jordon has some excellent thots on the "chilling history of Auschwitz".

One of my favorite Simpsons episodes starts in the First Church of Springfield. Reverend Lovejoy (my role model) is droning on and on. Pretty soon, Homer falls asleep and bumps his head, which causes Reverend Lovejoy to lose his place. He starts all over again on the nine tenants of constancy. Pretty soon everyone is asleep. When the Simpson family finally gets home from church, they don't even get through the front door before all their church clothes are off.
Here's their conversation:
Marge: Hey, calm down. You're wrinkling your church clothes.
Homer: Who cares? This is the best part of the week.
Lisa: It's the longest possible time before more church!
Marge: Church shouldn't be a chore; it should help you in your daily life.
Homer: It should but it doesn't. Now, who's going with Daddy to the dump?

the truth hurts...

I used to be on TV. I mean, not real TV. – cable. When I lived in Ft. McMurrray I had 3 different shows - I worked the elections as a commentator, I did the Ed McMahon thing on a show called Northern Prime, I had an Astronomy Show although I knew absolutely nothing about Astronomy and I had a general interest show called “City Beat” All and all it was pretty much embarrassing. We had like a $30 budget so you can imagine the high quality it produced. Just for laughs I dug a clip out of one of my old shows to give you some real quality entertainment for a second or two – run it Paul….

The dumbest thing though was that people ate it up.
In Fort McMurray it wasn’t hard to be well known. So I would go to like the Safeway or something and people would come up to me and ask me if I was that guy from TV. It was embarrassing at first until I learned to work it a bit. Pretty soon I was getting free lunches, coffees and skydiving trips, fishing trips, tours and stuff. You know, for the show… All fromage basically…

So I moved to Mission and pretty much thought that part of my life was over. Then I got roped into doing the SUN HANG DO show and I was back in cable. But of course no one here would take it seriously though right? So about a week after the show kicks off some kid comes up to me totally out of the blue and asks for my autograph. I’m being totally serious. I couldn’t believe it. It’s cable people. Anyone can be on cable. So again now I was doing a show about something I knew nothing about. Except now people thought I was a ninja so that was cool.

We live in a culture that is in love with stardom.
People line up for hours to catch a glimpse of some monkey who has less talent than Midol.
You know it’s a real talent when a model can be an actor just because she’s pretty and wants world peace…
We have an entire culture that has elevated stardom to the status of almost gods. We love to follow their lives; did you know that Brad and Jennifer broke up? You can be a paramedic and make 14 bucks an hour or you can pull in 20 million bucks for smiling on camera and shaking your butt. It’s insane.
The Christian world has fallen in love with Hollywood thinking too. We have our own stars – like Billy Graham and Chuck Swindol, Jack Van Impe and Jordan Cooper. Bob Larson has 3 mansions, John McArthur has a bible named after him, the head of a major denomination has an affair and it’s in Christianity Today.
It seems that certain Christian leaders are better looking, more popular and it’s kind of exciting to catch a glimpse of them at the latest Mission’s Fest. They are superstars for Jesus. More popular than Jesus Christ was. He didn’t even have his own ministry hour named after him with an 80-foot sign over his pulpit with his name on it. He was just a poor fisherman who was murdered and had his followers forced underground.

And I would go to crusades with superstar Christian speakers and I heard that if I had enough faith I would never be sick.
They told me that Christ wanted us to be blessed and by that they meant wealthy and I believed it. And many of us did.
They told us that god owned the cattle on a thousand hills and surely he would give a few to you.
And I would go home and many of you would too and we’d try to live that and soon we realized that we still got sick and our marriages and school problems and girlfriends and boyfriends still suffered and people still had problems with us and we sure weren’t getting rich.
And we believed that’s because we were bad Christians.
We were told that god wants you rich – but that Jesus had no home and no place to lay his head.
We believed that we weren’t to suffer if we had enough faith --- and Jesus and paul and every other person in the bible suffered huge setbacks.. and it was a lie.

And many of us have wanted to quit. Admit it.. you’ve thot about it…. We all have.

Tony Campolo tells the story of his high school track days when he and two of his buddies ran the hundred yard dash. One guy was very fast and always won. The other guy was faster than Tony and always got second. And then there was Tony. When the first guy won, he would always say, “I want to thank God for making me win...” to which the second guy once said, “Hey Tony, what’s God got against us?” The answer is nothing, but we can falsely assume that if we commit ourselves to Him, we are all going to the top. We’re not.

While walking through the forest one day, a man found a young eagle who had fallen out of his nest. He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens. One day a naturalist passed by the farm and asked why it was that the king of all birds should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens. The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it had never learned to fly. Since it now behaved as the chickens, it was no longer an eagle."Still it has the heart of an eagle," replied the naturalist, "and can surely be taught to fly." He lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, "You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again. The naturalist took the bird to the roof of the house and urged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly." But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and world and jumped down once more for the chicken food. Finally the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held the king of the birds high above him and encouraged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle looked around, back towards the barnyard and up to the sky. Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched his wings, and with a triumphant cry, soared away into the heavens.

We all dream of that life up in the clouds, soaring and diving with freedom and power, but all too often we stay in the barnyard picking at chicken feed.

excellent questions from biscotti.

Lord: Is that you, Lord, burning in Darfur? Is that you, Lord, burning in south east Asia? Is that you, Lord, burning in Sierra Leone? Is that you, Lord, burning in the line at the meth clinic? Is that you, Lord, burning on the corner by the train station? How long will your fire burn, Lord? How much longer do we have to turn aside?

humm?

from the Orange Bulletin

The official search for WMDs in Iraq has ended. The most dangerous weapons we were told to fear two years ago weren't found.This news is actually not new. Dafna Linzer of Washingtonpost.com reported last week that Charles A. Duelfer, the CIA's top weapons hunter, submitted a report to Congress four months ago that contradicted nearly every pre-war assertion by top Bush administration officials. This report will now stand as final and will be published later this spring.

Slandered liberals would have every right to roll their eyes at unflappable Bush/War supporters and sigh, "Told you so!" Little good it would do anyway. They'd have to brace for a bombardment of newspeak.

"Saddam was a ruthless tyrant who killed his own people."
Tyranny was, and is, not limited to Iraq. We should certainly care, but will we go to war everywhere tyranny occurs? Saddam's removal is more likely about Iraq's oil resources and its strategic importance to those with military, political and corporate interests than altruism.

"Saddam would've given WMDs to Al Qaeda."
The Sept. 11 Commission found no proof to validate this assumption. Although Al Qaeda did contact Iraq for possible cooperation over 10 years ago, Iraq did not respond meaningfully. There was no collaborative relationship established. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Unfortunately too many people now make little distinction between the Muslims involved with that attack and Muslims everywhere.

"Even if Saddam didn't have weapons, he would have eventually."
Preemptive means don't justify an end based on selective paranoia. To assume we have the right to start wars based on "maybe" is arrogant, irrational and shows lack of caring for those caught up in "collateral damage."

"We couldn't afford to wait for an attack." True enough, but only when it's clear and necessary. We did not have to go to war with Iraq. The "intelligence" that presented Iraq as an imminent, next-day threat was overstated. The one man who would know, Hans Blix, chief U.N. weapons inspector, said as much two years ago.

"Iraq wants democracy."
Not if Fallujah, a city of historic mosques and over 250,000 residents, is demolished in the process. Democracy is still an intangible idea, at best, to them. It's safe to assume they'd prefer their homes intact, fresh drinking water and jobs first.

"We have to bring the fight to the terrorists."
That was plausible for Afghanistan, not Iraq. The invasion, if anything, invited the possibility of more terrorism to Iraq. The jingo for it now is "insurgency." Those called insurgents probably include people traumatized and angered by seeing another woman or child caught up in "collateral damage."
The estimated number of civilian casualties since the war began ranges wildly. Iraq Bodycount, an organization that tabulates deaths reported in the news since the start of the war, came up with a figure close to 15,000. A respected British medical journal called Lancet published, last October, a number closer to 98,000 (deaths and injuries) based on random sampling of population. Their report also claims that civilian deaths are more likely the result of U.S. air strikes than terrorism.The Economist recently reported a number over 40,000.
We know that, as of Jan. 14, there have been 1,366 U.S combat deaths and over 10,000 wounded.Whatever this administration's goal, how much death and injury to human beings, with jobs and families, are worth the reason of the moment? How does one quantify such a thing? Imagine losing a loved one to a smart bomb that failed calculus or for reasons that morph as they crumble apart.
To ask questions is being called treason by many.
Sometime, somewhere, this has happened before.

no burns day would be complete without the haggis. got mine from linda campbell. thanks linda!... i guess... hehe.

Ingredients 1 Sheep's paunch (stomach)
2 lb. dry oatmeal
1 lb. suet, shredded
1 lb. lamb's liver
1 large onion
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t black pepper
1 t nutmeg
1 t mace
1/2 t salt
Procedure Pull the sheep's paunch inside out and scrape it clean. Pullit back right-side out. Boil the liver and parboil the onion. Save 21/2 C of the stock. Mince the liver and onion together. Lightly brownthe oatmeal. Mix all the ingredients together, along with the reservedstock. Fill the paunch with the mixture, pressing it down to removethe air and sew it up securely.Prick the Haggis so it won't burst during cooking. Place the haggis inboiling water and boil slowly for 4-5 hours. Serves approximately 12, or provides a taste of Haggis for a larger group.

... ummmm sheep's paunch.

proud to come from scottish heritage - the bruce, the wallace, montrose, the black douglas, macbeth, somerled, angus, macgregor and many other heroic figures who fought for a lost cause in a better time.

SCOTS wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
Scots wham Bruce has often led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
On to Victory!
Now's the day and now's the hour,
See the front of battle o'er,
See approach proud Edwards power,
Chains and slavery,

Wha will be a traitor knave,
Wha can fill a coward's grave
Wha will be so base a knave
Traitor coward turn and flee,
Wha for Scotlands King and laws
Freeman's sword will strongly draw
Freeman stand or freeman fa
Caledonian on wi' me

By oppressions woes and pains
By your sons in servile chains
We will drain our dearest veins
But they shallóóshall be free
lay the proud usurper low
Tyrants fall in every blow
Liberty's in every blow
Forward let us do or die!

"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps." Emo Philips.

read the rest of ben's deep philosophies of life here.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel resumed building one of the most controversial parts of its West Bank barrier, deep in occupied land, in a move Palestinians said Monday clouded new President Mahmoud Abbas's efforts to revive peacemaking.

i am often fascinated by the evangelical fixation with all things Israel. as a young evangelical i was taught that anything israel does is God's will, that it is the promised land and to disagree with their policies is akin to racism and denying God.

it is difficult not to feel for the palestinian people in these days. they are a people dispossessed, nestled nervously next to a superpower. children grow up with anger and bitterness, an unrealistic view of peace and the world. they constantly feel the brunt of racism and anger and often resort to insane acts of frustration to have their voices heard.

i try to remember that all of us are made in the image of God. we all possess the inherent right to be safe. i remind myself that to feel for the palestinian people is not to be an anti-semite. i am bothered by christian groups who adopt such a pro-israel stance that they fail to recognize the right of the palestinian people to exist - a people who have also had their homeland stripped from them by foreign powers who play politics in the back rooms, with little regard to the welfare of those they write policy for.

Divorce is more common among "born-again" Christians than in the general American population. Only 6 percent of evangelicals tithe. White evangelicals are the most likely people to object to neighbors of another race. Josh McDowell has pointed out that the sexual promiscuity of evangelical youth is only a little less outrageous than that of their nonevangelical peers.

link

jordon calls our attention to the emergency in Darfur. a 'must' read.

had a good conversation with a close friend this morning. these words that i first read on annette's blog months ago came to mind as i thot about you. you know who you are. this song is for you kiddo...

christina aguilera -
every day is so wonderful
And suddenly, it’s hard to breathe
Now and then, I get insecure
From all the fame, I’m so ashamed
I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can’t bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can’t bring me down
So don’t you bring me down today
To all your friends, you’re delirious
So consumed in all your doom
Trying hard to fill the emptiness
The piece is gone and the puzzle undone
That’s the way it is
You are beautiful no matter what they say
Words won’t bring you down
You are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words won’t bring you down
Don’t you bring me down today...
No matter what we do(no matter what we do)
No matter what they say(no matter what they say)
When the sun is shining through
Then the clouds won’t stay
And everywhere we go(everywhere we go)
The sun won’t always shine(sun won’t always shine)
But tomorrow will find a wayAll the other times
We are beautiful no matter what they say
Yes, words won’t bring us down
We are beautiful no matter what they say
Yes, words can’t bring us down
Don’t you bring me down today
Don’t you bring me down today
Don’t you bring me down today

why do people on tv always call it 'tuna fish'? if it's 'tuna' do you really think you have to add the 'fish' part?

link

+18 C... wow

got gas?

a day late but whatever. karen has a great post recalling ML King's famous letter.

Ecclesiastes 3
there is a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance.
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain.

Are you an observer of life? People that don't get involved, instead they criticize.
This kind of criticism also leads us to be people who are observers of life rather than participants in it. When we are criticizing people or institutions we don't have to be involved with them.
Our criticism allows us to step back from them and observe. We can be removed from them and just talk about them.
"We played and you didn't dance, we wailed and you didn't mourn." The image Jesus gives us is of people who aren't engaged in life. They aren't dancing, they are mourning; they aren't happy, they aren't sad. They're just there. Commenting.

not the smartest post on the farm...

check it out here. i guess as a canadian it's hard to get my head around...
via

Remember the story of Adam and Eve and the apple?
Adam is just the victim right? Just the patsy who is forced to do something he didn't want to? I don't think so. Alot of people play the victim like that.
Nothing is their fault.
Nothing they can do about it
They aren't responsible.
It wasn't me! The devil made me do it! It was the woman! It was my parents! My job! My weak blood!
It was the one-armed man!
So easy to live your life passing the blame to everyone else. Some people I know are masters at it. They are never responsible. They aren't wrong, it was something or someone that held them down and forced them to eat the fruit. Someone forced them into it, lead them astray, convinced them to fold, sold them out....
I'm sure alot of Germans felt that way in the second world war. When I was at Dakau Concentration camp they said that the locals, after the war, claimed that they knew nothing of the camp and the genocide. The problem with this claim was that the ovens and the camp were only yards from the town. The ash from the burning corpses landed on their homes, the shots from the executions rang in their ears. The parade of prisoners arrived in their towns. The local nazis bragged about it in the taverns and played fox and the hound with prisoners in the town square for sport. The locals were commissioned to deliver food the the camp and dig the graves for those murdered. But they had no idea what was going on right?
It can be argued that to stand up against the Nazis would have been suicide, that there is nothing one person could do. Ever heard of Anne Frank, or Dietrick Bonhoffer, or Cory Ten Boom or the French underground, or the resistance fighters, or of the thousands of germans who hid and fed the jews when to do so meant certain death.
The point is not to gross you out but to point out that we all have two choices in life. To go with the flow or to swim upstream. It is easier to go with the flow right. Not supposed to cause any waves, be politically correct and don't question policy. Its another thing to be a rebel for a reason.
I see so many who just blindly accept whatever they are told, who march to the beat of television psychology or the latest dirty little piece of gossip and never question the mess we are creating. Like Adam it is easy just to eat the apple, don't question the source.
In the 1960's there was this guy named Dr. Spock. He worked with kids and had some radical beliefs. He said it was wrong to spank your kids, evil to dictate their beliefs, stupid to tell them how to behave and wrong to stop them from experimenting with things like drugs etc. And a whole generation ate it up. If you didn't you were just wrong. Just wrong.
ten years later Spock did a 180 and totally said the opposite of what he had said in the 60's. But the damage had already been done. To millions of kids.
I've got nothing against Oprah's guest list but how many of us will blindly follow the latest trend believing it is the holy 10 commandments.
Do you know the story of the Pied Piper?
Adam danced to the piper. He had no guts to stand up and draw a line in the sand and say, "this far and no further." To do so was to invite embarrassment, to be criticized, to have someone write an article about you in the paper telling everyone you're close minded. Heaven help us if someone has an opinion about something!
Adam blindly went. And when he was caught he blamed his wife. It wasn't me.
He wasn't willing to accept the responsibility for his actions, he shifted the blame and became a victim.
What does the bible say about that?
James 1: "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith and life are forced into the open and shows its true colours. So don't TRY TO GET OUT OF ANYTHING PREMATURELY. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficit in any way..."
I HATE THAT VERSE!
Many of us are going through some heavy crap right now. And we want to pass the buck and blame someone else. We wish we could place the blame or downplay the problem. And alot of us will. We'll wimp out.
But God says, 'go for the ride'. Take it as far as you can, don't pass the buck, claim it as your own, own it and learn from it. Grow. It's hard and it's lonely and it hurts but so what. Use it to grow up.
That's a gameplan i don't like. I want to pass the buck in my stuff too. I want to find a nail to hang this all on and make myself look like a victim. But you know what. ....I'M NOT. I'm not the victim. I'm a sinner. I've blown it. I need to grow up. I don't want to but God tells me to NOT TRY TO GET OUT OF IT PREMATURELY. I hate that.

Not all those who wander are lost. ~J.R.R. Tolkien

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

When I was four years old they tried to test my IQ, they showed me this picture of three oranges and a pear. They asked me which one is different and does not belong, they taught me different was wrong. ~Ani Difranco

Our concern must be to live while we're alive... to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are. ~Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

How glorious it is - and also how painful - to be an exception. ~Alfred de Musset

i was at my other job today. it was raining waterbuffalos in the yard i had to circumnavigate several times. my intention was not to get a 'soaker'. sometimes the best intentions fall short of reality.

you know how it works. at first you get slightly wet and you are determined not to let it happen again. you can feel the moisture but you are determined to stay dry. the first episode leaves you slightly upset at your misfortune. that would be trip number one.

the next time you cross the yard you realize something is going wrong. you are getting wetter than you intended and you understand on a darwinian level that you are going to have to pass this way again. you are, however, determined not to give in. not to be wet. you are in the land of denial. trip number two.

one the third trip you begin bargaining. you say to yourself, "well maybe if i just stay in one building all morning". but you know that cannot happen. you have commitments. somewhere on this trip you begin to wonder why God is out to get you today. you begin to look for other routes. you call over and cancel a trip or two but on a subconscious level recognize the inevitable. trip number three.

you are depressed. this sucks. today is a blow off. why did you even come to work?you hate your life. you're pretty sure at this point your parents weren't married. trips number five and six.

acceptance... you are soaked to the bone. you find that it doesn't seem to matter much anymore. it's time to splash someone who is still bargaining. you like puddles. today is a very good day.

The Captain called the Sergeant in. "Sarge, I just got a telegram that Private Jones' mother died yesterday. Better go tell him and send him in to see me."
So the Sergeant calls for his morning formation and lines up all the troops. "Listen up men," says the Sergeant. "Johnson, report to the mess hall for KP. Smith, report to personnel to sign some papers. The rest of you report to the Motor Pool for maintenance. Oh by the way, Jones, your mother died, report to the commander."
Later that day, the Captain called the Sergeant into his office. "Hey, Sarge, that was a pretty cold way to inform Jones his mother died. Couldn't you be more tactful, next time?"
"Yes, sir," answered the Sarge.
A few months later, the Captain called the Sergeant in again with, "Sarge, I just got a telegram that Private McGrath's mother died. You'd better go tell him and send him in to see me. This time be more tactful."
So the Sergeant calls for this morning's formation. "Okay men, fall in and listen up. Everybody with a mother, take two steps forward. NOT SO FAST, McGRATH!"

Bad Joke of the Day
There was this valley, and it was populated by this group of people called the Trids. The Trids led an idyllic life, except for one part. There was a giant, who always walked around and booted the trids off of high places. One day a Rabbi came to the valley, and hearing of the trids plight, he confronted the giant.
“Why do you kick these Trids?” asked the Rabbi
“Because I feel like it.” replied the Giant
“Then why don’t you kick me as well?” Challenged the Rabbi.
“Silly Rabbi,” laughed the Giant, “kicks are for Trids!”

my guitar-god son is now blogging here.

In 1977 David Kuzminski was walking down a path in the Georgia woods when looking ahead he saw a puddle of water. He did what most of us would do. He set a course to go around the puddle, but as he did so he was suddenly attacked. Stunned by the surprise he was unable to do anything. The attacker struck three, four, five times. Yet David was unhurt. He backed up, the attacker stopped, and then David burst out laughing. You see was being attacked by a butterfly!
Having stopped laughing, he took a step forward. His attacker rushed him again. It rammed David in the chest with his head and body, striking him over and over again with all his might, still to no avail. For a second time, David retreated a step and for a second time the attack stopped. Again, David tried moving forward and again the attacker charged. He wasn't sure what to do, other than to retreat a third time. After all, it's just not everyday that one is attacked by a butterfly.
This time, though, David stepped back several paces to look the situation over. His attacker moved back as well to land on the ground. That's when he discovered the reason for the attack. The butterfly had a mate and she was dying. She was beside the puddle where he landed. Now David knew what the butterfly was fighting for. There were only a few centimetres of path on the other side of the puddle, but David carefully made his way around, leaving the two butterflies undisturbed, and continued on to his car.
...nothing is impossible if you have the guts to keep going.
the way may be full of danger
and the path may be unclear,
and the answer may not have come yet,
and the thing may seem impossible,
but don't give up.

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ... WOW! What a Ride!"

via my friend lynn mills from sunny invermere, bc.

last sunday i sat in the parking lot of our office/hangout waiting for the day to begin. it was barely light enough to call it daytime yet but i was conscious that right then a few guys were enroute to the office. it was about 7:15. volunteers. faithful guys who hump equipment for little or no recognition and certainly no glory.

monty drove in first at about 7:20. usually his son connor is with him. that's monty, making the best of an ugly situation. bringing his son for a father and kid time... very early on a sunday morning. monty got out, managed a smile and we set to work. greg arrived soon after, then steve. howard was called into work but rarely misses a day. a few others met us enroute and we set out to transform a banquet hall into a church. a thousand pounds of equipment or so later it was done. a couple hours later some of those same people, with help from others, set to work taking it all down and putting it away for yet another week. sundays come around with amazing regularity.

i am indebted to those three men - monty, steve and howard, for they remind me every week why i give a crap. they show up, week after week, willing and able to do the most demeaning jobs for nothing external in return. they really are the church. all three of them have stuck by me in hard days, shown up when no one else could and played a part in my wholeness. they teach me every week what a real christian is - not the flash and ash of standing in the limelight - but being faithful when no one else will notice.

i don't thank them enough.
thanks monty for sticking by me when it felt like i was alone. for believing in me when i couldn't believe in myself. for being faithful.
thanks howard for always telling it to me straight. for never compromising. for being passionately in love. for being faithful.
thanks steve for joining the team and never looking back. for hanging in there and believing in the dream against all odds. for being faithful.

there are many other people i need to thank. the kids klub teams, the groupies, the other set up people, staff, wes, etc. but that is for another day. i don't want to diminish this blog by trying to paint too broad a stroke. i'll just let it lie there for today.

thanks guys.
i'll see you on sunday.

He was flying the leg from New York to Florida one time, and there was a guy sitting in First Class who was not a happy camper. He is not happy with where his seat is (even though he was in First Class) with their service, with what time they leave, not happy with their food. He sends his meal back-on an airplane- and the Flight Attendant brings him a second one, and he sends that one back too. And to indicate his displeasure, he jerks back in his seat as hard as he can and causes the food on the tray behind him to spill out all over the couple that is sitting behind him-a very elderly couple. Everybody is watching and thinking:
This guy’s just a jerk!
The Flight Attendant, who feels horrible, goes up to the couple and asks,
Is there anything we can do to try to make this up to you?
The elderly man explains their story. They are traveling to Florida, have never been on a plane before. This is the first flight of their lives. He says:
We’ve been saving up for this for years, because we are celebrating our fiftieth wedding anniversary. The one thing you could do is bring us a bottle of champagne.
The Flight Attendant apologizes profusely, says:
Yes
And she brings them a bottle of champagne. The elderly gentleman stands up, uncorks the bottle of champagne and pours it over the guy sitting in front of them! I love that story because it’s so cool to see someone get what is coming to them. It makes us feel good. The world, for once, is what it should be. There is justice. I like that. Of course i'm basically carnal by nature. Forgiveness isn't easy for me. The head gives it but the heart has a hard time accepting it.

Marian Wright Edelman told the story of Jean Thompson, who was a teacher:
On the first day of school, Jean Thompson told her students, "Boys and girls, I love you all the same." Teachers lie. Little Teddy Stollard was a boy Jean Thompson did not like. He slouched in his chair, didn't pay attention, his mouth hung open in a stupor, his eyes were always unfocused, his clothes were mussed, his hair unkempt, and he smelled. He was an unattractive boy and Jean Thompson didn't like him.

Teachers have records. And Jean Thompson had Teddy's. First grade: "Teddy's a good boy. He shows promise in his work and attitude. But he has a poor home situation."
Second grade: "Teddy is a good boy. He does what he is told. But he is too serious. His mother is terminally ill."
Third grade: "Teddy is falling behind in his work; he needs help. His mother died this year. His father shows no interest."
Fourth grade: "Teddy is in deep waters; he is in need of psychiatric help. He is totally withdrawn."

Christmas came, and the boys and girls brought their presents and piled them on her desk. They were all in brightly colored paper except for Teddy's. His was wrapped in brown paper and held together with scotch tape. And on it, scribbled in crayon, were the words, "For Miss Thompson from Teddy." She tore open the brown paper and out fell a rhinestone bracelet with most of the stones missing and a bottle of cheap perfume that was almost empty. When the other boys and girls began to giggle she had enough sense to put some of the perfume on her wrist, put on the bracelet, hold her wrist up to the children and say, "Doesn't it smell lovely? Isn't the bracelet pretty?" And taking their cue from the teacher, they all agreed.

At the end of the day, when all the children had left, Teddy lingered, came over to her desk and said, "Miss Thompson, all day long, you smelled just like my mother. And her bracelet, that's her bracelet, it looks real nice on you, too. I'm really glad you like my presents." And when he left, she got down on her knees and buried her head in her chair and she begged God to forgive her.

The next day when the children came, she was a different teacher. She was a teacher with a heart. And she cared for all the children, but especially those who needed help. Especially Teddy. She tutored him and put herself out for him. By the end of the year, Teddy had caught up with a lot of the children and was even ahead of some.

Several years later, Jean Thompson got this note: Dear Miss Thompson: I'm graduating and I'm second in my high school class. I wanted you to be the first to know. Love, Teddy.
Four years later she got another note: Dear Miss Thompson: I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I like it. Love, Teddy Stollard.
Four years later, there was another note: Dear Miss Thompson: As of today, I am Theodore J. Stollard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I'm going to be married in July. I want you to come and sit where my mother would have sat, because you're the only family I have now. Dad died last year.

And she went and she sat where his mother should have sat because she deserved to be there.

That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency cesarean to deliver the couple's new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. 'I don't think she's going to make it...

read the rest of the blog on my surrogate daughter's blogsite here.

Matthew 5:
"You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth." But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
You have heard that it was said, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?"

How can you live a life like that? The answer is – you can’t. you can’t do enough or work hard enough or come to church enough to change your nature. You need to adopt a new nature. You need a daily infilling of another nature. You need what the bible calls the ‘filling of the spirit’ in your life. Sure you may have come to a point in your life where you acknowledged Jesus as your lord and that’s crucial. But now your life begins. You need to come to a second point in your life where you realize that the Christian life is impossible to live. I can’t do it and I doubt you can either.
So many of us have come to a point where we dropped to our knees again and begged God to take over. Sure we believed, but we were still running the business. Still proud. Still determined to “make this work”. But it didn’t.
So we get on our knees again and ask God not just to be our saviour, but to get charge of our life every day. Maybe we didn’t understand what it really meant when we came to him, but now we do. We know it’s a pride deal. It’s a working too hard problem. We want to give up the reigns again. We understand this time that it’s an all – or – nothing deal. And so we bend a knee again. And maybe we have to do it everyday after that. Maybe we have to get up in the morning and bend a knee again cuz we forget who needs to be in charge to make this work. And Tuesday and Wednesday and whatever… till we are, as it says in the twelfth chapter of Romans, “transformed by the renewing of our minds.”

Brother Brighton was a pompous man who was meticulous about his appearance, especially when it came to his reputation as a Christian. He was a member of the most prestigious church in town. He felt very strongly about the appearance of other members of the church as well. He had no tolerance for those little boys who were anything less than perfect in church or in the community. So he volunteered to teach the Bible class of young boys. On his first day of class, he decided to begin by teaching the boys the importance of living the Christian life. He began with this question: "Why do people call me a Christian?" After a moment’s pause, one youngster said, "Maybe it’s because they don’t know you."

In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning-disabled children. At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out, "Where is the perfection in my son Shaya? Everything that God does is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as other children do. Where is God's perfection?" The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father's anguish and stilled by his piercing query.
"I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that He seeks is in the way people react to this child."
He then told the following story about his son Shaya.
Shaya attends Chush throughout the week and regular Torah school on Sundays. One Sunday afternoon, Shaya and his father came to Torah school as his classmates were playing baseball. The game was in progress and as Shaya and his father made their way towards the ball field, Shaya said, "Do you think you could get me into the game?"
Shaya's father knew his son was not at all athletic, and that most boys would not want him on their team. But Shaya's father understood that if his son was chosen in, it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging.
Shaya's father approached one of the boys in the field and asked, "Do you think my Shaya could get into the game?"
The boy looked around for guidance from his team-mates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing by six runs and the game is already in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning."
Shaya's father was ecstatic as Shaya smiled broadly. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field, a position that exists only in softball. There were no protests from the opposing team, which would now be hitting with an extra man in the outfield.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shaya's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya's team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded and the potential winning runs on base, Shaya was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shaya was told to take a bat and try to get a hit. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible, for Shaya didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so that Shaya should at least be able to make contact.
The first pitch came in and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of Shaya's team-mates came up to Shaya and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shaya.
As the next pitch came in, Shaya and his team-mate swung the bat and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shaya would have been out and that would have ended the game.
Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far and wide beyond the first baseman's reach. Everyone started yelling, "Shaya, run to first! Shaya, run to first!" Never in his life had Shaya run to first.
He scampered down the baseline wide eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would tag out Shaya, who was still running. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head, as everyone yelled, "Shaya, run to second! Shaya, run to second."
Shaya ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shaya reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran towards him, turned him towards the direction of third base and shouted "Shaya, run to third!"
As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "Shaya, run home! Shaya, run home!"
Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit the "grand slam" and won the game for his team."That day," said the father who now had tears rolling down his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of perfection. They showed that it is not only those who are talented that should be recognized, but also those who have less talent. They too are human beings, they too have feelings and emotions, they too are people, they too want to feel important."

the family guy blog.

"Several years ago I accepted an appointment to the Governor's Commission for the United Nations Year of the Family. The initial meeting was held in downtown Detroit. There was a host of well-known and influential people at the gathering: politicians, business owners, radio personalities, sports heroes, and the mayor of Motown. Nobody welcomed me. Nobody talked to me. No one shook my hand. I felt unwelcome and invisible. Then Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell introduced himself to me and made me feel at home and accepted."

read the whole blog here.

50% of all marital breakups are related to the internet now
95% of death row inmates hate their father

too dangerous to drive... so we drove to Rockos for breakfast...