They’ll be home for Christmas
Because Santa drives a minivan.
4 Marines were stranded in San Francisco, trying to get home for Christmas. Old enough to serve our country. Old enough to drink a beer, even. But not old enough to rent a car.
God Bless Them All!
The Spirit of the Season
A friend at Global Affairs wrote today about an experience his friend had. That friend’s daughter is in a wheelchair, and receives therapy at a clinic in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Several patients from that clinic got a trip to Wal-mart today, to buy Christmas presents with the pennies and nickels they had been saving.
As they were checking out, a total stranger at the end of the line walked up and had all their purchases put on his credit card.
That ought to restore a bit of your faith in the human race, eh?
Keith Ellison, the Bible, and the Koran
Dennis Prager has written a scathing indictment of Representative Keith Ellison, D-Minn. Apparently Representative-elect Ellison wants to use a Koran for his swearing-in ceremony, instead of a Bible. Prager is outraged, and now the AFA is calling for Christians to floods Congress with demands for a law requiring the use of the Christian Bible during oaths of office for federal officeholders.
Hmm.
Yes, well, as soon as Mr Prager and Mr Wildmon can get around the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution(You know, that pesky part about “making no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof), they’ll have to deal with Article VI, which states in part:
no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States
Go on all you want about how this nation was founded by Godly men on Christian ideals. I won’t argue much with you.
But the keystone for this country’s founding was freedom, not faith. The founding fathers wanted to be free to things they weren’t allowed to do under the King’s laws. The Pilgrims were seeking the exact same thing: a place to practice their faith in freedom, without fear of persecution.
In looking at Representative-elect Ellison’s website, I certainly wouldn’t have voted for him. But I support his right to use whatever religious text he chooses for his swearing-in. Remember that he’s not swearing or affirming to uphold the Koran. He’s swearing or affirming that he will uphold the Constitution.
Faithful to God and Science
Science is not threatened by God; it is enhanced. God is most certainly not threatened by science; He made it all possible.
Dr. Francis Collins is both a scientist and a believer. He’s a born-again Christian, and he\’s also the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, a federal project with 550 employees, a $480 million annual budget and a mandate to explore every twist of the DNA that makes us who we are. A dichotomy? Perhaps. But one that has led him to write a book to address what he calls the the “chasm between science and faith.” Is there such a chasm? Should there be? Said one person at Global Affairs,
It’s perhaps quite simplistic of me, but I’ve always felt that science was the tool that would bring us closer to God. As we unravel more and more of the mysteries He’s laid before us, it seems to fit that He would view that favorably.
God created science, or the facts of life that we study as science. Is it such a stretch that the two can co-exist?
What A Coinkidink!
Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.
From an historical standpoint alone, this is pretty interesting news. Imagine touching something that’s 1600 years old. It’s rare enough to see something more than about a hundred years old. But this book is over 16 centuries old!
This tidbit in the article really caught my attention:
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations’ attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.
Each night at bedtime, we read some Biblical passage to our kids. It might be a story from one of several kids’ Bibles; we’ve also read out way through the Gospels in The Message. Tonight, in light of the article about the Psalm book being found, I elected to read Psalm 83. The imagery I found there astounded me. Read Psalm 83 below, from the New International Version, courtesy of BibleGateway.com.
A song. A psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, do not keep silent;
be not quiet, O God, be not still.2 See how your enemies are astir,
how your foes rear their heads.3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel be remembered no more.”5 With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you-6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,7 Gebal, [a] Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.8 Even Assyria has joined them
to lend strength to the descendants of Lot.
Selah9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,10 who perished at Endor
and became like refuse on the ground.11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,12 who said, “Let us take possession
of the pasturelands of God.”13 Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,
like chaff before the wind.14 As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.16 Cover their faces with shame
so that men will seek your name, O LORD.17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.18 Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD—
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.
When you compare that text with current events in the Middle East, you have to feel a sense of awe at the “coincidence.” Look at verses 4-5: “…[L]et us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.” With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you.” Which is exactly what’s happening there today. Numerous groups and nations are actively warring against Israel, including the “Ishmaelites,” the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s son from Hagar (Sarah’s maidservant). One of Ishmael’s descendants was the prophet Mohammad.
Verse 14 could make you nervous, if you dwelt on the idea that Israel has nuclear capability.
Interesting ideas, eh?
What Next? Change The Name?
This is going beyond silly.
A federal lawsuit was filed against a city last year, and will proceed to trial in November. The lawsuit alleges that because the city’s logo includes three crosses, the city is promoting religion violating the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
The lawsuit also claims that by requiring prospective employees to sign their application, which includes the city logo, which includes three crosses, the city is in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. I would assume the plaintiffs are claiming damages under Title VII, which prohibits discrimination in employment in any business on the basis of religion, among other things.
You’ll note I’ve so far refrained from pointing on the name of the city. I’ve done so because the crosses are not just thrown on the logo for fun. They’re part of the history of the city, going back to the 18th century. In fact, they’re even part of the name of the city: Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Sigh. Are they going to force the city to change its name as well?
Roller Coaster Ride of Life
Niban is my cat - about 15 years old. We have three cats and two dogs (and a bunch of fish), and Niban is the queen of the house.
We got her from the shelter, or rather, she chose us, about 12 years ago. We were in the shelter, and I knew I wanted a black cat. I was looking at one when the cat above that one reached through the bars and whacked me on the head! She was named Niban because at the time, we already had one cat (who ironically died about 3 weeks after we got Niban).
She’s been a great kitty, handling 6 kids always with aplomb and with aloofness when needed. When we adopted two kittens three years ago, she pointed out to them that it was her house, and they were welcome to visit, but it was her house.
Today is also our 11th anniversary. It’s been a wonderful time, with six kids here now, plus another on the way, due in December. I love my wife dearly. She saved my life, both physically and spiritually.
Creation Science
A recent editorial in the Columbus Dispatch slammed intelligent design pretty harshly, suggesting that it’s nothing more than a nice idea that has no grounding in “real” science.
Small doubts in legitimate science open the door for “theories” such as intelligent design to masquerade as science.
It’s interesting that they use the word “theory” in such a derogative way. The last I knew, evolution was only a “theory,” not having been proved (yet, as many scientists would say loudly).
But what of evolution? And by evolution, I’m talking about macro-evolution: where a particular species changes into another species. There’s long been talk about the evolutionists call the “missing link,” or the creature that came between ape and man. But what of the missing link between alligator and …uh…no, wait. How about the missing link between bears and…..hmm. Need a better example. How about the missing link between the platypus and…what? Ducks, otters, and…something else.
Evolutionists believe that most changes took thousands and thousands of years. Erosion is a prime example. Those who think the earth is billions of years old also believe the Grand Canyon was formed over the course of thousands upon thousands of years of water wearing the rock down. But there’s a canyon south of Mount St Helens that exhibits the same striation as the Grand Canyon, but it was formed in a matter of days, not centuries. How? By the huge quantity of water that moved through after Mount St Helens exploded in 1980. So if a large volume of water can do that on a smallish scale, can’t it do it on a much larger scale?
Imagine the volume of water it would take to cover Mount Everest. Now imagine that most of that water goes away over the course of nine months, evaporating and being blown about. That’s a lot of water. It’s perhaps more water than the human mind can comprehend. But then again, it’s hard for the human mind to comprehend what the platypus evolved from.
From the children…
We were driving up to deliver a meal to friends who lost their house to a fire. Thankfully, everyone is safe, although they’ve lost almost everything to the fire. All the kids were with us; I explained to them that not all of us would be going in to our friends’ apartment, since they were pretty worn out (the fire was just three days ago), and probably not really up to seeing anyone.
From the back of the van, my almost-6-year-old said, “Well, if I got to go in, I’d be very gentle with them.”
