How long?

Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?

The Federal and district justices in our court systems have gotten so far out of hand over the last forty years, that they believe themselves to be not only invincible, but infallible. Facts and logic are irrelevant. The courts have spoken. So let it be written, so let it be done.


They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?

According to our courts, we must be so tolerant of others that if our own inheritance is ignored, that's a sacrifice we must make on the alter of First Amendmentism. The Ten Commandments are the foundational statements of our laws, yet at the risk of offending a few, they must disappear.
More importantly, hedonism has replaced the value of life.
Roe vs. Wade and similar decisions have effectively opened the door for society to errase so much potential.

Weeping seems to be the appropriate thing to do when I reflect that each of the tiny lives destroyed were not mere babies that smile and gurgle and mess and cry. They would have gone through the process of life. They would have grown up to affect other lives, and be affected by the lives around them.

What have we missed?

Now, not only are the lives of the unborn under constant fire, but the lives of the mentally incompent right along with them. Not only does the court assert the right to say how you can live and precisely when you are alive, but they can now dictate when life is ended.

If the courts can dictate when life begins, why shouldn't it be able to tell you how to live, what constitutes a quality life, and when your life is over?


How much longer will we put up with this treatment in a government that was instituted by the people, for the people, and of the people?


We do not live under the rule of a tyrant, but we behave like we do.

Or perhaps we are merely so complacent and comfortable in our own comfort zones that anything outside our little bubble doesn't bother us.

See, hear, and speak no evil?
As Christians, how should we respond? Sure it's easy to keep our heads in the sand and mutter about church activities, school, and the price of gasoline. We are, after all, not citizens of this earth, but of a heavenly kingdom.

Yet our purpose on this earth is not to merely wait to be taken home. Our purpose is to present Christ to others so that those others can come home with us.

How do we present Christ to others when we permit those same others to be effectively murdered before they even have a chance at life?

How long?


**************************

For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
~Psalm 94

My little mirrors

For around 15 years or so, the phrase "Be careful what you do; you never see the little eyes that are watching everything you do." has been a regular part of growing up as the eldest in a family of five children.

The truth of that statement has never ceased to alternately amuse, frighten, and anger me. But over the years, it's become more or less a fact of life and one that gets easily pushed into the background.


Now, however, after reading this article, the thought deserves to be revisited.



I've recently begun helping to teach the 4th grade girls Sunday School class at church on Sunday mornings.



Every single one of those girls are precious and unique. They will all grow up one day to be young women and fill different functions in church, home, and society, touching countless lives with their words and actions.



But what I find most interesting, is that they pick up on anything and everything that I do and say. One girl has already talked about pulling her hair up like I ocassionally do with mine.

If the way I wear my hair is such an influence, what do my attitudes and reactions teach them?


O for the knowledge that I won't mess up; that they will never learn habits that will drag them down from me.

Brevity is the soul of wit...

So these shall be brief...

1. Terry Schavio's legislation is yet another example of unecessary, but forced government intervention. Government cannot intervene where the people will not permit, yet the people have now permitted, and Congress has now interevened. Terry Schavio's case is indeed an unfortunately sympton of the illness present in our society, yet who is supposed to take care of that illness? Certainly not the government. Perhaps I have made a mistake. This topic will likely reappear on this blog.

2. ANWR nuts are really just, well, nuts. Barring any and all international implications, it does seem that Congress is determined to assert US rights over the Alaskan domain. How they do it and when they do it is still left to speculation. But I say: it's about time.

3. Kim Jong is like a six year old with a loaded M16. He knows he dangerous, but doesn't know when to quit. Despite all the militants who would love for the US to simply waltz in and take him out too, I think we can quietly wait this one out. Proverbs actually says something along these lines...Something about negotiating with fools?

4. Umbrella of vaccination? While I appluad the elimination of a dangerous illness, I remain a cautious skeptic of vaccinations. Are they as necessary for national health as we think they are? And are they really as safe for the women and young girls who take their injection as we would like to believe? (hmm, perhaps another blog topic up-coming)

5. Amazing the types of things China will report...Rather reminds me of Woodrow Wilson and his mistress. The British Ambassador at the time was said to have remarked: "She was so surprised when he proposed. She fell out of bed." What goes around comes around, eh?

History tests should be multiple choice and no longer than an hour.

Spring break is a beautiful concept.

Save the _last_ dance?

You can dance-every dance with the guy

Who gives you the eye, let him hold you tight

You can smile-every smile for the man

Who held your hand neath the pale moon light

But don't forget who's takin' you home

And in whose arms you're gonna be

So darlin' save the last dance for me

*********

The song is cute, and yet, touches something a bit deeper than just a wink and a nudge.

(Micheal Buble's new CD, "It's Time", is completely awesome, by the way.)


But perhaps, in our society's mind, the last dance is all any man has the right to ask for...

After all, if he's out of sight, he's out of mind; right?

He should understand.

I mean, a girl just can't sit around waiting for Prince Charming to come charging up on the white horse.
There are parties to have fun at, guys to meet, who knows?

Prince Charming may be at the party. You don't know who he is anyway, better to leave no stone unturned, no man untried...you just might miss him altogether.

Wouldn't that be a tragedy? to miss PC because you didn't try?

If Prince Charming just so happens to get the first dance, heavenly miracle! If not, it's all good. He gets the last one anyway.

Is it just me, or does that attitude strike anyone else as incredibly flippant and totally self-reliant?

Ladies, why can we not be content to know that if we seek first Christ, all these things will be added to us? Why must we be "on the hunt"?

Even when some guy does approach you first, don't compromise because you don't know if he's the one or not. God will not give you someone that you'll have to compromise to keep.

If your priorities are right and consistent, you'll have the entire party to save for the one who takes you home.

Just some thoughts...

Tempus fugit et nos fugimus in illus.

There is nothing more intensely stirring to the senses than the aura of candlelight offset by the glow of the computer screen in front of me.

It's easy to contemplate things like life, eternity, values, and time because there doesn't seem to be another living soul in the world to bring me back to reality.

I think one of my greatest fears has been that I will somehow mess up God's plan for my life. I know that God has His best for me, but somehow, I've always had this idea that its realization is contingent upon me "being good". Like a child before Christmas, I had the idea that if I wasn't good, I wouldn't get presents. Over a passage of time, I'd get tired of being good; I just knew that I'd mess up something irrevocably.

Yet "we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

But here's something better.

No matter how much I may change over time, God will not.
God is not limited, or constrained by time. Why? He created it. Time did not exist before the earth was created. The evening and the morning were the first day.

So let's put this all in context, shall we?

If time is a measurement of change and God never changes, then that which God has set in eternity cannot be undone through the process of time.

Hence, what God has foreordained will happen regardless of trivial circumstance.

I don't have to worry about messing up irrevocably, about time passing me by, or about the possibility of missing His best.

God is always on time.



On a lighter note, I wonder if we'll have to use past, present, and future verbs in heaven?

A note to those who would be wise...

Late hours and early mornings never mix well.

Not even in a blender.

That was free. I'll be charging nex time.

The purpose of the llama

The amount of ridiculous and crazy creations going around over the internet is paradoxically both appalling and hilarious.

While I am aware that there is definitely that which is completely inappropriate floating around out there, I have so far, and with much thankfulness, only seen the more inane segments of these creations. The Llama song must be a classic example of this category.

When all is said and done, the reactions to that ditty range from absolute disgust at the complete irrationality of the work, to total amusement at the lack of human reasoning found within the song.

I rather fall on both sides of the fence. I appreciate random and goofy humor occasionally and found this one to definitely fall in that category. Because I have mid-terms coming up shortly, it has found a home in my favorites page.

On the other hand, it's rather saddening to see the amount of time, effort, and energy spent on the Llama song go in to something that is not only completely pointless, but because of its lack of point, it has no real value or impact on the life of the watcher/listener. (Other than, of course, the two minutes spent laughing as the song plays.)

To me, when someone has the ability to actually throw something like that together, it shows a complete waste. This person has amazing capability with the little machine we call a computer, and yet, he uses it on something like the Llama song.

While it is certainly randomly hilarious, there's no point to it other than a laugh or two.

The world will move on with, or without it.

render unto Caesar

Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you that you are not a real adult until the government recognizes your presence.

And the most formal way for the government to recognize your presence, comes in the shape of a 1040EZ form.

I also submit to you that the title: "1040EZ" is an inside joke amongst the IRAers.

Yessireebob. I can just see them at their hand-carved mahogany desks chuckling everytime they receive a 1040EZ...

-Hehehe, hey Richard! It's another one! The suckers sent in another one!

-::chortling:: Yeah Lawrence, they read the title and think it's so ::supressed chuckle:: EASY! HAHAHAHA!

-Right. All ::snigger:: one thousand and forty questions!

::both burst into uncontrollable laughter::

Uhm, happy taxes...