Posts
All Comments
Ciao
My wife, Bridget, turned 30 this past Friday, and boy, did I get her good! What started out so fun but small turned into an elaborate 3 day adventure! You don't understand how hard it was to not let anything slip during the week. My friends and I tried a couple of times, but luckily, we caught ourselves and were able to give Bridge the surprisiest birthday party ever! (Yes, I made that word up.) Thank you to all the parties involved in helping to plan and participate in such a wonderful weekend. For the low down on the hoe down, check it out here.I am deep in thought. I have been since last night. At least, that's the best way for me to describe it. I do not feel sad; I do not feel depressed; I just feel ponderous. (side note: 2Nu song, anybody? Anybody?) I feel like the Holy Spirit is wanting to touch me - move me in some way, but am I hindering it? Oh, God, no! I don't wish to hinder Your spirit's move in my life. - Please, speak to me, Lord, for your child is
here, listening.
- I have read 2 Chronicles 13 & 14 and John 9:13-10:21
- Those who obey the Lord find peace. Obedience leads to peace - not necessarily with our enemies, but peace with God. Oh, Lord, teach me that I may obey your commands.
"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against
it." - G.K. Chesterton
15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day
whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the
other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Seasons change. Wisdom grows. Philosophies evolve. Passions intensify. God remains the same. Music reflects it all.
“Our home school community is a vital asset to this state. The way home schooling parents currently educate their children is a process that has worked fine, and I feel it is important for them to have the freedom in determining what will best serve their children’s needs.”
school Bobo or Bear until we moved to Altus. We have absolutely nothing against Altus schools, we just felt the Lord was telling us it was time to teach our children at home. Again, we pray about it before every school year, because we don't want to be disobedient to God. We will put them in the public school system as soon as God doesn't want us to home school anymore. This is the Lord's will for our life in this season, so we do it.
The guy is good. He loves Jesus, and he's not afraid to tell you about it. If anybody deserves all the fuss about him, it's Tim Tebow. I like the guy. I don't know him personally, but I'd like to. Goodness oozes from him. Some would argue that greatness oozes from him. Victory seems to follow the guy around. For Florida and Tebow fans, you can't talk enough about him. For Oklahoma and Sam Bradford fans, you can't shut up fast enough. All the praise and hype for Tebow is sweet music for the Florida faithful and fingernails on a chalkboard for Sooner Nation.14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.In a Roman victory procession, the Roman general would display the spoils of war, including any captives, amidst a cloud of incense burned for the gods. To the Romans, the victors, the smell was sweet, but to the captives, it was the stench of slavery and death. To the one, the smell was sweet victory, and to the other, it was bitter defeat.
mouth of Jar Jar Binks in Episode I)
These are just a few of the thoughts swimming around in my head. I have some of them on paper. I plan to post soon. As soon as I will make the time. Walking through a valley that includes some self employment is a 24 hour endeavor.
We want our music to be an extension of our heart - an extension and expression
Judge throws out robbery case: Victim is too HONEST
By JOHN COLES
Published: 14 Jan 2009
A DRIVING instructor robbed by savages as she gave a lesson was branded too GOOD a witness by a judge — who THREW OUT the case against a yob she identified. Beaten-up Denise Dawson, 36 — whose nose was broken by a gang that
surrounded her car — was hailed by Judge Jamie Tabor QC as “honest, utterly
decent and brave.”
But amazingly he ruled that her evidence against a lout she picked out in an ID parade was so compelling it would unfairly sway the jury. He awarded the mum of two £250 for her courage — but let accused robber Liam Perks, 20, walk free. Judge Tabor declared: “The jury may lend more weight to her evidence than her facts allow. You cannot be sure she got it right.”He added bizarrely: “Had this been the Archbishop of Canterbury’s son, would I have allowed (the trial) to go on? The answer is no.”
Horrified Denise said afterwards: “I felt sick. What more can I do? I positively identified someone from a video ID parade and was prepared to risk everything in
going to court. But it’s still not enough.”Denise, of Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, was practising hill starts with Jodie Dickinson, 26, when the thugs swooped.
One yob smashed her Ford Focus’s rear window with a brick and grabbed her laptop and £80 cash.
Denise told Bristol Crown Court others punched her in the face and stole her mobile.
Prosecutor Ed Burgess said Denise told cops at the ID parade: “It’s No7. I know that face. It made my stomach go over.”
The jury heard Perks, of Henbury, Bristol, is awaiting sentence for conspiracy to burgle.Last year Judge Tabor, 57, handed a suspended sentence to a wife who gave her cheating husband rat poison.
The dad of three also freed a pervert choirmaster, saying his 11-year-old victim
seemed to “enjoy” being abused.The Crown Prosecution Service defended the latest ruling — saying it too felt there was insufficient evidence against Perks.
But Labour MP Dan Norris said: “It’s bonkers. The message to
criminals is if it’s your word against theirs, no matter how trustworthy they
are you are likely to get away with it.”
j.coles@the-sun.co.uk
"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
Do yourself a favor and learn all you can; then remember what you learn and you will prosper.From the Message:
Grow a wise heart-you'll do yourself a favor; keep a clear head-you'll find a good life.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit. (NRSV)
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
"Like a Virgin: The Press Take On Teenage Sex"
"Virginity Pledges Don't Stop Teen Sex," screams CBS News. "Virginity pledges don't mean much," adds CNN. "Study questions virginity pledges," says the Chicago Tribune. "Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective, Study Finds," heralds the Washington Post. "Virginity Pledges Fail to Trump Teen Lust in Look at Older Data," reports Bloomberg. And on it goes.
In other words, teens will be teens, and moms or dads who believe that concepts such as restraint or morality have any application today are living in a dream world. Typical was the lead for the CBS News story: "Teenagers who take virginity pledges are no less sexually active than other teens, according to a new study."
Here's the rub: It just isn't true.
...the only way the study's author...could reach such results was by comparing teens who take a virginity pledge with a very small subset of other teens: those who are just as religious and conservative as the pledge-takers.
The first to notice something lost in the translation was Dr. Bernadine Healy...[who]...pointed out that "virginity pledging teens were considerably more conservative in their overall sexual behaviors than teens in general -- a fact that many media reports have missed cold."
What Dr. Healy was getting at is that the pledge itself is not what distinguishes these kids from most other teenagers. The real difference is their more conservative and religious home and social environment. As she notes, when you compare both groups in this study with teens at large, the behavioral differences are striking. Here are just a few:
- These teens generally have less risky sex, i.e., fewer sexual partners.
- These teens are less likely to have a teenage pregnancy, or to have friends who use drugs.
- These teens have less premarital vaginal sex.
- When these teens lose their virginity
they tend to do so at age 21 -- compared to 17 for the typical American teen.
- And very much overlooked, one out of four of these teens do in fact keep the pledge to remain chaste -- amid much cheap ridicule and just about zero support outside their homes or churches.
Let's put this another way. The real headline from this study is this: "Religious Teens Differ Little in Sexual Behavior Whether or Not They Take a Pledge."
What...parents hope to do is direct these [sexual] desires in a way that recognizes sex as a great gift, which in the right circumstances fosters genuine intimacy between a man and a woman and at its freest offers the possibility of new life.
[However,] these families live in an environment where most everything that is popular -- television, the movies, the Internet -- encourages children to grow up as quickly as possible while adults remain locked in perpetual adolescence.
For these parents, the good news here is that the striking behavioral differences between the average American teen and the two teen groups in this study show that homes and families still exert a powerful influence.
Related News From the WebAh, you never know what you might find when crossing the Kingdom. Father, help us to redeem this world.
The truth about teens and sex - The Boston Globe JAN 03. 2009 boston.com
Study: Religious Teens More Likely to Abstain from Sex JAN 03. 2009 foxnews.com
Virginity Pledges Don't Work, Study Finds DEC 29. 2008 news.aol.com
Abstinence Pledges Have No Effect On Sexual Behavior DEC 29. 2008 huffingtonpost.com
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff -
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.
Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.
