If you don't know this, you should

On his deathbed, Martin Luther offered these last words: "We are sinners, it is true."

PAULETTE BROWN

PAULETTE BROWN, my cousin Tom's wife, passed away this week. She and Tom were married 45 years and had two children: Scott and Lisa.

PAULETTE will be much missed. She was a very fine lady.

MUPPETS BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

MUPPETS BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. Doesn't get any better than this.

The Willster

Person of interest:/ amateur philosopher, commenter, and floor installer -- The Willster

Students

Joanne, Deborah, Rander, Jimmy, John , Sherrie . ATLANTA GEORGIA

The wisdom of Solomon

I consider the Scripture book of Ecclesiastes to be the finest book of wisdom ever.

A new blog

I continue to simply love my congregation and my staff; Andrew Rogers, Dan Burleson and the elders, worship team and small group leaders. Sunrise Community Evangelical Free Church.

Starting out in Life

Isaiah Bennett Newkirk - my grand-nephew born to Zack and Kristen Newkirk. May he thrive and become a great and Godly man. May he and his cousin, Ethan William Alan Newkirk, be the best of friends.

The Loss of Friends

One of our favorite couples is moving away leaving a hole in our congregation. They will be missed by so many. The "Goodbye" party we had for them was so moving and then prayers at the end of the service offering God's blessing in their new home. Our congregation truly attempts to practice "loving one another." Family, we all need one.

I LOVE MY CHURCH

My church, Sunrise Community Evangelical Free Church, is certainly not large ( at this time) so there are a lot of "extras" that are not available, such as a gymnasium and athletic teams.
My church has one primary focus. It is Scripture. During the service a significant portion of Scripture will be read and then the messages are focused on what Scripture actually is saying and how that can be applied to our lives as followers of Jesus Christ. There's actually not a whole lot of stories during the messages. It really is about what the Scripture is saying and the context thereof.
I love it.

And then we must have the friendliest church in Jacksonville. It is always exciting to meet visitors who are eagerly welcomed. Great people visit our church.

JOSH H - Radio Producer

JOSH H - Radio Producer extraordinair for Pete 4 to 7 p.m. weekdays.

Stephen Fowler; Good Guy? Surely unwise however.

World's worst husband - maybe

I've never seen TV's reality show WIFE SWAP. ( It's about swapping cultural mores by swapping wives from one household to the other to direct the family activities for a week. No "hanky-panky" involved.) Well, Gayla, a somewhat heavy-set patriot from Missouri was sent to a San Francisco suburb to play mother to the Fowler family while Renee Stephens went to Missouri. Stephen Fowler, a fairly wealthy venture capitalist, did not take kindly to Gayla and was ultimately quite verbally cruel. Very cruel. His performance on the show and the accompanying youtube videos created a major firestorm for the Fowlers/Stephens. He is currently the most hated and despised man in the USA (exceptions would be the whole of our Congress - but that's another post). His wife who is a Life Coach and Diet Therapist apologized on her website and he has too. He has since resigned from a couple of boards he served on and is probably in hiding - literally. His wife says she has requested he go to therapy and get help.

His apology on his wife's website was quite well done, but...... In the course of the TV show he offended military personnel, mid-westerners, people with weight problems, people without college diplomas and the vast majority of Americans in general. The avalanche of angry/enraged comments by people who either saw the show or have seen the youtube videos has been astounding. Several thousand people have posted their hatred and vitriol on various sites. It's quite interesting, if you're not the Fowlers/Stephens or their two young kids. Who knows how genuine his written apology was.

Mrs. Stephens, in her apology, insisted that her husband is not like that and also indicated he had done the show to please her. There maybe some truth that Stephen Fowler is not actually satan incarnate. Surely televisions editors live to highlight conflicts and paint portraits of people that are shallow, superficial and often inaccurate. But on the show the "milk of human kindness" is totally missing from Stephen Fowler.

REGARDLESS of what happens in the remaining 20 to 30 years of Stephen Fowler's life, he will NEVER live down his brief stint on television. There is no mea culpa available on this earth that will convince a majority of the angry citizenry that he is anything but a total, "limey scumball" (he's British).

And that's bad. He acted horribly, he may or may not be horrible. We don't actually know. He has ruined his reputation FOREVER and his marriage and family may or may not survive. His performance was that terrible. That is sad.

FINAL THOUGHTS. I realized a few years ago that it is basically NOT in your best interest to go on T.V. I used to be periodically interviewed by local television stations regarding mental health issues. But I no longer do that. I finally recognized that nothing particularly good could come of being on TV, and possibly something negative would. The best I could hope for was a "wash." So I no longer expose my vulnerabilities and stupidities willingly to the camera. Nothing to gain, much to lose.

OBAMA and BIN LADEN

If John McCain would have been elected, he would NOT have had the political support to enter Pakistan and go directly after Bin Laden. The anti-war left and progressive wing of the Democratic Party would have raised a "hue and a cry." Hearing and threats of impeachment would have headlined the pages of the newspapers and been the topic of cries of alarm via NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN etc.

BUT, Obama could. While we conservatives would bemoan the double standard that allows a Democrat to enter Pakistan but not a Republican; we would certainly support Obama sending the troops in. I would think we wouldn't announce our incursion into Pakistan but he would have the national political backing to do it. No Republicans would demand a hearing. And the Democrat left would probably turn a blind-eye with the exception of Cindy Sheehan. The main-stream media would refuse to cover her dissent.

I say, "President Obama; on Jan. 22 send the special ops teams in and lever that Islamic murderer out of his cave. I won't have a word of criticism."

Renee Banks LPN Jacksonville, Florida R.I.P.

RENEE BANKS a really wonderful and Godly lady died unexpectedly yesterday. She was loved by all who knew her including residents and staff at the nursing home she served for many years. She will be so missed; especially by me. She was the first nurse to greet me and we became great friends. Our worlds were different but we shared our age, our love for God and our compassion for others. She was only 59 and she had four adult children of whom she was immensely proud.

I will miss her.

Chinese Apples in Amsterdam

This should be fun. Tom's upcoming language and culture adventures.

Disaster preparation

Tom Braun gives pithy advice on surviving the next FLORIDA HURRICANE.

Men of Purity conference Sept. 19, 20 - Jacksonville

My husband is addicted to porn?

Encourage men in JACKSONVILLE to attend Friday night and Saturday morning meeting at Sunrise Community Church in Atlantic Beach.

Are you tired of porn controlling you?

(904) 249-3030

Ya'll Come

Lloy Ball wins Gold

Sadly, we don't see men's volleyball in my part of the world but I love competitive volleyball. Turns out the USA has a setter, 36 year old Lloy Ball who led our team to its first gold medal in 20 years. The thing that blows my mind is: a setter is 6'8". You always think of setters as kinda short guys. But even the setters are tall.
Our victory against a huge Russian team was historic. Their blockers were taller than our hitters. We had 2 "short" spikers; Priddy and Salmon, both about 6'5". But they were fast to the ball and their speed enabled them to make a good percentage of their spikes.

Then we beat the Brazilians but that battle has not yet been posted on nbcolympics.com. I look forward to seeing it.

Congrats to Lloy who has apparently taken considerable heat in the past for our losses, deserved or not. He got his and in doing so the USA got ours.

Way to go Lloy. May your tribe increase.

Obama vs McCain; the probability scales

Obama will CERTAINLY raise taxes
McCain MIGHT raise taxes

Obama will CERTAINLY NOT save social security
McCain will CERTAINLY NOT save social security

Obama’s judges will CERTAINLY move the USA towards European socialism
McCain’s judges will ??????????????

Obama will CERTAINLY help legalize homosexual marriages
McCain MIGHT help legalize homosexual marriages

Obama MIGHT persecute Bush/Cheney and Rove after the fact
McCain WILL NOT persecute Bush/Cheney and Rove after the fact

Obama will CERTAINLY grow big government
McCain will PROBABLY grow big government

Obama will CERTAINLY increase the national debt
McCain will CERTAINLY increase the national debt

Obama will CERTAINLY work for no limits to abortion
McCain will PROBABLY maintain current limitations.
( Neither will reverse Roe v Wade )

Obama will CERTAINLY work to shut down conservative talk radio
McCain PROBABLY won’t work to shut down conservative talk radio

Obama will CERTAINLY allow “hate speech” to be used against Conservative Christians
McCain MIGHT allow “hate speech” to be used against Conservative Christians

Obama will CERTAINLY pursue amnesty and benefits for illegal immigrants
McCain will PROBABLY pursue amnesty and benefits for illegal immigrants

Obama will CERTAINLY make small business more difficult
McCain will PROBABLY make small business more difficult

Obama will CERTAINLY withdraw troops from Iraq
McCain will CERTAINLY withdraw troops from Iraq

Obama will CERTAINLY NOT interfere with the U.S. Slouching towards Gomorrah
McCain will PROBABLY NOT interfere with the U.S. Slouching towards Gomorrah

Obama will NOT be a new and different politician
McCain will NOT be a new and different politician

Obama will CERTAINLY make us wish for a return of Bush/Cheney
McCain will CERTAINLY make us wish for a return of Bush/Cheney - grin

NEITHER of them will save the country from itself.

A LOT of money goes a long ways

WASHINGTON - The ex-mistress of former presidential candidate John Edwards said Saturday she will not participate in DNA testing to establish the paternity of her daughter.

Rielle Hunter's lawyer, Robert Gordon, says his client is a private individual who is not running for public office and that she wishes to maintain the privacy of her and her daughter.

YA HAVE to wonder how much Rielle's desire for privacy is costing John Edwards Inc.
A pretty penny no doubt. Rielle will never have to work again and the baby, of course, is totally taken care of.

It's all about the money here.