippine city of Catabato, after police recovered an explosive device from his room in the Majad Islamic School. (Isn't it strange how men named Mohammed -- however the spelling -- are so often connected to other "m" words, like murder, mayhem and massacre?)
Of course, the prosecution could counter with evidence of all of the explosive devices recovered from synagogues, cathedrals, tabernacles, yeshivas and ashrams.
It could also offer evidence of the Jewish charities charged with funneling money to terrorists, suicide bombers who die with "praise Jesus" on their lips and the injunctions to annihilate unbelievers found in the Bhagavad Gita, the Analects of Confucius and the Book of Common Prayer.
Exhibits 8 to infinity -- Anwar Sadat, Daniel Pearl, Theo van Gogh, Rabbi Meir Kahane, Benazir Bhutto, 241 U.S. Marines who died in the Beirut barracks bombing and the 3,000 Americans murdered on September 11, 2001. The Center for the Study of Political Islam estimates that since 9/11 there have 57,749 jihad murders.
It takes a tremendous and sustained act of will to ignore the elephant in the living room -- the one wearing a dynamite-belt and shouting "Allahu Akabar!"
But the guys and gals reporting the news are more than capable of that act of willful blindness.
The 9,000-member Society of Professional Journalists has a set of guidelines for covering Muslim murder, which could have been written by the Council on American Islamic Relations, they include:
1. When writing about Islamic terror, be sure to include references to white supremacists and anti-abortionists.
2. Don't use terms like "Islamic terrorist" or "Muslim terrorist." (Instead, say Religion of Peace struggler or overly enthusiastic Muslim.)
3. Jihad means exertion to improve one's self or Islam (through bomb-building, sharp-shooting, hijacking airliners, etc.).
4. Get Muslims to vet the articles.
Or get your news directly from Al-Jazeera, and eliminate the middleman.
Reacting to the Bhutto assassination, Sen. Fred Thompson (who has a sound understanding of foreign policy) observed, "This is a war, a clash of civilizations."
Could you be more specific? "The chance that a secular woman had the possibility of ascending to power in Pakistan drove the more radical Islamic elements in the country to violence."
"Radical Islamic elements" don't need to be driven anywhere. The term "radical Islamic elements" implies there are moderate Islamic elements. Who are they -- and where are they both hiding?
Assassinations, honor killings, suicide bombings, rape as a political weapon and the degradation of women -- all are symptoms of a disease, a plague bacillus being carried to the West by immigrants and converts.
Benazir Bhutto, rest in peace -- along with honesty, objectivity and the courage to be candid about the greatest threat to civilization since Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
>
Don Feder is a former Boston Herald writer who is now a political/communications consultant. He also maintains his own website, DonFeder.com.
Dec 31, 2007
Oregon Ducks ... my pick
Ok, the game isn't even over yet … but the Ducks are rolling. I say we will win it.
But I must make some observations either way. J Stew is having an amazing game, and will probably get the MVP. Even though he is great and having a great game … with the holes the O-Line has opened up I believe anyone could have ran for 150 yards. I say MVP should go to the O-Line.
On a side note … J. Williams is catching the ball!!!
Another thing I want to make clear … I thought it earlier in the year when Roper came in as a back up. Roper is our guy. He looks to be a great leader on the field. Yes, I am saying it now … I think he should be given the starting position in the fall.
I am giving my nod to Roper now because two years ago I thought Dixon should be turned loose and taught to be a leader on the field and on the sidelines. But the coaching staff kept jerking him in and out. I truly believe it would have been better to give him the starting position and build his confidence two years ago.
I admit, he needed to be taught about leadership and of course Chip Kelly has brought some new stuff to the offense and being away in the realm of pro-baseball might all have been good for him. But I saw (and I said it several times) his "brilliance" on the field two plus years ago and wanted the team to be built round him in 2006. Somewhere along the way in the last year he learned how to be a great leader and continues to serve as a leader from the sidelines.
It all came together in 2007 with Dixon and Stewart being two of the top offensive players in the nation. In addition … the defense has had an amazing year.
*Since I started writing we have scored twice to make the score 39-14 and have been on the receiving side of two interceptions.
Dec 29, 2007
Brock, Nathan, Aaron, and Myself Together Again
The four horsemen ride again. Well, not really but we did get together for breakfast today. It was great to be together again catching up on each other's lives.
It is interesting to note that each one brings something to the table … not just different breakfast items but … different interests, talents, and gifts. I think when good friends are together both parties go away with something new, something learned, something gained. It is true with this group of friends.
Our conversation has changed some, less about youth and more about our kids. But we still talk ministry and about church stuff. I think we could talk all day if given the opportunity. If we had a whole day together I think there would have to be a basketball game, because Brock keeps bringing up a game or two where he and Aaron got lucky and beat Nathan and I.
Our lives have changed in the over the last four or so years. All of us have changed jobs … none of us are doing what we were doing when we first started ministering together. By this spring, as I count, we will have had nine kids added to our families.
Who knows maybe we will ride again together in ministry. It seems we all like a challenge and with the talk of starting new churches, only God knows where we all will be in the next few years.
 | Currently reading : American Nightingale: The Story of Frances Slanger, Forgotten Heroine of Normandy By Bob Welch Release date: 31 May, 2005 |
Dec 24, 2007
Global Warming ... enough already!
Global warming ... argh. Almost daily in the news. It drives me crazy the way the news people and others with a voice (i.e. politicians and celebrities) take up stories without knowing what they are talking about. They are building a frenzy for reducing greenhouse gases around the world (i.e. Kyoto Protocol) and its a frenzy based on truth that is inconveniently not true.
From what I read humans have almost no effect on global warming and the greenhouse gases that cause some of the global warming. Below is a quote from the website www.junkscience.com explaining that 90-95% of the greenhouse effect is from water in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and other miscellaneous gases are "minor greenhouse gases" that have almost no effect on greenhouse changes.
"In simple terms the bulk of Earth's greenhouse effect is due to water vapor by virtue of its abundance. Water accounts for about 90% of the Earth's greenhouse effect -- perhaps 70% is due to water vapor and about 20% due to clouds (mostly water droplets), some estimates put water as high as 95% of Earth's total tropospheric greenhouse effect (e.g., Freidenreich and Ramaswamy, "Solar Radiation Absorption by Carbon Dioxide, Overlap with Water, and a Parameterization for General Circulation Models," Journal of Geophysical Research 98 (1993):7255-7264).
The remaining portion comes from carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, ozone and miscellaneous other "minor greenhouse gases." As an example of the relative importance of water it should be noted that changes in the relative humidity on the order of 1.3-4% are equivalent to the effect of doubling CO2." (FROM: www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse)
Please read the entire article to learn more about atmospheric science at:www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse.
Next read an article about Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~ponderthemaunderg/index.html.
The author explains where Gore is correct and not so correct.
The article starts with a telling quote from Al Gore himself in an interview.
"Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth does indeed have some correct facts, but as he even says himself, sometimes you have to over-exaggerate to send the message to people:
Q. There's a lot of debate right now over the best way to communicate about global warming and get people motivated. Do you scare people or give them hope? What's the right mix?
A. I think the answer to that depends on where your audience's head is. In the United States of America, unfortunately we still live in a bubble of unreality. And the Category 5 denial is an enormous obstacle to any discussion of solutions. Nobody is interested in solutions if they don't think there's a problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis. (http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/05/09/roberts/ (Interview with Grist Magazine's David Roberts and Al Gore about An Inconvenient Truth)
Al Gore said this, so how are we supposed to know fact from fiction in the global warming debate? The following paragraphs will inform the reader of the false claims, the facts, the selective facts and tactics to scare and advertise." (FROM:http://home.earthlink.net/~ponderthemaunderg/index.html)
By the way ... statements like the one above are similar to socialist dictators who believe government is the solution for every problem and the people are not capable of understanding the truth. Venezuela's President Chavez is a scary reminder of power gone wrong. (http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/dec2007/gb2007123_114899.htm)
The Al Gore article goes on to describe the misuse of charts and dates to make a point that is not true.
One set of stats Gore shows deals with the receding glaciers around the world. It is true that they are receding but he fails to explain that it can be shown they have been receding for 100-150 years, well before we humans started driving cars in mass.
Please take time to read: http://home.earthlink.net/~ponderthemaunderg/index.html
The truth as I understand it is ... humans are not causing global warming and we should not be forced into all becoming Green and driving cars that cost $20,000 more because of all the added Green engine stuff. Diesel engines went up $7000 to $10,000 this year (2008) because of government mandated emissions upgrades.
Is going Green bad? No, actually I like the idea of reducing my use of fossil fuels. I think we should all walk more and ride bikes more often. I am planning on buying a diesel and trying bio-diesel (which is fuel made from vegetable oil). And I am also designing a house that is highly efficient with passive and active solar heat and power. I hope to build it some day to lower our natural gas and electricity bills, relying more on God-given solar power and possibly even wind power.
BUT ... it should be my choice to be Green or not be Green. The government should stay out of our business.
Christmas Letter from The Gants
December 2007
Dear Family & Friends,
Not many days past in the New Year before we became convinced that this would be another year that would grow & stretch our faith. On January 4th we learned that Cory's job with Santa Clara Church of Christ would end; the elders decided they wanted to move in a new direction. It was a big surprise to us, but we both felt confident that this was part of God's plan and that our family would be blessed despite the stressful & uncomfortable circumstances. The next chapter of our lives we refer to as our sabbatical. The boys and I greatly enjoyed having Cory home and he was provided the opportunity and time to dream & pray about what he would like to do with his future. Cory decided, for the time being, not to pursue paid ministry and is considering other avenues of employment. He finished classes to become a Real Estate Appraiser & is hoping to find an Assistant position (hard to do when the housing market is slow). In May, Cory went to work for a friend in the construction business. He enjoys learning how to build houses. The boys & I go to visit him on the job site usually every week.
Zane, who will be six in February, started Kindergarten at home this year. He is a good student and we enjoy watching him learn. Zane has a great imagination. When he isn't making plans for the house that he will someday build (which includes a rocket & restaurant), then he is perfecting his plan to build "safety pipes" in our house. This idea involves tunnels & rooms that will be under our home. The "pipes" are for fun (there will be toys, tv, and food) and also provide a hiding place for the boys in case a "bad guy" comes. Zane is enrolled in a Saturday basketball program during the month of January. We aren't concerned much about his basketball skills, but we are hoping this will give him more opportunity to socialize. It should be lots of fun to watch!
Luke turned four in October. He likes playing with Zane and spending time with his Dad (especially outside). He still enjoys snuggling with me and his hugs are hard to beat. He loves to be silly & tease. You should hear his adorable laugh! Luke is brave and often paves the way for Zane in social settings. He doesn't like it when his brothers are sad and does his best to fix their problems. He also wants me to mention that he loves spending time with his grandparents.
Cade is very expressive and full of character. He has a blanket (Bubba) and an alligator (Buzz) that he loves. He doesn't talk a lot, but he does great communicating what he wants/needs one or two words at a time. He loves his big brothers & cousin Lolly. He is getting close to 2 ½ and Cory and I are beginning to envision a time in the near future without diapers to buy or change!!
I have often prayed for patience and asked that God teach me gently. I think having three boys in 3 ½ years is the answer to my prayers. These precious boys are such a great motivation for me to daily work on being more patient! And, the situation with Cory's job helps too. I am learning to wait for God to show us His plan. Of course, my thankfulness does kind of ebb and flow, but I'm learning. My sister, Joy, and I went to Sisters in September to participate in a 10k walk. We took along our little ones, Lolly & Cade. It was so beautiful and fun that we plan to make it an annual "sisters" event. Also in September, the three boys & I went to Bend to visit Grandpa Bruce & Grandma Marsha at the Seventh Mountain Resort. We had a wonderful time swimming, boating and playing miniature golf.
I leave you with the following blessing from Numbers 6:24-26, "The Lord bless you and take good care of you. The Lord smile on you, and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and give you his peace."
With love, LORI
The Exploding Whale - amazing Local History 37 years later
WATCH THE VIDEO ... this is a hilarious incident in Lane County history! See it at:
http://www.theexplodingwhale.com/evidence/the-video/
Dave Barry wrote about it in 1990, article below.
The Farside Comes to Life in Oregon By Dave Barry (1990)
I am absolutely not making this incident up; in fact I have it all on videotape. The tape is from a local TV news show in Oregon, which sent a reporter out to cover the removal of a 45-foot, eight-ton dead whale that washed up on the beach. The responsibility for getting rid of the carcass was placed upon the Oregon State Highway Division, apparently on the theory that highways and whales are very similar in the sense of being large objects.
So anyway, the highway engineers hit upon the plan — remember, I am not making this up — of blowing up the whale with dynamite. The thinking here was that the whale would be blown into small pieces, which would be eaten by sea gulls, and that would be that. A textbook whale removal.
So they moved the spectators back up the beach, put a half-ton of dynamite next to the whale and set it off. I am probably not guilty of understatement when I say that what follows, on the videotape, is the most wonderful event in the history of the universe. First you see the whale carcass disappear in a huge blast of smoke and flame. Then you hear the happy spectators shouting "Yayy!" and "Whee!" Then, suddenly, the crowd's tone changes. You hear a new sound like "splud." You hear a woman's voice shouting "Here come pieces of… MY GOD!" Something smears the camera lens.
Later, the reporter explains: "The humor of the entire situation suddenly gave way to a run for survival as huge chunks of whale blubber fell everywhere." One piece caved in the roof of a car parked more than a quarter of a mile away. Remaining on the beach were several rotting whale sectors the size of condominium units. There was no sign of the sea gulls, who had no doubt permanently relocated in Brazil. This is a very sobering videotape. Here at the institute we watch it often, especially at parties. But this is no time for gaiety. This is a time to get hold of the folks at the Oregon State Highway division and ask them, when they get done cleaning up the beaches, to give us an estimate on the US Capitol.
© 1990 Miami Herald
Nov 30, 2007
Oregon v Oregon State Civil War
1990 Oregon 6 OSU 3
1991 OSU 14 Oregon 3
1992 Oregon 7 OSU 0
1993 OSU 15 Oregon 2
1994 Oregon 17 OSU 13
1995 OSU 10 Oregon 12
1996 Oregon 49 OSU 13
1997 OSU 30 Oregon 48
1998 Oregon 41 OSU 44[14]
1999 OSU 14 Oregon 25
2000 Oregon 13 OSU 23
2001 OSU 14 Oregon 17
2002 Oregon 24 OSU 45
2003 OSU 20 Oregon 34
2004 Oregon 21 OSU 50
2005 OSU 14 Oregon 56
2006 Oregon 28 OSU 30
2007 At Oregon
1991 OSU 14 Oregon 3
1992 Oregon 7 OSU 0
1993 OSU 15 Oregon 2
1994 Oregon 17 OSU 13
1995 OSU 10 Oregon 12
1996 Oregon 49 OSU 13
1997 OSU 30 Oregon 48
1998 Oregon 41 OSU 44[14]
1999 OSU 14 Oregon 25
2000 Oregon 13 OSU 23
2001 OSU 14 Oregon 17
2002 Oregon 24 OSU 45
2003 OSU 20 Oregon 34
2004 Oregon 21 OSU 50
2005 OSU 14 Oregon 56
2006 Oregon 28 OSU 30
2007 At Oregon
Oct 10, 2007
Crazy beard ... I love my wife more
I have enjoyed all the MySpace comments about the long beard.
It has actually been trimmed as of last Sunday. Lori gave me a hair cut and I let her trim the beard as well. The whole issue comes down to what one of my good friends (Brock) said in picture comment:
"4 Words to live by
Happy Wife....Happy Life"
Guys you should take note.
Your happiness is in direct correlation with your wife's happiness.
The Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesian Disciples, "husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her ... so husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. HE WHO LOVES HIS OWN WIFE LOVES HIMSELF; no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it ... each individual among you also is to love his own wife EVEN AS HIMSELF (Ephesians 5).
Remember what the Love Chapter (1 Cor 13) says? Among the character of love list is "[love] does not seek its own".
Also in 1 Corinthians Paul writes, "...the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does..."
Ladies the opposite is also true...love, respect, honor, and submit to your husband!
If both husband and wife would "consider one another as more important than himself" there would be no marital disharmony in the Church. "They would know we are Christians by our love"!
Sadly, statistics say that divorce is the same or higher among church-going people.
Christians need to be mentoring one another in how to be the type of Disciples Christ called us to be. Disciples of Christ must be striving to live holy lives, loving those around them, doing good deeds for their family and neighbors.
Take care of your family!
If you are not married, don't get married until you are ready to give up "me" to become "we." This also applies to your hobbies ... if you can't do it together then maybe you need to give it up. Develop hobbies that bring you together not ones that take you in different directions.
My friend Erik Nielson posted a good article by Gordon MacDonald that should check out at:
http://www.accmen.blogspot.com/
Shalom.
 | Currently reading : The Dangerous Book for Boys By Conn Iggulden Release date: 01 May, 2007 |
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