knee

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,578994,00.html

(LeTourneau University invention in the news.)

soon

Just a taste of Christmas music. :)

light

ps.34

I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together.

I sought the LORD, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.
This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel[a] of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints!
There is no want to those who fear Him.
The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Who is the man who desires life,
And loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry.
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken.
Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
The LORD redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.

- Psalm 34

stimulus

Time for another quote. Things are so busy right now. Wedding coming up soon.

"Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday, will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them."
- Benjamin Franklin (Letter to Collinson-1753)

downfall

Unbelievable.

caylor

I'm excited because I found a new song that I like that doesn't have profanity tossed in (thus rendering such songs useless).

http://jeffcaylor.com/
and listen to "Change Everything" on the site on the player near the top of the page. And "A Way To Say (Unspoken Mix)" is also pretty good.

busy

My right lower eyelid has been twitching frequently over the past few days. It is a weird thing, that is.

hello

It is hard to believe it is July 2009. Time is flying faster than ever, it seems. And I don't like it. Mainly because it's not flying because I'm having fun.....not that I'm not having fun. Sometimes I am. Mainly I'm feeling BUSY. Because I AM busy. I guess I just find it annoying.
At least I finished another newsletter, so it's done for another month (about). Next I have to wade into my inbox and reply to stuff there. I have phone calls to make. Friends to get in touch with. I have wedding plans to make and lots of things have to happen soon because time is running out. I have to make decisions.....decisions....and those things don't come easily to me.
And I need to get back into running--I was doing well, up till June 14, but then vacations came. Those were good. It's always tough getting back into a routine like that. And I also need to get into a routine of waking up earlier and not staying up late. But I stay up late because I don't want to waste time (yeah, it makes sense, actually)--to live deep and suck the marrow out of life...okay, that's gross, you know, but parts of that movie are cool. Anyway, I stay up late and then can't get up early and am annoyed by that. Oh well. Evening and night is the only time that is really my own, I feel like, the only time nobody cares what I'm doing except me. The only time I'm on my own, I guess. Even though I'm basically on my own the rest of the time. Well, it all makes sense to me.

OH! And I have to find a house to live in. It's kind of a big deal.

But still God rules and reigns and is over all and is caring for me and wants the desires of my heart to be met....isn't that interesting?

friendorfoe

"Column One: Obama's Arabian Dreams" by Caroline Glick

I wonder how much of the public notices the doublespeak with which President Obama's speeches are filled. It's hard for me to listen to his speeches because I come away just generally confused. I'm listening in order to learn what his policies are, what he proposes to do....but it's really hard to figure that out from what he says. A lot of it is vacuous, motivating-type words and imagery, with very little explanation of actual, concrete goals. (Very little has changed since the campaign trail, it seems.)
This article wades through it all and asks good questions (hard truths, perhaps?) about the president's recent speeches on Israel and Iran. The conclusions the writer reaches are, well, terrifying.

How can we so quickly forget our history lessons.....?

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244035008682&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

foundation

America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.
http://www.citizenlink.org/videofeatures/A000010012.cfm
A resolution has been introduced in the House of Representatives, a goal of which is to set aside the first week of May as "America's Spiritual Heritage Week."
VERY interesting. Check out the video. Read the bill--a link to the PDF of it is on the site, right below the video.

!normal

"Justice is supposed to be blind, but we've gone one step further in America and made it random." - John Hawkins in "Five Ways that Insanity Has Become the New Normal"

Just a really good article--go read it. It's short.

http://townhall.com/columnists/JohnHawkins/2009/03/17/five_ways_that_insanity_has_become_the_new_normal_in_america

$$

"American Christians seldom seem to be able to separate their theology from an overall idea of personal affluence and success." - Michael Spencer, writer

It's true. We think that if we follow God and do all the right things, have the right mindset, follow the right rules, we must end up being successful (in a more earthly-based sense of the concept) and wealthy. I'll be honest: I think that often, myself, too. It just seems to make sense--that is, it makes sense if one buys the perspective touted by the Meyers and Osteens of the evangelical world.

But it's not really true, is it? From whence comes our wealth and success? On what should we base our understanding of those concepts? Seems to me the Scriptures reveal a different type of wealth and success--riches of a heavenly form and success that is farther-reaching and actually everlasting in scope. His success is our success, in a sense. It's not for us, and yet somehow it is. Seems scripture points toward affliction and distress as conditions commonplace along His path--the path with glory at its end. I'm reminded of II Corinthians 4:16-18. And Isaiah 26:3....He promises peace for those whose minds and hearts focus upon Him. How gracious He is--how rich we are in that.

evangelical

"The Coming Evangelical Collapse" by Michael Spencer
Very reasonable, very insightful, rather sobering, too.

Intro Quote: "We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West."

mck

If you haven't already heard the story, here's a video fox did.

yes

"Today, when a concerted effort is made to obliterate this point, it cannot be repeated too often that the Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals--that it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government--that it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government."
~ Ayn Rand (Author. 1905-1982)

Well said. Remembering why the United States broke away from England is a good step toward understanding the importance of the Constitution and how it limits government.

PYE

"Josie is a Pye," said Marilla sharply, "So she can't help being disagreeable. I suppose people of that kind serve some useful purpose in society, but I must say I don't know what it is any more than I know the use of thistles."
- From Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

(Amusing excerpt.)

feat

This is incredible stuff. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o - Danny MacAskill on a trials bike)

words

As some may know, I collect quotes. Sometimes people say things just right. (And sometimes they say things that are really amusing.)

Here are a few recent additions to my quote files:


"Science has everything to say about what is possible. Science has nothing to say about what is permissible." - Charles Krauthammer

"Government can't tax things like businesses or corporations, it can only tax people. When it says it's going to 'make business pay,' it is really saying it is going to make business help it collect taxes." - Ronald Reagan

"It doesn't matter if a man does use bad grammar so long as he is a good provider and doesn't go poking round the pantry to see how much sugar you've used in a week." - Emily Harrison in Anne of Avonlea (chapter 25)

Sometimes if you don't let a big guy know you're scared of him, he forgets he's such a big guy." - Beaver Cleaver in Leave It To Beaver

"If an American is to amount to anything he must rely upon himself, and not upon the State; he must take pride in his own work, instead of sitting idle to envy the luck of others. He must face life with resolute courage, win victory if he can, and accept defeat if he must, without seeking to place on his fellow man a responsibility which is not theirs." - Theodore Roosevelt

"Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views." - William F. Buckley Jr.

"You raise your voice when you should reinforce your argument." - Dr. Samuel Johnson

And another I came across a while ago....

"I hear addicts talk about the shakes and panic attacks and the highs and lows of resisting their habit, and to some degree I understand them because I had habits of my own, but no drug is so powerful as the drug of self. No rut in the mind is so deep as the one that says I am the world, the world belongs to me, all people are characters in my play. There’s no addiction so powerful as self-addiction." – Donald Miller in Blue Like Jazz

album

My favorite band's newest album (which my amazing fiance pre-ordered for me) is TERRIFIC. I'm choosing to use that word to describe it, although numerous other similar words also work. It's excellent. Wondrous? Fantastic?
Anyway, my favorite songs thus far (he gave me the CD on Thursday) are:
-The Long Fall (really neat mostly-instrumental)
-Heaven
-Closer
-Safe to Land (I already had this from their recent EP)
-Hero
-Heart
And I like all the rest, too, but in the interest of picking some "favorites," there ya go. :~)

blanket

Totally awesome. I want to make one of these.
(http://www.smosch.com/?p=4530)

odds

It doesn't make sense
or perhaps it does
that the people we love the most are the people we hurt the most and take for granted the most.
Ought this not be so? Or is it unavoidable?