keeping the right perspective on $$

I read this article today and I was reminded of the value of keeping the right perspective on the link between money and our responsibility to the Lord. It is all His, I am merely a steward not an owner. If I can continually view my possessions as His, then it will be easy to give them up when He asks, and trust Him, for He is much more creative than I am at providing for His children's needs. :)

Spending God's Money
by Heather Koerner

I certainly didn't wake up on that Sunday about five weeks ago expecting God to teach me a major life lesson. Expect to learn? Yes. To worship? Of course. To get a serious attitude adjustment? Decidedly not.

It had started off just like most Sunday mornings. After the opening worship songs, I had scurried from the choir loft into our family's usual pew. Bible out, pen clicked, ready to go. Today's text was Acts 2, our pastor informed us. My brain whirred. I know that passage. Acts 2.... Got it. Pentecost. Holy Spirit. Tongues of fire.

"Verses 42 to 47," he continued. Okay, wait, that's definitely after the tongues of fire. I skimmed down the chapter and read it with him. "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer," he read. Oh yeah, I thought. The early church passage. He continued on....

"Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need...." The pastor continued on, but I didn't. I was transfixed. Like it was marked with a holy highlighter, that one particular verse — which I must have heard a hundred times in my church career — was screaming out at me:

"All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need."

I kept reading it over and over. And then, I swear this happened though I'm not proud of it, a smirk crept across my face and I gave a discreet little laugh. "They had everything in common?" I thought. "Well, that's nice for them, but that would never work nowadays. I can't see Christian communal living working — even here in the Bible Belt."

"And selling their possessions and goods to give to anyone as he has need?" I continued. "Wow! That's awesome, but if the church can't even get a handle on tithing, I doubt that most people would actually sell their stuff." Another discreet little laugh.

That's when the Holy Spirit stepped in. It must have taken tremendous patience for Him not to want to just pop that smirk right off my face. But, as ever, He was patient. The conversation was not exactly chronological, but here's the gist:

You know, Heather, that group's use of their money is just as precious to me as their commitment to the apostles' teaching and to prayer.

Ouch, busted! I sat up a little straighter and tried to fly right. "Yes, Lord. Absolutely. I'm sorry about that." I managed, rather weakly. "I certainly didn't mean that it couldn't happen. Just that I don't see much of it around me."

And what about you?

"About me, Lord?"

That's what I said.

"Oh ... well ... um. You know I'll give whatever you want me to, Lord. If you really wanted me to sell my possessions, well...."

And that's when it hit me. One can tithe. And one can give offerings. But one can still be — or rather ... I can still be clinging to my possessions as if they are really my own. I know what being a steward is. But, sitting there, I realized I had restricted myself to a narrow practice of the concept — that, as a steward, I should be "wise" with my money. You know, not spend it foolishly. Spend it where God wants. All my life I've heard the saying, "God doesn't just own 10 percent of your finances, He owns it all." I knew that. But did I practice it? Would a steward even flinch if the landowner told him to sell a field? I doubt it. It's not the steward's field, why should he care? He'd just go do it. Yet, here I was, flinching just at the idea of having to sell something of value to me.

In the past, I've given out of my excess. "Sorry, God, but the bills are really piling up this month — I only have this amount left over to give to you." I understood the responsibility to give, but didn't really understand that it was the Lord who had control over my finances, not me.

Later, I gave without regard to excess. "Here, God. You're first. No matter what else happens this month, you will not be the one shortchanged." I started to understand the privilege to give and also that getting my financial priorities straight was a major prerequisite for spiritual maturity.

Now, I'm starting to see the person that God wants — and is teaching me — to be. The person He can trust to obey. To do my duty in giving, yes. But to be willing to do so much more. To sell the field, if He commands it, without batting an eye. Have I ever actually sacrificed something that I had? Had to give up something that I enjoyed or — shall I say it — treasured? My clothing? My furniture? My car? Not simply putting off a purchase or choosing not to purchase, but giving up something that I already had?

The answer was no.

"Lord, is there something you want me to sell?" I asked quietly.

You already have, came the answer, just as quietly.

I knew immediately what He meant. I had just sold my daughter's entire wardrobe, infant to size 5, in a consignment sale and sold what was left in a garage sale. The proceeds were still sitting on my kitchen counter, ready to be taken to the bank. I had meant to use the money to replace my 10-year-old, very beat up kitchen table. So I took a deep breath. My God is a faithful God. He has given me what I could never repay. Even in this lesson, He was asking for so little. "You've got it, God."

Later, over Sunday lunch, I broke the news to my husband. "Honey, I think we're supposed to give the money from the sales to the Lord." We met eyes for a second. "Yeah, okay," he said and took another bite of potato chips. "I mean all of it," I said, not sure he had heard me right. "I think God's trying to teach me something." He gave me a little smirk. "Got it, hon. That's fine." Well, I breathed a sigh of relief, that was easy. Thanks, God.

The next Sunday, we had the check ready. "Here we go, God." My toes were tapping a little. I understood in an even deeper way the real joy there is in giving and feeling a part of God's plan. That's when the pastor made an announcement: "By the way, we will be collecting a special offering tonight for our Benevolence Fund — which gives to those in our community who have need."

My husband and I just looked at each other and smiled. Don't you just love it when God ends a lesson with an exclamation point? I don't know who is going to get that money. But God does. And they will get it, not because I am faithful, but because He is. Had I refused God's request, He would have provided through other means. Only I would have been the loser.

I'm sure this won't be my last lesson from Acts 2. But my husband and I both agree that this one has taught us a lot. As anal financial planners (yes, we do have our entire wedded life's finances on Quicken), it can be hard to let go of control and just, as my husband put it, "give that money away." But we know we can't serve both God and money, so, boy oh boy, we know which one we choose. And who knows? This holiday season, maybe you should keep your ears and your heart open. I wouldn't be surprised if God pulled an Acts 2 on you too.

A Day of Thanksgiving and Praise

Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

What's the point?

So my friend and I were walking around UCF today noticing all the so-called art pieces...not intentionally trying to find them, more like stumbling upon these...creative...things...and we both decided there is ABSOLUTELY no point in trying to understand why they exist. We stood, sat and endured the "brutal frigid temperatures" of Florida trying to come up with some sort of logical explanation for these objects to be so strategically placed around campus.

Some had signs, which we read, that told us absolutely nothing. He and I honestly tried to give the artist the benefit of the doubt and came up with some pretty moving and deeply touching insights, the pieces spoke to us...

... ok so I lied, we definitely didn't try that hard, most of the time we pondered for about 2.5 seconds and moved on...unless of course there was a sign attached and stayed for 5 seconds. Although we did learn that one of the pieces was loaned to UCF...which makes it all the more fantastic that someone decided it was worth having and thus borrowed it from someone else. Why?

Really, there's no reason for the artist to have spent so many hours on these things because, yeah maybe it helped them express themselves, but don't you actually want others to understand what you're expressing? Unless, of course, the point ALL the artists, who created the UCF pieces, was to impart confusion. Because, if indeed, that was their goal...well...congratulations, you all succeeded!

Christmas = loveeee && lifeeee

My lovely sister has just informed me that there are 10 Sundays until Christmas! Isn't that crazy?! Seriously.


*Title provided is in the language of high school MySpace-ing. So if you don't understand, it's ok. Ask a high schooler who has a MySpace and I guarantee they will be able to translate it for you. :)

"...there's a somebody I'm longing to see; I hope that he, turns out to be; someone who'll watch over me..."

My "Adore List" is back! :) And since it has been five months since I last touched it, here's a recap, each one is linked back to the original post, so the list can truly be appreciated:

1. Apples & Peanut Butter
2. Bumble bees
3. Scrabble

and...number 4 is... Jazz /Swing music!


Nothing puts a smile on my face like a good croon song. Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Michael Buble, Harry Connick Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Julie London, Norah Jones...are some of the voices I love who set the jazz/swing music mood. They lift my spirits when I am gloomy or sad, relax my nerves after a long day or moment of frustration and cause a smile to grace my face. If I'm upset, the mellow tones of Norah's Jazz piano de-stress my mind. And like sunshine on a cloudy day, the unrequited lover's cry of Frankie, Nat, Ella, Julie, Michael and Harry break through my gloom.

I was in Starbucks a few months ago trying to write a paper when it happened. Frankie's voice sang through the store. I stopped, there was no way I could ignore him and write when he was singing to me. So like a dork, I sat there smiling and swaying to the lovely music until the song ended and reality hit me that I probably should get back to that paper... it was one of the best random study breaks I've experienced. :)

I can't help but dance, when I hear the sassy Swing. The loud brass, crazy lyrics and snappy beat draw me in. I love the crystal clear way the voices sound and the syncopated rhythm. My college freshman year I took a few swing dancing lessons. Man that was fun! Friday a group of us would go and learn a few steps, then later that night dance. There were some good dancers...especially when our instructors started the Lindy! But sadly, I stopped dancing after that semester...and now don't really have anyone to dance with...maybe someday I'll get back into it.

Another bonus of swing/jazz music I adore reveals itself around the end of the year. Magic happens when you take any of these musicians and add the Christmas season. The harmony of sound and holiday spirit create the perfect combination, to make my day, utterly and wonderfully splendid. :)

Sad reality of our culture

In its Fall 2006 issue, Ms. features a cover story titled "We Had Abortions," accompanied by the names of more than 1,000 women who signed a petition making that declaration. The move comes in response to a highly publicized measure on the South Dakota ballot that would ban virtually all abortions in the state and for what the women's magazine considers to be curtailed abortion rights in a number of states. The signatories include the magazine's founder, Gloria Steinem, and actresses Kathy Najimy and Amy Brenneman. Ms. says it will send the full petition, with more than 5,000 signatures, to Congress, the White House and state legislators. [msmagazine.com, 10/3/06]


What's wrong with this picture? Whatever happened to valuing children and life? This is just disturbing.

Time for Change

It was time for a 'new look' so here's to:

• brown -- for Autumn
• 'parchment look' -- conducive for writing
  
• overall feel -- just reminds me of books...which I love! (<--maybe a good post idea for my list of Things I Adore!)
  
• new links -- check out the music artists I've discovered and enjoyed as of late, they're pretty good! :)
  

Late night musing...

*Reminder to self: Don't ever go on the Facebook if you miss your friends ... it only gets worse, especially at night when the house is quiet and you don't have a roommate anymore.

Happy Autumn!

A list of what I did to begin my celebration of the fall season:

• Made and iced sugar cookies in the shapes of pumpkins & turkeys
• Lit my apple-cider scented candle
• Hung a pumpkin-spice scented car freshener in my Toyota
• Changed my desktop picture to autumn leaves
• Listened to the song, "Autumn Leaves," by Nat King Cole :D
• Changed my phone background to thanksgiving decorations :)
• Brought in my harvest/scarecrow man to work and surrounded him with fake colored leaves
• Sent my brother a fall package, complete with those homemade cookies; and a plump, stuffed, smiling pumpkin for him to place on his desk!

"... and remember, God thinks you're special, and He loves you very much!"

So now VeggieTales is dangerous? Whatever! These networks can show steamy sex scenes, curse, clothe people in skimpy tops or produce violent scenes in their sitcoms/tv series, but VeggieTales cannot talk about God because it's dangerous for children. A singing and dancing cucumber and a story-telling tomato who encourage children to honor their parents, think twice about lying, love one another and are reminded of how much God loves them is somehow wrong?!? When did society STOP valuing our children? When did society decide teaching them values and respect for themselves and others was somehow bad? Then people wonder why children are more violent, angry, depressed and confused. Why so many are aimless and discourged or even just apathetic. When you strip society of values and morality this is what you produce, an entire generation of lost people. You think no moral code is freedom? You think tolerance of everything but Christian values is good and right? Then don't be surprised by the actions, behaviors and choices young people make today.

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"NBC has begun airing VeggieTales as part of its Saturday morning cartoon lineup. But Phil Vischer, co-creator of the video series that has sold more than 50 million copies since debuting in 1993, wrote on his Web site that he never would have agreed to syndicate the show if he'd known that the network was determined to cut out all of the show's biblical references. 'I'm not at all happy with the edits,' he says. 'I didn't know I'd need to make them when I agreed to produce the show, and I considered dropping out when I found out just how much would need to be removed. ... When the first edit notes came back, I thought, This is going to be difficult, because the stories [are] going to fall apart. This has implications for VeggieTales which would have been nice to talk about in the beginning.' [latimes.com, 9/23/06; nytimes.com, 9/23/06]"

--Plugged In online

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"'NBC is the network that hired a squad of lawyers to argue dropping the f-bomb on the Golden Globe Awards isn't indecent for children, but invoking God is wholly unacceptable. Or, as one e-mailing friend marveled: 'So saying [expletive] you is protected First Amendment speech on NBC, but not 'God bless you.' ... This is one of those moments where you understand networks like NBC are only talking empty talk and walking an empty walk when it comes to the First Amendment, and 'creative integrity,' and so on. They have told parents concerned about smutty programs like Will & Grace that if they're offended, they have a remote control as an option. ... But when it comes to religious programming—that doesn't even mention Jesus Christ—just watch the hypocrisy. Instead of telling viewers to just change the channel if they don't like it, or put in a V-chip for Bible verses, they demand to producers that all outdated old-time religion be shredded before broadcast. It's truly sad this anti-religious hypocrisy would emerge. Today, no one in network TV fears what the children are watching—unless it makes them think about God.' —Brent Bozell, president of Parents Television Council and the Media Research Center, after the news broke about NBC editing VeggieTales [washingtontimes.com, 9/13/06]"

--Plugged In online

My Career Goal: Being a Mom

I chuckled after reading this article because many of the situations the author found herself in, I too have experienced. My multicultural film class was supposed to be one of those easy ones that boosts your GPA ... well it was for me, but most of my classmates did not take it seriously and never came to class so received poor grades. Well, my professor admired my work ethic, I guess, and told me one day I was his best student in that class (not that it was hard to do!)

Anyways, one day towards the end of a class discussion on families, husband/wife roles ... etc., my professor proceeded to ask the women, "How many of you want to be stay-at-home moms?" I was the only one who proudly raised my hand. While everyone was filing out, he came over to me and said, "If you want to be a stay-at-home mom, why are you in college?" Not offended by this remark, I merely smiled and said I enjoyed learning and knew I would need a job after I graduate and if I do get married, and my husband dies, or is injured, I would need my education to help my family. He was shocked, and never truly accepted my answers, he was stunned that someone like me (i.e. top student) would choose to be a mom who invested in the lives of her children instead of hauling them off to daycare and missing out on those important moments in their lives for the stress of a career ... I mean, the wonderful opportunities of a demanding career. ;) Anyways, the article was fun to read and affirmed my choice.

I Want to Be a Mom

by Bethany Patchin

"How many of you want to be at-home moms?"

The question, from my tenth grade English teacher, was directed at the females in the room. We made up over half of the class of 25 sophomores. I proudly raised my hand, then waited for at least a few others to join me. The room was completely still. Everyone stared at me.

Four years later not much has changed. Marriage is closer than ever for my peers, yet only a few of the young women I come into contact with admit they would postpone a career for children. Those who do confide in me only after I’ve told them of my own feelings. They seem relieved to find a contemporary who doesn’t mock their desire.

When I finally got the nerve up to tell my adviser that I want to get married and be a mom after I graduate, I watched his expression go from surprise, to dismay, to disapproval. "I wouldn’t have expected you to be that type," he said, shaking his head and looking at me with great disappointment. "You just seem so — involved."

He paused, then asked in a hushed, sad voice, "Is it pressure from your boyfriend?"

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it — his tone was the same as if he had asked me if my boyfriend was abusive.

"No," I informed him, "I don’t have a boyfriend." Despite my desire to get married, I’m not at college to hunt down a husband. Marriage and raising a family will not be the epitome of my existence — I enjoy looking forward to them, but I’m not living in the future.

I do hope to someday serve as a wife and mother, and when God determines it is time for me to take on those roles, I will so do with a willing heart.

"Just" A Mom

Most people wonder why I am bothering to get a degree if all I want is to be a wife and mom. That question irks me.

I love to learn and want to have a wealth of knowledge to impart to my children. Why shouldn’t a housewife be educated? I want to equip myself and hone my skills to the point of craft.

My mother earned her degree in elementary education 20 years ago, and promptly became a housemom after graduating. Since then my brother, sisters and I have been her highest priority, but during the tight times she helped out by using her degree for substitute teaching. Though we didn’t like having her gone, she was able to carry some of the burden my father carried. I want to be able to do this for my own husband if the need ever arises.

I am at college because I realize there are seasons to life, and mothering will only be my summer. My mom, now 40, is the co-owner of my dad’s window dealership. In the last five years, as my siblings and I have grown up and her mothering duties have lightened, she has become intricately involved in every aspect of the company, though very few people are aware of it. Depending on God’s plan for me, I could be done rearing my children in 20 years like her. By age 30 I might even have enough time to do part-time illustration and writing during the day. I am thankful that technology has opened up even more avenues than my mother had available to her to accommodate home-based work.

"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that try to build it." If God gives you children, rear them with your whole mind, soul and strength. If He has given you the talents to be an engineer, the same thing applies. But I am dubious that He would ever ask us to be fully both at one time. There seems to be a perception among women my age that we will have enough time and energy to do and be everything — full-time wife, mother and career woman all rolled into one. I agree that God wants us to use and enjoy the talents He’s given us, but He never promised us inexhaustible resources. He created us with limitations and only placed 24 hours in a day. We cannot expect to juggle all the hats and be the best we can be at all of them. The reality is that if I choose to be full-time in a career, my husband and kids will only have me part time.

Danielle Crittenden makes an excellent observation in What Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us — that quality time with kids can’t be scheduled into a day. Children want a mother’s presence, the knowledge that she will be there when they have a question or a story to tell — but quite often they simply want her to do her own work while they color and play with pals. And those memorable times — their first steps and words, their profound utterances of child wisdom, the moments of belly laughing together — happen at the most unexpected times during day-in, day-out living. The chances are much higher that a mother will miss out on them if she is working outside the home.

Money Can’t Buy Me Love

I can guess what most people think when they find out about my lack of career aspirations. They picture me in 10 years: dressed in sweats doing laundry for my four kids; my degree collecting dust somewhere on a bookshelf; living in a one-income-sized home; driving a used minivan.

They imagine my peers, however, utilizing their education to the fullest. They will maintain a measure of independence unfettered by familial life, thanks to daycare, public schools and extracurricular activities. They will naturally be rewarded with great financial and material gain — but at what cost to their spouses and children?

The Christian life is about sacrifices, giving up certain things for the sake of greater long—term benefits. I know there could be times of financial strain in my marriage. I know I might encounter tension with the majority of my married female peers because of my choice to stay at home. I know I will have to give up a lot of personal time — there will be nights that I am itching to read a big fat novel in one sitting instead of reciting Hop on Pop for the fiftieth time to the kids. I’m not saying that I’m going to derive pleasure from changing diapers and cleaning up burpy blankets. But its only by sacrifice that we understand what true love, commitment and maturity really mean. Jesus was the embodiment of this. Being a husband and father, or wife and mother, forces you to look outside yourself to the needs of others. As soon as I become a mother my children will become my career. What better way to utilize my time and talents?

I want my children to know that they are as important to me as a career. Because of the choices my mom made when she was little older than I, my three younger siblings are reaping the benefits of having a full-time mom, one who is available for conversation, hugs and laughs (and a healthy amount of arguments about chores) any time of day.

I want to give that gift to my own children. If it means I drive a beater car and shop at thrift stores for the rest of my life, so be it. Children don't know the difference between Goodwill and GAP. I certainly didn't. And if I have daughters, I will raise them with the knowledge that they have full abilities to be and do all that God wants, in their wholeness in Christ, in their education — and in the roles that may come with being a woman.

Worthwhile Wrinkles

There will always be women who scoff at me, who are disappointed because they think I let down our gender. There will always be the professors who sigh because I am not living up to their idea of potential. But I know what makes me happy and I’m slowly learning not to feel guilty about sharing it with people. I look forward to giving up my independence. The word dependency has come to carry negative connotations: "an unhealthy need for a person or substance, an addiction." But I see it as a positive reliance on others for companionship and love.

Mothering is a career choice that is rarely respected. We should recognize and affirm women who opt to invest time in their children. The Bible is clear that sons and daughters are among the greatest blessings we will ever receive.

A friend of mine once said his greatest desire is to create something beautiful and lasting. That stuck with me. I want to create a beautiful and lasting marriage with a man, and with that man I want to bear and rear children, which are the most exquisite and eternal creations we humans can take part in fashioning. Architects design buildings that will someday fall, programmers construct computer software that will eventually be obsolete — but fathers and mothers cultivate souls that will never die. How wonderful to experience just an inkling of what God feels as our Father.

When I am old and I look at my wrinkled hands, I want to know that the creases came from — among many things — years of playing music, reading books, drawing pictures and writing stories. But my greatest hope is that those lines will remind me most of hours spent washing my babies’ and grandbabies’ tummies, tucking them into bed and teaching them what I have learned.

"... a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised"

I read this article and loved the message...thought I would share a few snippets from it! :)

Whom Do You Fear?

by Carolyn McCulley

Seeking approval from everyone in our orbit is akin to the nauseating dizziness a dancer experiences when she does not keep her eyes on one object as she twirls. Just as dancers are taught to spot, Christians are also taught by God's Word to spot. The Bible tells us that we are to keep our eyes on the Lord and seek His approval only.

Being conscious of God's approval or His displeasure is what the Bible calls "fear of the Lord." It means to be in awe of, or to respect, more than merely to be afraid. Conversely, what we now call peer pressure, people-pleasing, or co-dependency is what the Bible calls "fear of man." In a nutshell, the fear of man can either be a fear of what others think of us or will do to us, or a craving for approval and a fear of rejection.

Biblical counselor and author Ed Welch has labeled these "shame-fear" and "rejection-fear." What is it that shame-fear and rejection-fear have in common? To use a biblical image, they both indicate that people are our favorite idol. We exalt them and their perceived power above God. We worship them as ones who have God-like exposing gazes (shame-fear) or God-like ability to "fill" us with esteem, love, admiration, acceptance, respect, and other psychological desires (rejection-fear).... Like all idols, people are created things, not the Creator (Rom. 1:25), and they do not deserve our worship. They are worshipped because we perceive that they have power to give us something. We think they can bless us.

Proverbs 29:25 succinctly states the consequences: "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe." The most serious consequence of fear of man is when we want to shove God in the closet because we're ashamed of Him of fearful of what others may say: "Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God" (John 12:42-43).

One verse that is often quoted to women is in the closing commendation of Proverbs 31: "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised" (Pr. 31:30). As it most often gets quoted in the context of messages on beauty or modesty, I think most of us can mentally emphasize the first part of the verse and neglect to ponder the second part — "yeah, yeah, outer beauty fades, Christian women are supposed to have inner beauty, blah, blah, blah." But how often are we aware of the snare of the fear of man that trips us up in cultivating the fear of the Lord?

It's not accidental that Scripture pits the lure of physical beauty and all the praise it can elicit against the fear of the Lord. Physical attraction gets a lot of attention and praise — from other human beings. But that's not what our Creator praises us for. He will not praise us for the superficial, but for the eternal — our qualities and virtues that, by His grace, reflect our growth through His redemptive efforts.

To be praiseworthy women, I think we have to be able to clearly identify the manifestations of the fear of man. Here's what that snare can look like for women:

• Do you change your normal behavior when you are around men you are attracted to?
• Are you defensive when criticized, no matter how little or great the criticism?
• Are you easily embarrassed? Do you find it hard to laugh at yourself?
• Are you jealous of other people, their possessions, or their relationships?
• Do you avoid some people?
• Do you consistently second-guess your decisions?
• Are you afraid of airing your true opinion about a decision?
• Do you embellish certain stories or exaggerate the truth to make you look a little better than reality?

These behaviors are guaranteed to make us dizzy and nauseated. We are looking into the eyes of everyone around us for approval, rather than steadfastly seeking the eyes of our Lord in the twists, turns, and spins of our lives.

But we don't have to be slaves to the opinions of other, fallen creatures. We can be set free by seeking the approval and praise of God. This is what defines a godly woman: "Do not let your adorning be external — the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing — but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious" (1 Peter 3:3-4).

The point is, a gentle and quiet spirit is one who trusts in the Lord. That trust can be expressed through a wide range of temperaments, from quiet to boisterous. Like a dancer, it is not so much how the moves are made but where we are looking that expresses true fear of the Lord. The benefit is that we are released from being slaves to the opinions of others so that we can love them without strings attached.

As Ed Welch writes:

The most radical treatment for the fear of man is the fear of the Lord. God must be bigger to you than people are.... Regarding other people, our problem is that we need them (for ourselves) more than we love them (for the glory of God). The task God sets for us is to need them less and love them more.

A woman who loves for the glory of a very big God is truly worthy of praise.

One Third of Our Generation...Missing.

Sad to think that 1/3 of our generation is gone because of women's supposed right to choose. It's true when you think that it could have been any one of us killed if our mothers had decided we were unwanted, wrong gender or an inconvenience. How many of those kids could have been the one to help cure cancer, be the first to walk on Mars, or become the next Shakespeare, George Lucas, John Williams or Michael Jordan...or maybe just be the person who smiles at you in the grocery store brightening your day. But they never had a chance to even dream before their life was snatched away...is this reality really worth having the "right to choose"?

The King of All Fundraisers

Wash for Life

September 7, 2006

Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.

"Generation Pro-life": That's what twenty-somethings are called today. They are the first generation to grow up under Roe v. Wade—and the first to say, by a large majority, that abortion is the wrong choice.

This month they're backing up their beliefs with plenty of elbow grease. They are holding the king of all fundraisers in order to give women a real choice when they're facing an unexpected pregnancy.

The idea for the fundraiser came to a student at Thomas Aquinas College last winter. Jon Tonkowich, who is the son of a former colleague of mine, says he had just returned from helping supervise a high school ski trip. He was musing about how to get kids more involved in pro-life activities. As he told "BreakPoint," "All the statistics we've seen say this generation is pro-life. It's great if the surveys say it, but we wanted to prove it."

Jon also knew about the yeoman's work crisis pregnancy centers do in helping women find alternatives to unwanted abortions. And then the light bulb went off. As Jon explained, "When I was in high school and we wanted to raise money for something, we had carwashes." Why not, he thought, hold a huge, nationwide carwash to benefit hundreds of crisis pregnancy centers?

Jon's friends thought it was a great idea. They created a website called Washforlife.org and began targeting youth groups, Christian schools, radio shows, blogs, and newsletters. They tracked down celebrity car washers willing to get hot and dirty on behalf of mothers and their babies. By Labor Day, 140 groups in thirty-five states had agreed to "wash for life."

Jon and his friends hope to raise one million dollars, with each Wash for Life group deciding which crisis pregnancy center will receive their proceeds. Organizers hope to create permanent links between youth and the centers they help. They want teens to become more familiar with why women seek out abortions and what they can do to help them make the choice their boyfriends, parents, and the abortion industry often tell them is impossible: life for their unborn baby.

Wash for Life has another goal, as well, Jon says: to put the politicians, the media, and the nation on notice "that our generation respects life and wants to build a compassionate culture of life." What a terrific message to send.

You know, we really should not be surprised that today's youth hate abortion. They grew up knowing that one-third of their generation was missing: tens of millions of brothers and sisters, classmates and soccer team members—all dead on the altar of "choice." They grew up knowing that they themselves might not have survived if their mothers' circumstances had been a little different.

I hope you will consider holding a car wash for life or donating a location for one in your own town. The date for this event is Saturday, September 16.

And if you have a dirty car, you know where you ought to be on September 16: at a Wash for Life, helping our kids turn back the culture of death, one abortion at a time.

"Redefine Your Tea Experience" -Mighty Leaf TeaCompany

*I didn't realize until after I finished writing this post how interactive it is!! How fun! :) Be sure and 'play' as you read. Click the links, they enhance the post reading experience!*

Mmmm...what a lovely cup of tea Mighty Leaf creates. More than once this miraculous tea as brought me out of a study stupor, writer's block and gloomy mood (like today). Amazingly enough, I do not normally drink tea or even like tea...unless its Starbucks Tazo Chai tea Latte or Passion iced tea with half the sugar...but man, when I discovered Mighty Leaf...tea became a dream come true!

How did I find it? Well good ol' Pancheros!! Yes, that wonderful establishment at Florida State served me well. I raise my teacup to them for choosing such a splendid tea company. :)

Well...on to describing the experience of the Mighty Leaf...the colorful aroma swirls around your nose when the tea bag is first brought out and placed into the mug. The steaming liquid pours over the whole leaves and spices infusing the water. Personally, I keep my bag in the mug for as long as I drink the tea...to me, the bag is part of the whole experience. I must pause and say these tea bags are quite unique. How awesome is it that they are fabric-like!

Anyways...next comes the tasting (after waiting a few minutes for the water to drop from a scalding temperature). This part is unique to every cup. Today I tried adding hazelnut coffee creamer into my tea--WOW--my taste buds were partying like crazy! Another time I used 2% and it was just as good...especially with my favorite flavored black tea...Orange Dulce.

---Orange Dulce: a luscious, rich brew teeming with notes of bergamot, orange, vanilla and jasmine blossoms. Made with Ceylon and China black teas, Orange Dulce brews up a fragrant and full bodied dark tea...the flavor is sure to please--- (directly from their website)

Sadly, I haven't found anywhere else that serves this tea besides Florida State and Duke University...so I will resort to online ordering until an establishment discovers what a treasure trove awaits in the Mighty Leaf.

p.s. I raise my teacup to Kyle, who kindly ordered Orange Dulce for me to enjoy while I work. Today's happiness is in part due to him!! :) Such a lovely friend!

How I’ve missed my friends

Uncovered post from July...

July 25, 2006
2:48pm

I have discovered how deeply I treasure literature and hold it close to my heart. After listening to excerpts from Beowulf, Emily Dickinson, Geoffrey Chaucer, Jane Austen, John Keats, Walt Whitman, William Blake, William Wordsworth in Encarta (it was semi-work related!)...

...and remembering reading prose by Charlotte Bronte; Jonathan Swift; Henry David Thoreau; Nathaniel Hawthorne; and poems by Lord Byron, Robert Frost, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight…

I realized how much I miss these literature companions! They have been with me all through my schooling, especially college, and it feels as though I have tossed them aside without a thank-you or proper ‘goodbye.’

However, I do not want to push them aside or let their memory die in my little world. I want to keep their beautiful work alive and readily accessible whenever the need arises for a good dose of literature. So I’ve decided to find quotes by some of my favorites and place them in my cubie or in my home as my ‘Heroes of Literature.’ Men and women whose prose and poetry fueled my love for the written word, aided my writing, and challenged my imagination.

Update on my cake-making

So today I made a Pirate Ship cake...very interesting to make. It actually takes a full sheet of cake to build it correctly!! I would never have guessed...but that's really not surprising considering my spacial skills are not the best. Also hidden under all that icing are three wedding cake posts which are cut to size to stabilize the raised part of the ship deck. :) Yay for learning new things even in the last month of work for Publix.

Almost happened on the 11th...

London Police Disrupt Terrorist Plot to Blow Up Aircraft in Mid-Flight

Thursday , August 10, 2006

LONDON — Authorities in Britain disrupted a "serious" terrorist plan to blow up as many as six airplanes simultaneously in mid-flight on their way from Britain to the United States, FOX News learned Thursday.

The "loss of life to innocent civilians would have been on unprecedented scale” had the plan been carried out, Britain's Home Secretary John Reid said.

The plot would have seen terrorists smuggling liquid explosives — that could be missed by x-rays during screening — onto planes via carry-on luggage, security sources told Sky News.

Click here to read the Sky News story.

British officials quickly banned hand luggage on all trans-Atlantic flights and raised security to the country's highest level — suggesting a terrorist attack could be imminent.

But a top Scotland Yard official was confident the plot had been foiled, confirming 21 suspects were in custody.

"We think this was an extraordinarily serious plot and we are confident that we've prevented an attempt to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale," said Scotland Yard Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson.

In response to the disrupted plot, U.S. security officials raised the terror threat level on incoming flights from the U.K. to severe, or red, the highest ever issued since alert system was developed after Sept. 11, 2001. Passengers were also banned from bringing liquids onto flights. (Full story)

Reid said the police were confident the "main players" were among the 21 arrested.

Officials on the condition of anonymity said there could be up to 50 people involved in the plot.

However, Stephenson, nor Reid, commented on that.

"We have been very successful in arresting those we were targeting but this is a lengthy operation, and no doubt there will be further developments," Stephenson said.

Those arrested were mainly young, British-born Asian men, Sky News reported.

The terrorists were targeting United, American, Continental airlines, two U.S. counterterrorism officials say. But anonymous sources later told FOX News that British airlines were also being targeted.

The extreme measures at a major international aviation hub sent ripple effects throughout the world. Heathrow was closed to most flights from Europe, and British Airways canceled all its flights Thursday between the airport and points in Britain, Europe and Libya. (Full story)

A U.S. intelligence official said the plotters had hoped to target flights to major airports in New York, Washington and California, all major summer tourist destinations.

One British police spokesman said the attacks were planned to happen at the same time.

"These were (to be) simultaneous attacks on multiple targets, targeting aircraft bound for the United States," the spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with force policy.

The country's police anti-terrorist chief, Peter Clarke, said the investigation — which reportedly culminated over several months — reached a critical point Wednesday night, and forces realized urgent action needed to be taken.

“We have been looking at meetings, movements, travel, spending and the aspirations of a large group of people," Clarke said. He said the number, destination and timing of the flights that may have been targeted remained under investigation. "As is so often the case in these investigations, the alleged plot has global dimensions."

Prime Minister Tony Blair, vacationing in the Caribbean, briefed President Bush on the situation overnight, Blair's office said. There was no immediate public reaction from the White House. Bush is spending a few days at his ranch near Crawford, Texas.

It is the first time the red alert level in the Homeland Security warning system has been invoked, although there have been brief periods in the past when the orange level was applied. Homeland Security defines the red alert as designating a "severe risk of terrorist attacks."

"We believe that these arrests (in London) have significantly disrupted the threat, but we cannot be sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely thwarted," said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Chertoff added, however, there was no indication of current plots within the U.S. Numerous flights from U.S. cities to Britain were canceled Thursday morning.

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said authorities believe dozens of people — possibly as many as 50 — were involved in the plot, which "had a footprint to Al Qaeda back to it." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Another U.S. source in Washington told FOX News that the plot had a "serious Al Qaeda connection."

The plan involved airline passengers hiding masked explosives in carry-on luggage, the official said. "They were not yet sitting on an airplane," but were very close to traveling, the official said, calling the plot "the real deal."

Passengers in Britain faced delays as tighter security was hastily enforced at the country's airports and additional measures were put in place for all flights. Laptop computers, mobile phones, iPods, and remote controls were among the items banned from being carried on board.

Liquids, such as hair care products, were also barred on flights in both Britain and the U.S., raising the possibility that authorities were searching for a liquid explosive.

Huge lines formed at ticket counters and behind security barriers at Heathrow and other airports in Britain. Ed Lappen, 55, a businessman from Boston, who was traveling with his wife and daughter to Russia, found himself unable to travel further.

"We're safe, we're OK," he said at Heathrow. "Now my daughter is going to get a shopping trip in London."

Hannah Pillinger, 24, seemed less concerned by the announcement. "Eight hours without an iPod, that's the most inconvenient thing," she said, waiting at the Manchester airport.

Most European carriers canceled flights to Heathrow because of the massive delays created after authorities enforced strict new regulations banning most hand baggage.

Heathrow's block on incoming traffic applied to flights of three hours or less, affecting most of the incoming traffic from Europe, an airport spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with airport policy.

Officials at Frankfurt's airport, Europe's second-busiest, Schiphol in Amsterdam and Charles De Gaulle in Paris said Heathrow-bound planes could instead land at their airports if they needed to.

London's Heathrow airport was the departure point for a devastating terrorist attack on a Pan Am airplane on Dec. 21, 1988. The blast over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed all 259 people aboard Pan Am Flight 103 and 11 people on the ground.

The explosive was hidden in a portable radio which was hidden in checked baggage.

FOX News' Michael De Dora, Jr. and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Interesting Chuck Colson article

The Veto
Should We Cross the Great Moral Divide?

July 20, 2006

Yesterday President Bush vetoed a bill that, had it become law, would have deeply eroded respect for human life. It was a courageous act because there was enormous pressure on him to agree to fund more embryo-destructive research.

After vetoing this bill, the president signed one for funding research into methods of creating pluripotent stem cells—the kind that can be turned into many types of body tissue without creating or killing human embryos.

Not surprisingly, there was an outpouring of vitriol directed not only against the president but also against conservative Christians. A full-page ad in the New York Times, funded by a liberal front group called DefConAmerica, screamed, "The religious right is imposing its will on all Americans. . . . That loud noise you hear is the wall between church and state crumbling."

Wait a minute. Aren't Christians allowed to have a voice in politics like everybody else, or has the First Amendment been repealed?

Other critics claim Bush is anti-science. The bill he vetoed was about funding, not banning research—billions in taxpayer money for something private companies refuse to support. Why? Because the prospects of it leading to any cures are very poor. As President Reagan said when he outlawed stem-cell research: If private companies won't put up their money, why should the taxpayers? Good question.

Another argument we hear is that embryonic stem-cell researchers only want to use so-called "spare" embryos left over from in vitro fertilization. False: Many researchers really want to engage in so-called "therapeutic cloning"—the cloning of huge numbers of embryos in the attempt to find cures for diseases, to which the bill the president vetoed would have opened the door.

Another false claim is that we ought to proceed with this research because everybody else is doing it. That would be news in Canada, Norway, Switzerland, and Australia, where cloning research is illegal. Both Germany and France have embraced the same position President Bush has.

The supporters of embryo-destructive research want to cross a great moral divide. They are seeking not only to destroy human life made in God's image but also to manufacture life made in man's image. Tragically, we are losing this fight, however, because too few people understand the issues.

That's why I recommend an excellent new book called How to Be a Christian in a Brave New World. The authors are bioethicist Nigel Cameron and Joni Eareckson Tada. Nigel and Joni grapple brilliantly with the brave new world of biotech challenges—stem-cell research, cloning, euthanasia, even the reshaping of human nature.

The authors—both good friends of mine—believe that Christians need to be well informed in order to argue the case about these new technologies and what they really mean. This book is going to help Christians sort out the arguments and see through the propaganda.

I hope you'll read this book and share it with your church, and you can find out information about it on our website. The secular world wants us to pipe down; but as Christians and as citizens, we need to speak out when it comes to new technologies that may lead us down the seductive path to a Brave New World and killing humans.

...for the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

One of the things I really 'despise' is the lack of patriotism I see in the eyes of Americans. I don't understand how people can walk around feeling ashamed of this country we live in when so many people of the world wish they could live as lavishly as we do. It's ironic that sometimes I feel more patriotic having lived overseas during my childhood, than some people who have actually grown-up in this country. Why are our great Founding Fathers being diminished to pathetic men? Why are kids being told of the failings of the great men and women who started our country? They stood for something! They fought for their beliefs, fought for our freedom, fought against countries who wanted us to fail. No one believed we would survive over here, but look at how blessed we are now? The Founding Fathers understood God builds and destroys nations, which is why they placed Him at the center of our Nation. If anything else, we should look to these men and women as examples and follow their footsteps instead of trying to apologize for their behavior or poo-poo their moral character. They had a reason to fight for this country, they believed in their cause and when the Star-Spangled Banner was written understood the meaning behind the words. Do we?

Patriots, Then and Now
Peggy Noonan

With nations as with people, love them or lose them.

I had a great experience the other night. I met some of the 114 living recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award. It was at their annual dinner, held, as it has been the past four years, at the New York Stock Exchange.

I met Nick Oresko. Nick is in his 80s, small, 5-foot-5 or so. Soft white hair, pale-pink skin, thick torso, walks with a cane. Just a nice old guy you'd pass on the street or in the airport without really seeing him. Around his neck was a sky-blue ribbon, and hanging from that ribbon the medal. He let me turn it over. It had his name, his rank, and then "1/23/45. Near Tettington, Germany."

Tettington, Germany. The Battle of the Bulge.

When I got home I looked up his citation on my beloved Internet, where you can Google heroism. U.S. Army Master Sgt. Nicholas Oresko of Company C, 302nd Infantry, 94th Infantry Division was a platoon leader in an attack against strong enemy positions:

Deadly automatic fire from the flanks pinned down his unit. Realizing that a machinegun in a nearby bunker must be eliminated, he swiftly worked ahead alone, braving bullets which struck about him, until close enough to throw a grenade into the German position. He rushed the bunker and, with pointblank rifle fire, killed all the hostile occupants who survived the grenade blast. Another machinegun opened up on him, knocking him down and seriously wounding him in the hip. Refusing to withdraw from the battle, he placed himself at the head of his platoon to continue the assault. As withering machinegun and rifle fire swept the area, he struck out alone in advance of his men to a second bunker. With a grenade, he crippled the dug-in machinegun defending this position and then wiped out the troops manning it with his rifle, completing his second self-imposed, 1-man attack. Although weak from loss of blood, he refused to be evacuated until assured the mission was successfully accomplished. Through quick thinking, indomitable courage, and unswerving devotion to the attack in the face of bitter resistance and while wounded, M /Sgt. Oresko killed 12 Germans, prevented a delay in the assault, and made it possible for Company C to obtain its objective with minimum casualties.

Nick Oresko lives in Tenafly, N.J. If courage were a bright light, Tenafly would glow.

I met Pat Brady of Sumner, Wash., an Army helicopter medevac pilot in Vietnam who'd repeatedly risked his life to save men he'd never met. And Sammy Davis, a big bluff blond from Flat Rock, Ill., on whom the writer Winston Groom based the Vietnam experiences of a character named Forrest Gump. Sgt. Davis saved men like Forrest, but he also took out a bunch of bad guys. And yes, he was wounded in the same way as Forrest. That scene in the movie where Lyndon Johnson puts the medal around Tom Hanks's neck: that's from the film of LBJ putting the medal on Sammy's neck, only they superimposed Mr. Hanks.

I talked to James Livingston of Mount Pleasant, S.C., a Marine, a warrior in Vietnam who led in battle in spite of bad wounds and worse odds. I told him I was wondering about something. Most of us try to be brave each day in whatever circumstances, which means most of us show ourselves our courage with time. What is it like, I asked, to find out when you're a young man, and in a way that's irrefutable, that you are brave? What does it do to your life when no one, including you, will ever question whether you have guts?

He shook his head. The medal didn't prove courage, he said. "It's not bravery, it's taking responsibility." Each of the recipients, he said, had taken responsibility for the men and the moment at a tense and demanding time. They'd cared for others. They took care of their men.

Other recipients sounded a refrain that lingered like Taps. They felt they'd been awarded their great honor in part in the name of unknown heroes of the armed forces who'd performed spectacular acts of courage but had died along with all the witnesses who would have told the story of what they did. For each of the holders of the Medal of Honor there had been witnesses, survivors who could testify. For some great heroes of engagements large and small, maybe the greatest heroes, no one lived to tell the tale.

And so they felt they wore their medals in part for the ones known only to God.

In a brief film on the recipients that was played at the dinner, Leo Thorsness, an Air Force veteran of Vietnam, said something that lingered. He was asked what, when he performed his great act, he was sacrificing for. He couldn't answer for a few seconds. You could tell he was searching for the right words, the right sentence. Then he said, "I get emotional about it. But we're a free country." He said it with a kind of wonder, and gratitude.

And of course, he said it all.

What this all got me thinking about, the next day, was . . . immigration. I know that seems a lurch, but there's a part of the debate that isn't sufficiently noted. There are a variety of things driving American anxiety about illegal immigration and we all know them--economic arguments, the danger of porous borders in the age of terrorism, with anyone able to come in.

But there's another thing. And it's not fear about "them." It's anxiety about us.

It's the broad public knowledge, or intuition, in America, that we are not assimilating our immigrants patriotically. And if you don't do that, you'll lose it all.

We used to do it. We loved our country with full-throated love, we had no ambivalence. We had pride and appreciation. We were a free country. We communicated our pride and delight in this in a million ways--in our schools, our movies, our popular songs, our newspapers. It was just there, in the air. Immigrants breathed it in. That's how the last great wave of immigrants, the European wave of 1880-1920, was turned into a great wave of Americans.

We are not assimilating our immigrants patriotically now. We are assimilating them culturally. Within a generation their children speak Valley Girl on cell phones. "So I'm like 'no," and he's all 'yeah,' and I'm like, 'In your dreams.' " Whether their parents are from Trinidad, Bosnia, Lebanon or Chile, their children, once Americans, know the same music, the same references, watch the same shows. And to a degree and in a way it will hold them together. But not forever and not in a crunch.

So far we are assimilating our immigrants economically, too. They come here and work. Good.

But we are not communicating love of country. We are not giving them the great legend of our country. We are losing that great legend.

What is the legend, the myth? That God made this a special place. That they're joining something special. That the streets are paved with more than gold--they're paved with the greatest thoughts man ever had, the greatest decisions he ever made, about how to live. We have free thought, free speech, freedom of worship. Look at the literature of the Republic: the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Federalist papers. Look at the great rich history, the courage and sacrifice, the house-raisings, the stubbornness. The Puritans, the Indians, the City on a Hill.

The genius cluster--Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, Madison, Franklin, all the rest--that came along at the exact same moment to lead us. And then Washington, a great man in the greatest way, not in unearned gifts well used (i.e., a high IQ followed by high attainment) but in character, in moral nature effortfully developed. How did that happen? How did we get so lucky? (I once asked a great historian if he had thoughts on this, and he nodded. He said he had come to believe it was "providential.")

We fought a war to free slaves. We sent millions of white men to battle and destroyed a portion of our nation to free millions of black men. What kind of nation does this? We went to Europe, fought, died and won, and then taxed ourselves to save our enemies with the Marshall Plan. What kind of nation does this? Soviet communism stalked the world and we were the ones who steeled ourselves and taxed ourselves to stop it. Again: What kind of nation does this?

Only a very great one. Maybe the greatest of all.

Do we teach our immigrants that this is what they're joining? That this is the tradition they will now continue, and uphold?

Do we, today, act as if this is such a special place? No, not always, not even often. American exceptionalism is so yesterday. We don't want to be impolite. We don't want to offend. We don't want to seem narrow. In the age of globalism, honest patriotism seems like a faux pas.

And yet what is true of people is probably true of nations: if you don't have a well-grounded respect for yourself, you won't long sustain a well-grounded respect for others.

Because we do not communicate to our immigrants, legal and illegal, that they have joined something special, some of them, understandably, get the impression they've joined not a great enterprise but a big box store. A big box store on the highway where you can get anything cheap. It's a good place. But it has no legends, no meaning, and it imparts no spirit.

Who is at fault? Those of us who let the myth die, or let it change, or refused to let it be told. The politically correct nitwit teaching the seventh-grade history class who decides the impressionable young minds before him need to be informed, as their first serious history lesson, that the Founders were hypocrites, the Bill of Rights nothing new and imperfect in any case, that the Indians were victims of genocide, that Lincoln was a clinically depressed homosexual who compensated for the storms within by creating storms without . . .

You can turn any history into mud. You can turn great men and women into mud too, if you want to.

And it's not just the nitwits, wherever they are, in the schools, the academy, the media, though they're all harmful enough. It's also the people who mean to be honestly and legitimately critical, to provide a new look at the old text. They're not noticing that the old text--the legend, the myth--isn't being taught anymore. Only the commentary is. But if all the commentary is doubting and critical, how will our kids know what to love and revere? How will they know how to balance criticism if they've never heard the positive side of the argument?

Those who teach, and who think for a living about American history, need to be told: Keep the text, teach the text, and only then, if you must, deconstruct the text.

When you don't love something you lose it. If we do not teach new Americans to love their country, and not for braying or nationalistic reasons but for reasons of honest and thoughtful appreciation, and gratitude, for a history that is something new in the long story of man, then we will begin to lose it. That Medal of Honor winner, Leo Thorsness, who couldn't quite find the words--he only found it hard to put everything into words because he knew the story, the legend, and knew it so well. Only then do you become "emotional about it." Only then are you truly American.

one more thing...

So I just have to say the Birthday Surprise cake (the first picture) was incredibly complicated. I think I must have held my breath every time I had to place a layer on top of a completely decorated layer. It felt wrong making it pretty and then risking ruining the whole stinking thing by placing an iced layer on top of a decorated layer. By the way if you ever want a stacked cake, don't get it in whipped topping because it's not a stable icing for stacking. I had to call the customer who wanted this and tell him it was not possible to do his cake in whipped topping...so he settled with a base icing of WT and decorations with butter cream. (THANK GOODNESS!) I couldn't have done it without the sticky consistency of the BC.

So, after it was all packaged in it's box, which by the way is also quite a feat
--you have to balance this towering sheet cake masterpiece on a little cardboard lifty-thing and then lift it into the box without tipping the whole thing over!!--
anyways, after it was boxed up I just pictured the customer walking out with it and then bumping into someone with it and my cake being thrown into the side of the box...icing sticking everywhere...cake layers smooshed...perfection diminished to cake sludge. I have NO idea if that even happened or whether the guy who wanted it liked it...my shift was over before he came and picked it up. Ah well, the life of a cake decorator apprentice...who definitely went above and beyond her job description that day...for C.D. apprentices are not supposed to fill orders, just do back up...but hey, I had amazingly fantastic training (thanks brian!) and was able to fill the gap and create this insane cake! I actually had 'fun' doing it too, only because it was new and challenging...so maybe one day in the future I will create wedding cakes for people?? it's the same basic concept, except with a few hundred dollars and a couple more layers! ;)

Cake Decorating

Who knew cake decorating could be so fun? The skills you pick up, the icing/water/cookie/fudge wars you experience, the people you meet...man I'm sure glad I checked that little box on my application. So in honor of my 'newly' formed cake decorating talents I would like to present my gallery of cakes. Some of these took an hour, others fifteen minutes. One of these pictures I took while at work because after seeing the cakes I made, felt they were my best original creations to date. The other pictures come from my company's website...which means they are copyrighted and the little toys come in kits, with pictures and icing colors we have to match so we do not infringe on the copyright laws placed on cakes (who would have thought?!). So without further ado, a small selection of cakes created by yours truly...

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...

Since my last 'numbers' post was so successful, in my mind, I am attempting it again.

28 - the day in April I graduated from college!!! woohoo! :)
300 - the price of insurance I now have to pay! : /
8 - number of full-time positions I have applied for since graduation
3 - rejections I received after they reviewed my applications
3 - positions which haven't said a word to me either way
1 - position I really want which is still "in process"
1 - number of interviews I went to

11 - number of people I know who are engaged
14 - couples I know who are recently married
3 - best friends who live far away from me
2 - best friends who live close to me

13 - new music artists I have discovered this year --I LOVE finding new music artists!
10 - songs I purchased this month on iTunes
7 - books I read so far since April 28th
18 - books waiting to be read

3 - times I have been to Starbucks since graduation --I am in mourning at the loss of my beloved Tennessee Street SB
6 - great shirts I found at Plato's Closet
30 - the total price of those 6 shirts --I officially love Plato's now
3 - pairs of new shoes I have since graduation --one matches my suit beautifully!

2 - posts I wrote in May --how sad!
15 - days since my last post :( I've been bad lately, but I will try to post more in the future!
3 - post ideas formulating in my head, which will hopefully come into existence soon!

Time for a 'smile' break! :)

This is so amazing! Jud Laipply is a very talented man! And now, without further adeu, watch the Evolution of Dance and smile until your cheeks hurt! :)

The dismay of a broken world

*It breaks my heart to read this article and know people are experiencing such horrific situations every single day. I cannot imagine living in so much fear 24/7. These women who have been violated repeatedly not only have to deal with the emotional and physical damage, but also with the reality of possibly having AIDS and not being able to go back to their families. Please pray God's love will penetrate this area and these people. And pray for His judgment on those who are so brutally hurting these men, women, and children.

*There is a video which goes along with this article, it isn't explicit or anything, but just gives the CNN reporter's documentary. It's good to watch because it brings the article more humanity as you see the faces of the men, women, and children highlighted in the article. The link goes to the CNN article and on the right side, under the green bar that says "Watch" is the video clip.

Rape, brutality ignored to aid Congo peace

By Jeff Koinange
CNN

BUKAVU, Democratic Republic of Congo (CNN) -- At a makeshift recreation center at a hospital here in eastern Congo, about 500 women surround one of their own, who's lying on the floor.

She clutches a cane as she struggles to get up. The women begin singing, slowly at first and then the song picks up momentum. Before long the young woman lifts herself, drops the cane and begins to walk around the room as if in a trance, singing and clapping. The other women clap along with her as the singing gets louder and louder.

The young woman's name is Tintsi and she's barely 20 years old. She arrived at the hospital three weeks ago on a stretcher carried by relatives who walked 100 miles to get here. Doctors weren't sure Tintsi would ever walk again.Tintsi, like everyone else in this room, is a victim of the worst kind of sexual violation imaginable. (Watch rape victims try to rebuild their lives -- 5:38)

"Some of them have knives and other sharp objects inserted in them after they've been raped, while others have pistols shoved into their vaginas and the triggers pulled back," said Dr. Denis Mukwege Mukengere, the lone physician at the hospital. "It's a kind of barbarity that only savages are capable of."

He added that "these perpetrators cannot be human beings."

The alleged perpetrators are men in uniform, part of the Congolese army. These troops are a compilation of various militia groups that had been fighting each other for years until a truce was reached two years ago.

A recent report by the United Nations found that Congo's own soldiers were responsible for the nearly seven dozen complaints of crimes and human rights violations over the past two months. Among the crimes committed were extrajudicial executions, disappearances, rapes and brutal beatings, according to the U.N. report.

'I wish they'd killed me'

Tintsi turns to the other victims standing near her and says in a soft, but defiant voice, "They can take away my womanhood, but they'll never be able to break my spirit."

Some women nod, others shake their heads. Some weep openly.

Also in the room is 28-year-old Henriette Nyota. Her spirit is all but broken. Three years ago, she said, she was gang raped as her husband and four children were forced to watch. The men in uniform then disemboweled her husband and continued raping her and her two oldest daughters, 10 and 8. The assault went on for three days.

"I wish they'd killed me right there with my husband," she said, "What use am I now? Why did those animals leave me to suffer like this?"

Nineteen-year-old Nzigire bears the result of repeated sexual violations -- her year-old daughter, Ester. The teenager acknowledges she often contemplates putting an end to what she calls a death sentence.

"I sometimes feel like killing myself and my daughter," she said. "I look at her and all I see is them. I look at myself and all I see is misery."

'Only revenge can make me forget'

Misery permeates this tiny hospital in this huge country the size of Western Europe. Last year there were more than 4,000 reported rape cases in this province alone, or about 12 a day, officials say.

And it's not just women who are being raped; so are some men with equally devastating consequences.

Fifteen-year-old Olivier was sitting down to dinner with his family when the front door of their house was smashed in. Olivier's father was the first to be killed followed by his mother, right in front of the children.

They then raped Olivier's three sisters, and when he tried to fight them they turned on him. One at a time, more than a dozen in all, he said.

"I will never forget what happened to me," he said. "How does one forget something like this? Only revenge can make me forget what happened to me."

Mukengere takes us from ward to ward, where the beds are filled with sexual abuse patients in various stages of recovery. Colostomy bags hang off their cots and bed pans are everywhere. Once in a while, you hear a woman scream in pain as she's raised by the team of tireless nurses to have something to eat or drink.

Mukengere, who attends to an average of 10 new cases a day, explains bed-by-bed the cruelty that has become the Congo.

"Helene, over there, is 19 years old. She first came here five years ago after having been raped," he said. "We treated her and discharged her, and off she went back to her home village. Five years later, she's back after being attacked and sexually violated over and over again. This is pure madness."

Equally troubling is that aid money designated for victims of sexual abuse here may run out at the end of June despite the relative success of this program, the only one of its kind in the region.

"It's so tragic that the world can afford to sit back and let these atrocities continue like this," said aid worker Marie Walterzon of the Swedish Pentecostal Mission. "Possibly because it involves poor, voiceless Africans," she said.

Sadly though, many of the people responsible for these rapes -- what is being described as the new weapon of war in a time of peace -- have yet to be arrested, tried or convicted. The peace process is too delicate at this stage, officials say.

The peace process is too delicate. And at this hospital in the eastern Congo, the rooms are too full.