God gave us laughter...

Sam, an old man, was a witness in a burglary case. The defense lawyer asked Sam, "Did you see my client commit this burglary?"

"Yes," said Sam , "I saw him plainly take the goods."

The lawyer asks Sam again, "Sam, this happened at night. Are you sure you saw my client commit this crime?"

"Yes" says Sam, "I saw him do it."

Then the lawyer asks Sam, "Sam listen, you are 80 years old and
your eyesight probably is bad. Just how far can you see at night?"

Sam says, "I can see the moon, how far is that?"

igHome - iGoogle Alternative

igHome - iGoogle Alternative: iGoogle is going away. If you are looking for an easy to use, intuitive replacement, try igHome.com.

I have searched a long time for something to take the place of my iGoogle homepage that gave me news headlines, RSS feeds, weather, a place to translate foreign words to English, and a quick dictionary. I found igHome. It is the most like iGoogle so it is easy to use, and I feel almost at home with it.

I'd be interested to know what kind of homepage you use. Anyone have a better homepage?

Is the Constitution real protection these days?

The Voice of the Martyrs reports Christians in Bangladesh have been "pressured
to worship at a mosque." The church is 25 Christians strong, and had been meeting secretly. More than 200 protesters marched against this tiny congregation, and authorities threatened burning of homes if they did not close the church and comply with denial of their Christian faith. The Christians threatened with beatings and banishment from their village if they refused. Eight people caved in to the demands. The Constitution of Bangladesh protects the religious freedom of its citizens. They have the right to worship and propagate any religion. They also have the right to maintain their institution.

Religious freedom, meaning the right to practice whatever religion or no religion freely without prosecution or coercion, is protected by the U.S. Constitution, correct? It's in the First Amendment. I believe every U.S. Citizen should read the Constitution at least once per year. If that would occur, then every citizen would be much better informed. I fear our citizens are becoming apathetic to an alarming degree, and those same citizens seem to be walking around with phones to ears that are rarely privy to what is happening in our government.

Incredibly wise forefathers provided the Constitution to safeguard the citizenry from a top-heavy government, presidential dictators, legislators run amok, and agenda plagued, partisan supreme court justices. It has worked well for more than 200 years. Thankfully, George Mason wrote the Declaration of Virginia outlining statement of rights which inspired the first 10 amendments to the Constitution called The Bill of Rights.

So how did the events in a supposedly religious-freedom state such as Bangladesh happen? Will it happen in the U.S.? It is far more likely to happen here in the U.S. than most people believe. We take our freedoms and our rights for granted. We have become dull in reason as well as Christian fervor because we have not had to suffer persecution as the 25 Christians in Bangladesh did.

Question of the Day: If you town officials stormed your church demanding you bend your knees to Allah and deny Jesus Christ or be beaten, home destroyed, wealth stolen, what would you do?

Frustration is no excuse

I was appalled at one story in the news about a mother who was frustrated during an argument with her son and banished him from the car to walk home along Interstate 45... at 8:30 pm... in the dark... along one of the busiest highways in Houston... as punishment. They were arguing, she was angry, she made him get out of the car. Did I mention the boy is 10 years old?

Anger is a destroyer of reason and peace.

Kentucky high school athletics have nixed hand shakes between players at the end of games because of scuffles and outright fights that have occurred.

Anger separates.

I have struggled with managing anger especially in my younger years dealing with an alcoholic husband, and much later when that menopause monster raised it's ugly head. Emotions play havoc in our heads and that can cause severe vitriol to spew forth from our mouths. I see this becoming a severe problem in our society.

Question for the day: What types of anger have you seen? How have you dealt with it?

Doing what pleases God, not self from Max Lucado

I receive Upwords by Max Lucado in my inbox once a week. He has such

Photo courtesy of Marcus

a way with words and bringing God's word into today's relevancy or perhaps application is a better term. Today's offering says this:

Dad, would you intentionally break the arm of your child? Of course not. Such an action violates every fiber of your moral being. Yet if you engage in sexual activity outside your marriage, you’ll bring more pain into the life of your child than a broken bone.

Mom, would you force your children to sleep outside on a cold night?  By no means. Yet if you involve yourself in an affair, you’ll bring more darkness and chill into the lives of your children than a hundred winters.

How many of us have ever thought this deeply about what adultery does to a family? The major problem is that Satan deceives us into thinking that adultery is only the physical infidelity. More often than not, adultery sneaks into a thought process usually taking the form of "I deserve a little happiness. Everyone deserves a little happiness."

Happiness is so fleeting, but Joy is everlasting. 

No one looks at their brand new baby sleeping in the bassinet or on mommy's breast and thinks, "I'm going to break this child's arm one day" or "I'm putting this baby outside on a winter's night." We do things we do not intend to do because godly people do ungodly things at times.

We cannot ever let down our guard against Satan. He has this huge file on every Christian and has highlighted every weakness we have. His aim is to kill, steal, and destroy everything that is good, pure, and lovely. The only way to fight that is to draw ever closer to God. The angels say, "The Lord rebuke you." We should take our cue from that and rest in God's power over Satan and his minions. 

Decide before you marry that adultery will never find your home's hearth sucking all the oxygen from the flames of your love and passion for your spouse. This includes all pornea. That is all that is perverted such as pornography and erotica. When you allow those perverted things to go into your mind and take root, you are opening the door to the seduction of Satan. His web is sticky, and will hold you fast if you give it the least little chance.

Make time to study God's word together. Pray together. Worship God together. Seek wholesome friendships. Seek out an accountability partner who will pray for you, and never betray your trust so that you can be honest about your feelings and your thoughts. 

Cheating is more than physical adultery. It is being addicted to lust an allergic to God. (See Perilous Times and Perilous Men). Decide your priorities--what is the single most important thing in your life? What next? And next? Then give attention to those priorities according to their purpose and importance. You will find that you receive much more contentment from your life when you have your priorities in a godly order. It is also much easier to recognize sin for what it is. It is also much easier to resit the devil and he will flee.

Just a closer walk

Dr. David Jeremiah said something in one of his sermons that actually rattled around in my brain and settled there like an elephant in a small room. I can't tell you the exact quote but he said something like this, "When you sing the song 'I Surrender All' don't lie. God knows your heart and He knows when you lie."

Selah.

Sometimes we get so caught up in daily living that we forget our heavenly Father is watching us plus a whole crowd of witnesses. There are lots of things that I am deeply ashamed that a whole crowd of witnesses watched me do. Granted, at the time I didn't even know about these witnesses.

Heb 12:1 For this reason, as we are circled by so great a cloud of witnesses, putting off every weight, and the sin into which we come so readily, let us keep on running in the way which is marked out for us...

How startling for me to find that out one day on my daily forage into God's Word. It is bad enough that God is watching, but all those others, too? What was I? A sordid video rated R? It makes me shudder.

Now, however, I live a "Faithful" life as "A Child of the King," "Washed in the Blood." For "Greater Is He Who Is in Me." Hardly any excitement, definitely G-rated, no need to bleep or cut to show on the screen. And for movie goers, these days that would be a bad thing. But I can "Count [My] Blessings" because "He Hideth My Soul," and "He Keeps Me Singing."

When I sing "I Surrender All" and "Trust and Obey", I'm not lying. I really mean it because He took me "Just As I Am" blemishes, wrinkles and all. Because "I'd [really, really] Rather Have Jesus", the "Creator of the Universe." Because "The Whole World Is Singing" "The Way of the Cross Leads Home". And, because, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" "Because He Lives", and "Blessed Be the Name," of the "Blessed Redeemer". "Behold the Lamb" for He is "All That Thrills My Soul". So "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior," and, Father"Make Me a Blessing", for "Surely Goodness and Mercy" flows from the "Spirit of the Living God." I will "Stand up, Stand Up For Jesus" because I am "Standing on the Promises of God." "The Sunshine In My Soul" has "Set My Soul Afire;" it is "God Whose Purpose Is to Kindle.

"He Is Lord!" "Oh, How He Loves You And Me"! "Ye Must Be Born Again" and these "Wonderful Words of Life" will "Rescue the Perishing" and we will have "Victory In Jesus" all the days of our lives.

Selah!
"How Great Thou Art."

Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. "It Is Well With My Soul."

My first grandbaby

Her little nose, mouth, and cheeks look just like her mother's. I am so delighted with this answer to prayer. Perfectly healthy even though her mom is almost past that threshold of optimum childbearing years. God is infinity, undeniably, indescribably good!

Perfect example of vitriol at work -- Allen Bauer and Amanda Carpenter

Funny thing how social media unleashes the kind of venom that can spark "true" debate on Twitter. Allan Brauer came down with a case of Foot-In-Mouth disease when he cursed Ted Cruz's speechwriter and senior communications officer Amanda Carpenter's children on Twitter. (Google it and see the many facets of partisan spins on the story.)

The thing about Twitter is most people think it is very much like a live conversation... which it is, but then again it is not. Every tweet from every tweep is logged into the Library of Congress as a cultural and national narrative. This has been ongoing since 2010.  So now the question to ask if you are wondering if something is ethical or not is: Would I want my great grandchildren to read this in a Twitter archive? Instead of the question: Would I want this action to appear on the front page of the newspaper.

I wonder if this is an actual cultural and national narrative? Only about 8% of America's population have a Twitter account, and far fewer than that actually Tweet regularly. For some it has the fascination of a snake charmer, for others it is a daily chore because it is part of a marketing plan. For still others is has that scintillating draw similar to the hope men had to see the nicely turned ankle of a woman alighting from a carriage. You might see it, you might not, but when you did the thrill was worth the glimpse.

Bauer certainly caused a stir when he hoped Carpenter's kids died from debilitating diseases. Does anyone think Bauer would have said this to Carpenter's face...with her children standing there? Would he have said this in a letter?

Why does anyone think that what is said digitally in any capacity -- phone call/message, Twitter, chat room -- won't come back to haunt them over and over again? Take a note children what ever appears on the Internet will haunt you all the days of your life. You might think it is scrubbed or deleted or overcome by an apology, but today more than ever a lapse in judgement is a worse curse on your career than ever before.

What's the question of today? Would a twerp  tweet a tweep and it not go unnoticed?

Does vitriol win friends and influence people on the net?

If you read your news online, and also read comments below the news story, you've been exposed to some of the worst vitriol available to the planet.

I wonder if people just spew out venom and acid because they can, and because they can remain anonymous. No wonder we are having problems communicating.

A study was published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication about this very thing. Anderson, Brossard, Scheufele, Xenos, and Ladwig (2013) studied the uncivil comments concerning a fairly new technology: nanotechnology. They wanted to see how perceptions and attitudes developed over time. Surprisingly, more than 1,300 products are made using nanotechnology and are being sold as you read this.

I am quite sure that you have been the recipient of flaming or online incivility if you have been on the Internet for any length of time. It comes with the territory, which is a sad statement in itself. If, like me, you frequent Christian blogs and Christian publications you have received less vitriol than if you frequent political blogs or news blogs. I know I probably should use my Christian influence in a much broader sense on the Internet, but frankly I don't have that elephant hide as much as I used to. I don't have the compelling of the Holy Spirit to evangelize for Christ in the forums that are so filled with ire, venom, and hate. I frankly do not believe they listen to God's voice so I know they won't hear me... been there, done that. Don't get me wrong. I'm the first in line when it comes to witnessing for Christ when I know the fields (hearts) have been prepared for seed-planting. I just fear to tread those stony grounds that are cracked from lack of moisture, and have hardened to concrete.

Gojira, the original 1954 monster, breathing atomic flames.

Interestingly in face-to-face interpersonal communication, incivility can be curbed with nonverbal isolation such as removal from the meeting. Incivility can be curbed by those sitting next to the heckler. But online there are limited consequences for incivility. Of course the moderator can ban the person, or others can reprimand the person. The crux is that incivility never sways me to change my opinion about the topic under discussion... I am swayed about the person by the person's incivility but not what his or her opinions are.

 The findings of the study show I am not alone in how I am
affected by incivility. Polarization among blog readers (for the study) happens and is attributed to the vitriol. Bottom line lesson to be learned  is when you evangelize -- don't spew atomic acid like Godzilla. It won't change any minds and only stirs up flames.

You signed Lt. Gen. Boykin delivered

You Signed, We Delivered
September 17, 2013

Dear Gina,

Your message was heard! On September 12th, I, along with members of the Restore Military Religious Freedom Coalition, met with senior Air Force officials at the Pentagon to express our concerns over the burgeoning hostility towards Christians. Thanks to you, I was able to deliver five boxes filled with 218,988 petitions to senior Pentagon officials urging them to cease the onslaught of persecution and discrimination against our military members.

In addition to your petitions, I ensured that Pentagon officials had a copy of our report:
A Clear and Present Danger: The Threat to Religious Liberty in the Military which gives clear examples of incidents of hostility to military religious freedom. Without your support and willingness to take the time to sign these petitions, this would not have been such a success. We at FRC and the Restore Military Religious Freedom Coalition thank you for standing for the faith alongside the service men and women who serve our country so faithfully.

Sincerely,

Lt. Gen. (US Army-Ret.) William "Jerry" Boykin
Executive Vice President

Dear Gen. Boykin,

THANK you! I pray that each person signing that petition prays hard that the Joint Chiefs of Staff take to heart what We The People are saying.

Why is it that one or two squeaky wheels can move the mountains that the Majority love to live with? Why is it the one had the power to remove prayer from our schools? Why is it that it takes more than 200,000 people and a general to get some stopped up ears open enough to hear? Sigh...