"HOW SHALL WE THEN LIVE?" Francis Schaeffer

Friday, September 30, 2005

O.J. & Inspector Clouseau

After the autograph signing, he’ll undoubtedly continue his search for the murderer of his wife Nicole and the truly unlucky – Ron Goldman.   O.J. claimed just the other day that he had searched all available golf courses and the murderer wasn’t teeing off on any of them.  His next goal is to investigate all the Yacht Clubs starting with Marina Del Ray.  

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 2005--As unbelievable as it seems, O.J. Simpson and his good friend and former teammate Al (A.C.) Cowlings will both make a public appearance in Los Angeles this weekend at the NecroComicon in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, Calif.
Simpson will sign autographs and pose for pictures for a fee starting at $95.00 per signature. Coincidentally, Simpson's appearance will coincide with the 10th anniversary of Simpson's acquittal for double murder charges.  (Hattip – Michelle Malkin)

Oh Where Marriage

Oh Where Marriage?




Marriage is on the rocks in Britain, with the proportion of unmarried people set to exceed that of married people within 25 years as more men and women opt to live together without constraints, according to government statistics published this week.
The proportion of married men is expected to fall from 53 percent in 2003 to 42 percent in 2031, while the percentage of married women will decline from 50 percent to 40 percent, Britain's Office for National Statistics predicted Thursday.
The "Population Trends" report predicted on the other hand that the number of unmarried couples living together will almost double from two million in 2003 to 3.8 million in 2031.
The projections are based on the recent steep fall in marriage rates for people aged under 30. As the older generation dies, a new generation of people who prefer living together to marriage will take their place.

It is likely that the United States will likely follow similar statistical trends.  “Shacking Up” seems to grow in popularity – at least among the males.  Marriage still seems a preference for most females but they’ll “shack up” hoping it will lead to the altar.
Women can be naïve can’t they!  JB


Article URL: http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/050930140708.k6bnuj54.html

IOWAHAWK hits the trifecta of humor

IOWAHAWK hits the trifecta.  A very, very funny post on “pork protection.”

Rainforest Iowa: Right For America, Right For Puppies
(image placeholder)Rainforest Iowa (artist's concept).
Hello everyone, this is David Burge. In my role as the internet’s ‘Iowahawk,’ it has been my privilege to entertain tens of readers like you around the globe with my quirky brand of wacky wisecracks, rib-tickling funny boners, and good ol' slapsticking ‘think-chucklers’ – or, as I call them, ‘thucklers.’
Yes, we’ve enjoyed a lot of wonderful thuckling together, you and I. But today, I’d like to take a moment to wipe off the greasepaint, put down the seltzer bottle, remove my baggy pants and bring your attention to a very important topic near and dear to my heart: the endangered Iowa rainforest.

The American future of Christianity

The American future of Christianity?   Brilliant Read by William Murchison

Meantime, it seems necessary to advise against Americans’ giving themselves pious airs. Ours is a culture that puts more trust in supernatural religion than does Europe’s—but not that much more. On the way to church, my wife and I sometimes joke about the comings and goings on the road: joggers, bicyclists, the lounging crowds at Starbucks. Guess they’re getting a quick refill for the ride to First Methodist, we might say with a wink, well knowing the patrons to be occupied with latte and laptops rather than Bibles.
The legacy of the Enlightenment weighs upon us, as upon our European co-religionists: religion as claptrap and show, churches and cathedrals as places you repair not for physical and spiritual connection to Reality itself but for the satisfaction of habits or social needs or goodness knows what else. Anyway, how to present Christian realities in the context of a culture wedded to choice, change, and the satisfaction of personal wants? The immediate satisfaction, I should add: not deferred to some Better Time. Now. And preferably with as little pain and inconvenience as possible.
Christianity—we should admit it—is un-modern. Or, rather, it is modern in the sense that it encompasses all eras: past, present, and future. What we might call the “modern spirit” is in fact detached from the Christian spirit.
………………………………
If anything could be said of the Church in the ensuing years and decades and centuries, it was that the Church spoke and acted boldly—with divine recklessness, even. Why? Because so it was commanded. The same Gospel that relays to us the news of Peter’s commission moves the matter briskly along, some chapters later: “Go ye therefore and teach all nations.”
What the Church said, essentially, over and over again, to whomever might be listening, was: “You need this. Upon it depends everything. Life, death, everything.”
…………………………………..
We find in Christ’s words a rather alarming promise—alarming to adversaries of the Faith.
It is that nothing they can do will polish off his church. Nothing. That would include, I imagine, multi-cultural instruction in schools, prohibitions of religious symbols, the extirpation of Christmas festivities on public property, even the forced emptying of the churches themselves. Persecution, nakedness, and the sword will likewise fail. Martin Luther turned the same perception to account: “The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him . . . For, lo, his doom is sure.” I think I am right in declaring this to be the consistent witness of the Church, in all times, all places.

NO to U.N. control of Internet

File the following story under “darn tootin’”

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press WriterThu Sep 29,10:35 AM ET
A senior U.S. official rejected calls on Thursday for a U.N. body to take over control of the main computers that direct traffic on the Internet, reiterating U.S. intentions to keep its historical role as the medium's principal overseer.
"We will not agree to the U.N. taking over the management of the Internet," said Ambassador David Gross, the U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy at the State Department. "Some countries want that. We think that's unacceptable."


Thursday, September 29, 2005

Gin, Women, Tobacco & M. Scott Peck R.I.P.

M. Scott Peck, author of a great book THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED has passed way dying of Parkinson’s disease.  

FAME has away of destroying those who give in to it.  Bottom line on Peck, when he died his wife of 43 years had left him.  Two out of his three children had nothing to do with him in the last few years.  He admitted to some affairs, admitted to being a serious drinker, and he saw himself, despite all these flaws, as a STAGE 4 person – the highest stage of human development.   He thought himself a prophet but his life gave the lie.
I’ve excerpted a few telling paragraphs.

READ the whole article
In the early Eighties, complaining that his patients were “slow” and “do not listen”, he wound down his private psychiatric practice and, on the back of the success of The Road and its sequels, took to the lecture circuit, charging by the end $15,000 a pop. The financial rewards compensated him for the enforced proximity with his readers, the more importunate of whom he condemned as “ghouls” and “leeches”. He has been as frank about his assessments of his family. He and his father, a wealthy New York lawyer in denial that he was half-Jewish, did not get on and Peck spent years in analysis sorting out his resentment of male authority figures (the old man died muttering that he still could not “get” The Road’s success). Peck, meanwhile, hated his elder brother David, whom he considered a sadist (before he died, David noted that, growing up, he had never seen Scotty’s “spiritual side”). He did like his mother, yet in Glimpses of the Devil he mentions her death with almost eerie dispassion, telling a priest who commiserated that she had been ill for years: “I was actually glad she had finally gotten her dying over with.”
I ask how he would rate himself as a father to his three children, two of whom, or so I gather, no longer speak to him. “There’s no question that I was less of a father than I should have been. On the other hand I’m not sure that I would have written books had I been the father I wished I’d been. I was not a bad father. I didn’t beat the children. I didn’t pay them no attention whatsoever, but I didn’t pay them the attention they deserved.”
Were the books worth the sacrifice?  “You speak as if I had a choice.”
I am speaking, after all, to the adult version of the eight-year-old boy who fantasized about making speeches to “the nations of the world”, a man who regularly hears God speak to him. Prophets do not select their vocations.
As for what kind of husband he made, it is for Lily to say and she seems to have voted with her feet. His books insist that his concept of a wife’s role matured over time and that he learnt to respect Lily’s own need to grow. This did not, however, prevent a patronizing tone entering his discussions of her. In his 1995 spiritual autobiography In Search of Stones, he chides her for using science fiction and fantasy literature as a “resort”. “ One of mine,” he goes on, as if there were an equivalence, “was to resort to sexual infidelity.” He writes that he is not proud of these affairs but that he was “questing through sexual romance for at least a brief visit to (God’s) castle”. I suppose, I say, women threw themselves at him on lecture tours. “I had opportunities, but it was not so many as you might think,” he replies, noting that a chronicler of the New Age movement praised him for maintaining boundaries between himself and his audience. “I used to protect myself very stringently.”
His stringency, however, did not stop one woman coming forward to claim he had bedded her at a spiritual growth seminar and recording her verdict that he was “a drunk and a womaniser”.

Perhaps M. Scott Peck’s epitaph should be the following:

Author of
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
But lived
THE “ME” ROAD; FAR TOO WIDELY TRAVELED.

Pastors & Temptations

(image placeholder)(image placeholder)Leadership Journal, Summer 2005
XXXchurch.com




Pornography is truly an insidious evil that seemingly affects more and more people through the wonders of the internet. For those of us who hold to Biblical values we must not cease to confess the evils of pornography and we must not cease to pursue personal purity.
However, we must not claim moral superiority, which we do not hold, but we must proclaim the power of God to transform lives and the power of God to break “bonds of addiction,” whatever that addiction might be.

In my own life I find myself needing to be very careful about internet viewing habits and very needful of God working in my MIND particularly. The personal pursuit of God is indeed a “life or death matter.”

Thanks to Christiantytoday.com Leadershipjournal.net

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Polygamous Marriages

So, on what legal basis can the United States now say “NO” to polygamous marriages?  Someone tell me please.

First Trio "Married" in The NetherlandsThe Brussels Journal ^ | 2005-09-27 | Paul Belien
Posted on 09/28/2005 5:18:08 PM PDT by bahblahbah
The Netherlands and Belgium were the first countries to give full marriage rights to homosexuals. In the United States some politicians propose “civil unions” that give homosexual couples the full benefits and responsibilities of marriage. These civil unions differ from marriage only in name.
Meanwhile in the Netherlands polygamy has been legalised in all but name. Last Friday the first civil union of three partners was registered. Victor de Bruijn (46) from Roosendaal “married” both Bianca (31) and Mirjam (35) in a ceremony before a notary who duly registered their civil union.
“I love both Bianca and Mirjam, so I am marrying them both,” Victor said. He had previously been married to Bianca. Two and a half years ago they met Mirjam Geven through an internet chatbox. Eight weeks later Mirjam deserted her husband and came to live with Victor and Bianca. After Mirjam’s divorce the threesome decided to marry.  MORE

Monday, September 26, 2005

"The Cone of Silence"

One of the running gags on GET SMART starring the late Don Adams was “the cone of silence.”  The cone was a clear, plexiglass contraption that theoretically lowered from the ceiling providing a cover over any 2 individuals talking face to face.  Usually it was Maxwell Smart calling for the cone to be used when having conversations with “The Chief” played wonderfully well by the late Edward Platt.  The Cone NEVER WORKED.  It got stuck, it dropped, it knocked hats off, turned heads and reduced conversations to bellows as the 2 protagonist attempted to communicate with each other.  Anytime Maxwell called for “the cone of silence” you knew you were about to experience a thoroughly enjoyable minute of comedy gold.

Now, in real time,  the late Don Adams has entered the true “cone of silence.”  We here on planet Earth will not hear from him again.  We’re not at all sure what lies behind the door of death; the reality is – nobody comes back to tell us.  Oh yes there have always been frauds and charlatans claiming to know what goes on inside “the cone of silence” but they don’t.  We too, just like Don Adams, are headed for “the cone of silence.”  Once we enter the cone we will never again communicate love to our families, appreciation to those who have been kind and merciful to us, or wisdom to those who would seek it.  

If you’re reading this post you have not yet entered “the cone of silence.”  You still have time to express love, appreciation, support and empathy to those around you.

We fantasize that the “grim reaper” dogs our footsteps but what really awaits us is the cone of silence.  Don Adams won’t be calling us on his shoe phone.  He won’t be writing notes in secret code and he’ll never be a blogger.  He’s entered into the silent world.  We’ll enter it too.   It is not too late to tell friends and family that you love them.  I’m as guilty as anybody else for being less than communicative about my love for family and friends.  I can change; so can you.  JB

Maxwell Smart R.I.P.

Bad culture confession time.  In earlier decades of my life, I loved GET SMART starring the late Don Adams.  It was on only 4 years; It shoulda been on 6 more.  I was sorry to see that Don Adams has died
R.I.P. Maxwell.  May it be true that you knew The Living God.

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C. Johnson
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Suffering is redemptive

(Found on Hugh Hewitt’s onetruegodblog.com – a must read)

Why Suffer?
by David Allen White
Perhaps the most obsessive idea in the Modern Age is the avoidance of suffering. The Temple of Science will cure our bodily ailments and create a climate-controlled perfect environment in which we can live in perpetual comfort; the Nanny State will pamper us from cradle to grave assuring that no unhappiness or trouble ever touches us; Feelgood Belief Systems will chatter endlessly about "luv, luv, luv" where religion is roses without thorns. We do not wish to suffer. Who does? But from the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden, through the captivity and wanderings of the Chosen People, through the agony of Abraham to sufferings of Job, up to the Passion and Crucifixion of Our Lord, God instructs us otherwise. Suffering is necessary; suffering is just; suffering is redemptive.

“Suffering is redemptive” – to bad redemption is rarely painless but David Allen White is correct, “suffering is redemptive.”

Quote of the Moment

Quote of the Moment:
The radicals of one generation become the pharisees of the next.- Unknown         (found on www.thinklings.org)

Quote of the Moment

Quote of the Moment:
The radicals of one generation become the pharisees of the next.- Unknown         (found on www.thinklings.org)

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Insanity Runs Amuck

We’ll call this post  INSANITY RUNS AMUCK

Women bypass sex in favour of 'instant pregnancies'By Charlotte Edwardes and Andrew Alderson(Filed: 25/09/2005)
Women are increasingly seeking inappropriate IVF treatment because they do not have the time or inclination for a sex life and want to "diarise" their busy lives.

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Wealthy career women in their 30s and early 40s, some of whom have given up regular sex altogether, are turning to "medicalised conception" - despite being fertile and long before they have exhausted the possibility of a natural conception.
They are prepared to pay thousands of pounds for private IVF treatments - even though they have unpleasant and potentially harmful side effects - because they believe it offers them the best chance of "instant" pregnancy.
Whole article

There is so much I could say and am tempted to say and maybe should say but….  Frankly I’m a coward.
Healthy married adults forgo sex for kids; choose invasive medical procedures instead.  Doesn’t that sound crazy to you?

Explaining Hurricanes and such

In 2005 we’ve experienced Hurricane Katrina and Rita ; both providing devastating blows to life, property, economic well-being and feelings of security.  For all of us, when tragedy and trial strikes, we ask “where is God?”

Mark D. Roberts points us towards ancient scripture that deals with our struggles.  His commentary accompanies it.

Romans 8 acknowledges "the sufferings of this present time" (v. 18), and explains that these are a result of the brokenness of creation (vv. 20-22).
Romans 8 recognizes that sometimes we "groan" in pain, even as creation metaphorically groans along with us (vv.22-23).
Romans 8 offers the hope of a renewed creation, when it "will be set free from its bondage to decay" (v. 21).
Romans 8 recognizes that sometimes we don't even know how to pray (v. 26). This can be reassuring to folks who have run out of words. Their experience is common, and God has not shut His heart to them just because they can't find the right words in prayer.
Romans 8 reveals that in those times, the Holy Spirit helps us to pray, and, in the mystery of the Trinity, the Spirit even "intercedes" for us (vv. 26-27). What this means is God is profoundly on our side, even though our experience is painful and confusing, and it can seem like God is against us.
Romans 8 proclaims a mystery, namely, that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (v. 28). Even in hurricanes and floods and terrible suffering, God is at work, bringing eternal good out that which, on a human level, is horrendous. Thus even the most apparently meaningless horrors will somehow be given meaning in God's mysterious providence.
Romans 8 teaches the amazing truth that "God is for us" (v. 31). How do we know this? Because he gave up his own Son for us (v. 32).
Romans 8 assures us that nothing "will separate us from the love of Christ" (v. 35). Included in the list of that which cannot take us away from His love we find "hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword" (v. 35). Were Paul writing today, he might well have added "hurricanes, or tsunamis, or flu epidemics, or terrorism."
Romans 8 concludes with one of the most astounding and reassuring passages in all of Scripture. These verses needed to be quoted, not summarized:
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, no height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (vv. 38-39).
This, perhaps more than anything else, is what I would want the victims of the hurricanes to know. They may feel like God is distant or non-existent. It may seem like God has turned His back. But the truth is this: Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing.

Dr. Robert’s complete article is found  HERE compliments of Hugh Hewitt’s blog   ONETRUEGODBLOG.COM

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Lord Byron & Lady Caroline

The Regency period in England has been oft used as a backdrop for modern love novels; sometimes known as “bodice rippers.”  Frankly, among the aristocracy it had a certain “Sodom and Gomorrah” style.  Two still famous individuals from that era were Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb.  For a year or so they turned London on its head.  Of course it ended badly.  Both Lord Byron and Lady Caroline were actually “psycho” but the masses were entertained.  Aniston, Pitt and Jolie couldn’t hold a candle to Byron and Lamb.  

What is amazing is this; 2 centuries later we still know all about them and much is still written about them.  Ah,  Hollywood’s been around for ever actually.

Read all about it  HERE

The effect upon Caroline was brutal.  She was physically ill and had to seek rest in Cornwall, where she was also bled.  Upon her arrival in London, she began to write Lady Oxford as well, threatening to tell Lord Oxford of the affair.  The countess laughed at the threat but Byron was understandably troubled. 
    Byron soon returned to London and saw Caroline at various social events.  Face-to-face, the poet could not be particularly nasty.  They had a few brief civil conversations.  Caroline was still torn by jealousy and regrets.  In the last year, with Byron safely away, she had struggled to repair her marriage but heartbreak and indecision left their mark.  She was now emotionally agitated and her figure increasingly emaciated.  Byron remarked to Lady Melbourne that he was 'haunted by a skeleton.'  He was both repulsed and fascinated by her devotion.  During the Christmas season, while Byron stayed with the Oxfords, Caroline held a dramatic bonfire at the Melbourne country home in Hertfordshire.  Village girls dressed in white danced while Caroline threw copies of his letters and other tokens into the fire.  A figure of Byron was even burned in effigy while her page recited lines she had written:  'Burn, fire, burn, while wondering boys exclaim,/ And gold and trinkets glitter in the flame.' 


Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Working Harvard Mothers

Twas reading some of the response to an NYT article analyzed in the washingtonmonthly.com – a liberal/progressive website run by Kevin Drum.
The article found that something like 80% of the female students at the Ivy League schools intended to become mothers and cut back on working or stop working as they could.  Here’s one response by a progressive to the news that women at the Ivy League schools might choose motherhood as their first option.

I mean, seriously, what excuse is there for women to choose to go to, say, Harvard Law School if they fully intend to quit the law and become Mommies after only a few years of work? So that they can boast of their fine education the remainder of their lives? Why should society indulge their narcissism here? Why on earth should we admire them? Isn't it particularly shameless of them to waste the resources they have consumed when they can do so only because they marry well enough that they can afford to become full time Mommies? Need I note that working class women are not afforded the luxury of cutting out of work just because they feel it would be a nice thing to do?
Has there ever been a more spoiled species of human being than these self-indulgent members of the elite?

Whoa!  So this writer believes a woman should not avail herself of opportunities for an elite education if she intends to take the Mommy track.  Velly Interestante.

Billy Madison quote

I never saw the movie but I’m impressed by the quote.  ( hattip  Ace of Spades)

a quote from Billy Madison:
What you just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I've ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having heard it. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul.

Now that’s fierce.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

John Wayne westerns

John Wayne westerns explained brilliantly by Roger Ebert.  I love John Wayne westerns.  What that says about “moi” remains to be analyzed.

In this case, the story itself doesn't matter much. We go to a classic John Wayne Western not to see anything new, but to see the old done again, done well, so that we can sink into the genre and feel confident we won't be betrayed. To some degree Wayne movies are rituals, and so it is fitting that they resemble each other. "El Dorado" was a remake of Hawks' "Rio Bravo" (1958), and "Rio Lobo" draws from both of them. (It is said that when Hawks called Wayne and offered to send over the script, Wayne replied, "Why bother? I've already made the movie twice.")

Words for Today

Sent to me by my Sis in Seattle who Salivates for the Seahawks while Sipping Soda by the Simpering Stream.  (That line’s all mine!)

An earful of iPod users
A roll of tootsies
A whine of teenagers
A cacophony of DJs
A barf of bulimics
A stonish of wonders (very clever)
A bling of celebrities
A wanding of airport screeners
A conjugation of grammarians
A flight of runaway brides
A pride of expectant fathers
A lot of used car salesmen (I'd vote for that for first place)
A pinch of shoplifters
A stupor of television viewers
A screech of American Idol contestants
A tangle of hairdressers

She says she subscribes to the e-mail A word for A Day (or something like it).

Monday, September 19, 2005

High School Daze

High School Daze or Pranks A Lot

Teenager arrested after streaking high school wearing only a gorilla mask
UNION SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — Some may have called it monkeying around, but school officials didn't find the stunt amusing.
A 17-year-old student was arrested Monday after streaking through his high school wearing only a gorilla mask and outrunning the school principal.
Union Springs High School Principal Kimberle Ward -- who said she runs three to five miles a day -- couldn't catch the fleeing student, but she was able to help police identify the teen after watching a hallway surveillance camera video and interviewing students.

I understand the tape from the hallway surveillance camera is going on sale tomorrow over the internet.  <grin>  NOT

I reckon Mister Gorilla Mask will have difficulty living this one down;  however, instant cult status has surely been achieved.  So there’s the good and the bad.  All that FAME; yet all that SHAME!   JB

Enough about ME - Not

My funny paragraph of the day   (Myrna Blyth – NationalReview.Com)


As an interviewer, Martha [Stewart] is like the person who talks about herself for 20 minutes non-stop and then says, "Enough about me. Let's talk about you. What do you think of me?"

This appeals to me – particularly me.  Shouldn’t your life by all about me?  Mine is!  Sigh – No fame, No glory, No money.  And then there’s Paris Hilton.   JB

ONETRUEGODBLOG.COM

ONETRUEGODBLOG.COM

Hugh Hewitt, lawyer, radio personality and fan of any team that plays USC has started a new blog where he intends that 5 theologians will answer a set of questions that are of interest to the general populace.

His chosen theologians are:

Dr. Al Mohler
Dr. John Mark Reynolds
Dr. Mark D. Roberts
Amy Welborn
Dr. Charles Allen White

The first 3 gentlemen are staunch Evangelicals;  Amy Welborn and Dr. White are both staunch Catholics.  

Hugh’s opening question is about Demons.  Dr. Reynolds initial response caught my eye.

Why I Believe in Demons, Regretfully
by Mark D. Roberts
First, a confession: I have not seen The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and may not see it at all. Not that I think it's wrong to see this film. Rather, it reminds me too much of the last time I mixed it up with an exorcist.
It was 1973, and I was a junior in high school. About ten o'clock one evening I picked up William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist, thinking that I'd knock off a couple of chapters before bed. "Fool!" to quote Mr. T. By the time I stopped reading it was 4:30 in the morning, and I had finished the entire book. Yet, no matter how tired I felt, there was no sleeping for me that night. Sleeplessness became a familiar bedfellow over the next several weeks as I tried in vain to put The Exorcist out of my mind.

Demons make me nervous.  I used to laughing remind a few of the people who worked under my auspices that “we don’t do demons.”  As a counselor I preferred that we stick to psychological problems not demonic ones.   Ah well, the blog should be velly interesting.  I’m sure I’ll keep up with it.  After all it features a couple of my favorite theologians.  JB

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Earthquake Time?

My bride of 30 plus years spent a couple of years in the mid 70’s working at Cal Tech in the SEISMOLOGY department.  Dr. Richter (of the Richter Scale) was then an emeritus prof. but still came by frequently so she did get to meet him.  Anyhow her work there certainly made us even more interested in the whole earthquake thing and we’ve followed it pretty closely though we no longer live in earthquake territory.  We’ve traded in the instant terror of being in an earthquake to the 7-day-dread of a Cat. 5 hurricane.  Ya know, I think I prefer the unexpected earthquakes.  They come, they go away real quick.  You’re only afraid of dying for about 30 seconds; then it’s over.  Of course you have to live with the forever appearing articles and shows predicting the next big one.  And it will happen.   HERE’s the latest excerpted by Glen Reynolds of Instapundit.com.

WORRIES FOR CANADA:
A silent tectonic event, so powerful it has shifted southern Vancouver Island out to sea, but so subtle nobody has felt a thing, is slowly unfolding on the West Coast.
Scientists who are tracking the event with sensitive seismographs and earth orbiting satellites warn it could be a trigger for a massive earthquake -- some time, maybe soon.
Let's hope not.

Let’s hope not indeed.  But you never know.   BTW, there are NO really old buildings in L.A. County.  About the oldest you’re gonna see are early 50’s buildings.  Even parts of my high school built in the early 60’s have been condemned.  That happens.

I predict the next major earthquake will be the fault of



George W. Bush of course.  And this time, if FEMA isn’t passing out water and sandwiches within a half hour,  George’s opponents will be on T.V. taking their potshots.

The House of the Father

On Pope John Paul’s death

By FRANCES D'EMILIO& ASSOCIATED PRESSPublished on 9/18/2005
Vatican City — Struggling to swallow and breathe, Pope John Paul II mumbled his final words weakly in Polish: “Let me go to the house of the Father.” Six hours later, the comatose pontiff died, the Vatican says.

It’s Sunday morning 6:30 a.m. as I write this.  And it is a good time to say in the words of the dying Pope, “Let me go to the house of the Father.”
If you’re up early and happen to be reading this I hope you will avail yourself of the opportunity to attend the House of the Lord this morning where you can Glorify God and have your soul renewed.  JB

Saturday, September 17, 2005

God "who thunders from Sinai"

Found on Thinklings – Quote of the Moment

Why do people choose the substitute over God himself? Probably the most important reason is that it obviates accountability to God. We can meet idols on our own terms because they are our own creations. They are safe, predictable, and controllable; they are, in Jeremiah's colorful language, the 'scarecrows in a cornfield' (10:5). They are portable and completely under the user's control. They offer nothing like the threat of a God who thunders from Sinai and whose providence in this world so often appears to us to be incomprehensible and dangerous . . . [People] need face only themselves. That is the appeal of idolatry.- David F. Wells

Friday, September 16, 2005

A reason to vote against John Roberts?

From a funny comment made on Ed Morrisey's post in his blog - Captain's Quarters.

J.P Stafford

"After watching three days of 'confirmation' hearings, I have realized that this is the most disgusting, one-sided, bulldozing power play that ever bore the name 'committee hearing'. For Judge Roberts to come out and unleash such a firestorm of intellectual power on a group of unsuspecting and unarmed Leaders of the Liberal Left, and without regard to the damage to the vast undisturbed wilderness of their minds, metaphorically speaking, was just APPALLING. Has this man no heart?"

The First Rule of Holes

A wonderful paragraph from Ed Morrisey in his post critiquing the Judiciary Committee during the John Roberts hearing.

"And then, just when one would suspect that the Democrats might have remembered the First Rule Of Holes -- when you find yourself in one, stop digging -- the entire panel demanded a third round of questioning to continue the debacle. Overjoyed, Karl Rove must have sacrificed yet another goat to the political gods. All the Republicans had to do was to relax, sit back, be boring, and let the Democrats continue to bury themselves in their own animosity, and they proved themselves masters at all four tasks. (That, by the way, isn't a compliment.)


In the Democratic senator's behalf; after reading the Daily Kos and the Democratic Underground; it appears that most progressives want the Senators to commit Hari Kari if necessary to stop George Bush from having his nominee appointed. Reality (the nomination of John Roberts cannot be stopped other than by an act of God) plays no part in the Democrat's extreme base.

Boy Brains Girl Brains

Boy Brains, Girl Brains
Are separate classrooms the best way to teach kids?
(read)


Velly Interesting!

Thursday, September 15, 2005

The Religious Left on John Roberts

SO, what does the religiously left-wing  blogosphere think about John Roberts as possible Chief Justice of the United States:

Roe v Wade is a diversion (none / 0)
The real agenda of Roberts and the right is to shore up the legal foundation for establishing an oppressive corporate feudal state, based on a morally inverted variant of Christianity.
Roe and other hot-button religious issues form a major part of the legal support structure, which involves forced religious indoctrination and the denial of science education.
The right is implementing a corporate takeover of the United States, seeking to rule over herds of unquestioning, religiously indoctrinated cattle.  That's their dream, and they're working hard to achieve it.
Moooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
“…forced religious indoctrination and the denial of science education.”  My goodness, religious conservatives are an evil cabal.  

I’m really mad now;  nobody told me about the “forced” religious indoctrination.  Hm, obviously I’m not getting the Memos from Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and the rest.  And I thought I was signed up! <grin>


If we don't shut him down (none / 1)
then stick a fork in our country, we're done.
There should be no negotiating with this failure of an admin.  They should get not one more thing for their agenda as they have now proven to have a craven indifference toward human life.
After Robert's they can keep Diebolding and Supreme courting their way into office over and over then they can censor and say it was the will of the majority.
Katrina happened.  We should not even be having hearings on anything else.

So let me get this straight.  If John Roberts ( who actually does seem moderate to me) gets elected, the country is done for.   And then of course the Republicans have a craven indifference for human life.

The irony of that last statement should be plain.  Progressives, liberals and the Democratic party have voted over and over again that the lives of the most Innocent and the most Vulnerable (babies and pre-born) are not to be protected.    MERCY!    “Craven indifference for human life indeed.”


From a liberal point of view we could only hope that he is lying to us all and intends to turn on his past associates and be a fair judge. I can only suspect he is a well groomed plant who has been earmarked for this job for decades.    

Sigh – Ya know, I just don’t know what to say.


And I, think really, the only thing worse than a racist, sexist, plutocratic man is a racist, sexist, plutocratic man who doesn't realize what he really is...

Racist, Sexist Plutocrat; it doesn’t get any worse than that.  I’m surprised they haven’t hung him from the nearest yardarm.


I think that the only way to defeat Roberts right now is to convince moderate or sane conservative senators that he's either evil or mentally ill.
To derail the nomination process, you have to find babysitters that Roberts has pawed, former boyfriends who still love him, or other Nancy Grace fodder. (Come to think of it, is there some way to imply that ROBERTS is the one who abducted Natalie Holloway????)

Speaking of “mentally ill,”  re-read the last 2 paragraphs!

Well, enough of this.  HATE is a bad thing; unless, of course, you’re the infamous and ubiquitous “Chip” of  hatemongersquarterly.blogspot.com
Have a good day will ya.




Wednesday, September 14, 2005

FOGHORN LEGHORN and the Senate


"Pay attention to me boy. I'm not talkin' just to hear my head roar. No no no, ya doin' it all wrong."
"What's the big, I say what's the big idea. Don't stand there gawkin' son, speak up. Now cu, I say cut that out, what's it all about boy, elucidate!"
"I keep pitchin' em and you keep missin' 'em. Ya way off, I say ya way off this time son."
"Say something! Explain yourself! Your tongue's flappin' but no noise is coming outta your big mouth!"
"But I got, I say, I gotta show the little egghead I still got a couple of tricks up my sleeve. Smart boy, got a mind like a steel trap...full of mice."

Possibly some of you reading this blog never had the joy and privilege of watching the cartoon character FOGHORN LEGHORN!  But if you’d like to know what his character was like,  just watch the Senate confirmation hearings on John Roberts.  
If you’re not  quaking with fear as you begin to realize that 100 utter buffoons are the people who make the laws of the country then you just haven’t come to grips with reality.

OKAY, Not ALL 100 are utter buffoons but “dang me” it’s  close.  JB

(hattip to the Volokh Conspiracy)

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Gravitas and the Soul - Leadership Journal written by Craig Barnes allofit

The old pastors used to call it gravitas. You just cannot be ordained without it.

Gravitas is a condition of the soul that has developed enough spiritual mass to attract other souls. It makes the soul appear old, but gravitas has nothing to do with age. It has everything to do with scars that have healed well, failures that have been redeemed, sins that have been forgiven, and thorns that have settled into the flesh.

Gravitas expands the soul until it is larger than the body that contains it, large enough to hold the truth of the Word of God. And, like gravity, it pulls others not to the pastor but to the holy work that has occurred within the pastor's soul.

This gravity isn't a commodity that can be purchased with seminary tuition payments. It certainly isn't found in a library. A weighty soul has to be developed the hard way.

The early church found gravitas through persecution. The desert fathers and monks found it by abandoning comfort and entering a vocation of prayer. Most of the reformers found it in prison. The slaves found it by singing spirituals under the baking sun in the cotton fields. And pastors find gravitas in the congregation.



I believe gravitas comes with pain and grief. It also comes with great faith; acknowledging your are helpless and have no control; then acknowledging that God is God -- and I'm not.

Radically follow Jesus Christ and you'll have gravitas. He will prepare you for it.

Monday, September 12, 2005

TECHNOLOGY cures no CHURCH

TECHNOLOGY is basically amoral; it’s neither good nor bad in and of itself.  How it is used, for good or for evil, presents the dilemma for modern man.

And then there is the church and modern technology.  I’ll admit to struggling with a kettle-full of ambivalence.  (Ambivalence is best described by the scenario where your despised mother-in-law accidentally drives your new and beloved Lexus over the cliff.)

The Barna Update: A bi-weekly e-mail from George Barna
Churches have jumped on the technology bandwagon in a pretty big way during the first five years of the third millennium. In this week’s report we explore how many Protestant churches are using ministry tools such as a church website, a large-screen projection system, e-mail blasts to congregants, a satellite dish for receiving broadcasts, and electronic funds transfer for donations. We also examined how many churches provide pew Bibles and use live drama presentations and video presentations in their services. Want to know how things are changing? Check out this week’s free Barna Update by clicking on this link below or by going to The Barna Group’s home page at www.barna.org
I go to a technologically modern church but I’m not always thrilled about it.  I’ve decided I could do without the background scenes.  I’d rather read the Scripture out of The Book than see it cast upon the screen.  Pastoral notes are nice but I wonder if they don’t distract from what the Word is saying.  
I like the praise music but I’ve grown a greater appreciation for the old hymns; drama groups are okay in moderation and over amplification of anything should be added to the list of original sins.  Simple yet profound preaching with true prayer and worship would suit me just fine.  
My pastor/friend suggest my approach would lead to a mighty small church.
Ya know, he could be very right but I’m not sure it would matter to me.
Give me less technology and more WORD!  JB

"Code is Poetry"

R U thinking of blogging?  There is a new blogger tool available – wordpress.org.  I like what they’ve got to say.

WordPress was born out of a desire for an elegant, well-architectured personal publishing system built on PHP and MySQL and licensed under the GPL. It is the official successor of b2/cafelog. WordPress is fresh software, but its roots and development go back to 2001. It is a mature and stable product. We hope by focusing on user experience and web standards we can create a tool different from anything else out there.

Now I’m clueless when it comes to “PHP” or “MySQL” particularly when licensed under “GPL.”  But it certainly sounds good.

Anyhow you might think about taking a look;  and speaking from personal experience – blogging is a lot of fun.  JB

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Reading assignment for the day:  SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD – by Jonathan Edwards,  Congregational pastor and past President of Princeton University.

This of course was/is the antidote to I’M OK, YOU’RE OKAY by the late Thomas Harris.

If you’ve never read Jonathan Edwards sermon; you should.  JB


Sunday, September 11, 2005

Four Years Later


  • Four Years Later

And then there were the jumpers….    read

THEY BEGAN JUMPING NOT LONG after the first plane hit the North Tower, not long after the fire started. They kept jumping until the tower fell. They jumped through windows already broken and then, later, through windows they broke themselves. They jumped to escape the smoke and the fire; they jumped when the ceilings fell and the floors collapsed; they jumped just to breathe once more before they died. They jumped continually, from all four sides of the building, and from all floors above and around the building's fatal wound. They jumped from the offices of Marsh & McLennan, the insurance company; from the offices of Cantor Fitzgerald, the bond-trading company; from Windows on the World, the restaurant on the 106th and 107th floors—the top. For more than an hour and a half, they streamed from the building, one after another, consecutively rather than en masse, as if each individual required the sight of another individual jumping before mustering the courage to jump himself or herself. One photograph, taken at a distance, shows people jumping in perfect sequence, like parachutists, forming an arc composed of three plummeting people, evenly spaced. Indeed, there were reports that some tried parachuting, before the force generated by their fall ripped the drapes, the tablecloths, the desperately gathered fabric, from their hands. They were all, obviously, very much alive on their way down, and their way down lasted an approximate count of ten seconds. They were all, obviously, not just killed when they landed but destroyed, in body though not, one prays, in soul. One hit a fireman on the ground and killed him; the fireman's body was anointed by Father Mychal Judge, whose own death, shortly thereafter, was embraced as an example of martyrdom after the photograph—the redemptive tableau—of firefighters carrying his body from the rubble made its way around the world.

You have to take a big gulp of air when you realize that it was so bad on the towers that dozens or a couple of hundred people willing jumped to their death from incredible heights.  They thought it was better to die that way then the other options; being burned to death or buried by a collapsing building.

Don’t forget the jumpers.  It could have been me; it could have been you.  JB

Thursday, September 08, 2005

The humor of Ronald

"I think of one of my favorite Reagan stories: While governor, he is on one of the California campuses, leaving a regents’ meeting. And a student mob surrounds his car. They are chanting, “We are the future! We are the future!” Reagan reaches for a notepad, scribbles something on it, and puts it to the window: “I’ll sell my bonds.”

(Jay Nordlinger - NationalReview.com)


He did have a sense of humor! JB

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Gilligan & Maynard G. Krebs R.I.P.

Bob Denver died last weekend from cancer at the age of 70.  I will miss him.  His two characters
( Maynard G Krebs and Gilligan ) were always perfectly played;  the bumbling, but lovable good guy.

Here's to you Bob!  You entertained us for a couple of decades.  Your re-runs entertain our children and grandchildren.  

I hope Bob that you do indeed Rest In Peace.  

The Five SOLAS defined

THESIS ONE: SOLA SCRIPTURA            ( Read ALL of article)We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured.We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation.


THESIS TWO: SOLUS CHRISTUS: We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father.We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ's substitutionary work is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited.


THESIS THREE: SOLA GRATIAWe reaffirm that in salvation we are rescued from God's wrath by his grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life.We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods, techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation. Faith is not produced by our unregenerated human nature.


THESIS FOUR: SOLA FIDE: We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ's righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God's perfect justice.We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ's righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.

THESIS FIVE: SOLI DEO GLORIA: We reaffirm that because salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God's glory and that we must glorify him always. We must live our entire lives before the face of God, under the authority of God and for his glory alone.We deny that we can properly glorify God if our worship is confused with entertainment, if we neglect either Law or Gospel in our preaching, or if self-improvement, self-esteem or self-fulfillment are allowed to become alternatives to the gospel.

From the Cambridge Declaration of the alliance of confessing Evangelicals

The Five Solas

Here’s something that I did not know.  These 5 “Solas” should be the filters by which we look at and analyze our churches, our religious institutions.  When they (the churches and institutions) begin to stray from any of the five I believe you have serious problems.

There are five "Solas" of the Reformation:
Scripture Alone,
Christ Alone,
Grace Alone,
Faith Alone, and
God's Glory Alone.

If we fail to acknowledge all, we run the risk of an unbalanced and misunderstood faith.


Monday, September 05, 2005

TRIBES - it makes a difference

Bill Whittle of EJECT EJECT EJECT has written a long, but utterly fascinating post he calls  TRIBES.  Now Bill doesn’t pull any punches and he’s both profane and testoterone loaded BUT he has some fascinating insights.  Let me share one of his….

I live in both worlds. In entertainment, everything is Pink, the color of Angelyne’s Stingray – it’s exciting and dynamic and glamorous. I’m also a pilot, and I know honest-to-God rocket scientists, and combat flight crews and Special Ops guys -- stone-cold Grey, all of them -- and am proud and deeply honored to call them my friends.
The Pink Tribe is all about feeling good: feeling good about yourself! Sexually, emotionally, artistically – nothing is off limits, nothing is forbidden, convention is fossilized insanity and everybody gets to do their own thing without regard to consequences, reality, or natural law. We all have our own reality – one small personal reality is called “science,” say – and we Make Our Own Luck and we Visualize Good Things and There Are No Coincidences and Everything Happens for a Reason and You Can Be Whatever You Want to Be and we all have Special Psychic Powers and if something Bad should happen it’s because Someone Bad Made It Happen. A Spell, perhaps.
The Pink Tribe motto, in fact, is the ultimate Zen Koan, the sound of one hand clapping: EVERYBODY IS SPECIAL.
Then, in the other corner, there is the Grey Tribe – the grey of reinforced concrete. This is a Tribe where emotion is repressed because Emotion Clouds Judgment. This is the world of Quadratic Equations and Stress Risers and Loads Torsional, Compressive and Tensile, a place where Reality Can Ruin Your Best Day, the place where Murphy mercilessly picks off the Weak and the Incompetent, where the Speed Limit is 186,282.36 miles per second, where every bridge has a Failure Load and levees come in 50 year, 100 year and 1000 Year Flood Flavors.
The Grey Tribe motto is, near as I can tell, THINGS BREAK SOMETIMES AND PLEASE DON’T LET IT BE MY BRIDGE.

Bill goes on to describe Pink leadership and Gray Leadership.  Guess who’s no good in a real emergency?  Can you guess?  That’s right; those feel good Pinks of the “can’t we all just get along” tribe rarely have the cojones to make tough decision – really tough decisions.  Because tough decisions expose you to extreme abuse and hatred.   The Pinks don’t want to be hated so instead of making touch decisions they simply wait hoping somebody or something will take care of the problem.  
Unluckily, I have my share of Pink.  I really don’t like to be hated and I am a kind of inclusive person.  But my mind is always planning;  planning how to prepare for emergencies and practicing what I should do if one happens.
Anyhow, if you can handle a little profanity and a lot of reading,  Bill Whittle’s article is truly thought provoking.  JB

Operation Restore Debauchery

SCOTT OTT (Scrappleface) writes some pretty funny stuff.  Here’s the last paragraph on one of his most recent posts.    

Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokesman today announced that the security operation, designed to return New Orleans to its pre-hurricane condition, has been code named 'Operation Restore Debauchery'.


What is to become of New Orleans; that is a legitimate question.  Surely it will be a different place before all of this is over.  Quite probably all wooden structures, after a few weeks of being soaked in water, will no longer be usable.  That means a whole lot of the city structures will no longer be usable.
Secondly, I wonder how many people will come back.  
BIG QUESTIONS      yet to be answered.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

The chief justice meets THE CHIEF JUSTICE


U.S. Chief Justice Rehnquist dead at 80
Reuters - 2 hours, 2 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, a conservative force on the Supreme Court for over 30 years, died on Saturday after battling thyroid cancer since October, a court spokeswoman said.

Within the last few hours our chief justice has met THE CHIEF JUSTICE.
The chief justice has moved out of the life-on-earth phase and into another phase.  The power, status, fame and glory he acquired here on earth now counts for naught.  He faces THE CHIEF JUSTICE with no more status than the midnight floor sweeper at your local Taco Bell.  His degrees, his titles, his opinions and rulings mean nothing in the eternal court.  The only decision that matters now is the one he made about whether he would accept the Kingship of THE CHIEF JUSTICE in his life or whether he ultimately rejected the Kingship of THE CHIEF JUSTICE.
That’s it;  one simple decision in a lifetime of decisions will determine his eternal existence.

I wonder if the chief justice ever acknowledged THE CHIEF JUSTICE


Saturday, September 03, 2005

Looters are atheist at heart

Some thoughtful analysis of the looters of New Orleans here by Nicole Gelinas of City-Journal.org


In truth, the looters, rapists, and murderers who have terrorized New Orleans since Monday began their post-Katrina reign of terror a full day before the situation grew truly desperate—and it was their increasingly lawless behavior that kept willing but unarmed professional and volunteer rescue workers away from the city and from the poor people who needed saving.
………………………………………
Katrina didn’t turn innocent citizens into desperate criminals. This week’s looters (not those who took small supplies of food and water for sustenance, but those who have trashed, burned, and shot their way through the city since Monday) are the same depraved individuals who have pushed New Orleans’ murder rate to several multiples above the national average in normal times. (New Orleans, without Katrina, would have likely ended 2005 with 330 or so murders—compared to about 65 in Boston, a city roughly the same in size.)


As Dostoyevski proclaimed:  If there is no God than everything is permissible.

Jacuzzi & Hooch

File this under “Oh My” and then get ready to chuckle.     read  (You’ll have to scroll down a little to “Worst Christmas ever”)

The dead guy—let's call him . . . "Stu"—had just been released from prison a day or two earlier, and had pretty much been drinking ever since. Stu decided that (in the spirit of Christmas) he would spend Boxing Day drinking in the jacuzzi. Although this was a particularly warm holiday season, Jack Frost was most assuredly "nipping at his nose," if you know what I mean. So the new parolee set out to enjoy his first days of freedom with copious amounts of the most unnecessary pool accessory of all—a case of hootch.Worst of all, at some point during a long night of boozing in the jacuzzi, our hero decided the next best way to celebrate the holiday was to release himself from the uncomfortable bindings of his bathing suit. Now, I don't want to be judgmental, and he was, after all, a new parolee enjoying real freedom for the first time in who knows how long, but I think getting naked and drunk while flying solo in a community jacuzzi right under the warning sign would have been enough to guarantee Stu a lump of coal next Christmas anyway.

Friday, September 02, 2005

JABBAR GIBSON My hero

JABBAR GIBSON;  My hero of the week.

So Jabbar (20) somehow gets his hand on a school bus and begins to pick up strangers looking to get out of New Orleans until the bus is full and they head for Houston.  They pool their money to buy gasoline ( X 3) and diapers for the babies on board.  They arrive in Houston and are initially told they can’t stay but after about 20 minutes of discussion wiser heads prevail and they are the first refugees welcomed into the stadium.

Jabbar, instead of waiting around for something to happen actually took a major step of initiative and became a “change agent.”  He had never driven a bus and he had never rescued people.  But he had guts, initiative and a strong common sense which told him; let’s just get out of here anyway we can.

I would like to think that maybe I too in a similar situation would seize opportunity; but I’m not so sure of my response.  I’ve not been one to take a lot of initiative in my life.  But I can change.

As for my adult children;  If you’re reading this be sure and memorize the name,  Jabbar Gibson, and the story.  Then if you’re ever in an emergency and an outlandish opportunity presents itself;   GO FOR IT!  

I want to see Jabbar on the cover of TIME and NEWSWEEK!    

You Go Jabbar!  May God bless you and your family.  Your courage brought tears to my eyes.    JB

Words of Comfort

As news has given some focus to the looters I’m reminded of this pithy saying:

It rains upon both the just and the unjust!
But the just are getting wetter because the unjust
     Are stealing all the umbrellas!

(File this under:  more words of comfort.)

IT'S TIME TO PRAY

Here in Florida, gas supplies have begun to tighten up. Regular gas is not available; the price is $3.00 or more. Nobody is complaining because price is less of a problem than lack of gas supplies.

I'm scheduled to fly to Sacramento next week on Northwest Airlines. At this time I don't see it happening. A) Will Northwest even be in the air next week? B) What are the chances I could get stranded away from my family. C) My anxiety about things is clearly elevated. D) I don't want to take 4 days off of work at this time.

GOD, as I've noted before, is in control; we are not. I think a most appropriate response to the burgeoning crisis is: PRAY

If you do not regularly meet with a group of individuals striving to know and worship the creator God -- now would be a good time to start.

I'm very partial to places that emphasize the ancient Scriptures; the BIBLE. Its trackrecord is incomparable. People who attempt to follow the teaching of Scripture prosper. Those who ignore them end up living difficult and painful lives.

It is TIME TO PRAY!

A good prayer template is the followings:

A.C.T.S.

A = Adoration. Praising and worshipping the God who is worthy of praise
C = Contrition. Admitting that we have sinned, we have ignored God.
T = Thanksgiving. We have Sooo Much to be thankful for: We had best remember that
S = Supplication. Here's where our needs and our neighbors needs are remembered.

I encourage you; be in a good church this weekend, pray for America's transformation.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Found on wizbangblog.com - from "Paul". Terrifying

If you read my "Pray" post and you read my predictions about what was going to happen in the Superdome, it should be pretty clear I understand the dynamics of the situation...

Now consider this...~10 feet of water in a city for ~10 weeks.

Most homes will simply dissolve. Basically anything under 3 stories is gone...

But the big concrete buildings including the office buildings are safe right? We just replace the interior of the bottom floors right? Not so fast....

In New Orleans (and many other places) our buildings "float" via a system of modo [sic] sized pilings. The mud is too soft to actually support them but the friction holds them in place. -- Now take that same mud and let it sit underwater for 10 weeks.

The foundation of our 30 to 40+ story skyscrapers will erode. When that happens they will start to lean.... 40 story buildings don't "lean" too well.

My discipline is electrical engineering not civil- but it seems to me that there is a large chance many of the major office buildings will tumble like dominos.

Further, the roads will all buckle. They do that after a regular spring flood -- this is 10 weeks.

Lastly, all but 2 of the telephone switches are underwater (assuming 10 feet of water). The 2 standing switches probably blew down anyway, but they are most assuredly without power even if they're still standing. The copper in the ground will corrode, so we basically have no communication infrastructure. Ditto the electric (generically speaking, I have very little knowledge of the electric infrastructure so common sense applies). The cities water system is in danger of being beyond the point of repair, etc...

Not to be a fatalist, but I don't think we even understand the half of it yet...
A website that might be useful if you have relatives from the Gulf area and are trying to locate them.

katrinafinder.us


Finally, never underestimate the power of prayer! JB